Lord of the Truth

"U-uh… Uuuh…"

From atop his cloud, Robin stumbled a step backward. His eyes looked ready to leap from his face, and the metal mask on his face trembled, nearly cracking from the tension building beneath it. His whole body was rigid, frozen in place—so many words swirled in his mind, yet none could make it to his lips.

He wanted to say a thousand things, but all of them collided and dissolved before reaching his throat.

"What happened? Human looks like he's seen a ghost."

"What is that... Nihari? Some kind of code"

"No… Look at him. In my opinion, Lord Hedrick knows who Human really is!"

"Ahaha! He's doomed! Completely doomed!! There's no escape now!"

Poof!

Renara's knees buckled. She dropped to the cloud beneath her like a puppet with its strings cut, her legs giving out completely. Her eyes were wide, too wide, staring as if she were seeing something she couldn't believe.

Eleanor turned sharply at the sound, blinking in alarm.

"Sister? What's wrong?"

"Nihari… Nihari…"

Renara muttered, barely above a whisper. Her voice trembled as she slowly bowed her head. That name… it wasn't unfamiliar at all. It was one of the planets under the True Beginning Empire. A small name, but one that had shown up often in the reports she skimmed through: resource origins, soldier recruitment logs, scattered across different briefings.

Just another dot on the map… Or so she had thought.

Now, Lord Hedrick had mentioned Nihari.

Nihari of the True Beginning.

Could it be… that Human… was actually Robin Burton himself?

Her mind screamed denial.

"Impossible…"

Renara's voice was hoarse, eyes stretched open in disbelief.

"There's no way it's him! I know he's brilliant—but it took him a hundred years just to build that single technique for me! There's no way he's the same person who flooded the entire mid-belt with otherworldly products! People thought he was some ancient monster who's finally releasing his legacy before death! That's how insane his output was. It doesn't make sense—That boy... he's not even 500 yet! By the heavens!!"

"Renara," Eleanor said, startled now. "What are you even saying?"

But before Renara could answer, Eleanor's eyes slowly widened as the dots began to connect in her own mind.

"Wait a moment… are you saying this Nihari... is tied to our little friend?!"

"...."

Renara clenched her jaw, biting down hard.

She had thought she respected Robin—held him in high regard, even treated him like a peer. But now, seeing this… hearing this… It felt like she had only glimpsed the surface of an endless abyss.

She had underestimated him once more.

Meanwhile…

Robin inhaled deeply, drawing from every ounce of confidence, every shred of golden energy he had cultivated throughout his life.

He straightened his spine. His mask gleamed in the starlight. His eyes curved slightly, a smile forming—not on his lips, but behind them, in his gaze.

"Lord Hedrick," he said steadily, "you are truly remarkable. Truly. I believe there's no point in dancing around the truth anymore, not after you've spoken with such certainty. I have no intention of insulting the intelligence of someone like you with meaningless words, nor do I want to force you into proving something in front of an audience and risking public leaks."

He took a short step forward.

"I only want to ask…"

Robin opened his eyes fully, calm and sharp like drawn blades.

"How did you know? Please, in words simple enough that only I would understand."

Lord Hedrick smirked slightly and tilted his chin up.

"Helen told me about you."

His tone was casual, but beneath it lay a steel core.

"She told me you were a third-stage Truth-Chosen. There aren't many like you in the entire universe—maybe two or three? And then, out of nowhere, Human appeared a few years after that incident. That's far too precise to be coincidence. Anyone with half a mind and even two clues about you could piece it together. You're him. The infamous Human."

"..."

Renara's breath hitched. She truly did feel like crying now.

Then Lord Hedrick continued, his voice calm but edged like a blade,

"But in the end, it was still just speculation. I was about seventy percent sure… but now?" He tilted his head, the corners of his mouth twitching with dangerous satisfaction.

"Watching you go all out over a piece of fourth-grade Planetary Displacement Tool… That alone told me everything I needed to know. You raised that certainty to ninety-nine percent. It's you. It's undoubtedly you—no one else could fit."

A subtle crackle passed through the air as a deadly seriousness settled in his gaze.

A sharp, ominous glint sparked in his eyes like lightning behind storm clouds.

"Tell me, since you're so clever—an up-and-coming candidate for the next Great Truth-Chosen… Did it never occur to you how suicidal it is to tangle with anyone from the Distra family?"

The crowd reacted like a dam had burst.

"What in the heavens am I hearing?!"

"Human has a personal grudge with the Distras? With those lunatics?! Who in their right mind would provoke that bloodline unless they were insane themselves?!"

"I thought he was just some new phenomenon—a shooting star—but it turns out he's a comet forged in hellfire!"

"Hold on—The youngest Distra, Lady Helen, has reappeared on the cosmic stage?! And she might be starting her own empire?! Somebody call the news threads! We've got a cosmic-level headline!!"

"AHAAHAHA!!"

Lord Zarion burst out in explosive laughter, slapping his thighs and kicking his legs in the air like a child unwrapping the best gift of his life.

"What a glorious day! What a glorious day!"

"Ah…"

Renara's mouth hung open. She was frozen—struck as if lightning had shot straight through her mind.

In Robin's short lifespan, when… how could he possibly have met Helen—the legendary Helen Distra?

There was no mistaking it now.

It had to be her.

The same woman who had tried to annihilate Robin's entire birthplace.

The one who had chased him across sectors with relentless hatred… who had wagered her name, her life, her future, just to end him.

Helen, the radiant nightmare. The most gifted, most dangerous, and most untouchable daughter of the Distra Family.

By all the stars… I—

Renara's breath caught.

—I threatened her during that event… using the name of the Nine Paths Empire…!

Clap. Clap.

The sound echoed across the space like a quiet explosion.

Robin calmly raised his hands and began to applaud.

"Incredible," he said, his voice ringing with amusement, "Truly incredible…"

Lord Hedrick raised a single eyebrow, his eyes narrowing behind his veil of hair.

"Flattery is useless. I'm not some fool who'll forget what happened between you two just because you clap your hands and call me incredible."

"Oh no, no—Lord Hedrick, you've misunderstood me completely."

Robin's voice dropped into a more relaxed, even playful tone.

"I don't want you to forget anything."

The smirk on his face grew as the final pieces of his old disguise fell away. The shadows of caution and fear no longer lingered in his words— Hedrick's words had already crossed the line, burned the bridges.

There was no point in holding back anymore.

"I want you to remember—vividly. I want you to replay that entire event, every moment, over and over in your head. I want you to build theory after theory about what happened in that final instant…"

Robin leaned forward, hands folded behind his back, as if sharing a secret.

"…and I promise you, you'll fail every time."

A moment of silence followed—one thick enough to slice.

He straightened again, his smile fading into a solemn, steel-eyed expression.

"That's why you and your dear sister kept your mouths shut all these years, isn't it? Because no matter how much you thought it over… you still couldn't explain it."

His voice dropped into a low, confident growl.

"So don't try to use your status, your strength, or your family name to intimidate me now. That time has already passed."

Then he stopped clapping, arms dropping to his back. His gaze turned cold and serious.

"I am impressed," he admitted. "But not because I'm trying to flatter you—I don't need to suck up to anyone."

He exhaled sharply.

"What stuns me is her audacity—her ability to tell you that story, to describe what happened, with a straight face as if it didn't crush her spirit and broke her."

He turned his head slightly, eyes narrowing.

"Maybe the rumors aren't as far off as I thought. It seems like you and your noble sister are a lot closer than people believe…"

A chilling silence followed.

Then the chaos erupted again.

"Is this real?! Did he just threaten Lord Hedrick to his face?!"

"AHAHAHA!! This is the best day of my fuckin' life! I'd pay ten times the ticket price for this drama!"

"Wait—what did Human do to Lady Helen?! That pervert!! That fiend!!"

"WHAT is even HAPPENING anymore?!"