Lord of the Truth

"This is bad!" Robin stiffened the instant he felt the gaze of the specter king pierce through his body, a pressure that seemed to brand his very soul. Without hesitation, he snapped his head toward Wade—and at that very moment, Malek did the same. No words were exchanged; they didn't need to. Wade understood.

CRACK!

Wade spun, two fingers like blades, slicing the very fabric of space. Reality split with a shriek, a jagged tear opening before them. With the fourth tier of the Fundamental Law of Space at his command, Wade had just enough mastery to create a narrow fissure, barely large enough for the three of them to slip through if they moved quickly. It wavered, unstable, but it was salvation nonetheless.

They leapt forward together, hearts pounding.

But then—

RUMBLE RUMBLE

A second wave of soul force detonated across the battlefield, far more crushing than the first. It wasn't just a spiritual scan—it was domination, raw and absolute.

The fissure in space quaked violently. Vibrations rippled across its jagged surface, threatening to collapse it altogether. The three froze mid-motion. "Oh no…"

If they attempted to pass through now, the distorted rift could tear their bodies apart, scattering their very souls into nothing. At best, they would emerge mangled. At worst… they wouldn't emerge at all.

"Shaaaahhh!!" Tens of thousands of specters erupted in unison. Their howls became a living tide as they hurled themselves toward the mountaintop, each one desperate to be the first to fulfill the command of their Pale King.

Even the titanic horned specter, its mismatched antlers jagged against the sky, and the armored monstrosity with the shifting head, both drew their weapons and launched upward. There was no hesitation—only killing intent.

The horned giant reached first, faster by mere fractions of a second. It raised its gargantuan sword—an abomination of steel, meters long, nearly two meters wide—and swung down at the peak with devastating force.

BANG!

The mountain quaked under the blow. Shards of stone and splinters of earth erupted skyward. Robin, Wade, and Malek were forced to scatter in desperation, retreating in three separate directions. The horde surged between them, swallowing sightlines.

In an instant, each found himself cut off, surrounded by endless enemies.

"Your Majesty!!" Wade and Malek shouted at once. Their voices cracked with desperation, their first instinct not survival but loyalty. Protect Robin—that was their duty.

"I'm fine!" Robin's voice boomed across the chaos, strong and unyielding. "Escape individually! We'll regroup at the rendezvous point!"

"But, Your Majesty!!" Wade roared, torn by anguish. Could they really abandon their liege? What was the meaning of a guard if not to die for the one he served?

"Do it!!" Robin's order ripped through the air like a whip. His wheelchair screeched across the earth, its wheels carving twin scars into the soil from sheer force. Yet even that desperate speed was not enough to break free.

The massive lion specter came crashing down from above. Its body, five meters of shadow and muscle, blotted out the sun. With a roar that split the heavens—"RRAAAWR!"—its cry transformed into waves of soul force, battering the world like a storm.

The shockwaves slammed into Robin.

"Arghhh!" His body shook under the pressure. The ground beneath him fractured, collapsing in a circle a hundred meters wide. With each wave the crater deepened, dragging him further down, trapping him in a pit of shattering stone. Every pulse of that soul force pressed him lower, pinning him tighter, threatening to crush him entirely.

The lion specter's power was immense—nearly 150,000 units of soul force—and its full-scale assault could not be ignored. Robin's eyes locked on it, blazing with cold fury.

"You like to play with soul waves, do you?" he growled, his voice trembling with contained power. His eyes flared, erupting with dense spiritual light. "Then let me show you… the true power of soul waves!"

BOOOOM

In the following instant, space itself between Robin and the colossal lion specter seemed to bend and warp, compressing and stretching at once. The specter, a towering beast of shadow and terror, still carried its proud, murderous presence—until Robin's attack struck home. At that moment, its hollow eyes widened, and for the first time in countless years, fear flickered within them.

WOOOOM

The lion specter's entire form buckled, its vast body swelling and shrinking erratically, twisting out of control. Being incorporeal saved it nothing; there was no escape, no defense.

It had taken the brunt of Robin's Soul Execution Domain, direct and unshielded.

That attack was no mere technique. The Soul Execution Domain was one of the most devastating arts Robin had ever forged—born in the fires of the war against the Empire of the Great Serpent. He had refined it countless times since, honing it until it became a weapon of annihilation. It was so powerful, so utterly destructive, that Robin had never dared sell it in the Soul Society, though he knew the bids for such a technique would have been astronomical.

Against the Execution Domain, bolstered by tens of thousands of units, the lion specter had no answer. It spasmed violently, collapsing and stretching like clay on the verge of being torn apart.

"Raaaaaawaarrr—!!"

But Robin did not let it be destroyed. "Come!!" he commanded.

A portal burst open at his side, spilling golden-white light. From it flew nets—not mere bindings, but radiant spears of woven soul force. They struck into the lion specter's incorporeal form, barbs embedding deep inside. Hooks flared open, anchoring it. Then, with a violent pull, Robin dragged the beast toward him.

WOOSH!

In a heartbeat, the mighty lion specter was ripped from the battlefield, dragged screaming into Robin's soul domain. The portal snapped shut with finality.

Yet Robin's face did not ease with triumph—it darkened. This was, without doubt, the most powerful specter he had ever captured, a prize of terrifying scale. But instead of satisfaction, only dread filled him. "…!!"

To control it, he would need to enter his soul domain, to purge, subdue, and seal it. But to attempt such a thing here, surrounded as he was, would be suicide.

Already he could feel the contamination spreading. His inner soul domain trembled, corruption bleeding through the fabric of his domain.

Panic rippled inside; his soul creatures were restless, their terror bleeding into him. He had no choice now but to rely on Pythor and the stronger soul creatures within to defend themselves until he could act.

"Shaaaahhh!!" The guttural roar shook him back to the battlefield. From both flanks, the cries of specters pressed in, heavy and dreadful. That single exchange—the capture of the lion—had lasted less than two seconds, yet in that heartbeat, he had been trapped.

-----------------

Several dozen kilometers away—

"~* 🎶 Who follows me? Who heeds my song?

I am the queen, cloaked in night…*~ hmm?"

At the head of a vast herd of specters, a braided girl abruptly stopped. Her blackened lips curled, surprise flashing across her face as she tilted her head toward a distant direction. Then she smiled, wide and playful. "Heheh~ so… there they are."

Her laughter returned, high and mocking, her steps resuming with almost theatrical pride. But one thing had changed—the direction of her march.

No longer did the Shepherd and her army advance toward the planet's central zone. Instead, her vast host of specters shifted course.

The earth trembled as they moved. Thousands upon thousands of shadowed figures surged in her wake, their eyes glowing like embers in the dark. Their cries echoed like thunder, a chorus of death that blanketed the sky.

The Shepherd walked ahead of them as though leading a parade, her braids swaying, her every step confident and light, as if mocking the horror she commanded.

She did not rush. She did not need to. With every passing moment, her presence swelled, a tide of inevitability. The battlefield that awaited would not simply witness another clash of specters—it would tremble beneath the arrival of their new queen.