Lord of the Truth-Chapter 1201: Clash

The woman in the black dress descended even further, her presence becoming heavier, darker.

"...It is large enough for me." she said in a voice like a whisper of death.

Craaaaack

"What do you even mean by that? What could possibly be so important to you that it justifies this? Destroying a planet in the Young Belt—what would that achieve for you? Besides drawing endless bad karma to yourself and making enemies of the Star Academies across the universe?!"

Robin was on the verge of losing his sanity, his voice trembling with urgency.

"Calm down—there's no reason for this madness! There's nothing personal between us—I don't even know who you are!"

After his discussion with Evergreen earlier that day, Robin had completely dismissed the possibility of such an encounter. No rational being would take this kind of catastrophic risk without a significant gain. Not unless they were truly... unhinged.

But then, the woman in the black dress tilted her head slightly, almost mockingly.

"Calm down? You want me to calm down?" she said, her voice cold and sharp like glass.

"Who ever told you I was angry? I would consider myself pathetic if I allowed a mere insect to rattle me. No... this isn't about anger."

Her tone dropped into something more somber, more raw.

"What I gain today, by destroying you and the wretched place you call your origin, is clarity. A clear conscience. A heart unburdened. And a head held high—no longer shamed by the fact that the one who humiliated me still walks among the living."

Her eyes shimmered—bright with something unhinged, not rage, but a twisted sense of peace.

"You are still a child, a feeble, inconsequential speck. You cannot begin to grasp what it means when the mind becomes polluted with scattered, conflicting thoughts while Trying to break through as a Nexus... Eliminating you—and everything tied to your existence—will restore my focus, return my center... allow me to ascend again with unshakable purpose. Isn't that reason enough?"

Crack Crack

Robin stood frozen. His pupils dilated.

This wasn't a negotiation, and it certainly wasn't a political attack.

This was a personal purge.

Though he hadn't experienced what she spoke of directly, he was beginning to understand. She hadn't come here for gain or glory... She came to cleanse herself through destruction.

She couldn't move forward in life knowing someone who shamed her still lived? Was this pride… or complete insanity?

Desperate, Robin turned to Rinara, his voice sharp and frantic.

"When, exactly, do you plan to intervene? When the planet's atmosphere collapses in on itself?!"

"I already told you the price," Rinara replied with a casual shrug, utterly unfazed by the looming annihilation.

"Pay it."

She gestured lazily toward the surface below.

"Kneel while you still have a ground to kneel on."

"That's absurd!" Robin snapped. "Maybe she has gone mad from whatever I did to her, but you—you still have enough awareness to see the disaster right in front of you!"

He pointed at her, frustration bubbling over.

"If this planet gets destroyed, the first thing that'll vanish is your soul shard. Then you'll lose your Frost Fox. And third, you won't get anything from me. Nothing! It'll all be a total and devastating loss for you!"

"...So that's why you stall, and refuse to meet my terms?" Rinara said, raising an eyebrow.

"Because you're betting that I'll step in for free?"

"Not for free!" Robin barked. "The offer of the armor, and fleets still stands. It's more than fair!"

"Still not enough," she said firmly, shaking her head. Then her eyes lifted toward the sky, narrowing.

"...I think I've started to recognize who that woman is. If I'm right… this won't be an easy talk."

Crack Craaaaack

"AAHHH!!!" Juri screamed with everything she had, her voice cutting through the chaos like a blade.

She was resisting the collapse, desperately trying to hold the celestial forces at bay. But the best she could do was slow the inevitable.

The sky had become a swirling, chaotic blend of white and gray, and the fabric of space was rippling like water—expanding, contracting, warping.

It was no longer a matter of if.

The disaster was coming. It was only a matter of seconds.

"…!!"

When Robin noticed the sudden hesitation in the sky's collapse, he screamed louder, pouring desperation into every syllable,

"Fine! I'll throw in something even more valuable—an easy method to produce Affinity Elixirs! A streamlined formula! You can make thousands of them daily!"

"What?!" Rinara's head snapped toward him, her eyes gleaming with disbelief.

"You possess a method like that?!"

"Yes! It's real, and it works!" he confirmed with urgency, his arm rising to point upward at the sky, which still trembled with the shadow of destruction.

"You'll be able to mass-produce elixirs, refine affinity bonds like never before! Now please, do something before it's too late!"

Rinara stood frozen, her breath quick and shallow. A storm was warring behind her composed expression. If she stepped in now, if she revealed her hand and acted to protect him, then her chances of fully binding Robin Burton to her cause—of dominating him—would be slashed to nearly nothing. But if she didn't act… if she hesitated for even a few more seconds… she might lose not just him, but everything tied to this opportunity—forever.

In the end, her pride lost to cold calculation. She raised her chin, her voice rising like a clear chime of defiance echoing through chaos.

"A veiled woman, masked in black, wielding the Law of Ashification from the Path of Destruction…"

Her voice sharpened.

"Are you the one they call the Goddess of Blood and war?"

"…Hmm?"

For the first time, the woman in the black cloak slowed her descent. Her movements, so fluid and certain, faltered. Her attention drifted down—landing on Rinara's avatar.

Only now did she seem to notice the soul shard floating in defiance beneath her.

"And what exactly… are you?"

"I'll take that as confirmation," Rinara said, lips curling into a knowing smirk.

"Why don't you send down a soul shard? Let's talk—woman to woman. Perhaps we can reach a… mutually beneficial agreement."

"You… know her?!"

Robin's voice broke through the moment, full of disbelief and faint hope. His heart thundered inside his chest like a war drum, especially now that he realized the destructive force above was no longer accelerating. It was slowing.

"Roughly," Rinara said calmly. "She's an Empress who rules a war-torn nation called the Destruction Pit Empire. It lies in the same Mid-Sector NO.100. No one has seen her real face, no one knows her race, her bloodline. The only certainty is that she wields a terrifying Minor Law from the Path of Destruction."

"She emerged on the big stage around ten thousand years ago, and now she commands twenty-five planets scattered across collapsing frontiers. She's currently engaged in open warfare with an ancient force—an empire nearly as old and powerful as the Empire of the Nine Paths. That force is known as the Ghasan Empire."

Rinara's voice dipped lower, just above a whisper, heavy with implication.

"That woman is known across our sector. She's infamous for her power—especially in one-on-one combat. The whispers say her strength rivals the legends of old. But her empire is failing. Crumbling. Her position in the war? Dire. Her wealth? All but dried up. She's famous… for being broke."

"…!!"

Robin's hope flared like a spark in dry tinder.

If her position was truly that unstable—if she was hemorrhaging resources and cornered in battle—then she wouldn't want to spark another war. Especially not with the Star Academies. And if she was desperate for wealth… then maybe—just maybe—they could negotiate. They might survive this after all!

But just as quickly, his expression shifted again. Doubt replaced hope like a shadow eating away at light.

Wait…

If she was this desperate… why had she come personally?

Why stand here—in person—risking her life and empire?

Unless… she had nothing left to lose.

"Those tails… Nine of them, swaying behind you. So, you're the Empress of the Nine Paths, I take it?"

The woman in the black dress narrowed her eyes. Her voice curled into a venomous question as she turned her gaze toward Robin.

"So this is the woman you disobeyed me for? The one you refused my offer for? Is this the source of your arrogance?"

"Is that mockery I hear in your voice?"

Rinara snapped sharply, her presence flaring with cold, divine authority.

"Can you even afford to mock me, in the state you're in? Or have you lost all reason? Do you really think you can walk here in person—leaving your empire behind for years—and not pay the price for it? That's not bravery. That's suicide. By the time you return—if you return—there might not be an empire left to greet you."

"Your situation is hardly better," the black-cloaked woman growled, her voice cold as death.

"A full quarter of your planets are at war as we speak. Nine more stand on the brink of complete collapse. The Centennial Twilight Spectrum Empire is encroaching on your borders. Yet here you are—daring to interfere in my matters?"

Her voice became steel, sharpened with finality:

"Listen well, and carve this into your soul: I will destroy this planet today. I will erase it. And after I do—the Galactic Seed will belong to me. Do not even dream of approaching it. Because if you do… the Twilight Spectrum won't be your only nightmare. I will become your second."

"…Galactic Seed?!"

Rinara's entire body snapped toward Robin, eyes wide, voice a razor-sharp whisper of fury—

As if she were about to break his neck with a single word.