Lord of the Truth

"...Why are you all looking at me like that?"

Robin's voice, though calm, carried a deep confusion.

His eyes drifted slowly from face to face, scanning the people surrounding him. He blinked once. Twice. Trying to process.

This… couldn't be.

He had been so sure… so absolutely certain… that if he ever opened his eyes again, it would be on the shores of a lonely island, Perhaps his remains would drift somewhere in the Western Ocean.

But no.

He was back.

Back on the coronation platform.

He looked around once more.

The scene hadn't changed.

Dozens of familiar faces formed a tight circle around him—people he knew, people who had walked through blood and fire beside him.

And beyond them?

Countless others.

It wasn't just those nearby—he could feel them.

Hundreds of thousands, maybe more, their eyes locked onto him. Their hearts hammering. Their minds struggling to process what they were seeing.

It was as if time itself had stopped.

As if the world had taken a breath—and forgotten how to exhale.

Even the tiny bird that was transported from the Western Sea by a twist of fate, stood still on a railing nearby—its little beak open, its head tilted slightly, watching Robin with the same awe and confusion as everyone else.

And then—

A voice echoed, but not from the world around him.

It came from within. His soul domain erupted with sound.

(Hahahaaaa! You did it, Evergreen! You actually pulled it off! Your gift… it saved our owner's life!)

The booming voice belonged to none other than Neri, of course.

(I TOOOOOLD YOU! I told all of you, MY GIFT THE BEEEEST!!)

Evergreen's high-pitched, gleeful scream rang out like a bell.

She was losing her mind, running wild circles around Neri like a child who had just proven the impossible.

Ever since the day Robin had dismissed her divine gift—saying it helped torture more than heal—she had been quietly resentful. But now? Now she felt vindicated.

(This is what a true gift looks like! Haha! CHOKE on that, Robin! Eat every last word!)

Niri's giggling stopped.

(Ohhh? So now you're mocking my gift, are you? COME HERE!)

With a loud snap, Niri lunged and grabbed Evergreen by the horns, tackling her to the floor.

...Robin, still overwhelmed by the emotions of his surroundings, sighed and shook his head lightly.

He cut the link to his soul domain.

He didn't want to hear Evergreen's screams of victory… not yet.

Back in the real world, a shaky voice called out, barely above a whisper—

"...Your Excellency? Is that… truly you?"

"Father..."

The words rang like thunder across the silent stage.

People slowly began emerging from their trance. Their eyes widened further, breaths growing uneven.

They had all seen him die.

But now… this aura. This presence. This undeniable life force.

There was no mistake.

It was him.

Robin.

And yet… despite the overwhelming truth presented to their eyes and senses, the logical part of their brains—that instinct of reason—kept screaming:

"This is impossible!"

Then—

A flare of energy from above.

Caesar descended.

He floated down slowly at first, a black fire still crackling faintly across his body.

But that fire dimmed.

His descent grew faster, more intense.

His body was trembling. His face locked in a chaotic mix of disbelief and relief.

And then—

The tears came.

Those elusive, long-withheld tears.

The ones that had refused to fall when he believed his father gone forever.

Now they poured freely.

"Haha! I knew it! I KNEW you wouldn't leave us that easily, you old bastard!"

His voice was hoarse—half-laugh, half-sob. "You scared the hell out of us!"

Robin looked up— And saw Caesar, rocketing down like a meteor of emotion. His confusion turned to panic instantly. "No, wait—stop! STOP! Don't come closer!!"

But Caesar didn't stop.

He didn't even seem to hear him.

Faster and faster he came—

And then—

BAAAAAAAAAAM!

A sudden punch, fast as lightning, crashed into Caesar's face with brutal precision.

He didn't even register it before his body was launched sideways like a ragdoll, slamming into one of the giant towers of the capital.

KRA-KOOOM!!!

A moment later, Caesar's angry roar echoed from the rubble:

"WHO THE HELL?!"

He rose from the debris, fists clenched, fury burning in his eyes. "You?! What the HELL are you doing?! You plan to betray us now of all times?! Have you lost your mind?!"

Standing between him and Robin was Holak.

His expression was stoic, serious for once.

Not a trace of his usual sarcasm or smirk remained.

"I appreciate your excitement, Coco, truly… but you need to use your soul sense for one second."

He nodded towards Robin without breaking eye contact with Caesar.

"Take a good look at your father. He just crawled back from the jaws of death. You really want to break him again the second he opens his eyes?"

Then he turned to the rest of the group forming around Robin.

"That goes for ALL of you. Lower your damn power levels. If I sense one more reckless surge of energy, I will personally knock each and every one of you out."

CRACK!

Amon was the first to act.

With a sharp breath, he crushed his own energy down, pulling it deep into his core.

He took one slow, respectful step backward—even though moments before, he had been ready to sprint forward.

"My soul sense?" Caesar hesitated for a heartbeat, then chose—for once—to trust Holak. He closed his eyes slightly and extended his awareness, letting his soul senses probe gently forward.

His voice trembled ever so slightly.

"…Father, is that really… you?"

Robin gave a dry chuckle and stretched slowly, wincing slightly as if his freshly reconstructed body still protested even the smallest movements.

"Yes, it's me. Alive and back—reborn, as if straight from my mother's womb. And I'll be depending on all of you for support in the days to come," he said, his voice calm yet laced with a subtle edge of vulnerability.

Then his gaze rose toward the heavens, and his tone shifted—becoming more sober, more grounded in the gravity of the situation.

"…That is, assuming we even have days left to count."

He wasn't exaggerating. Not even a little.

In terms of energy levels, he was sitting at the lowest possible tier—Level One. In raw strength, he was technically weaker than a healthy child of six. His life force was crawling upward at a snail's pace, currently stabilizing at a meager three percent, barely keeping his body animated.

Physically?

His body had been completely reconstructed from nothing—rebuilt molecule by molecule from the ground up. The decades he had spent cultivating strength through his body-strengthening tattoos?

Gone. Erased without a trace.

Even the mighty spacetime tattoo, the core of his most transcendent abilities, was no more.

As for his soul, perhaps the most staggering loss of all—he had expended every last one of the 250,000 liberated soul units he had so carefully gathered over the years. They were all burned in one desperate act: his attempt to redirect and slow down the Nature Annihilation Orb.

Sure, many of these losses could be considered temporary setbacks. In time, with enough rest, nurturing, and support, he could recover.

But at this exact moment?

Anyone present could kill him—literally—with nothing more than a tight hug.

"Hey! Our deal... it's still on, right?" Robin's voice cracked through the silence like the sound of a pebble tossed into a canyon.

There was no energy behind his words. No soul support. No amplification.

Even those standing beside him had to lean in slightly to catch the feeble sound.

"Oh—!" Juri, sharp as ever, immediately stepped forward to enhance his voice, her face shifting with urgency.

In the skies above, the woman in the black dress remained frozen. Silent. Her crimson eyes were still locked onto Robin's—unblinking, as if there was no distance between them.

Then—finally—she spoke.

Her voice was like the cold wind slicing across a battlefield, "…How did you do it?"

Robin blinked slowly, lifting an eyebrow.

"Do what?" he replied, his tone light, even teasing.

"Answer me!" she suddenly barked, her voice now sharp and edged with restrained fury.

"How did you redirect Nature's Annihilation? And how in the hell are you even alive after taking the full brunt of it?!"

Her voice trembled—not with fear, but with the confusion of someone who had witnessed something impossible.

"I saw it with my own eyes," she hissed.

"I was watching the moment it happened. I saw everything."

She had been facing west when the attack detonated.

She had seen where it landed.

She had seen what it hit.

"You… You took my attack head-on. That blast landed not even a meter from your position. And yet… you still stand."

She lifted a single trembling finger, pointing at him with an accusing glare.

"You actually survived Nature's Annihilation?! A strike that embodies five full percent of the total force of my Nexus State? That is impossible!"

Her voice rose with every word until her eyes glowed with a faint, furious red—her disbelief bleeding into desperation.

And her words slammed into the crowd like a tidal wave.

Suddenly, the miracle of Robin's resurrection seemed… only part of the story.

They began to rethink everything.

Wasn't she the one who had hidden His Excellency's presence from them?

Wasn't it he who had drawn that catastrophic attack away—alone?

The implications were overwhelming.

They hadn't even been able to breathe while that weapon of destruction had approached.

And yet this man… this weakened, reborn, barely-standing man… had not only survived it—he had chosen to redirect it away from them.

He had risked his life—no, he had given it—just to shield them.

Robin scratched the back of his neck with a sheepish expression.

His voice, when it came, was soft and modest.

"I mean... Sure, getting blasted and ending up like this isn't exactly a proud accomplishment," he said with a dry smirk.

"But I suppose… yeah. That's pretty much what happened."

Then he tilted his head and added with a peculiar, almost humorous grin—

"…Didn't you know? Some beetles are tougher than they look."