Chapter 2228: The sacrifice
"....!!!" Tanoya continued staring at Robin’s spine-chilling smile.
Her soul senses clearly told her that Robin had already placed one foot inside the grave. Physically and spiritually shaken, his existence as a living creature could no longer withstand the use of the five Master Laws.
She could feel it clearly.
His soul force fluctuations were unstable, his life force weak, and even the aura surrounding his body seemed as though it might collapse at any moment.
He could use creation to heal himself, use the blessing of his planet, or even use balance to erase part of the damage’s effects, but the damage was simply far too deep. Removing it would not be easy.
Humans were never meant to use the Master Laws in the first place. Some challenged that reality and succeeded, the Transcendents being the greatest example of such beings, but five? Simultaneously? And by nothing more than a mortal whose body had not even used a stabilizer yet?!
It was a miracle he had not already shattered into dust.
And yet... he was not terribly far from that ending.
Even so, her instincts as a living creature warned her to be cautious, her instincts as a fighter screamed at her to flee, and her instincts as an executioner told her that death itself was watching her.
"You..." Tanoya finally opened her mouth. "Do you really think you can perform another exchange? Look at yourself." Then she pointed toward him with her remaining arm. "Look at your condition. If you take one more step forward, you may turn into dust!"
The moment Tanoya noticed the absence of her right arm within the corner of her vision, fury completely overtook her.
"Why won’t you just die and end this already!!"
"...I can’t." Robin muttered in a low voice.
His voice sounded weak enough to disappear beneath the surrounding flames and explosions.
"What do you mean you can’t? You can’t die? Stretch your neck out and let me help end your suffering!!" Tanoya took a step forward... but failed to take the second.
The idea of dragging him away alive as a slave had vanished from her mind the instant she saw that smile.
That smile...
It simply did not belong on the face of someone standing at death’s door.
"...I really... can’t." Robin repeated once more. "I am a man... who fulfills his words... no matter what happens... I cannot stop... before I do... what I said."
"Hah?" Tanoya widened her eyes in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"I said..." Robin slightly raised one eye. "That I would not fall before... placing you in a half-dead state." Then the corner of his smile deepened slightly. "...You haven’t reached... that state yet."
Tap.
Tanoya unconsciously stepped backward again, her eyes trembling unstably.
Without thinking, she began inspecting herself... torn armor, a missing arm, internal injuries, external burns.
Her breathing was unstable.
Her energy reserves had become dangerously low.
Blood continuously dripped from the ruined remains of her severed arm.
Then she looked back toward Robin with fury. She wanted to scream at him that she had already reached that state and beyond!!!
But her pride as an executioner prevented her.
Admitting such weakness before an enemy...
Especially before someone like Robin Burton...
Was unbearable.
So she swallowed heavily and resumed advancing with extreme slowness while raising her mace. "Fine..." Then she began gathering momentum for another charge, clenching her teeth to force herself forward despite the fear of what might happen next. "If you want one final exchange, then come! What could possibly change with one more? I want to see how many Greater Reaper crystals you still have left!!"
"...No." Robin spoke quietly. "I told you last time... it was the final exchange... I cannot handle... another one."
"...?" Tanoya stopped in confusion, then shouted at him, "Then what do you want?!"
Hoooo—
The Sun Sealing Box floated beside Robin, then opened as a crystal emerged from within.
The instant it appeared, the surrounding space itself seemed to grow colder.
"...." Tanoya narrowed her eyes for a moment, then suddenly stepped backward while placing her hand over her navel. "No..." Then she muttered in shock, "An executioner crystal?"
Even among executioners, those crystals were infamous.
"...No tricks... no strategies..." Robin continued with that faint smile. "If you attack me now, my death is guaranteed, and I wish to leave with elegance... I will exchange that crystal for your death... and in your current condition... you know exactly what will happen to you..."
Then he slightly raised his head.
"The moment the exchange occurs, I will die... but you will come with me... perhaps we can continue our battle... on the road to hell."
"..." Tanoya’s eyes began darting rapidly.
She looked toward Robin, then toward her mace, then toward the scale, trying to discover a way to kill him before the scale activated, yet every time she found herself looking back toward the gigantic eye, that enormous eye observing her as though she were moving in slow motion no matter what she did.
That terrifying gaze made every calculation feel meaningless.
After several long seconds of tension...
Tanoya exhaled deeply and slowly lowered her mace.
Her expression returned to complete calm.
"That annoying person..." she muttered, "he chose someone equally annoying to become his candidate."
Robin instantly understood she was referring to the All-Seeing God.
"I’ll consider that... praise... I always aimed to become... annoying to my enemies."
"Not for much longer. Carve this deeply into your mind." Tanoya warned him. "That person has annoyed many beings and placed himself in a position that never belonged to him, yet he reached it and nailed himself there like a stake. Dealing with him directly has become difficult... but you people of Universe B-14 are a much easier target."
Then she gestured toward him.
"You, by breaching the shell, handed your cheating master’s neck directly to his enemies... and they will not hesitate to twist it." Then a mocking smile appeared upon her face. "You will live today, Robin Burton... but soon you will perish alongside everyone you have ever known. Alongside that universe and all within it."
Then her smile widened further.
"A few thousand years will pass like the blink of an eye... after that, everything will become dust."
"I—" Robin slightly raised his head and nearly began an entire chain of bragging.
That he had achieved all of this in merely a thousand years.
That the All-Seeing God had not handed him all those Master Laws.
That he himself found them and mastered them through endless struggle and risk.
That within the ten thousand years she spoke of, he would become far stronger.
And that he would be ready for them!!!
Ready for the beings hiding beyond the shell.
Ready for the monsters capable of frightening even executioners.
Ready for the war inevitably approaching Universe B-14.
...But he fell silent.
Even for someone who loved showing off... sometimes keeping a few cards hidden was a blessing.
Robin smiled faintly.
"...I... shall await my fate politely."
And he added nothing more.
"..." Tanoya slightly furrowed her brows, unsettled by the calmness that had suddenly overtaken that arrogant human.
The same human who had screamed, provoked, and mocked her throughout the battle now suddenly appeared terrifyingly composed.
But she turned her back on him anyway.
"Farewell, Robin Burton. The next time I see you, I will repay what happened just now."
"Bye." Robin forced his hand to wave weakly.
Even that small movement seemed exhausting for his current body.
"But first..."
Tanoya looked toward a certain direction.
"...I’ll take the shell breaker with me, otherwise I won’t be able to return to headquarters."
"..?" Robin immediately frowned again. "Again?"
"No, I don’t want to fight you another time." Tanoya’s eyes began moving around the battlefield, observing the massive war between the humans and the Reapers, a battle where every side was throwing everything it possessed into the slaughter without the slightest restraint.
Explosions continuously erupted throughout the void.
Soul creatures devoured one another in endless waves.
Burning corpses drifted across space while shattered flesh and fragments of armor scattered everywhere.
"...Fortunately, nobody knows who the true shell breaker is. I simply need any corpse to take back with me. A somewhat powerful corpse that looks interesting enough for them to immediately send support toward Universe B-14 after receiving the report."
Then her eyes settled upon a certain direction.
And she vanished.
The instant she disappeared, Robin’s expression changed.
"No... stop!!"
The gigantic golden Eye of Truth moved instantly, rotating violently to follow her trajectory, while Robin raised the ancestral crystal in preparation for an attack despite the unbearable condition of his body.
But he done nothing.
Swooosh
In the very next moment, the executioner had already returned to the same spot.
And within her left hand, she held something.
"Farewell, Robin Burton." Tanoya revealed a large provoking smile. "Next time, you’ll be in his place. Hehe... hehehe!!"
Robin’s eyes opened as wide as possible, and his mouth parted slightly.
For a brief instant...
His thoughts froze completely.
That thing within her hand...
She was holding a severed head covered in hair.
Asir’s head...
Blood still dripped slowly from the torn flesh beneath the neck.
Asir, whose face still carried shocked, regretful, frightened expressions, as though he were still alive and had no idea what had just happened to him.
As though the final moment of terror had permanently frozen upon his features.
"No..." Robin slowly raised his left hand in shock.
His fingers trembled slightly.
"HAHAHA, farewell!!" But Tanoya gave him no chance to do anything.
Swoosh
She vanished once again.
This time, she disappeared beyond the range of the Eye of Truth’s vision.
