Chapter 2227

2227 - Non-existent Wall

Outside the Shell—

BOOOOOOOOOOM

The explosion of the Adult Space Beast's crystal was catastrophic.

The crystal, which remained stable and inert even under attack, was usually colossal in size, close to that of a small continent... That crystal was covered in engravings that forced reactions to occur, and other engravings corrupted the spacetime shell that compressed it, causing it to release to its true size just before the explosion.

"Ugh!!" Althera, Blokan, and the others felt a massive wave of explosion.

It struck them with immense force and astonishing heat, all of which rendered the sun above Robin useless and devoid of light.

"Damn it!" When Arkalon noticed that the explosion might tear Malik's human followers apart, the Golden Spirit Power Vortex quickly took control to cover them.

Whoosh

Whoosh

The massive explosion waves collided with the vortex and stopped. In fact, they vanished.

It wasn't a clash of powers; the vortex didn't carry a greater amount of energy or anything like that, yet it fulfilled its duty and more... Even Arkalon himself furrowed his brows in surprise.

But he soon attributed it to the golden cover, that strange material... It was canceling the explosion's force at the moment of contact.

However, the Space Beasts surrounding them were not so fortunate.

The shockwave struck Arkalon's wall of corpses first, erasing more than a quarter of it; the corpses couldn't withstand it and disintegrated.

Then the devastating scorching wave surged forth, snuffing out the lives of tens of thousands of spirit creatures!

"This is bad!!" The Royal Spirit Masters of the Burton Family retreated swiftly, layering several levels of protection around themselves, not daring to look back for a moment.

But all those side effects didn't factor into the calculations of two individuals...

"Eeeek!!" Tanuya was violently hurled to the side; even she couldn't resist the pressure of an Adult Space Beast's explosion so easily.

She couldn't stop herself until she was flung a distance comparable to that between a planet and one of its moons.

Then, she immediately looked at her elbow, staring at it with crazed eyes.

She had sensed what happened since the moment of the explosion, but she refused to believe it.

Her spiritual sense and body had told her what occurred, yet she couldn't comprehend it.

Even now... she looked with her own two eyes, choosing to deny them.

...Half of her arm was gone.

Yes, she had fought many times; she was forged for battle, she had killed many; she was shaped to be an Executioner reaping lives.

But she had never lost a limb.

She had never even lost a fingernail.

But now… before her eyes, half of her arm was gone.

Her eyes began to tremble violently, and her mouth slowly opened, unable to comprehend. She tried to send signals to close and open her palm as usual, but it was useless—there was no palm at all!!

Tanuya was consumed by her severed arm and detached joint, forgetting everything else.

Had she tried to examine herself, she would have found burns and wounds all over her body, discovered that her energy reserves had dropped dangerously, and realized she was bleeding profusely from her arm…

"You…"

But she seemed unaware of all this; nothing occupied her mind except what her comrades would say and what the Transcendents would do when they saw her in this state.

"You… you cut off my arm?"

She kept repeating in a low voice, her shoulder trembling.

Then she looked toward Robin and raised her voice, "You cut off my arm?!?"

She kept repeating the question in anger and confusion, as if shouting louder would make it heal on its own.

But she fell silent when she saw the sight there…

Robin—skin stretched over bones, his features invisible from weakness and the blood oozing from the holes in his face, Robin with a massive hole in the middle of his abdomen… was looking downward with a weak, fixed, lifeless gaze.

"You..." Tanuya began to approach, holding the Scepter in her left hand. "Do you think you've escaped punishment just because you died?!" Then she raised the Scepter slightly and began to accelerate.

By now, she was starting to feel the internal injuries filling her body and her dwindling energy.

Yet she continued advancing anyway, enraged. "I won't allow you to die... I won't allow you to die!" Then she added indignantly, "This corpse of yours—I won't let it be devoured so easily. I'll turn you into an Eternal Puppet, a puppet that lives in my service forever."

Then she spat with hatred, "Even if I hate seeing that miserable face every day, this is the perfect Hell for you, Robin Burton!!"

Woooom—

"...?!" Tanuya stopped.

At that moment, the green aura around Robin began to activate.

The wide hole in his abdomen was treated quickly and easily.

The hole was in a perfect spot—below the Life Artery and above the Energy Gathering Center. Robin had used Spacetime and Causality to ensure this, so the Gift of Greenland required no time or effort to heal him.

In moments, his abdomen mended, now appearing like the belly of the Cosmic Elder—hollow, touching his spine.

Then—

Ding.

The Scale tipped, and one crystal disappeared. All of Robin's energy returned. Tanuya could feel a tremendous, vibrant power coursing through his body, even though it didn't show on him.

After all this... Robin kept his gaze downward with half-dead eyes.

"You're not dead yet..." Tanuya showed a cruel smile. "No matter... good... this is better!" Then she continued in a louder voice, "I won't take you as a corpse. You'll come with me alive as a slave. I'll make you wish for death every day!!"

*Ding*

"...?!" Tanuya stopped again as the Scale moved.

This time, three Adult Space Beast crystals rose slowly before disappearing.

Three!!

Tanuya braced herself, expecting some major attack aimed at her.

But what happened was stranger...

A light golden rain fell over Robin's head for a few moments.

Then, finally, he managed to raise an eyebrow and opened his mouth with a weak voice, "You want to make me... a slave..."

Then he slowly lifted his head toward her.

"That's an... interesting idea... for something like you..."

Then he fixed his weak golden eyes on her direction.

"I've become weak... as you can see..."

And a very faint smile spread across his face.

"Come... make me a slave."

*Whoosh*

Tanuya leaped backward like a rabbit that saw a wolf when she caught that smile.

Then she opened her eyes wide and stared at him, as if afraid to miss any detail...

Why?

He is dying, moving his head with difficulty, unable to open his eyes properly…

So why…

Why am I terrified?!