2319 - Seats of Power
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“…Huh?”
Robin’s annoyed expression vanished, replaced by the sight of a boot sole filled with mud and filth.
Marlik felt as if the entire universe had paused for a moment. His combat experience, his keen senses, and his profound connection to the Laws all awakened, granting him something akin to the ability to stop time, bestowing upon him terrifying speed and lightning-fast reflexes that could dodge anything… and kill anything.
Swiftly, Marlik used the speed that had never failed him to sidestep and see exactly what was happening.
But, for some reason, the time-stop he relied on didn’t make him fast enough.
Robin’s boot sole landed squarely in the middle of his face, from forehead to chin, and then—*whoom*—he felt a terrifying force behind the blow driving his head backward.
In the next moment, *BAAAAANG!* Marlik flew backward like a projectile.
*Bam! Bam! Bam!*
Marlik’s momentum shattered the sofa beneath him into thousands of pieces, then he hurtled onward, smashing through a number of ancient trees behind him.
“Aaaaaaahhh!!” This time, Zavarus and Kiryān joined Glacion in sucking in cold air.
Their very bodies began to take on a pallid hue like Glacion’s, as the blood in their veins froze.
"Did I not tell you both to try and stop him?!" Glacion shouted in a low voice. "Look what you've done with your lax approach—it only provoked him further!!"
"Me?!" Zavarus pointed to himself. "I thought you wanted to—" He then gestured toward Robin, then back to himself. "What is—?!"
"Tsk." Robin looked down with a sigh, watching the scattered pieces of the sofa. For some reason, his expression began to shift from annoyance to anger.
Hooo. The Golden Symbols on his body began to change. Then, beside him, a Scale appeared. Ding. The Scale caused something to vanish from Robin's spirit, and then he himself disappeared.
"...?!" Glacion, Zavarus, and Kiryān all took instinctive steps back as they watched Robin bathe in boundless Natural Energy and Spiritual Power—energy rushing into his body with ease, like a river suddenly bursting over a barren desert.
"Look what you've done to my sofa, you stray beast."
Robin slowly raised his head, his expression gradually accumulating anger. Hoom. An Eye, the size of Robin's head, formed and rose upward, appearing to watch the entire planet in that moment.
Then he raised his head higher, his eyes glowing with golden light. "A dog that does not know from its master whom to bite, and before whom to wag its tail, must be killed, and then the responsibility will fall upon the owner for not raising it properly."
".....!" Glacion slapped his forehead, knowing that the day would not pass well.
BAM
The area where Marlik had been kicked exploded. All the broken and standing trees were wiped away, and all the beasts burst apart. For a moment, it turned into an empty muddy plain.
Zavarus wanted to scream with a bleeding heart, but he swallowed his voice when he saw the sight...
There, amidst those conditions, Marlik was kneeling.
Not injured, nor in submission.
He slowly raised his right hand and wiped the mud covering his face with one of his fingers, then lowered his hand and began staring at his finger in madness.
".....!!!!"
Everyone's hearts began to pound violently.
The eyes of Marlik the Butcher now showed what was said about them in legends. His pupils moved rapidly and bulged slowly, and his face was dominated by a maddened look, the look of a demon who could not believe that the world would end at the hands of anyone other than him.
Hoooooo
At that moment, pink veins began to appear all over Marlik's body, coursing through his already manic eyes, and his aura witnessed a maddening surge—the entire planet began to tremble beneath his knees.
Then, with a rigid expression, Marlik slowly raised his head, looking at Robin in disbelief and incomprehension… without uttering a word.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh
The three swords around Robin surged violently toward Marlik and circled behind him, their tips pointing at the ground and their hilts upward… all trembling madly, all sensing their master's rage, all craving blood.
Slowly and solemnly, Marlik stood up, then reached out and drew a single sword, assuming a simple combat stance.
The immense power coursing through his entire body—the power that had forced Kiryān and Zavarus to take several steps back—was clearly on the verge of being unleashed.
"Heh~" Robin showed a smile as he closely examined Marlik's body, "What a maddening eye you have. What are you using it for now? Calculating the best sequence of events to kill me without discovering why I stepped on your face? That was indeed a sudden incident, but if I were you, I would have tried to explore the reason first, not ignore it. It's something big enough to ruin your plans."
"Ssshhh..." Marlik let out a soft sound. "Don't speak... There's no need for words..."
"That only makes me want to talk more, hehe. Study my strengths with your special ability as you please, and try to figure out how you stepped on your own nose if you can, but I'll do the same." Robin tilted his head. "Your name is Marlik, right? They say you have the Seventh Level of a Law derived from a Causality Technique. I don't understand how that works, since your master, who uses the same techniques, is still bound to the Sixth Level. Why not give me a little explanation, huh?"
"..." Marlik's wide-open eyes darted wildly across every part of Robin's body and the area around him.
"Hmm, you're uncooperative. I'll explain, then." Robin hummed as he pursed his lips. "Either your master's understanding of the Seventh Level has reached an extremely high degree, to the point where he can use that technique at the Seventh Level without a Breakthrough, even if it's just a superficial use... or someone handed it to him?"
"..." Marlik's eyes stopped moving for a moment.
"What else do you have?" Robin began to examine him from head to toe. "That stabilizer inside your body doesn't seem unfamiliar to me—is it a crystal from an adult space beast? And the monster blood flowing through your veins is from that same adult space beast itself. How delightful, hehe. Those three identical swords don't look like planetary weapons, and they're certainly not epic weapons. Where did you get them? Did you dig them up from the sand while excavating the Lost Barren Era? Tsk, tsk~ You're full of surprises, Mr. Butcher. No wonder you terrorize our cute little behemoths like that."
"......?!?!?!????"