2332 - The Secret
"...Ah—!!!" Zavarus stepped back, terror clear on his face.
The All-seeing God, that entity, wants to kill him because he is poisoning the Universe?
"What have you been doing?!" Kiryān stepped forward, grabbed Zavarus by the collar, and shouted in his face. "You extract the blood of your sick children and sell it to people?" Then he shoved him back forcefully. "Is there no limit to your greed?!"
Zavarus knew that his children had fully turned into beasts, and he knew something was wrong with them, yet he still sold their blood—the blood of sick people—to others?!
"How was I supposed to know this would be a problem?!" Zavarus tried to defend himself. "Everyone knows the blood from my galaxy is the best. It's been tested countless times, and there have never been any transformation incidents!!"
Then he looked at Robin as if begging him to reconsider. "How could the children's blood be the reason I'm being targeted? I've been selling it for millions of years without any complaints!!"
"No transformation cases occur because they inject themselves with less concentrated blood, and over generations, the effect of the Reapers' blood weakens significantly, but it remains there."
He then continued, "And the thing that most mitigates the harshness of the Blood of the Reapers is that you bring real monsters for your children to mate with, then sell the blood of their offspring from the second and third generations—that is, the blood of your grandchildren. They possess strong Blood of the Reapers, and they gain different laws and a special affinity from the mother or the real monster father, correct?"
Robin calmly explained, "The Reapers, as I understand it, are trash created to besiege and punish universes. They are creatures with clear limits, existing for a clear purpose. If they themselves have limits, then what about those who use their blood to become stronger?"
Then he shook his head. "Your galaxy has placed hidden limits on everyone." He continued, "Even those who used the blood of other monsters that did not come from your garden have most likely returned to buy from you to enrich their blood or the blood of their lineage and followers. Unfortunately, I myself fell into the same mistake before when I asked you back then... but it's fine. I realize you did not know the Foolishness you were committing, so I will not hold it against you."
Then he pointed toward Zavarus. "You are the reason why the number of Second Path users who have reached Behemoth strength is nearly nonexistent. All Behemoths are either humans or transformed from humans, and only about two or three have monster blood, and you are one of them."
Then he frowned. "And this insignificant percentage comes from a universe where 90% of its inhabitants follow the Second Path, the Path of Beasts. Imagine what that Path has done to harm The Universe... If the Dreamer Galaxy has harmed The Universe regarding Spirit Power, you have harmed it just as much by what you did to the Second Path!"
"No..." Zavarus stepped back.
"You truly are a beast, even worse!" Kiryān pushed him again. "You sell the blood of your sick children after mating them with beasts? What part of that sentence can be forgiven?!"
"What do you know?!" Zavarus waved his hand forcefully. "You can't even imagine the debts I carry on my shoulders. If you were in my place, you wouldn't have stopped at selling simple bottles of blood!!"
"Debts? Debts to whom, you liar?" Kiryān pointed at Zavarus. "You don't buy anything from anyone, and all your equipment is made here. You also have the largest army of beasts, kings, and emperors the universe has ever known, so you have no need to develop a human army in the first place. You have no need for Emerald or any item you can't craft or produce here, and you are the primary source of the Second Training Path, supposedly one of the richest beings in The Universe. Why do you pretend to be poor and needy?"
"......" Zavarus gritted his teeth and looked away.
“…” Upon seeing that look, Robin furrowed his brows. “Zavarus.”
“…?” The old man in the purple robe turned toward Robin hesitantly.
“Why don’t you tell me how you used a Young Space Beast Crystal and injected its blood into your body?” Robin revealed a wide smile.
“Hmm?” Kiryān turned toward Zavarus with a hostile intent. “Answer him.”
If it weren’t for the fact that they were supposed to be on the same side now, he wouldn’t have hesitated twice to attack and sever his head.
“…” Zavarus looked down, his eyes wide open. “Does that really matter?”
“It does.” Robin nodded. “As for the corpses of Space Beasts, they were scattered in massive numbers during and after the war, and their blood was everywhere after that Nest entered. As for the crystals, even to this day, Young Space Beast Crystals are sold at astronomical prices—yes, but they exist.”
Then he continued with a smile. “I apologize for my rude words, but you are not the smartest person to walk the earth, and clearly, your ethics don’t qualify you as the one with the strongest will either… So what made you succeed where everyone else failed?” His smile widened. “Especially since I personally researched the methods of Breakthrough using crystals, and I understand how difficult they are. I invented complex Arrays to make it possible… So what did you invent?”
Zavarus stared into Robin's eyes, with anger and humiliation clear in his gaze, but he chose to swallow his rage and look down again. "...It's that Elder from the mountain."
"...?" Robin furrowed his brows tightly.
"Which Elder?" Kiryān interrogated him in a sharp voice.
"..." Zavarus chose to gather his thoughts for a moment. "That was a long time ago, when I left my family and decided to travel to explore the world and find opportunities to become stronger, to become the strongest person in my humble bloodline." Then he furrowed his brows. "That was when I found that corpse... the corpse of a massive young space beast that resembled a dragon, barely damaged, and its crystal inside was filled with energy."
"I was overjoyed, and I almost contacted one of the powers to come and extract the flesh, bones, and crystal, then give me resources and protection to achieve what I had always wanted, but something happened..." Zavarus continued with awe. "Someone called out to me from the mountain adjacent to the corpse, an old man whose features had not been spared by the ravages of time. He said he had spent his life studying the corpse, and had discovered a way to take the blood for himself, and a way to use the crystal as a stabilizer, but death was knocking at his door, and would soon take him."
He then raised his gaze. "He told me that I am the Chosen One, and that he would give me the fruit of his life's labor to take for myself, and to become one of the Leaders who will change the Universe, as he put it." Then he continued, looking down. "...In exchange for continuously destroying 50% of my profits."