2380 - Help?
"...What do you mean he was helping me with Nihari?" Robin showed a strange smile.
"No need for pretense now, Robin Burton." Helen kept her gaze downward, "I realize now that I was dragged into something far above my fate, something that changed the course of my life forever."
"No, no, no," Robin waved a few times with the same smile, "I won't let you steal my victory from me." Then his smile faded, "I suffered greatly and lost much in that war, and you'd attribute everything to the All-Seeing God with a mere sentence!"
"Perhaps she means the guidance you received." Caesar tried to bridge the gap between their views, "You don't have to get angry over a few words; what matters is that you won."
"What guidance?!" Robin waved forcefully, "That damned man told me to go and fight, that's all. Or if I had guidance, would I have been placed in those filthy situations one after another?!"
"..." Helen showed a small smile, "If that's what you say, fine."
"....?!" Robin stared at her with wide eyes, "Young lady, if you don't want to return to the state you were in before, say what you have to say. Now."
"..?" Helen raised her head slightly, puzzled, then glanced toward Glacion and Caesar before returning to Robin, "Really?"
"Now!" Robin raised his voice.
Every time Helen acted as if he were trying to hide his cheating in Nihari, his anger grew even more.
Cheating? He called him day and night using the Soul Shard, and he didn't care to respond to him in any way. He suffered there and tasted every kind of humiliation, and sacrificed so much to finish the Mission. In the end, they say it wasn't his own victory?!
"...I didn't mean to insult you," Helen returned to resting her chin on her knees, "at that time you were too weak to do anything on your own. He had to look after you, whether you knew it or not." Then she continued, "I don't know what he did in the Northern Region... but he was certainly there."
Then she looked at Robin, "Or perhaps you know other Master Laws besides the Truth, and at high levels."
"...?!" Robin furrowed his brows tightly, "What are you talking about?"
"You may not know this, but I can sense things of that kind." Helen showed a calm smile as she looked down, "Before I left the Destra Galaxy, I used to accompany my Father on simple training missions, including missions to kill very powerful people—people who use Master Laws at the first levels."
"...In one of those missions, I performed well and killed a Second-Level Balance User." Helen continued slowly, "And my Father rewarded me by teaching me the method of detecting Cosmic Rejection... Of course, not to the same level as his, but I know it."
"Cosmic Rejection?" Robin was puzzled.
"Yes." Helen nodded, "According to him, the Master Laws created the universe, but they have no place within it. Everything inside the universe is governed by Heavenly Laws, which are derivations and miniature, weakened simulations of the Master Laws that appeared after the universe was made to govern everything within."
"...?" Robin narrowed his eyes quickly.
He had always noticed the similarities between the Master Laws and the paths of the Heavenly Laws, but in his view, since everything had levels... Yet it turned out that all the Heavenly paths were derived? Merely simulations?
Thinking about it...
Any Sixth Level master technique immediately transforms into a Fundamental Heavenly Law that others can use... Like those laws used by Sevar's aides and the Children of the Cosmic Elder.
Could it be that the Heavenly Law paths as a whole originated in the same way? As derivations?
"...According to his explanation, the Master Laws can be used within the Universe with extreme difficulty, even though they do not exist inside it, but this harms the Heavenly Laws, destroys the coexistence between them, and makes them—for a variable period—revert to their original chaotic state before they were organized within the Universe."
Then she continued, "To put it more clearly, using the Master Laws causes injuries to the fabric of the Heavenly Laws in the area where they are used—injuries that last for days, years, or epochs before they heal. And the more the Master Laws are used within the Universe, the more that Phenomenon multiplies, and the Heavenly Laws become unstable... and the instances of Rejection become more frequent and longer-lasting."
"Is that what he told you to justify his killing of Master Law users within the Universe?" Robin asked, his eyes twitching with anger.
"..." Helen raised her shoulder with difficulty, then continued after a slight pause, "This is what I experienced myself."
"Nonsense. I have used the Master Laws many times and never felt anything of what you're talking about." Robin waved his hand.
"Do you know what you should be feeling, or how? The use of Master Laws doesn't leave destruction visible to the naked eye, but rather traces you must search for tirelessly to understand the history of the region." Helen asked, "To search for Rejection, you must feel the destruction lying within the folds of the laws, the fracture caused by any law drawing near another in that place—have you ever stopped after any use to look for such things? Is your knowledge of the Major Law of Destruction and your familiarity with it high enough?"
"..." Robin remained silent for a few moments. "Continue."
His knowledge of destruction? Not great at all.
He had recorded its contents but never used it, the same for death—even life and shaping he knew only superficially.
Studying those four laws was the shortest path toward the Master Law of Creation, but they were not the Master Law of Creation itself; each one was entirely independent.
"..." Helen paused for a moment, retrieving her memory. "That day, when I descended upon Nihari as a Shard to examine the new planet my followers had found, I activated the *Cosmic Rejection* out of a habit I'd acquired since childhood, and there, in the Northern Region, I discovered the use of Master Laws."
"Master Laws in the Northern Region of Nihari before the start of The War?" Robin raised his voice slightly and took a step forward, "Which laws? What grade are they?!"
"I don't know." Helen shook her head, "The trace was faint, deep within. Usually, cosmic Rejection can be detected from planets away—my Father can sense Rejection across entire sectors... but in this case, had I been a bit farther away, even in the Eastern Region, I wouldn't have felt it. Clearly, it was used a few decades ago, and done very quietly."
Then she lifted her face and showed a small smile, "So, were you using several Master Laws a few decades before the war... or did you receive help to defeat me?"
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