Chapter 2381

2381 - The Buried Past

"...Or were you receiving help even before our war?" Helen showed a small smile.

Her confidence had been completely shattered when she lost Nihari at the hands of a child like Robin, but knowing that an entity like that had been helping her enemy brought her some peace of mind... of course, that matter was of no use now, but it was still enough to lift her head slightly in the face of Robin.

"......?!" Robin stood there silently, his eye moving constantly with bewilderment and denial, "You said the use of Master Laws in the Northern Region was decades before the start of the war? How did you know that?"

"From the rift's healing rate." Helen replied casually, "The size of the rift caused by Cosmic Rejection, its healing rate, and its complexity say a lot about what happened at a certain point in history."

Then she continued, "Calculating those variables there made me realize that more than one Master Law was used a few decades ago. I can't pinpoint it exactly, but it happened at least ten years ago and at most a century."

"This is impossible." Robin waved his hand with a big smile. "A century before the war? I only arrived at Nihari fifty years before the war. And I spent thirty years in the Eastern Region mastering nothing but the Master Law of Truth and nothing else. The ten years that followed, I returned to Jura to establish the True Beginning Empire, conquer Greenland, and the blood of the orphan."

Then he furrowed his brows slightly. "...Come to think of it, I did go to the Northern Region once during that time frame and used the Master Law of Truth to examine my son. Could that be it?"

"The Law of Truth does not cause cosmic rejection." Helen shook her head. "Activating it does not affect the Heavenly Laws in any way, so the Heavenly Laws do not reject it, and no destruction occurs among them—thus we feel nothing... This is also why the number of Truth Chosen is greater than that of the other Heavenly Laws. The major powers tolerate their existence because they do not affect the structure of the universe."

"Do they tolerate them because they do not affect it, or because they are untraceable?" Robin began rubbing between his brows forcefully, with clear irritation.

Then he remembered something. "What about the Will? Perhaps that is what you sensed?"

"The Will?" Helen furrowed her brows deeply.

"I know you think it's mysterious and all that, but it's the Eighth Master Law. Let's assume it was used there." Robin waved a few times, "Does that also trigger a cosmic rejection?"

Richard may not possess the Master Law of The Will itself, but he has the Cursed Manifestation Trait, which is linked to it—perhaps that's the answer!

"...." Helen shrugged hesitantly, "I don't know, we've never tracked its trace before," then she looked firmly into Robin's eyes, "but let's assume it does leave a trace, so what? I told you it was a trace of several Master Laws, not just one—that was abundantly clear. Remove the Master Truth from the equation, what happened in the Northern Region besides The Will?"

"....." Robin furrowed his brows slowly and forcefully until they met, "I'll go take a look myself."

Helen shook her head, "You're far too late. After more than 700 years, all the fractures there have certainly healed." Then she continued, "When I found it, it was already fading away, which is why I couldn't determine the levels or types of the laws. Even that mischievous one mocked me for not knowing what happened."

"The mischievous one?" Robin's eyes widened, "Neri? She knows what happened?!"

"Most likely, yes." Helen nodded. "I made an agreement with her to keep my entire visit a secret, including my meeting with your student Jabba, in exchange for not revealing to anyone that someone used several Master Laws on its surface." Then she showed a strange smile. "I believe you are not just anyone, since you are the planet's owner."

Glacion had no idea what was going on; everything he heard was new to him, so he remained silent and calm on the side.

"...?" As for Caesar, his expression shifted rapidly upon hearing about such a deal. Something concerning *betrayal* by Jabba in particular would strike a sensitive chord with Robin, who had suffered greatly because of him.

".....?!?!" Indeed, Robin's expression changed quickly.

Then he waved beside him, and a white-gold soul Gate appeared. "Come out." Robin shouted.

"....."

"Tsk." Robin waved, and the Gate retreated backward quickly.

In its place appeared a girl in her twenties. "Ah!" Neri screamed as the scene before her changed.

"Perhaps your constant eavesdropping on everything happening around me will finally bear its fruit." Robin showed a cruel smile, then gestured toward Helen. "What do you think of what she was saying, Neri? Remember, so you don't hurt yourself—Planet Spirits may hide information, but they will not lie to their lord when asked directly. Come on, dear, come on, tell me what happened."

“...” The wheat-skinned girl covered in pearls clutched her clothes, staring at the ground for a few seconds without saying a word.

Then she turned toward Helen and took a few steps closer, raised her palm, and *smack*—it landed on her face with a resounding slap. "You chatterbox whore!!"

*Pfft—* Helen nearly fell from her crystal coffin, but barely managed to steady herself. She wiped the blood from her mouth and looked back at Neri with a gloating smile. "Looks like someone's in trouble."

Of course, there was no love lost between her and Neri—if not for this mischievous brat binding her and striking her shard with the planet's defenses in the last battle, she wouldn't have lost Nihari, and the sequence of events that brought her to this point would have been entirely different!

"Neri!"

Robin's stern voice shook the palace.

"..." Extremely slowly, Neri turned to face him physically, as if she were shackled, but she still kept her gaze downward.

"Neri," Robin's voice suddenly turned calm, and he showed a forced smile. "I already have some guesses—bad ones—but I don't want to jump straight to certainty until I hear it from you."

Then his smile slowly faded, and his eyes opened with harshness. "What exactly happened in the Northern Region?"