Chapter 2450

2450 - The Incident

"...Your dream is to become an Executioner?" Robin raised one eyebrow. "I don't know yet what happens there, but that doesn't seem like a very grand ambition. The Cosmic Elder killed one, if I recall."

"My dream is simply to reach the Eternal Sanctuary." Helmor frowned at the question, which was meant to belittle him. "There, the number of intelligent creatures is very few—not like here, where every planet has billions. There, there are only two types of intelligent living creatures: either a Transcendent or their servant, specially prepared to serve them and personally selected. Even the closest disciples of the Transcendents among humans, and even their families, are considered of the second type."

Then he continued, "Those servants have many classifications: either a low servant for caring for pets, a cleaning servant, a combat servant for tending to universes during the Cycle—that is, an Executioner—and there are higher ones, like the Legion of Executioners and a personal companion, a wife, etc. All of these are mostly from the Transcendents' candidates during the Cycles—people who heard the word and carried it out, and this is their reward."

"That doesn't sound very encouraging." Robin was surprised. "The reward is to be a servant?"

"The reward is that you live." Helmor explained quickly, "Instead of catching up with the uncountable numbers at the end of the Cycle and meeting your inevitable death, your patron grants you the ability to continue your life in a better place, a semi-eternal life where you don't need the headache of refining planets and struggling to protect them. Once the body is injected with that compound, the cells will have a chance to advance and their aging will slow to near cessation… Isn't this better than death? Even if you obey an order from a Transcendent every now and then."

"Some might say that dying with dignity is better." Robin shrugged, "Some might enjoy the chance to discover what will happen at the end of the Cycle."

"Those *some* have never experienced true death and prattle on without knowledge. No one will experience the agony of death and still think about dignity or discovering things. When death approaches, everyone will cling to every extra minute!"

"…." Robin stared into Helmor's eyes, showing a small smile.. For a moment, he remembered the incident of his death in the cave.

"How did you know all this news?" Robin asked, "Did your patron tell you?"

"Some of them." Helmor explained, "The Oppressor gave me fragments of scattered sentences in the few meetings that brought me together with him, then I heard other fragments from other companions working under other Patrons, and I told them what I knew, and together we assembled a complete picture, a picture with no contradictions even though the sources of the story are multiple."

"Oh… do you know what happens at the end of the Cycle, Helmor? Since you're talking about inevitable death for everyone." Robin asked, trying to gather as much information as possible.

"I won't give you a knowledge advantage like that as long as we're on opposing sides." Helmor shook his head.

"Oh." Robin chuckled, "Thank the heavens you didn't think of this at the beginning of the conversation."

"I only told you about your black Lord's past, that's all, a past that everyone who has a Patron in this universe knows except you. You can consider it a small favor, a token of preliminary knowledge." Helmor smiled, "Tell me, what do you think of what you heard?"

"…." Robin began tapping his knee, "I'd say I understand the reasons for your *betrayal*, if that's even a term that can be used in this situation to begin with." Then he continued, "In your view, everyone in the universe is dead anyway. It makes no difference whether they died early or at the end of the Cycle. What matters is the chance to go to the Eternal Sanctuary, and it doesn't matter whether it's through the All-seeing God or another Patron."

"The All-seeing God won't take anyone to The Last Sanctuary Land. He already did what he did to his Lord after taking him along. How would he reuse the same trap he used before?" Then Helmor waved his hand, "And you can't say he was wrong at the time. His Patron was trying to exploit him to win the Cycle as well, so there's nothing wrong with him exploiting him in turn… But I assure you, he will never take you."

"So in your view… I'm working for someone who's exploiting me, and I'll perish at the end of the Cycle along with the rest of humanity, whether I win for his sake or not. Meanwhile, you have a better chance of survival than me even if you fail. According to what you said, the Patrons take those who carried out their orders and pleased them—victory isn't a requirement."

"Correct." Helmor nodded seriously.

"Hehe, you must see me as extremely stupid, even brainwashed." Robin laughed with irritation.

"True." Helmor nodded again, "So… what do you think of the situation now? Is The All-seeing God worthy of serving his interests?"

"…." Robin stopped laughing and showed a small smile.

This is…

This is the reason Helmor exhausted himself and told all this, to strip him of the idea of fanaticism for the universe and betraying his enemies and make him neutral like them, seeking his own interests… and of course, according to his point of view and way of telling, the interest is not with The All-seeing God.

Helmor would not have told all this if he saw a weak person he could easily kill. Spending all this time and effort chattering is because he knows that his dream of going to Eternal Sanctuary has become threatened by a big obstacle, a hidden big obstacle named Robin, who believes he is fighting for the homeland but is just a toy in the hands of someone who does not care about his life or death.

"My opinion…" Robin sighed and began rubbing between his eyes, "My opinion is that The All-seeing God does not play fairly and his methods are questionable." Then he continued in a weaker voice, "Honestly…" then waited for a moment, "I suspect he did a certain thing to me… a bad thing…"

"Haha." Helmor laughed loudly, joyfully, "Do you mean the incident of your wife's murder?"

"…?!"