"The wormhole!!" Robin shouted with a voice that echoed through the chamber, his eyes wide with alarm, his entire being trembling with realization.
"What about it?" The humanoid light responded with a mocking chuckle, a grin playing on his lips. His tone was dismissive, uncaring, as though Robin had ntioned sothing trivial.
"The wormhole... That stable spatial fissure, a rift in the fabric of space that connects the core of two distant sectors! It's not just any tear—this one can endure the transportation of entire planets! Its construction defies known natural laws of the universe. The spirit of Planet Nihari described it in sheer awe, claiming that even soone as powerful and resourceful as the tyrant Interas couldn't replicate sothing even remotely similar... Was it you? Were you the one behind its creation?!"
The Seer lifted his hands lazily and gave a light shrug.
"Maybe I created it. Maybe soone else created it for . Maybe I simply foresaw its ergence in the tides of fate and wove it into the threads of my plan. But honestly, does it truly matter? You're focusing on the decoration, not the architecture. Just toys. You shouldn't get so hung up on them."
"Oh, for the love of everything!!" Robin clutched his head in frustration, fingers digging into his scalp as if trying to squeeze the truth out of his own brain.
"You planned it... didn't you? The wormhole wasn't just to move the Great Serpent Empire. It wasn't even about them—it was about . You created that wormhole for . To transport . You knew I'd use it to launch an assault on the Serpent Empire's planets, To capture Planet Gudah at least, How? How could you have known that I would even be in a position to do that? My mission was only to warn the locals, to prepare them for the oncoming storm and strengthen their forces for survival... Wait—are you telling that you sent to Nihari already knowing that I'd start an all-out interstellar war? That I'd end up conquering every last one of the Great Serpent Empire's worlds—including Planet Gudah?"
Sothing snapped into place inside Robin's mind, like a puzzle piece clicking in with a thunderclap.
"No. No, it wouldn't have worked without Gudah... the entire plan would've fallen apart without that planet." His eyes shot wide open, as though he had just seen a vision of the abyss.
"It was you! It was always you! You're the one who led the Great Serpent Empire to Planet Gudah a millennium ago! You're the one who let them occupy it after Rinara entered its orbit and connected with Devios! No—no, it was even before that... Were you the one who sold Gudah's coordinates to Rinara in the first place?! No, before that... you orchestrated everything from the shadows—you manipulated a Centenary Empire in the Young Belt into discovering Gudah and selling its coordinates on the black market! OR maybe before that?! You... you started the entire chain reaction!"
He groaned and gripped his head with both hands, overwheld.
Robin couldn't track the sequence of events any further—his mind had reached its limits.
"Hahahaha, so what if I did?" the Seer laughed, a deep and satisfied chuckle echoing with pride. It was rare for soone to unravel even a fraction of his work, and it brought him joy.
"You... you've been laying the groundwork for this chessboard for thousands—no, tens of thousands—of years. Every single move orchestrated, every piece of the puzzle placed perfectly until I made one error... What are you? What kind of devil are you?!" Robin's voice cracked with disbelief. His vision blurred as the true scope of the web he had walked into unraveled before him. It went back far—so far—further than his own life, further than when his ancestor fought in the epic War of Unification of the Black Sun Kingdom...
"A devil?" The All-Seeing god laughed again, but this ti with a note of pity.
"As always, your vision is too narrow. You ask all the wrong questions, like a child gazing at the sky and wondering how many stars he can count instead of asking how far they stretch. But I won't fault you—not entirely. You're still young, still tender in your bones. I'll grant you a small rcy. Ask sothing else."
Robin stood there, shoulders heavy with doubt.
"...Did you foresee my ergence too?" he asked, voice quieter now.
"Was all of this crafted for from the beginning? The entire board... every step along the way?" He lowered his gaze, a storm of questions rising in his heart.
"Did you give my gifts? Did you plant the seeds that led to the cave? Was it you—"
"Whoa there, hold on a mont." The humanoid light raised both hands, waving him down like a storyteller laughing off a rumor.
"I might foresee a few events. I might give a nudge here, pull a string there. But that's the extent of it. What do you think I am, so omnipresent spirit guiding your every move since you were a fetus? Do you really believe your father's dick was so divine it summoned to babysit his child?! Heh... I've been playing this ga for a very, very long ti. Longer than you can possibly imagine. But even I have limits. I'm not that invested."
"Then what is my role in all of this?!" Robin shot the question out like an arrow, needing to hear the answer from the only one who might know.
"You've been crafting this grand design for millennia before I even drew my first breath!"
"It wasn't for you." The humanoid light spoke softly now, a tone that almost held... respect.
"The board remains regardless of the pawn that walks upon it. Through my own thods I can sense the birth of certain individuals, those with unmatched intellect, with staggering luck, or karmic weight beyond comprehension. I observe them from afar, sotis for decades, sotis for centuries. And if the ti cos when one aligns with my needs... I act. I place them where they must be, when they must be. And even then, it may take hundreds of thousands of years to find a single one who truly fits the role, soone worth the gamble."
Then he raised his hand and pointed to the sky above them.
"The current board we stand on... it isn't just the result of connecting Rinara to Gudah's coordinates. No, no—it goes far beyond that. This board, this ga, this entire stage... has been under construction since the very birth of that girl above, Helen. Since the day it was recorded that she was the most gifted born to the Destra bloodline."
Robin clenched his jaw so tightly it felt like his teeth would crack.
How could soone speak so casually—so innocently—about manipulating the lives of others from the mont they drew their first breath? It was horrifying.
But the All-Seeing god was far from done.
He continued, his voice calm, his words asured like a master recounting a flawless strategy,
"Within the young sector No.100, I had a roster of candidates for this role. So of them I were watching since before Rinara's mischievous curiosity led her to Gudah. I watched them grow, stumble, triumph, and fall. But in the end... each one of them was a failure in their own unique way."
He shook his head with a hint of disappointnt.
"So wasted their fortune chasing petty power or indulging in aningless pleasures. Many of the most intelligent ones beca overconfident—arrogant fools who died far too young. A few turned their backs on greatness and settled into the soft luxury of business and dostic peace. Others had trendous karma, yes—but their minds were dim, their spirits dull. Useless. Every last one. And so, the start of this board, this elaborate dance of fate, was delayed... for centuries upon centuries."
A bitter laugh escaped his lips, but it held no regret.
"I was even beginning to lose faith in this entire endeavor. Gudah was nearing ascension, and if that had happened, the entire network of threads I'd woven would've unraveled into nothing. All my preparation—dust. But I wasn't surprised. I've seen more boards collapse than I care to count. Most of them fall apart before they even begin—not because of poor strategy, not because of opposition... but simply due to the absence of a worthy pawn. And so I waited, and watched, and waited again."
He turned toward Robin then, and his gaze changed—sothing curious now shimred behind it.
"...Until the mont I saw you, lying broken in that cave."
Robin blinked, stunned.
"The cave? But... didn't you say you observe your candidates from the mont they're born?"
The Seer gave a small, almost apologetic shrug.
"I did. But you were different. I didn't even know you existed until Truth itself marked you. That's when you appeared to —like a sudden light in the middle of a starless void."
He smiled faintly.
"You weren't born under a lucky star, Robin. You didn't possess unimaginable genius, or extraordinary potential in the way I usually seek. Your karma was... average, even mundane. You weren't chosen by Karma either. And yet..."
He leaned forward slightly, voice dropping.
"...You defied every asure I use. You tore your own thread of fate. You made a new one. You were just a boy—ordinary, unremarkable—but you found Truth on a nascent planet. And more astonishingly... Truth accepted you despite being on a nascent planet!."
He laughed again, louder this ti.
"Do you know how rare that is?!"
He leaned back, savoring the mory.
"When I found you lying there, dying, I traced your history imdiately. I had to know everything. And what I found... astounded . You willingly halted your advancent, sacrificing strength, risking oblivion, just to chase after a deeper understanding of Truth. You needed to built your foundation using it—nothing else would satisfy you. And when death ca close, you didn't beg for a longer life, you didn't turn to any law to save yourself. You accepted it. And when I arrived—your heart had stopped, your soul domain had nearly faded—and yet... you were smiling."
He burst into laughter again.
"Smiling like a fool, thrilled that you had uncovered yet another heavenly law. Who the hell smiles in the face of death like that, huh? You, you little madman!"
Then, his tone softened slightly as he raised his shoulders.
"That was the mont I knew. I couldn't let soone like you vanish like that. I imdiately moved you to the top of my list—above every genius, every prodigy, every chosen one. From that mont forward, I observed your every action, your battles, your ambitions, your defeats and triumphs, your relationships and strategies, your rise and your fury. And in just a decade or two, I discarded every other candidate. I said..."
He pointed directly at Robin, over and over again.
"I said, this boy is the one. There will be no other."
Then ca the final twist of the blade.
"And that's not all. I had to restructure the entire plan. I shifted the clash point to Nihari—sector ninety-nine. I arranged the wormhole, the movents, the pieces—all of it, just to accommodate you."
He leaned in now, deadly serious.
"I gave you Nihari, because I wanted to test the limits of a man who defied his own fate while still in the tenth level. My expectations for you were sky-high. I wanted to see what soone like you would do when given sothing that was never ant to be his."
Then he glanced up once more, his tone heavy.
"But maybe... I was wrong."
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