This place looked like an old tavern, dimly lit by lamps hanging on the walls, its air filled with an intoxicating sll mixed with bodily odors, dark walls eroded by moisture, and seats worn down by ti, as if every inch of it had been abandoned for decades and left to decay in silence.
The tavern had a small dance floor, a few shabby tables and chairs, and then a drink bar. Even so, the place was extrely cramped for a tavern, barely able to hold twenty people at once, making anyone who stepped inside feel as though they were squeezing into a forgotten pocket of the world.
The heavy humidity, the cold air, and the darkness suggested one clear thing: this place was underground for so reason, buried beneath layers of stone where no sunlight ever reached.
Clang
Robin slamd the glass in his hand onto the bar, then with unfocused eyes, he called the bartender, "Another one!" He let go of the glass and raised both hands, rubbing his eyes with his palms as if trying to force them to stay open, as though exhaustion itself was trying to swallow him whole.
"Coming" The bartender-wearing formal but filthy clothes, with eight unevenly long arms and bulging eyes-approached Robin and began filling his glass with a strange drink, one with no color, no sll, and no shape, seeming to hover between a liquid and a gas, as if the substance refused to obey physical rules.
"..." Robin continued rubbing his eyes slowly for a while longer, then weakly reached out and downed the entire glass in one go, his throat burning faintly from the strange drink. "Again, don't stop filling the cup until I say so!"
"Excessive drinking isn't a very good idea." A voice ca from beside Robin at that mont. "That drink is made from the one-horned White Soul Rose. If you use its extract carefully, it induces a ntal state similar to drunkenness, making you feel that sensation again, letting you relive what your body has forgotten. But if you take too much, if you rely on it more than you should, you might get stabbed in the back not knowing what happened... I think you've had enough."
"Thanks, but... I don't need advice." Robin rested his hands on his forehead. "...Not now!"
Then he reached out, drank the newly filled glass, and slamd it forcefully on the bar. "Pour more!"
"Oh? Strange..." the voice ca again. "Why are you like this today? You just bought sothing valuable-a gift, perhaps?"
"... Yeah, it's a gift for one of my kids. getting married. It's a happy mont," Robin showed a brief smile, "but their brother..."
Robin grabbed the glass and drank it all at once, this ti keeping it raised, as if holding onto it gave him so kind of fragile comfort. "...I've lost too much." Tears began to fall slowly from his eyes, silently, like they were tired of being held back.
"That's what happens when you declare war on the universe, Lord Robin," the voice added. "Happy endings are not easily reached. In my opinion, they don't even exist."
"...I'll create one." Robin gently wiped his tears. "I won't let all those sacrifices go to waste... I won't let all that blood dry without justice."
Then he placed the glass in front of him gently this ti and exhaled deeply. "Thanks for listening to my complaints. I feel better now." He stood up.
"Hold on, where are you going?" The person beside Robin reached out and grabbed his forearm before he could leave. "We haven't even started talking yet."
"Hm?" Robin finally looked to his side, at his drinking companion, brows furrowed and ready to fight. "Who exactly are you, and what do you want?"
But his expression instantly shifted to shock.
He was human-yet his eyes were far from normal. They were pitch black, as if soone had poured ink into them, filled with crimson veins like a bloodstorm had struck them, pulsing faintly with an otherworldly rhythm.
Those eyes... they looked as if they were gazing into his past and his future, dissecting every mistake he'd made and every consequence still waiting for
him.
The man wearing them showed a harsh smile. "Guess."
"Ah!" Robin jolted awake, eyes snapping open with a violent shiver, then began gasping powerfully as if trying to pull every ounce of air in the room into his lungs, almost choking on his own breath while doing so.
He looked around in panic, searching desperately for that black-eyed man!!
His gaze swept every corner, rising and falling with fear, as though expecting the figure to erge from the shadows at any mont.
But thankfully, no one was there-no filthy tavern, no bartender... he was in his apartnt at the academy, surrounded only by familiar walls and the faint hum of the room's quiet devices.
"Oh, this again." Robin let his head fall back onto his leather chair, the soft surface sinking under his weight, placing both hands over his face as he tried to calm himself down and gather his scattered thoughts.
...This was the year 570 After Coronation. Ten long years had passed since his ti in that wooden barn, a decade filled with decisions, burdens, and responsibilities that had reshaped entire regions.
On that day, Robin laid the foundations for four different things-each one capable of supporting a great power on its own and shifting the balance of the
world.
First, sending the manuscripts to Zara... second, spreading the Body Path... third, establishing the Fifth Division of the Guard... and fourth, founding the Stellar Academy, a monuntal leap for the entire Empire.
On that day, Robin decided to abandon the phase of building foundations and to enter the next curve of his grand plan with full force-the phase of expanding influence through power, reach, and undeniable presence.
On that day, Robin decided he wanted to fly instead of climbing the ladder step by step, wanting to leap forward rather than crawl at the pace expected of him. And from that sa day, that horrible tightness began appearing in his chest, a pressure that grew heavier with each passing month. Even worse, a series of strange nightmares began to haunt him without rcy.
Nightmares filled with death, destruction, and terrible news-nightmares where the main figure was often that black-eyed person, always watching, always standing in the ruins.
Who was he? From his words, his appearance, his aura... there was only one individual who matched those traits. But Robin didn't like thinking about it, didn't want to confront that possibility even in his thoughts.
"...." Robin clutched his chest tightly, fingers trembling slightly, then closed his eyes and began taking slow, steady breaths, calming both his body and his soul. Eventually, "Hoooh~" he released a long exhale and looked forward again. In front of him was the inscription for the fifth cultivation path-no... the engraving for the sixth cultivation path, glowing faintly as if waiting for him to take the next step.
During those ten years, Robin tried to push himself to reach the sixth cultivation path quickly and help humanity catch up, and indeed he ca up with several ideas he began experinting with, so promising, so
dangerous...
But-
"A little change of atmosphere won't hurt." Robin shut his eyes imdiately, deciding to flee to another world before another nightmare arrived and
crushed whatever calm he had left.
Soul Society-
"Hooo~" Robin's soul finally began to calm down inside the ditation
chamber, the ambient spiritual glow settling like mist.
"Lord! Lord! You finally ca!" the fairy appeared, bursting into view with excitent, spinning eagerly around Robin's head, "You've been gone for fifteen
years!! Fifteen whole years!"
"...I had important matters to handle," Robin sighed, then opened his eyes slowly. "Timari, show the profits tab."
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