Published at 22nd of February 2026 7:14 am

Chapter 2021 The Emperors' intent

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"...Two souls?" Richard repeated, his expression hollow and shattered, as if he were standing at the very edge of collapse, his voice barely holding together. "What did you never suspect it?" Robin chuckled darkly. "Even if you were ignorant and no one ever taught you ethics, you still received proper education alongside Richard regarding power systems within the Burton family academies. My generals accompanied you for a long time as well, and soul force in particular was given heavy focus, because you need it to control nature the way you usually do. Your soul domain is ready to receive its first star and become a Royal Soul Master-so how could you not know something like this? You're not trying to lie to me, are you? Or deceive yourself?"

"I thought it was something that developed during the prison period-some kind of psychological defense mechanism so I wouldn't lose my mind." Richard replied loudly, his voice cracking. "Two personalities, even though I hate that term... or maybe something more like a soul trait! Something that formed to protect me!" He shook his head violently. "Are you sure about what you're saying? I-I mean, we-are two people?! Two separate existences?!"

"A soul trait doesn't give you another initial soul. That's not how things work." Robin stared at Richard for a few more seconds, his gaze heavy and piercing, then sighed deeply. "Listen, I know it's confusing, disorienting, and hard to accept-but this is the truth." He continued after a brief pause, his tone lowering, "...Do you have any idea about your first memory? The first time you managed to take control of Richard's body? The first time you shifted from polite, composed Richard into that street-kid persona you like so much?"

"..." Richard's features tightened again, his face contorting with inner conflict. His father- or perhaps he should say Robin Burton-was still treating him as a separate entity, as something distinct and independent.

But he said nothing. He sank into deep, heavy thought, drowning in memories. Then after a few minutes, he slowly began to nod. "I remember..." He then clasped his hands together and squeezed them hard, so tightly that a visible disturbance rippled through the surrounding energy. "I remember that day very well. Every second of it."

Robin could feel anger, resentment, hatred, and a terrifying killing intent condensing around his son's body, thick and suffocating. "What happened?" he asked quietly.

"....." Richard's body visibly shuddered, as if struck by an invisible blow. "It was..." His very eyes began to tremble violently. "It was a day... a normal day in my life back then... an ordinary day, until they came to harvest my limbs... as they called it back then... they wanted to send them as a gift to someone... for their family's interests, for their filthy alliances."

"....." Robin didn't speak, but his expression darkened horrifically, his face turning cold and monstrous.

He had heard reports about what happened to Richard, but he had always tried to forget them-forced himself to bury them deep. They were humiliating, degrading, and unbearably painful to even imagine.

In general, what he remembered was that Richard's flesh was tender and different from human flesh in Nihari due to his unique physical constitution. Because of that, his limbs were used as a source of premium meat. What made it even worse was that they already knew about Richard's ability to regenerate his limbs, his unnatural recovery.

So they would simply cut off his limbs and sell them as meat, then wait for him to regrow new ones-only to repeat the act again, calmly, methodically, like farmers harvesting crops.

Robin knew all of this. And that was precisely why he chose to build the Eternal Prison for the Azel tribe, where demons devour them alive, and the array beneath their feet regenerates their bodies so the cycle can repeat endlessly. He chose for them a punishment of the same kind as their crime-suffering for suffering, horror for horror.

"... What happened that day?" When he saw his son trembling, unable to continue, Robin clenched his teeth and spoke in a grave, iron-hard tone. "...Th-they went too far." Richard lowered his head even more, his voice breaking apart. "After cutting off my four limbs... one of them thought it would be a good idea to take a piece of my liver too, and he-he actually did it. He cut my abdomen open, shoved his hand inside, and tore out a large piece with his bare hands..." His voice shook violently. "L-left me enough to live... enough to stay conscious... enough to keep screaming... Or that what he thought."

Robin clenched the armrests with crushing force. An unnatural, inhuman coldness rose in his eyes, as if warmth itself had been erased from them. "...And then?"

"I-I was drenched it tear... soaked it pain... about to pass out... or die... I don't know... I don't remember..." Richard raised his hands and began pressing violently against his head, his fingers trembling. "Then... then I heard him... that giant... He laughed while holding my liver in his hands... He said the person they were sending the gift to... said he admired the woman's liver back at the p-party... said he would love the gift very much... love it more than any

treasure..."

Drip Drip

The trapped tears in Richard's eyes finally broke free and fell to the floor. "I-I don't know... in that moment... b-but something changed inside me... something snapped... m-my hair ignited and my behavior changed... the screams of pain turned into screams of rage... into howls of hatred... T- that day, I used the Flame of Life for the first time to drain the life force of that giant... then everyone else in that room... every single one of them..."

He pressed harder against his head, his body shaking. "I-I don't know how I did it. My gentle green flames that I was taught to use only for healing... only for restoration... I j-just imagined them harming instead. I imagined them consuming their life energy to heal myself-using their existence as fuel-so I could stand up, so I could move, so I could strangle them to death... and it happened. Exactly as I imagined."

Then he lifted his tear-filled eyes toward Robin. "I-I am not a disease!! I only changed a little that day... I was forced to change... but I'm not a disease! I'm not a stranger! I'm not a parasite! I'm not someone else!! I-"

At that moment, Richard's crying eyes turned into complete shock and frozen disbelief.

Until now, he hadn't noticed the changes in his father... nor the changes around them, so deeply immersed he was in his memories, drowning in his past,

trapped inside his own trauma.

In his father's eyes, he saw coldness.

He saw rage.

He saw blood.

It wasn't merely a desire to kill-it was a declaration of the end of existence

itself. In that moment, the air inside the room froze until it gained weight, pressing against their chests, suffocating their lungs, as if reality itself was bending under that will.

Richard felt a cold dagger driven into his spine. That killing intent wasn't directed at him, but its fragments alone were enough to make him feel like a

speck of dust before a cosmic hurricane, a grain of sand before an endless void.The noisy sounds of the academy outside faded away, dissolved into nothingness, replaced by a heavy, funerary silence, as if time itself had stopped

in reverence and fear.

Robin's expression was completely still-like a pool of water untouched by

wind for millions of years. But his aura... was the aura of a Celestial Emperor preparing to give the order to annihilate the universe and everything within it

without mercy.

Richard had always believed himself to be the one with the highest kill count in the empire, that no one could rival the savagery of his killing intent-an intent that, once revealed, could dominate battlefields and shatter enemies before

blades ever crossed.

But now-

Now, for the first time-

He saw true killing intent.

Killing intent that is carried out by a single word.

Killing intent that does not need violence to exist.

Killing intent that dominates reality itself. The killing intent of Emperors.

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