Published at 19th of August 2026 6:37 am

Chapter 2343: THE center

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"...You can enjoy whatever remains of your breakthrough." Robin spoke with remarkable calmness, his voice showing neither anger nor disappointment, as he cast one final glance at the torn threads floating around Hedrick before calmly preparing to leave as though the matter had already been settled in his mind.

"Wait right there!"

Hedrick immediately rose to his feet despite the ongoing breakthrough, anger plainly written across his face as he instinctively stopped Robin from taking another step.

"Ending our partnership isn’t something you get to decide on your own out of a fit of arrogance. I won’t allow it. Neither your objective nor mine has been accomplished yet, so you don’t have the right to simply declare everything over because you feel like it."

"Of course I can." Robin flashed a broad smile without slowing his pace in the slightest. "There was never any written agreement or spoken oath between us. It was a verbal arrangement: I benefit you, and you benefit me. But if my partner is drowning in his own fantasies, refuses to acknowledge reality no matter how many clues are placed before him, then he has nothing left to offer me. Stay here with your dreams if that’s what you prefer."

"And this ’reality’ is that I’m nothing more than a living weapon, and that there are copies of me?!" Hedrick swung his arm forcefully through the air, unable to hide the irritation in his voice. "Who in all of existence would accept such nonsense the moment they heard it without treating it as a joke?"

"All you had to do was ask for evidence and go along with my reasoning so we could think it through out loud together instead of rejecting everything before the discussion even began. I have every right to know whether my supposed partner is nothing more than an enhanced weapon that can be brought back under control at any moment, just like your Second Row Scions brothers." Robin shrugged before locking eyes with Hedrick without the slightest hesitation. "Instead, you chose to insult me, dismiss everything I said, and throw me out. So how exactly do you see me?"

"...." Hedrick looked Robin up and down with undisguised contempt before forcing an obviously artificial smile onto his face. "I’ll think about what you’ve said. Once I finish my breakthrough, let’s meet again and discuss all of this in greater detail. We’ll figure out this business about weapons, cloned brothers, and every other fascinating theory you’ve managed to come up with."

"Hehehe..." Robin began to laugh quietly, his shoulders trembling ever so slightly. "I think that answers my question perfectly. You see me as a child with far too much free time who enjoys making up absurd stories. Oh... that’s dangerous..." He then tilted his head slightly, his smile remaining exactly the same. "And insulting."

"What do you want now, Robin?" Hedrick raised his voice slightly, trying to suppress the irritation that continued building inside him. "You want to end the partnership? Fine—but not now." He continued in a serious tone that left little room for argument, "Wait until I finish my breakthrough and come out. I’ll repay the help you’ve given me throughout all these years so that neither of us owes the other anything, and after that, each of us can go our separate ways without any unfinished business remaining between us." Then a puzzled expression briefly crossed his face as though a thought had suddenly occurred to him. "By the way, how did Drace even allow you to get this close to me?"

"....." Robin stared into Hedrick’s eyes for several long seconds without saying a word... he was completely serious.

For a brief moment, he had thought Hedrick had called him back because he instinctively felt that something important would be lost forever if the partnership were severed at this moment. In reality, Hedrick simply didn’t want the partnership to end while he was still the one carrying an unpaid debt between them, and that realization answered far more questions than Robin had expected.

"I’ve always admired your personality, Hedrick." Robin nodded before beginning to stroll around in slow circles once again as though resuming an ordinary conversation. "You’re straightforward, stubborn, fearless in front of anyone regardless of their status or strength. You can turn from friend to enemy in an instant if someone insults your dignity. You take orders from no one, and you never do anything unless you’re completely convinced of it yourself. You built a Millennial Empire from absolutely nothing, and you did it with almost no effort, simply as a way of repaying Kaylis for a favor... you’re remarkable, and I genuinely appreciate that for one reason."

He then pointed at himself. "Because I know very well that if I were only pursuing power and nothing else, if strength alone were my destination, I’d be exactly like you." Then he slowly lowered his finger while maintaining eye contact. "But you have one flaw."

"...?" Hedrick frowned slightly at the sudden shift in the conversation, momentarily forgetting the argument from before. "And what flaw would that be?"

"You see yourself as the main character." Robin slowly shook his head. "You’re not."

"Haha, is that so?" Hedrick laughed proudly, his laughter carrying not the slightest trace of embarrassment. To him, that so-called "problem" was nothing short of praise, a recognition that he possessed the confidence and ambition expected of someone destined to stand above everyone else.

"It’s absolutely true." Robin nodded without hesitation. "Every one of us is the protagonist of our own story, and I understand that completely. Everyone has dreams they pursue, enemies they struggle against, friends they cherish, a beginning that shaped them, and an ending waiting somewhere ahead. But some people understand the limits of their own importance within the greater picture... and then there’s you." Robin gestured toward him with a slight movement of his head. "You don’t just believe you’re the protagonist of your own story. You believe you’re the legendary hero who will shatter every convention ever established, overthrow the tyrannical father with your own hands, and have the entire universe rise to its feet, applauding your victory as though it had been waiting for you all along."

He continued, "Even our alliance was proof of it. You couldn’t accept that the Seer had reached out to me instead of you, so you deliberately tried to get close to me in order to reach him. You wanted to prove that you were better, that you were the wiser choice to receive his support, and that he had been mistaken to place his attention on anyone other than the hero standing before him."

"Oh, are we having a psychology lesson now?" The artificial smile on Hedrick’s face grew even stranger as he narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression filled with unconcealed ridicule. "Go on. Analyze me some more. Get everything off your chest while you’re at it."

"....." Robin furrowed his brows deeply, his expression growing noticeably more serious.

The look in Hedrick’s eyes was one of pure contempt, like a millionaire looking down on a beggar who was trying to lecture him about investments for the next hundred years, utterly convinced that not a single word coming from the other party deserved genuine consideration.

"...You really are beyond saving. Speaking to you rationally won’t accomplish anything." Robin stared at Hedrick’s face in genuine astonishment, as though only now realizing the depth of the problem before him. "You genuinely believe you’re the center of the universe, don’t you? That’s fascinating. Why? What exactly gave you that idea? What made you so certain that everything inevitably revolves around you? Even your talent turned out to be artificial."

"You’re far too young to understand any of this." Hedrick slowly shook his head, speaking with the confidence of someone addressing a naïve junior. "Unfortunately, the word ’partnership’ between us gave you the illusion that we stood on equal footing, which is why you speak to me this way. And unfortunately, I was forced to accept help from your subordinates and your wealth on more than one occasion. That left me indebted to you and forced me to sit through a discussion like this instead of ending it immediately. That was my second mistake."

He then looked directly at Robin with complete seriousness, his tone becoming calmer than before. "I thought I’d have the opportunity to repay all of that and more after my breakthrough, then continue this pleasant partnership of ours—a partnership built on wealth and status, where each side benefited from the other. But unfortunately, you were far too impatient and ended up losing me. You said it yourself: the partnership is over, and my pride won’t allow me to remain your ally even if you came back begging me. But your favor will be repaid, and the debt between us will disappear once I’m finished. At the very least, I’ll fulfill my side of the agreement and ensure Nihari’s ascension after my own."

"Heh~" Robin gently shook his head, his expression remaining surprisingly relaxed. "That won’t be necessary. Whether you’re there or not won’t make any difference whatsoever. I alone am enough to ensure Nihari’s ascension."

"Haha, really?" Hedrick burst into loud laughter, unable to hide the amusement in his voice. "Even I’m having trouble dealing with Verilion despite my strength, yet you’re saying you’ll protect Nihari all by yourself? That’s quite the confidence."

"Yes. Do you know why?" Robin tilted his head slightly, his eyes never leaving Hedrick’s. "Because I represent everything you’ve always dreamed of becoming... I AM the center of this universe."

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