"Me?" Jabba pointed toward himself in bewilderment, eyes widening as if trying to make sense of what he'd just heard. Then he turned toward Robin, his tone half incredulous, half amused. "I'm this gentleman's gift?!"

"No, you're not," Robin replied flatly, his voice calm but firm. He shifted his gaze back toward the Cosmic Elder, his brows tightening with visible irritation. "Hey, focus on me, not over there. He came by mistake."

"What do you mean by mistake?!" the old man barked, his frail body jerking upright as if struck by lightning. He tried to stand but stumbled, then began hopping toward Jabba on one leg, his voice trembling with intensity. "Can't you see what's happening to this boy's body?! It's impossible!"

Then—

Shhhhhhkkk!

The sound tore through the air. The bandage wrapped around the old man's face split open, unraveling like burned paper and falling to the ground. What lay beneath made the air itself shiver: two empty, hollow sockets where his eyes should've been.

"Uhh... some help here?!" Jabba yelped, trying to back away, but the old man's thin, withered hand clutched his wrist with unnatural strength—stronger than anything that frail form should have been capable of.

And then… something began to change.

Jabba froze, staring into the gaping voids in shock. Within those dark hollows, two orbs began forming—slowly, eerily—until green light pulsed from within them. Two radiant eyes, glowing with ethereal emerald brilliance.

"...The Eyes of Truth?!" Jabba gasped.

"Ooooh!!" the old man let out a laugh that echoed across the island. His grin stretched unnaturally from ear to ear as he looked Jabba up and down. "Good boy… good boy! Haha! The heavens sent you to me! A perfect vessel! A blessed boy!!"

"A-ah… master! MASTER!!" Jabba shouted, panic rising in his voice as he tried to pull free.

"He is your master?" The old man turned sharply, releasing Jabba and facing Robin. "You accepted this boy as your disciple?"

"He's been my disciple long before you ever laid eyes on him," Robin answered, waving casually, though a flicker of warning crossed his gaze. "And he'll remain that way."

"Hmph, fine—then we'll share him," the elder said, still hopping closer on one leg. "Lend him to me for a few centuries, and you can have him back later. Seems fair enough, doesn't it?"

"No, thank you," Robin said dryly, shaking his head. "I'd rather not see him end up like you."

"Don't be so stubborn and narrow-minded!" the old man roared, and this time his voice thundered across the island, shaking the very stones beneath their feet. The weakness that had laced his tone moments ago vanished completely. He thrust his bony finger toward Jabba. "Are your fourth-grade golden eyes so useless that you can't see what I see right now?!"

He took a deep breath, the glow in his green eyes intensifying. "This boy… he possesses a natural affinity toward the Path of Balance—no, it's more than that! His body itself radiates Balance Energy! Even I, in all my youth and power, never possessed such a gift!" He turned sharply back to Robin, his voice almost reverent. "PLUS he is only at the first stage, with no patterns carved into his Energy gathering center's walls or soul domain, he can already begin learning the Master Law of Balance! This boy is no mere disciple— he's a miracle! A gift from the heavens themselves, sent for me to pass down my legacy!"

"This...?" Althera's expression softened, her eyes widening slightly as they returned to Jabba. She no longer saw him as a subordinate dragged along behind Robin—there was something different now, something that shimmered between awe and disbelief. She couldn't sense the affinity the Cosmic Elder spoke of, yet… if there was even a chance it was true…

Althera took a few slow steps toward Jabba, her tone trembling with wonder. "That's incredible... his very existence could change everything!"

Of course, imagining Jabba suddenly ascending to become a Sixth-Grade Master Law wielder capable of protecting the world was fantasy—wishful thinking at best. But that didn't matter. The plan didn't require such a miracle.

If the Cosmic Elder simply appeared publicly, declared Jabba his disciple, and allowed him to display even the first-stage form of Balance before the gathered Academies, then retreated again into secrecy—it would be enough.

Enough to silence the rumors, enough to restore unity.

At that point, no one would dare question the elder's physical frailty. The mere knowledge that the Cosmic Elder had taken on a successor—a living disciple training under him—would rekindle faith across the entire world. A new symbol. A new torchbearer for the coming era.

Would that alone stop the space beasts or the plague? Likely not. But it would be enough to bring the scattered Academies back together under one banner once again.

"Both of you, restrain yourselves," Robin said sharply, cutting through the tension like a blade. "Jabba didn't come here to be offered as a gift to this old man."

Then he turned to meet the elder's glowing green eyes head-on. His voice dropped, low but commanding. "And secondly—my apologies, but your vision isn't sharp enough to make such judgments. Jabba has no affinity toward Balance. He knows nothing about it."

"What nonsense are you speaking?" the elder barked, pointing behind him in frustration. "Forget my eyes—do you think I've gone mad and can no longer sense Balance Energy in a body?!"

"That's not affinity," Robin said firmly. His body began to radiate golden light, brighter and brighter until intricate patterns shimmered across his skin, forming divine runes of energy. He raised his hand slowly, and something began to take shape above his palm—

—a golden scale.

"Ah!!" The old man, in his burst of excitement, completely forgot that he only had a single leg. He tried to take a proud step back—only for his balance to betray him. With a graceless wobble and a startled grunt, he tumbled backward to the ground. Yet even as dust rose around him, he ignored the fall entirely, thrusting his trembling hand toward the radiant object before him. "That… that is…?!" he stammered, voice filled with disbelief and awe.

"Yeah, yeah," Robin replied nonchalantly, his tone light yet confident. "My encounter with you actually helped me accelerate my comprehension of the first stage of the Balance Law. Quite the productive meeting, wouldn't you say? Thanks, by the way." He smiled faintly, as if such a feat were nothing more than a trivial afterthought.

"…?!" Althera's pupils dilated. Her breath hitched. For a split second, even she instinctively tried to step backward, but her body froze mid-motion as if chained by shock.

Could it be…? Robin—this same man who wielded the Master Law of Truth—was also capable of using the Master Law of Balance?! Two Master forces… two laws that stood at the peak of creation, being wielded by one single being? Her mind struggled to process it. Such a thing defied every cosmic rule she had ever studied.

"Akhhh..." Shaddad's jaw hung open like a door unhinged, his expression glowing with childlike wonder. His eyes literally shimmered with stars—and if anyone looked closely, maybe even little hearts. "The big bro—no, the Great Brother can use the Master Law of Balance?! Is there anything he can't do?!" he muttered in pure worship, completely oblivious to the gravity of what had just occurred.

"This..." the old man whispered, eyes trembling as he continued to stare at the golden scale hovering before him. His frail voice cracked, caught between reverence and horror. "This color… that aura… the resonance in the air—it's the same one!! It's him!!"

Robin didn't need to ask who he meant. He knew instantly.

The elder was talking about that Balance Scale—the very one that had once robbed him of an arm, a leg, and nearly drained away the rest of his life force in its merciless demand for equilibrium.

"I hadn't discovered Balance back then," Robin said quietly, his tone dropping to a reflective calm. "I knew nothing of what happened, and I knew nothing of the color of my Balance energy now. Perhaps this is something special for the candidates. I truly don't know."

Then, with a slow exhale, the golden radiance that had engulfed his body began to fade. The shimmering runes dimmed one by one until only faint traces of light clung to his skin like the memory of a dying sun.

"I used Fair Exchange to save my disciple from death," he continued. "That's likely the residual Balance Energy you're sensing… nothing more."

The old man blinked, then let out a hoarse laugh that was half admiration, half despair.

"...You even managed to replicate a battle technique like Fair Exchange after seeing me perform it a single time?" His lips curved into a faint smile, but it was brittle—tinged with sadness rather than pride. "What a waste… a monumental, beautiful waste."

To him, Robin's talent was something that should have belonged to a Lord of Balance—someone destined to carry the perfect symmetry of the cosmos. Not a Lord of Truth, a path that seemed, to the elder, almost hollow and impractical compared to Balance. Yet fate had already decided otherwise.

That meant no matter how bright his potential, he would never progress beyond the first grade of Balance. Not truly. Perhaps that, the old man thought, was the cruelest irony of all—the kind of cosmic joke only the universe itself would find amusing.

The elder sighed deeply, the strength in his voice faltering once again. His glowing eyes dimmed slightly as he turned back toward Jabba, his tone weak yet resolute.

"...Even if his affinity toward Balance is false," he murmured, "I can still work with it. His body is compatible—it will absorb my teachings faster than anyone else's. He'll be the solution you came here searching for."

"Lord Robin," Althera finally spoke, this time her voice carrying a level of deference and earnestness it hadn't held before. Her gaze softened, almost pleading.

"Please, think of the cosmos—of its future. Leave your disciple here. You won't just be saving our worlds; you'll be giving him the chance to master a Master Law. Isn't that worth it? If compensation is what you need for the years he'll be away from you, the Academy will pay it in full. Name your price—twenty billion Pearls? Fifty billion, perhaps? Anything you desire!"

"Heh~" Robin sighed lightly, rubbing the bridge of his nose as though he were massaging away the headache of dealing with persistent fools. He tilted his head toward Jabba with a faint, teasing smirk.

"Hey, kid," he said casually, though there was a sharpness in his tone. "You want to learn the Master Law of Balance? Little spoiler for you: that law's foundation is sacrifice. Everything it grants you, it takes something in return. And if you walk far enough down that path…"

He tilted his chin toward the fallen elder.

"…you'll probably end up like him."

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