Lord of the Truth

"…Come here, come here, I have a question about your Master's wives." Morgana gestured for Jabba to come closer, lowering her voice into a secretive whisper.

"The Master's wives?" Jabba furrowed his brows in mild confusion, then scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "…You couldn't find literally anyone else to ask?"

"Why? What's wrong with asking you?" Morgana retorted sharply, narrowing her eyes, clearly irritated by his reaction. "He's your Master. Surely you have some insider information."

"Ugh, that's a long story…" Jabba sighed heavily, leaning closer as if preparing to unload something unpleasant. "Anyway, the Master only ever had one wife, and she was killed… in a very terrible, brutal way. Really awful. Why are you asking?"

"How terrible are we talking?" Morgana pressed further, tilting her head in curiosity. "Was he the one who killed her?"

"…No, absolutely not." Jabba shook his head firmly. "His city was attacked while he was away. She chased after him into enemy territory without telling anyone, hoping she'd be safer near him. Instead, she ended up surrounded… and she died there before she could even reach him. The Master didn't learn about her death until twenty whole years after the incident." Jabba exhaled slowly, deciding to spare her the ugliest details. And in that moment, the memory of Richard's hysterical laughter that day flickered painfully in his mind.

"Oh… then he isn't to blame at all," Morgana murmured, frowning. "How could he prevent something he didn't even know was happening? Still… why hasn't he remarried? He's a man; surely he has needs like all men do! …Did he love her that deeply?"

"Ugh, I don't really know about that…" Jabba scratched his head again. "I've heard plenty of stories about how he met Lady Mila. Apparently, there wasn't any love between them at all—not until close to the wedding. Their marriage was arranged as a diplomatic move between big families. I mean, sure, he did love her after the marriage… but before that, he never intended to marry anyone in the first place. Before her, he lived roughly a century and a half without a wife too… so I doubt he thinks about it much."

"I see…" Morgana muttered thoughtfully, absentmindedly biting her finger.

"Hey, why are you asking all this anyway?" Jabba nudged her shoulder twice with a mischievous grin. "What exactly are you plotting?"

"Just… general knowledge." Morgana smiled innocently—far too innocently. "By the way, you said he eventually loved her, right? So… what did she look like?"

"I've never seen her with my own eyes," Jabba admitted. "I don't really know how she looked in person. But everyone says she was both a warrior and a businesswoman. Trained to lead a massive family… yet she still managed to be gentle and kind to the Master." He tapped his lower lip in thought.

"Of course any woman would be gentle with a husband like that!" Morgana snapped, then angrily pinched Jabba's shoulder. "I'm asking about her appearance! Was she slim or curvy? Tall or short? Did she look like a young girl or more mature?"

"Argh, I've seen a few paintings of her…" Jabba rubbed between his brows. "But I don't feel comfortable describing my dead Master's wife. How am I supposed to describe something like that to you!"

Then he paused… looked Morgana up and down slowly… and sighed, "Honestly? She wasn't too different from you. Just a little shorter."

"Really?!" Morgana's eyes widened to their absolute limit, sparkling with triumphant joy. She quickly turned away, muttering to herself, "…Then why did he call my current form 'old' if he's into mature women?"

"Hey… what exactly are you planning? Share it with me," Jabba insisted, poking her shoulder again with rising curiosity.

"Silence. I told you—it's just general information." Morgana waved him off several times, then abruptly switched to a bright smile. "Anyway, congratulations on obtaining the Master Laws."

"Haha! Thank you, thank you. And congratulations on receiving the Soul Atlas, and that Royal Star Compression Efficiency-Split Technique!" Jabba puffed out his chest proudly, laughing loudly. "Judging from how you two described them, our gifts aren't all that different, hmm?"

"His Majesty granted me the chance to reach strength I never dreamed of achieving," Morgana replied, lightly shaking her head. "I'm sincerely grateful… but nothing can be compared to a Master Law." She lifted her brow teasingly at him, smiling. "So then… what exactly did you obtain?"

Jabba slowly returned to sit beside the massive, towering metallic slabs, letting his fingers glide gently across their cold surfaces. "First Stage of Balance and First Stage of Creation…" he murmured with a mixture of disbelief and awe. "Honestly, I still can't fully comprehend what a Master Law truly represents in the grand scheme of things… but I think—no, I'm almost certain—they stand on the exact same level as the Master Law of Truth itself. And… I've witnessed their effects with my very own eyes." His voice trembled slightly. "I still can't believe someone like me is allowed to peer into what's hidden inside them… The Master is unbelievably generous, as always."

"One man possessing Truth, Creation, and Balance…" Morgana's brows trembled, her expression conflicted, then she exhaled deeply. "Even if he only has the first stages of creation and balance… something like this has never, ever been recorded in the long history of the universe." She bit her lip. "…Is that what he used to snatch me back from certain death? What kind of monster—no… what kind of magnificent man is he?"

She narrowed her eyes and turned toward the metallic slabs once more. "So what about the third one?"

"What third one?" Jabba blinked slowly, still wearing the dreamy expression of someone intoxicated by possibility.

"There are three identical slabs right in front of you," Morgana said, tapping her foot impatiently. "And I distinctly heard His Majesty instruct you to extract an application from the three master laws. So what is the third one supposed to be?" She placed a hand on her hip. "Do you think I'm blind? Trying to keep secrets from me? We're supposed to be allies in this."

"No, no, you're misunderstanding something for sure," Jabba stammered, waving his hands frantically. "The Master clearly said two. We only saw him use two! Didn't we?" He raised two fingers defensively.

"You're mocking me again?" Morgana leaned down sharply. "Count. The. Slabs!"

"Haha, pointless…" Jabba scoffed, though sweat formed on his forehead, "Do you take me for a child who can't count?" Still, he reached out and began counting anyway. "One… two… th—three?"

"One, two, three… one, two, three?!" Jabba started separating the slabs frantically, eyes widening with every passing moment. Then he turned toward Morgana, face pale. "Why are there three of them?!"

"Why are you asking me?" Morgana spread her arms in frustration. "You and that other mule heard the instructions and looked at the same slabs I did, yet your stubborn skulls only saw two and only heard two. What is wrong with both of you?!"

"Could it be that this is also…?" Jabba shook his head violently. "No, no… Something's off. Maybe he handed us a new technique, or a puzzle, or something he wants solved…" His heartbeat raced.

Hoooo…

Jabba drew in a long breath and pushed his soul sense slowly into the first slab. Then he yanked it out, eyes squinting. "This one's titled Balance." He immediately inserted his soul sense into the second slab. "And this one is Creation."

"Ugh…" He groaned, gripping his head as torrents of structured, complex information surged into his mind from both slabs before he forcefully severed the connection with visible effort. Still clutching his temples, he cautiously extended his soul sense into the third.

BWAAAAAAAAAM!

Jabba jerked backward violently as though struck by lightning. His soul sense recoiled like a snapped cord, and he tumbled backward, landing on his rear, eyes trembling uncontrollably, breath shaky. "T-This… this is M–Master Sp–Space-Time?!" He could barely form the words.

"The Master Law of Space-Time?!" Morgana's eyes widened to their absolute limits, heart thundering inside her chest. "Doesn't that make them four in total?! His Majesty possesses four Master Laws?!" Her voice cracked with disbelief.

Slowly, Morgana's head turned toward the sealed room Robin and Shaddad disappeared into. Her gaze quivered, pupils shaking, her voice dropping into a terrified whisper. "…Just who are you exactly… Lord Robin…?"

And instantly—from behind the sealed door—Robin's voice roared back:

"GHYAAAAAAAAAAAA—!!"