"Are you tired?"
Lucian asked Robin, standing beside him—his voice echoed across the fading winds of the ruined wasteland, calm and unshaken.
"No, not at all..."
Robin replied while wiping the sweat from her forehead—strands of hair clung to her cheeks, and the wings behind her ears were dusted with ash, but she shook her head hard.
"I'm glad the kids... they're finally all settled."
As she spoke, Robin looked toward the distant school building—still perfectly intact thanks to Lucian's protection.
Several days had passed since Lucian obliterated one of the warring factions, and now, the new teacher had already taken over and was caring for the children in the ruined school building.
In the classroom, faint voices of children singing the song Robin had taught them drifted out, a fragile melody that clashed with the broken ruins around it.
"Father..." Robin hesitated, then instinctively hooked her arm around Lucian's. "Has the war... really stopped?"
Even though she wasn't sure, she could feel that the suffocating tension in the air had finally vanished, replaced by the silence of a world that had barely survived.
"Yeah, it's over..." Lucian replied while drinking a cup of pleasantly fragrant tea he took out of nowhere while standing, looking like some rich man on vacation. "Well, this face of mine still carries some weight among the stars. I told them to stop fighting, give me some respect—and they actually did. One side even moved out."
He didn't elaborate on the details, just threw out the line like a joke.
However, since Robin had grown up and was also born intelligent, she could easily read between the lines.
'Moved out...' Robin pondered thoughtfully. 'Father probably wiped one side out completely, right...?'
Indeed, no matter how she thought about it, only something like that could end a long-standing war so suddenly.
"At least the innocent children won't have to suffer anymore..."
Robin spoke with a smile as she glanced at Lucian, having already made peace with it.
In the first place, she never expected a perfect ending, so this was good enough.
"I thought you'd call me evil." Lucian turned his head slightly, a faint smile curving his lips for just an instant. "I mean, the peace I brought reeked of iron and blood, not sunshine and rainbows."
"Of course not!" Robin instantly protested. "I'm not some naive little girl anymore. Even the Aeons can't create perfect peace—I've never expected that. Father, the way you saved countless lives so quickly is something amazing and something to be proud of. I admire you, and I am proud of you. How could I ever call you evil?"
Right after saying this, she hugged Lucian's arm, resting her head on his shoulder—her current pose truly fit the phrase 'like a little bird seeking shelter' perfectly.
Hearing such a passionate protest, Lucian chuckled and reached out to stroke Robin's cheek.
"Alright, c'mon." Lucian said as he turned away, causing the hem of his black coat to cut a sharp line through the dry wind. "There are still many weak ones on this planet waiting for you to save."
Hearing this, Robin took one last look at the school.
In the window's reflection, she saw the children's faint, moving silhouettes, and among them, a slightly older boy seemed to notice them, then waved with all his might, his lips forming the words: 'Goodbye, teacher.'
Seeing this, that familiar sting rose in Robin's throat again, but she swallowed hard and hurried after Lucian's silent, steady back.
===
As the wind picked up dust and sand, scattering it across the ruins with a whispering wail, both Lucian and Robin reached the edge of a scorched street.
However, just as they took a step out of the scorched street, a spaceship bearing a massive logo that read 'Heavenly Voice Entertainment' slammed down in front of them—the blast from its engines was almost scorching.
Soon, as the spaceship hatch slid open, a man in a sleek silver suit, his hair slicked back with oil, nearly tumbled out, his face twisted into an exaggerated grin.
"Miss Robin! Mr. Lucian! Finally found you! I saw your footage on Interastral News and came right away!"
As he spoke, the man's voice was sharp and trembling with flattery, truly the epitome of a bootlicker.
"My name is Jack, the talent director of Heavenly Voice Entertainment!"
"And by the way, the video of you helping the refugees on this planet—so full of human compassion—has gone viral across the Interastral Network! Over ten billion views!"
"You two are born for the stage! Angels of peace!"
Jack turned to Lucian, eyes gleaming like he was staring at a walking mountain of credits.
"Look at this setting! So rich with story! So perfect to highlight your holy aura! I already have the next concert's theme: 'Heavenly Voices in the Ruins—Hope Reborn from War!' It's absolutely—"
Before Jack could finish, however, Lucian interrupted.
"Three seconds—leave, or stay here forever."
Lucian's tone was flat, his gaze never even turning toward the man, yet it hit like a bucket of ice water.
"Eh?" Jack's grin froze. "But Mr. Lucian, this could be a great chance to bring publicity to Penacony! I think—"
"Don't turn other people's suffering into your damn backdrop."
Lucian cut Jack's words off, and his indifferent eyes finally met Jack's.
Even though there was no emotion in them, Jack instantly felt as if an invisible hand had closed around his throat, which caused his words to catch, cold sweat trickling down his back.
"B-But... It's a chance for intergalactic fame! I mean, the whole galaxy—the entire cosmos—watching!" Jack stammered, forcing the words out, then turned to Robin. "Miss Robin, your voice deserves to be heard by—"
"My voice..." Robin stepped forward to stand beside Lucian, interrupting softly. "My voice is only meant for those who need it."
As she watched Jack's face crumble upon hearing her words, Robin immediately added, "Like the children in the ruins or maybe the next refugee camp, but definitely not your 'themed concert.'"
Hearing Robin's words, Lucian said nothing more and simply continued walking.
Jack was shoved aside by an unseen force, stumbling back several steps before falling flat on his backside.
Hearing the spaceship's engines roaring uselessly, their noise irritating his ears, Lucian casually flicked his hand, and in that instant, the spaceship immediately exploded, reduced to junk.
"Three seconds are up."
Hearing Lucian's indifferent words and seeing his spaceship explode, Jack stood frozen amid the dust and wind.
All his carefully crafted words and dreams of stardom now lay shattered on the ground behind Lucian—worth even less than the rubble itself.
===
Several months passed by in a blink.
Lucian and Robin continued toward their next destination, boarding their spaceship to travel through the cosmos.
No matter where they went, the places they visited were always the same—gunfire, smoke, ruins, crying, despair, death, and then songs, before it was ended by the 'Emissary of Peace.'
It became a script replayed endlessly across various war-torn planets.
Lucian and Robin traveled together through the starry sea, reaching various corners torn apart by conflict, and day by day, the process grew simpler and simpler.
Robin had witnessed countless tragedies on various planets with her own eyes, yet her heart remained gentle and fearless, still aching and longing to rush to the terrified children whenever she saw their fearful eyes or heard their muffled sobs.
Lucian, however, always moved faster and far more directly.
"Father, over there..."
Robin pointed out of the window of the spaceship toward a planet shrouded in thick smoke, with flashes from space warship energy cannons firing all around the orbit.
"No need to rush. Just tell them to give you some respect, and it'll be over."
Lucian didn't even glance at the coordinates and merely sensed the chaotic flow of Imaginary energy.
In the next moment, their spaceship adjusted its course and jumped straight into the hottest part of the battlefield on the planet—appearing right between the two warring fleets.
As the public communication channel exploded with curses and frantic warnings between the two opposing sides, Lucian's voice soon came through the communication channel, sounding cold and absolute.
[Silence. Give Robin some respect. Cease fire immediately and maintain order on the surface.]
As soon as they heard the name 'Robin,' it was like thunder echoing through the void—both sides' command centers erupted in urgent chatter, and within minutes, they reached a ceasefire.
Right after, the ground troops suddenly received an unbelievable order—stop the war, clear a safe zone, and prepare to welcome Robin and her... Emissary of Peace.
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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