Chapter 26: 26. Judgement Awaits

“Why… are you so afraid of retribution if you believe your judgement is right?” Frost spat, watching the giant bird cower now under its veil of invulnerability.

The witnesses themselves did not move. They only stared and watched with passive eyes and a prejudice that did not belong to their hearts. Regardless, Jury was the first to enter the fray and slaughter them without any care. Each swing killed tens, leaving a plume of pale feathers to soon enshroud the entire forest.

The feathers never fell. They hovered in the air like softly glowing fireflies, illuminating this dark world with their light. When all 400 False Witnesses died, the light then shone towards the One Thousand Eyed Bird. It trembled in the spotlight, turning its face away in terror.

It was bizarre. The fight against the level 150 beast was like the retelling of a story more than anything else. While she did not know the extent of the tale of the Black Forest, she was painfully aware of the prejudice it exuded.

She wondered if all the battles with the Corrupted were like this. Demanding more of the mind than the body; and demanding more of the heart and soul than the mind.

Only 200 of the False Juries now separated them from claiming victory. The end was near for this oversized bird. It thrashed around, wreaking havoc in the forest as Frost rushed to the middle and jumped for the orbs.

“Too high! Jury –!”

“Bad!” She interjected, also unable to reach such a height.

The loss of the canopy overhead crossed out the avenue of dropping in from above. Frost, however, was quick to think and immediately grasped onto Jury’s wrist.

“I’m going to throw you up at them! Take down as many as you can!”

“GOOD!” She seemed to understand her intentions and also clasped onto Frost’s wrist. With a large windup and a couple of revolving twists, she heaved Jury up into the air with tremendous force. “EAAAAAAT!”

Her body twisted magnificently in the air. The acrobatics of the woman once again left Frost dumbfounded momentarily. Jury’s pale hair danced in the air as she unleashed a devastating combo.

“Bad, skewered! Bad! Bad s-stars!”

“Y-You can use your tail like that!? Aha… you never cease to impress me.”

Jury hadn’t fallen yet. She used her tail to latch herself onto a floating orb and use it to swing herself around like a pinball. From orb to orb, she moved with complex movement only suitable for a beast.

 

< [Biased Verdict] >

 

The wave of scorched trees was severed before they could even dream of sprouting any higher than Frost’s hip. Her situational awareness was honed to an omnipotent level. She was like a spider in the web that was the black forest, observing all that occurred without ever needing to face it.

Such was the power of the near one thousand eyes she possessed.

And speaking about eyes – it had been a long while since Jury was inflicted with Scrutiny. The stacks lessened proportionately with each False Jury that was destroyed. The end of the bird was inevitable, and Frost keenly awaited to pass her righteous judgement on this beast of prejudice.

 

< [Prejudice] >

 

The near eyeless bird couldn’t tell up from down any longer. Each dwindling eye further obscured its vision as more parts of the Black Forest disappeared. Frost could see the entire forest shrink as the distant trees disappeared from existence.

Only the flat plane existed beyond this little ruined section they had for themselves.

 

< [Prejudice] >

< [Prejudice] >

< [Prejudice] >

< [Prejudice] >

< [Prejudice] >

 

Frost could not feel any remorse for it. The beast still struggled to enact its false judgement upon them, and instead, ravaged all around it like the blinded blanket blame of an unjust law. It rolled, tumbled, and smashed its body rapidly against the ground in futile desperation as the light of the feathers continued to shine upon it.

It could no longer fight them. It seemed to be fighting ghosts more than anything.

“Tch. How can you still be so blind to not realize what you’re doing!?” Frost’s words were as futile as the bird’s struggles.

“Frost… The Corrupted cannot help it or be reasoned with. Jury is the only exception because you granted her your Blessing, thus, turning her into an Original.”

“I know that. I’m painfully aware of that! But I can’t stop blurting out this nonsense! This… all of this – I don’t understand it! Any of it! All I know is that I must judge that thing!” It pained Frost knowing that she could not easily control her emotions.

But in the context of battle; these overwhelming emotions were a weapon more than anything else. They drove her heart ever forward to enact the one thing that would save them from this hell.

“Something inside of me is screaming out loud! This heat in my chest – this pain – this drive – No… I- I realize it now looking at that ball of prejudice!

I must enact judgement upon it!”

 

< The Second State Has Manifested as Judgement >

 

< Skills with the Judgement Affinity are empowered. Only skills from Corrupted with the Judgement Affinity may be selected for the second state >

 

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< Frost… what… am I reading? It implies that affinities of the corrupted exist. This – this is entirely unheard of! This Corrupted must be affiliated with ‘judgement’ somehow! >

 

“Born… from the notion of Judgement somehow. With the prejudice it wields – with the prejudice it tried to enact on us –!” Frost caught Jury on the way down and flung her straight up again, shouting: “– It makes it look obvious in hindsight!”

Jury made quick work of the last 200 False Juries as Frost’s emotions continued to soar to greater heights. The adrenaline that ran through her veins could not be called ‘adrenaline’. It was an infusion of pure will.

The hailstorm of their shattered remains and the glow of the feathers turning this forest into cold nightmare before all ceased. Frost immediately attempted to enact judgement as soon as the final orb shattered.

“Enact – ENACT JUDGE –!”

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

However, the battle was still not over yet.

It had only just reached its final act as the last of its alibies were created by the pulsating shards, turning them into an even split of Accusers and Witnesses. They were going to finish it here and now. Frost and Jury prepared to claim the lives of these final 200 false beasts until suddenly –

Frost’s eyes widened in shock.

“JURY! QUICKLY!” She yelled out at the top of her lungs as she snatched the woman’s arm.

 Her desperate command instantly enraptured Jury as they fled towards the only source of cover available which were the felled forest of logs.

“IT’S GOING TO UNLEASH A MASSIVE ATTACK!”

“Frost!?” Jury laid low behind the log right beside her.

Frost’s foresight picked up an attack that she couldn’t pretend they could withstand. The number of trees it felled finally made sense to her. While in part she still believed it was a mindless struggle, the other part of her saw it as a last-ditch effort to maximize the effectiveness of its next attack.

What Frost saw was a storm of thorns. So many thorns in fact that she could have sworn she saw a jagged wall rapidly approach them.

This attack was what Frost believed to be its trump card.

 

< [Hysteria] >

 

A unified scream that came from everywhere in the forest blared like an air-raid siren. The sound alone induced panic and chiseled at their mind piece by piece. Jury clutched dearly onto Frost, suffering from the sound the most. Frost grit her teeth till she drew blood and resisted it with all her might.

She covered the woman’s fluffy ears with her hands, hoping to drown out the sound as she endured it for Jury’s sake.

“HURT! HURT! FROST! JURY HURT!” She wailed, contorting in agony.

“Just… [Greater Healing]! [Cure Disease]! [Area Healing]! [Cleanse]! Hold on… for just a little longer! We’re almost there!” As expected, none of these managed to alleviate her pain.

Healing magic had its limitations. It could not directly interfere with the source that caused damage or pain, and it couldn’t alleviate pain either unless it was caused by the wound or injury that was being healed.

That being said –

– The One Thousand Eyed Bird ejected all its countless thorns in every direction like a bomb when the sound died out. The wind was ravaged by the bullet-like projectiles as they passed overhead with a monstrous scream.

The False Witnesses and the False Accusers were struck down and impaled with so many thorns that they instantly became a black and white ball of spikes. These masses rolled around, accumulating more of the thorns as Frost clutched onto Jury protectively.

The tree they hid behind rattled so fiercely that her organs felt like they were being displaced and rearranged.

When the screams died out and the thorns subsided – Frost peered above at the final 200 enemies standing between them and the shrinking silhouette of the fleeing One Thousand Eyed Bird.

“… you coward… Where – WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING!?” Frost roared, crushing part of the log with her iron grip.

 

 

< Frost! Do not enact judgement! These are its scapegoats! You only get one shot at enacting judgement! Everything here is considered the skewered beast! Don’t let it confuse you! >

 

“Tch. Scapegoats… Don’t make me laugh. So it purposefully hung its alibies up to dry!?” Frost spat, enraged by this very depiction of betrayal. “Jury… Jury.” Her tone mellowed when she spoke to her dear friend. “Can you still stand?”

Jury limped a little as she helped her up onto her feet. Other than that, she seemed fine. Her HP hadn’t dropped either and the System did not report of any negative conditions.

“H-Hurt… Jury good. Skewered beast hurt jury.” Jury tried to reassure her with a small nod. “Frost skewer the bad beast?”

“Yeah. We’re going to chase after that thing and skewer it.” Frost returned the nod and reached up to touch the woman’s ears, hoping that she was still ok. “… I’ll never forgive it. Aren’t you hurt enough being trapped in here, Jury?”

She tilted her head innocently, wondering what she even meant by that. It nearly caused her to laugh. But the sadness in that never allowed her to smile in response.

In the end she could only sigh and pat her head, relieved that she was fine.

“Never mind. 200 is all that separates us from it. The feathers still shine their light in its direction. Jury. System – Let’s finish this. The scapegoats are weak. And the One Thousand Eyed Bird is weaker.”

She noticed a pale stake among the sea of thorns and prepared herself for the finale.

“Let me skewer you like how I was skewered. Let me judge you like how I was judged. Let me end the tale of this Black Forest.”

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