The trial was about to end. In its final monts, Cheng Shi surveyed the scene and suddenly understood what this trial's title ant.
No Judgnt Required!
'What an apt na!'
Indeed—in this absurd chapter of history, no one had actually committed a cri. Naturally, no judgnt was needed.
The Grand Justice had rightly questioned his own faith. The Grand Investigator had "voluntarily confessed" and uncovered the truth. Chernosly hadn't blasphed the real Order. Even Moxius hadn't betrayed his senior as the historical records claid.
No one was guilty—yet everyone bore the stigma of guilt.
Katouting, the city most brilliantly illuminated by Order, had produced the most chaotic and twisted events imaginable. How absurd!
And yet it all made perfect sense. Because Order had never been Order—it was the unspeakable Chaos. What shone upon Katouting had never been the radiance of Order, but the murky glow of Chaos.
But... was Chaos wrong?
No. Also no!
It had pleased itself with the most extre chaos while doing its best to preserve Order's domain. Though those in power all knew the truth, the common people basking in Order's light—how could they know of such filthy, sordid things?
As long as the laws remained, as long as justice endured—could dirt unseen truly be called dirt?
'Look—in this city that sings praises to Order, order is flourishing.'
Big Cat and the Dragon King had clearly reached the sa conclusion. Both churned with silent thoughts, expressions shifting.
Cheng Shi smiled suddenly. He lifted his gaze to the horizon, watching the dawn break through the mist and rise above the skyline, piercing through layers of haze to illuminate the three-tiered Prologue Holy Mountain behind them. A cold smirk touched his lips.
'Today will be another day of Order.'
'What more is there to say? Praise be to Order.'
He withdrew his gaze and looked at Chernosly one last ti—but this ti, he had no intention of offering further guidance. He'd guessed that no matter what he did, Fate would steer this First-Class Inquisitor toward Chaos.
But the irony was: the one actually trying to get close to Chaos was Deceit.
'Void... is truly absurd.'
He shook his head with a wry smile. Hidden from the others, he quietly touched the shadow beneath his feet. Ti slowly froze in that mont. The dawn's glow draped perfectly over the entire Prologue Holy Mountain.
And the trial finally reached its last second. Every player's vision gradually faded to black.
[Wish Trial (No Judgnt Required — Prosperity) Challenge Successful]
[Evaluating performance and calculating rewards...]
[Player: Cheng Shi — Performance Rating: S]
[Item obtained: Nature Hocoming Contract (A) x1]
[Item obtained: Tree Spirit Prayer Contract (A) x1]
[Item obtained: Mini Gavel Toy (C) x1]
[Item obtained: Thorn Weeping Rite (SS) x1]
[Road to Ascension:
20]
[Ladder of Ascent:
3]
[Current Road to Ascension score: 2,224 — Global Rank: 370,224]
[Current Ladder of Ascent score: 178 — Path Rank: 33]
[Trial complete. Exiting...]
...
When all three players vanished from Chernosly's sight, he stood dazed, staring at where they'd been—at the morning light draping the Prologue Holy Mountain. His mind was a whirlpool of confusion.
Just then, the Grand Investigator who'd never woken finally regained consciousness after being freed from her Order shackles. The instant her eyes opened, she cried out in anguish: "La Quis, no!"
Chernosly jumped. He spun around—and saw that his teacher, who'd been lying motionless in his arms monts ago, had sohow picked up a sharp stone shard and was driving it straight at his own throat.
His expression was one of absolute resolve. But his eyes—they were so dim, so despairing.
Chernosly was stunned. Perhaps the chaos still rattling his brain, perhaps the dreamlike quality of everything around him—in the first instant of witnessing this, he didn't rush to save his teacher. Instead, he furrowed his brow, as if trying to process what he was seeing.
And that single mont of distraction—a spray of hot blood spurted with a hiss, splattering across his face.
Vivid, stinging red trickled down, framing his already crimson eyes. In the amber glow of dawn, the droplets transford this Order's Son into sothing resembling a demon from hell.
He snapped awake. He grabbed his teacher's hand, tried to speak, but his lips moved soundlessly—only choked sobs escaped. His entire body shook. Terror crashed over his soul like a tsunami. In his eyes, what had died in his arms wasn't an old man—it was the very thing the Grand Tribunal would never possess again:
Justice.
La Quis died just like that. He hadn't wanted to leave a single word.
Lid Yara was likewise shaken by his decisiveness. But as the Grand Investigator, she was far steadier than Chernosly. She opened her mouth as if to comfort him, then reconsidered.
She turned to follow the morning light toward Katouting—that scale-like city suspended between three mountains—and sighed:
"Chernosly. Leave. Leave this place. You no longer belong here... and here no longer belongs to you."
Chernosly collapsed over his teacher's body, weeping silently. In that mont, the bewildered terror deepened with her words.
"Grief and mourning can trap a person. Faith and devotion can trap a person. Since everything is a siege, since the world is full of snares... then cast them away.
Cast away the sorrow. Abandon the devotion. Beco soone new.
Chernosly—your teacher would be proud of your rebirth."
He sat up, choking on tears. His eyes were hollow as he looked at the forr Grand Investigator—once one of the supre six—and whispered: "Then... what about you... Lady Lid Yara... will you..."
"?" She shook her head with a bitter smile, then her expression shifted from shadow to steel. She fixed her gaze on Katouting, on those rooftops and walls gleaming under "Order's" light, and spoke with precise, resolute weight:
"I'm different from your teacher. I'm more stubborn than him. So before I die—I must see the Order I believe in with my own eyes!"
"Order... but it's already gone..."
"It doesn't matter. I need it to live on in certain people's hearts..."
...
The Void. Infinite darkness above the Grand Tribunal.
This was the Grand Tribunal's other notorious prison—apart from the Howling Iron Prison. Only its fa was unknown to mortals. The gods, however, were all quite familiar with it.
Held here was no ordinary blaspher, but an entity that had been probing the edges of Civilization—swimming naked through the depths of Chaos.
The Wrath of Abomination!
This Chaos Envoy, imprisoned here by Order and forced to serve the Grand Tribunal's Elental Judges on command, had long since lost count of the directionless years that had passed.
And today would be the most bewildering day in all its comings and goings.
Because a pair of cold eyes had silently opened before it at so unknown point, watching it with an expression of supre indifference—joyless, sorrowless—posing a question it couldn't begin to comprehend:
"Blazing Sun—why did you seduce my follower into impersonating you? Were you hoping to manipulate outside perceptions and escape Order's cage?"
"?"
The Wrath of Abomination was utterly lost. But under the influence of Chaos, its confusion still manifested as fury. So it blazed up within its prison, expressing its bewildernt.
But the next second, when it recognized who stood before it—under the gaze of this era's sovereign—it chose to extinguish itself.
"Speak."
"ROAR (I)..."
"Chaos is unruly, with scarcely any Order. An audience with a true god, and you dare show fury and disrespect? On behalf of Order, I sentence you once more for the cri of blasphemy!"
"???"
BOOM—
A... well, one couldn't really call it a battle. An interrogation. An interrogation erupted in the Void.
That day, teor fire rain fell across every trial. Players panicked, thinking the apocalypse had co—only to discover the fiery rain was rely an illusion. No heat, no damage.
It didn't resemble the legendary fury of the Wrath of Abomination at all. It looked more like its...
Hmm—indelicate question, but: can gods cry?
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