Sam activated [Blood Verdict] without hesitation and confird the choice in his mind.
A faint vibration ran through the air as a new set of panels appeared, not in front of him this ti, but before the three beings on the massive balance.
[You are being judged by the Primordial.]
[You cannot escape his wrath nor his blade, and your determination will never surpass his.]
[If your sins are revealed to be too big, your death will be imminent.]
The judges reacted imdiately.
"Oh?"
"Amazing!"
"I guess he can do that too..."
Their voices overlapped in a strange harmony, each tone echoing with excitent instead of fear.
The [First Judge] threw his head back and laughed, the sound sharp against the silent air.
"The judges are being judged. Hilarious!"
"I hope he finds us innocent," the [Second Judge] muttered, his voice low but oddly calm.
"No chance," the [Third Judge] roared, shaking the rope in his gauntleted hand. "But even then, we’ll overco it!"
Sam ignored their amusent.
New panels blood across his vision, carrying information tied to his class skill.
[They are guilty.]
[Cri: Killing so of our kind.]
Fwish!
Yellow light surged around him like a storm of molten sunlight.
His eyes blazed, the glow of his [Judgnt] affinity pouring outward until it burned in the misty air.
Ding!
Bars of shimring light appeared beside each of the three judges, hovering above their heads like a warning.
[Verdict Bar]
Sam’s gaze sharpened.
’That’s the bar the skill description ntioned.’
All three bars were empty, waiting.
The aning was obvious. To fill them, he would have to fight.
Only through battle could the [Verdict Bar] climb toward completion, and only when it was full would he be able to deliver final judgnt.
There was no shortcut. No clever trick to bypass the fight and kill a monarch.
Sam tightened his grip on his primordial sword.
’Alright. Then I attack.’
The thought ca without fear.
He wanted to see what punishnt the skill would unleash once those bars reached their peak.
But even as he prepared to strike, a cold reminder lingered in his mind.
He was being judged as well.
Their [Judgnt] skill was active, and whatever verdict they gave him would co with consequences he could not yet predict.
Sam closed his eyes for a brief second, exhaling a slow breath.
Then he moved.
Fwish! BOOM!
The air cracked as he shot forward, wings folded tight, closing the gap between himself and the balance in a heartbeat.
His sword flashed in a brutal arc aid at the nearest judge.
"Trying to attack us while we did nothing?"
"That is the sign of a criminal!"
"We need to get rid of you, then!"
Their voices rose in manic laughter, overlapping like a choir of mockery.
And then—
Ding!
[You have been found GUILTY by the "Judge Monarch."]
Sam’s eyes narrowed.
’Judge Monarch?’
There was no such na listed before.
Why call it that instead of identifying the three separately?
Whatever the reason, it didn’t matter.
They had found him guilty, and in his eyes, they were guilty too.
The verdicts were mutual.
"For the cri of genocide," the voices thundered as one, "and for your visible will to attack anything that stands before you..."
"...We, the [Judge Monarch]..."
"...sentence you to death."
The three platforms trembled violently.
Pressure exploded outward from the balance, a crushing force that made the ground groan beneath Sam’s feet.
The massive scale began to spin, turning faster and faster until the air itself seed to warp around it.
"Let the judgnt begin," they declared together, slamming their armored feet against the balance.
A sharp crack echoed through the space. Then another.
CRACK!
The ground split open beneath Sam, fissures racing outward like a spiderweb of destruction.
The earth tore itself apart, the rift widening until a bottomless pit yawned before him.
Primordial Wings!
Sam unfurled his glowing wings in an instant, the golden feathers bursting outward as he launched himself upward.
The fissure reached him monts later, swallowing everything around him.
The cracks spread further and further, eating away at the battlefield until the solid ground vanished entirely.
The judges’ scale floated untouched amid the chaos, steady in the void as if the laws of nature bent to keep it aloft.
Their masked faces turned upward, eyes locked on Sam as he hovered above the destruction.
[We are three judges, and you are alone.]
[Learn your place before it’s over.]
[There will be no rcy.]
In perfect unison, the three judges bent at the waist in a slow, mocking bow.
Though their masks bore no mouths, Sam felt the sneer in their silent gesture.
[See you in the "Land of Judgnt."]
One by one, they leapt into the abyss below, their armored forms disappearing into the darkness.
The massive scale descended with them, sinking like a ship into the endless void.
Sam beat his wings harder, holding his position as the last fragnts of ground crumbled beneath him.
They weren’t forcing him to follow.
The pit below was clearly ant to be the next stage of the trial, but the choice to descend—or to test the limits of escape—was his.
He looked down at the swirling darkness for a single breath.
Then he looked up.
The silver wall of the [Fourth Barrier] lood in the distance, gleaming faintly beyond the shattered battlefield.
’They said I couldn’t leave,’ Sam thought, narrowing his eyes.
Determined to test the claim, he angled his wings and shot toward the barrier.
The wall’s tallic glow grew larger with each beat of his wings until it filled his vision.
He stretched out a hand and reached for the surface.
BOOM!
A pulse of raw aura burst outward, a shockwave that slamd into his chest and sent him tumbling back through the empty air.
Panels flared to life as he stabilized himself.
[You are currently being judged. You cannot leave until your judgnt is over.]
Sam clicked his tongue.
"Hah."
Exactly as he expected.
There would be no escape until the monarch was dead.
’Oh well.’
He turned his gaze back toward the gaping pit below.
The darkness swallowed all light, stretching endlessly into nothingness.
He drew in a deep breath and folded his wings against his back.
Then he let himself drop.
The wind howled past his ears as he plunged into the void, the cold air rushing against his skin. It felt endless.
Minutes passed with no change.
The sky above had vanished into blackness, and the world below remained hidden in a curtain of shadow.
The sensation was unsettling, like falling through an empty universe with no up or down.
[Hell-Mode Analysis: Do not fret, we shall kill them all =)]
Sam allowed a faint grin to touch his lips.
’Sure.’
His descent continued, ti stretching into a slow rhythm of nothing but wind and darkness.
He began to wonder if he had been trapped inside so endless void ant to break his patience.
But then—
A shift in the air. A faint pressure.
He looked down and saw the blackness grow denser, the texture of ground forming far below.
The faint outline of a surface slowly took shape.
’Oh. So the [Land of Judgnt] is just really deep.’
He had no idea whether this was the true mission zone or a sub-layer created by the judges to challenge him directly.
Either way, the goal was the sa: Kill the monarch.
He flared his primordial wings again as the ground rushed toward him, controlling his fall.
The dark feathers cut through the air with a rhythmic beat, slowing his descent until his boots touched the earth with a soft thud.
Ding!
[You have entered the "Land of Judgnt."]
Sam exhaled, eyes scanning the endless expanse around him.
’Here we go.’
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