The Judgment of the Masks

Judgment day arrived upon Hachioji.

Ken was taken from his cell and brought to the Central Tribunal, a circular room deep within the facilities, designed not for justice, but for sentencing. On the elevated dais, seven figures sat on thrones of black stone. They were the Elite Kijin, the nation's most powerful warriors. They wore heavy ceremonial robes and masks that hid their faces, revealing only the coldness of their posture. Among them, unmasked but with the same imposing air, were Natasha and Kyosuke, acting as escorts and executioners.

Behind reinforced glass barriers, the audience watched. Shinji, Yamato, and Tanimoto were there, along with instructors and base personnel. The atmosphere was stifling.

The double doors opened. Ken entered. The sight was heartbreaking for his friends. The boy who once radiated energy and leadership was now a shadow. He wore only gray cloth pants and a light shirt. He shuffled his feet, his gaze lost on the floor, his eyes empty of life, reflecting only an abyssal sadness. Kyosuke's silver chains bound him, gleaming under the cold lights.

"Ken..." Shinji whispered. He jumped up to go help him, but a hand settled on his shoulder. Tanimoto shook his head slowly, his face grave. "If you interfere, they'll kill him before it even begins," he warned. Shinji clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, but forced himself to sit down.

Ken was seated on a chair in the center of the room. The chains tightened, securing him.

"The trial begins," announced one of the masked figures in a distorted voice. He read from a tablet. "Ken Kurosu. You are accused of High Treason against the Kijin Organization and the Nation. The charges are: premeditated murder of four squadmates and collaboration with the enemy."

A murmur ran through the room. "This is the first time a Kijin has murdered his own unit," continued the judge. "Depending on your response, you will be executed right here or... indefinitely confined. How do you plead?"

Ken slowly lifted his gaze. His memories were a fog of blood and pain. "I..." his voice was a hoarse thread. "I am innocent... I think."

"You think?" mocked another judge. "The forensic evidence says otherwise."

Kyosuke sighed, visibly bored, as the judge recited the rules and punishments. Ken ignored the words. His mind wandered, searching for the faces of Naomi and Kenta in the room's shadows, until his eyes met those of his living friends. Shinji, Yamato... and Tanimoto. That visual connection brought him back to reality.

That's when the discussion in the room exploded. The report on the Warrior Regent, the S-Class that had annihilated their mission, had been presented. The data—the scale of destruction, the squad's helplessness, the unknown nature of the enemy—did not cause reflection, but panic.

A logistics technician, his voice high-pitched with fear, was the first to point a trembling finger. "He's the only one who came back! There has to be a pact!" The murmur of agreement was like a buzz of wasps. "No Kijin survives a face-to-face encounter with a Regent," added a veteran soldier, his face marked by old scars. "Unless that Regent decided to spare him. What kind of deal did you make, huh, boy? Your friends' lives for yours?"

The words were knives twisting in Ken's open wound. He knew what he had seen: the pure, arbitrary slaughter, the supernatural speed, the feeling of being an insect before an indifferent god. They only saw statistics and horror stories.

"It wasn't like that!" Ken managed to shout, but his voice was lost in the tide of suspicion.

"And how can we be sure?" replied another, his tone icy. "The Calamity is deceptive. It infiltrates our ranks, corrupts what it touches. Perhaps you are not a conscious traitor, boy. Perhaps you are just a vessel. A Trojan horse."

The twisted logic of fear was prevailing. Ken saw how the eyes of the audience, even some he had greeted in the halls days before, now looked at him with distrust and horror. They were stripping him not only of his honor, but of his very humanity.

Then came the masterstroke. The chief judge, with a calm that felt obscene, slowly pointed at Tanimoto in the stands. "And there is another potential contamination factor. The Kijin Tanimoto, hailing from the same Fortress, the accused's birthplace. Proximity and shared origin are, in times of distrust, a vector of risk." He paused, letting the implication settle like poison. "Perhaps strategic prudence demands... preventive measures regarding that enclave. A cleansing to ensure the infection hasn't spread."

It was the spark. Tanimoto leapt to his feet, his chair falling backward with a metallic clatter. All trace of composure vanished, replaced by a primitive fury. "DON'T YOU DARE MENTION MY FAMILY!!"

Shinji and Yamato had to hold him back with force, their own faces twisted with indignation.

And it was then, seeing his greatest rival on the verge of being declared an outcast and his home threatened, that the last thread holding Ken's control snapped.

"SILENCE!!" Ken's shout was not human.

It was a roar that erupted from deep within him. The air around him no longer just vibrated; it visibly rippled, like heat over asphalt in summer. A sudden, hot wind whipped the judges' robes. His Kijin power, latent and traumatized, was being released in an uncontrolled surge.

"Fear won't let you think!" Ken bellowed, his voice trembling with rage. "I was born in the heart of Japan before the Calamity! My heart is human! I made no pact with that thing!"

"Human?" interjected another judge. "If Kurosu is a traitor, the Tanimoto Fortress must be bombed preemptively."

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!" Ken's cry was even louder, drowning out everyone.

The air around the chair exploded with pressure. "He has nothing to do with this!" Ken yelled, straining against his bonds. "You didn't see what I saw! That thing could kill you all in the blink of an eye! But I will seek vengeance! I will kill it! If you won't help, then don't get in the way!"

"Kyosuke!" Natasha shouted, stepping back. "Control him!"

"I'm trying!" Kyosuke grunted, sweating profusely. The silver chains creaked, stretching dangerously under the pressure of Ken's aura. "He's exerting too much force!"

The tribunal descended into chaos. The judges stood up, fearing the traitor would break free and massacre them all right there. But Ken's cry was abruptly cut short.

A boot impacted his face violently. Ken was thrown from the chair, falling to the floor, stunned. Before he could react, another kick sank into his stomach, knocking all the air out of him. And another. And another.

The room fell into absolute silence. Natasha was standing over him. She wasn't pretending. She was really beating him. "Shut your mouth!" she yelled, driving a knee into his ribs with an audible crack. Ken spat blood, trying to cover himself, but he was chained.

In the stands, Tanimoto, his eyes blazing with rage, tried to jump the barrier. "STOP!" Yamato and Shinji hung onto his arms. "If you go down there, they'll kill you both!"

Natasha grabbed Ken by the collar of his shirt and lifted him off the floor like a broken doll. Ken's face was unrecognizable, swollen and bleeding. His eyes were rolling back.

"Stop, Kuroki!" ordered a judge. "What if he summons the Regent?"

"Please?" Natasha scoffed with a cruel laugh, shaking Ken. "You think this brat is capable of summoning anything in this state? Look at him. He's pathetic." Natasha dropped Ken, letting him fall to the floor with a dull thud. "This boy isn't even fit to be a Rank B. We should be grateful the Regent didn't kill him. He's trash."

Natasha turned to the judges, wiping Ken's blood from her gloves. "But... he's resilient trash." She paused dramatically, looking at the terrified audience. "What if I train him?"

The proposal left the Elite Kijin frozen. "This brat was the first to survive a direct encounter with an S-Class and live to tell about it," Natasha said seriously. "Perhaps he just needs a little discipline to stop being useless. Although... if he shows even a hint of hostility... I'll cut off his head myself."

She looked down at Ken's crumpled body with disdain. "But if he survives my training, he will be evaluated again. Until then, he is my property."

The judges looked at each other, deliberating in whispers. It was a tempting offer: keep the specimen alive under the leash of an elite kijin. "We accept," said the chief judge. "But if you fail, Kuroki, you will share his punishment for insubordination."

"I accept," Natasha said without hesitation.