Judgment Without Mercy

Kael stood in the center of the chamber alone.

The room was circular, its walls carved from obsidian-black stone veined with faintly glowing sigils. The air was cold, sterile, and heavy with authority. Above him, a ring of elevated platforms formed a tribunal seven figures cloaked in dark uniforms, their faces half-hidden by shadow.

The Eclipse Council.

Kael kept his hands at his sides, resisting the urge to clench them into fists. His shoulder still ached where the Malice had struck him, but the pain felt distant, muted like it belonged to someone else.

You’re calmer than you should be, the voice inside him observed.

Be quiet, Kael replied internally.

A deep voice echoed through the chamber.

“Kael Moriyama,” said Director Halbrecht, seated at the center of the ring. “You are here because you violated protocol during an active Malice suppression mission.”

Kael lifted his gaze.

“I hesitated,” he said simply.

Murmurs rippled through the council.

“Hesitation,” another council member said coldly, “is how cities fall.”

Iris stood at the edge of the chamber, arms crossed, expression unreadable. She hadn’t spoken since they arrived.

Halbrecht continued. “You failed to execute immediate eradication. You interfered with an Abyss Field. And you allowed a Malice to engage in psychological contact.”

Kael swallowed. “It showed me memories.”

“That is irrelevant,” the council member snapped. “Malice deceive. They manipulate.”

Kael’s voice rose despite himself. “Those memories were real. People died. Erasing it didn’t erase what happened.”

Silence followed.

Then a soft, almost amused chuckle echoed from one of the platforms.

“And yet,” said a woman with silver hair and sharp eyes, “you still live. That alone makes you an anomaly.”

Halbrecht raised a hand. “Enough.”

He leaned forward.

“Kael Moriyama, do you understand what Null Resonance truly is?”

Kael hesitated. “It… erases Malice.”

Halbrecht’s eyes hardened. “Incorrect. It erases connection. Meaning. Continuity. You do not destroy Malice, you remove them from causality.”

Kael felt a chill crawl up his spine.

“That power,” Halbrecht continued, “was never meant to exist naturally.”

The voice inside Kael stirred.

He’s lying.

Kael’s breath caught.

The Sentence

“The council has reached a decision,” Halbrecht said.

Kael braced himself.

“Effective immediately, you are placed under Observation Status Black.”

The words hit harder than any blow.

A council member explained, “You will continue missions under direct supervision. Any further deviation will result in immediate termination.”

Termination.

Kael nodded slowly. “Understood.”

Iris’s jaw tightened.

“There is more,” Halbrecht added. “Your Null Resonance will be restricted.”

He gestured.

Two Eclipse technicians stepped forward, carrying a metallic collar etched with suppression sigils.

Kael’s eyes widened. “You’re going to seal it?”

“Partially,” Halbrecht replied. “For your safety. And ours.”

Iris stepped forward. “That’s excessive.”

Halbrecht didn’t look at her. “Your objection is noted. And denied.”

The collar clicked shut around Kael’s neck.

Instantly, the world felt… duller.

The voice inside him faded to a whisper.

…Interesting, it murmured.

Kael staggered but remained standing.

“Court dismissed,” Halbrecht said.

The corridor outside the chamber felt longer than before.

Iris walked beside Kael in silence until they reached an observation deck overlooking the city.

“You shouldn’t have defended the Malice,” she said finally.

“I wasn’t defending it,” Kael replied. “I was trying to understand it.”

She turned sharply. “Understanding gets people killed.”

Kael met her gaze. “So does ignorance.”

They stared at each other.

Then Iris exhaled slowly. “You remind me of someone.”

“Who?”

“Myself,” she said. “Before I learned how much understanding costs.”

Kael touched the collar around his neck. “They’re afraid of me.”

“Yes,” Iris said. “And fear makes the Order cruel.”

In the training hall, Ryo Kenzaki watched Kael from afar.

The collar.

So they’d chosen containment over execution.

Ryo smiled faintly.

“They’re making you smaller,” he muttered. “That’s a mistake.”

A shadow shifted behind him.

“You see it too,” a voice whispered.

Ryo didn’t turn. “I see hypocrisy.”

“Then you are ready,” the voice said.

Ryo clenched his fists. “Not yet.”

Kael’s next mission came sooner than expected.

An abandoned hospital. High Malice density. Civilian casualties unknown.

Iris led the team again, but this time, Halbrecht watched remotely.

The collar burned faintly against Kael’s skin as they entered.

The Malice inside the hospital weren’t hiding.

They waited.

Kael felt it immediately the pull, the pressure, the hunger.

You feel weaker, the voice inside him noted.

“I know,” Kael thought back.

Good. Weakness teaches patience.

A Malice emerged from a hospital bed, its body fused with rusted equipment, IV tubes writhing like veins.

Kael raised his hand instinctively.

Pain shot through his neck.

The collar flared.

He screamed and dropped to one knee.

“Control it!” Halbrecht barked through the comm.

The Malice laughed.

“Oh,” it said, “they’ve muzzled you.”

Kael’s vision blurred.

Iris stepped forward, thorns already forming but the Malice split into multiple forms, surrounding them.

Kael’s heart pounded.

If he couldn’t use Null Resonance fully…

Then what was he supposed to do?

The Malice lunged.

Iris was overwhelmed.

Kael felt something snap inside himnot power, but resolve.

He reached for the collar.

Pain exploded.

Do it, the voice urged softly. Break it.

Kael hesitated.

Then closed his eyes.

And pulled.