27. Judgement Enacted

It did not take long to rid the forest of these Falsely Accused. Like the False Witnesses, they served to buy the One Thousand Eyed Bird precious time. Frost’s impending judgment was an inevitability. It was only a question of when.

The answer to this was now.

None of your alibies can help you anymore… you have no one else to take the blame for your judgement.

What laid before their feet were the fizzling shells of the Falsely Accused. Particles of light swayed in the air before they surrounded her like a glowing aura.

“I don’t know what this light is but… I can feel something about them. It’s warm. Sad. Yearning for retribution. System. Anything to report?” Frost marveled at the light, failing to grasp it into her hands as it slipped through her fingers.

Jury was also struck by awe. The light was beautiful. Frost shone as if surrounded by the light of one thousand eyes. She was like a beacon of hope in this forsaken world of darkness. A star in their everlasting night.

< Temporary Status Effect : Bearer of Our Justice >

< Invulnerability to all Skills with the Judgement Affinity Until Judgement is Enacted >

“Our justice… so the denizens really were victims of its prejudice as well. Without its alibies it’s nothing now. It let them all die to cover its own tail. Accusers becoming the Accused. Everything becoming an Accused when touched by the thorns of its so-called righteousness… What a joke.”

“There’s the big beast. Frost. L-Let – Let’s go skewer the beast of the Black Forest.” Jury spoke as she tugged on her hand, pointing in the direction that the countless feathers shone their light.

“Yeah.” Frost, holding onto Jury’s arm, walked up to the pale stake and dislodged it from the cracked earth. “Let’s skewer that thing and…” Her eyes naturally fell somewhere above as she trailed off.

The trees of the forest were somehow further away from them than they remembered.

The sloped path unraveled in front of them. The lights of the feathers tracked down its every movement no matter how far away it was.

But it was not something her eyes couldn’t see. At this very moment she was the sole One Thousand Eyed Bird of the Black Forest, and that giant bird was destined to be judged as the big, skewered beast.

“… get out of here.” She managed to finish after a long pause before they travelled up the gradual slope.

It was almost nostalgic traversing through this barren place. Not a tree was left in sight, and neither were the bands of Accused that once roamed. The 50 days that elapsed felt like they had gone by so fast. But her body refused to acknowledge this. Every pain. Every bite, and every moment was engraved into her being.

They ran for what seemed like hours on end. The truth was that they were moving for only minutes. Frost’s stamina was tempered to the point where not a single bead of sweat dripped despite how fast she ran. She did not allow Jury to lag behind and clutched tightly onto her hand, dragging her as her feathers, ears and tails fluttered behind.

They eventually reached the peak and dashed along the flat plains once again. She saw the giant bird waddle away amongst the distant tree lines. The scorched trees became numerous again until they finally returned to the place where it all started.

“Just stop running and accept it already!” Frost’s yell seemed to reach it.

Only a hundred meters separated them now; a distance that was easily closed before the eyeless bird even realized it. It recoiled in response and trembled, biting every tree that stood in its way in pure desperation.

“System! All of its eyes are gone! Does that mean it can’t use Scrutiny anymore!?” Frost inquired, glancing back at Jury one last time.

“It has no eyes! Jury hasn’t received a stack of Scrutiny ever since the False Juries were defeated!”

Satisfied, Frost released Jury’s hand with a small nod.

“Let’s judge it, Jury!”

Jury’s golden eyes brimmed with understanding, knowing well what must be done next as she stepped aside. The absence of her warm hand caused Frost to tighten her grip onto the cold, pale stake as she thrust herself forward towards the beast with tremendous speed.

She passed a familiar tree along the last stretch. It had a hole punched through it and by its base were the last three pale stakes. Frost snatched all of them along the way with expert dexterity, holding onto 3 in an arm whilst brandishing one as a weapon in the other.

Her emotions brimmed like a flame as the bird wailed at her approach, knowing that its end has arrived. There was no salvation for it. Only judgement waited.

And so, Frost yelled out at the top of her lungs:

“BE SKEWEEEEEEEEEEEEERD!”

One stake pierced through its back until only a fifth of it stuck out.

“Can it be judged yet!?”

“Not yet Frost! The pale stakes are only a meter long! They’re not enough to skewer it! You must have pushed a line of thorns deeper into it last time!”

“I – I still have three more stakes left!” Frost dashed around it as it thrashed its body all over the place, scooping soil into its maw in a rabid attempt to end her.

< [Prejudice] >

She appeared at its back like a phantom and lined up the second stake with the first.

She was met with immense resistance. However – this was hardly an issue.

“[PUNCH]!” Frost roared. She used her fist like a hammer and drove it in, causing the bird to scream hoarsely, as if begging for mercy.

It was too late for it now. After all it had done. All it had judged so unfairly including herself.

“WHEN I WAS LEFT SKEWERED BEFORE YOU DID YOU SHOW ME ANY SYMPATHY!?”

[Punch].

Frost punched it along its body, ruffling its feathers as she ran alongside it. The beast resisted her attacks, for its ATT DEF was insanely high. But there was one thing that no DEF stat could ever wish to protect it from. Even if its HP didn’t drop – Even if it couldn’t die until it was judged –

Frost could still bite into its protective coat. She bit around the area near the stakes as she lined up the third one.

“DISGUSTED WHEN YOU TRIED TO HANG JURY FOR STANDING UP TO YOUR PREJUDICE!?”

These emotions were physically being pumped through her veins now. The light that encased her grew with her heightening emotions as she dashed away, carrying the last stake in hand.

The beast roared with a gargled chirp, opening its maw wide as it attempted to swallow Frost whole in its final attack.

< [Prejudice] >

She could see it. A bulge created from the tip of the first stake protruded from the back of its throat. The countless teeth did little to stave her away. Fear was not an emotion that could saturate her blood more than her sense of justice…

No. It wasn’t just hers.

It was the entire forests.

She could feel Jury’s eyes radiate an immense heat from behind as she prepared to enact judgement on this oversized bird.

“OR FEEL SORROW –!” Frost charged straight into its maw.

Her entire body was thrown within as she thrust the spear towards the back of its throat. However, it was too far away. The jaws snapped shut like an oversized bear trap. The instant kill moved had finally claimed its prey.

But Frost, submerged in this darkness, did not lose an ounce of HP. Prejudice, as the name implied, was undoubtably of the Judgement affinity. The positive status she gained from the lights protected her as expected.

“– WHEN YOU JUDGED THE DENIZENS OF THE FOREST WITH YOUR PREJUDICE!?”

Her entire body from the lower half was trapped between its sea of serrated teeth. The site she needed to stab the stake into was right in front of her, but she could not reach it. It was like a claustrophobic cave filled with countless stalactites, making it difficult to move even an inch of her body.

That was when she held the stake firmly with her other hand and roared:

“OR GUILT –!”

Her foresight allowed her to adjust the stake and her approaching fist. She could see exactly how the stake would land before she even struck it, allowing her to line up the most perfect strike of all.

“– WHEN YOU ARE NOW THE ONE BEING JUDGED FOR YOUR WRONGS!?”

[Double Punch].

The stake flew forward from the impact of the first punch and was nailed in. The secondary force smashed it until she heard something snap deep within. The bird cried and released her from its putrid mouth. She landed only meters away as Jury rushed to her side in panic, almost shocked to see that she was somehow fine.

< The One Thousand Eyed Bird Judges the Skewered Beast >

It wailed. It cried. It screamed. But no matter what it did it could not remove the stakes that had turned it into the Skewered Beast.

“Judge… Jury – Frost – Judge the big, skewered beast!” Jury cried.

< Judgement in Progress >

It tried to escape. To run elsewhere to escape the inevitable judgement. But Frost, having the opportunity to finally get close without dying instantly, rushed to its scrawny legs and gnawed them clean off.

It sat like a deflated bean bag as blood redder than hers oozed from beneath it.

“Don’t – even – think about running! Your prejudice led to the rebellion of the entire forest! Your injustice! Their innocence! The Witnesses that couldn’t act! They were afraid of being smeared by your prejudice! Yet your righteousness still blamed them!”

< Decision of One Thousand Juries Pending >

< Awaiting Verdict >

Suddenly, one by one, all nine hundred and ninety-nine of her eyes appeared behind her like a complex constellation of stars. A miniature universe hovered above her shoulders as each golden eye casted their gaze onto the bird. Jury’s eyes did the same as she tightly clasped onto Frost’s hand with both of hers, directing her entire will towards the final verdict.

“Frost! There’s a bad skewered beast inside of the Black Forest!”

< GUILTY >

< Do it Frost! Enact Judgement now! >

She could feel it. The heat of the surrounding light, the scrutiny of the eyes and the passion of Jury’s enveloped hands. The emotional storm reached it climax as it made its way from the depths of her heart and up to her throat.

Frost, with the combined will of all the denizens of the Black Forest cried out at the top of her lungs:

“[ENACT JUDGEMENT]!”

< The One Thousand Eyed Bird Enacts Judgement on the Skewered Beast >

A giant scorched tree rose from underneath it. It was utterly massive. The branches enveloped the bird and dragged its bleeding body nearly 20 meters into the air. It strangled it, squeezing its body in half as giant, black feathers rained from above.

Frost could hardly believe the sight. The giant tree strangled it as if it were a Hanged Jury. The branches tightened, constricting it further until it could no more. There was a brief pause. A near cathartic silence brewed as they watched on in anticipation.

And then finally – the branches squeezed one more time and the Skewered Beast popped.

< Judgement has Been Enacted >

Golden feathers spilled like the innards of a massive piñata. They were so bright and beautiful that Frost could hardly believe such a thing would come from a monster as sinister as this. Before long, the feathers stopped falling and all that was suspended before them was its deflated cadaver.

The tree disappeared and released the body into the pile of feathers underneath. The feathers plumed high into the sky. A mesmerizing golden snow befell the world around them.

One Thousand Eyed Bird | HP : 0

< The One Thousand Eyed Bird has been subjugated >

< One Thousand Eyed Bird has been added to your collection >

< You may manifest the Active and Passive Skills of the One Thousand Eyed Bird when the Will of the Amalgam allows >

< You… Frost. You did it. You did it! You really did it! >