12 June 2018

  "Lily, I've made up my mind. Let's go, there's something I want to show you."

  Light takes Lily somewhere just a bit on the outskirts of the city where they live. From high above the sky, Light is carrying Lily on his back. She takes a glance below, but the view is strange. She saw a giant crater on the ground, around 3 meters deep in the center and 10 meters wide in diameter.

  Light lands near the center of the crater, and Lily hops off his back.

  "This is. . . unnatural. I've never seen a crater that is as smooth as this."

  "Lily."

  Lily turns her head towards him.

  "I created this."

  "This is the thing that you wanted to show me?"

  "Yes, this is where I first awakened my Faith power. This was also the place where I initially became a Judge."

  Lily was a bit surprised that Light suddenly opened up to her.

  "That was two years ago. I. . . still remember that day as clear as if it just happened yesterday."

  Lily falls silent and suddenly feels what Light is currently feeling.

  "In this place. . . I. . . I. . . . . I. . . "

  Light clenches his fist as he tries his hardest to say something. Lily immediately approaches him and grabs his shoulder.

  "Light-kun, it's okay! You don't have to force yourself."

  ". . . .I'm sorry, Lily! I said I made up my mind. I really wanted to tell you, but I guess I'm not ready."

  "It's all good, Light-kun. Let's go home!"

  "Actually, I wanna spend some time alone here. May I?"

  Lily understands what Light wishes for.

  "Of course, I'll be at home. Don't be too late!" said Lily as she smiled and left.

  After seeing Lily leave, Light walks towards the center of the crater. He stops in the center and sits down.

  . . . . . .

  "Luca, long time no see."

  Light starts talking to himself.

  "I. . . still haven't really made up with my girlfriend. I never apologized to her. I'm a terrible boyfriend, huh? Although to be fair, this is my first time dating someone, I have no idea what I'm doing."

  Light falls silent for a bit.

  "The other day, I killed again. I cannot endure the urge to kill someone whenever I see. . . that. What kind of Judge am I?”

  Light goes quiet again for a while.

  "I. . . genuinely tried to hurt my girlfriend. Since then, I can't look her directly in the eye. I feel so guilty about it. However, she. . . she keeps treating me like I never did it. She kept trying to face me directly. She even tried to cheer me up just now, even though we've been feeling a little distant from each other. She was the one who made the first move to make up. I am a horrible man."

  Light goes silent once again.

  "Luca, I miss you. . ."

  Light didn't realize that he shed a tear as he uttered those words.

  *!*

  Light suddenly felt a presence near the area.

  "(This feeling. . .)"

  Light stands up, wipes his tears, and looks to his left and right.

  "(Is this Runelt? Or is somebody else near?)"

  Light transforms his legs, and he flies away from the crater. As he flies above the sky, he has his attention focused on the neighboring city, and flies towards it.

  "This Judge sensor is only telling me that we're in range of each other's radar, but it doesn't tell me how far away we are from each other."

  "Okay, think, focus! Let's narrow down the possibilities. Runelt is the Judge of Pride, but since he usually tells me if he's near my house via messages, this can't possibly be him. That leaves only five possible Judges left. The 4th Judge, as Runelt has told me, has an Ice elemental type Faith power. So, if she's in the area, she would have used her Faith power, so she can't possibly be here."

  ". . . .or not. There's a possibility that she's simply passing by. There would be no need for her to use her Faith power."

  Light stays silent for a moment as he floats in the sky.

  "Crap! I don't know anything about the 3rd, 5th, and 6th Judges at all. The Seventh is said to be a serial killer. Based on the info Runelt told me, he usually went from place to place, killing anyone as he pleased. Runelt also said that he always leaves the victim dying out of blood loss. . ."

  Light goes quiet for a second.

  "Dammit, that still doesn't give me any clues. My best bet would be flying around this area until I actually notice something strange and investigate."

  Light began to fly at high speed. He flies across the city without any particular direction. He doesn’t see or find anything interesting for a few minutes, until he flies above a residential area.

  "GYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRGGHH!!"

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  *!*

  Light heard a man's scream, and immediately stops himself in midair.

  "(It's down at that house.)"

  Light descends towards one of the houses in the residential area. He descends as he absorbs any sound to silently sneak in, and stands in front of the front door of the house.

  "Kevin? KEVIN!? KEVIIIIIN!! KEVIIIIIIIINN!!"

  Light heard a woman's voice from behind the front door. He immediately opened the door and went inside. There was a small corridor, and he walked to the door on the left where the voice came from. He opens the door.

  *!*

  Light witnesses something horrible. A woman was crying and resting her head on top of a man's body. The man's body is missing one arm and one leg, and there is a lot of blood spilling out of his leg and arm. The stump on the arm and leg seems so seamless and clean, it looks like it was cut by an extremely sharp object. And then there's also someone else who stands close to them.

  "What's going on here?" said Light.

  The person turns around. It was Quroe, the Seventh Judge.

  "Who are you and what happened here?" asks Light.

  "What? Who the hell are you? Barging in on someone else's matter." said Quroe.

  "I'm the one who asked first. Who are you?" Light's tone got deeper.

  "For now, let's step outside!" said Quroe.

  "Fine." Light agrees.

  Light and Quroe walk outside the house. They are now standing about 2 meters away, facing each other in a small street in the residential area.

  "So, what did you do back there? Did you kill that man? What is your reason? Who are you?" asks Light.

  "I don't like it when someone asks me questions as if I'm being interrogated!"

  "You're a pain to talk to!" said Light.

  "How about you introduce yourself first before asking someone else's name?"

  "Very well. My name is Light Lunehart. I am the Judge of Lust. I am one of the 7 Layers of Judgment. Your turn!"

  "(A Judge? So, he's the Judge whose presence I felt earlier. The Judge of Lust? Which number was it again?)" said Quroe in his head.

  "Hey! What's wrong? Introduce yourself!" said Light.

  "I was the one who killed the man."

  *!*

  Light was surprised at his sudden confession.

  "You see, my job is to take care of and get rid of all insanity in the world."

  "BY KILLING THEM?" said Light as he got angry.

  "That man was beating the shit out of his own girlfriend. I don't care about any justification, raising a hand against a woman, your own girlfriend, moreover, is out of the question. All I did was decreasing the number of scumbags in this world."

  "Who gives you the right to do that?"

  "The One True God."

  "WHAT?"

  "I was tasked to judge someone based on their sin, specifically the Wrath sin. My name is Quroe, Sedahashi Quroe. I am the Judge of Wrath. Nice to meet you, Judge of Lust." Quroe introduces himself as he gives off a confident and intimidating smile.

  Light was shocked to hear his words. He had a feeling, ever since he first saw him, that he was the Judge who is currently in the area. He still doubts that one of the seven Judges was actually a serial killer. He has a very faint hope that the rumors about the serial killer Judge turn out to be simply a rumor.

  "I see. So, you are the serial killer Judge?" said Light as he transforms both of his hands.

  "Faith power? Are you sure you wanna do this? A fight between Judges means total destruction."

  "If I talk you out of your killing spree, will you stop?"

  "Who the fuck do you think you are? I have my own way of doing things! I'm in no mood for accepting life lectures."

  "Who am I? I am the leader of the Judges. The First Judge!"

  Light transforms his legs and jumps forward towards Quroe as soon as he finishes talking.

  "(The first Judge?!)"

  He throws a punch at Quroe with his blackened fist, as he also emits a gravitational pull on Quroe.

  Quroe straightens his palm, and it is engulfed by a black and red aura that forms the shape of a blade, and he swings it to block the punch. He was also not affected by Light's gravitational pull.

  "I see, so you are the infamous torture machine, Nightmare!"

  "What are you talking about?"

  "You don't know the rumors about yourself? Strange."

  Suddenly, Quroe's blade breaks apart.

  "Wha--?!" said Quroe, surprised.

  But Light's transformation on his right hand also breaks apart. Light and Quroe jump back away from each other to assess the situation.

  "(What is going on? I never knew Faith power could cancel out each other like this. . .)" thinks Quroe as he stares at his palm while flipping it back and forth.

  Light also looks at his right arm.

  "My transformation broke apart, but only on the hand that touches his black and red blade."

  "(No, I should've known this. When Judges clash with each other, their Faith power cancels out one another. After all, I've experienced this before.)"

  A certain memory flashes back in Light's mind of a certain event from the past.

  "(And my gravitational pull didn't work on him either. Indirect attacks such as limiting or stopping a Judge's body movement are protected by God's Holy Grace.)"

  "So, you really are a Judge?" asks Light.

  "I have no idea why you are trying so hard not to acknowledge me as one, however, I still don't like being lectured by someone whose reputation is worse than mine."

  "Whatever, so let me ask this once again. Would you not change your way of doing?"

  "Let's just get on with it! I personally wanna find out why the One True God chose you as our leader. Prove it to me, First Judge!"

  "Then be my guest!" Light transforms his right arm again.

  He gathers whirlwind on his blackened feet and his blackened right hand, and flies forward towards Quroe. He arrives in front of him and positions himself a bit higher to aim for his head.

  "EF 2 Tornado!"

  Light throws a punch downward towards Quroe's head with his whirlwind imbued fist. As his fist almost reaches Quroe's head, he releases his hold over the whirlwind, and it launches the whirlwind forward.

  *!*

  The whirlwind was split into two as soon as it was about to touch Quroe's hair. The split whirlwind went sideways, passing Quroe and completely missing him. It bursts and fades away quickly afterwards.

  "Charging straight into an enemy while you haven't established what your enemy's Faith power is? This is straight up amateur moves!"

  *SLASH SLASH SLASH*

  Light was suddenly attacked by invisible slashes. The invisible slashes grazed Light's transformed limbs, and his transformation was undone in a matter of milliseconds.

  "(W-WHAT?)"

  "I don't acknowledge such an amateur to be our leader!"

  Quroe throws a punch with his left fist towards Light’s stomach, who is still airborne in front of him. Light kicks his fist with his right foot. Light then spins and kicks Quroe in his face with a backward airborne roundhouse kick. Quroe blocks the kick with his right arm and is launched backward a bit from the impact. Light lands on the ground afterward. He blackens and gathers a whirlwind on his feet immediately. He jumps forward towards Quroe right away. Quroe lands and immediately squats and thrusts his aura blade towards the ground.

  *!*

  Suddenly, from the ground in front of Quroe, multiple of his black and red blades come out.

  "TCH!"

  Light stops himself in midair and backs away to avoid the blades. He gathers whirlwind on his right fist and the fabric of space on his feet. He warps and disappears from Quroe's sight.

  "What?!" said Quroe, surprised.

  Quroe's aura blades that came out from the ground earlier disappear. Light reappears right behind Quroe. Light does the same attack as before. The whirlwind he launched, however, still got split in two and passed Quroe sideways and missed him. Light gathers the fabric of space.

  "(So, his invisible slashes can activate even behind himself, huh?)"

  Quroe, without turning around, swings his right hand back towards Light. From his hand, his aura blade comes out and stretches out, approaching Light. The blade stretched out and was aimed right towards Light's chest. Light warps away and dodges Quroe's blade in reflex. Light reappears away from Quroe and lands on the ground. He gathers a whirlwind one more time.

  "EF 4 Tornado!"

  He plans to shoot the whirlwind from where he stands, but before Light even swings his fist, Quroe's invisible slashes grazed Light's transformed hand, which breaks his transformation, and the whirlwind dissipates from Light's hand.

  "(I was about 3 meters away from him, and I was still in range of his invisible slashes? Ridiculous! Not to mention, that was fast! All of his blades travel at the same speed. Though, thankfully, my warp is faster.)"

  Light flies backward towards the sky.

  "What are you doing up there?" asks Quroe.

  "There are people nearby. This fight is between us; there's no need to involve others. Can u fly?"

  "(That's what I said, but truthfully, I need more spaces so that I can judge his attack range and dodge his invisible slashes better.)" said Light in his head.

  "Fine! You have a point."

  Quroe's entire body was engulfed by an aura that had the same colors as his blades, black with a thick red outline. He starts floating, and then he ascends to the sky, moving at the speed of sound.