Quroe turns around towards Luna.

  “Luna. Let’s bury Kasumi!”

  “Ah, y-yeah! But who did you fight, Quroe-san? You wouldn’t randomly unlock Second State for no reason!” asked Luna in confusion.

  “Don’t worry about it! That guy is gone. I gained a new ability in my Second State and used it to completely erase his existence from this world. That’s why you didn’t remember him.”

  “Eh? You can do that, Quroe-san? Your Faith power is already strong as it is. I don’t think you’d need the ability to do that!”

  “I agree. Second State itself is a first for me, so I didn’t expect that it came with an upgrade. Not that I’m complaining, though. Hurry! Let’s bury Kasumi and give her a proper burial and gravestone.”

  “Yes, Quroe-san!”

  *Thud*

  Suddenly, someone landed about 10 meters behind the two of them. The landing made minimal sound and impact for some reason. Quroe and Luna quickly turn around to find out the source of the noise.

  “I didn’t expect to be meeting you here so soon, of all places, First!” said Quroe.

  “EH? It’s that scary Judge! The one who’s just as scary as you, Quroe-san!” said Luna.

  “There he is, Light-kun.” said Lily.

  “Yeah. Just to be cautious, please stay put, Lily.” said Light.

  It was the First Judge, Light Lunehart. He arrived here with his transformed feet, absorbing all of the impact, noise, vibration, mass, weight, and such, making his landing unimpressive despite having fallen from 600 meters high in the sky. Lily hopped off his back and landed next to him.

  “Wait, why do I have to stay put? Light-kun, if he has the slightest intention to harm you, I’ll interfere for sure!” said Lily.

  “No, Lily! Please just stay put! You helped me last time! This time, I’ll manage on my own!”

  “B-BUT--!!”

  “Lily! I get why you’re scared! Let me prove to you that I am no longer the person before you saved me! Alright?” said Light with a smile to Lily.

  “. . .I understand.”

  Lily finally abides by Light’s request.

  Light takes a few steps forward. He moves his right hand to the front and offers Quroe an open hand.

  “Seventh! I am gathering all of the Judges from all over the world! There is gonna be a gathering for the seven of us, including all of our own Supports! Please come to the gathering, Seventh! We need you.”

  Light offers an official invitation to Quroe.

  “Right now, we’ve found the Second, the Fifth, and the Sixth Judge with us! Only the Third, the Fourth, and the Seventh, which is you are left. Come and join us, Seventh!” adds Light.

  “. . .”

  Quroe did not respond.

  “W-What should we do, Quroe-san?” asks Luna.

  “. . .”

  Still, Quroe doesn’t respond, even to Luna.

  “Q-Quroe-san?” asks Luna again in confusion.

  *!!*

  Lily finally notices Kasumi’s remains on the side, quite a few meters away from Quroe and Luna.

  “L-Light-kun! Who is that?”

  Lily informs Light, and he, too, finally sees Kasumi’s remains.

  “Lily! That little girl is also missing both of her arms!”

  “Y-You right! What the heck happened here?”

  They also see the smudges of blood on the ground a few meters in front of Quroe.

  “Seriously, what happened here?” asked Light.

  “It’s all your fault. . .”

  Quroe suddenly talks.

  *?*

  “What?” said Light.

  “It’s because of you that everything’s gone wrong. . .”

  “What are you saying?”

  *step step step*

  Quroe walks forwards leaving Luna behind, approaching Light.

  “Q-Quroe-san?”

  Luna tried to stop her instinctively, but she had no hands to grab and stop him.

  “It’s because you put those ideas in my head. . . Everything went completely awry. . .”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Quroe fastens his walking pace, approaching Light. He clenches his right fist as he walks.

  Lily sees his clenched fist and moves in front of Light and enters her battle stance. Light quickly puts his hand on her shoulder from behind.

  “Lily! Please step back!”

  “Light-kun! He’s going to attack you! I am not gonna stand here idly and let my boyfriend be hit by anyone!”

  “I understand your intention, and I'm thankful for that! But this is not because of that! Please step aside!”

  Lily turns around and stares into Light’s eyes carefully. She sees no ulterior motive or anything. Light is being genuine, and she knows it.

  “I understand Light-kun. Please be aware that I DO NOT like this one bit! Understand?”

  “Yeah! I get it. Thanks for caring so much about me.”

  “Of course I am! I am your girlfriend after all!”

  Lily finally walks away from Light. She walks 3 meters away behind and turns around and folds her two arms in front of her chest to observe what’s gonna happen. Light sees her walk all the way to her current spot and smiles while looking at her.

  *step step step*

  Quroe walks closer and closer towards Light; in turn, Light also walks towards Quroe.

  “. . .”

  They finally meet in the middle and are standing face to face against one another.

  *pant pant pant*

  Quroe’s breathing suddenly goes heavier.

  “It’s all your fault. . .”

  “What is?”

  Quroe clenches his fist really, really hard, and veins start to appear across his right forearm.

  “IT’S ALL YOUR DAMN FAULT!!”

  *BAAAMMM*

  Quroe suddenly screams loudly and punches Light in the face at the same time. But Light catches Quroe’s fist with his left palm. To Light, someone who has fought Lily, the Queen of Time, Quroe’s punch moved towards him very slowly that he probably could’ve prepared a meal before it arrived. His punch also felt lightweight, and even if it landed on his face, it wouldn’t do any meaningful damage to him.

  “(He’s not using his Faith power? What’s his game?)” wonders Light in his head.

  *!*

  Light finally gets a closer look at Quroe’s eyes. He was angry and enraged, but his eyes showed sorrow instead. Light quickly connected the dots with everything in the vicinity: the blood, Luna’s missing hands, and Kasumi’s remains, who himself did not recognize.

  “HRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!”

  Quroe screams once more, and this time he lifts his left hand and curls it into a fist.

  *BAAAMMMM*

  *!!!*

  Both Luna and Lily were shocked by what they saw. Quroe finally landed a solid blow in Light’s right cheek.

  Light stumbles and takes a step back. The damage on his cheek was minimal, and he didn’t even bother to transform himself to block it.

  “(Light-kun, why didn’t you transformed your cheek? What are you playing?)” thinks Lily.

  “(Eh? I can’t believe Quroe’s punch actually landed. If I remember correctly, the First Judge can turn his body parts pitch black to block physical attacks or something.)” wonders Luna.

  “IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU!!”

  *BAM*

  Quroe punches Light again with his right. Light accepted his punch without defending himself again.

  “YOU WERE THE ONE WHO TOLD ME TO START SPARING MY ENEMIES!!”

  *BAM*

  “Urgh!”

  Quroe punches Light again with his left. Light stumbles and takes a step back.

  “YOU TOLD ME TO STOP KILLING HUMAN GARBAGES AND GAVE THEM ANOTHER CHANCE!!”

  *BAM*

  “Urgh!”

  He punches Light again with his right. Light stumbles again and takes another step back.

  “IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU THAT LUNA LOST HER HANDS!!”

  *BAM*

  “Urgh!”

  Quroe lunges at Light and makes him fall to the ground. He sits on top of his chest and grabs Light’s collar.

  “IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU THAT I LOST KASUMI!!”

  *BAM*

  “Urgh!”

  Quroe punches Light again in the face.

  “YOU PUT THAT STUPID IDEA OF SPARRING MURDERERS FROM THE UNDERWORLD IN MY HEAD!!”

  *BAM*

  “Urgh!”

  He punches Light in the face with his left.

  “IF I JUST KILLED ANY POTENTIAL THREAT IN MY WAY---!!”

  *BAM*

  He punches Light again in the face with his right.

  “LUNA WOULDN’T HAVE LOST HER HAAAANNNDDSSSS!!!”

  *BAM*

  “Urgh!”

  “AND I WOULDN’T HAVE LOST KASUMIIIIIIIIII!!!”

  *BAM*

  “Urgh!”

  Quroe kept punching Light in the face after every sentence. Light groaned in pain with every punch, but the truth is his punches felt weaker and weaker and dealt less and less damage as time went on.

  *BAM*

  “Urgh!”

  “THE FIRST TIME I SPARED A MURDERER AND EVERYONE I CARED ABOUT---!!”

  *BAAAMM*

  “Urgh!”

  “ARE EITHER HARMED OR TAKEN AWAY FROM ME!!”

  *BAM*

  “Urgh!”

  “I AM SO FUCKING SICK OF THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!”

  Quroe screamed as loud as he could at Light’s face.

  Lily sees everything from a distance. She gripped her own forearms with her fingers until they started bleeding under the long sleeves. Her entire body is also shaking and trembling. She’s trying to hold herself back from running to Quroe and slicing his neck off from his body. Her eyes look enraged, and her bloodlust is off the charts.

  Luna also observes everything, but she began to shudder in fear as she felt Lily’s insane bloodlust from afar. At the moment, Luna thinks that Lily is the most dangerous person compared to Light, Quroe, and even Vega, if she didn’t forget about him.

  *!*

  Light’s face was bruised and swollen a little from all the punches, but he could still see clearly that Quroe was shedding tears. A view that Light was certain he would’ve never seen based on their previous encounter.

  “I liked her. . .”

  *sobs sobs*

  Light was confused. This is the first time that he heard Quroe speaking from the bottom of his heart.

  “She was the kind of woman my mother would’ve liked. . .”

  *sobs sobs*

  Light did not say anything and continued to listen to him.

  “I was even planning to ask her out and asked her to become my Support. . .”

  *sobs sobs*

  “I was starting to like her presence nearby. . .”

  *sobs sobs*

  “But I didn’t even get to see her final moment. . .”

  *sobs sobs*

  “I wasn’t there when he needed me the most. . .”

  *sobs sobs*

  “The moment I found her, she already looked like that. . .”

  Quroe didn’t point his finger or anything, but Light understood what he meant nonetheless.

  *sobs sobs*

  “I never once held her hands. . .”

  *sobs sobs*

  “Tell me, First. . . Have you experienced seeing your loved ones being harmed beyond recognition?”

  “. . .”

  “TELL ME FIRST!! HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED THAT?”

  *DAHK*

  “URGH!!”

  Light suddenly gets up and headbutts Quroe on his forehead. Quroe stumbled backwards and fell to his butt away from Light.

  Light quickly stands up, with a swollen face and both of his fists clenched.

  “I have. . .”

  He answered with an expression that hid great sorrow behind.

  “. . .”

  Quroe was stunned by his response.

  “I was a weakling when it happened. Those who are weak are trampled by the strong ones. Yet now that I’ve gained power, I no longer wish to do the same to others. I should be different.”

  “. . .”

  Quroe did not respond.

  “There are others who don’t think like me. They were weaklings, they were trampled, but the moment they acquired power, they immediately exacted their revenge. They are becoming the kinda people who harmed them in the first place.”

  “What’s your point?”

  “Unlike others, we have a God who chose us to be in a position different from them. Even more than that, we can save those people with these powers He gave us.”

  Light walks closer towards Quroe.

  “We both have faced the evil of this world, and no matter how many times we defeated them, new evildoers always popped up somewhere else. We can’t fight this battle physically. God specifically chose seven of us and even allowed each of us to have a Support by our sides. By design, God never told us to struggle all alone. This isn’t a solo mission. We need to join our heads together to do this.”

  “. . .What are you implying?” asks Quroe.

  Light stands right in front of Quroe. He offers him a hand to help him stand.

  “Join the rest of us Judges, Quroe-san! It’s time we all move together as a group. As the Seven Layers of Judgment, the way God intended it even before He created the foundation of the world.”

  “. . .”

  Quroe is thinking. He carefully listened to every word that came out of Light’s mouth. He thinks to himself for a while, not saying anything, trying to find a conclusion of his own.