Her Striker Blade cleaved eternal night, her Hellfire burning the nonhuman into twisted silhouettes. Souls trampled into mud finally heard the long-overdue toll of judgment's bell. The tormented at last glimpsed the dawn of justice.
The golden-haired judge stood upon scorched earth, the purifying flames behind her dying down.
She was no god, yet more real than any deity to the victims before her—using a bloodstained blade as scales, searing fire as weight, rebuilding ancient justice atop apocalypse's ruins: eye for eye, blood for blood.
However, the living still saw dawn. What of the dead?
They had died in darkness, unremarked.
No one knew their suffering. No one remembered their hatred. No one heard their pleas.
Perhaps no one even remembered them at all, for those who knew, their loved ones and friends, had died too.
...
Suddenly, the air trembled with a metallic hum.
Space rippled. From the void emerged a massive titan—H.A.M.P, a steel god of war.
Its black body blotted out the sun, steam vents spewing heat, thrusters growling deep.
Worst of all, its scarlet sensors—glaring coldly upon the land, like an apostle from the abyss. Every gaze pierced souls.
Tens of thousands of mutant crows surged around it in black tides. Their shrieks joined the engines in a suffocating symphony.
They beat greasy wings, eyes flashing red, like apostles circling their god.
Survivors stared in awe and terror. Before them was not a weapon, though an avatar of something beyond human.
The sight etched forever in memory: a steel colossus quaking earth with every step, crow swarms swallowing the sky. Nightmare yet sacred—the apparition of judgment and salvation, the law incarnate.
"Wait. The new world will come soon. It won't be long."
...
After purging the pests, Zeroy returned to Tokonosu City with the two reincarnators.
The moment she landed, she set the crows upon one.
One reeked of black mist, the other of mingled white and black.
The first, pest without doubt. The second, perhaps not.
The one beset tried to resist; yet, under Patchouli's binding, had no strength.
Soon torn half-dead, Zeroy finished him with fire.
...
She turned from the ash to the man frozen stiff beside him.
"W-wait! Don't kill me!" He raised trembling hands, voice restrained but frantic. "I'll give you my Points, my items! I'll even withdraw from the mission entirely!"
Unlike others who begged in disgrace, he clung to some dignity. Pale-faced, yet not sniveling.
Zeroy's emerald eyes held him coldly. Then a gentle smile curved her lips. "Don't worry."
Her voice was soft, soothing. "I don't want your items or Points. I only clear pests. You... haven't done anything unforgivable, have you?"
"Yes, yes! I'm a good man! I never did those things!" he nodded desperately, clutching the chance.
"Mm."
She inclined her head. Just as relief touched him—
Boom!
Crimson Hellfire engulfed him.
"AAAHHH!!"
He screamed, unready, the fire devouring.
"Why?! I didn't lie! I really—aghhh!!"
His words broke under agony.
Zeroy shook her head. "Whether you're good isn't your claim. My Evil Slayer and Hellfire judge. Tell it to them."
He clenched fists, veins bulging, trying to endure.
However, Hellfire scorched soul, pain beyond flesh. In seconds, will shattered.
He fell, writhing, claws tearing dirt bloody, pleas and confessions spilling:
"I was wrong! I admit—I stole! I cheated Points! I robbed drops! But I never killed—never worse! Spare me, please!"
A minute stretched into eternity, each second grinding him in purgatory.
At last, the fire dimmed.
He lay trembling, body drenched in sweat, eyes vacant, muscles twitching, tears and spit streaking the dirt.
"Alive?" Zeroy's voice cut in.
"...?" He raised his head, broken, disbelieving. "I... I'm alive?"
Zeroy tilted her head, gold hair swaying, lips curved faintly. "Yes. Your karmic sins weren't enough to kill. Good. You're not truly pest."
"That said, be careful. The pain matched your karma. Enough to hurt like this—you're near the edge."
"I... I'm sorry... sorry..."
He wept, soul wrung by guilt.
Hellfire did more than sear. It cleansed.
Now remorse weighed him true.
"You owe an apology not to me, but to those you harmed."
"Hellfire doesn't erase sin. It only changes its form."
From black to red.
But in truth, Hellfire could purify. Zeroy chose not to.
Why should she? She wasn't the one harmed. Just as apologies belonged to victims, not her.
...
If you want to support, please consider Patreon, and read advanced chapters! Your support keeps this series going!
[Patreon.com/RedZTL]