["Do you plead guilty?"]
[Under the cold, piercing spotlight, Kafka's silhouette solidified into an elegant scar, the restraints digging into her white shirt. Outside the window, red moonlight spilled across the floor like viscous blood.]
[Four black shadows with beastly heads—goat, tiger, dog, and deer—stood around her, their forms like faded judges from ancient murals. Their breaths wove a damp, stifling web in the courtroom.]
——
Jujutsu Kaisen——
"Huh? Weren't we just watching the Exodus of the Five Dragons? Where's this now?"
Yuji Itadori rubbed his eyes, but when he saw the person bound to the chair, his pupils shrank. "Wait?! Kafka? She got caught? Someone can actually catch her?"
"That woman's full of schemes. Probably did it on purpose, right?"
Atsuya Kusakabe wore a knowing look. "Not even the Xianzhou's Shackling Prison could hold a Stellaron Hunter. I'd sooner believe I could take down Sukuna in a final stand than think these animal buddies could capture Kafka."
"Their tone… it's like a cat toying with a mouse. Aren't they afraid of Kafka's Spirit Whisper?"
Shoko Ieiri focused on the four beast-headed monsters. Kafka's Spirit Whisper seemed countless times more perverse than the Inumaki family's Cursed Speech—while Cursed Speech could be mitigated by protecting one's ears and mind with cursed energy, Kafka's Spirit Whisper had never failed since her debut.
"More than her Spirit Whisper, I'm curious about these beast-headed judges," Higuruma said faintly from the side. "The aura of sin around them… it's heavy."
"Sin?" Kusakabe chuckled. "If Kafka could be judged by your technique, Higuruma, she'd probably face eight hundred death sentences. When it comes to sin… these Stellaron Hunters are probably far more sinful than we can imagine."
——
——
["The crimes you've committed are unforgivable, but the Jepella Brotherhood respects everyone's right to ascend to paradise."]
["Confess and accept punishment, and the [Annihilation Gang] will grant you release."]
[The beastly shadows crept closer to Kafka on the chair. At that moment, facing their pressure, she finally let out a soft laugh, the taut lines of her shirt relaxing, like a ceramic blade slowly being drawn.]
["Hmm… I'm listening." Kafka slowly opened her eyes, her gaze sweeping over the four.]
["Then, you and the other Stellaron Hunters, do you admit responsibility for the following crimes?" A translucent dial appeared before the deer-headed figure, listing the crimes one by one.]
["You infiltrated the Atuin Universal Auction, manipulated the attendees, and destroyed treasures under the Devotee of Sanctity's care, causing losses exceeding 8.6 trillion credits. And you stole the auctioned item (a Stellaron)."]
[The deer-headed figure's eyes narrowed, enunciating each word. "Do you… plead guilty?"]
[Kafka smiled faintly. "I admit it, but the Devotee of Sanctity isn't so saintly."]
[The deer-headed figure continued, "You infiltrated the Electronic Holy Prison of Innupis, stole the Sigma Scepter, and disabled the firewall sealing the cursed machinery, allowing hordes of data demons to flood into reality. This triggered that world's Judgment Day ahead of schedule, so you could take the source code (a Stellaron)."]
["Do you… plead guilty?"]
[With the deer-headed figure's voice, a towering figure appeared at the center of the Celestial Screen.]
[Its body was woven from flowing code, binary torrents surging across its surface. Its head was a cluster of flickering pixels, its red eye sockets swirling with endless error reports… Undoubtedly, this was the data demon the deer-headed figure spoke of.]
——
New Eridu——
"8.6 trillion credits… let me count how many zeros that is…" Wise counted on his fingers.
"Brother! You only have one Belle!" The girl behind him huffed in dissatisfaction. "And where's your focus? Didn't you notice? They mentioned Stellarons…"
"Oh… what about it?"
"The things Kafka and her group took were all Stellarons, but each one has a different name," Belle said curiously. "Whether it's an auctioned treasure or source code… it's hard to connect them to the Stellarons embedded in planets just by their names."
"True, but speaking of Stellarons, maybe Fairy can search online for some insights to help us…" Wise called out to the empty room, "Fairy?"
The room was silent.
"Strange… I paid the electric bill just yesterday." As Wise puzzled, Fairy's voice suddenly sounded. "Warning! Logic module contaminated. System will reboot after the data demon disappears."
"Oh? Is Fairy scared of that data demon?" Wise suddenly found it amusing. "Aren't you supposed to be New Eridu's strongest AI? Why would an AI… feel 'fear'?"
"Negative. Not fear, just disgust. Please, Assistant Two, speak rationally."
"Additionally, I will send a screen of binary data to the HDD backend, but it's merely a pre-reboot test, absolutely not encrypted profanity expressing disgust toward the data demon."
"…Looks like even Fairy has things it can't handle," Wise said with a mischievous grin. "Seems the 'strongest AI' isn't so strong after all. Belle, should we start saving on next month's electric bill…?"
"Master, stay calm. As of today, discussions about Stellarons have consistently ranked in the top three trending topics since Kafka's appearance, second only to 'Dragon Sovereign Dan Heng' and 'General Jing Yuan,' with 18.26 million views."
"Stellaron discussions make up only 4% of total traffic. Of the remaining 96%, 54% is about Kafka, 36% about Blade, and 6% about Silver Wolf."
"Oh? Pretty high engagement, huh… So what do netizens think of the Stellaron Hunters?"
"The main topics are as follows—"
"1. Wanting to be Kafka's dog."
"2. Wanting to join the Stellaron Hunters and call Kafka 'Mommy.'"
"3. Wanting to be looked at with disgust and disdain by Blade."
"Ugh…" Belle clutched her forehead. "Fairy, stop searching. Wasting electricity on these topics is just… pointless."
——
["You invaded the ring-world Golconda, spreading a paradox virus to all its colonies, causing 46 million inorganic lives to become rogue machines. You also took the [Steel Core] from Golconda's gravitational balance point, silencing the entire world."]
["Do you plead guilty?"]
[On the screen, a massive mechanical lifeform slowly rose, its laser eyes slicing through buildings with a "zzt—" sound, scattering dust and toppling countless skyscrapers.]
["Oh? Wasn't that the Jepella Brotherhood's doing? But we did take that thing (a Stellaron)."]