The monster's roar split the court, shaking stone and bone alike. Hunger glistened on his lips, slobber dripping as he stared at his prey — the ones who had tortured him, stripped his father, mocked his family while delighting in their pain.
The Judge crawled backward, trembling."You're going to make him eat me!?" he stammered, voice cracking.
Sammail didn't move. Just watched. Smirked."What do you think?" he asked, calm, ironic.
"Wait! You can't! I'm the Law of Corruption! The underworld will collapse without me! I'll do anything! Anything! Just—just stop that… abomination!" The Judge whimpered, desperate.
Sammail laughed, covering his mouth with one pale hand."My abomination?" he murmured."Are you sure, Anderson?"
The slaves screamed. The darkness swallowed them whole, stripping their flesh, hollowing their eyes until nothing angelic remained. Horror twisted into something worse than their old selves.
Sammail's shadow-drenched form glided toward the Judge, deliberate, unhurried. He pointed at the slaves writhing in pain."Do you understand yet?" he growled."All of this… it's your doing, Anderson."
He turned his gaze toward the child."You pretended to be a god… in a godless place. Why?"
Darkness pooled across his face, hiding every line, every expression. The Judge quivered, sweat mingling with tears.
"ANSWER ME!" Sammail's roar echoed through the court.
The darkness hissed, alive, whispering alongside the slaves' screams."Answer them! Answer us! Why?"
The Judge shuddered as the voices clawed at his mind."Stop them!" he begged, frantic.
"No," Sammail said softly."You can't. Only you can answer them."
The voices pressed closer, each word slicing."Why did you torture them?""Why leave them alive?""What kind of laws are these?""Isn't it pathetic to be judged in your own court?""Why humiliate us?""Why rape us?""Why… why fertilize us?"
The Judge gasped, blue flames in his soul flickering and dimming. The darkness pressed on.
Sammail's voice cut through."Answer them!"
The Judge collapsed under the weight of his own sins."Because… they deserved it!" he screamed, tears streaking his face."Everyone deserved their fate! Your mother! She condemned me to this! You think I wanted to judge the rest of the world? I needed punishment, not power!"
He gasped, ragged, voice breaking."The laws? There are no laws! Only the weak suffer, the strong survive. That's the universe! Heaven's nothing but a joke! Where were they when your mother corrupted humanity? Where were they when I cried out? And you… you hypocrite! You—"
He stumbled, sobbing. "You killed your family, yet judge me? You're nothing but a pawn of your shitty god!"
The court fell silent. Even the slaves' wailing faded, eyes fixated on the monster waiting to consume.
Sammail laughed, sharp and cutting."You're more pathetic than I am, Anderson. I love it."
The Judge's hope flared in his eyes."You'll spare me?" he whispered.
"Hell no," Sammail hissed."I'll make them eat you alive. Then I'll make Sylphia tear each one apart while I laugh. And I'll enjoy every second."
He leaned closer, shadows curling like serpents."But I'll admit one thing… my mother? Truly a bitch."