judgment (end)

As Charles looked calmly at everyone in the room, the silence was only broken by his words, "Better not waste my precious time." His presence was dominant, and all present could feel the intensity of his power. Gaia, seemingly the only one unaffected by his presence, respectfully asked, "We want to know, whose side are you on?"

Upon hearing the question, Charles reflected and responded, "I'm not on either side, hell or heaven. I don't care about either." This answer left Gaia wondering about the mysterious being's origin and intentions.

Mors, seeking more answers, asked Charles, "Who are you?" directly and forcefully. However, Charles responded in an intimidating tone, "It doesn't matter who I am, just know that I'm not your enemy, for now..."

Mors wasn't satisfied and wondered why such a powerful being with seemingly limitless powers wouldn't reveal his name. Charles then continued, "Well, you must be the strongest beings on earth, right? So you must be able to clear some of my doubts." At that moment, the atmosphere shifted, and Hades, the king of the underworld, was killed effortlessly by Charles, who stood next to Mors and Gaia.

Seeing Hades being killed so easily, everyone was ready to fight, but Charles warned, "I will only kill those who move." Everyone froze as if they were statues, and Charles went on to say, "Don't worry, I'll revive your friend, but tell him I don't like prying eyes."

Mors realized his mistake and mentally cursed himself, "That idiot... Did you try to visualize the true form of that being in front of us?" Charles then walked up to Gaia, who seemed to be the only one unafraid of him and asked, "You seem to be the only one who isn't afraid of me... So Mother Nature, is there anything you want to ask?"

Gaia responded calmly, "If you're not on the side of hell, I don't care about you anymore."

Charles smiled and said to Aphrodite, "I like you." Hearing this, Aphrodite felt a fire growing inside her as the goddess of love. She couldn't accept that another goddess received such a compliment and she didn't. So she overcame her fear and spoke in a charming tone, "You are amazing... Being able to kill Hades with thought is something incredible hehe."

Charles reflected upon hearing her words. "I was surprised. I didn't think it would be easy to kill a god, like killing a human... I need to find out who I am." He ignored Aphrodite and said to everyone present, "So, since no one has any more questions... Return the boy to the academy, and don't kidnap him again."

Mors justified himself, saying, "I made a deal with the academy director. In exchange for reviving all the dead students, they would give me Thomas. I was planning to return Thomas to the academy after the trial."

Charles heard Mors's reply and reflected, "In the original story, the students were not revived... I hope I didn't cause too many side effects."

Suddenly, there was a 'thud,' and everyone looked in the direction of the sound. They saw a man with a girl on his back, both wearing wet clothes. The man had a black suit on, and the girl seemed to be unconscious.

Thomas, who was watching the scene, said to Charles, "Hey, I'll take over the body now, okay?" Charles, feeling tired, replied, "Okay, okay."

Mors asked the man, "Is the girl all right, Animarum?" The man, in a formal tone, as if Mors was his boss, replied, "Yes sir, she was drowning in the sea, probably unconscious."

Mors heard his subordinate's answer and waved to him. He then noticed that the mysterious being had disappeared and turned to look at Thomas, contemplating what had just happened. As he observed Thomas, Mors thought to himself, 'I have seen that tattoo somewhere before. It must be the key to discovering the existence of this mysterious being.'

Suddenly, Hades, who was previously in pieces, was whole again, but his face was filled with fear. Everyone present was alarmed by Hades' expression, as the king of the underworld showing such fear was strange indeed. Mors asked Hades, with a hint of concern in his voice, "What did you see when you looked at him?"

Hades looked down and replied, "We're going to die... we're all going to die, he..." He was unable to finish his sentence, as he was the only one who had seen the true form of the mysterious being, and he knew the level of danger it posed.

Mors, sensing the gravity of the situation, asked Hades once again, "What did you feel, Hades?"

Hades responded in a fearful tone, "I felt like I was looking at evil itself. If everything bad in the universe had a physical form, it would undoubtedly be what I saw..."

Gaia, a woman with long green hair, golden eyes, and a well-sculpted face that made her look very young, stood up from her seat and made her way toward the exit. Mors let out a deep sigh and announced, "Let's wrap up for today..."

He looked at Thomas, who was standing in front of him, and assured him, "I will take care of the mortals." With a snap of his fingers, Thomas and Annabelle were instantly transported to a bed in a room. Mors then turned to the others present and spoke softly, "Times are changing again..."

Thomas fell into a bed with Annabelle on top of him. Despite being wet, Thomas didn't care and quickly checked on her condition. After a while, he concluded that she was fine but unconscious. He stroked her red hair and whispered, "It's going to be okay now..." Looking around, he realized he was in his academy room and whispered to himself, "I hope everything will be fine from now on."

In the meantime, a mysterious being sat on a throne and spoke in a tone of satisfaction, "So, you finally woke up... 'Darkness'." A female voice could be heard within that space, "Did you say anything, my lord?" The mysterious being replied, "Lilith... make preparations, send Leviathan to Earth." Lilith widened her eyes, but quickly closed them and bowed, responding, "Yes, sir." The mysterious being then said to himself, "Times are changing..."

[...]

(Note: In this universe, there are three realms: Earth, Hell, and Heaven. The ten beings who were conducting the judgment were the ten strongest on Earth, some of whom were among the top ten strongest in the entire universe, such as Mors and Gaia.)