CHAPTER 28: JUDGMENT (1)

"This is new." The first thing I see when I open my eyes are bars.

I am in a cell, I wonder why. But more importantly…

[

WARNING

The god of balance is hostile towards you. Until you undergo his judgment, your abilities are sealed.

|Time remaining until judgment: 48hours 32 minutes|

Will Otun

Gender: Male

Age: 16

Mana points: ****** (10 pts/s) (sealed)

Class: *****(sealed)

*********************************

***************************************

***************************************************

Class bonus: ******(sealed)

*******************************

Passive skill:

*********(sealed)

*************************************

Skill: ******************(Rank F-S) (sealed)

******************************

Current rank: *****************

**********************************

**************************************

Skill: **************(sealed)

************************

Current rank: ****************

Blessing: Dance of Fire (Altered)

The Spirit of Fire E***** has acknowledged your determination and discipline in worshipping her. Performing the dance of fire now generates flames around your body. Performing each stance of the dance of Fire will increase the strength of your attacks. Performing the last stance of the dance of Fire will generate lightning.

Fire explosions may sometimes occur.

Lightning strikes may sometimes occur.

Affliction: magic cancer (Strengthened)

Your body has absorbed too much magic and is slowly deteriorating. An overuse of magic will aggravate the illness.

The god of law and balance is now hostile toward you.

]

Forty eight hours remaining, huh…This is the stupidest thing I have ever seen. Also, the dance of fire wasn't sealed. Does it mean it is not given by the god of law and balance? Then who is this E**** spirit?

"And how come you are still alive?"

In the cell right before me, lies a man I was sure he would die. I know I tried to purify the whole place to help the others but still, if it saved you, then the effect was way more than I anticipated.

"I could ask the same of you." Even his voice has changed. No wait…

"Your hair as well…Now that I look at you, you look a lot like Emilia and Sarah, Warren." Warren, the commander of the demon's army…Not only has he returned to his human form, but he also seems to be in his forty. How come? "Did you not join the demon's army more than a hundred years ago?" His face and hair have almost everything in common with Emilia and Sarah. It can't be a coincidence, right?

"I am surprised you can speak so much for someone who was supposedly dead. Those guys spent four days healing you, you know?"

"Yeah, my wound was bad. Getting my stomach open is not something that happens every day." Though I am surprised it took four days. That means I would have never healed by myself like I was hoping.

"Anyway…Thank you."

"Eh? What for?"

"You have brought me back to a human. I have been thinking for the past few days whether I should be grateful or not but when I saw them, my heart knew the answer."

"She is the proof you were wrong then?" So, in the end, your hatred was misplaced.

"Yes. I am sure of it, because of how similar they look to my wife. I am sure of it, they both have my blood."

"They?"

"Yes, the one you called Emilia and the hero who healed you."

"Ah, Sarah. Well, it is surprising but I guess it is logic."

They really look alike after all. That would mean Sarah's father was here as well. And most likely, he had a child or two here and went back with…one of them? Let's not think about it too much. It is a hassle and it doesn't concern me. But what is important is that I am now sure, Sarah's father was here, he was a hero as well before, and that confirms it. We were randomly called that day. We were selected. All those who were summoned were related somehow to people who were heroes in this world before. Now, what is the aim of the person who did that, I wonder.

"Hey. Are you listening?" Warren's voice pierces through my thoughts all of sudden.

"Ah, sorry. Was there anything else?"

"What are you going to do now? Will you let them execute you as they are planning?"

"Not really. Their motives should be serious enough for that. I think it is more about their god." I suppose they want to kill me because I saw what that head priest was trying to hide. It wouldn't be a good idea to tell the other heroes that we are used as magic recharge for them when we die. Maybe the guy wasn't even dead.

There are too many things that are unclear here. I wonder why he didn't talk about it in his diary. Did he not encounter the same hardships? The fact that they can somehow use magic, or maybe it is not magic. Why was there a hero's boy trapped inside that crystal? who is that god of law and balance?...

"Warren, while you were a demon, was there nothing particular you noticed?"

"Are you referring to the god of law and balance?" It seems he understands what I am talking about.

"Yes; and more precisely, who is he? Or what I guess."

"I don't know. The demon queen didn't really talk about him. Though there was one time she mentioned his name, saying something about fake. But my memories of that time are fuzzy. I can't remember everything."

"That is already enough."

"Also, I would like to speak with you about something."

"What is it?" Suddenly, the air becomes heavy and Warren takes a serious face as he looks at me.

"I would like to dedicate my life to-"

"Not happening."

"Listen to me first."

"There is nothing to listen to. I am already pissed off by the fact that people had to heal me and now, you want to give me your life? Do I look like a hero to you or something?"

"Huh…"

"I came here, well, I am fighting because there is something that I wish to do. Something that he wasn't able to and which helped me see what he saw when he reached that place." Warren looks at me with interrogation as I say that.

"I am not sure I follow. Who is that 'he' you are talking about?"

"It doesn't matter. What is important is that your life is your own to live as you see fit. Don't go and sacrifice it for other people who have nothing to do with it. That's the end of the discussion, now let me sleep."

Is this guy for real? Giving me his life because I saved him or whatever? What sort of bullshit is this?

***

"Hey! Wake up!!" Suddenly, I am doused with water by someone.

When I open my eyes, a soldier wearing a white armor and David are standing before my cell.

"Yawn…What do you guys want?" Is it time already?

"Fufufu. You play the relaxed one but I am sure you are about to piss your pants. Or maybe you did already. The smell is pretty awful here, after all." David immediately starts off with his usual verbal bullying. He must have missed it since we came here. Has been a month? I think it has been about a month now.

"I guess you just came to talk."

"Talk?" He gives a gold coin to the soldier who takes it with a smile and leaves. Then he brings out a whip from a bag he had concealed under his clothes. "You are a maggot, a parasite that keeps crawling back when it is supposed to quietly disappear. What can I talk with such an inferior being?"

Saying so, he uses the whip the first time but it hits the bars of the cell instead.

"You should open the cell first if you want to do this."

"Shut up!! Stop trying to act like you aren't scared. I know that you are!! You always were!!"

He uses it again and it hits the bars another time. This guy must have bottled up a lot of pressure. I didn't know he was under such stress to prove himself. Or maybe his popularity has taken a dive since we have come here?

David keeps striking the bars another three times and his frustration reaches the peak.

"Fucking hell!! Blessing of the sun!!" He screams loudly and uses his skill. His whole body starts shining and emits heat. Though it is a bit uncomfortable, it is not impossible to get used to. I think it must be around 50 degrees Celsius.

The whip he is holding gets enveloped in the same yellowish-orange aura and as he strikes, this time, the bars get bent. So he is not going to think a little on this one.

"Yes!! This is what is required for you! A maggot!"

"That's a bit excessive for maggots, I think. Oh, and it is a maggot, by the way."

A vein pops on his forehead this time and the guy goes crazy.

"Ahhhh!!!" He whips away at my cell without a care or anything else. The ground, even the bars of Warren's cell…everything gets hit until it is destroyed, my cell's bars first. Then I am hit everywhere possible. My head, my stomach, my legs… Yup, this will sting a little.

"…Oh, it seems I slept for five hours." There are only forty-three hours remaining now.