Chapter 26: Skyborne Judgment
The eye in the sky was not made of flesh or light.
It was truth.
A massive golden sphere, carved with fractal rings and inscribed with ancient divine script, opened above Emberreach like a celestial iris. Its gaze locked onto Shen — and everything stopped.
[Judgment-Class Entity Detected: VERITAS-0]
Classification: Unbounded Observer
Threat Level: Divine ++
Alignment: Order of Absolute Law
Active Directive: Erase Unauthorized System Deviants
The streets of Emberreach froze. Birds ceased mid-flight. People fell to their knees. Even the wind halted.
And in the silence, a voice echoed.
"Unauthorized lifeform. You have engaged multiple system lines. Voidbrand. Bloomroot. Chaos Protocol."
"This is not permitted."
Shen didn't flinch.
The Voidbrand across his chest pulsed darkly — a slow heartbeat beneath the skin.
Nyxria hissed beside him. "It's using Judgment Pressure. That's reality-grade suppression—!"
Aeris clutched her head. "It's scanning our souls."
Scene: Memory Fracture
Shen saw visions.
Flashes of his death. The first time the gods cast him down. The betrayal.
A younger version of himself, broken and bleeding, surrounded by winged Enforcers.
He clenched his fists.
"You're not welcome here." he growled.
The sky boomed.
"You do not choose welcome. You do not choose survival. You are to be unmade."
System Clash Begins
[Warning: Host soul under active divine scan]
[Voidbrand Response: Rejection Protocol Initiated]
[Warning: Soul Distortion Detected – Rebellion Traits under Judgment]
Shen dropped to one knee, gritting his teeth.
Golden light from VERITAS-0 focused like a beam, lancing toward him. It wasn't fire. It wasn't light.
It was truth—raw and unforgiving. A weaponized fact, trying to overwrite his existence with what "should" be.
He screamed.
And then—
[Override Engaged: Codex Nihilo Fragment – Blackline Page 07]
[Counter-Truth Engaged]
"Reality is a suggestion. I am the correction."
A burst of black lightning erupted from Shen's Voidbrand. It tore upward — cracking the golden ray, unraveling it like a lie exposed.
The sky howled.
Scene: Descent of the Enforcer Choir
From the celestial iris, figures began to descend — radiant, faceless humanoids with halos of floating script. The Choir of VERITAS, each a High-Class Enforcer born from divine decree.
They didn't speak.
They judged.
[Battle Event – Divine Tribunal Initiated]
Objective: Survive until the Eye Closes
Duration: Unknown
Reward: ???
Risk: Full Annihilation
Nyxria threw up a defense field — glowing vines spiraled from her arms.
Aeris channeled spectral herbs into healing winds.
And Shen…
He stood.
"You came all this way," he muttered, "just to see me fail."
"Then I'll show you something worse."
Combat Begins
Shen activated:
[Voidshadow Spear – Lv.3]
[New Passive: Chainshatter Instinct – Bonus to Divinebound foes]
[Fusion Skill Ready: Black Spiral Execution]
The first Enforcer landed. It struck with a hammer of law — shaped from binding oaths. Shen dodged mid-flash, leapt over it, and drove his spear into the back of its head.
The body shattered into gold mist — and ten more replaced it.
"They're replicating," Nyxria warned. "Kill one, two appear. This isn't about fighting. It's about breaking us down."
Shen smirked, even through the blood.
"I've broken worse things."
Scene: Whisper from the Eye
Just as another Enforcer launched forward — a whisper slipped from the iris above:
"Unlock the Chain. Rewrite the Sky."
The Voidbrand burned.
A seventh sigil appeared across Shen's spine — one that hadn't existed before.
[New Trait: Voidlayer Sigil – "Ego Ascendence"]
Effect: Gain control over one moment of destiny per battle.
Status: Locked – Requires Trigger Event.
Aeris blinked. "That's… an Impossible Trait."
"Which means it's perfect," Shen said.
Scene: Arrival of the Unknown
As the Enforcers prepared their final strike formation, a rift tore through the air beside Shen.
A cloaked figure stepped out — silver hair, violet eyes, a golden flute in one hand.
"You weren't supposed to awaken this soon," she said.
Shen narrowed his eyes. "...Do I know you?"
"Not yet," she smiled. "But I remember you."
Nyxria shouted: "She's using Dreamroot. That's beyond any known faction—!"
[New System Detected: Lucid Archive – Class: Forbidden]
[Temporary Alliance Formed – Dream-Linked Entity: ???]
The figure raised her flute — and the Enforcers froze, trapped in a memory echo.
"You only have a minute," she said. "Use it."
Chapter End Teaser:
As Shen raised his weapon and the sky shimmered with broken laws and rewritten truths…
The judgment wasn't ending.
It was just the beginning.
Next Time: Chapter 27 – Echoes of the Dreamroot