The Juror and the Challenger

"Tonight is the night… Finally, I can rest properly after this."

The things I uncovered during that time inside the Subspace was enough for me to know that Hiro's death has more layers other than the Miyazono corporation randomly disposing someone who came close to something that they wanted to keep as a secret.

I left that place after getting what I wanted and telling those people who are still trapped inside to wait until we can properly rescue them. It has already been two days since then… I wish they are still alright.

For the time being, I am preparing for the assault tonight and if things align properly, I can end all of this in one swoop.

"Hiro-nii? Hiro-nii, I'm coming in."

"Mm. Go on, Yukari."

"Nn? You look tired, Rai-nii."

"Oh? Is it obvious? Hehe… Don't worry so much about me."

Today is Showa day, February 29. It's the start of a so-called "Golden Week" here in Japan which are mainly enjoyed by students who can have a few days off from school.

Because of that, I was planning to bring my children out on a picnic at the public park and the bay walk today. But given that the operation will start tonight and will probably last until tomorrow midnight, I opted to let them use today as a preparation day for our picnic tomorrow.

"Rai-nii… Why are you staying inside the living room's closet?"

"Hm? I want to sleep, but since Yukari is being too loud, I went here to sleep in peace… but look who came here and ruined my sleep again!"

"Muu! Today is a holiday, so Magical Mirai is having a marathon special. I can't miss it!"

"I know that. But you don't have to shout the opening song and imitate Mirai's attacks on me. Did you know that your sweet-sweet punch attack actually hurt my tummy?"

"Muu! It's because Rai-nii is a boring adult! Mirai said that her attacks only hurt boring adults to make them cheerful kids again!"

"Haah… what on earth are they teaching kids nowadays in kid's shows…?"

Since she's sitting on my lap while we're both inside the closet, it felt a bit cramped and uncomfortable. But having Yukari near me like this reminded me of how important tonight's operation would be not just for the S.S.S, but also for us who has taken the brunt of Hiro's untimely and unjustified death.

"Yukari…"

"Mm?"

"Be a tough but kind and good girl, alright?"

"Huh? I don't understand you, Rai-nii."

"I'm just wishing the best for you and your sisters. As you know… after losing your parents and even your brother, I know that you two would be lonely and in pain. Rea is still a baby when your half-brother left him to me, but there would surely be a time when she would want to know who her true parents are."

"…"

"I promised to always be there to protect and love you three… But I can't promise to always be able to do what is necessary to make you three happy."

I took Yukari's left hand and placed it over the back of my own left hand, softly gazing at the difference between the sizes of our hands. With her still being young, only the tips of her fingers reached the joints of my knuckles which made me giggle lightly.

"Mm! You're being more and more like a boring adult, Rai-nii!"

"H-huh?"

"Magical Mirai's papa is like that! He always groans, snores in his sleep and says weird things while hugging her before crying… Muu! Don't be like him, Rai-nii!"

"…Alright. I won't do that again."

"Hmph! I'm mad! Say sorry!"

"H-huh?!"

"I won't talk to Rai-nii until he apologizes!"

"…"

Yukari, who is still sitting on my lap, crossed her arms and sharply let out some air off her nose to imitate a fussy tone. To her, she might have thought that she's like a jealous wife, but to me, she's just like a brat throwing a petty tantrum.

"Alright, I'm sorry… Yukari."

"Mm? Ahh!"

"I'll give you a hug too to show my sincerity."

"Mm… Mmm!"

I hugged her tightly as a way to annoy her after what she did to me. She struggled to get out of my embrace, but her weak arms can do nothing to my tight hold on her.

"Muu! Let go of me, Rai-nii!"

"Not until you receive my apology!"

"WAA!!!"

"Ahahaha!"

I rolled forward while still holding her, letting us two to get out of the closet together.

"Let go already, Rai-nii!"

"Ahahaha! I don't wanna!"

"Mio-nee! Rai-nii is bullying me!"

"Haah… I'm disappointed with you too, Rai-san."

Mio, my eldest adoptive child, came back from the kitchen while still wearing her new apron that I just bought.

"Are you finished there, Mio?"

"Mm. I prepared the miso soup and the side dishes."

"Alrighty. Let's eat now while the food is hot."

We had our lunch together by noon where I told them about the picnic plan tomorrow. They all seemed excited about it that they can hardly wait… especially the hyperactive Yukari.

"I'll be out again tonight on my work. I'm sorry that I can't even tuck you in your beds tonight."

"Nn, nn… It's alright, Rai-san. We understand that."

"Thank you, kids. I will do my best to get home in time so we can enjoy tomorrow properly."

"Mm! Good luck on your job, Rai-nii!"

After taking a quick shower, I came back to the closet in the living room to get the things I left there that I covered up when Yukari sat on my lap earlier.

"Rai-san…"

"Oh. Mio…"

"Are you… going to a dangerous place again?"

"…"

"Like last time? In Fukushima city?"

"…Yes."

Mio might be young, but she is very sharp when it comes to piecing together things. I learned that after she noticed the date when I was deployed with my team to Fukushima city and connected the unusual times that I left for work with certain news reports.

The last clue she found that finally gave her enough material to directly ask me is her seeing me sneak some guns to our house the day after I returned from Aokigahara.

"I know that you are doing this for us, Rai-san. Your job must pay a lot since it is dangerous, and this job might let you find out what really happened to Hiro-nii…"

"…"

"But please, Rai-san… please don't do something that would make you leave us too."

"I know that, Mio. And as I already did before, I promised to come back here safely every time I leave for work. I take my promises seriously… so please, pray for my safety too for all of our sakes."

"…"

"Can I ask that from you?"

"Mm. I will do just that, Rai-nii."

"…Thank you, sweetie."

While Yukari is still upstairs to play with Rea in their room, I opted to take out my equipment to my motorcycle before formally telling them a farewell.

"Yukari! Rea! Rai-san is leaving!"

"We're coming down now!"

"Gua!"

I tied the laces of my military boots and after standing up to face all of them, gave the appropriate courtesy.

"I'm heading out now."

"Keep safe, Rai-san!"

"Don't drive too fast, Rai-nii!"

"Muah! Bai-Bai!"

"Ehehe… lock the doors before you head upstairs, alright?"

I drove off on the empty streets of Sunogahara-cho, heading directly to Shibuya bunker where I will board the helicopter heading to Aokigahara for the raid tonight.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Combat Company 4, on the move."

"Combat Company 9, on the move."

"Strike Force Echo, awaiting orders."

"This is Operative Chronia from Old Tokyo command. I am on the scene and are en route to your positions. Once we pass, follow our column until we arrive at a suitable distance from the target area."

"""Copy that, Sir."""

Radio chatter from our men in the field was the only sound in the Main Operations Office. Being the acting commander while Yuri is resting after laboring for 2-days straight in here, I need to steel myself to not show any weaknesses that might harm our men.

"Combat Company 4. Strike Force Echo has passed your position. Attach your team to them."

"Affirmative, Operator."

"Combat Company 9, disengage from your defensive positions and prepare to parallel the others until you reach a clearing where you can consolidate your numbers."

"Copy that, Operator. Proceeding to match their pace."

Even if we are a military force that are not openly recognized by the whole government due to the Psychic nature of our job, it would be a mistake to disqualify our capabilities as substandard or purely for show.

After all, Yuri remade this group of ours who has done all of this again and again back then… at this point, much of this has already been a simple matter to us.

"Vice Director Hinata, requesting permission to arm the surveillance drone fleet."

"…Permission granted. Either by request of ground forces or through the discretion of Operators, give air support to our boys once things go down."

"Urgent report sir! They have reached the hot spot! Operative Chronia has undid his Diminisher equipment and are actively using his Psychic abilities."

"Zoom our drone camera and put the live feed on the main screen. I want to see it."

"Affirmative, sir!"

The huge main screen of the office lit up to show the figures of our agents on the ground standing on assault positions as Rai is breaking the Subspace in the hotspot area.

"Ope- Operator Yu- Operator Yusa!"

"This is me, Rai. What is it?"

"Turn off the drone camera! This Subspace barrier is booby-trapped!"

"-!!!"

"Get away! Everyone, get aw-"

*Pyiiii-!!!*

"Turn off the drone cameras!"

My shout echoed in the room just in time before a wave of light washed across the forest land and could've caused massive problems to our equipment if not for me hitting the circuit breaker under the commander's table.

"Everyone! What is going on?!"

"D-Director!"

Amidst the confusion after the forced power interruption, Yuri finally came back from her sleep and immediately turned to her commander mode.

"Yuri! I'm sorry if I didn't wake you up before we start-"

"Forget about apologizing to me for now, Hinata. Everyone! Sitrep! Sitrep! I need an immediate line of communication and visual to our Operatives!"

"Yes, mam!"

"Yusa! Why did Hinata reset our power?"

"We received a direct line from Rai, Yuri. He said the hotspot's Subspace has been booby-trapped and there was loud static before he can finish telling me why the drone camera had to be turned off."

"Drone Pilot Delta! My connection with the drone has been severed, Director!"

"What?"

"Severed? But that will only happen if the connection tower is disabled or-"

"The drone is no longer active…"

"That…"

"Our antenna just received the last ping from the drones, Director… They've crashed. None of the instruments are working… It must be an EMP shockwave."

"Tch! So, this is what my gut has been telling me earlier, huh?"

"Yuri, calm down!"

After confirming that our surveillance drones have crashed and has been destroyed, Yuri slammed her fists on her table and gnashed her teeth just like how she does it when she's utterly infuriated.

"…Hinata, Yusa, even you, Naoi."

"What is it, Yuri?"

"I'm listening, Yurippe."

"Ohoho! I didn't expect that you noticed me, Yuri-chan."

She called us three and we responded to her accordingly. Even Naoi, who rarely comes to active operations because his job is interrogation, was here with us.

"I need your Access cards and your consent to this idea of mine."

"…"

"What idea are you having, Yuri-chan?"

"Che! No need to look so seriously like that to me, Naoi. I'm not going to do anything stupid now unlike back then."

"Heh… I'm glad you're actually asking for my input this time."

Yuri sighed deeply for a moment before telling us what she is planning.

"Let's inform the Sumeragi group about this. They must've also sensed something… I believe they won't have any choice but go and assist us now."

"That would mean that…"

"They would surely complain about this later, Yurippe."

"…"

"I know that. But right now, our men are stuck in there with no way to communicate to us nor show us that they are alright… We are in the dark."

Yuri explained our situation well. It's a desperate move, but one that we cannot avoid not to do now.

"…If that is so, then let's contact the Ministry as well."

"What are you saying, Naoi?!"

"If the Prime Minister hears this, we might-"

"Listen to me first, you morons!"

"-!"

"…Something doesn't line up, right now. And that's the reason why I want us to inform the Ministry first before we move."

"What… do you mean?"

"That kid. Ephraim, right?"

"What about him?"

Naoi is usually quiet when it comes to suggesting stuff, but the few moments that he did pop his head out to help was at crucial times that kept our group afloat and working.

"…I think he's hiding something from us."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

This fight is mine alone.

"If he will take my challenge seriously, then I will give my all to end the mystery surrounding Hiro's death."

I left the dead bodies of the official company workers and because I cannot break the Subspace yet to free the workers who was made to work there against their will, I instead told them to extend my challenge to that man before I come back here to save them.

It was a foolhardy move. A thing I would surely regret later on if I cannot pull it off properly… But if this will bring Hiro's main killer to justice, solve the mystery regarding the reason for his death, and bring peace to the people, I am willing to bite the bullet for it.

"This time, I will be the one who knocks, and busts open the door."

After the long line of shock grenades that I set up was triggered by me and I sent out a massive wave of Astra energy to incapacitate the S.S.S soldiers and bring down the drones that are flying above us, I scanned the area around me to see if my intentional trap was successful.

"…Good."

The soldiers are all stunned and laying on the ground. And high above us, I heard the whistling of the falling drones that would inevitably crash soon.

"I'm sorry everyone… This fight is mine only."

I placed my hand into the distorted space in front of me and by focusing my Psychic power into it, successfully entered the place that I am planning to use as our battleground.

A flash of light attacked my eyes for just a moment until everything went black and I slowly regained control over my body.

"Wait… this is…!"

But instead of a rowdy party full of sexually infatuated teenagers that will go on for three days with no rules and no limits on either alcohol or narcotics, what I saw was a sight straight from a horror story.

"No breath… No heartbeats…"

The concert stage was there, so was the temporary lodgings for sexual activities and some stalls that either give out the illegal substances and alcohol to young ones who aren't meant to take them.

"…Not even a trace of brain waves."

But all around me… lay bodies upon bodies of the event goers who has fallen to the ground limply with no traces of even being alive.

"No blood?"

I pricked the finger of one victim and his blood never came out.

"No sores or swelling."

I opened the mouth of one scantily clothed young woman, and I saw no traces of the cause of death being an ingested item.

*TUGK!*

"Uwaaagghhh…"

"WAAAHHH!!! What on earth?!"

And when I came close to one of the few people who managed to lean on something to not fall down to the ground, I saw that at the place where his eyeballs are supposed to be, it now just has a blob of dark mass that oozed slowly down his face like highly viscous tears.

"What the hell…? What happened here?!"

I was panicking. I expected to come here and slip past the crowd to meet with the person that I aim to meet discretely. And if he cannot be persuaded to talk about what I want, fight him here and now.

But this scene… this field that has nothing but bodies that died as if their souls was simply sucked out, and their bodies left to be empty shells… this is not something that I expected.

"You… YOU-!!!"

"-!"

"How dare you…! How dare you ruin Lord Hamasaki's festival!!!"

Suddenly, from a stall behind me, someone came out with a haggard expression on his face and staggering around as if drained of his strength.

"H-hands up!"

"You will pay…!"

"I said hands up! Do it or I will shoot!"

"YOU WILL PAY!!!"

"Crap-!"

"Hyik-!"

I saw his eyes glow with a light ochre tinge and I would've fired my gun to buy myself enough time to activate my Psychic abilities, but he suddenly stopped from casting his attack and instead, held his throat and chest tightly as if in pain.

"GUAH!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

"Hey! Hey!!! What is happening?! Where does it hurt?!"

"WHY…! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?! THIS IS… Impossible… Kak! KAH!"

I approached him and would've knelt down to help him out, but as he writhed on the ground and suffered in his pain, I noticed the veins on his chest and neck bulging out and beginning to appear black as if ink was being run through his blood vessels.

"NO! NO!!! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! NOT NOW! NEVER-"

*Pyik-!"

"What the hell?!"

And finally, after that black liquid has coursed through his head and face as well, it emerged up to his eyes and popped out, showering that viscous black liquid to the ground before either dissipating into thin air or rescinding back to his eye sockets.

"No… This is madness… This isn't how this should go!"

"Then tell me, mortal. How should this have gone?"

"Who-?!"

Suddenly, someone spoke from behind me and by instinct, I drew my rifle and pointed it to the source of the voice.

"Upon the rule I set on this field of judgement… No display of force shall be wrought upon I, the Juror."

"M-My gun! My sidearm… where is it?!"

I simply blinked for a moment and after he said those words, all of my weapons suddenly vanished without a trace.

"Upon the rule I set upon this field of judgement, the silence of its audience must be kept in great check."

"Mmph? Mmmm!"

And after he spoke again, I lost my ability to speak and was pinned to the ground to sit down in a kneeling position.

"…You are an interesting fellow. You don't seem to share the darkness and evil of these lot around us. You are neither a hedonistic brat going to this place in pursuit of vain and temporal pleasures of wine, sedatives and the caress of lowly women, nor are you a follower of the monster who revived this deplorable gathering to increase his power yet again through the corruption of humanity."

"…"

"Oh, humanity… How we have kept watch over all of you for innumerable ages all in order to keep you in the right path. And yet, you have chosen your own demise by fornicating your bodies that should've been this world's greatest treasure."

This mysterious person finally walked close enough for the limited amount of light from the nearby light post to illuminate his face clearly.

"Such a shame that you are the lone spectator of this judgement… If only Charon didn't prohibit it, those righteous fellows would've been exhilarated with this scene of equitable and appropriate execution of these lot. Really… if only it could've been done."

"Mm! Mmph!"

"Ho? Do you wish to speak something? Very well, I shall lift my words from earlier."

He raised his right pointer finger, and I slowly regained my ability to speak. After feeling that I am back to normal, the first words I spouted was something that I am fairly certain is true.

"You… You are Miyazaki Koshiro, right?"

"…"

"I know you! You are the half-brother of Hiro, Mio and Yukari… and the father of Rea!"

"…"

"I can never mistake you! You are the one who left her on my doorstep before you suddenly disappeared!"

The indistinguishable similarity of their faces and the sound of his voice convinced me to say these words. I am very sure that he is the person I am suspecting him to be.

"…And what if I, the Juror, am the man whom you say I am?"

"Then this explains a fraction of my theory… If you came here because this is the time and place where Hamasaki Satoshi will be the most vulnerable, it means that you are also after him just like I do!"

"…"

"Unlike what you said on that letter, you still care for your half-siblings enough to find justice for them and-"

"What a simplistic creature you are to think that I came here for such a lowly reason."

"Kh-!"

After cutting off my statement and speaking about my words, he emitted a wave of energy that is denser, stronger and more horrific than Astra energy.

"I, the Juror of the Dark, am a creature whose existence came from the atrocities of human evil and their covetousness of the divine powers. I was born from the death of a being of such great importance that when she fell to the murderous hand of human evil, it invited the very first definition of true and untainted death."

"Gh! What on earth…!"

"If you think that I am here simply because this body is the half-relative of the one who has died here 420 sunsets ago, you are sorely mistaken and should seek more knowledge before spouting such words."

"Ah!"

The wave of energy suddenly materialized into a dense form that held my face up to look at him straightly.

"I am here to finally drag that monster hiding beneath the skin of an equally monstrous mortal back to the abyss that he deserves to be in."

"Kh! Hrgh!"

"Time is running out for all of you mortals. He has finally come back from his long isolation. The fool has finally broken the seal of the World Seed and has begun to nurse it in order to attain godhood. From all around the world, wishes of hedonistic desires and boundless evil are sprouting out of the hopeless and unsalvageable hearts and minds of mortals."

The mass of energy holding my throat tightened, strangling me of air as the surroundings became more colder and grew darker.

"The end is near. The end will be here. And while I do not believe that I can witness such a thing with my own eyes, I nevertheless would do my part in the final battle that will decide this world's ultimate fate."

"Gah!"

"Sleep, mortal. You should lay down and weep just like how your kind has always done after you have perpetrated your evils and can only regret it when your evils have already turned against you and will be coming to destroy you."

As my consciousness slowly disappeared and his footsteps echoed lightly on the ground before disappearing completely, there was something on my mind that I never thought about yet came up again and again as if beckoning what little attention and strength that is left within me.

"I still have fight in me… I cannot just stumble here and fall down completely…"

While I am trying to stand back up to my feet, I exuded that aura that I have suppressed ever since I first saw it with my own eyes.

"I am… the Divine Challenger."

From inside of my head, I squeezed out the small fraction of Law's power that he allowed me to use on my own discretion. I rarely made use of it because of how simply destructive it is… but right now, I needed it to fight back against the encroaching darkness around me.

"I will do my part… I will do what I am intended to do!"

The fatigue and darkness left my body and surroundings as I slowly trudged towards the border of the Subspace.

"I will not…"

And with one thing left on my mind, I unleashed my true power to break this barrier and call upon the one who I knew is responsible for all of the suffering that we went through.

"-let you get away with this…!"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

In a penthouse in Akatsuki district of New Tokyo, an old man walks across a silent hallway leading to the master's bedroom of the luxurious building.

"Young master… Young master Hamasaki."

"Ah!"

"Good grace!"

After opening the door of the utterly dark bedroom, it only took a single step inside for the old man to step on a woman who was sleeping on the ground.

"Young master, this is enough!"

"Argh…! Shut up, old man!"

"…"

"Tch! Nothing is ever enough for me. You should already know that by now."

In the large bed at one corner of the room, a tall young man stood up groggily before picking up a half-empty bottle of alcohol and lighting a stick of an illegal organic drug that was stuck on his lips.

"This number of women in your private quarters are too much, Young master. This isn't how the heir of the Hamasaki Fortune is supposed to do!"

"Aww, spare me of your old-fashioned crap, old man!"

"…"

"Etiquette? Public image? Rumors? Screw that! We can just kill those reporters if they make another attempt on us."

He paced around the room while drinking his grog and carelessly stepping on the women sprawled on the floor.

"You do not understand, Young master. Even if Lady Miyazono has openly discredited the government during the committee hearing last week, everyone's eyes are still on us. If they hear that the Director of one of the Miyazono corporation's branch companies has this kind of lifestyle, they will surely-"

"Then pay them to shut up and stop bothering me, you fart."

"Young master! I demand you to stop avoiding common logic and listen to me!"

"Kh! Argh! Get on with it!"

There was some kind of abnormality in the way the young man was acting. Either it is from the alcohol or the narcotic drug that he is smoking, it seems to be the reason why he keeps on pacing around and can't think properly.

"I have received a call from our men that is overseeing the festival."

"H-huh? Oh yeah! The festival… that sweet, sweet garden of mine! How was it? Did more people come and enjoyed their selves?"

"…"

"Haha! HAHAHAHA!!! Finally, finally, finally! I can finally surpass those damned idiots who keeps on insulting me just because they are stronger! Finally, finally, finally!!!"

With reddish and swollen eyes from the narcotic fumes and a sense of eccentric energy that came from the alcohol, he kept on excitedly hopping around his room.

"All of you! All of you wake up now! To commemorate this victory, I'll pleasure all of you again! Come to the bed now! Come on!"

"The news isn't pleasant, Young master."

"…What?"

"…All of the guests have been slain. Killed by one of the Spirits of Death."

Still inebriated and drugged, the young man approached him and placed his hands on the old man's shoulders before staring straight to his eyes.

"Can you repeat that to me, old man?"

"The guests are all dead. No one was left. The perpetrator is a Spirit of Death."

"That…"

While saying all of those, the old man turned on the screen of his tablet and showed the video of all of the people dropping down like flies before the one recording it also fell down and the video was cut.

"That is not all… look at this, Young master."

"…"

The old man switched to another application that showed a map over Aokigahara. This one is almost alike the Astra wave sensor map of the S.S.S. It showed that the large red blot in Aokigahara suddenly disappeared and only in one particular spot, was there a reddish point in it.

"We suspect that this is the Spirit of Death. He must be waiting for you to appear."

"Animals… Utter animals!"

*Ka-crash!*

"Kyaaaa!!!"

After he shouted, all of the brittle glass items on the room was shattered into pieces, making the semi-conscious women around them to crouch and hold their heads in terror.

"If he wants war, I will give it to him!"

"…"

"Old man! Prepare my personal chopper!"

"As you wish."

"That ungrateful beast! That damn mongrel!"

While dressing up, he continued to shout curses to the one whom he believes to be responsible for all of his losses.

"We humans desire those things! We want nothing but to fulfill all of it! What is so hard to understand in such a simple thing? We just want to have fun!"

This is Hamasaki Satoshi. One of the Miyazono Corporation's Psychic Gardeners and the one who is responsible for the organization of the Festival in Aokigahara. In terms of strength, he is the weakest among them… but that doesn't mean that he is indeed weak against any other.

"I will make you pay! I will break you until you can no longer hinder our fun!"

["That's right, my vessel. You are very right about that."]

"Heh! I know that I can count on you, my spirit."

And being one of the Gardeners, he is also afforded the right to be the vessel of one spirit whose existence has been the bane of many people who simply desire a more virtuous life.

["Upon my name, Debauchery. I will give you the strength to overcome your opponent who wishes to destroy our paradise of unlimited pleasures."]