The End of Justice

The audience was cautious in the face of the young human's feat; no magical being had ever accomplished such acts inside the arena. It was the kind of exploit one could only witness in legends or hear about in war tales.

No one in the crowd could decide whether it was proper to applaud this Man or not—after all, he was the victor of that wild, frenzied battle that was meant to determine who would earn a reprieve, or even a royal pardon.

Nobody would dare take the risk with the Kingdom's representatives present—especially not the Mad Judge.

Speaking of him…

"Are you going to get up or not?!" he shouted at Jordan. "Break those chains on that human and annihilate him!"

"As if it were that simple…" commented the queen. "Not everyone can break Ardésium as easily as a human."

"Huh?"

"Don't treat me like an idiot, Triface!" exploded the queen. "You put Ardésium chains on that human child without bothering to learn that he'd already shattered them before," explained Audisélia. "Your hatred of humans made you underestimate them, and now you're facing their worst representative."

"Don't speak to me in that tone, you worshipper of Men."

"You'd better calm down, for I am the queen of this sanctuary for Fairies! I know all too well the tribulations we've endured for millennia—so don't address me that way again, or I'll reduce you to dust once and for all."

Triface's three faces smiled.

"But…I am nothing more than dust. Your threats hardly affect me," he mocked. "You are indeed the majesty of this kingdom, but I am its Justice!" he declared proudly. "My Justice is impartial! My Justice is irrefutable! My Justice is unshakeable! My Justice is inevitable! If I say he will die, then he will die!"

"Then go and take his life with your own hands!" she goaded. "Stop throwing tantrums like a spoiled child and resorting to schemes of that same caliber. By the way, do you want to know why they don't work?"

"I don't recall granting you permission to address me informally…"

"Because you're nothing but a heap of soulless mud, animated by meager ounces of life from the three ancient kings whose names you bear," she snapped in answer to his very remark. "You're a relic from an era older than this world— even human machines are more efficient and possess more will than you! You've lost, and that's that."

"ENOUGH!" roared the three faces of the Mad Judge. "If I must deal with this insolent pest myself, then I will."

Seizing a guard's spear, Triface fashioned stairs from the arena's sand and descended with elegance—twirling the spear like a majorette.

"You! Human!" he addressed the Hero. "Rise and face your Judge!"

The Hero turned toward his interlocutor. Watching him descend like a runway model at a Fashion Fiesta—more akin to those mannequin-robots from the various sex shop chains bustling in Vicenti—he thought it rather conceited for a mere assemblage of stone and clay. With a dismissive wave of his hand, he sent him packing.

"Who do you take yourself for?" fumed the Judge. "I will show you the might of the being who upholds order and prosperity in this Fairy nation."

Twisting the Fairy Guard's spear—he wore a helmet and was roughly the same size as the other guards (I can't quite pinpoint his race)—he conjured a tornado of sand and plunged into it.

The arena's crowd fled the battleground: fairies took to the air, mages teleported or transformed into rodents to scurry into the various crevices in the stands, dwarves used the traps they'd built into the seats, and the rest escaped on foot, gripped by panic at the madness of Judge Triface.

The megalomaniac—clad in a muddy tunic—tried to suck the Hero into the vortex. Devoid of strength, the Hero grabbed the chains that were dismembering the giant lizard, but even that reptilian monster was beginning to lift off.

The Hero pondered: if he were carried along with the assassin, he might use him as an anchor; but if he miscalculated, he'd just end up taking that huge lizard right in the face.

He wasn't sure if it was the right decision, but he had to act. So he decided to let himself be swept away by the tornado.

Once in the eye of the cyclone—after being tossed about in the whirlwind of sand—he didn't immediately see Jordan behind him, though he kept him at bay. Then he remembered that he was still tethered by his ridiculously long chains. The poor lizard roast was still being dragged along in this mess.

Nevertheless, all that sand was irritating—it seeped into every pore of the Hero's skin, even into his open wounds. It began to itch him all over, but he had to remain focused; he had no idea what to expect from this overly zealous magistrate—he'd already suffered enough from him before entering the arena. At the slightest misstep, he'd undoubtedly get caught.

Outside the sandy vortex, the queen and her guards kept a vigilant watch. It wasn't the first time that the stone puppet had lost control; all they had to do was confine him and his victim to a specific area so that he wouldn't rampage through the entire capital—and beyond—bringing suffering to the subjects once more.

The queen could have used the Column of Lightning to stop him by crystallizing him, but even turned to glass, he wouldn't calm down—he'd only become even more vicious and uncontrollable…

Perhaps she could feign that it was to stop the human?

No—he would claim that she was interfering with his "justice."

What a hassle…

If that human could kill the stone puppet, she'd be eternally indebted to him—even if he possessed Ymir.

Meanwhile, the princesses and their champions were being evacuated. Yeneltig urged the Fairy to take refuge outside the arena, but she refused. She wanted to witness the outcome of this cataclysmic battle, even though she feared both the storm and that human.

"Have you gone mad, Princess? Have you lost your mind? He stands no chance! He's facing Triface—it's almost certain he'll be killed!"

"That wouldn't be the first miracle he'd perform before our eyes," retorted the wingless Fairy without taking her eyes off the tornado. "It's a miracle he made it out once, and I'm sure he will again."

The Fairy was genuinely intrigued by that strange human; ever since she'd crossed his path, he'd accomplished so many surreal feats. Stars shimmered in the depths of his gaze—even though he frightened her, she admired his exploits. And if he survived, she'd ask him why he took such enormous risks for her, why he defended her so passionately, when she was nothing here in this world…

It was a welcome change from her everyday life.

"As you wish, Princess…"

Yeneltig departed, leaving the Fairy to bear witness to this cataclysmic battle.

At the very heart of the storm, the Hero found himself face-to-face with the Mad Judge. His feet had become a swirling mass of dust, stones, and sand; his arms were folded, and the austere expressions on every face—coupled with his riveted blue jacket—gave him the look of a true dictator.

"This is where your journey ends, human!" barked the Judge. "Do you have a final wish?"

The Hero glared at him and simply shrugged.

"That's a shame. I'm beginning to think you truly are voiceless," said the Judge, "False of the Thousand Judgments."

Judge Triface conjured an enormous scythe from the surrounding sand and charged at the Hero to slice him in two. In response, the Hero summoned Ymir into his hand and plunged it into the golem's chest. The Judge laughed and slid along the Hero's blade until he reached him.

"Do you really think you can kill me with a mere toothpick?" mocked the Judge.

Something had been bugging our Hero ever since he'd seen that creature made of rock and mud. He tore off the bandana from his forehead and discovered the answer to the question that had been gnawing at his mind: inscriptions were etched into his forehead in an ancient language—exactly as he had read in the books of the Universal Library of Vicenti.

"What are you doing, for heaven's sake?" Triface exploded. "Don't tell me you can read it!"

The Hero's eyes then blazed with a golden aura. He licked his thumb and wiped away the first letter of the word that was written.

"Nothing will stand in the way of our duty, creature of sand… Nothing will stand in the way of the Destiny of the Legendary Hero… Disappear!" they intoned through the Hero in multiple voices.

In that moment, the glow in the Judge's eye sockets vanished, and his jaws unhinged before tearing themselves from his mouth and crumbling entirely to dust—leaving nothing on the ground but his three-faced metal skull.

The Hero collapsed onto the ground with a crack of his back, letting out one final cry of pain and a last spurt of blood after the fall of the lizard-man sausage.

The guards—as well as the wingless princess and the queen—could hardly believe their eyes: Triface had been defeated!

"He is truly incredible!" thought the queen and the princess.

What a complete mess!

He couldn't remember a single second of peace—not even one moment—since he'd left Novillios. He couldn't even recall when he'd last enjoyed a lazy morning or a hot bath. He only hoped to finally obtain the rest he had long desired once he offered eternal rest to that man who had taken everything from him by seizing his head—the source of all his troubles.

While he was daydreaming about an Alpha One shower, he failed to notice that the queen's troops had surrounded him.

More problems, of course...

Rising with the aid of the cursed sword as a crutch, he recognized among the men the two guards he had met in that squalid prison. Yet, as he braced himself for another fight, he was surprised to see them step aside to make way for none other than the Queen of the Fairy Kingdom herself. She was immensely tall—at least two and a half meters—and her enormous orange and gold wings, outlined in black and reminiscent of a monarch butterfly's, made her even more imposing. She must have been an anomaly among her peers—if one sets aside the orc guards—all the others looked like dwarfs in comparison.

The moment she raised her arm, the Hero assumed a defensive stance, ready to confront the one who had struck him down just moments before. He would fight with the energy of despair in order to survive and avoid returning to that wretched cell.

These endless battles were beginning to wear on him; he felt he'd already had his adrenaline fix for the day. At some point, one must know when to stop.

Then she lowered her arm. The Hero raised his sword above him, as if to counter the lightning column that had struck him a few days ago—but all that happened was that the royal guards knelt all around him.

The Hero was utterly bewildered—moreover, he looked ridiculous in that absurd position, his sword serving more as an umbrella than a lightning rod.

"Twice you have saved one of my precious subjects, and I must thank you in person and in proper form," said Her Majesty Audisélia in a solemn tone. "Then, I must also thank you for having defeated that mad judge, our dear Triface—no one had any idea how to fell him or depose him of his functions. So, the entire kingdom and I owe you a great debt of gratitude. In all my kindness and clemency, I hereby pardon you despite your humanity, and I am prepared to grant any one of your wishes. You are even an honored guest in my realm," she declared, bowing.

"Such an honor!"

It was truly the first time anyone had thanked him with such fervor.

He began to wonder what Astéron would have asked for in a situation like this. Fixing his gaze on the queen, he allowed obscene thoughts to flit through his mind—a private smile tugged at his lips as he snorted.

Really, that depraved Astéron had a truly pernicious influence on the little guy; he planted ideas in his head that corrupted the young lad and led him to entertain perverse thoughts—but, thankfully for him, these were only private jokes. He would never have dared say them aloud, especially given the boy's seriousness.

Regaining his composure, he advanced toward her. There were far too many things he desired. Unfortunately, he could not voice them aloud—the pain would be too great.

Lowering his sword and pointing the blade toward the ground so as not to alarm her or her protectors, he beckoned the queen to come closer. Intrigued by the little human, the queen complied. The boy whispered a few words in her ear for two long minutes without Audisélia uttering a single word. Then she jumped in surprise at the revelation of certain details.

Suddenly, he halted abruptly mid-silent declaration—a large wound split open along his back, frightening everyone behind him at the sight of so much blood. He collapsed to the ground, his eyes rolling back and his mouth agape.

He had spoken enough for today...

"No! No! No!" she repeated frantically. "It can't be! Why did it have to be you?"

"What is it, my queen?" asked Globox, worried at seeing her so disturbed.

The queen exhaled and inhaled several times as if her body refused to take in the surrounding air. It took a good minute before she regained her composure.

"I will grant your two requests concerning the humans and your armor—but the third, I refuse to carry out, and I will not allow you to execute this project. That is why, with immense regret, I must take your life," she announced sadly.

Audisélia ordered one of her guards to kill him by slitting the Hero's throat, but that plan was thwarted by the sudden appearance of the Fairy, who prevented the execution from taking place.

"NO!" she cried.

"Step aside, wingless Fairy," commanded the guard who was about to chop off the human's head.

"I won't let you do it."

"We must do it," the queen insisted.

"I oppose it firmly!"

"And why?" she asked.

"You know very well why."

The queen shook her head.

"If you continue, I will have you impaled alongside him," the queen threatened.

"I don't care!" screamed the Fairy. "If he was willing to fight for me, then I must return the favor."

What am I saying? thought the Fairy. Sacrifice myself for someone? What is gotten into me?

The queen growled in anger before relenting and ordering her guard to sheath his sword. She then pointed a finger at Ymir.

"Do you know what this is?" asked the queen in a hoarse, exhausted voice from all that has happened and been revealed.

"No..."

"It is the weapon of the damned," explained Audisélia, "or rather, of the Damned—who condemned us to this life without stars and a bright sky."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You, who study so diligently, must have heard of the Nemésis."

At the mere utterance of that name, all the guards shuddered in terror; everyone knew whom it referred to, and the dread that this demonic being inspired. Only the newest sprouts of this world or those devoid of knowledge were unaware of such a demon's existence.

"The Nemésis is a vile being, filled with vice, endowed with the strength and power of the Evil One from the Age of Darkness."

"As expected, you are well informed."

"But what point are you trying to make with this legend from another time?" asked the Fairy with an uneasy smile and a backward step. "The Hero, the Nemésis, and the Evil One are characters from fairy tales—you don't really believe in them, do you?"

"I do not know why you have all become such unbelievers when we live in an age of endless possibilities... But since you seem to pretend not to understand, I will extract from your mind the answer with my very mouth: this human—young and slight—is the natural enemy of the Legendary Hero, the Harbinger of the Wicked. He is the Nemésis!"

"Oh, oh!" I thought simultaneously with Sawyer.