Chapter ; 120

I must be dreaming right now.

Yes, I must have gone half-crazy from exam stress.

Otherwise, there’s no way I’d be watching Lucius kill Lerwon and Zephyros.

[The hero pierced Zephyros Nevera's heart.]

“Ha.”

Even as I denied reality, that damn ‘trial’ showed no signs of ending.

Did Lucius really make that choice?

“Don't give me that bullshit.”

This is all a trial to shake me.

Yes, it was a trial. Not reality.

With that thought, my boiling heart finally calmed down.

[Next charge.]

Does this mean it's not over yet?

I felt a sense of emptiness close to annoyance at how many charges there were.

My vision shifted once more, and the scene that unfolded was another picture of hell.

White clothes lay strewn across the dust.

Those who had served God were brutally murdered under the Holy Sword.

‘Why?’

The various parts of Lumen Asteria, which had once scattered holy light, were burning, and the hazy fog from the fire filled the sky.

The ones who died under the Holy Sword were Caelus, who had not yet become Solomon, and Benaya Ignos.

Hartain Ignos, who had watched Benaya Ignos's last breath, struggled.

He spewed out his anger, and that anger soon turned into a murderous intent towards Lucius.

Hartain, holding a sword, rushed to stab Lucius, and Lucius accurately and coldly cut Hartain's neck.

“Taaaaaaaaan!”

Anger and murderous intent spread to Fel like the fire that raged in Lumen Asteria.

“I really didn't want to kill you.”

Lucius muttered, but such words could not reach Fel, who had lost his only friend.

In the end, Fel rushed at Lucius.

The enraged Fel's figure was reflected in Lucius's empty eyes.

Once again, Lucius’s Holy Sword took a life.

I watch that terrible sight head-on.

The Holy Sword in Lucius's hand no longer shines with the brilliant light it once did.

Does that mean Lucius's heart has begun to twist that much?

[The hero has killed Caelus Levian, Benaya Ignos, and 1,438 other clergy members present in Lumen Asteria.]

[Thanks to that, the catastrophe that Baekpalyakwang Solomon and his faithful demon knight would have brought was prevented.]

[365,129 people who would have died because of them can now avoid death.]

Those who would bring disaster die.

Lucius killed hundreds, thousands, and saved hundreds of thousands.

Am I supposed to judge whether that is right or wrong? Amidst the question, the scene changes once more.

And the scene that unfolded before my eyes was─

“Ah.”

A short groan escapes my lips.

“Lucius.”

The one blocking Lucius's path with a face twisted in anger is my father.

The one blocking Lucius's path is my father.

My father blocked Lucius's path with a face twisted in anger.

“No, Father! No!!!”

A voice close to a struggle finally burst from my mouth.

I tried to grab Lucius and stop him, but it's impossible.

Lucius slowly advanced towards my father, who was sentencing him to death.

“No, don't do it! Don't!!!”

My father would never be able to kill Lucius. That was a fixed outcome.

No matter what sins he had committed, Lucius was his father's disciple.

There's no way my father would do something like killing his own disciple!

However, I was a complete outsider who could do nothing.

My father used magic.

But all the magic just grazes past Lucius and cannot reach him.

Lucius, who slowly approached his father, finally cuts his neck.

“No….”

My father's head rolls on the floor.

The Emperor, who was watching the scene, said as if chewing on his words.

“Yes, try explaining how many people you can save by killing me.”

“The people of the entire continent.”

“Ha, a rather expensive life, I see.”

The Emperor muttered with an indifferent face.

The Emperor, who had no desire to ascend the throne but had to, looked at the hero he must have once loved more than anyone.

The empty eyes were a vast distance from the hero he had imagined.

“Kill me.”

The Emperor commanded in an indifferent voice.

An indifferent voice, as if it didn't matter if he could save the people of the entire continent with his one life.

Lucius swung his sword without a moment's hesitation.

Once again, a human life is extinguished in his grasp.

At the same time, the faint stigma completely disappears, and the Holy Sword also loses its light and returns to an ordinary sword.

[The hero has killed the Emperor, Evan Lisitoel, and 2,132 other people in the Imperial Palace.]

[The ■■■ that the Em■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■, ■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■■■ can no longer ■■■■■■ ■■■■.]

[Thanks to that, the ■,■■■,■■■,■■■ people who would have died can now avoid death.]

Is it my mind that's shattering amidst the continued sentencing?

Could a nightmare more terrible than this possibly exist?

At the end of all that catastrophe, Lucius, you smiled faintly.

As if to say, this is enough, you finally… smiled.

* * *

[Defendant, the sins of the fallen hero are as listed above.]

[Judge, judge the fallen hero.]

After showing me this mess of a situation, you want me to pass judgment?

Theo looked down at the still indifferent face of Lucius in a state of emptiness.

He felt something pooling in a corner of his heart.

[The defendant has killed 3,974 people and saved the continent.]

The mechanical voice urges for a swift judgment.

This is not a trial to dispute the truth or falsehood of the crime, but a trial to decide the punishment.

A fallen hero who saved the continent by killing nearly 4,000 people.

“Why did you do it?”

A hoarse voice, slightly mixed with tears, escaped Theo’s throat.

“Because if I hesitate or waver, a disaster will occur. And if a disaster occurs, hundreds of thousands will die.”

At Lucius’s empty voice, which he had never heard before, Theo’s fingertips trembled.

“What I put on the scales were the lives of thousands and the lives of millions.

All lives are equal. So it’s better for the thousands to be sacrificed.”

“But, you’re Lucius.”

The Lucius that Theo remembered, the Lucius he knew, was not a person who calculated.

He was a person who tried to save even one more person.

He wouldn't do something as cold as weighing human lives.

He was hot every moment, and just every moment. That was the hero, Lucius.

“Why should I have to?”

The fallen hero asks.

At that question, Theo, who had watched the hero’s journey for 10 years, could not say another word.

“The life of one person and the lives of 3,974 people.

The heavier of the two is naturally the 3,974, so I deserve to die.”

[Pass your judgment.]

Amidst the voice urging for judgment, Theo let out a held breath.

Breathing was painful.

“I,”

You are not a hero, Theo muttered.

The path that the Lucius before his eyes had taken was the easiest and most cruel one.

A peace achieved by bloodying his hands and killing people.

Was that truly right?

He tried to calm his trembling hands by holding them.

“I will pass the decision of the judgment to Lucius.”

Even though he held his hands, the trembling did not stop.

“Killing 3,974 people was your choice, Lucius.”

And Theo makes his own choice.

He wrote with a trembling hand.

「The world of judgment comes to an end.」

“Don't choose your death so lightly.”

With the words, the world began to shatter and scatter.

“Atone, Lucius.”

That was the last thing he could say to Lucius.

* * *

When I closed and opened my eyes, I was standing alone in the room.

It seemed as if the scene that had unfolded before my eyes just moments ago had all been a lie.

At that moment, blood gushed out and pain set in.

It was the penalty for overusing my skill.

Thanks to the trial of flames, it didn't hurt that much.

Rather, what was tormenting me more now was not that pain, but the lingering aftertaste of emotion.

[Error, error, error—]

A loud sound echoes from the sky.

[The trial of judgment has been suspended due to an unidentified cause.]

[The trial did not end normally.]

[Initiating procedure for error correction. First solution, failed. Second solution, failed.]

An endless stream of announcements echoed in his ears.

[Third solution, succeeded.]

[Asking the master of the dungeon for the result of the trial.]

[…Judgment complete.]

[You have passed the trial of judgment.]

With that announcement, it finally becomes quiet.

Silence fell, and he lay sprawled on the floor, panting heavily.

The panting soon turned into sobs.

“Heueuk….”

The image of his father being brutally murdered by Lucius flickered before his eyes.

Even though he knew it was all an illusion of the trial created by the dungeon, his heart ached.

Anxiety that it might all happen in reality at any moment devoured his mind.

If this were reality, I'd just want to die. Heh heh, even a hollow laugh escaped.

After rolling on the floor and crying for a while, what finally came into his view was the sudden quest.

As if to remind him of reality, the remaining time was ticking down even at this moment, and less than an hour was left.

“Damn system.”

I know. How could I not know that I can't break down in a place like this, you damn son of a bitch.

His legs still wouldn't move easily.

The blood on his lips, the damn emotions that still remained, everything made him furious.

But he couldn't just surrender his body to anger forever.

There was only about an hour left, not much time.

He uses the wall as a cane and forces himself up to move forward.

The trial is over now.

“What a shitty life.”

Please, please… if I have to do something in the boss room too, I just hope it’s not a mental trial.

I think it would be several times better to be physically tormented.

I roughly wiped the tears from my face.