The air felt wrong.
Miz didn't move. His eyes locked on the figure now standing in his doorway—a man draped in a white cloak, motionless, yet radiating intent. A presence like sharpened silence.
Miz narrowed his eyes."What the hell are you supposed to be?"
The man stepped forward, eyes like ice untouched by sunlight."Oh, Vessel of the End…" he said, voice calm, reverent—dangerous."You were never meant to judge life or death. That right was never yours. Or anyone's."
A pause. Then—
"Take your last breath."
Miz opened his mouth to respond——but the man vanished.
A blur of white. A sudden sting.Pain exploded across Miz's throat.Blood bloomed in the air like red smoke.
He collapsed. The world spun. Cold. Dim. Fading.
Darkness.
But death... didn't stay.
A flicker. Then fire.Something ancient stirred inside him. Not rage. Not hope.Something colder.
A voice echoed through the void:"So this is what dying feels like… by the hands of a mortal, huh?"
A screen blinked to life, ethereal and glowing in the black:
You Have Died.Cause: Mortal attack
Skill Unlocked:[Judgment - Mortal Class]You may now perceive and destroy the Source of mortal beings by direct contact.Warning: Judgment is irreversible. Use with awareness.
Miz's eyes snapped open.
He stood.
Whole.Alive.And changed.
The assassin froze mid-step. "Impossible…" he whispered. "You were dead. I felt it. You had no Source."
Miz's voice was quiet—but it carried weight now."Source huh? but that screen says something important."
Another shimmer of light. Another screen:
Judgment Required.
Miz looked at the man. Then the screen. Then back.
"And so does the phrase above your head."
The assassin's breath caught.
"…So. The time has come," he muttered. "Then let me go out as I lived—on the blade's edge."
He lunged. Fast.But Miz was faster.
The moment the assassin moved, the room shattered.Time stuttered. Gravity frayed.
Everything turned black.
They stood in a world between worlds—A void of silence.
Miz now stood behind the assassin, his hand gripping the man's head like a divine sentence.
His voice was thunder in a vacuum."Name. And last words."
The assassin didn't struggle.
"…I am Olga," he said, breathing steadily. "Assassin of the Cult of Existence. And I die proud… for the Judge who created all."
Miz closed his eyes."I remember now. One of the Three. The Judge of Existence…"He sighed."…So judgment means ending, too. Even those who worship power forget what comes after."
Then, calm and final:
"…Judgment passed."
His hand phased into Olga's skull.A pulse of raw energy surged—followed by a crack.Not of bone.Of something deeper.Of a Source.
Olga's body turned to ash.No scream. No struggle. Just silence.
The void collapsed.
Miz stood in his room again—chest heaving, hands trembling.The mattress beneath him. The walls cracked. The bulb above flickering.
Then, another screen appeared:
You Have Judged a Being.
Skill Unlocked:[Instant Judgment]Allows the Vessel to destroy the Source of any mortal within 10 meters—by intent alone.Point. Pass sentence. End.
Warning: Each use draws your soul closer to the weight of what you destroy.
Miz didn't move.
He sat at the edge of the bed.
The world felt quieter. Like it feared him now.
He looked down at his hands.
"So this… is judgment," he whispered.
Not rage.Not justice.
Just… purpose.
His eyes darkened.
And something inside him finally awakened.