Freon and everyone in the courtroom heard that and were completely stunned. The mission description had been pretty straightforward: time was limited, and everyone would be slowly poisoned. The most they could endure was ten days.
Ten months? That was impossible.
Freon, though, couldn't hide his happiness — a smile crept onto his face. Only the power from the core of his clan's supreme artifact could've pulled off a miracle like that. His son, for sure…
The Supreme Judge was the first to speak:
"How many died?"
"Reporting, five are dead. All from the Red River Pact clan. The other ten returned alive and unscathed."
Freon's face immediately darkened and twisted.
"Seal the needle in her." — the Judge pointed at Rhea, and the soldier instantly froze the effect, "Bring all five from the Azure Haven clan to the court. They'll give their report for everyone to hear."
The man nodded and turned around, leaving quickly.
Everyone went silent. Meanwhile, Rhea's process had stopped halfway. The damage to her soul was so severe that anyone would say healing her was impossible, but she wouldn't die too fast as long as the needles were still inside her.
Two minutes later, five figures stepped into the center of the courtroom, surrounded by several soldiers.
The moment they arrived, everyone's eyes went wide.
"Damon!" — Leander roared when he saw his brother's body, dried up and darkened. Everyone could tell that body didn't have a shred of life left in it.
"You insolent bastard, silence!" Freon yelled, overcome with rage.
Leander didn't listen and almost rushed to his mother and brother, but Matteo stopped him, holding him back with both arms.
He looked like he was about to snap, especially after hearing Freon's voice. Harper stepped up too and helped hold him down by force. Veyle, on the other hand, stumbled forward, her face already soaked in tears.
Darian was just as shocked, watching it all. 'What the hell happened here?'
"You've been called here to clarify a few things," the Supreme Judge said seriously. "Let's go step by step. First, tell us exactly what happened during the mission."
Darian took a deep breath. He was the only one who could really 'explain'. Taking a step forward, everyone stared at him coldly.
"A lot happened, and honestly, things could've gone very differently. First of all, right after we arrived, the bastards from the Red River Pact clan betrayed us. That nearly wrecked the whole mission..."
"Bullshit!" Freon cut him off coldly, "Raon took the core of our supreme artifact for emergencies. We already reported that to the Empire — this mission had a big reward and was worth the risk. He probably saw it was going to fail and acted to secure it."
Darian stared at Freon with a mocking smile.
"Is that so? I didn't fully agree with the leadership's decision at first either. But according to the Empire's rules, the leader's orders are absolute. Everyone's supposed to give their all as a team and forget about personal issues. Him deciding on his own to kill his teammates and take over — doesn't matter the reason — that's betrayal, right?"
"You son of a bitch, don't slander us! There's no way he died using the core, especially not in that place, where his blessing's active. He should've been invincible. Supreme Judge, these bastards are clearly—"
"Silence," the Judge said emotionlessly. "You don't need to tell me the obvious. And I didn't give you permission to speak."
Darian looked at the judge. His eyes gleamed.
Surprisingly, the man had a grayish, slightly dark aura. That meant he had a past that wasn't too bad, and in this life, he didn't do things out of pure malice or without reason — or his karmic aura would've been much more tainted.
It was clear he liked his job, especially handing out punishment and dealing with criminals. But that didn't mean he wasn't fair or didn't follow the rules.
"Supreme Judge," a woman, the leader of a smaller clan, spoke up in support of Freon. "This isn't important right now. If what he says is true, it'll be proven later when the group crystals are analyzed..."
She clearly wanted to skip that part, which could turn into a problem. Once punishments were handed out, Freon could probably cover it up quietly.
"No need to wait," Darian cut in calmly. "The mission leader, Nayara, probably already spread copies of the images from my group crystal. If the Judge allows, she should be nearby. Just ask her for a copy. I was told to explain what happened. I said there were several problems. This is the first — why delay it when we can clear it up now?"
Freon and the woman narrowed their eyes. The artifact that could do that was rare, so it caught them off guard. But it wasn't against the rules.
"Very well. Bring the leader of that mission in, too," the Supreme Judge waved his hand, and several people left.
It didn't take long at all. She was already at the door, waiting. Right after returning from the mission and seeing those five being taken away, Nayara rushed off to buy artifacts that could copy the recordings. She left one copy with another member of her clan, who ran off to spread it around, making more copies.
When she stepped inside, she looked at the tense scene.
"Nayara, from the Amazon Sentinels clan," she bowed to the judge. Then she gave a small nod, and a crystal floated toward him.
The judge made a simple gesture. The crystal froze mid-air. A moment later, it burst. Then, a glowing mist about two meters wide started to form. Within seconds, in the middle of the mist, the recordings began to play — everyone in the courtroom could see and hear them.
The footage of Raon acting right after they arrived on the mission was clear. He had no solid or justifiable reason — he just didn't like the leader's orders and acted maliciously.
Then… the scene cut, and he showed up brutally injured.
*CRACK!*
It didn't even take five seconds for Freon to lose control — his chair exploded.
Some people turned to look at him… then sarcastic smiles started appearing.
Freon took a deep breath, trying to force himself to calm down.
All his enemies were there, after all. He was the one who pushed to make this trial so massive. They had come to make sure he wasn't doing anything shady — at the slightest mistake, they'd point fingers and ruin everything he built.
Now… that footage was like a five-star meal to them.
Freon couldn't even handle the first few seconds. But he had no idea what was still coming…
Soon, screams and pure agony — an unprecedented torture — played out for all to see. It didn't get better. It just kept getting worse.
Freon turned pale. He shut his eyes and blocked his senses. He felt like he was a hair away from snapping. In his mind, there was only one thought: stay calm now, so he could get revenge later.
When he felt the people's energy shift, he opened his eyes.
The scene had ended. But everyone was silent, deep in thought.
"What did you see happen?" the Judge asked Darian, seriously.
When the judge asked, he saw a certain glint in Darian's eyes fade away.
Darian focused on the judge… but secretly, he had used that time to observe a lot of interesting things.
Then, he clearly felt the atmosphere shift in his favor. A smirk crept onto his face.