Chương 50: Judgement

A small part of Levi was slightly surprised that Anastasia's Divine skill, [Judgement], had even worked on him. He had been hoping that the skill would only perceive the kill count of the current body he inhabited, which theoretically should've been zero. However, it appeared that [Judgement] didn't audit the body but rather the soul itself; perhaps it even used some form of clairvoyance to discern the exact number. It was powerful magic, especially since Levi hadn't even sensed the skill scanning him at all.

The rest of Levi, however, was busy scrambling to try and figure out a way to prevent this suddenly very precarious situation from ending in an attempted exorcism. Call him a coward, but considering how he was technically a foreign soul inhabiting a body that wasn't his own, he did not want to see if such magic would work on him or not. In front of him, Anastasia still hadn't said a word, her body tense and unmoving as she continued to stare at him with wide eyes.

As Levi watched, though, he could already see her shock and horror slowly transforming into a righteous anger. A sudden suspicion hit him, and Levi cast a quick glance over at Qorbin. Had the assassin somehow planned for this to happen? Probably not, judging by the bemused look on Qorbin's face as he glanced between Anastasia and Levi. His bewilderment at Anastasia's reaction seemed genuine. No, it appeared that this was just an extraordinarily unlucky coincidence.

"Hey, Ana," Qorbin greeted.

"It's been a while. How's it going?" Anastasia let out a slow, shuddering breath.

"Mythmaker Ravenbane," she said, her gaze remaining on Levi, "What is this… this abomination you brought along?"

"Who, him? That's Levi Ironwood," Qorbin said lightly, even as he shifted his posture, straightening from where he'd been leaning against the windowsill.

"Abomination's a bit too harsh, isn't it?" Anastasia ignored his latter remark.

"Levi Ironwood? This is the son of Marquis Ironwood?" Qorbin nodded slowly.

"Why, what's wrong?" Anastasia opened her mouth, but then tensed up as Levi stepped forward.

"I do apologize for this," Levi said, "but Qorbin, could you please step out of the room for a moment? I'd like to speak to Lady Anastasia alone. Oh, and could I borrow your anti-eavesdropping dice?" He would've cast his own anti-eavesdropping field, but he had a feeling Anastasia would've taken issue with that. Qorbin looked at him for a long time. His bemusement had been replaced by an indecipherable expression; clearly, the implication of Anastasia's reaction hadn't been lost on him.

However, he must've seen the severity in Levi's expression, because he nodded without objecting. With a flick of his wrist, he summoned the dice to his hand and tossed it over to Levi. Then he made his way over to the door, and with one last glance over his shoulder, he was gone. The solid oak door shut behind him with a heavy thud. A moment later, the anti-eavesdropping field expanded to envelop the room, granting them absolute privacy. Throughout all of this, Anastasia's gaze hadn't left Levi even once.

It said something about her confidence in her power – or was that her faith in the Goddess's? – that she was perfectly fine with being left alone in a room with Levi after seeing what she just did. Evidently, she was used to being able to hold her own if things came to blows. And, judging by how he could see the holy magic within her gathering at a tremendous rate, things might very well come to blows if Levi didn't somehow deescalate the situation.

"I realize what this situation may look like," he said slowly, choosing each word carefully. Diplomacy had never been his strongest suit; Death hadn't exactly recruited him to act as a negotiator, after all.

"However, I assure you that I can explain–""May look like?" Anastasia hissed, her eyes flashing. Literally – they had a faint, almost ethereal emerald glow to them as they pierced into Levi.

"I have seen many things in my service to the Goddess. I have encountered corrupt assassins who would do anything for coin, captured vile criminals who treated lives like toys, hunted down Hollow cultists who committed unspeakable atrocities for the unholy master they serve. I thought I'd become used to it all. Immune, even. Yet here I find myself being proven wrong." She slashed her hand across the air, her chest heaving with every ragged breath.

"You dare say that you can explain, Levi Ironwood?" she asked, her voice filled with fury. No, not just fury. Levi's heart dropped when he saw her furiously blinking back genuine tears of grief.

"My Divine skill, [Judgement], allows me to see the number of lives someone has taken. It does not count cases of self-defense or accidental manslaughter, only intentional murder. The skill was granted to me by the Goddess herself, and its power is infallible. So tell me, Levi Ironwood," and her voice cracked with pain, "what exactly is there to explain about having slaughtered 938, 246 lives?!"

As she spoke, her voice grew louder and louder with every digit until the final word was delivered as a gut-wrenching, devastated scream. Despite himself, Levi flinched at the exact number. Countless memories suddenly assaulted his mind from every side as the sound of screams became deafening, a curse from every soul that he'd imprinted onto his own. His chest tightened with a familiar crushing guilt, vaster and deeper than the oceans themselves, and the explanation he'd been about to give died on his lips.

"I…"

"Or will you deny it?" she demanded, her glare daring him to do so.

"Claim that my [Judgement] is wrong? That I'm somehow mistaken?" There was a long moment of silence. Then, Levi shook his head.

"No," he said, his voice quiet and firm.

"You're right. I won't deny it or anything. I did kill them. No, even worse – I destroyed their very souls, annihilated them so thoroughly that not even Death could find a trace." Anastasia drew in a sharp breath, somehow looking even more horrified than before.

"You… what?" For a moment, it seemed like she struggled to even process his words, such was the scope of the violation. Then, her eyes hardened, the grief being tempered into an unyielding determination.

"As a High Priestess of the Church, the Goddess granted me the blessing to use her divine power to vanquish evil. And you, Levi Ironwood… I do not know what you are, or how you've concealed yourself thus far, but you are inexorably evil. Prepare to face [Judgement]." Without any warning, Levi suddenly felt something touch his very soul, establishing a connection between him and Anastasia. He hadn't sensed the incoming magic at all; it had been utterly instantaneous. The Goddess's power was immense indeed.

Yet, even the divine fell under Death's domain. Levi's vision flickered, becoming superimposed in grey. Sure enough, he could see a trail of holy magic connecting him and Anastasia – and a line of death running right across the length. He was about to cut it with a Sever and Cleave when he stopped. It didn't appear this magic was lethal. And if she was delivering judgement… The screams grew to thunderous levels in his ears, amplified by the blood roaring in his veins. He needed to know. How would he be judged?

Would he be found innocent or guilty? And so he just stood there, letting the skill activate. Perhaps it was foolish of him to do this, but he was reasonably confident enough in his ability to survive if something bad happened. And besides… After what he'd done, he deserved this, didn't he? A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Anastasia was in the presence of a monster.

When she'd first laid eyes on Levi Ironwood – if that was even his true identity – she'd thought that he looked rather normal. Surprisingly so, in fact; despite his high-quality clothes denoting him of noble lineage, he hadn't carried himself with the customary subconscious arrogance that most nobles had. Then she had seen the number above his head, and her blood had promptly turned to ice. She had met Old Vampiric Lords before with lower kill counts than him. Levi had singlehandedly killed nearly a million people.

Anastasia didn't know how that was even possible. Was he older than he appeared? Was he responsible for some of the recent massacres that'd occurred across Koxus? Was he behind the Shatterlight massacre that happened eight years ago, or perhaps the Exotis massacre fifty years before that? Though, whatever the case, it didn't matter. There was no realistic possible justification or explanation for killing this many people. If there was such a thing as evil, then this was it.

As a High Priestess of the Goddess, Anastasia had sworn an oath to vanquish evil wherever she saw it. And Levi – Levi definitely qualified. And so, she'd activated the active effect of [Judgement]. For some reason, he hadn't reacted when she did. Perhaps he'd sensed that it couldn't be dodged or cancelled. The passive effect of [Judgement] meant that it became stronger the higher the number was, and with the sheer amount of people Levi had killed, Anastasia's skill had temporarily surpassed even Mythmaker-tier.

She had never felt this much of the Goddess's holy power flowing through her before. So long as he stood within the range of her ability, she could instantly activate the skill at will. Once she did, it was impossible to sever the connection. As for what [Judgement] did… Well. It was rather simple. Elegant, even. [Judgement] was a skill that dealt no physical damage. Not directly, anyhow. The Goddess didn't have need of such crude means.

Instead, it caused the person being [Judged] to feel the full emotions of every person they'd killed. There would be no dilution, no attenuation. All the sorrow, fear, pain, anguish, and grief that the murdered souls had felt would be condensed into a single overwhelming wave. Even hardened criminals and zealot Hollow cultists had been completely broken by this skill, their minds and souls unable to handle the strain.

Most of them had finally felt remorse for the first time in their cold, callous lives, and the guilt had driven them mad. And they'd only held a small fraction of Levi's kill count. Levi had killed nearly a million people. And now, he would experience what they'd felt. Every. Single. One. It was downright poetic. She'd be lying if she didn't feel some sort of vicious satisfaction as she activated the skill, feeling the Goddess's magic pour from her to him over the unbreakable connection they shared.

The Goddess's holy magic sank into him, and she eagerly watched as it caused him to– Anastasia blinked. Nothing happened. Levi just stared back at her, almost expectantly. His breathing didn't change, his pupils didn't dilate, and his expression remained even, albeit with a heavy solemnity to it. He should've been foaming at the mouth by now, or letting out incoherent screams of guilt and agony. But instead, it seemed as though he hadn't even noticed her skill taking effect.

"How?" she breathed out.

"How isn't [Judgement] working on you?" Levi looked confused.

"I… don't know?" The Goddess's power was infallible and omnipotent. Anastasia double-checked to make sure that the connection was stable and robust. It was. The mana was flowing, the skill was activating, everything was working properly. Currently, Levi was actively feeling the combined negative emotions of every soul he'd killed. Nearly a million soul's final torment and agony distilled into a single precise attack.

So how in the Goddess's name was he even still standing, much less looking at her with a faint, polite puzzlement on his face?

"[Judgement] should be causing you to experience what all your victims had felt before their deaths," she said.

"You shouldn't even be able to talk right now."

"Ah," Levi said. Comprehension dawned.

"Oh, I see." An almost awkward expression passed over his face.

"I, uh, I'm afraid your skill won't work on me then."

"What? Why?" Did he have some sort of anti-Divine countermeasure or–?

"Using the same magic I'd utilized to destroy the souls," Levi said, "I managed to imprint their souls onto mine before they were fully lost to the void." At first, Anastasia didn't get it. She stared at him blankly, trying to parse his words. Then, slowly, her eyes widened in horror at the implications.

"You mean…" Levi nodded.

"I feel everything they feel at all times, even when I dream. Their emotions constantly resonate within my very soul. All their anguish, all their sorrow, all their despair. Sometimes it wanes, but it never fully stops." What? What?

"How are you even sane – no." Anastasia swallowed.

"Why? Why would you ever do that?" Levi looked at her for a long moment. Then, he spoke.

"Three years ago, I was tasked with stopping an ancient being from awakening into the world. It existed in the gap between worlds, and if it fully awoke, then billions of lives, both alive and dead, would've been lost. I tried everything I could to stop it, but when time finally ran out, I had no choice but to use soul magic" – once again he said the word 'magic' with a certain emphasis – "to destroy all the corrupted souls in one strike to ensure the calamity didn't come to pass.

However, I was able to graft an imprint of their souls onto mine – if only to ensure that an echo of them will still live on." That was impossible. An absolutely ludicrous story even by the Church's standards. And yet, as impossible as it sounded, he was telling her the truth. She sensed no falsehood in his words, and her [Lie Discernment] skill confirmed it. Of course [Judgement] would have no effect on him then; he was already used to it.

"That's absurd," she whispered.

"Weren't you worried that it would drive you insane?"

"Of course I was," he said, as if it were obvious.

"But I was forcing them to sacrifice their very lives. What sort of person would I be if I wasn't willing to put myself on the line as well? I owed that much to them."

"Then why didn't you defend yourself earlier?" she asked.

"Why did you say you murdered them?"

"Because I did," Levi said simply.

"I may have had a good reason to do so, but murder is murder all the same. They had their whole lives ahead of them, their hopes and dreams. They deserved to grow old, to live out the rest of their days, to experience all the good and bad in life and everything in between. Instead, I ripped that all away. Their blood is on my hands." And he gave her a small, sad smile.

"You agree, don't you? I may have been justified, but I'm guilty all the same." She stared at him, aghast at what she was hearing. No. He wasn't guilty. Not at all. Considering what he'd just told her, he had an extremely good reason for doing what he did. Hells, if she were in his place, she would've done the same. She doubted even the most zealous, rule-abiding members of the Church would fault him here. And yet… He didn't have to do this to himself.

He could've just shrugged and said that it had been necessary, that there was nothing else he could've done. He could've easily found a thousand different ways to rationalize or excuse his actions, and most of them would've even been valid. But instead, he'd accepted that he'd committed a terrible deed, and acted accordingly with that belief. She supposed that said something about who he was as a person. Still, though. A flicker of doubt passed through her. Was it really possible for someone to be like this–?

That was when the second half of [Judgement] activated. The connection was meant to be a two-way street. After the first half of [Judgement] finished making Levi relive the emotions of all his victims, the second half would then make Anastasia feel Levi's emotions to Judge whether or not he felt adequate remorse for his actions or if he needed to be further punished.

Levi's emotions began streaming into her– And Anastasia nearly collapsed, her vision blackening at the edges and her heart nearly stopping from the strain. A sheer overwhelming tsunami of emotions slammed into her, and she struggled to not hyperventilate as his emotions swirled and engulfed her own. In that moment, she knew. Levi Ironwood was a person composed entirely of guilt. The emotion was so strong, so potent, it overshadowed nearly everything else. Vague impressions flashed across her mind.

She could feel his self-loathing for his weakness, his self-hatred for his inability to save everyone, the crippling grief that came with not only all the destroyed souls but also a certain dream that he felt he no longer deserved to pursue. The only reason he'd managed to stay sane was because of the unyielding wrought-iron resolve that coursed through every fiber of his being and the magic that guarded his very soul. If any other human had experienced what he did, they'd no doubt go insane within a few seconds.

Even she was nearly consumed by madness, only staying sane because of the Goddess's magic suddenly flaring up with a visible glow and shielding her mind. Then finally, it was over. Her [Judgement] finished running its course, and the connection between them dissipated. Anastasia was left trembling, her entire body drenched with sweat. Her white summer dress stuck to her skin, and she felt both burning hot and freezing cold. She stared at Levi.

"Who… Who are you?" she asked. Levi regarded her for a long moment, his gaze unreadable. He seemed to have realized that something had just happened; perhaps he'd sensed the Goddess's magic reflecting his emotions to Anastasia. Then he nodded once, as if making up his mind on something.

"I'm Levi," he said.

"I'm currently an adventurer, but once…" And he smiled.

"Once, I was a servant of Death."