The sky thundered with the roar of warplanes, hundreds of them slicing through the thick, smoke-choked air above the ruined city. Judex's eyes remained fixed on them, his mind racing.
'Aresoth is up there… I know it.'
Somewhere in that swarm of death, the god of war was orchestrating this catastrophe, watching as his abominations tore through the players below.
'But how do I get up there?'
Judex's body ached, his wounds screaming for rest, but he couldn't afford to stop now. The city around him was collapsing into chaos—players were being slaughtered left and right, buildings crumbled under the relentless bombardment, and the streets were littered with the dead and dying.
'There has to be something…' Judex thought, scanning the battlefield, his mind jumping from possibility to possibility. 'A weapon.'
If Aresoth was the god of war, then surely the key to reaching him lay in the instruments of war littered around him. Maybe a rocket launcher, or one of those anti-aircraft guns scattered among the wreckage…
"I've played enough video games to know about this shit, if I didn't, I definitely wouldn't know what to look for."
But before he could think any further, Judex's cursed ability flared to life.
His vision blurred, the world around him shifting as his cursed future sight kicked in. Three seconds ahead. Judex saw the flash of a tank shell ripping through the air—a brutal, deadly arc aimed directly at him.
'It's coming!'
Instinctively, Judex threw himself to the ground, his body moving before his mind even registered the danger. The shell screamed through the air above him, a deafening roar that made his ears ring. It slammed into a building nearby—a hideout where a group of players had taken shelter.
Judex's heart clenched as he rolled to his feet just in time to see the building explode ina violent burst of fire and shrapnel. The force of the blast was overwhelming, sending a shockwave through the air that rattled his bones. The players inside never stood a chance—their bodies were torn apart by the explosion, their screams swallowed by the sound of collapsing stone and steel.
Judex's chest heaved as he turned, his cursed sight fading, and saw the source of the destruction.
In the distance, emerging from the haze of smoke and fire, was an abomination—a grotesque fusion of man and machine, another one of Aresoth's twisted creations.
It was a towering figure, over ten feet tall, its body a horrific blend of human flesh and cold, blackened steel. Its legs were reinforced with thick armor plating, making it look like a walking tank, and its arms were massive, grotesque limbs that ended in sharp, metallic claws. But the most horrifying feature was its face—or what passed for one.
Where its head should have been, there was instead the long, thick barrel of an 88-mm tank gun, with a grotesque muzzle break jutting out where its mouth should have been. The cannon protruded grotesquely from what remained of its neck, the flesh around it cracked and blistered, blackened by heat and rot. Smoke curled from the barrel, the aftermath of its brutal shot.
The abomination laughed—a deep, gurgling sound, like metal grinding against bone. Its voice was filled with madness, a guttural, inhuman laugh that reverberated through the crumbling streets.
"Hahahaha! Look at them scatter! Look at them die!" it roared, its voice distorted and metallic, like the grinding of gears soaked in blood. "Run, little rats! Run!"
The creature's tank muzzle tilted upwards slightly, another shell loading with a mechanical clank.
It was aiming at him.
Judex's eyes narrowed, every muscle in his body tensing.
'This is my chance!' If he could take this thing down, maybe he could use its weapon—or at least get one step closer to reaching Aresoth.
'Will it even reach that far? Is the ammo limitless?!'
Without hesitating, Judex sprinted toward the abomination, his feet pounding against the shattered pavement. His blood surged with adrenaline, his senses sharpened by the cursed ability buzzing in the back of his mind.
The abomination let out another deranged laugh as it saw him coming. "Hahaha! You think you can get close, little man? Let's see you survive this!"
The tank muzzle recoiled, and the abomination fired another shell directly at Judex.
Judex's future sight activated again, the world slowing as he saw the shell's trajectory—three seconds ahead. He twisted his body, leaping to the side just as the shell ripped through the ground where he had been standing. The explosion was deafening, a massive blast that tore the street in half, sending chunks of debris and metal flying in every direction.
But Judex was already moving, his mind racing. He needed more maneuverability. Something to help him dodge faster.
With a flick of his hand, Judex conjured his blood staff, the familiar red energy coalescing into a long, sleek weapon in his grip. He twirled it once, then used it to vault over another massive crater, landing smoothly on the other side.
"Okay that was cool.."
The abomination kept firing, its maniacal laughter echoing through the streets. Each shot from its tank muzzle sent shockwaves through the ground, carving massive, smoking craters into the street, but Judex was too fast. His cursed sight allowed him to anticipate every attack, his body twisting and turning as he dodged each shell with almost supernatural precision.
The ground exploded around him, but Judex danced through the chaos with deadly grace. He used the blood staff to propel himself forward, launching into the air and spinning mid-leap to avoid another shell. The staff became an extension of his body, each movement fluid and precise as he vaulted over debris, ducked behind crumbling walls, and flipped over burning wreckage, all while the abomination's laughter grew louder and more frenzied.
"Hahaha! Dance for me, little rat! Dance before I blow you to pieces!"
Another shell flew towards him, and Judex's cursed sight activated again. He darted to the side just in time, the explosion sending a wave of heat and shrapnel past him as he rolled to his feet, his muscles burning with exertion.
As Judex closed the distance, he got a closer look at the abomination's grotesque form. Its body was a patchwork of flesh and steel, with jagged metal plates grafted onto its skin. Where its arms should have been, there were massive mechanical limbs, ending in sharp, clawed hands that glowed faintly with the heat of battle. Its chest was a twisted mass of exposed muscle and gears, its heart visible through the cracks in its armor, pumping a sickening black fluid.
The tank muzzle sticking out of its face was covered in scorch marks and blood, remnants of its previous kills. Smoke continued to curl from the barrel, and the abomination's eyes—if it had any—were hidden beneath the metal, lost in the madness of its war-torn form.
As Judex dashed toward it, the creature let out another blood-curdling laugh. "Hahaha! Come closer, little man! Let me see you break!"
Judex's grip tightened on the blood staff as he prepared to strike.
'Time it right…'
3 seconds into the future.
Before the abomination can shoot, Judex launched the staff, straight into the muzzle of the abomination, a piece of its head exploding brutally.
And then, something else blurred into view.
Ren appeared out of nowhere, his body a blur of rage and blood. His body was torn, his skin covered in deep wounds and dried blood, and his eyes burned with a fury that Judex had rarely seen. His fists were wrapped in flaming chains still, the heat radiating from them enough to make the air shimmer.
Without a word, without hesitation, Ren punched the abomination square in the face—right where the tank muzzle protruded. The force of the blow sent a shockwave through the creature's body, flames erupting from Ren's fists as the abomination staggered backward, its twisted laughter cut short by the impact.
"Shut up!" Ren roared, his voice filled with raw anger. "I've had enough of this shit!"
"You.." Judex said.
The abomination tried to raise its tank muzzle to fire again, but Ren was relentless. He swung again, and again, his fists a blur of fire and fury as the flaming chains wrapped around his hands slammed into the abomination's face, chest, and arms. Each punch sent sparks flying, the metal on the abomination's body glowing red-hot from the heat of Ren's attacks.
The abomination groaned, its body crumpling under the sheer ferocity of Ren's assault. But Ren didn't stop. He kept punching, his fists smashing into the abomination's face over and over again, the flames from his chains burning through metal and flesh alike. The abomination's laughter was gone, replaced by the sickening sound of metal bending and bones breaking.
"Die already!" Ren snarled, his voice filled with rage. "Just die!"
Judex watched, his chest heaving, as Ren finally stopped, the abomination's body lying in a smoldering heap at his feet. Its tank muzzle was shattered, its metal limbs twisted and broken beyond repair.
Ren stood over the body, his fists still burning, his chest rising and falling with quick, angry breaths. He didn't look at Judex—he didn't care. He was just angry. Angry at everything.
"You're still alive, huh?"
Judex noticed Ren's left eye was gone, like it had been ripped out.
Judex replied, "Yeah. Didn't expect it or what?"
"Tch. I knew you were a hot headed piece of shit the moment I laid eyes on you. You're crazy."
"If anyone's crazy, it's you. You have anger issues. Even before all of this. It's understable though, I'm not judging."
"I don't!"
Suddenly, a voice rang out from behind them.
"Finally!"
Judex turned to see Dante running toward them, his face pale and streaked with blood. His clothes were torn, and his eyes were wide with panic.
"They're dead!" Dante yelled, his voice cracking with desperation. "Everyone's dead! We got a message from the sky—it's written up there. We're the only ones left!"
Judex's heart plummeted. 'Everyone was dead?'
He had known things were bad, but hearing Dante's words made the weight of it all crash down on him. The hundreds of players—they were all gone. Only he, Ren, and Dante remained.
Ren's fists loosened, his chains still flickering with embers. His voice was low, barely controlled as he spoke. "What do you mean, 'a message from the sky? That stupid cursive words popping up every few seconds?!"
"Obviously, yes. You should know that yourself. It's like everything is linear. Like this was predetermined."
Judex asked, "The hell makes you think that?"
"I'm only wrong 2% of the time, my hunch is wrong 0% of the time. Feels like alllll this shit has already been set in stone."
Ren asked, "So you're saying we're already doomed."
"No! We're not doomed! We're still alive aren't we?"
The realization hit Judex like a freight train. His gaze shifted from the glowing words to the warplanes still circling above, their engines roaring like distant thunder.
The god of war was watching them, waiting for the final battle. Everything had led to this. The abominations, the chaos, the destruction—it was all part of Aresoth's twisted game. And now, the three of them were all that was left.
Judex's fists clenched at his sides, his heart pounding in his chest. He didn't know how, but he was sure of one thing.
Judex said, "I think..I think Aresoth is up there, he's one of the planes. Up there, he has a large view on this entire area."
Ren scoffed, "Then what are we waiting around for?! We're on a timer!"
Judex replied, "Shut up and let me think…we have to get up there, or shoot down the right one."
'But I don't wanna be wrong. I want to hit the right one. Honestly, I'm not sure what to really do. He has to be up there. It all comes down to drawing him out..'
They heard footsteps in the distance, all three of them knew more abominations were coming.
Dante said, "Gotta hurry!"
Ren roared, "Let them all come! Every last one of them!"
The battlefield was a cacophony of violence and death. The sky above was thick with the sound of warplanes cutting through the smoke-choked air, while the ground trembled beneath the weight of abominations that crawled and staggered through the ruins of the city. Judex, Ren, and Dante stood among the wreckage, their bodies battered, their breaths labored.
'There's no way I can get up there. I have to draw him out..but how?!'
They had slain countless abominations already, but there was no end to them. For every twisted creature they cut down, two more seemed to take its place, their bodies a grotesque fusion of medieval and modern weaponry, forged by Aresoth's cruel hand. Judex's mind raced through the haze of agony and exhaustion. His cursed sight flickered on and off, showing him fragments of the future, flashes of death and destruction. Every second felt like a lifetime.
And then, emerging from the smoke, was another nightmare. This one stood taller than the others, its body a hulking mass of flesh and metal. Its torso was swollen and distended, fused with a horrifying array of modern firearms and medieval weaponry, their barrels protruding grotesquely from its abdomen. Some were ancient, rusted cannons; others were sleek, modern rifles with wide calibers. They all pointed in different directions, twitching and turning as the abomination lumbered forward.
It let out a low, guttural roar, the guns in its stomach shifting and clicking as they locked onto their targets.
The abomination laughed through a throat filled with broken glass, its voice a hideous, grating sound. "More…. More blood…more chaos..more war.."
Judex barely had time to react before the creature opened fire. The guns erupted from its stomach in a deafening barrage, bullets and cannon fire ripping through the air. He tried to move, his future sight flashing images of his death, but the moment he dodged left, a sharp, searing pain tore through his right side.
Judex screamed as a high-powered round tore through his arm, ripping it clean off at the shoulder. The force of the blast sent him spinning to the ground, blood spraying from the ragged stump where his arm had been. His vision blurred, pain overtaking his senses as he crumpled to his knees, clutching the wound with his remaining hand.
"Ahh! Fuck!" Judex's voice was raw, filled with agony. His bloodied knees scraped against the broken pavement, his body trembling as the pain shot through him like fire. He could feel the warmth of his blood soaking his clothes, pooling at his feet.
But the abomination didn't stop. It kept firing, its laughter echoing through the streets as it unleashed its full fury on the trio. Shrapnel and bullets tore through the air, and Judex, barely able to focus, saw Ren and Dante charge forward into the chaos.
Ren let out a roar of pure rage as he sprinted toward the abomination, his fists wrapped in flaming chains, the heat radiating off of them in waves. His face was twisted with fury, his body battered and bloodied, but he didn't care. He was beyond caring. All he wanted was to destroy everything in his path.
"Get out of my fucking way!" Ren snarled, his voice a guttural growl as he slammed his flaming fists into the nearest abomination—a twisted creature with a ballista grafted to its back. The impact sent a shockwave through the creature's body, the flames from Ren's chains igniting its flesh. The abomination screeched in agony as it fell, but Ren didn't slow down. He tore into the next one with the same brutal force, his flaming fists ripping through metal and bone alike, setting everything ablaze.
Beside him, Dante moved like a shadow, his katana flashing in the dim light. The sword was covered in a dark, swirling mist, the shadows wrapping around the blade like living tendrils. The magic in the sword gave Dante incredible speed, and he used it to his full advantage, darting between the abominations, his sword cutting through them with lethal precision.
"They just keep coming!" Dante shouted, his voice strained as he dodged a spiked flail that an abomination had swung at him. He spun, the shadows trailing behind him as he sliced through the creature's legs, severing them in one clean motion. The abomination collapsed, but another was already stepping over its body, a massive warhammer fused to its arm.
"Then we kill them all!" Ren bellowed, smashing the head of another abomination with a flaming uppercut, the force of the blow sending a spray of molten metal and blood into the air. His fists were stained with the gore of his enemies, his body covered in burns and gashes, but he fought on, driven by pure, unrelenting fury.
But no matter how many they killed, more kept coming. Abominations with crossbows fused to their arms, cannons replacing their torsos, and rifles embedded into their spines. The ground beneath them was slick with blood, the air thick with the stench of burning flesh and gunpowder. Ren and Dante fought with everything they had, but the horde was endless, and they were being overwhelmed.
As Judex lay on the ground, his vision swimming, he watched his Dante and Ren fight, unable to help. His arm was gone, the pain unbearable. He tried to stand, his body shaking as he forced himself to his feet. Blood poured from his shoulder, pooling at his feet. His cursed sight flickered, showing him flashes of the abominations closing in, of Ren and Dante being torn apart.
"Not yet…not yet!" Judex screamed.
And then, through the haze of pain and blood, Judex looked up at the sky.
Aresoth. The god of war was up there, watching, laughing as his creations slaughtered them. Judex's remaining fist clenched at his side. He couldn't fight like this. His power—his cursed sight—wasn't enough. Three seconds into the future wasn't going to save him now.
His heart pounded in his chest as an idea—a desperate, insane idea—took hold in his mind. The eye. The source of his sight. The one thing that had kept him alive in this hell. Aresoth… Aresoth was fond of it.
'The Eye Of The Mad God, he mentioned this eye belonged to someone else, some god! I could use that! He was fond of it..'
With a scream of pure rage and desperation, Judex brought his bloodied fingers to his face, digging into his own eye socket. The pain was immediate, blinding, but he didn't stop. His breath came in ragged gasps as he clawed at his own eye, his fingers slick with blood as he tried to tear it out.
"You want this, Aresoth?!" Judex screamed. "You want my eye? You want my fucking sight?! Then come and get it!"
His fingers dug deeper, blood pouring down his face, mixing with the dirt and sweat. He could feel the eye tearing, the pain excruciating, but he didn't care. He'd give it up—he'd give anything—to bring Aresoth down. He'd sacrifice his own cursed power just to draw the god out, to face him, to end this nightmare.
"Come on!" Judex roared, his voice hoarse, his face covered in blood. "Show yourself, you coward!"
And then… it worked.
The sky above them darkened, the warplanes overhead shuddering as something massive moved within them. Judex's vision blurred with pain, but through the haze, he saw it. A hand. A hand larger than anything he could comprehend, bursting from one of the warplanes, tearing through the sky as it barreled down toward him.
Aresoth's voice boomed across the battlefield, filled with rage. "Haha! There it is! That's the war inside of you, wanting to kill a god easily! That's what I want to battle! You're willing to risk a powerful piece of the Mad God just to battle me, the determination! Yes, I would be glad to take the Eye Of The Mad God off your hands! You have to die first."
"Come on then…come on!" Judex screamed.
The hand was impossibly large, god-like in its scale. It descended with terrifying speed, its fingers curling as it aimed to crush Judex and everything around him.
Judex let out a final, defiant battle cry, his voice raw, filled with pain and fury. With his remaining arm, he conjured blood lances, his magic surging through him as he hurled them at the descending hand. Each throw was accompanied by another scream, another surge of rage.
"AGHHH!" He screamed with a throw.
The lances flew through the air, but they had no effect. They shattered against the hand's massive, armored fingers, doing nothing to slow its descent.
But Judex didn't stop. He kept throwing, kept screaming, even as the hand loomed closer, the ground shaking beneath him. His voice cracked as he hurled another lance, tears mixing with the blood on his face. He knew it was hopeless, but he didn't care. He would fight until the end.
The hand slammed into them, the force of it sending shockwaves through the battlefield. Judex braced himself, his body trembling as the massive fingers closed in. But then, at the last moment, Ren and Dante were at his side.
Together, the three of them pressed their hands against the hand's massive palm, their bodies straining as they tried to hold it back. The hand was impossibly heavy, the weight of a god pressing down on them, and yet they screamed in defiance.
"Push!" Ren roared, his voice filled with rage and pain. His muscles bulged as he pressed his flaming fists against the hand, his chains glowing with heat as he fought to hold it back.
Dante's katana flashed as he drove the blade into the hand, shadows swirling around him as he gritted his teeth, his body trembling with the effort. "We… we can't hold it! Damn it all! Why did I even…come over here?!"
Judex, his body broken, his arm gone, screamed in agony as he pushed with everything he had, his knees buckling beneath the weight. "Aresoth!" he roared.
But the hand was too strong. The weight was too much. Their bodies screamed in protest, muscles tearing, bones snapping under the strain.
For a moment, it seemed like they might push it back. But then, with a sickening crunch, massive swords erupted from the hand's palm, piercing through their bodies.
Judex gasped as the blade tore through his chest, blood pouring from the wound. He looked to his side, his vision dimming, and saw Ren and Dante impaled as well, their bodies slumping as the swords drove through them.
The hand lifted, the massive fingers curling as it rose from the ground. Judex's broken body hung limply from the sword, his eyes wide, his breath shallow. He could feel the life draining from him, the blood pooling at his feet.
As the hand lifted higher, it revealed the brutalized bodies of Judex, Ren, and Dante, their forms impaled on the massive, god-like blades.
Judex, Ren, Dante, their bodies laid their, eyes wide open, dying slowly.
Judex, laying down with his head tilted to the side, tears flowing out, he reminisced on when he was sitting alone in a room, hugging himself because no one else would. The day before he started high school.
'Maybe all I wanted was happiness…'
Judex, like a zombie, rose up, screaming, "AGHHHH!"
Aresoth said, "Oh? Fascinating! You're still up! I like you! I wanna kill you even more! Make me earn the eye of the Mad God!"
'I strived for it…bullied people for that shit…I thought happiness came with being content with everything..no bullies. Nothing.'
Judex, his right eye red and bleeding again, smirked, "Not yet-!"
SHIIING!
'I just wanted everything to be smooth….why the hell couldn't I grow up with love around me? What's wrong with me? I really wanted to die before..and now that it's here…I'm so afraid..'
A large arrow from a bow Aresoth wielded in the sky, pierced through Judex's body, making him stumble backwards. Then he finally fell.
His pulse had stopped, laying there alongside Dante and Ren, the breathing stopped as well.