Darian stared into those eyes without hesitation. Not a single word was spoken between them. It took five seconds, then the judge let out a heavy sigh and gave a signal.
Suddenly, the golden energy in the room shifted, twisting around. Everyone in the courtroom felt the movement of the blessing, focusing on several spots.
"No…"
"What?"
"Wait!"
Exactly twenty people in the courtroom were completely covered by the judge's blessing. Their words stopped, along with all movement and power. That was a unique variation he'd developed in his blessing — one that completely sealed its targets.
Among them were Freon and several of his allies.
Everyone else's eyes were full of hatred. They'd always hated Freon and his clan, but figured he was just a greedy bastard. They thought even if he was a piece of shit, at least he had some basic principles and played by the rules. But… he actually had the balls to betray all of Earth?!
Earlier, while everyone was watching the last scenes of Raon and the mission, that time was crucial for Darian to look into the past karma of the most notable ones. It didn't take much — he saw the situation clearly.
They'd been meeting from time to time in secret spots within the Empire. There, they used communication mechanisms connected to another planet in the universe.
Obviously, they used some incredibly powerful kind of concealment artifact, something that altered their physical appearance and even their energy fluctuations. They went to insane lengths to make sure they'd never be discovered, no matter the cost. Even if something went wrong and the truth leaked, they were completely different people during those meetings.
Those were the places where they made verbal decisions — and each one caused a big change in karma.
Since they weren't the ones directly carrying out the actions, Darian could see the discussions through karma — not the acts themselves. But with the training he'd received from Meru, he could now see the hours before and after any big karma shift.
He saw dozens of figures gathered. Unfortunately, in that courtroom, only twenty of them were present. He could catch those ones, but the others would get away.
In short, they were selling information on all the clans of Earth's Empires. With enough money, you could buy loads of data about people from other Empires, not just from their own region.
So in the Divine Protection Universe, where everyone gathered to train, these people were hunted down — and the assassins knew exactly what blessings and powers they had.
Darian knew how terrifying it was to fully understand someone's blessing. With enough time and resources to prep an attack, killing someone was easy — especially in that universe, where everyone only had a third of their full power and a fatal weakness: their Summoner.
Other planets took advantage of that to weaken Earth.
That way, high-level missions with great rewards became way harder to complete. After too many failures, it wasn't just the Empire that got penalized — the whole planet did, and the best missions would be handed off to other places.
It was a slow-bleed tactic.
Meanwhile, Freon and his clan — and a bunch of others — were making a ton of resources from it. At the same time, they were weakening the Empire they lived in, and eventually, they could make their own clan stronger than the Empire itself.
Not only that — they could even end up ruling over the rest of Earth, becoming the top power in everything.
Even if Earth became the weakest planet in the universe because of it, if they were in charge, they could slowly rebuild — at least, that's what they probably thought, in their insane minds. Or maybe they didn't even care about screwing over the whole planet, as long as they got to rule everything. Better to be a king among the poor than a nobody among the rich.
Darian reported three very important things to the supreme judge.
First, five places where those meetings happened. They were super secret underground spots, sealed off with specific artifacts. Normally, there'd be no way to find them.
Second: where those people hid their camouflage artifacts.
These artifacts had to be merged into the user's body to create a perfect disguise. After being used, the artifact kept a subtle record of who had used it. If investigated, it was easy to figure out who it belonged to. That's why hiding them was crucial.
At the meeting location, it was possible to detect — with other types of artifacts — the energy traces left behind by those who were recently there. Of course, those traces were disguised, but with the right artifact, the one responsible for the cloaking, it was possible to pinpoint exactly who had been there.
The third thing he revealed was the kind of rewards they were getting from other planets in exchange for the info. It wasn't small stuff — a lot of those artifacts couldn't even be found on Earth. Some were straight-up restricted to the Empire and never sold to the public.
So, with those items in hand, the hidden meeting spots discovered, and the disguise artifacts exposed, there was absolute certainty about what was going on — and more than enough proof to take them down.
After that, all that was left was to use memory-reading artifacts on them to find out exactly everything they'd done.
As soon as everyone in the courtroom was sealed, dozens of soldiers entered in sync, chains in hand. Their faces were twisted with rage. It was obvious they wanted to kill them in the worst way possible, but they needed to find out everything first.
They were taken away quickly. Then, silence spread.
The judge didn't say a word from start to finish — this matter was classified, and nothing could leak until it was wrapped up. Darian had only given info on a few of them, but there were definitely more involved.
Unfortunately, even reading the memories of those twenty, it'd be hard to catch everyone. But this alone was already a huge achievement.
The judge turned to Darian.
He, however, was staring at Rhea, distant. She was in her final moments and wouldn't last much longer.
Noticing the look, Darian turned back to the judge, desperate.
"Sir, please…"
"No. These are different matters," the judge said coldly, then sighed. "If you're not satisfied, read the report. I'll allow you to see all the evidence."
Darian didn't have time for that. So he looked around at the people in the courtroom.
They were all looking at him with pity, shaking their heads. Their eyes showed they wanted to help… but they couldn't...
Darian's eyes trembled. He was already almost certain that Rhea had really betrayed the Empire, but how the hell did they have such solid proof?
If there had been even one tiny loophole he could exploit, someone in that room would've pointed it out and tried to back him up — even if it wouldn't change the outcome.
Darian clenched his fists so hard that his nails dug into his flesh.
He wasn't some superhero. He couldn't predict everything. He wasn't sharp enough to see this coming. He was just a kid fighting to survive, and thinking he could fix everything easily was just some dumb fantasy.
But that didn't make it hurt any less. If only he'd met Rhea sooner, if he'd figured it out earlier… maybe there would've been a chance to help her.
'Shit… shit… shit…'
Darian's eyes were red, watching Rhea's life fade away right in front of him.
He was completely powerless.
He knew she didn't deserve this, and that she'd probably done something that was right. But he didn't have the strength to save her.
Nayara, her face soaked in tears, looked at Harper.
*Bang!*
In that instant, Harper used her blessing in front of everyone and struck Leander at the base of the neck, knocking him out before he could do something stupid.
Obviously, using any kind of power in that place was forbidden, but everyone there was powerful. They all felt the movement and knew Harper couldn't hurt any of them. Quietly, they chose to ignore it and let her act — even the judge.
Matteo caught Leander's body, but tears were streaming nonstop down his face.
Velye dropped to her knees, sobbing. Harper turned away, not wanting to watch her benefactor die without being able to do a thing. But her face was so twisted and full of pain that everyone in the room felt a tightness in their chest. She was holding back the tears — which hurt way more than just letting them fall.
Every member of the chained clan was staring at Rhea with wide eyes, even though they couldn't show any reaction.
Pretty much all of them had been recruited by her, joined the clan because of her, and had been cared for like they were her own kids.
They wanted to stop it no matter what, but… they knew her. They were sure: she wouldn't want them to die for nothing.
And more than anything… she loved her son more than her own life. Leander was free. She clearly hadn't involved him for that exact reason. He needed to live. As for them… they had to make sure he didn't do anything reckless.
"Young man, you've done a great service to the Empire. But betrayal is still betrayal. It can't be forgiven," the Supreme Judge said to Darian, cold and emotionless. "All members of the clan have been absorbed. The punishment will fall only on these two, who have also lost the right to be recognized as a clan."
A funeral silence spread through the room.
The judge waved his hand, sighing. "Let's end this quickly and avoid more pain."
Everyone turned to look at the judge.
Then, their world seemed to move in slow motion.
Rhea, unconscious and in her final breaths, suddenly trembled.
Her eyes opened. It was a survival reflex — her body burned all the life she had left to fight.
But…
That fight would never happen.
The needles in her body trembled.
Then, they all moved at once.
To her clan members, it felt like an eternity — like their hearts were being pierced at the same time.
The needles drove deep into her.
In the same second, her life was completely snuffed out. Like a candle being blown out.
It was the end.