After arriving early and waiting nearly two and a half hours, the six commanders of the Demi-Human Alliance were escorted to a massive chamber resembling the interior of an ancient yet immaculate cathedral, without pews. Instead, the sides of the chamber were lined with elevated, tiered seating areas—where more than a hundred Dragons followed their every movement with piercing gazes.
"This is madness..." muttered a tall demihuman with the head of a goat, silvery-white fur, and golden, dash-slitted eyes. His body was adorned from horn to cloven hoof in magical items. But instead of feeling powerful and protected, he felt like a lamb walking to his slaughter.
"Their power is beyond comprehension. Could each of these be Dragon Lords...?" questioned an inordinately tall and lanky demihuman with four arms, pale white skin, a naturally crowned head, and a mouth resembling clasped, clawed hands. Its voice was deep and feminine, and the spined, orb-tipped staff clenched tightly in its lower right hand denoted its status as a Mage.
"Our only hope is that this Dragon God of theirs didn't summon us here simply to be executed..." remarked a roughly two-meter-tall demihuman with ape-like features, a body covered in long white fur, and pale purple flesh—visible on its face, hands, and feet. Its shoulders, arms, forearms, chest, and calves were fitted with golden, gem-encrusted magical items. And a nine-pronged, claw-tipped crown sat atop its head, gleaming with a faint magical luminance.
"If that is your principal concern, you may rest assured. The Dragon God will hear your case. And even if you fail to provide a suitable justification for your actions, you will not be executed," explained the person escorting the group—none other than Grayfia. Vahn had requested her assistance in getting everything set up, so she had decided to stick around to see how things played out in person.
"What need do we have to justify our actions? Humans are our enemies, and it is only natural that the strong slaughter and enslave the weak. Had our side been weaker, these god-obsessed fools would have wiped us out or forced us from our homes long ago," asserted a nearly three-meter-tall demihuman with the head of a saber-toothed panther, deep crimson eyes, and a body covered in soot-black fur. The musculature of its upper body was similar to a human, albeit far more pronounced. As for its lower body, covered in thick leather hide and metal plating, it resembled the body of a lion mixed with a bull—four-legged and powerful.
"Please save your arguments for the Dragon God and the other Tribunal Justices~" Grayfia hummed, stopping near one of two wooden tables and gesturing to it with her right hand. There, what appeared to be a human woman with long brown hair, a somewhat large forehead, and long bangs that framed her face could be seen, her notably shapely figure garbed in a stylish black suit with prominent golden accents. Behind the other stood Tanya, modeling a variation of the same outfit—albeit with a pristine white base.
Preempting the group's queries, the voluptuous brunette extended a hand to the snake-like Rokesh, seemingly unbothered by the fact that the latter was more than twice her height, as she revealed, "Greetings. My name is Nuvenia Nicoletta Kagenou. I hold the status of Praefectus Statutere and will be serving as your group's Proxy for this Tribunal."
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Seeing Nuvenia casually offering her hand with a practiced, professional smile, the group of six demihuman Chieftains found themselves stunned to silence. They couldn't detect so much as a hint of magical power from Nuvenia. But as she bore a similar title to the person who had suspended their army and evidently the entirety of the Roble Holy Kingdom's territory in a time-halting barrier, they dared not underestimate her.
"I am Rokesh Rakashasaha of the Naga Raja Tribe, Commander of the Demi-Human Alliance and current holder of the title Rainbow Scales..." Rokesh responded carefully, extending his inordinately long and scale-covered hand to reciprocate Nuvenia's handshake. Doing so felt wrong, but he forcefully suppressed his deeply ingrained contempt for humans beneath his desire to survive.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Commander Rokesh," Nuvenia stated, her tone completely neutral as she explained, "I have been tasked with voicing your group's inducements and arguments to the Tribunal. You are naturally entitled to argue your position directly. But you could be held responsible for any words or actions the Tribunal deems to be improper or excessively combative."
"Excessively combative? What does that mean...?" questioned the saber-toothed demihuman, his fur visibly bristling as he strengthened his hold on the massive, double-bladed axe in his right hand.
"It means that if you behave like a fool seeking death, there is a non-zero chance that you'll find it..."
Drawn to the direction of the childlike voice that had pricked his ears, the saber-toothed demihuman tensed at the sight of Tanya staring at him with a half-lidded, seemingly bored expression.
Following a brief, involuntary pause, the saber-toothed demihuman raised his axe, gripping it with both hands as he asserted, "I, Vijar Rajandala, am a warrior. Even if your power is great, I do not fear you..."
"Oh? Good for you..." Tanya responded, making a show of rolling her eyes and digging into her right ear with her pinky. This caused the fur on Vijar's body to stand on end. But before he could move forward and possibly get them all killed, the ram-headed and ape-like Chiefs promptly blocked his path, weapons at the ready.
"Grand King Buser? White Elder Halisha? Why do you block my path...?" questioned Vijar, his grip on his weapon tightening and his fang-like teeth bared.
"Demon Claw Vijar..." started the ape-like demihuman, Halisha, his voice a low, steady growl as he stated, "Your pride as both a Chieftain and warrior are worth dying for. But is this where you wish to expire—without a single member of your kin to observe your spirit?"
"I, for one, will not be forfeiting my life because you decided to act like a fool in the presence of Dragons..." asserted the ram-headed demihuman, Buser.
"Grrrururururu...."
clap
"Wha—"
"Huh...?"
"Hmngh!?"
As Vijar and Buser stared one another down, ostensibly prepared to kill one another on the spot, Nuvenia abruptly clapped her hands together, producing a visible shockwave that caused the weapons of all six Chiefs to disappear as she stated, "My apologies. But this is not a place where you are free to fight at your discretion. Please wait until after the Tribunal has concluded to settle extraneous disputes."
"You—Praefectus Nuvenia...that trident was an heirloom of my people, passed down from one Chieftain to another for more than six hundred years..." Rokesh remarked, doing his best to suppress both his fury and his fear. He had failed to detect any fluctuations of magical power when Nuvenia made his trident disappear, so he had absolutely no idea how she was able to pull it off.
"Your weapons and magical items will be returned to you when they are required or once the Tribunal has concluded," Nuvenia stated, folding her hands neatly atop her lower abdomen as she added, "For the time being, I ask that everyone line up and prepare for the Tribunal's commencement. The three who will be presiding over this matter have already arrived, and their time is very valuable."
Before any of the Chiefs could lash out or offer a response, the air within the vast, Dragon-filled chamber began to tremble audibly as the force of gravity seemed to multiply a hundred times over. None of the Chiefs were able to remain upright, their instincts screaming at them to remain as still as a field mouse as the door at the far end of the hall—located behind an elevated bench area with three seats—opened.
"Oh? This is quite a bit grander than I was expecting..." Vahn remarked casually, emerging from the door and looking around with raised brows. He had been preoccupied whilst Grayfia and the Dragons were readying the hall, so it was his first time seeing it in person.
"It does inspire a certain degree of majesty. Though I'm fairly certain my throne room is more spacious..." remarked the person following in Vahn's wake, or, more accurately, riding on his shoulders. The individual's figure was exceedingly petite, akin to that of a prepubescent human child. But their skin was a rich, diffuse sapphire blue with distinctive black markings that covered their distinctly feminine attributes. This, combined with her crown-like headpiece, the sapphire-blue horns protruding from the front and back of her head, and the black, blue-segmented tentacles wrapping around Vahn from behind the figure's lower back, made it clear she wasn't human.
"Mmmmn...that sounds right..." Vahn remarked, cupping the sapphire-skinned figure's outer thighs before removing her from his shoulders and setting her down before him. With his nearly two-meter height, the girl's crown barely crested his abdomen. But at more than sixty million years old, the diminutive, tentacled, off-white-haired entity—known back in her world as the Klaxosaur Queen—could not be called a child.
"Oh? Are these the fools you have deigned to waste your time on...?" questioned the Klaxosaur Queen, stepping forward and using her multi-pronged, tentacle-like tails to prop her body so that she could see over the bench and down at the demihumans below. Doing so gave Vahn an eyeful, but it was nothing he hadn't seen many, many times before.
"I wouldn't call them fools..." Vahn stated, approaching the Klaxosaur Queen from behind, grabbing her waist, and relocating her to the raised seat to his right as he reasoned, "This world simply hasn't had the time or the opportunity to grow beyond its current level..."
"Rest assured. We shall judge them impartially..." stated the Klaxosaur Queen, forming her tentacles into a singular, notably thick appendage and resting it across her lap to caress like a cat.
"Indeed. Such is the expectation placed upon us..." agreed a remarkably deep but smooth voice, followed by a tall and exceedingly muscular man with dark, yellow-brown skin, a short but thick black beard that split into three distinct prongs along his jawline, and a veiny forehead that fanned away from his browline. His hairless, naturally furrowed brows, deep-set, spiral-ringed eyes, and perpetually severe glower made him resemble an Asura. But his loose, sage-like robes, prayer beads, and careful manner of speaking hinted at his profound wisdom.
"Lordgenome. Thank you again for agreeing to sit upon this Tribunal. You may not have felt that you had a choice, but I expect you will serve as a reliable foil to Lasti and Sinbad once he replaces me as the head of this Tribunal..." Vahn expressed casually, placing his right hand over his heart and offering the inordinately muscular man, the former ruler of the world that Yoko, the deceased Kamina, and Simon originated from, the slightest of bows.
"As long as the Dragon's Pavilion continues to protect my reality and others from the encroachment of the Anti-Spirals, you shall have my absolute, undying loyalty..." Lordgenome expressed, mirroring Vahn's hand-over-heart gesture but bowing nearly seventy degrees. His ever-present scowl made it seem as if he was mocking the gesture. But while he had perpetrated functionally countless atrocities throughout his long life, he was fundamentally incapable of being facetious.
"That is the agreement you've made with the Pavilion..." Vahn affirmed, offering a curt nod before he and Lordgenome took their respective seats. As he did, the Klaxosaur Queen, Lastacia Klaxo Magmalius, extended her tail to caress his leg, but Vahn didn't mind her as he directed his gaze to the well below and asked, "Are we about ready to begin?"
"We will be shortly, Your Honors..." Nuvenia answered, offering a steep, lingering bow before raising her head and clapping her hands. As she did, the spiritual pressure forcing the Chiefs prone dissipated, freeing them to rise shakily to their feet. As warriors and representatives of their people, their pride had invariably been wounded by being forced to the ground in such a manner. But as beings who, first and foremost, respected strength, the six Chiefs couldn't help but look up at Vahn with a mixture of awe and trepidation. To beings who revered strength above all else, the effortless manner in which they had been forced to yield was more compelling than any title—even one as lofty as Dragon God...
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