The Warden's Judgment
Part 1 — The Immovable Trial
The dimension they entered was unlike any they had faced before.
It wasn't a battlefield, nor a ruin, nor even a living world.
It was a judgment hall — an endless void of fractured marble and suspended platforms, as if reality itself had been shattered and frozen in a permanent state of tribunal. Above them stretched no sky, no stars, no firmament — only the colossal weight of silence, broken by faint echoes of chains that clinked across dimensions they couldn't see.
The squad stood at the center of a vast circular platform. Jiwoo tightened his fists; Kayden's eyes scanned every edge of the void. Leya's breath shook, though she tried to steady it, while Shogun clenched her blade. Lynx stood furthest ahead, motionless, his shadow cast long by a light that had no source.
Then, the air bent.
A soundless quake ran through the void as an unfathomable presence seeped in. No footsteps, no descent — just the certainty that something older than cause and consequence had arrived. The marble floor cracked in four directions, forming an insignia that none of them recognized but all of them felt.
And then, he was there.
The Grand Warden.
A figure neither giant nor small — neither man nor god. His form seemed carved from the substance of inevitability itself. Cloaked in robes that were not cloth but law, his face obscured by a mask that bore no expression, only the faint etchings of order: balance, symmetry, perfection. His eyes — or the void where they should have been — were luminous rings that seemed to devour motion.
When he spoke, his voice wasn't sound. It was the shifting of principles, the turning of an eternal decree:
"You who seek Hasira's blade trespass beyond measure. This realm is trial. I am Warden. None pass without judgment."
Jiwoo swallowed hard. The last trial, with the Will of the First Hasira, had been crushing. But this — this was different. The Warden wasn't a guardian of memory. He was a guardian of consequence.
Lynx finally spoke, his tone calm but edged with caution:
"So it was you. The sentinel still stationed here… even after all this time."
The Warden turned — or perhaps simply existed in orientation toward him.
"Law does not tire. Law does not change. Law is unbroken. You… are deviation. And deviation must be cut away."
Kayden clenched his fists, stepping forward.
"We don't have time for your riddles. We came here for the sword, and we're leaving with it."
But his voice betrayed the tremor inside. He could feel the difference. Even Lynx, usually unshaken, stood with slight tension in his shoulders.
---
The Weight of Inevitability
The Warden raised his hand. A motion as simple as an exhale — yet the platform quaked, the void resonated, and suddenly all of them were forced down onto one knee as if gravity itself had been rewritten.
Kayden gritted his teeth, forcing his body upright through sheer defiance. His mind screamed at him: Move. Stand. Resist.
Every nerve burned as though reality itself was punishing him for rising.
"This is not power," the Warden said. "This is truth. Law dictates that the unworthy bow. You bow because you are unworthy."
Kayden's lips twisted.
"Truth…? No. This is just your version of truth. And I refuse it."
The Warden tilted his head slightly, the mask betraying no change.
"Refusal is irrelevant. You are bound."
Lynx's shadow extended, forming a barrier of swirling dark behind the squad, giving them a moment to breathe.
"Stand. Do not let his words rot your resolve," Lynx commanded, though even his voice carried strain.
Leya's hands glowed as she tried to cast a protective ward on Jiwoo, but the light fractured mid-air, collapsing into sparks.
"My healing—won't stabilize here…" she gasped.
The Warden did not attack in fury. He administered. Each gesture was precise, efficient, as if he were not fighting at all but merely fulfilling function.
And function was absolute.
---
The First Blow
Without warning, Jiwoo staggered. A streak of crimson erupted across his chest, blood spilling as though he'd been pierced by an invisible blade. He collapsed forward, clutching his chest, his eyes wide in horror.
"J-Jiwoo!!" Leya screamed, catching him before his body hit the marble.
But there was no attacker. No movement. Just the Warden, still standing, unmoved.
"Violation acknowledged. Sentence delivered."
Kayden's heart froze. He hadn't even seen it. No strike, no motion, nothing. Jiwoo had just… been wounded.
"You—" Kayden snarled, surging forward, but Lynx's arm snapped out, halting him.
"Not yet."
Kayden's glare burned, but Lynx's warning was clear: reckless motion here would mean instant death.
Leya pressed her hands against Jiwoo's chest, light flooding desperately, but the wound resisted. It wasn't just flesh — it was concept. His life was being edited out of continuity. Tears ran down her cheeks as she pushed harder, screaming against inevitability.
The Warden spoke again:
"Do not attempt reversal. Law inflicted cannot be undone."
For the first time, Leya's light cracked — not because her power failed, but because her belief faltered.
---
Leya's Soul Scar
The Warden raised his hand again. This time, it wasn't Jiwoo. It was Leya.
Her body jolted, eyes widening as a scream tore from her throat. Her hands ripped away from Jiwoo as she clutched her chest, convulsing. But when the squad looked — there was no wound. No blood. No break in her skin.
But she screamed as though her very existence was splitting.
"What did you do to her?!" Shogun roared, unleashing a slash of broken force. But the blade shattered midair, as if the concept of "cutting" was revoked before it could arrive.
The Warden answered, voice devoid of cruelty yet colder than malice itself:
"She attempted reversal. For that, she is marked. Her soul will carry scar eternal. Even should her flesh heal, memory and spirit will break each time it recalls this trial."
Kayden's fury burned like molten steel. His fists trembled, his jaw locked so tight his teeth bled. Jiwoo down, Leya screaming, Shogun's blade shattering — and the Warden still stood, untouched, unmoving, administering law like a judge stamping parchment.
And in that moment, Kayden felt something dangerous slip inside him.
The truth.
That maybe — just maybe — the Warden was right.
Maybe resistance was futile. Maybe all his defiance, all his reckless belief in "fighting for what matters," was nothing more than arrogance before inevitability.
That creeping doubt — that venomous whisper — was the beginning of his breakdown.
---
Kayden's eyes shook. His breath came ragged. For a split second, the burning fire of his will flickered.
And the Warden saw it.
"Acceptance begins," the masked figure said softly.
Breaking the Immovable
The void seemed to pulse with a heartbeat that none of them could see.
It was not the heartbeat of life. It was the heartbeat of law, eternal and unyielding.
Kayden's eyes darted around, fixating on the Warden, whose presence alone reshaped reality. Jiwoo groaned on the floor, crimson staining his chest, the wound resisting even the desperate glow of Leya's energy. Shogun's knuckles were white as she gripped her blade, struggling to comprehend a force that ignored even the strongest attacks.
Lynx was halfway between fury and calculation, his shadow extending like a living shield across the platform. Half of his body bore a wound he couldn't heal fast enough — a hole carved into his torso by the Warden's first strike, each beat of his heart a reminder that even someone like him could be imperiled.
The Warden's voice cut the silence, calm, deliberate, absolute:
"Those who falter under judgment are crushed. Survival is earned, not given."
---
Anous Intervenes
Anous stepped forward, his cosmic armor shimmering, the energy of absorbed attacks coiling like living serpents along his limbs. He didn't hesitate.
"Focus! Protect the others. I'll buy you time."
He moved like a blade of light, interposing himself between the Warden and the squad. When the Warden struck again, Anous absorbed the blow through his armor, deflecting the impossible power, while sending a charged backlash through his weapon: the Divine Smite, a slash of energy meant to cleave inevitability itself.
The Warden's hand lashed out, meeting Anous' strike with Willhammer: Thunder Burst, a single collision that fractured the void around them. Multiverses seemed to tremble as if recognizing the clash. Sparks of warped reality shot outward, shaking the platform, splitting floating fragments, and sending jagged shards of space raining down.
Even Kaizo, observing from far beyond, trembled in fear. The energy radiating from this duel was not mere destruction. It was truth-shattering, a storm that could rewrite existence itself.
---
Shogun and Kayden
Amid the chaos, Shogun knelt beside Leya, whose energy flickered weakly as her soul scar slowly absorbed the lingering damage.
"Keyden… we must survive," she whispered, forcing steadiness in her voice, though the ground beneath them quaked violently.
But Kayden did not hear her. He could only watch, frozen in disbelief, as Jiwoo struggled to rise, his own chest a bleeding void. Leya tried to stand, but even the faintest motion made a scream tear from her throat, half of her essence fractured, trembling.
A voice whispered in the back of Kayden's mind — the voice of doubt and despair:
"What if nothing you do matters? What if all your strength is meaningless? What if even fighting is futile?"
He stumbled, collapsing to his knees, tears streaking his face. Philosophical collapse met emotional implosion. Every principle he'd ever believed in — justice, protection, defiance — felt hollow.
And then the Warden acted again.
---
The Warden Strikes
With a motion almost imperceptible, the Warden teleported. Time folded around him, and suddenly his presence was inside the squad's defensive perimeter. Leya screamed as a shard of dark energy struck her side, cutting into the very concept of her soul. She collapsed fully, her body on the ground as if gravity itself rejected her existence.
Jiwoo tried to rise, igniting his flame armor, summoning the power of the cosmic fruit he had consumed. With a desperate scream, he absorbed the shockwave radiating from the Warden's movement. The energy roared into him, turning the pain into a volatile, volatile weapon. He surged forward, attempting to strike the Warden.
The Warden moved — effortlessly — and Jiwoo's attack merely grazed him. A push, subtle yet cataclysmic, sent Jiwoo skidding across the marble platform. His chest bore a wound that not even life could repair, an echo of the Warden's absolute law.
---
Kayden's Breakdown
Kayden could not move. His fists clenched until his nails drew blood. His chest heaved. He screamed, the sound ripping through dimensions, vibrating the very marrow of reality.
"No! I won't… I CAN'T… I… I can't protect them!"
Every memory of the Break Clan, every vow he had made to protect Jiwoo, every step he had taken to become stronger — it all crashed down. The philosophy he had lived by, that strength and will could defy fate, was evaporating under the Warden's gaze.
He fell to the ground, sobbing. His cries tore through the void, echoing with the weight of cosmic despair.
And in that moment, the triangles appeared.
Six glowing points formed around his pupils, converging toward a circle at the center of his vision. He barely noticed the faint pulse of energy coursing through his veins — the awakening of power beyond comprehension, triggered by his emotional collapse.
---
The Counterattack
Anous, seeing the imminent collapse, roared and launched the Divine Smite with all his absorbed energy. A slash of pure cosmic force ripped across the void. The Warden's Willhammer met it with a strike of thunder fused with gravitational collapse.
The clash shook reality. Platforms cracked, fragments of dimension fell into nothingness. Lava and fire from distant worlds swirled into the void as if drawn by the force of the battle.
The Warden, wounded but still unyielding, staggered slightly — one hand vaporized from the backlash. Bleeding, the law-bound entity tapped into the planet's core Nature Force, healing rapidly, reinforcing his form with the primal essence of the world itself.
Jiwoo tried again, but the Warden struck — piercing through him, leaving him sprawled on the ground, his chest a hollow crater where existence itself had been erased.
---
Emotional Echo
Kayden watched this, numb at first, then spiraling. His hands shook violently, his vision blurred with tears, rage, and disbelief. The thought repeating in his mind, like a mantra of despair:
"I failed… I failed them… I am nothing…"
His sobs grew louder, shaking the void with the raw force of life-force energy being drawn outward. Shadows and sparks swirled, coalescing around him, forming a storm of emotional, raw energy.
He could feel it — the potential to surpass even gods, yet unshaped, unstable, and terrifying.
---
The Squad's Fragility
Shogun tried to move toward him, to ground him, to comfort him — but the Warden's strike came again, smashing her head against the fractured platform. Pain screamed in her mind as reality itself seemed to bend around her.
Leya remained motionless, soul-marked and drained. Jiwoo gasped shallowly, clinging to consciousness. Lynx's shadow shield flickered; half his body remained wounded and unhealing.
All around, the platform and the void shivered. Even Kaizo, observing from afar, flinched. The energy emitted by Kayden's breakdown, amplified by desperation and cosmic fruit influence, resonated as a threat to existence itself.
---
Part 2 Cliffhanger
Kayden's eyes glowed brighter, triangles converging. He felt the raw potential of thunder and black hole energy fuse in his hands. Every principle of reality trembled as he prepared — unknowingly — for a strike that would mark the beginning of his transcendence.
Above him, the Warden's eyes — those rings of immutable law — narrowed.
"So… this is the deviation I must judge."
And then, without warning, Kayden unleashed a surge of energy that lit the void with blinding light.
The battle had reached a point of no return.
Divine Break & Reckoning
The volcanic platform shook with every tremor of the Warden's presence. His molten eyes, deep as the planet's core, glimmered with unyielding law. Around him, the Willhammer pulsed, vibrating with the weight of reality itself.
He raised his massive hand, and time seemed to fold around it. The squad could feel the pull of uncountable forces pressing down, threatening to erase them from existence.
"You falter beneath judgment," the Warden's voice boomed, deep enough to rattle the multiverse.
"Those who cannot endure… perish."
---
Keyden Breaks
Kayden's knees buckled. He sank to the ground, tears streaking down his face. The weight of Jiwoo and Leya's suffering pressed into him like a physical force.
Everything I swore to protect… everything I wanted to keep… shattered before me.
The triangles appeared — six glowing points spinning around his eyes, converging to a circle at the center. Reality around him shimmered with an unstable energy, a fusion of black hole gravity and thunder force, feeding on his despair and rage.
The air cracked. Sparks flew. His body glowed with raw cosmic energy. His fork weapon manifested — three prongs spinning, each imbued with black hole-thunder fusion, humming with potential that could rival even the Warden himself.
"ENOUGH!" he screamed, the sound fracturing the air itself. The void trembled. Lava and shattered platforms spun around him.
The Warden, unshaken, stared — the immutable judge witnessing a mortal defy law itself.
"So… this is the deviation I must judge," the Warden said calmly, unfazed.
---
Clash of Titans
Jiwoo struggled to rise, using cosmic fruit energy to absorb incoming shockwaves, but he could barely keep pace. Leya groaned, half of her soul scarred, barely holding consciousness. Shogun's body quivered as she gripped her weapon, eyes wide at the scale of power erupting before her.
Anous stepped forward, shimmering with cosmic armor, energy coiling like serpents around his limbs. He struck first: Divine Smite, a slash of light that cleaved through warped reality, colliding with the Warden's Thunder Burst Willhammer.
The force tore through the dimension, sending fragments of lava, obsidian, and floating stone into the void. Even Kaizo flinched, sensing the destructive magnitude.
The Warden's hand vaporized partially under the Divine Smite, bleeding molten energy that resisted normal healing. He tapped into the planet's Nature Force, absorbing energy from the core to regenerate — the raw essence of the world itself fueling him.
---
Tragedy Strikes
Before Keyden could stabilize, the Warden struck again. Jiwoo lunged, attempting a counterattack, but the strike pierced him — leaving a crater in his chest where existence itself seemed erased. He collapsed, struggling for breath, flames sputtering from his armor.
Leya tried to intervene, but the Warden's next blow shattered her left side, her soul partially erased. She fell to the ground, limp, unable to recover.
Shogun's eyes widened in horror.
Kayden could only stare, paralyzed, screaming internally.
I failed them… all of them… everything…
Philosophical collapse collided with emotional torment. He shook violently, sobbing uncontrollably, the weight of the multiverse pressing into his psyche. Every vow he'd made — every promise to protect, to fight, to endure — felt meaningless under the Warden's gaze.
---
Keyden Awakens
Suddenly, the triangles around his eyes flared brighter, the circle forming at the center. Energy roared through him as he absorbed the despair and fear into raw power. Thunder fused with black hole gravity erupted around him, reshaping reality itself.
He became a blur, striking at the Warden with his trident-fork weapon, each prong a fusion of thunder and gravitational collapse. The Warden staggered from the first blow, his armor cracking. Blood and molten energy sprayed across the battlefield.
Kayden's voice trembled as he attacked, the words almost drowned by the roar of energy:
"Enough… you passed your judgment… NOW I pass mine!"
He struck the Warden's right chest with the prongs, the soul within it screaming as it began to be erased. This time, the Warden could not heal fast enough.
---
Lynx Intervenes
The surge of power threatened to destabilize the entire platform. Lava trembled, the volcanic planet quaked, and dimensional cracks tore open above. Lynx, seeing reality bend under Keyden's uncontrolled attack, had no choice.
With a flash, he teleported behind Keyden, shadow energy forming around him. In one swift motion, he severed Keyden's neck, knocking him unconscious before his power could obliterate everything.
Anous staggered, barely breathing, and muttered:
"…That was close. Too close…"
The Warden's molten gaze softened slightly, almost contemplative.
"This mortal… has potential to surpass gods," the Warden admitted, before Anous struck with a final Divine Smite. The Warden, battered, unconscious, and broken, fell heavily to the ground.
---
Aftermath: Forest Dimension
The scene shifted. Bodies lay across a peaceful forest dimension, soft green light bathing the wreckage. Shogun knelt beside Keyden, tears streaming.
"Uhh… Keyden!!!" she cried, shaking him gently.
He coughed, blinking awake, exhausted but alive.
Leya stirred, chest still glowing faintly from residual healing energy. Jiwoo groaned, flames flickering across his armor as he rose shakily.
Anous smirked, walking toward Lynx.
"You almost killed him, you know?"
"I did what had to be done," Lynx replied, crossing his arms.
"Ha! 'Had to be done'? He's still alive. Guess your timing isn't that perfect after all," Anous shot back.
"Oh, don't start. You nearly vaporized the Warden with one move. Who's talking about timing now?"
The two bickered, sarcasm dripping from every word, yet there was a hidden warmth — the unspoken camaraderie of ancient rivals surviving yet another apocalypse.
Shogun watched Keyden carefully, biting her lip, half-smiling, half-tearing.
"I thought I lost you… I can't… I can't lose you again," she whispered, shaking him gently, relief flooding her.
Keyden, exhausted but conscious, simply groaned and rolled his eyes.
Jiwoo and Leya, though battered, shared weak smiles. Even in the aftermath, their bond had deepened.
---
Philosophical Closure
The Warden, now unconscious, lay as a testament: judgment had been served, yet mercy lingered through survival. Keyden had been pushed beyond comprehension, his potential glimpsed, his limits shattered, and his mind touched by the philosophical edge of true power — the understanding that protection was not just strength, but sacrifice, patience, and restraint.
Reality itself had shivered and survived.
The forest dimension hummed with life. Lava and death had been left behind. For now.
---
Final Panel / Closing Scene
Anous clapped Lynx on the shoulder:
"Don't think this makes you any less old and slow."
"Slow? I shattered half a dimension before you even blinked!"
"Yeah, yeah… let's just agree I'd still beat you in a foot race."
Shogun muttered, tears still in her eyes:
"You guys are insane…"
Keyden groaned, sitting up, rubbing his head:
"Can we… not fight gods for a week?"
Leya laughed weakly, holding her side:
"No promises, idiot."
And so, the squad remained, battered but alive, the Warden subdued, and Keyden's potential — terrifying, infinite, and unshaped — waiting for the next trial.