[Shortform Warp] became a minor inconvenience for Jury. In the end, her target was but a mere human. She had attempted to intercept Frost but to no avail due to her random teleportation pattern.

Growing tired of striking nothing but air, she left behind pockets of slowed space to slow Frost down. Furthermore, she noticed Frost's movements were becoming slower. It was only a matter of time before she could claim her body.

Jury made a bold prediction. Her arms slammed into the ground, and she used them as leverage to fling herself to an empty space. She had noticed that Frost had strict limitations to [Shortform Warp]. One was the fact that she could only Warp in locations within her line of sight.

During their battle Jury had strategically herded Frost to position herself close to a wall and several pillars to restrict her options. When Frost was finally in place, she brandished her wrist-blade and threw herself at the empty space like a spear.

And by calculated approximation, her blade sank into the back of her prey.

"Ggggggh!?"

"You sound so, so cute when you cry~ Aww!"

She bounced Frost around, sinking her deeper into the blade.

"Let Frost go! She's going to die! This isn't what either of us want!"

Oh really~? It just so happened that Frost ended up exactly where my blade was passing through. Hardly our fault. Such a strange coincidence~!

Jury could not inflict mortal wounds on Frost due to the real Jury's influence. To her, Frost had accidentally found herself hanging on the tip of her blade, rather than being a purposeful strike.

"Ahhh~ It's so cute how your feet kick~ Here, let me put you down… Just kidding~"

"Aggghhhh…"

She yanked Frost back up, sliding her deeper onto the blade.

"I was always wondering what it would take to make you stop. Pain doesn't work. Angering you only makes you stronger. But no one has ever tried to suppress you aside from the failed Brightest Star. He imprisoned you in the Black Forest, hmm? Don't worry, Frost."

She brought Frost close and smeared a blood-soaked thumb across her lover's lips.

"I won't keep you impaled forever~"

Jury had won. She sensed Frost manifested a new state, but it did not matter. Her hands could not even reach behind to strike her. She could not even close her fists. Her arms hung loosely by her side, and she could already feel Frost becoming limp.

"But you won't die. I can't physically kill you. A 1 HP Frost is all I need~ I'd still love you even if you were a pile of mush~"

"… You're… fucking…. Insane… Jury… Wake up…"

"I'm lucid, Frost. So lucid. It only ended this way because you resisted."

"… I resisted… wanting nothing… but to get Jury back…"

"FROOOOOOST!"

"Ahhhh, you've made her upset. She won't stop howling. Let me seal that mouth. Jury can't stomach her delicate flower making such adorable sounds."

She allowed Frost to slide off. Frost barely remained on her knees as she heaved, clasping at her gaping wound with rugged breaths. It amused Jury. The fire in Frost's eyes didn't weaken in the slightest.

Pale feathers shed as dark ones took their place. She raised a careful foot and placed it onto Frost's shoulder in an act of domination. To have a once proud sovereign groveling beneath her boot brought pleasure unlike any other.

But for it to be her very own lover?

Jury salivated. A million thoughts coursed through her minds. Depictions of how she could imprison Frost, dress her, love her – it flooded her all at once. She could not decide what to do with Frost once she finally gave in.

"You still have a lot of HP. It'll take some time until you bleed to 1 HP. Are you ready to admit you were wrong?"

"… Wrong…?"

Jury giggled haughtily as she sat on her tail and threw a leg over the other. Her rugged mannerism was nothing like the one who sat atop the throne, or the pitiful lover of the Amalgam.

She thought of herself as a just ruler. If one were to complain that she was inelegant, then she only needed to eliminate them. Complaints were considered an evil act. In a perfect world, there would be no complaints because under her reign, there would be no sin.

"You're tired. Depressed. You became nihilistic by putting value on living things."

At the snap of her finger, two figures dropped from the ceiling. They were the two Moons who had perished in the War of Grandis. Their died carcasses were strung up like puppets.

"Garreth…"

Hush~

"They still exist. They died happy. Your foolish lover lost sleep over a handful of losses. She's worse than you~ Trying to be morally standing, trying to peer into the pasts of others… She's not you either. She can't save them. All she can do is send a Hora Therapeutic to heal them. And for what?"

"… For what…?"

"You and she are burdening yourselves when there is already a cure. The Wandering Healers are the only practitioners. It's time that someone absolved them. Death, Frost. Death is the only cure. We administer it through judgement under the absolute rule of justice. I'll be the executioner. No one will ever have to worry again. Sure, there'll be some rough patches in the beginning."

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Jury lifted her boot and crouched beside Frost.

"But that's the only downside. Afterwards? Paradise~ You and me, and people we love – no thoughts to infect. We'll have our roles to play, with no strings attached."

She began brushing off loose debris from her body and used the fluff of her tail to clean Frost's wounds. Then, she licked her hands to set her messy bangs aside, revealing Frost's tired face.

"What do you say, darling?

Frost paused. Her eyes shriveled, and her lips quivered. She mouthed something, and Jury's ears flapped with giddy anticipation.

She nodded rapidly, urging Frost to speak.

"You are…"

"I am~?"

Frost slowly reached for Jury. Her small, little hands rested on her lap. Noticing this, Jury clasped them and brought them to her face. Frost's face softened, her eyes watered, and Jury's heart began to race as if falling in love all over again.

"… My…"

"Yours~?"

Slowly, ever so slowly, Frost pulled her towards her chest. Her soft chest pressed against the side of her face, and Jury gladly indulged in her metallic scent.

She's finally listening. Now… What shall we do with her? Hmhm~ Ahh… Ah…?

"Mmm… MMMM!??!?!?!?? GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!?"

*Crack*

An explosion of black and white feathers engulfed them as Frost chomped down on something above her. The inhuman scream caused Frost's ears to instantly bleed. Before she could even wince, Jury's tail swatted her tens of meters across the Floor of Judgement.

Jury's hands scrambled to her halo. She studied it, and her eyes widened with vitriol when she found that a quarter had been bitten off.

"Hah… Haha…"

"This… is part of my soul. My crown… my proof of my sovereign right! My… You destroyed Jury's future!"

"… Hardly… Jury's halo… won't be white… My maw still works. Good to know. Besides… Jury doesn't have a halo to begin with."

"Effect precedes cause in this case."

"Bullshit." Frost dismissed with a defiant grin.

Pale portals emerged like tears in space behind Jury. Miniature versions of the cannon used in [Retrocausality – Smite] emerged, each emitting a low humming sound. This Arbitration Skill was called [Causality – Retribution].

"We could have ended this here and now! But you couldn't concede even to your own wife! Is that type of person you are!? Is that the real you!?"

Grooves lining the barrels of the weapons flickered as the low-pitched murmur grew louder. It culminated in a high-pitched scream as particles of light converged at the tip of the barrels into balls of light. Only one needed to connect with Frost. After that, her HP was guaranteed to be reduced to 1.

Then, there would be nothing left to resist.

"Know this is out of love, Frost~ Rest well."

"Don't you dare guilt trip my Frost!"

The portals closed, cleaving the weapons in half. The balls of highly condensed energy erupted into massive spheres of light that consumed everything within. Dozens of craters surrounded Jury as even more pale feathers disappeared.

"Jury… You dare… intervene!?" She roared, clawing at the dark feathers like a stain that could not be removed.

More than half of her body was dark. The crack in her halo oozed with a black, maggoty liquid. Her holy façade was breaking, and with it, the whimsical persona she had been using to hide her true face.

Strands descended from above. They latched onto her crown, only for her to cleave herself free from their influence.

"No thought… no will… This personality… Haaaah. I should have let my instinct take over from the start. Frost~ Here. I… Come~"

She dashed forward at an impossible speed. Frost could not avoid this. Her body was crumpled over, and she nursed her broken ribs with a trembling hand. One strike to the heart. Then, she could either rewind time and keep her in a loop or freeze it an keep her in a superposition of life and death.

Either way, she'd have complete control over Frost.

But she was not able to reach Frost.

She did not even make it halfway.

A bolt of lightning struck the ground in front of her, leaving behind a crater filled with residual clouds of golden electricity.

"Tsk!?" Jury lunged towards Frost again after a momentary pause.

But she was intercepted once again. This time, her blade met with a fist coated in electricity. The two figures sent each other crashing to the ground. Jury skidded along her heels, stabbing her blade into the earth to catch herself.

On the other side, a certain wolf-eared woman performed a backflip and glided along the floor using the momentum with a cunning expression. She stopped perfectly beside Frost, her tail wrapping around her face with affection.

"I'm not seeing things, am I right? Jury's out here bullying you while the others are stuck waiting on a cliff face. Were you two fighting this entire time?"

It was Cer.

… The Awakened… Why… Is she here too? How was she able to enter the Zone of Arbitration…?

The Zone of Arbitration was nearly identical to a Corrupted Zone. It was the influence that a Star, Glimmer and even a Beholder could exert upon the world. One could imagine the gravitational field that a singularity created. Anything within was subject to its gravitational pull.

Normally, it was impossible for ordinary people to enter and exit at will, especially one of Act X's caliber. Yet Cer was able to enter unscathed.

It was confirmation that Cer was indeed a Glimmer.

An inferior one. Of Absolution… Barely a fraction of my heights…

"She's Awakened."

What good can an Awakened do without access to Light!?

* * *

"Cer… Where… have you been?"

The soft fur, the familiar scent, and the gentle warmth that radiated from the person beside her brought Frost at ease. It was Cer. She had not been altered by the Audition. Moreover, Cer's stats were untouched. She had both HP and MP, meaning she was physically present.

"Not gonna lie, I got lost. Some strings came and tried to capture me. Like what you just saw there. I think they wanted to boot me out. Figured you'd be in the same boat. Came looking for Joy and the twins. But luckily for you, guess who found you instead?"

"… This isn't going to be easy for you."

"Heh. Not a bad thing. Besides, I've always wanted to try my hand at fighting Jury. Better that she's batshit insane. I got a great excuse to beat up my adoptive mom's wife." Cer winked.

"So, Jury. Wanna see what's better? A Glimmer, or an Awakened? Nah, don't answer that. Neither are shit compared to a proud wolf!" She grinned, electricity cackling around her fangs as she tapped her halo. "What happened there? Amalgam bit you?"

"Insolent… Insolent little insect… I'll kill you… I destroy you in front of the Amalgam and Jury!"

Cer merely spoke what came to her mind. It was not her intention to antagonize Jury. After all, even she was aware that this was not the real Jury she knew and loved. Yet, there was always something about Cer that drove people insane.

"Permission to hit your wife?"

"… Haaaah. Go ahead… Here. Take some Light."

[Birthlight Pollination] was an Ability from S.C.E.N.T.E.D Thoughts that allowed her to transfer Light to others. Cer happily took it, and once recharged, she enveloped herself in a golden-blue aura of electricity.

"And what about you?"

"I'm gonna try out a new Corrupted."

Cer nodded and disappeared in the next instant, leaving behind a burst of air that flung Frost backwards. Explosions rippled in front of her as Cer and Jury clashed, revealing fireworks of gold, blue, white and black. Strands persistently rained from the air, attempting to restrain both but to no avail.

The winds their clashes generated toppled pillars. It forced Frost further backwards.

In the meantime, her hair began to turn to an even brighter shade of white. Her irises carried a sudden permanent glow.

< The Will of the Amalgam Has Reached the Second State >

< Manifesting S.C.E.N.T.E.D Thoughts as the Second State >

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