21. New Skills

21. New Skills

The lights of the Black Forest waned. Every day that passed in this timeless space saw more of its brightest stars disappear. One by one the emphatic lights were devoured by Frost as the forest began to dim in their absence.

She was like a black hole that consumed all without end. The Accused. The Accusers. The Witnesses. The Innocent – everything that stood in her path was robbed of its life and became one with her.

It was strange. Every Hanged Jury she consumed caused the world to become clearer. It reached a point where she could see further than low-powered binoculars with stunning clarity. In addition, she could somehow see things outside of her peripheral vision, as if she possessed invisible eyes that orbited around her.

Jury would always abruptly gaze deeply into her eyes after each encounter with the Righteousness and the Hung Jury. Perplexity filled her face as if trying to ascertain something within her. It was only a shame that Frost couldn’t see what was happening to her own eyes.

But this was the least of her concern.

Ethereal flames that burnt either blue, white, or red could be seen in the hearts of each Corrupted. Even Jury had one of these ever-burning flames within her. It required immense concentration to activate, and a stare so charged with willpower that the Corrupted were forced to freeze as if they were in the presence of a deity.

What she inflicted upon them was a condition called Scrutiny, and this allowed her to see the color of these flames in their hearts. She did not understand what these represented at first. Jury’s was a vibrant blue while the Innocents, Witnesses, Accused and Hung Juries were a pale white.

As for the rest – theirs were dyed in blood.

From what she did understand however was that the damage she was able to inflict onto those with red hearts was multiplied by 1.5 times. A critical strike even stacked with this effect, making some of her hits an instant kill to anything that wasn’t a Righteousness.

The word justice came to mind. If these perhaps represented ill intention, then it would make sense as to why this occurred. It would also explain why certain enemies were exempted from this effect.

< Decision of Eight Hundred and Eighty-Three Juries Pending >

Nevertheless, they had watched the same cycle repeat over a hundred times already. The Hanged Jury and the Righteousness were always present at the base of a scorched tree in an odd clearing. The thorn-spitting bird had to be hit once to activate its screech. Even after hundreds of loops Frost still hadn’t grown used to it and recoiled in its wake.

Witnesses were lured from parts of the forest she was sure they had cleared prior, like they were spawned from nothingness. The same quaking thuds then followed once these Witnesses became the Accused, and as soon as the... less than One Thousand Eyed Bird emerged, the Hanged Jury was instantly set free.

Indeed. The One Thousand Eyed Bird had lost the exact number of eyes that Frost had gained. It became obvious that as soon as she collected all one thousand eyes, she would be able to enact judgement on the beast.

It seemed almost too easy now. But Frost never allowed it to get to her head. They still had hundreds more to go before they could leave this hellish forest.

* * *

< All body parts are considered an extension of the fist. Damage caused by limbs will do as much damage as a regular [Punch] when skill is activated >

These two sounded impressive.

After their following encounter with the Hanged Jury, she immediately tested out Double Punch on a nearby tree. She thrust her fist against the bark with all her might, causing the tree to quake as her hand dug deeply into its bark. As it vomited chunks of wood; a sudden explosion caused the tree to nearly hollow out entirely.

The second, magical punch was an invisible force that transferred insane amounts of energy to its target. The gaping hole was a testament to what she had become. It made her proud knowing how strong she was.

But for some reason a stray thought invaded her mind.

“... System. Let’s say there’s a person wearing skimpy armor.” Frost spoke in a collected voice as she tested Double Punch again on another tree, all the while Jury watched on with glee.

“Go on.”

Her fist abruptly stopped exactly 10 cm away from the tree and in the next moment, the tree was struck by the magical force yet again. It left no imprint in the wake of its power, only wooden shavings, and shrapnel.

“Now let’s also say they had more DEF than my ATT.”

She then kicked at the tree while invoking Punch with satisfying results. It warped the trunk to the point where it shuddered as if it was about to be felled. Her leg was temporarily lodged about a quarter way through.

“I can imagine where this is already going.”

“Right? So you get it then. I think it’d be unreasonable if they managed to survive one of these. But then again... I don’t think I can talk when I can tank giant bone cleavers like they’re nothing.” It was quite hypocritical now that she thought about it, especially since hardly wore clothes in the first place.

“I believe a swordsman would also scoff at you the same way if they witnessed what you could do with your bare fists that not even their strongest blade could.”

“That’s a good way to put it as well.” She deeply exhaled, looking down at her pristine knuckles. There was not a single callous or scar to be found.

It was hard to believe it after everything they had been through thus far. But that only reinforced both the power of her body, and the absurdity of magic. She briefly smiled and closed her fists before turning back to Jury.

They were in the homestretch now.