2025-06-10 04:56:29
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 23: Judgment Day Approaches
The world held its breath.Across cities, deserts, ocean platforms, and digital havens, people were using their Systems less. For the first time since its inception, judgment requests dropped by 42%.Because now, judging came with a price. You had to feel it. And it was breaking people.Some couldn’t bear it. Others began to heal. But in the shadows, the Reversed Judge moved faster.[System Alert – Empathic Core Network Targeted][Projected Strike Window: 72 hours]Ilsa zoomed the projection on the Resistance’s main screen. It showed four massive data clusters—the heart of the new Empathic Judgment Protocol.“Destroy these,” she said, “and everything we’ve built collapses. The Bastion Seed is decentralized, but without these anchors, the new system can’t scale.”Aiden’s jaw tightened. “Where are they?” Rhea answered, pointing them out: Core Node A: Hidden beneath an ancient monastery in the Siberian Expanse.Core Node B: Orbiting low in a disguised satellite cluster above Earth.Core
Chapter 22: The Seeds of Mercy
[Empathic Judgment Protocol: Seed-001 Activated][Distribution Network Online – 3% Global Uptake]The change was subtle at first.Where once judgments were instant and binary—Guilty. Punish. Terminate.—a new thread now ran alongside.Memory prompts. Emotion relays. A flash of the judged person's fears, history, intentions.And in many cases... hesitation. In the war-scarred streets of Zone 8, a street enforcer lifted his gauntlet to punish a teenage thief.But instead of fire, his visor showed him the boy’s life—sick mother, no food, working three jobs.He paused. Lowered his arm. Let the boy go. The Seeds of Mercy had begun to sprout.Back in New Skye, the Resistance HQ buzzed with activity. “Update?” Aiden asked, entering the chamber where Ilsa coordinated their network.“We’ve got 33 key System users integrating the empathy protocol,” she replied. “Judges. Doctors. Even some former Enforcers. The shift’s spreading faster than I expected.”“Any backlash?” Ilsa hesitated. “Yes.” She
Chapter 21: Ten Days Until Collapse
[System Alert – Collapse Countdown: 10 Days Remaining]Every device, interface, and public terminal began flashing the same message across the globe.And underneath it, a chilling subtitle: “True Judgment Inbound.”People panicked. Some began praying. Others took up arms.And some just stared at the words, numb.In the depths of New Skye, Aiden watched the transmission play out from the rebel operations hub, his expression unreadable.Ilsa, practically glued to her console, barked status updates:“Reversed Judge’s influence just hit 24% of the judgment grid. That means one in four users is now risking Zero Protocol corruption when they activate their systems.”“And what about the others?” Rhea asked.“They’re scared. A lot of them are stopping their own judgments. People are hesitating. Second-guessing.”“Which slows him down,” Aiden said. “But not enough.”Lyra entered the chamber, walking under her own power now, but with two neural cuffs stabilizing her spine.She laid down a worn
Chapter 20: The Reversed Judge
The world didn’t sleep that night. Not after the sky broadcast a warning from an entity that shouldn't exist. Ilsa stood surrounded by holoscreens, running rapid diagnostics on every known branch of the System codebase.“I’ve never seen anything like this,” she muttered. “This... Reversed Judge isn’t just a hacker. He’s rooted in the first lines of the System.”Rhea paced, gun at her hip. “So he's a rogue AI?” Ilsa shook her head. “Worse. He’s the version that was erased. Before the Council.”Aiden was silent. His HUD displayed the incoming signal data again and again. Those eyes. That voice. It was like staring into a cracked mirror that whispered his darkest doubts back at him.[Analyzing Entity Signature...][Origin: Pre-System Prototype. Codename: “JUDGE-ZERO”][Status: Active. Ethics Engine: Inverted.]“Why now?” Rhea asked. “Why appear now?”“Because we woke the world up,” Aiden said. “We gave people freedom. And that’s exactly when fear creeps in.”Ilsa snapped her fingers. “It
Chapter 19: Judgment Broadcast
The message went live at exactly 3:33 AM.All over the planet, every screen flickered. Neon billboards in Skyreach. Wrist comms in the underground districts. Hidden servers in Council sanctuaries. And even off-grid nodes in the rebel tunnels. One face filled them all.Aiden Cross.Behind him, the broken Core Temple glowed faintly. Beside him stood Rhea and a weary but conscious Lyra Cross—his mother. Aiden didn’t read from a script.He spoke.“My name is Aiden Cross. You don’t know me—but the System does.You’ve lived under its judgment. Obeyed its rewards. Feared its punishments.But I’m here to tell you—what you thought was justice, was control.”He paused. Let the silence crackle.Then: “The Council was never your protector.They were architects of order built on obedience.They erased truths. Buried alternatives. Rejected failure as if it were disease.And worst of all—they turned humanity’s potential into a scorecard.”His voice grew firmer.“The System doesn’t belong to them. It
Chapter 18: The Fall of Echo Prime
Aiden stood in front of the Council Prime. Behind him, his mother lay suspended in the System throne—alive, but barely. To one side, Ilsa was tuning a shock disruptor. Rhea kept her gun trained on Selene, whose smirk was as cold as ever.[SYSTEM STATE: CONVERGENCE POINT BREACHED]Conflict unavoidable. All outcomes branch from this point.Aiden’s system whispered one final message:[Victory requires sacrifice. Prepare the blade.]He reached into his coat and drew Black Thread, the obsidian shard given to him by his echo-self.Council Prime tilted his head. “You shouldn’t have that,” he said flatly. “I earned it,” Aiden replied.Then, without warning, the throne room exploded into combat.Ilsa launched a pulse wave that shattered the light bridge. Gravity rippled.Rhea fired twin plasma bolts—Selene caught them midair and twisted them into burning discs, hurling them back. Council Prime didn’t move. He simply unfolded.What had looked like a man shimmered—then reshaped itself into a cre
You may also like
Rise Of The Powerful Husband
Dark Crafter23.1K viewsThe Golem Mage
Destiny Foromeh79.3K viewsLEVEL UP
LIGht Pen36.8K viewsPenniless Man's Wealthy System
Calendula25.0K viewsAwaken Hero In The Same World
Vicwriter3.5K viewsI Steal The System
Secret Road2.6K viewsRise With Underdog System
aleyatoryss900 viewsDimensional Access System
Primal Optima 812 views