THE LAST EXECUTOR SYSTEM OF FINAL JUDGMENT

Chapter Six: The Smile of the Serpent

The storm raged outside the Veyron estate, thunder rumbling as though the sky itself protested what was about to unfold. Liam stood frozen at the window, his heart hammering, chains rattling faintly at his back as the System’s scales tipped violently, demanding decision. Selena Veyron had seen him. Not just seen recognized. Her lips curled with the calm confidence of someone who had expected his arrival. The boy beside her glanced between them, unaware of the weight pressing on the night. Selena touched the child’s head gently, whispered something, and a maid hurried forward to lead him away. He protested softly, clutching his toy soldier, but Selena soothed him with a mother’s tenderness that twisted Liam’s chest. Once the boy was gone, her gaze sharpened like a blade, fixed firmly on him.

“Come in, Executor,” she called, her voice carrying through the glass like silk lined with steel. Liam hesitated only a second before slipping through the shadows, breaking the lock with a whisper of flame. The room smelled of expensive perfume and old secrets, velvet curtains drawn against the storm, the chandelier above casting fractured light across polished marble. Selena sat poised, crossing one elegant leg over the other, diamonds glittering at her throat. Her composure was absolute, no fear, no surprise. Only control.

“I was wondering when you’d come,” she said, pouring herself a glass of deep red wine. “My brother was careless. He always was. But you” her eyes flickered with interest, “you’re different. The Executor who left Marcus in ashes.” Liam’s fists clenched. “Your brother’s sins were undeniable. The System demanded his judgment.” Selena sipped slowly, eyes never leaving his. “And now it demands mine.” Her smile widened faintly. “Curious, isn’t it? How convenient that our family has suddenly become the center of its attention. Don’t you ever wonder why?”

The System pulsed angrily in his skull. [Target: Selena Veyron.] [Judgment required.] The scales tipped, glowing crimson and blue, pulling him apart. Liam’s voice came low, taut. “Your wealth is built on blood. You smile for the cameras while you buy and sell misery in the dark. You traffic lives like coin. Tell me why I shouldn’t burn you where you sit.”

Selena laughed softly, like a serpent coiling tighter around its prey. “Because I am not Marcus. And because I can offer you something he never could.” She leaned forward, her diamonds catching the light. “Answers.” Liam stiffened. “What do you know?” She swirled the wine lazily in her glass. “More than you, clearly. Executors are not myths to my family. We have seen them before. Men and women chosen by the System, dragged into chains, consumed by fire. Some died screaming. Some… bent.” Her eyes glimmered with something dangerous. “And one walked away.”

The storm outside howled louder, rattling the windows as if to punctuate her words. Liam’s pulse spiked. “You’re lying.” Selena tilted her head. “Am I? You’ve already met him, haven’t you? The one who carries crimson chains. Darius.” The name fell like poison between them. Liam’s breath caught. “You know him.” “Of course,” she said smoothly. “Our family’s path crossed with his years ago. He survived where others burned. He learned to twist the System’s will, to drink from its veins rather than bleed for it. Tell me, Executor what did he say to you? Did he tell you that every strike you make feeds him? That your very struggle strengthens his hand?”

Liam’s chains rattled violently, fire sparking along their length. The System’s voice hissed, strained. [Irrelevant.] [Proceed with execution.] Selena smiled knowingly. “Ah. It doesn’t want you to hear me. That’s because I’m telling the truth.” She rose, circling the room with measured steps, her presence filling the air like a serpent’s coil. “You think you serve justice. But the System is not justice. It is hunger. Balance? Please. That’s just the excuse it whispers while it devours Executors one by one, until only fragments remain. That’s why men like Darius endure. He stopped feeding it. He made it feed him.”

Liam’s mind whirled, the storm inside him clashing with the storm outside. He wanted to call her a liar, a manipulator. But the cracks in his soul throbbed with every word, and the memory of Darius’s crimson chains pressed down like a curse. Selena’s voice softened, seductive, persuasive. “You don’t have to die like the rest. Work with me. Together, we can peel back the System’s lies. I have resources, knowledge, influence. You have power. Imagine what we could do. Imagine a world where you are not its slave, but its master.”

The scales burned hotter, tipping wildly, demanding decision. Execute. Redeem. His chest tightened, fire surging in his veins, soul threatening to fracture. He saw Marcus’s face in memory, burning, screaming. He saw Carson Reaves confessing under blue fire. And he saw Darius, grinning in the shadows, crimson chains suffocating the world.

Selena extended her hand, eyes gleaming like a predator’s. “Choose, Executor. Burn me and feed the System or join me, and free yourself.”

The System’s voice screamed. [Decision required.] [Warning: Soul Integrity 58%. Critical.] Liam’s body shook, sweat dripping down his temples as his chains writhed. He wanted to crush her, to end the serpent’s smile. He wanted to believe her, to cling to the hope of answers. His voice cracked with rage. “You’re a trafficker. A murderer. A parasite.” Selena’s smile never faltered. “And yet, I may be the only one who can keep you alive.”

The scales tipped violently, glowing brighter, until they shattered into fragments of blue and red flame, exploding across the room. Liam roared, his chains erupting outward, wrapping around Selena with searing heat. She gasped, her glass shattering on the floor, but even as the flames licked at her skin, her smile lingered. “Good,” she whispered through clenched teeth. “Show me what you really are.”

The chains tightened, judgment pouring through him like molten fire. [Judgment: Execute.] The System confirmed, the word echoing like a hammer in his skull. Selena’s scream pierced the storm as blue fire consumed her, her diamonds melting, her body crumbling into ash. The room filled with the acrid stench of burning flesh, the storm outside crashing as though the sky itself wept.

Liam collapsed to his knees, his chest heaving, his soul screaming. [Integrity 54%. Degradation accelerating.] He coughed blood, his vision blurring as the scales faded. But even as Selena’s ashes scattered across the marble, her voice echoed faintly in his mind. “Seek Darius. Seek the truth.”

The storm finally broke, rain pouring through shattered windows, drenching the ashes, washing the marble clean. Guards burst into the hall, shouting, but found nothing but ruin. Liam had already vanished into the night, chains fading behind him, his soul burning brighter and darker than ever before.

He stumbled through alleys, soaked to the bone, his thoughts a storm fiercer than the sky’s. Selena was dead. The System was satisfied for now. But her words lingered like poison. If she had known about Darius, if she had seen Executors before, then how deep did this go? How long had the System been playing this game? His soul felt thinner, stretched, ready to tear. He could not endure many more judgments. And yet the city demanded them. The System demanded them.

He collapsed against a wall, sliding down into the mud, blue flames flickering faintly at his fingertips. He whispered hoarsely into the storm, his voice breaking. “What are you turning me into?” The System answered only with silence, scales gone, chains heavy, the night stretching endless before him.

But in the silence, another voice whispered, deep and mocking. Darius. “You see it now, don’t you? Every judgment brings you closer to me. Every soul you burn tightens my chains around yours. Keep fighting, Liam. Keep bleeding. I’ll be waiting when you finally break.”

Liam’s fists clenched weakly, fire sputtering in the rain. He would not break. He could not. But as the storm swallowed him whole, he wondered if that choice was even his to make.