Chapter 23: The One Who Judges (And Immediately Abuses Her New Authority).
Darkness, then gold.
Evelisse opened her eyes to find herself standing in an endless black-and-gold expanse, nothing beneath her feet but shimmering light that rippled outward with every step.
Scales floated around her, weightless. Broken swords hung suspended in the air.
Feathers drifted past like snow, and chains, long, glowing chains of black and gold coiled slowly through the empty space around her.
In the distance, a massive throne stood alone.
’I should walk toward that,’ she thought, and her feet moved before she’d fully decided to.
Each step sent golden ripples spreading outward across the floor, and with every ripple, something new settled into her mind not words, not lessons, just an understanding, arriving whole and certain.
’I can see them,’ she realized. ’Everyone. What they really are, underneath everything they show the world.’
A voice rose around her, belonging to no one, echoing from everywhere at once.
"Judge with fairness."
"Punish without hesitation."
"Protect those who deserve protection."
Then the world shattered like glass, and gold dissolved into white.
---
Outside, barely a few seconds had passed.
Lucien’s mind chimed, sharp and sudden.
[Ding!]
[Investment Successful.]
[Target: Evelisse Noctis]
[Investment: Helped Evelisse Awaken a Talent]
[Bond: Partner — 19%]
[Random Multiplier...]
[×15]
Not maximum like before but still enough to make his breath catch.
[Reward Generated: Divine Talent Evolution Crystal]
[Description: Evolves one Talent upward by one major rank upto Divine rank, preserving all existing characteristics.]
’A Divine crystal, for me from her awakening a talent. I thought it qouldngive me a talent but I guess not.’
’But this system really does reward protecting, helping and investing in them over everything else.’
He tucked the thought away as golden light around Evelisse finally began to fade.
---
Her eyes opened slowly.
Faint golden scales shimmered briefly across her irises before settling, barely visible unless someone looked closely.
She glanced around the room Aurelia, Seraphina and Lucien were all staring at her and all waiting.
Something in her chest loosened.
’For the first time,’ she thought, ’I don’t feel alone in this.’
Lucien crossed the room and hugged her before she could brace for it.
She froze, arms stiff at her sides for a moment then, slowly and hesitantly, wrapped her arms around him too.
"Welcome back," he murmured.
"...Yeah," she said, voice smaller than usual.
---
Aurelia broke the moment first, ever practical. "So what rank?"
Evelisse pulled back, and something like pride crept into her posture spine straightening, chin lifting, a smile tugging at her mouth like she’d been waiting her whole life to answer this exact question.
She held up one finger.
"Divine."
Silence.
Lucien blinked.
"...I’m sorry, what?"
"Divine," Evelisse repeated, clearly enjoying herself now.
"As in, same rank as Aurelia’s."
Aurelia’s eyebrows actually rose. Seraphina’s hands flew to her mouth.
"Explain it," Lucien said, still slightly stunned.
Evelisse straightened further, savoring the moment. "Final Judgment," she announced.
"Justice is not decided by strength, but by the soul."
She walked them through it briefly ,the Eyes of Absolute Judgment, letting her see through lies and illusions straight to a person’s true nature.
Weight of Sin, tracking hostility and cruelty as it built during a fight.
Court of Judgment, a domain that strengthened allies while crushing enemies under psychological pressure.
Heavenly Verdict, marking a target to weaken their defenses and healing.
Chains of Absolution, chains that barely restrained the innocent but became near-unbreakable against the truly wicked.
"And the ultimate," she finished, "is Final Judgment itself. Consumes everything I’ve built up in a fight and delivers, well. Judgment. Weak against good people bit devastating against evil ones."
Lucien stared at her. "That’s actually terrifying."
"I know," Evelisse said, delighted.
---
She put her hands on her hips, positively glowing with smugness.
"So," she said. "I guess I’m the genius wife now."
"I’ve got three genius wives," Lucien said diplomatically.
"No," Evelisse said, shaking her head firmly. "I’m the only one with a Divine Talent who isn’t technically crippled anymore."
"Ouch."
"Maybe," she continued, warming to the theme, "you should just stay home from now on, I’ll clear the dungeons and you can cook dinner and wait for me."
"So you’re firing me."
"I’ll even let you become my home kept husband, aka my house husand" she said generously.
"It’s a very good deal, if I do say so myself."
Lucien sighed, long and dramatic. "I knew giving you that fruit was a mistake."
Aurelia smirked into her tea and Seraphina dissolved into giggles she didn’t even try to hide.
’Worth every gold coin,’ Lucien thought, watching Evelisse practically glow with the sheer novelty of having something to be proud of.
---
They spent the rest of the evening in front of the TV, though Evelisse kept getting distracted staring at her own hands, flexing her fingers, glancing down like she still expected the Talent to have vanished the moment she stopped paying attention.
’Still not quite believing it,’ Lucien thought, watching her from the corner of his eye.
"Give it time, it’s real." He said to her.
Eventually, exhaustion caught up with everyone, and they started drifting toward their newly renovated rooms.
"I’m cultivating tonight," Lucien announced.
Evelisse raised an eyebrow. "Scared I’ll catch up to your rank?"
"Terrified," Lucien said honestly, and headed upstairs before she could volley anything back.
"...You’re lying." Evelisse suddenly said looking towards Lucien.
Everyone freezes and looked at her.
Lucien blinks.
"...About what?"
"You said you’re terrified I’ll catch your rank."
"You aren’t, I can tell, but I’ll make sure to catch up and surpass you."
---
He locked himself into a freshly repaired spare room, sat cross-legged on the floor, and pulled the Mythical Talent Evolution Crystal from his inventory.
’Seven months of stored cultivation, still sitting untouched, save that for after the talent upgrade.’
’The Talent comes first.’
The seed dissolved into his tongue the moment he closed his mouth around it.
He braced instinctively for pain, remembering the bloodline evolution the boiling blood, the cracking bones.
Nothing like that came.
Instead, warmth spread slowly through his chest, gentle and unhurried, like something was carefully, tenderly rebuilding the architecture of his own soul from the inside out.
’Oof, this one’s nice like the last time.’
Minutes passed in that quiet, comfortable warmth before it finally settled, and new knowledge unfolded in his mind.
[Talent Evolution Complete: Crimson Abyss Furnace (Legendary) → Crimson Origin Furnace (Mythical)]
["The blood of all living beings shall become fuel for your ascension."]
[Abilities:-]
[ (Active) Crimson Refinery: Refine consumed blood into Cultivation, Mana, or Life Force — user’s choice.]
[ (Active) Blood Rebirth: Restores HP, mana, stamina, and minor soul damage.]
[ (Active) Furnace Ignition: Stored Blood now grants combat memories, weapon familiarity, and temporary elemental resistance. Own Blood grants a greater all-stat boost, at the cost of accumulating Blood Exhaustion afterward.]
[ (Passive) Crimson Reservoir: Massively increased blood storage capacity. Stored blood refines itself naturally over time; higher-quality blood remains fresh indefinitely.]
[ (Passive) Scarlet Perception: Instinctive awareness of blood flow, heartbeat, internal injuries, and weak points.]
Lucien read through it twice, grinning slowly.
’Scarlet Perception, that’s basically an improved version of what let me find the Goblin King’s weak shoulder by instinct.’
’Now it’s a permanent feature instead of a lucky guess.’
’And combat memories from stored blood that’s going to make Furnace Ignition genuinely terrifying once I’ve got a decent blood collection built up.’
He set the thought aside, satisfied, and reached for the crystal still sitting in his inventory the Divine one, glowing faintly, patient.
’One more upgrade,’ he thought, a slow smile spreading across his face.
’Let’s see what crazy things happen next.’
He reached toward it.
***************
[A/N: Loving the story so far? What do you think of his improved talent and what do you think the Divine one will look like?
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