Hello, hello and welcome to a new story, right here, right now.
Once again, welcome to the grimdark tale of the most unlikely 'heroes' you can expect and here is what it is.
This is mostly for the sake of intending to get rid of that image I found and I thought it just look cool as a Cover Image so, here it is, as I guessed.
Also, I have been reading 'Sonic's Ultimate Harem' by 'lil'soniq' and yes, it is everything that only the most degenerate of people would actually and rightfully enjoy as nothing but porn and that's it.
So, may I perhaps make a The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You' Crossover?
Don't worry, it won't be mindless smut.
In fact, I intend to change it into a T Rating just so that there won't be any lemons around.
What do you think? Shall I try it? Let me know in the comments below.
Now, as always...
Enjoy the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Akame ga Kill and 'tachinowarui saga book 5: akame ga kill' by 'blazeinferno4'. They belong to their respective owners.
Enjoy.
The flickering torchlight danced across the prisoner's face, highlighting the stark terror etched there. He hung suspended, chains biting into his wrists, the cold stone floor a dizzying distance below. Disorientation warred with fear as his eyes struggled to adjust to the gloom of the chamber.
Where… where was he?
Then, from the deepest shadows, a figure emerged as the prisoner's breath hitched.
This is no mere guard.
This is… imposing.
Black robes, heavy and flowing, trimmed with gold that glinted in the torchlight as hardened gloves encased his hands, and upon his head sat a helmet unlike any the prisoner had ever seen.
It is conical, reaching upwards like a twisted spire, topped with a golden halo-like ornament that seemed to mock any notion of sanctity. The face, thankfully, was hidden and swallowed by the helmet's depths.
A voice, deep and resonant, cut through the prisoner's fear-induced haze, "Welcome, wretch. I am Aeon." The figure paused, a sense of chilling finality hanging in the air. "I am the Judge of this chamber. And you stand accused."
The prisoner sputtered out as he said, "Accused? Of what? I've done nothing!" His voice was weak, trembling, a stark contrast to the arrogant pronouncements he was used to making.
Aeon merely sighed, a sound that echoed hollowly in the chamber, laden with weariness and something else… disappointment?
"Vulpes," He called, his voice carrying a weight of authority that brooked no argument.
From another corner of the shadows, a second figure materialized, wearing the similar garb to Aeon such as the black robes and gold trim, but this one is different.
Fur, dark and shaggy, edged the robes, lending a wilder, more feral aspect. And the mask… oh, the mask. It was black and furred, sculpted into the head of a hound with the snout being elongated and it's teeth bared in a silent snarl.
But it was the eyes that truly terrified the prisoner, being two crimson points glared out from the mask, burning with an unnerving intensity.
The prisoner instinctively recoiled, his mind grasping for a rational explanation on what is he seeing. Like some kind of beast-man? Or some grotesque experiment?
Before he could formulate a coherent thought, Vulpes moved... fast... as a gloved fist slammed into the prisoner's stomach, the force knocking the air from his lungs in a strangled gasp as pain exploded in his gut, doubling him over, though hanging as he was prevented any real movement.
Aeon's voice, cold and detached, like ice on steel, floated through the pain. "Confess your crimes. Vulpes, the Jury, is impatient."
"Crimes?" the prisoner wheezed, tears stinging his eyes. "I… I haven't done anything!" His denials were pathetic, weak whimpers against the oppressive presence of the two figures.
Vulpes chuckled, a low, guttural sound that resonated deep within the prisoner's bones. He stepped closer, and the prisoner finally saw it. Vulpes held a tool, a wickedly curved blade, its edge catching the torchlight. He didn't need to speak. He didn't need to point it. The prisoner's eyes followed the blade's trajectory downwards, towards his… most vulnerable region.
Panic flared, extinguishing any remaining vestige of denial. "No! No, wait! I… I did it! I confess!" He blurted out the words, tumbling over each other in his desperation. "I killed her! My ex-girlfriend! Elara! I killed her!"
He continued to babble, fueled by fear and a desperate need to appease these terrifying figures. "She deserved it! The treacherous… she was going to leave me! Take everything!" A flicker of his old arrogance resurfaced. "You should be sorry! My family… they'll make you regret this! They'll—"
Aeon cut him off, his voice glacial. "Threats are meaningless, wretch. Your family… they are stripped of their titles. Their lands forfeit to the Empire. They hold no sway here."
The prisoner's jaw dropped. Stripped? His family? His lineage? All gone? The world seemed to tilt beneath him, even though he was suspended in chains.
Aeon raised a gloved hand. "Prisoner name: Borus. I cast judgment upon you as I passed with utmost finality: Death."
The prisoner's blood ran cold. Death? He'd expected… punishment, yes. A beating, imprisonment, maybe even disinheritance. But death?
"Goliath," Aeon called again, and even his voice seemed to deepen, to echo with even more authority.
The chains securing the prisoner suddenly slackened as he plummeted downwards, landing heavily on the cold stone, winded and terrified.
He looked up, and looming over him is a figure even more monstrous than Vulpes.
This one is massive, built like a mountain and wearing the same black robes, same gold trim and same unsettling conical mask, though this one was metallic black and devoid of any ornamentation.
This is Goliath and he didn't speak thought he didn't need to as he let his action speak for him as he simply reached down, a massive gauntleted hand closing around the prisoner's ankle, and with a strength that was almost casual, began to drag him.
The prisoner scrambled, clawing at the stone, screaming, "Mercy! Please! Mercy!" But Goliath was implacable, a force of nature, dragging him deeper into the shadows, towards an unknown, terrifying fate.
Aeon, the Judge.
Vulpes, the Jury.
And Goliath, the Executioner.
They are the Triumvirate of Judgement, who are whispered about in hushed tones throughout the Empire as a feared, hated and yet a necessary blunt instrument of imperial law, dispensing justice with an efficiency and brutality that made even hardened criminals tremble.
Aeon, the cold intellect, delivering pronouncements.
Vulpes, the cruel hand of interrogation, extracting confessions through pain.
And Goliath, the silent executioner, rumored to not merely kill, but… devour.
They are an undoubtedly vile with their methods being barbaric to the core.
Yet in the Empire that is rife with injustice and unchecked power, they were also, in a twisted way, the one that keeps everything in check as they are genuinely, in a twisted way, incorruptible and unbribable and despite their brutality, they were, each in their own way, honorable.
And thus they followed the law, as twisted as it was, and they judged without personal bias, at least initially.
But time… time chipped away at even the strongest stone for the cases brought before them began to change.
No longer were they judging corrupt nobles and heinous murderers.
Instead, they were presented with petty thieves, desperate beggars, and those guilty of nothing more than speaking against the ever-tightening grip of the Empire in regards to the crimes of hunger, poverty and despair.
Aeon found himself increasingly restless after so long of being detached and emotionless.
Vulpes' cruel amusement seemed to diminish, replaced by a grim weariness as he finds intending to torture the innocent to not exactly be cathartic.
Even Goliath's silent presence felt less like righteous judgment and more like… a hollow performance.
They started pardoning at first, with crimes such as a stolen loaf of bread being dismissed, unpaid debts being forgiven and even self-defense being pardoned.
Aeon, with his discerning eye, could see the truth in their eyes as he could sense the desperation and the lack of malice on these 'criminals'.
Vulpes, too, seemed to lose his taste for the game when faced with such pitiful specimens.
Even Goliath seemed to carry them away to a less… final destination.
Whispers started reaching the ears of the now corrupt Empire, primarily one where the Prime Minister Honest that has now controlled the Empire through his manipulation of the Empire and in a strike of irony like no other, murmurs of leniency are spoken in regards to the Triumvirate, once feared and hated as a necessary evil during the Empire's glory day, have suddenly 'gone soft'.
The whispers turned to grumbles, then to outright complaints as they wanted a swift, brutal justice, not mercy.
And thus the breaking point came to the Triumvirate of Judgment when they were brought a child, a boy, no older than ten, sobbing with snot and tears streaking his grimy face.
His crime?
Unable to pay the debts of his deceased parents where it is incurred to feed his siblings where it is amplified by predatory moneylenders that are sanctioned by the Empire itself.
Aeon looked at the boy, staring at his trembling frame and his widening and terrified eyes.
He looked at Vulpes, whose masked gaze is unreadable, but whose usual sadistic energy was conspicuously absent.
He looked at Goliath, whose massive form seemed strangely still, almost… slumped.
"This… this is an outrage," Aeon said, his voice no longer cold and detached, but vibrating with a barely contained fury. "This is not justice. This is… cruelty."
The Imperial Guards flanking the boy shifted uncomfortably. One, a burly sergeant with a sneer permanently etched on his face, stepped forward. "Judge Aeon, are you questioning the decree?"
"Decree?" Aeon's voice rose. "This boy is guilty of nothing but being born into poverty! We will not judge him. We will not participate in this… charade any longer."
The sergeant's sneer widened. "Then perhaps it is time the Triumvirate are replaced. Clearly, you have lost your… edge. The Empire requires judges who are willing to do their duty, not coddle criminals." He gestured to his guards. "Seize them. We'll find someone… more suitable to dispense justice."
The guards moved, their hands reaching for their weapons. But Aeon was already moving. "Vulpes!" he barked. "Grab the child!"
Vulpes, with surprising speed, scooped up the boy, holding him protectively against his black robes.
"Goliath! The wall!" Aeon roared, pointing to the thick stone wall behind them.
Goliath, with a grunt that was more exertion than protest, turned and slammed his massive fist into the stone. The wall, ancient and imposing as it was, cracked, then shattered, crumbling outwards to reveal the moonlit night beyond and the crashing waves of the sea just beyond.
Without hesitation, Aeon leaped through the gaping hole, followed by Vulpes, who jumped with the boy cradled in his arms and Goliath, the largest of them all, who lumbered after them with the collapsing stone showering around him.
The Imperial Guards stared at the gaping hole, at the churning sea below, their mouths agape. The sergeant chuckled, a harsh and dismissive sound, "Fools. They must have dashed against the rocks by now. Good riddance." He shrugged. "Find a replacement. And make sure they have teeth this time. The Prime Minister demands it."
They turned away, dismissing the Triumvirate as casualties of their own defiance.
But as the waves continued to crash against the shore, washing away the dust and debris, something stirred in the inky blackness of the sea.
Was that… movement?
Was it possible?
Could the Triumvirate of Judgement, have survived?
And if they had, what would become of the Empire now that the very hand of justice had turned against it?
The question hung in the air, unanswered, as uncertain as the fate of the three figures swallowed by the dark waves.
Well, here is the story for as far as I can take it. Let me know in the comments below for anything that you want me to do, especially with that story idea.
I do think that I want to try my hand on a harem story, especially that new harem story about the MC getting, as the title suggests, 100 girlfriends and instead of a generic harem story like no other, it is more than that, full of story and character alongside the comedic quirkiness like no other as well as how deep and compelling it is, actually.
Once again, everyone...
Ciao...