Read Novel Full Chapter 839: The Judge [1]
Chapter 839: The Judge [1]
“We’re still doing this?”
Garrick stepped onto the courtroom floor once more, rainwater dripping from the ends of his sleeves.
The room looked exactly the same.
From the empty benches to the raised desk at the end. Even now, standing before it, he could feel a weird sense of opression coming from it.
“Apparently.”
Bren followed him, adjusting the camera fastened to his chest.
“They want us to keep going. We’ll be doing this for quite some time. That’s what we signed up for.”
“I signed up to get out of prison.”
“And this is how you do it.”
Garrick clicked his tongue before turning towards the central passage.
Silas and Merek entered behind them.
Four men in total. All wearing the same orange uniforms, with their identification numbers printed across their backs.
None of them were innocent.
Bren was responsible for a fire that killed six people. Nobody knew the reason for why he started the fire, but investigators believed it was out of jealousy.
Silas abducted people for ransom.
Merek killed two former accomplices, and the officer sent to arrest him.
As for Garrick…
He was the most mysterious one. Nobody truly knew what he had done. But from what everyone present knew, he had the highest sentence amongst everyone present.
Although most were curious, nobody asked.
They all just wanted to leave, and if not for the Bureau’s agreement, none of them could’ve ever have hoped to one day be free again.
Scouting Gates gave them a chance.
A dangerous one, but a chance nonetheless. Every completed assignment counted towards a review of their sentences, and they were quite willing to do what was necessary.
Especially when the job was as simple as this.
Garrick looked towards the empty benches.
“We’re getting credit for every inspection, right? How many have we done so far?”
“Five.”
“Then they can keep sending us back.”
He chuckled.
“At this rate, I’ll be out before they figure out what they’re looking for.”
Bren laughed quietly behind him.
The first time they entered, none of them wanted to move past the nearest bench.
Now, Garrick walked straight towards the front. He almost felt at home.
The Bureau could keep watching through the cameras for as long as it wanted.
⎯Check the area around the raised desk again.
The instruction reached his earpiece.
Garrick rolled his eyes.
“Right.”
He raised his light and moved it across the desk.
But like always⎯
“Still empty.”
Silas crouched beside one of the benches, looking underneath it while Merek walked along the wall.
Bren remained near the central passage.
For a while, the only sounds were their footsteps and the quiet voices coming through the earpieces.
Then—
Tak.
Garrick stopped.
His light remained pointed towards the desk.
“Who was that?”
Nobody answered immediately.
He turned towards Bren. He was looking back at him, equally confused.
“…..”
Tak.
Another step.
This time, Garrick could tell where it came from as he turned his head.
His light moved alongside him, cutting through the darkness before it stopped before the raised desk.
He stared at it in silence, his brows furrowing as a strange silence settled across the courtroom. One that felt incredibly suffocating.
Tak!
“….!?”
Garrick’s fingers tightened around his flashlight, his hand immediately reaching for his earpiece.
“Hey? Are you seeing this? I hear something.”
No answer came through his earpiece.
He swallowed.
“Did you hear me? There’s someone inside!”
Tak.
Garrick tried to step back, but to his horror, his foot stayed where it was.
“…..”
It was as if his body was refusing to listen to him.
“H-hey. W… what’s…”
Bren’s voice echoed from behind, sounding startled.
“C-an you move?”
Garrick didn’t answer as he tried to move his leg. His calf tightened inside his trouser leg. as he tried his best, but despite that, his legs refused to listen to him.
Tak.
The step drew closer, and subconsciously, Garrick’s head raised.
The moment he did, his breath stopped.
“….!?”
Something stood behind the desk now.
He could make out an outline, but the light didn’t seem to reach it properly. Whenever he tried looking towards its face, his gaze settled on the darkness beneath its head instead.
His mouth went dry.
“We need to leave. Send someone.”
His words were meant for the Bureau.
“Get us out!”
But despite how loud he was, he got no response.
The figure behind the desk slowly sat down.
At the same time, Garrick’s expression changed as much to his horror, he found his legs slowly starting to move on its own.
…..!?
He tried pulling it back, but it was to no avail as his legs moved.
Behind him, a chair scraped.
Then another.
He turned his head just far enough to see Bren lowering himself onto a bench.
His face was pale, his hands gripping the edge of the seat in horror as Silas sat beside him, Merek on the other side.
All three faced the front.
Garrick was the only one still standing.
No! What’s going on!?
His feet carried him farther down the central passage.
He tried leaning backwards.
His body straightened.
He tried turning towards the exit.
His head returned to the desk.
“Please…”
The word slipped out before he could stop it.
The figure remained seated.
Its shadow stretched over the railing, reaching Garrick’s shoes.
Then—
BANG!
The sound struck so suddenly that his whole body jerked.
His light slipped from his hand and hit the floor.
He couldn’t bend down to pick it up.
BANG!
The lights above flickered, lighting up the entire courtroom.
Garrick’s shoulders rose towards his ears, his breathing becoming quick and shallow.
The figure’s arm lowered behind the desk as a voice followed.
—Bring forth the first defendant.
Garrick’s feet moved again.
The wooden enclosure stood directly in front of him as he entered it.
BANG!
Garrick flinched, his fingers tightening against the wood.
—Let all bear witness.
The shadow’s voice boomed across the entire courtroom.
—His fate shall be decided here, and the judgement passed shall be absolute.
BANG!
“…..”
Garrick stared ahead.
The desk seemed much higher from here. It almost seemed to tower over everything.
“W-ait.”
His voice shook as he tried to say anything that came to his mind. He didn’t understand what was going on, but he knew that he had to speak.
If he didn’t speak, he was going to die!
He couldn’t die!
“I’m only here to look around!”
His words echoed loudly within the courtroom.
“The Bureau sent us! We’re working for them!”
He tried turning towards the entrance, but his neck remained fixed to the front.
—Garrick Vane.
His breath stopped as the voice boomed once more.
—…Responsible for the killing of seventeen individuals. Of which, fifteen were underage.
“….!?”
Garrick’s fingers pressed harder against the railing, his eyes bulged in horror. How!? How did he know!?
Even the BUA didn’t know.
All they knew was that he had been responsible for five.
How!?
—Two of the victims were restrained. Neither was capable of resisting.
His lips parted.
—The third was found hiding beneath a desk.
“…..”
Garrick stared into the darkness above him.
The more it spoke; the more horrified he was. The voice recounted everything. Down to the minute detail, as if nothing could escape its knowledge.
A heavy sense of oppression fell upon the room.
—All of your victims were tortured before death. For several hours.
Garrick’s stomach tightened. The more he heard the voice, the greater the dread he felt.
“T-he charges…”
He could barely get his words out.
“T-they are not t-true. I—”
—Upon death, you mutilated their bodies before tossing them down Carrington River. Their remains lay there.
Garrick shook his head as much as his body allowed.
“No, no… This is not t-rue. Listen to me.”
—In truth, however, your real count is higher. For you’ve managed to frame your crimes upon an innocent man.
Garrick’s mouth remained open.
For several seconds, no sound came out. Nothing could come out.
He simply stood in a daze, unable to utter a single word.
“Nobody…”
He stopped himself.
Eventually, however, his gaze sharpened as he looked ahead.
He knew that there was no use making any excuses. Everything had probably been seen by the entire world. What could he even do at this point?
“Hahaha.”
Instead, he laughed.
He laughed like someone who found the entire situation amusing.
“Fine, you’ve caught me.”
His face twisted.
“I did it! I did everything! Now that the cat is out of the bag, there’s no point in me pretending otherwise. I⎯”
BANG!
His words were cut off by a simple bang as his words came to an abrupt halt and the room fell silence.
He tried to open his mouth, but no word came out.
His mouth simply refused to listen, and as he raised his head, his heart skipped a beat. From where he stood, he caught the outline of a hand raising, gavel in hand
—I hereby pronounce you…
The voice boomed once more, Garrick’s expression twisting.
—Guilty.
BANG!
In an instant, it all went quiet. So quiet no other sound could be heard.
But that silence didn’t last long.
Cra!
The sound was small at first.
But it soon made its way across the entire room as another one followed.
Cra Crack!
Garrick’s expression twisted further as his shoulder raised at a weird angle.
“Haaaa—!”
His back followed, twisting back ninety degrees as his eyes turned bloodshot.
His feet remained planted while the rest of his body continued turning, the orange fabric pulling tight across his chest.
Cra Crack!
Another crack sounded.
Crack!
Then several at once.
Bren tried to stand, but his legs refused to listen to him.
He could only watch as Garrick’s body folded against the railing, his scream breaking apart beneath a terrifying cracking sound as his body continuously twisted, the bones inside his body shattering at once, his heart-wrenching cries repeating over and over again, until…
BANG!
Blood struck the front of the desk and the floor beneath it.
Something heavy fell inside the enclosure, followed by smaller pieces that scattered across the wood.
Garrick’s camera hit the ground shortly after that; its recording light remained on.
Silence followed shortly after.
“…..”
Silas made a small sound beside Bren.
He was trying to pull his hands towards his face, his mind churning in horror as his gaze hovered over the pieces of flesh scattered across the surroundings.
Merek’s mouth opened and closed several times, but nothing came out.
Blood slowly spread beneath the railing, painting the floor in red.
One of Garrick’s shoes remained upright.
The other lay on its side.
Bren stared at them.
Only moments earlier, that very man had been standing next to them, speaking and talking to them.
And yet—
A dark shape moved behind the desk.
Bren’s breath stopped.
He wasn’t the only one to see it.
At every entrance in Sines, people were staring into the same courtroom.
Some dropped their phones.
Others continued filming without seeming to realise it.
The cameras attached to the scouts were still transmitting.
So were the recordings outside.
The blood on the floor.
The three men who stared at the sight with pure dread on their faces.
Before anyone could stop the footage, it was already spreading far beyond Sines.
The entire world was watching.
And on that day, a new name entered the Bureau’s records.
[VILE-3107]
The Judge.