Chapter 118

"So I’ve already been exposed this quickly?"

Lucy sighed inwardly. It seemed that the amplification of fear had been too conspicuous. However—

An idea struck her, and when one tactic failed, she swiftly pivoted to another. Once again, she activated the Law of the Soul to pluck the string of rage buried deep within her opponent's soul.

Zoe’s fear of the Sleeper swiftly transformed into a burning fury directed at Lucy.

"Die! Damn you..."

Driven by wrath, she raised the Judgment Sword and launched into a close-quarters assault.

Each swing of her blade sent tremors throughout the entire realm of the dead.

But Lucy showed no fear, wielding the Sickle of Harvest with both hands, her body darting and twisting like a spirit cat.

Infused with the Law of the Gatekeeper, Fenrir, the once-rusted divine artifact—tarnished by the fall of the Lady of Harvest—erupted once more with terrifying power.

Just as Master Theodosius had once said:

The authority wielded by the Lady of Harvest was, in truth, no weaker than that of a chief deity.

However, this goddess had never been skilled in battle. She had been swiftly buried by the ancient wizards in the dust of history, becoming nothing more than a relic of the past.

Though Lucy had never learned formal swordsmanship, the millions of souls she had devoured included memory fragments from hundreds of thousands of knights.

Even mere fragments were enough to transform her from an amateur into a skilled swordswoman.

With these advantages combined, Zoe was stunned to find herself completely unable to gain the upper hand in combat against a mere wizard.

After over a hundred exchanges, Zoe abruptly withdrew.

She stared at her trembling hands, finally realizing that her emotions had once again been manipulated by Malice Lure.

This time, it was her rage that had been amplified.

She, a deity who commanded the Law, had been repeatedly toyed with in her area of expertise by a single wizard...

Behind her, twelve swords spun like halos.

Zoe's face, once contorted with fury, abruptly returned to the solemn majesty of a god.

"You've successfully angered me!"

"If you kneel now and spit out Fenrir’s soul—offer up everything you have—perhaps I’ll let you die a quicker death."

As her emotions turned to stone, a grand marble courtyard burst from the earth, rising slowly to blot out the sky.

Fenrir’s voice echoed through Lucy’s mind.

"This one has completely lost it—she actually summoned her own dominion of authority!"

"Dominion of authority?" Lucy was puzzled.

"The Courtyard of Judgment," the pup explained urgently. "Every god who wields a Law has their own domain—like my Path of No Return, Icarus's Styx, and the Boss Death God's Sea of Eternal Slumber... The Courtyard of Judgment is Zoe's domain."

"Be careful—this one can render judgment..."

Fenrir’s words abruptly cut off.

The moment the Courtyard of Judgment materialized above the Styx, the very Laws of the realm of the dead trembled.

Twelve stone pillars inscribed with the runes of sin rose from the earth, encircling Lucy at the center.

Atop each pillar floated a Judgment Sword, their blades bound with blood-colored chains that writhed like living things.

At the same time, all of Lucy’s connections to the outside world were severed.

"In the name of judgment."

Zoe’s white robe billowed in the storm of divine Law. "You shall fall into eternal damnation!"

Suddenly, the blood-red iron chains atop the twelve stone pillars rattled loudly, and one of the embedded Judgment Swords turned into a stream of light, descending in a dazzling arc.

Zoe’s eyes lit up as she reached out and caught the longsword.

"All beings in the world bear guilt."

The Chief Arbiter's voice thundered beside Lucy’s ears.

"Wizard! You are guilty of theft!"

Her vision blurred and Lucy found herself back at the Tower of the Four Sages.

She was in the morgue, secretly hiding a specimen of an enchanted organ. Then, using an Odor Concealment Potion, she smuggled the specimen—property of the Tower—back into her room.

Clang—!

The illusion dissipated.

Lucy’s grip on the sickle faltered. That one strike carried power far greater than the dozens before it.

On the already fractured, rusted blade, a fresh crack split open.

Even the spirit sea bolstered by millions of souls surged into a stormy upheaval.

What is going on!

Lucy was horrified.

But Zoe gave her no time to think.

The longsword atop the second stone pillar fell. She reached out, grasped its hilt, and spoke:

"Second sin: Lust!"

On a dimly lit dormitory bed, two bodies—both pale and delicate—entwined, moaned, and rolled together. Black and silver hair mingled into a scene like a romantic oil painting.

Lucy snapped back to awareness. The Judgment Sword hovered mere inches from her cheek.

The second sword struck immediately.

She narrowly dodged the fatal point with all her strength, but the sharp blade grazed her shoulder.

Zoe let out a cold smirk and caught the third sword falling from a pillar.

"Third sin—Sloth!"

"Fourth sin—Falsehood!"

"Fifth sin—Wrath!"

"......"

Nine Swords of Sin struck in succession, and Lucy was gradually reduced to a blood-drenched figure.

Zoe’s lips curled with the smile of one who had already claimed victory.

Though she had devoured the Gatekeeper, a divine artifact's soul was never so easily digested.

As long as she could kill Lucy, she could always extract Fenrir’s authority from within.

Looking at the wizard lying motionless and soaked in blood, Zoe couldn't help but smile wider.

Like a god reigning from the heavens, she declared her final words:

"Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Greed, Lust, Gluttony, Theft, Falsehood... Nine sins upon your soul. In the name of Chief Arbiter Zoe, I hereby sentence you—to death!"

As the final words fell, Zoe raised the Judgment Sword—now fused from the nine Original Sins.

But just as she swung the longsword—

A terrifying surge of mental energy suddenly erupted from Lucy’s seemingly defenseless body.

Zoe staggered back two steps, her face twisted in shock.

"W-What’s going on?!"

Under her bewildered gaze, Lucy slowly lifted her head.

From her azure eyes, mental power seemed to manifest into tangible beams slicing through the void.

Why had her mental strength surged so drastically?

In a place Zoe couldn’t hear, Fenrir felt the sudden rise in Lucy’s Soul Devour ability. His voice, filled with seductive allure, rang out once more.

"Ha! I told you—you’d like this feeling. Go on, keep absorbing the power of these souls. Once you consume all ten million, you’ll be just half a step away from chief deity level."

But unfortunately for him, Lucy, a wizard, had far more self-discipline than any of these so-called gods.

Just as Fernando had told her when he took her as his apprentice: Knowledge is the vessel that ferries one across the supernatural sea; desire is the fog that veils the light of reason.

When 40% of the souls in her spirit sea had been absorbed, she decisively interrupted the Soul Devour.

Sixty percent was the threshold—absorbing any more would cause irreversible damage to the soul.

Even so, Lucy’s mental strength still surpassed the 2,000 mark.

Realizing the shift, Zoe gritted her teeth and raised the Judgment Sword again, shouting:

"Capital punishment!"

Clang—!

Clang—!

Staring at the broken blade in her hands, Zoe’s expression shifted from shock to unhinged despair.

Her divine weapon—had broken!

"As I thought, what you gods call ‘Law’ is nothing more than the naming of your own power by higher lifeforms."

Lucy stepped forward across the shattered fragments of the Judgment Sword.

"When faced with overwhelming force, even the Laws themselves are crushed beneath one’s feet."