< The One Thousand Eyed Bird Scours for the Skewered Beast >

 

“The One Thousand Eyed Bird was a Corrupted that haunted the southern mountain forests of Grandis. Some of you may be familiar with the legend of the child that warned people not to enter the forest. This is the very same Corrupted.”

Frost introduced the massive ten-meter bird, which stood on two scrawny legs far too thin to support its immense weight. The feathers that coated its body were like daggers and nestled between them were one thousand golden eyes that illuminated their desolated, woodland arena.

Beyond the light was the backdrop of the Black Forest. It felt like a closed curtain. Like the background was an illusion. Ber proved it was real as she sent an electric claw into an arbitrary direction, cutting down tens of trees at once as she stared into all one thousand eyes of the beast.

And it wasn’t alone.

Joining it were the Denizens of the Black Forest. Three Accusers, the giant one-winged scorched birds that walked crookedly flanked it as a flock of Witnesses gathered between Ber and the One Thousand Eyed Bird.

20 meters of murky earth separated them and Ber. The Wolfwoman cracked her bare knuckles as she peered over her shoulders, ecstatic to see so many eyes glued to her. An electric crackle shot from her fists with each crack as her feet sunk into the earth, cracking it slightly as she primed herself for combat.

“Conditions are the reason why some Corrupted are more difficult than others. They’re the reason why some Corrupted can’t be injured at all. You’re looking at a Corrupted that takes pride in its invulnerability.” Ber instructed, glaring back at the One Thousand Eyed Bird.

 

< CONDITION: The One Thousand Eyed Bird is invulnerable while its False Alibies attest to its innocence. One member will be marked as the Skewered Beast temporarily so long as there is a Hung Jury >

 

< REMINDER: Invulnerability in Controlled Corrupted Encounters is a 90% damage reduction from all damage sources, unless an attack can explicitly bypass all DEF resistances >

 

< SUPPRESSION REQUIREMENT: The One Thousand Eyed Bird will become vulnerable to [Enact Judgement] after all Alibies are extinguished. Enact Judgement is granted to the person who takes the eyes of the Hung Jury >

 

< SUBJUGATION REQUIREMENT: Enact Judgement >

 

< WARNING: If the One Thousand Eyed Bird enacts Judgement on their target, then the target is instantly killed >

 

Funnily enough, the Corrupted did not attack just yet. It was as though it understood their mission to educate these Moons, and therefore went along with Ber. These fights were controlled Corrupted encounters, meaning Frost or more importantly Nav could influence their behavior. These encounters also had them fight the Corrupted in their Corrupted Zones but only in an abbreviated form.

However, they could also fight the full version of it if they wished; a process Frost planned to call an Expeditionary Encounter.

Ber’s body was surrounded by an electric current that caused loose soil to defy gravity as they began to float past her knees.

“Hah. Alright. READY YOU BIG BIRD!?” Ber cried and at once, the colossal bird came rushing at her with its gaping maws.

 

< [Prejudice] >

 

The 10,000-damage attack was something even Ber was not able to tank. But its speed was laughable. She could walk faster than it could sprint. What made it so dangerous, however, was its other attack.

 

< [Scrutiny] >

 

This immediately clouded her vision. The darkness crept in, and she was temporarily blinded. However, she slashed wildly in the general direction of the Denizens, eliminating them almost instantly as the One Thousand Eyed Bird struggled to turn itself around to chase her. By then it was already too late, and in that instance the surroundings transformed as a sea of trees thrusted from the earth like spears, each attempting to ensnare her.

 

< [Biased Verdict] >

 

A one-kilometer area was covered by these trees, and Frost and the Moons were immersed in them. The Moons remained guarded at all times, watching over their shoulders as the trees moved like reanimated arms. They were miraculously left alone as Ber made quick work of them, using only her claws to create a sizable clearing.

Amongst the trees rose one in particular that hung a pale-haired child by the throat. The child in question struggled to clasp at the choking branch, soundlessly whimpering as several Righteousness emerged alongside more Accusers.

 

< The One Thousand Eyed Bird Judges the Skewered Beast >

 

< Judgement in Progress >

 

< Decision of The Jury Pending >

 

The sheer number was not something a Moon worth anything would struggle with. The problem was simply understanding the Conditions, because in a normal battlefield one would consider that child to either be an enemy, or a trap. Others would simply engage in a futile fight against wave after wave of the Denizens.

So it came as a shock to the Moons when Ber rushed to cut the girl free, retrieving her as she backed off immediately.

 

< CONDITION: The Hung Jury offers its eyes. Freeing will turn it into an Unhung Jury. Enact Judgement may be used when all Alibies are defeated >

 

The Righteousness began to bombard the battlefield with a hail of one-meter-long thorns, riddling all in spines as the One Thousand Eyed Bird came to a complete stop. Ber had rescued the Hung Jury before the attack could even commence.

And she didn’t even need to move at all to avoid the attack. An electrical field incinerated every thorn that dared to approach as she held the child in her arms, seeing it stare widely up at her in thanks.

It looked just like Jury, and the name was exactly the same. Frost wondered if Jury’s origin was related to a Hung Jury that managed to free herself from the branches. But that didn’t explain the previous decade of her life…

… Whatever the case was, Ber made the fight look incredibly easy.

The Corrupted was rated as an Eternal Night. Moons would be pitted in a dance of life or death, but Ber laughed at it. The One Thousand Eyed Bird was no more than gimmick fight when it came down to it. Its instant kill attack was only useful against unsuspecting enemies.

Now that it had lost its only jury, it enacted a false judgement upon the Accusers, who were skewed by countless thorns, thus transforming them into the spiky tumbleweed that were the Accused.

The flocks of Witnesses were struck by an oppressive wave as the giant bird reeled its maw open, revealing countless rows of jagged teeth. A horrific scream summoned four hundred orbs above its head – the False Juries that enabled it to enact its judgement.

But not on Ber.

 

< The One Thousand Eyed Bird Enacts Judgement on the Skewered Beast >

 

The Witnesses transformed into Innocent when its jaw snapped shut. The black birds turned to a coat of white, all the while the glass orbs shattered in the blink of an eye. Ber was clinical in her execution, no doubt by the guidance of the voice in her head. In mere seconds the 400 orbs were shattered. Normally this would be where the One Thousand Bird used Rightful Ignorance to summon the False Accusers from the orbs.

But Ber has skipped that phase entirely.

 

< Judgement Has Been Enacted >

 

Suddenly, the dozen Righteousness turned their attention to the One Thousand Eyed Bird and began to riddle its coat with thorns.

 

< The Righteousness Have Declared the One Thousand Eyed Bird’s Judgement as Prejudice >

 

< There was No Skewered Beast >

 

They did little to shave off its HP pool. Blood began to pour from unseen wounds as the Righteousness inexplicably perished after a full ten seconds of continuous fire. Their corpses withered away into a bright fog that suddenly ensnared the giant bird in place.

 

< CONDITION: The Righteousness have temporarily removed its Invulnerability >

 

The Corrupted was left in a vulnerable state. As soon as its HP hit the next threshold, it regained it Invulnerability and threw another 400 orbs above. Ber, however, made quick work as she lost herself in the trance of combat, her left arm suddenly transforming into a wing as she manifested the power of the Black Swan.

“SEE THIS!?” Ber finally broke the silence, her swiped gouging the earth as she reached a speed that the caused the One Thousand Eyed Bird to simply freeze in place for it could no longer detect her. “THIS – THIS IS THE POWER OF MY CORRUPTED PERSONA!”

Each swing of her blade-like wing formed an arc that cleaved through the last 200 orbs. The False Denizens were not given a chance to form, and before long, the bird simply stood there, impaled by countless thorns as Ber threw herself back, skidding along the ground with her blade pointed in the bird’s direction.

“I’ve always wanted to try this. So this is what it feels to be like you, huh!?” Ber laughed, baring her teeth as she invoked the final blow to the One Thousand Eyed Bird.

 

< The One Thousand Eyed Bird Judges the Skewered Beast >

 

They had traded places. The beast’s many eyes were long lost due to the thorns. The same eyes began to populate just behind Ber’s back like the tails of a peacock, all the while the Unhung Jury joined Ber and pointed at the bird with an angry expression.

The sight was utterly mesmerizing. The Moons had never seen a battle anything remotely like this. To assume the power of not only her own Corrupted, but the Corrupted she was fighting was a concept so foreign to them that saw Ber on a completely different level.

That awe was also spread to the other two of the triplets, who watched on unfazed like this was just another day. Ber’s beauty combined with the light made her appear like deity in disguise. The fact that her Corrupted Persona was the Black Swan made Frost smile to herself as she read the prompt again.

“We’ve both had our moment to become the One Thousand Eyed Bird. You’ve swapped places with the Corrupted.” Frost spoke to herself, amused by this.

 

< Judgement in Progress >

 

Were it anyone else, then the prompt would have sounded weird but the fact that Ber was the Black Swan made it funny to her.

 

< Decision of One Jury Pending >

 

< Awaiting Verdict >

 

The light behind Ber appeared like the complex constellation of Stars. She wore the universe as her wings as each golden eye drilled into the One Thousand Eyed Bird. The Unhung Jury’s hands tightened in her palm as the girl sweetly suddenly shouted:

“There’s a bad skewered beast inside of the Black Forest!”

 

< GUILTY >

 

“[ENACT JUDGEMENT]!”

 

< The One Thousand Eyed Bird Enacts Judgement on the Skewered Beast >

 

Cracks formed beneath her feet, racing towards the bird. A massive, scorched tree impaled it as it dragged it into the sky before it wrapped its branches around its spherical form. The thorns disappeared into its body as the branches constricted it like a giant python until it could no more.

And like a balloon –

– The One Thousand Eyed Bird popped.

 

< Judgement Has Been Enacted >

 

< The One Thousand Eyed Bird Has Been Subjugated >

 

A cathartic silence filled the air as golden feathers bled from the Corrupted’s carcass. Ber could have easily defeated it without obeying the Conditions, but it would have taken far too long. Not to mention that in a real-world scenario that would not be an option.

The girl in her arm disappeared into particles of light, but not without affectionately rubbing her cheek against Ber’s. The light returned to the skies where stars now formed, casting light in this insufferable hell.

“Not bad.” Cer said, but one could tell how impressed she truly was by that performance. “Eternal Nights are nothing to us at this point. Knowing the gimmick of a Corrupted makes any Corrupted feel like a Monsoon.”

“It felt more closer to a Hailstorm.” Ber bragged.

“Ahem.” Res cleared her throat. “As you can see, knowing the Conditions can turn the tides of battle completely. There’s no such thing as an impossible Corrupted. With this power we can even take on Woe of the Fallen Stars.”

“Your chosen Aspiring Moon will be aiding you against the Corrupted.” Frost added. “They will be the ones who relay the information to you. Protect them well on the field. Now then. I will ask you to fight this Corrupted as my Fang did. These three will relay everything you need to know. The Corrupted we Archive within the Nexus will be your training partners. Do not see them as enemies. These Corrupted can help you more than they can harm you.

Please remember that. They are our allies.”