COURT IS IN ORDER.

1774, NOVEMBER 29th, TUESDAY 12:30 am.

Noche put her phone in her pocket and ignored the strange text. She made her way out of the VR room and towards her bed when a commotion caught her attention. Across the hall, beyond the library, was a crowd inside the auditorium. Two guards stood outside its door; one of which was that café girl Autumn.

The blonde sighed. She was too tired for this shit, but curiosity took hold of her again. She made her way towards the gathering. The guards didn't stop her from walking inside and on closer inspection, the people here weren't soldiers. They appeared more like normal people, albeit dressed nicely and with some wealth. All of them sitting on the gathered benches.

The room itself was also different, which made sense seeing as how the auditorium was often redecorated to suit multiple purposes. From the Cross entrance exam ceremony to the holiday party to its current design of a court room.

However, it was the person standing at the center of the room that caught her attention. Surrounded by four Cross soldiers and kept in a DriveMetal box was Boots. A gavel echoed around the room causing the commotion to quiet down. Noche's eyes trailed up to a man dressed like a judge.

"Over the course of the last twenty-four hours, DeathTech has launched attacks all across the globe. From small raiding parties to full-blown invasions of major cities in the humane world," he said. "Out of all these attacks, so far, Mr. Boots Starnight is the only member of DeathTech that Cross has managed to detain."

The judge interlocked his fingers on his desk and leaned forward.

"As such, there will be a lot of eyes on this trial. That being said, I don't expect this to be a lengthy process," he frowned. "Mr. Starnight, you are charged with terrorism on a global scale, crimes against humanity, and mass destruction."

Boots remained calm. As if this whole scenario didn't affect him. He was distant and cold.

"How do you plead?"

"Guilty," he said.

"Mr. Starnight, you are hereby sentenced to life at the Cross asylum."

"Wait just a moment!" Noche shouted.

All eyes turned towards her; she froze for a moment but shook herself out of it.

"Boots what are you doing! You're not guilty, Edward forced you to work for him by keeping your sister hostage."

When she said that the orange-haired boy glared at her. His expression was like a slap to the face. There was so much hate behind his stare that she took a step back. The judge's gavel was enough to break Noche from her trance.

"Someone escort this woman from my courtroom."

The Grave brothers stood up, grinned, and pointed. "Better yet, arrest her!"

Noche stared in shock. "What!"

Red pulled out a device and turned on the auditorium's projector. A screen came down over the judge's head and played a video. It showed Noche standing before the burning PLC village. The clip changed people being slaughtered and despite it being blurred it was evident the murderer was the blonde.

She was stunned speechless. Her eyes were wide, her skin pale, and her body went cold.

"We have reason to believe you are the prime suspect in a genocide," Red smirked.

"W-Wha-I-I didn't—"

"Guards, arrest her!"

The soldiers in the room turned towards the blonde and began to approach.

"That's not me!" She shouted. "I didn't do th—"

"Are you denying the evidence?" Blue said. "Then tell us, where were you between the hours of eleven pm on November twenty-seventh and eight pm yesterday?"

"D-DeathTech! Medusa gave me a mission to scout out DeathTe—"

"That's convenient. The president, who recently died, ordered you to go to a location where no one saw you."

"W-Wait—"

"Do you have any proof you were in DeathTech during that twenty-one-hour timeframe?" Red said. "A timeframe that gives you more than enough leeway to get to the PLC village and back?"

"Boots! Boots helped lead us through the base! We were trying to rescue his sister. Boots tell them."

He glared at her without batting a single eye.

"Boots?"

He didn't say a word.

The Grave brothers chuckled as a soldier grabbed onto Noche's bicep – she ripped her arm away. It was effortless. Surprisingly effortless. Did he not get a good grip on her? Another soldier lunged for her, and she easily shrugged him off.

"I'm telling you, I'm innocent."

"Sure, sure. And we're not the presidents."

"My teammates! They can prove I was there!"

"Oh, your friends? You think their words are enough compared to video evidence?"

"But I—"

"Can you prove you were in DeathTech?"

"I—"

"Yes or no?"

"It's not that—"

"So that's a no."

Noche pushed away three soldiers that jumped on her at once. They were becoming more aggressive in their attempts to restrain her.

"Will you stop interrupting me!"

"You're guilty and you know it," they said in synch. "I mean, look at what you've done hours earlier. You let Edward kill thousands of hostages by choosing your friend's life."

"I... But..."

"And what about your teammate Rowan? We have witnesses confirming you stabbed him."

"That was an accident!"

"Or another example of your violent tendencies? Killing your teammate, letting thousands die, and this genocide at the PLC village... You are one sadistic woman."

"I keep telling you, that's not me!"

A soldier punched Noche in the face – the world went spinning as she fell to the ground. For a moment she laid there as hands tried to restrain her. She was so sleep deprived that she almost wanted to go unconscious.

"Relax, if you're truly innocent, then you have nothing to fear from us," Red said.

Noche blanched as a memory resurfaced in her exhausted mind. Of the time when Hectare blackmailed her in the Cross entrance exam. Of how she tried to prove he cheated to the Grave brothers and they ignored her at every turn. They didn't listen to her then and they wouldn't listen to her now. It was as if they wanted to see her fail.

Then the written portion popped in her head. At the time she had missed getting a perfect score by writing H202 when describing how to create water. Something she knew she would never get wrong. At the time she was too distraught, but how closely did she look at that answer. Was that extra two really in her handwriting?

A thought occurred – were the Grave brothers targeting her? It couldn't be, and yet, it would explain why they were so adamant to not investigate Hectare's cheating. It would explain an obvious answer having a minor change to make it incorrect on her test. Finally, to her horror, it would explain why they seemed so eager to have her arrested.

Prismatic energy became an explosion of lightning energy as soldiers were thrown all around the room; a pinhole developed in the pupil of Noche's left eye. She wouldn't be taken down by their plot so easily. Soldiers surrounded her – she had no chance at escape.

"If you keep resisting arrest, you will be labeled as a create terrorist," Blue said.

Prismatic energy filled the air as the soldiers started to use create. One of them had the foresight to use telekinesis to try and lock her down, another made chains wrap around her, and the third tried to freeze her body from the head down in a block of ice. She overpowered it all with her augmented strength.

Two of the soldiers came in at opposite sides. One threw a punch towards her head which she dodged, but it caused her to move into a punch on her torso. She winced at the pain – that was going to leave a bruise. Noche dodged a few more attacks as the third circled in to grab her. She was getting tired. So fucking tired.

A few more painful hits landed on her chest in an attempt to incapacitate her. One punch landed with enough force to break a rib. However, Noche didn't go down and nobody could get a good grip on her. Despite that, the weight of exhaustion was setting in.

Here she was, fighting again, and how did she expect to win this? Even if she escaped the auditorium she was in the center of Cross HQ. The Grave brothers would just order more soldiers to capture her. Another punch landed on her face, splitting her lip.

She was being pushed too far. From the moment war was declared, to fighting on the battlefield, to running across each level of DeathTech, to exploring the chaotic realm of Limbo, to right now in the courtroom. Noche had fought the entire way and the abuse had been non-stop. Even with her willpower, it was getting difficult.

Then she was kicked behind the leg and brought to one knee. A hand grabbed her right arm and restrained it behind her back as another pair pressed down on her shoulders. Noche frustration got the better of her and for a moment her restraint slipped. Cross soldiers went flying.

She huffed and stood up. A stream of blood fell down her eye from a cut on her head. She wiped it away and scanned the environment. Most of the soldiers were still recovering from being tossed and the courtroom was silent with speechless spectators.

"You know this proceeding is being recorded," Red said.

Noche turned to him and glared. He and his twin walked away from the benches and towards the center of the room; stopping adjacent to Boots.

"If you keep making Cross look incompetent, it won't end well for you," he grinned. "Try as hard as you might, you can't defeat us. You will fail. Cause you're a failure. Just like you failed the Cross entrance exam."

Her world went red; she tightened her fist so much that her knuckles popped. At the same time, in a realm of pitch-black surrounded by faint golden specks of light, was a cracked floating white orb. Those cracks spread the moment Noche's fatigued mind process the Grave brothers' words.

She could barely think, but she didn't need to. She needed revenge. She needed to win. Her brain shut off and instinct took over. Noche dashed towards Red, raised her fist, and made one of the biggest mistakes of her life – she punched with all her strength.

There was a brief instance where the world went still. It lasted for a fraction of a second, barely enough time for the eye to register it. Yet it was long enough for the Grave brothers to dodge Noche's attack with a smile on their faces.

They were both general level so enduring Noche's measly punch would have been trivial. However, it would be such a shame to block the trajectory of the following shockwave. Especially when the person behind them barely had any augment. So, they dodged, and savored the fact that Noche just dug her hole deeper.

Hurricane force exploded in the courtroom; everyone screamed. The walls cracked and the room shook as the fluorescent lights flickered on and off. The noise was deafening as wind rushed out the new hole in the wall. The massive hole where the judge's podium, and the judge, once were.

As the trembling stopped the mountain range that was miles away became visible in the center of that new opening. There was a few seconds of stillness before a second hole exploded into the center of the mountain. Perfectly framed in the middle of hole number two, as if it was hiding there, waiting all along, was the moon. With Creeps's grinning face still carved into it; staring at everyone.

The courtroom went dead silent. Only the distant sound of exploding rock echoed about a few moments later. Meanwhile, far off in the distance, was a motionless flag that sat on the surface of the moon. It fluttered as a gust of wind, and a judge's hat, passed on by. The gavel went spinning after them a heartbeat later.

"Tut, tut, tut. You just kill a man. In front of a live studio audience," Red smiled.

"No explaining your way out of this one," Blue chuckled.

"You've just condemned yourself to the asylum," they said in synch.

The blonde stared at her outstretched fist. She had just accidentally killed someone. Again. Her consciousness barely registered the Cross soldiers flooding the courtroom or the fact they were surrounding her.

Then a thought drifted into her tired mind. It bubbled up almost unconsciously. As if it was something she would only consider when she was on the brink of collapse.

"So what?" It said.

Was death honestly so bad? She had died before, several times in fact. Noche personally experienced life after death, so the afterlife was real. At least it was for her. Besides, so many people had died so far. That mother and daughter, her teammate Rowan, all those Cross soldiers, Varen, Jack, Spark. So many lives lost right before her eyes.

It was a sad thought, or at least she acknowledged it was sad, but she didn't feel it. Strange as it was to admit, a part of her had gotten numb to death. It had lost its weight. All she felt was exhausted, beaten, and angry. Having been pushed so far beyond her limits.

Her eyes drifted around the area – she was surrounded by dozens of Cross soldiers. There was no way she was getting out of this. Not without bloodshed. Fine, she didn't care anymore. Right and wrong be damned. She wasn't handing herself over to the Grave brothers.

The lights died the moment the Cross soldiers lunged for Noche. Except for the grinning moon in the distance, it was completely dark. Shouts and screams filled the air, followed by the wet sound of ripping meat and splattering blood. Prismatic energy lit up the room like fireworks in the night sky and various energy attacks were launched all over the room.

However, nobody could see a thing until a jet of flame hit some curtains. The fire filled the room with crimson light, revealing Noche standing atop a pile of bodies. Her arm stuck through the chest of one man with her red fist coming out his back.

The man recording the proceedings turned the camera towards her; trembling as he did so. People on the benches panicked and began fleeing. All the while, the Grave brothers grinned.

For Noche, it was as if something had clicked. Like a puzzle piece finally fell into place. Like a part of her that had been missing had finally been found. The blonde bathed in the fear of the court room, as flames illuminated her blood-splattered face. She had willingly killed for the first time.

There should have been some emotional turmoil to it. Maybe some regret or something. Yet she didn't feel anything like that. All she felt was tired and unrestricted. Like an obstacle had finally been removed. Then someone clapped. She turned her head to the Grave brothers who were approaching.

"Well done, Noche. Well done," Red said.

"Keep damning yourself further," Blue chuckled.

Noche focused on them and for a brief instance, a pressure pushed down on everyone around her. Some of the people fleeing froze in place – as if death loomed over them. Even the Grave brothers paused for a heartbeat when it happened.

"Quite a killing intent for a novice," Red said. "Suffocating even."

"It's time for you to surrender," Blue followed up. "We're bringing you in."

In a flash of gold surrounded by black mist, Noche's omni-oar appeared in her hand.

"Your corpses can try," she snarled.

Blue approached the camera, pushed the trembling man out of the way, and took control of the recording. Meanwhile, Red reached into his pocket and pulled out a radio.

"Attention troops, we have a code red in the auditorium," he said. "I want a battalion to surround Cross HQ and prepare for combat. We have powerful create user going on a rampage."

Noche used that opportunity to lunge towards Red – she swung her sword, but he blocked by grabbing her wrist.

"And if possible, capture her alive."

His fingers clenched down and her bones cracked. Noche grit her teeth as Red lifted her into the air and threw her out the hole in the room. She was sent flying and by the time she hit the ground, she skipped across the dirt like a stone on a lake.

Prismatic energy became a thick metal block that she crashed into – the impact caused her to cough up blood as the world blurred. Noche stood to the vague shape of an army awaiting her. Her vision cleared to hundreds of Cross soldiers preparing for battle.