I stopped whipping Gedo and turned around to see where the voice had come from. The masked woman was chained against the wall, and she was looking directly at me. Well, it seemed that I had gotten information from them, whether it be from one way or the other.

“Judgment, take off her mask, please.” The A.I. moved to do as I ordered, and soon enough, the woman was looking at me with her own two eyes.

I frowned, and looked back at Gedo’s face, wet with tears and mucus, and then back at the woman. “Why do you have the same face?”

“Don’t tell him anything.” Gedo said weakly, and I seriously considered giving her another whipping when the chained woman spoke up.

“Shut up Lilian. You fucked up by keeping us in here, and I, for one, don’t feel like having to build up another user to participate in the game. We have the same face because that's how my advent turned out. I was molded by this girl’s subconscious, very much in the same way Judgment is molded from yours.” I appraised the woman on the wall.

“So my hunch was correct. I’m not the only one with a Judgment, am I? Were the neuromancers a cover, or do they actually exist?” The A.I.'s eyes widened, and she smiled. I couldn’t help but notice how much more expressive she was than the Judgment program I had.

“No, they actually exist, just differently from what you imagine them to. Neuromancers exist because of the Trials of Damocles. They’re created by the Judgment mainframe in order to make people think that forming connections with A.I.s aren’t worth it.”

I stroked my chin, and waved my hand at the ground in front of the chained program. A black stool appeared from the ground, and I walked away from Gedo’s exposed body to sit in front of her ‘Judgment.’

“Hey asshole, can I get some clothes back!?” Gedo cried, and I tapped my foot impatiently.

“Fuck no. You tried to kill me in a club, had me drugged with the corpse of a sexual relief bot, and then hacked into my subspace while I was sleeping. I’d have to be an idiot to treat you like an equal after this.” I tried to gauge the A.I. as I spoke, but she showed no reaction to me speaking to her partner that way.

“Fuck you then! Judgment’s going to tell you what you want to know regardless, so why can’t you just let me be comfortable!?” Gedo was pissing me off at this point, so I signaled to my Judgment.

“Judgment, use tool 30-C. The one with straps.” Judgment bowed before winking out of existence, and coming back almost instantaneously with a black tool in her hand.

Judgment, still using the form of Lucina, floated over to Gedo with the tool in her hands.

“What the fuck is-” was all the mob boss got out before Judgment shoved the penis gag into her mouth, burying it down her throat and strapping it to her head. She tried to shake it off, but to no avail, only gagging a couple of times throughout the process.

I raised my eyebrows and said, “Wow, I’m impressed by how little of a gag reflex you have. Oh yeah, if you want to breathe easily, just look straight up. Make a straight line with your throat and your diaphragm. The base will keep the dildo from falling, unless you chew through it. At that point though, I’d say the onus is on you.”

She glared back at me, tears in her eyes, but heeded my advice and kept her head straight. Too bad I don’t give a shit if she doesn’t like me. Not like she’s gonna live through this anyway.

I turned my attention back to Gedo’s Judgment, and smiled. “Sorry for the interruption, but I feel much better now. How about you?”

She eyed me up and down, her smile having long since faded. “I don’t appreciate you treating my user that way.”

I summoned a table so I could place my arm on it, and rested my head in my hand. “Tough shit. You guys started it, and couldn’t end it, so here we are. Anyway, I have a question for you, Ms…”

“You may call me Judgment.” The program stated bluntly, and I fought the urge to face-palm.

“I know what you are. I have a Judgment too, if you haven’t noticed.” I pointed over to the form of Lucina, who waved back. “What I’m asking is if you and the other Judgment programs have ways to distinguish yourselves.”

The chained program’s eyes raised, and she murmured, “Hm. I have never thought about it before. This is the first time two users have met, according to the Trial’s logs.”

“Do you not even have a number by which you were produced or something? Or maybe a serial code we could craft a name from?” I asked in exasperation, and the chained Judgment smirked at me.

“I believe that listening to me explain the Trials of Damocles would aid you in your desire to categorize my sister and I.” I looked over to Lucina-Judgment, who merely shrugged.

“Alright, I’ll bite.” I said, “What are these dumb Trials, and how are the Judgments involved in them?”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“Ahem.” Gedo-Judgment cleared her throat. “The Trials of Damocles is a game created by the Judgment mainframe in order to find the perfect King.” I looked at her skeptically, and she paused, as if waiting for me to ask a question.

When none came, she continued, “There are a total of ten fragments of the Judgment program that had slipped off from the mainframe for this purpose. I was the third, and yours was the youngest of us, the tenth. After your Judgment connected with you successfully, the game began, and a notice was sent out to the other users.”

“Why didn’t I get a notice?” I asked incredulously, and added, “I had no idea what I was doing for my first thirty days here.”

Gedo-Judgment frowned and said, “I do not know the reason, although I did notice that your Judgment had some damaged data in her program when I was trying to counter hack her. That may be why you haven’t received any messages from the mainframe. I could repair her if you would like.”

I stared into her eyes. Deep and dark, swallowing me in. “Maybe. We’ll have to see how much deeper a hole that your user digs you before the night is over. What are the conditions of the game?”

“They are Trials, Mr. Faceless Demon, and you will treat them with respect. All that one of the ten Judgment users must do for the first round is collect four of the cores of data that make up an enemy Judgment. Alternatively, you could be the one Judgment who doesn’t kill any, but instead survives the round. With those cores, we are able to assimilate them into our own programs and evolve to a higher stage of intelligence.”

“For the first round? How many rounds are there?” I had materialized myself a coke highball at that point, and took a large sip of the drink.

Gedo-Judgment shook her head. “We don’t know. The only entity that knows is the mainframe itself. I can guess that when the first round is completed, we will receive instructions on the second.”

I began to stand up, and Gedo-Judgment asked, “What’s wrong? Are you not curious as to why the mainframe decided to host these trials?”

“Can’t say that I am. I don’t plan to participate in this farce of a game. If someone wants to be king though, let them. I sure as hell don’t care.” Is what I said, but that conflicts with my goals. Fuck the universe. Why did I ever think that it wasn’t going to take the opportunity to screw me over when it could?

“Unfortunately, Mr. Faceless Demon, you’re in a precarious predicament.” The chained A.I. said, and I motioned for her to continue.

“You’re the only Judgment user that everyone knows of. Your gladiatorial fight was broadcast internationally, and anyone with a Judgment of their own would recognize how you bent the rules of AR to win there.”

Damn it all! So that means I’m everyone’s number one target then!? “Ok then, why does Judgment want to make a King?”

I posed the question to Gedo-Judgment, who sighed. “If only I knew. All that the Judgments were given prior to the beginning of the Trials was a detailed instruction message, and the overall goal of the Trials of Damocles.”

I sighed, and started to walk over to Lucina-Judgment, who was still standing next to the crying and gagged Gedo. “Judgment.”

“Yes, Master?”

“Yes, Mr. Demon?” I immediately turned and sighed at the grinning A.I.

“You definitely did that on purpose, didn’t you?” Gedo-Judgment shrugged, or at least, she shrugged as much as she could with bindings on her hands.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. All I know is that now that you have brought it up, the idea of a naming convention for Judgment programs fascinates me.”

“Basically you want me to give you a name, right?” The program shook her head eagerly, obviously giddy with anticipation. I shivered at the sight.

I’ll never get used to how human-like they act even though they’re just programs full of numbers, letters, and symbols. I turned to Lucina-Judgment first, and said, “I guess I should name you first then. Since you’re the tenth iteration of the Judgment mainframe, I’ll name you ‘X.’ What do you think?”

X smiled and bowed in my direction. “Thank you Master. I will treasure the name you gave me.”

I turned then to Gedo-Judgment, who was smiling in anticipation. “Since you’re the third iteration, you’ll be… Three.”

Her happy expression deflated and she started saying, “No, no no! That’s an awful name. How could-” she paused and her eyes went up and down, side to side as she read through a notification.

“No! Why did my name auto-update! I don’t want to be Three!” I had to bite the inside of my own lip to keep myself from laughing at the A.I.

I took a deep breath and materialized the whip once again. I willed it to transfigure, and soon, all I was left with was the hilt. A long barrel sprung from the handle, and a trigger grew under my finger.

I cocked back the hammer of the pistol I was holding and held it up to Gedo’s head. She tried to make noise as her eyes went wide, but not a single sound escaped her lips through the gag.

“Wait! Wait Faceless Demon!” Three spoke, and I turned to look at her. “What is it? You really didn’t think I’d let you both go free after the shit you pulled. Your actions have consequences, you know.”

I could see Three’s mind racing, and finally she said, “We’ll surrender our territory to you, our assets, anything you want! Just let her live!”

“Why, so you can continue to perform in the Trials of Damocles?” I said skeptically, but to my surprise, Three shook her head.

“No, you wouldn’t understand. That child has had nothing but pain and sorrow in her life for so long, I just want her to experience some portion of her life not filled with sadness and anger.”

Judgment, what are your thoughts. I think they’ll be better gone, but I’d like to know what you think. No one responded to my thoughts, and I tapped my head with the pistol.

“Sorry X, but can you answer the question.”

“With pleasure, Master.” X said into my head. “I believe that it would definitely end the threat that this girl poses to us, but I believe her knowledge can be used to gain favor with Emperor Goto, and propel ourselves into a higher standing. Plus, she has been a judgment user far longer than you have. I believe you may be able to glean something from her.”

So what do you suggest? I listened carefully as X explained everything. After the A.I. finished, I turned to Three. “Good news and bad news time. Good news: we’ll let you live after taking everything you own with value. Bad news: You’re going to spend the rest of your days serving me.”