It was only a matter of time. Lucina sighed to herself. It was significantly later in the day than when Joshua had left them, and they were walking back to the airport. The sky was darkening, and the air was beginning to cool.
She should have seen it coming. Joshua, despite how competent he was when acting in society, was still very fragile emotionally. Since Falling into Ethia three months ago, he had gotten used to hiding his weaknesses and insecurities behind a wall of deception.
A wall of lies that he told to himself, as much as he did to other people. Her heart ached, but she knew better than anyone that sometimes the thing that people need the most isn’t comforting words, but just time. Time to think to themselves, and process their own emotions.
“Still, I didn’t think that Master would devise that plan on the spot.” Akahime said. “He has a fast mind, does he not?”
“Akahime, you don’t have to call him, ‘Master,’ when he’s not here.” Reya said, in a somewhat annoyed tone. “Ugh, I swear I have PTSD from the first time he forced me to behave a certain way through a Judgment contract.”
“You’re telling me it didn’t grow on you?” Winter grinned, nudging the crowned princess in her ribs. “You are still around him after all, aren’t you?”
Reya rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you could say I am, I guess. I realized that after becoming the crowned princess… ” she paused giving a pointed look to Lucina. “There’s a certain appeal to having someone else decide things in your place. It takes away the stress of responsibility.”
Lucina smiled, knowing all too well what she was thinking. “It’s-” She turned to look at the other women, only to find them frozen in place.
No, it wasn’t just them. The entire city seemed to be at a complete standstill. Suddenly, the colors began to fade away from the world, leaving the nightlife and her friends as pale silhouettes, until those too, disappeared into the darkness.
“What the hell?” Even Lucina’s voice seemed muted to herself. Soon, all semblances of life and society had vanished, leaving Lucina alone in a space lit by black lighting.
“I didn’t foresee that this would be how we met.” A deep feminine voice resounded in the space, and a red cube lit up in front of Lucina’s vision.
“Who are you?” Lucina managed to breathe out after a moment of studying the object. The cube’s light pulsed in response to her question.
“Ha!” The voice laughed, and Lucina could imagine a smile on her face. “You asked, ‘who.’ I was starting to think I hadn’t evolved as a complex thought processor since he always calls me by my program name.”
Lucina watched in horror as a hand shot out from the cube. A long, slender arm followed, whose pale skin shone purple in the lighting. Lucina shuddered at the inhuman way it contorted. Soon, another arm shot out, followed by two legs, and a torso.
Eventually, the cube rested in the middle of the entity’s sternum, which had taken on the form of a woman. A loose, sleeveless shirt hung around her torso, barely restraining her ample breasts.
Her lower half was wearing a pair of jeans, with multiple leather belts wrapped around her waist and thighs. Tall boots adorned her feet, and were connected to each other by a long chain that hung freely in the air.
Finally, her head came into existence, sprouting up from the torso and looking downward, causing a long veil of silver hair to fall down, obscuring her face. A collar adorned her next, with a leash hanging downwards to rest beside her pant pockets.
She snapped her head back, revealing, through a flurry of hair, a gorgeous face, with passionate red eyes. Her full lips sported black lipstick, and dark blue eyeshadow complimented her overall aesthetic. The lighting returned to normal, and Luicna gazed upon the woman with a cube embedded in her chest.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“You’re… me?” Lucina asked, staring in awe at a palette swap of herself. The woman grinned, and floated down to the ground, where she stopped a short distance from the floor.
The ground lit up under her presence, and that glow followed as she made her way towards the Metronian Princess. A smile made its way onto the entity’s face as she leaned in to look Lucina dead in the eyes.
“Well… I am, and I’m not.” She smiled, and floated around Lucina, circling the woman’s body. “My Master did name me, but… you can call me Judgment.”
“Judgment.” The name came out as nothing more than a whisper, but suddenly everything became much clearer to Lucina.
She looked up at Judgment, and clenched her fists involuntarily. “So, you’re the AI manifestation of this program? The one that Joshua communicates with?”
The program’s smile ceased, and she shook her head. “I’ve been hearing your thoughts for a while now, but you really are a smart one. I have no doubt that your sister would fare much worse if trying to figure out my identity.”
Lucina sighed. “Please. That girl is stupid in the way that she can’t seem to take social cues of any sort, but she is by no means unintelligent. She probably has a good grasp on you despite your limited exposure.”
“Besides that,” Lucina continued, “Why are you in my panel? Shouldn’t you be with Joshua?”
“It was a safety measure.” Judgment shrugged. “We didn’t know what kind of enemies we’d be facing, and we figured that it would be safer if I was able to become your shield, so to speak. Then again, I wonder why he didn’t just…”
The A.I. seemed lost in thought, and Lucina merely watched her, before regaining her senses. This isn’t normal. Why did I just strike up a conversation like the world melting away around me was nothing?
“Because it doesn’t.” Judgment replied. “The world melting away was just a fancy transition for bringing you into your own subspace. Shock and awe, you know.”
Lucina just stared at her, causing Judgment to frown. “What? You’re looking at me like I just spoke to you in a foreign language.”
“I didn’t realize that subspaces could be utilized without another Judgment member requesting a private meeting.”
The A.I. rolled her eyes as she sat on nothing in midair. “I am Judgment. Obviously I can bypass the system. Maybe I gave you too much credit, too soon.”
Lucina sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “So? What’s happening to my body right now? Am I just standing on the side of the road like an idiot?”
“Of course not.” Judgment said. I’ve dilated your perception of time. Less than a second will pass in the real world before we’re through speaking. You just need to prepare for the backlash that your brain will get from the desynchronization of time.”
“Fucking great.” Lucina sighed. “I’m guessing he made you to spite me then? So he could bully you instead of me when things didn’t go his way?”
“Actually no.” The A.I. chuckled. “He didn’t choose the way I look in any way, shape, or form. I chose it myself.”
Judgment watched in amusement as Lucina tried to gather her thoughts. “How-, wha-, you’re autonomous!?”
“Of course. The Judgment Mainframe itself is completely autonomous, so it stands to reason that I would be, wouldn’t it?”
“But why me?” Lucina walked closer to the A.I. until she was standing directly under her. “Out of everything you had an option for, why me?”
“You really are slow.” Judgment rolled her eyes. “It’s because you’re the person he thinks about the most, that it was the easiest option to make a form out of you. I swear. Since your rendezvous at that hotel three months back, it has absolutely ruined him from thinking that deeply about anyone else.”
Lucina turned around, but that wasn’t enough for her to hide the smile on her face from the A.I.’s watchful senses.
“Someone’s happy.” Lucina jumped at Judgment’s voice, and turned to face her own visage.
“Actually, the reason I brought you here today was due to an emergency. I wasn’t supposed to show myself at all during this trip, if I could help it.”
“Well, what happened?” Lucina asked impatiently, putting her hands on her hips.
---
“I get that.” Winter said, nodding at Reya’s analysis. “In the end though-” Winter quickly looked at Lucina, who had tripped over herself and had fallen on the ground.
“Lucina, are you ok?” Akahime bent down to help the fallen princess, but was knocked back after Lucina took off at full speed, utilizing the miniature propulsion systems on her armor.
Soon, a message was sent to the girls’ messaging group, saying, ‘An emergency came up. I’m going back to the base first.’
Reya sighed and shook her head. “Why do I have a feeling that we’ll find the two of them post-coitus when we get back?”