Judas Verety dreamed of a simpler time.

He dreamed of playing in the lake with his mother and siblings.

A time when he still had a smile on his face and all was well.

A time before the world robbed him of his mother.

"Master, it is time to wake up", a beautiful feminine voice startled him from his dreams as he returned to the present.

He looked at Jasmine, his apprentice, with an annoyed look before he spoke in a groggy voice.

"Haah, what time is it Jasmine?"

"The sun is about to shine its light upon us, Master"

Judas facepalmed himself before slowly getting out of his bed

"This will be the billionth time I tell you to not wake me up this early but of course, you will as alwa—"

She cut him off before he even finished.

"Waking up early will make your day more productive and is healthier than what you consider a ‘good time to get up’ "

Exasperated, Judas just nodded at her insincerely before he looked around his room.

Well, not room since he sleeps in his laboratory but whatever.

He looked around at his masterpiece of a laboratory savoring all the equipment and ingredients to make sure to remember this place in its glory.

Since this will be probably the last time he sees it for a long time.

A hesitant look crossed his face for a second when he thought about what he was about to do but he then banished it from his mind.

Everything is prepared, and the time is right.

The mind is a strange thing, really.

He has been preparing for this plan for a long, long time, and yet…

"Master, no matter what happens remember that I will always be on your side"

He stared at the half-elf’s eyes for a moment before he sighed and walked to a corner of his lab and spoke in a voice imbued with magic.

“Initiate Plan 'Orchestra' Phase One”

There was a rumbling from behind the wall before a gap appeared on it followed by a magnificent blue orb with bright mana moving inside of it.

An inhuman cold voice responded from seemingly inside the orb.

“Estimated Time of E-176 starting: 23:59:58”

'A day is enough, I suppose ’

His face warped into an emotionless visage before he ordered Jasmine in a cold voice.

"Call upon The Council"

Goosebumps filled Jasmine's body when she saw her master's face before she slowly replied in an unsure voice, so unlike her usual certainty.

“I-Is it finally time? Are you truly finished with all preparations?”

Judas smiled at his apprentice for a moment before his stoic gaze returned.

"Yes, although you know more than most about what I'm planning."

The Archwizard looked at the glowing orb flying on his palm before he continued speaking.

"My preparations are enough, do not worry child. They will pay for their sins and I will fix all that needs fixing."

Judas paused for a second to touch the silver pendant hidden under his robe.

“That is my duty and responsibility as ‘Spawn of Error’. “

Jasmine steeled her expression back to her usual confident one before touching the bracelet worn on her left hand.

"I sent the signal to the Council, I shall go prepare the room."

She swiftly walked out of the room before slowly starting to run as if to not make herself get hesitant once again.

"...a glimpse of the truth, eh?"

—----------------------------------—

Inside the Steelia Kingdom's royal palace, an old man reached for a hidden bracelet he was wearing.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

'Let's see who cal—?!?'

The old man flinched when he saw the symbol that appeared.

A card depicting a laughing clown stared at him as if mocking him.

The old man, Prime Minister Alfred Angelo couldn't help but blurt out.

"This is the first time he's hosting…"

Suddenly, Alfred felt a weird feeling rise from his stomach.

He felt it was an omen to what this meeting will be about.

He was not wrong to feel that.

The members of The Council all around the realm felt the same dread upon seeing the symbol.

For it was the card of The Fool.

The host of this meeting as well as…the one who gathered them in the first place.

It was the first time he hosted besides when he gathered them all the first time.

It usually was other members who called a meeting and The Fool rarely participated in their talks simply watching them as well as giving advice when it was necessary.

By this point after 10 years of operating in the dark as a secret organization, most of the members had an idea about each other's identities.

The only one who knows everything and yet is known by none is The Fool.

The old man sighed before slowly getting up.

He went to look at the mirror in his office before reciting the words that he always did for the past 10 years.

"I call upon the wisdom of The Council, I call upon the power of The Council, Six Seven One, Hail be the one who gathers."

Within the span of a blink, Alfred finds himself in a giant luxurious round table whilst a mask appears out of god-knows-where on his face.

In front of him, as usual, was a card of an old man holding a staff and a lantern.

The Hermit.

'I will never stop being amazed by the sheer insanity of magic required to accomplish this madness we call The Council'

To teleport seven people from different parts of the realm and breach all manners of defenses by simply reciting a few words in front of a mirror is mind-boggling.

Alfred looked around him to find the others looking a bit nervous at this sudden meeting.

The Hierophant, a young woman with beautiful long blond hair wearing a white dress that seems extremely luxurious. The Saint of The Holy Empire.

The Emperor, a tall man with blond hair and broad shoulders. Second Prince of The Republic of Botor.

An adventurer, a general, a guild master…those two are the most important when it comes to posts and popularity but the others have high positions in different places.

Finally, after the nervous atmosphere settled.

They all looked toward the one who called them here and froze when they saw him without a mask.

The Fool looked…young.

Gray hair like silver and dark eyes like the abyss observed them with an apathetic expression.

For some reason, he was pictured as a middle-aged man in Alfred’s mind with a stern gaze and pressure beyond measure.

The man the minister sees has an emotionless face yet something about him made chills flow around his spine.

Before he started to question what was about to happen, the young man started speaking to them.

“The only reason scum like you remain in this world even as empty shells is because I had a need for you, that is no longer the case.”

Alfred looked at the young man with an odd gaze questioning what the hell he was talking about.

The others had the same look of bewilderment as if they were still processing what he just said.

After a moment, some of them seemed to process what he said before angrily screaming at him.

“Listen here just because you gathered us doesn’t mean you can ju–”

Fear.

It has been a long time since the prime minister felt this feeling since he had a position of power.

The last time he felt it was when the king almost found out about the embezzlement of funds he was doing.

this was a hundred times more terrifying

A pressure emanated from the fool that made his body shudder.

Something inside of him seemed to…yearn for this feeling.

The ominous feeling that had been rising from his stomach earlier became stronger this time and the old man started sweating profusely.

“Silence, listen to my words. Empty shells you are but you have been useful. A rapist, an assassin, a fraud, a hypocrite, and a bitch. I have never seen individuals so powerful in society yet so disgusting in my life.”

The fool snapped his fingers.

...Hell, he remembered hell.

This was not the first time we saw the face of this devil.

Oh no, oh god what he did to us, nonononononoNoNnONONONONONONONONONO.

Screams filled the round table.

The only thing that existed in this place was the giant round table, if you looked around you would see nothing but darkness.

In this dark plane, six people screamed and begged for mercy whilst he sat alone sipping tea that came out of nowhere.

The gray-haired man looked at the shrieking people before he took out a silver pendant from his pocket.

The moment the others saw the pendant, all of them stopped screaming.

Actually, they stopped breathing, even.

“Your souls have already reached hell for a long time, there is no reason to scream. Remember who you are at the moment, members of the council,” the man spoke to them in a calm soothing voice as if speaking to children who didn’t know what they were doing.

The members who stopped moving looked like mannequins as they seemed to process the words. The rising feeling, the longing feeling finally blossomed inside all of them as they all spoke at the same time.

“W-We are…”

The hesitation slowly began to fade as they all cried in a uniform voice.

“ We are the Spawn of Error,

We are Judas Verety,

We are He Who Will Judge the Cosmos. ”

Silence filled the dark space as the members of the council beside Judas fainted and their flesh withered like a dying plant.

From their corpses, auras of different colors slowly emerged before flowing inside Judas.

The dark space gradually started to disperse before Judas found himself in a room inside of his tower with Jasmine beside him with a concerned expression.

“H-How do you feel?”

Judas looked at his apprentice’s similarly dark eyes briefly before leisurely walking towards the door of the room.

As he left, he couldn’t help but smile as he answered her in a great mood.

“Better than ever”