The moment Zarek uttered the word judgment, the entire plain trembled.
It wasn't violent.
There was no earthquake, no explosion, no surge of spiritual energy.
Instead, the silence itself became heavier.
Several disciples instinctively reached for their weapons, their breathing growing uneven. Even the elders straightened, their spiritual senses sweeping across the empty plain.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
That was what made it terrifying.
The First Elder slowly approached Zarek.
"What did you sense?"
Zarek kept his hand on the smooth stone, his eyes fixed on a single point beneath the ground.
"I didn't sense an attack."
His voice was calm.
"I sensed... an absence."
The surrounding elders exchanged uncertain glances.
An absence?
How could someone sense something that wasn't there?
The ancient voice echoed softly within his consciousness.
"Can emptiness exist on its own?"
Zarek answered inwardly.
"No."
"Then what creates it?"
He remained silent.
The question lingered.
Emptiness was never born naturally.
It was left behind after something had been taken away.
His eyes slowly widened.
"They didn't destroy this sect..."
"They removed it."
The System did not praise him.
Instead, it asked another question.
"What is more difficult, destroying a mountain... or making the world forget it ever stood?"
...
For the first time since obtaining the Primordial Devour System, Zarek felt a chill run through his spine.
The First Elder knelt beside him.
"What is it?"
Zarek looked across the endless plain.
"If I'm right..."
"...this battlefield is still alive."
Those words immediately put every elder on guard.
Weapons were drawn.
Formation masters quickly expanded protective arrays around the expedition.
The silence deepened.
Nothing happened.
Then...
A disciple cried out.
"E-Elder!"
Everyone turned.
The young disciple stared at a weathered stone several meters away.
"I..."
"I swear there wasn't a stone there a moment ago."
The First Elder frowned.
"No one move."
Another disciple pointed in the opposite direction.
"There's another one!"
Then another.
And another.
Within seconds, dozens of ancient stone pillars emerged across the empty plain.
No one had seen them appear.
It was as though they had always existed...
Until someone remembered to notice them.
The ancient voice became unusually serious.
"Do not trust your eyes."
Zarek narrowed his gaze.
"What should I trust?"
A brief silence followed.
Then—
"Your understanding."
Without warning, one of the younger disciples screamed.
"My brother!"
He ran toward one of the pillars.
The First Elder shouted.
"Stop!"
Too late.
The disciple's fingers touched the weathered stone.
The world...
Paused.
Not time.
Perception.
Every cultivator watched in horror as the disciple's body became transparent.
His screams grew quieter.
His outline blurred.
His name...
Vanished from everyone's mind.
One disciple turned in confusion.
"...Who was that?"
Another frowned.
"Why are we standing here?"
Panic spread through the formation.
Memories were disappearing.
The First Elder bit his tongue until blood filled his mouth, using pain to anchor his consciousness.
"Everyone!"
"Do not touch anything!"
Zarek remained still.
Watching.
Analyzing.
The disciple had not died.
Death left a corpse.
This...
Left nothing.
Even memory had been devoured.
His expression hardened.
"So this is the First Judgment."
The ancient voice answered.
"No."
A pause.
"This is merely the courtroom."
The words echoed inside his mind.
Courtroom.
Then...
Where was the judge?
A cold breeze swept across the plain.
One by one...
The stone pillars rotated.
Not mechanically.
Naturally.
As though answering an unseen command.
Ancient symbols illuminated their surfaces.
None of the elders recognized them.
None of the disciples could even comprehend them.
Yet the moment Zarek saw the symbols...
Something inside the Law Fragment resonated.
His heartbeat accelerated.
Not from fear.
Recognition.
The symbols weren't words.
They were...
Concepts.
The ancient voice spoke again.
For the first time...
There was unmistakable urgency within it.
"Do not read them."
Zarek's pupils contracted.
"Why?"
"Because once you understand them..."
The voice became quieter.
"...they will also understand you."
The wind stopped.
The mountain birds fell silent.
Even the clouds overhead ceased to drift.
Then—
A voice echoed across the entire plain.
It did not come from the sky.
Nor the earth.
It seemed to emerge from every direction at once.
"One who bears the Primordial Devour System..."
"...you have entered the Hall of Judgment."
The elders froze.
Their expressions turned pale.
They could hear it.
Every one of them.
The voice continued.
"State your name."
Zarek slowly stepped forward.
The First Elder reached out.
"Zarek, don't—"
Zarek gently moved his hand aside.
His gaze never left the endless plain.
"I am Zarek."
Silence.
Then...
The unseen presence answered.
"Your trial... begins."
Far beneath the smooth stone...
Something enormous...
Opened its eyes.