Selene expected nothing but darkness after the bullet.
Instead, she awoke to light—blinding, endless, silver-white light stretching like a courtroom without walls. Columns of stone rose into infinity. Shadows of faceless figures sat in vast rows, watching her in silence.
And before her stood a judge's bench carved from black crystal.
What… is this?
Her breathing quickened. She touched her chest instinctively—no blood, no wound. Instead, her skin glowed faintly, thin golden lines pulsing beneath like veins filled with light.
A voice boomed overhead, neither male nor female:
"Selene Vale. Advocate. Defender of the Voiceless. You stand before the Court of Fate."
Selene staggered back. "Court of… what?"
"Every soul passes through judgment," the voice declared. "Each born with one Vein of Justice—the path their destiny may follow. Prosecutor. Defender. Arbiter. Inquisitor. Your trial begins now."
A sound cut the silence: the heavy slam of a gavel.
Chains of light erupted from the ground, binding her wrists. Across the hall, another figure appeared—a man cloaked in black robes, his eyes glowing crimson.
"Accused: Selene Vale. Crime: Defiance of Fate."
Selene's eyes widened. "Defiance? I was murdered!"
The faceless prosecutor raised a scroll. "You overturned destinies that were sealed. You saved those marked guilty. You interfered with the natural order."
Selene's jaw clenched. "That wasn't defiance. That was justice."
The air trembled.
Something deep inside her chest burned hot—then flared. The golden veins under her skin blazed brighter, multiplying, branching, splitting until her entire body lit like a web of fire.
The faceless figures in the gallery stirred. Whispers echoed.
"Impossible…"
"A thousand veins…"
"No Advocate has ever…"
Selene looked down. The glowing patterns weren't one vein. They were hundreds. Thousands. Each different—some straight like blades, some coiled like scrolls, some pulsing like beating hearts.
The chains around her wrists shattered.
The prosecutor recoiled. "This cannot be! No mortal holds more than one!"
Selene's lips curved in a sharp, fearless smile. "Guess I'm not your average defendant."
The voice from above thundered once more:
"Selene Vale, you have awakened the Thousand Veins of Justice. The Trial World opens before you. Win, and you shall shape law itself. Lose… and be erased."
The gavel struck.
The Court of Fate dissolved into blinding light, and Selene fell—down, down, into the new world where her thousand trials awaited.