It crawled up from the platform, moving slowly and laboriously, like a machine that had gone without maintenance for thousands of years starting up again.
Its hands braced against the ground, its knees trembling. Its head hung low, white light seeping from the cracks in its face like a lamp about to go out.
After it stood up, its body swayed, and it nearly collapsed again, but it steadied itself.
It raised its head, its white eyes fixed on Loren.
"You... are not Universal Level." The Judge's voice came from its mouth, hoarse and broken, like a dying candle in the wind.
"You are... Multiversal Level..."
Loren stood before it, less than ten meters away. His gray eyes rested on the Judge, but he did not answer.
The Judge's body began to glow—not white, but dark red. A fading dark red, like dying embers.
The cracks across its body widened. White energy poured from them, intertwining with the dark red energy to form an unstable red-and-white glow.
It was burning the last of its life force, transforming its entire existence into a single attack.
"I... will not... die... here..." The Judge forced the words from its throat, every syllable seeming to consume the last of its strength.
"I... am a Celestial... I am... the Judge... I have... lived... for thousands... of years... I... will not... die... by the hands... of a... human..."
Its body suddenly expanded, growing from the size of an ordinary human to two meters, three meters, five meters, ten meters.
The cracks on its body were forced open, revealing an inner body glowing white, like lava.
Its arms transformed into two enormous blades condensed from energy, dark red lightning dancing across their edges.
Its head became a sharp, spear-like cone, its tip blazing with dazzling white light.