No. Impossible.
Everything that had happened before must have been ...REAL.... right? RIGHT? Or...
Two-Face stood there for a long moment, his breathing uneven, his mind in chaos. He refused to accept the conclusion that had just formed in his head, yet his body reacted before his reason could catch up.
He slowly turned his head.
His eyes widened instantly.
He was still in the courtroom he had meticulously arranged. That was not the problem.
The judge's bench, the defendant's seat, the jury box, the rows of chairs, every familiar structure remained exactly where it had been.
The candles were still burning.
The shadows still trembled faintly on the walls.
The only problem was that there was no one in them.
No matter where Two-Face looked, he could not see a single person in the room except himself and Harvey Dent's head.
Robin was gone.
The thirteen hostages he had captured were gone.
Even the judge and the jurors who had trembled under his gaze were gone.
The entire hall was empty.
Two-Face's pupils slowly contracted.
He knew better than anyone how tightly those people had been bound. He also knew that his subordinates had sealed every exit before the trial began.
Even if most of his attention had been on "Harvey Dent," he could not have failed to notice more than a dozen people breaking free at the same time.
And from the moment "Harvey Dent" appeared until now, no more than a minute or two had passed.
How could such a short time be enough for over a dozen people to disappear without leaving the slightest trace?
Incomprehensible.
Unbelievable.
Yet reality forced him to accept it.
For the first time, an emotion called fear surged in Two-Face's eyes.
It was not fear of death.
It was fear of something beyond logic.
"Think about it. Why did your perfectly functional pistol suddenly fail to fire? Why did the coin land on heads every single time?"
At that moment, Harvey Dent's voice echoed in Two-Face's ears again.
The voice was calm, but it carried a weight that pressed directly on his mind.
"The answer has always been in your heart."
"The one rejecting you is yourself, Two-Face. No… Harvey, it's time for the days of using hypocritical fairness to excuse your sins to end."
"No! You're wrong!"
Two-Face suddenly raised his head, his voice trembling with fury.
"I've never excused myself. If you were me, you would know that what I follow is the only fairness in this world, the coin. It's either heads or tails. No matter the time or place, everyone faces the same chance."
His words poured out rapidly, as if he were afraid that if he stopped speaking, the truth would catch up with him.
"When.. When the coin tells me to do good, I am the kindest person under the sun. When the coin tells me to do evil, I am the most feared demon in the world. Good and evil coexist within me. That is absolute perfection."
The emptiness of the courtroom amplified his voice, making it sound even more hysterical.
"Is that so?"
Harvey Dent interrupted his fervent proclamation without expression.
His tone was neither mocking nor angry.
It was simply calm. Like a doctor talking to a patient. Like a teacher talking to a child. Like a... like a....
"What perfect balance? What judgment of the coin? If you truly believed in this system, then now that the coin has landed on heads so many times in a row, you should be a good person, shouldn't you? But what did you just do?"
"You tried to shoot and kill me without even tossing the coin."
The words struck like a hammer.
"T-that's because you tampered with the coin!"
Two-Face's pupils trembled.
"How could I possibly accept such a result?"
He clenched his teeth, his voice hoarse.
"On what grounds do you claim there's a problem with the coin? Where is the evidence? You were a prosecutor. You should know very well that an accusation without evidence is invalid."
The moment those words left his mouth, he froze.
It felt as if he had stabbed himself with his own logic.
"Evidence? Only fools obsessed with rules—"
"I'm not talking to you, Two-Face!"
Harvey Dent shouted sharply.
The sudden intensity in his voice shattered the stillness of the hall.
"I'm talking to myself, the other self you buried deep in your heart. Harvey Dent."
"You say Harvey… Dent, but I am Harvey… no, I am Two-Face… but I am also Harvey Dent… then you are… AAAAAARRRRGH!!!!"
At that moment, a splitting pain surged through Two-Face's head.
He staggered backward.
He clutched his temples with both hands, his fingers digging into his scalp.
His breathing became ragged.
His lips trembled as he muttered under his breath, his words breaking into fragments.
...
Meanwhile, outside the strange space in the room.
"I can't hear anything. What on earth is Kaitou Kid trying to do?"
Robin stared in confusion at the small space that had suddenly appeared in the center of the room, seemingly enclosed by some kind of transparent barrier.
Under the strange refraction of light, Kaitou Kid and Two-Face could no longer be seen clearly from the outside.
From certain angles, one could even see straight through the space to the other side, as if the barrier did not exist at all.
"Ever since Kaitou Kid transformed into Harvey Dent just now, these transparent panels suddenly appeared, isolating him and Two-Face inside…"
Robin frowned.
His instincts told him that what was happening inside that space was far more dangerous than any physical battle.
...
Back inside the enclosure.
"Sigh…You're right. I've always been wrong."
Two-Face slowly lowered his hands.
He looked down at his own palms, as if he were seeing them for the first time.
The ferocity and violence in his eyes had vanished at some unknown moment.
In their place was an unprecedented clarity.
"I thought the coin represented absolute fairness, but in fact, it's exactly the opposite."
His voice was low.
It carried neither rage nor madness.
Only exhaustion.
"Oh? You've really figured it out?"
Before him, the floating head of "Harvey Dent" asked in surprise.
"Figured it out? Deep inside me, I've always asked myself.. Which would be worse: to live as a monster, or to die as a good man? I'd say I finally found the courage to admit the truth."
Two-Face gave a faint, melancholy smile.
The expression looked strange on his severely disfigured face, but it was not terrifying.
At this moment, the aura he exuded was completely different from how he had been just a minute ago.
He was calm.
Composed.
And there was a lingering trace of sadness in his gaze.
Compared to the image of the mad and vicious Two-Face, he was almost like the former Harvey Dent.
"You… you've changed back?"
The floating "Harvey Dent" asked uncertainly.
"Changed back? I.... suppose so."
Two-Face paused for a moment.
Then he lifted his eyes slowly.
"To you, it must indeed look like I've changed from Two-Face back into Harvey Dent…"
His voice softened.
Two-Face, no, Harvey, replied quietly.
____
🪙🪙🪙🪙
12 Advance chapters:
Patreon.com/serioza