Cameraman Never Dies

The photographer showed Judge all the printed photos, who chose the one he thought was the best. The man then put the photo inside an ether-powered color printer and made multiple copies. All of this would only go as far as one or one and a half sten, but Judge paid ten stens since he did not have much change.

He had spent a total of thirty stens on clothing with a two sten and four sen being a tip.

Collecting the envelope containing his photos, Judge quickly made his way past the door and into the street.

He walked out into the street, his mind already on his next step, when he caught four gazes on him. Ah, he thought, how refreshing, some people who haven't yet learned to mind their own business. He let out an exasperated sigh. He really wasn't in the mood to entertain them, but then again, a little alleyway confrontation might be just what he needed to "kill" some time.

Having enough time until night to do his next task of forging a fake identity, he decided to beat up someone. Yeah, not the best solution, but they asked for it. He put on his hoodie and turned into an alley, inviting the four men in poor dress into the alley with him.

Judge put on his mask and turned invisible right after he had turned around a corner, but he made sure they had seen him.

The men who followed him did not wait around as they went after him, only to find the place empty. Fear enshrouded them as they realized what they had done. They went after a man in suspicious clothing after being blinded by money.

The man in dark clothes appeared behind them, and without giving them any time to react, he conjured a stick from the ground and started to beat them mercilessly. They were just tramps, but he did not care.

Amidst the beating Jude realized one thing, there was something connecting the four men and an outside force. It was ether, and it made Judge connect all the dots.

Firstly, the tramps were not inside the shop to begin with, and there was no way that they knew he was rich just based on his clothes. So someone told them, but it seems that it was not 'telling', but mind controlling.

Mind controlling, as Judge knew, was an extremely hard principle to grasp. I wonder how the person behind this did it.

Judge activated the recording once more and followed the ether to its source, but the flow had been cut off and the instigator had escaped. He was trying to know if I had even a bit of strength before robbing me! How careful, maybe I will give this person what it likes to be robbed of something precious, maybe something like... life.

———

It was nighttime, after finding his way through the dark alleyways, Judge stopped after making sure no one was watching him.

He put on his mask and became invisible by hitting record. In this state, he was invincible and the fastest being in all of existence, but he still was only grasping the basics and definitely was not the fastest... yet.

The moon was painting the unlit places with a blue tint. He could now head into the government Municipal office building and go for the Department of Civil Affairs to create a fake identification document.

He had already put a few necessary things inside the studio, an aged paper, a pen, and a few runes of quietude. Those runes let him make an enclosed space of complete silence, no sound would escape or be created. The only downside was that no sound could get in either, making it hard to notice if someone was coming, but he had a spirit.

Runes, as he had heard from his grandfather, were only known to the Dragons. To other races, while they knew a few, and only a few, they couldn't use it, so defense against runes was not found outside the land of dragons.

In his cameraman state, Judge made his way inside the municipal hall and toward the Department of Civil Affairs. He had ordered Lucifer to observe this place beforehand in order to understand how things go here and where things were kept.

There were only a few night security guards, after all, this was not a bank and did not need that much protection. But this was a place where important documents of both the government and the people were kept, so security was still necessary to an extent.

Judge made his way past all of them unnoticed and got inside the office, after scanning the area, he made his way toward the Civil Affairs Department according to his memory.

Not having fully grasped the cameraman's state yet, he could only do stuff like phase through thin walls or doors, and also be invisible as well as invincible, that too to a certain extent. He did not know up to what extent his invincibility could hold, but he knew better than to try.

The hallways were long and wide with many rooms and signs on each side. Finally, he saw a sign that read "Department of Civil Affairs". He sighed and made his way to the left hal. After just a few strides, he entered a large hall, this was where the identification documents like birth certificates and citizenship documents were created and kept.
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Judge took out the things he needed after heading inside the studio and started his mission. He first summoned Seraphis, who appeared like a small, low-level spirit. But he had many skills of a high-level spirit, though less effective. One was thought transmission, this would ensure Judge could go invisible if any security comes this way.

He took out the paper and went near a table, the sign on the table read "Citizenship application". A small smile crept up on his face behind his mask, people had to wait for days if not weeks for their children to get a citizenship certificate, it was necessary for many things.

Many things like opening a bank and getting into the mercenary guild needed official documents to prove your identity, and they also needed your photo. This was a big reason why there were many customers at the photo studio.

Judge sighed and took out a thick card with an inscribed rune quietude, it was a simple inscription with a diagonal square inside a circle. He placed it on the ground and said slowly, "Silence!"