fourth trial

[airlockedmods]

[With the announcement and the evidence, the Champions are free to decide amongst themselves what order the groups leave in. Once that's done the process of teleporting is automatic and happens in the blink of an eye. Once second they're in the center of the cafeteria before a soft blue light surrounds them and then they're standing in the middle of a circle of podiums.

The room itself it the same shiny, chrome-covered atrocity as most of the rest of the ship save for the sections of floor that aren't the teleporter: those are thick clear glass that show nothing but empty space and stars beneath the Champions' feet. As for the podiums they're the same sort of garish chrome with a digital screen facing toward the center of the circle. More portraits and names in blaring red have been added this week. Karamatsu Matsuno, the Champion of Painful Secondhand Embarrassment That's So Cringe Inducing, Narcissistic, And Eye Blindingly Glittery It Makes You Wish He'd Go Away, Korra, the Champion Avatar, Yuri Plisetsky, the Champion Figure Skater and Max Olguin, the Champion Portrait Artist.

The Overseers are waiting when they all arrive, standing on a floating platform just high enough to be out of reach and back far enough toward a far wall to have a full view of the courtroom. Both are dressed well, Rox in a pressed grey dress jacket and skirt and Blaze in a black suit with the sleeves rolled up to expose his numerous tattoos. He's also sporting a black eye patch with a flaming snowflake embroidered on it over his left eye. Rox is smiling like that cat who ate the canary while Blaze is standing a little farther away than normal and looking uncomfortable.]

Welcome back, Champions! There are ten of you here but, if things go correctly, only nine of you will leave. I don't think I have to explain at this point what will happen if you choose wrong.

As usual there's no time limit but be sure to keep things interesting. [She folds her arms across her chest, looking down on the Champions with a grin.] Let the trial begin.

Comments

cw: more gore

[playthedamncard]

The parts are concerning, yes, but damn near any of us could be physically capable of mutilating another with the right tools--which we have.

We need to figure out how he seemingly exploded from the inside. Whatever happened, that is not something just anyone could manage.

[le_mat]

If it was just his gut I'd say he might have been inflated somehow. But that wouldn't have the force to tear off a limb, would it?

[karappo]

[Oooh goooood]

When you say explosion...what exactly do you mean? There was no signs of, say...something like a bomb having gone off, right?

[playthedamncard]

No burns, be it heat or chemical.

[karappo]

[Karamatsu's brows furrow.]

But having come from the inside...how is something like that even possible?

[He did hear what Akira posed, but...he doesn't want to think about that.]

[le_mat]

No debris either. A bomb would leave metal or plastic behind, you'd think. It's more like some kinda force just was manifested in his gut. I don't know of any chemicals that could do that without burning so that loops back around to it being more magical bullshit.

[karappo]

So the question, then...is who among us could pull something like that off.

[playthedamncard]

Manaka and Marisa. [Apparently he's run out of any fucks left to give re: using last names.] They are the only ones left that we know of who can use magic, yes? Roxy may also have some form of power, you will have to correct me on that.

[in4apounding]

...

[She doesn't want to say it.]

...Marisa and Manaka both have magical abilities. But doing something like this-

[playthedamncard]

It was something at least centered around his middle, and it was forceful enough to-- [Hold on. He has to breathe for a second through a slight wave of nausea.] --enough to splatter the room with blood and more as if it had blown outward, and to also possibly tear two limbs off.

We didn't find anything to suggest he'd been forced to ingest anything that would cause a reaction, and even if he had, it should have left something identifiable. A burn of heat or from a chemical reaction.

[karappo]

Mm.

[...give him a moment, he's. Having to stave off some nausea too.]

This does not strike me as something that could have been done quickly. I do not recall if you have said, but...it did not seem like Max-san had been restrained when you found him?

[Or. What was left of him.]

[playthedamncard]

We didn't find any marks to indicate he was restrained. He may have been unconscious or in some way incapacitated.

[immaculacies]

If his guts were inflated, could it be that the limbs were torn off afterward? Since the killer already mutilated the body so much, and it isn't like we haven't gotten the order of events wrong before.

[le_mat]

Possibly. But I checked and they weren't cut off. It's possible they were torn off instead of blown off, but they definitely weren't done with a blade or anything like that.

[immaculacies]

Hm... You're right, that tearing instead of cutting would have been a less deliberate kind of mutilation. Still, it might be something to keep in mind, if there's someone who could do that kind of damage.

[le_mat]

...

Only one of us has the physical strength to even have a chance to do that without a tool or outside help. And I refuse to even consider it.

[Yes that's a dumb thing to say. Yes he should be unbiased. But also fuck the collective 'you']

[immaculacies]

[...]

As you like, Kurusu-san.

[le_mat]

[He just had to investigate two of his closest friends' gibblets two weeks in a row, let him be irrational]

[karappo]

[Karamatsu knows what you're thinking, Akira.]

I feel like more damage would have been caused to the immediate area if that could ever be the case.

[andjerry]

[akira you are a good

there's no way penny did this]

[dejabrew]

We're looking for a complete monster, here.

[Not his Pumpkin. No one even dare say it.]

[in4apounding]

[Only on- ...oh.]

I. Could have done it, physically, yes. But the rest of it- I don't even know how that's possible.

And Max was- he was my friend.

[dejabrew]

We know, Pumpkin.

[karappo]

You did not do this, Penny-chan. There is utterly no possible way you could have.

[And frankly, he doesn't give a damn if people think he's biased thinking this. Fight him.]

[le_mat]

Even if you could tear his arm and leg off, you couldn't do that damage to his gut. I fought you, you didn't show any power like that. I didn't see any Semblances in the Holodeck that looked like they could do that without marks either.

[Guess who was paying a lot of attention during that spar and it's lead up]