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

[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.

[immaculacies]

We also didn't know Tsurugi was something besides human until he transformed in the middle of the trial.

[But Manaka doesn't seem especially frazzled about being implicated. She just sighs, sets her elbows on her podium, and then cups her chin in her hands as she looks up toward the ceiling.]

The output of my magic circuits has been far reduced on this station. The amount of magical energy I would require to produce an explosion that was apparently so severe would be much higher than the drops I can wring out of myself now.

[in4apounding]

"Magic circuits"?

[immaculacies]

Mm. Think of them like nerves, or maybe veins carrying blood. They're what allows me to channel my inward reserves of magic energy. But... If they were a faucet before, they've been rusted until only a few drops can drip free.

[in4apounding]

Are those just something humans in your world can have?

[immaculacies]

Ah, yeah, something like that. If there's magic in your bloodline, you'll have them. They can be weak or strong, but it's necessary for all magi.

[playthedamncard]

Fair enough.

But to continue on this line, I can't claim to know specifically how your magic works. There are rituals and conduits that can be used to perform intensely powerful magic, however. You've been involved and seen others involved.

You also are likely to have motive, since surely you know people that are not part of this quest for the Grail who are not meant to know. And you've indicated that should that happen and be traced back to you, it would not likely end well. It'd at least be tremendously inconvenient.

[immaculacies]

If I was going to kill Max, why would I need a ritual to do so? You said he seems to have been immobilized somehow. Wouldn't it have been easier to simply take those garden shears to his throat?

[And, at that second part, she just...smiles.]

The Holy Grail War is no longer of any concern to me.

[andjerry]

[he really doesn't want to believe it could be you]

Because of Saber, right? What you told me about on Sunday?

[immaculacies]

That's right. It's over, and I no longer have need to worry about anyone finding out.

[andjerry]

[all right, the war's over, but just one more thing]

And your magic: you said it's almost shut off here, right?

[in4apounding]

You mean you won? You said it was- some kind of fight to the death, right?

[playthedamncard]

A test? An experiment? To see what you could do, how much you could do.

Or the end result wasn't to kill him but fuel yourself and your magical reserves, if you will, to do something else.

[Though that second half is concerning.] Let's be honest, has anything ever really been of concern to you other than Saber, truly?

[immaculacies]

Ah! You have me there, Kaiba-san.

[re: Saber, she means]

Do you have a plausible theory for what "something else" might be, or are these just baseless accusations?

[playthedamncard]

The initial accusations aren't baseless: as far as we can tell, the internal damage is likely to be magical in origin, which leaves us few options. Now I'm simply trying to figure out if you could have caused it, and if you did, then why. It could be anything from killing Petuu to creating a portal back home; you know I don't like magic even if you think I speak like a magus. You may have found you simply didn't have enough to succeed in your attempts. Or you have succeeded, and we've yet to see the results.

But I admit that I currently have nothing more concrete than the circumstantial evidence.

[le_mat]

...

[Time to be honest]

Before coming here I could use magic too, but it's completely blocked here. And anything I coulda done would've left marks.

[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.

[karappo]

I see...so they would have had the time to do what they wanted. Particularly if there were no signs of a struggle.