SIXTH TRIAL

[bathymetric]

Alright, same as every week before this - gather at the Vault Door so my Assistant can let you in. And I can start hoping to salvage at least the aquarium.

[ The Assistant, nee Failsafe, stands in her armor at the ready when you arrive, not saying a word and simply unlocking the door and elevator for you to head on down to the trial room. Second verse, same as the first five verses, but a whole lot quieter and a whole lot meaner.

The elevator is a lot emptier now, isn't it? Your number has fallen yet again since the last time you were here. Feels like yesterday, or maybe forever ago? Time's feeling pretty weird right about now, but trial days are for getting locked into the moment. You're here, you're present.

You're running out of allies.

The screens are the same as ever, though, and lower as you enter. ]

I see you haven't decided to continue to increase the number of bodies this week. Perhaps something to be thankful for, in all of this. Hotshot is dead, and the responsibility of finding his killer falls to you. Hopefully this is all old hat to you by now, no?

[The screens rise.

Welcome to your sixth trial. ]

Comments

[blackmass]

That's...quite enough stalling, isn't it?

[Kirei laughed under his breath, a hand resting on his podium as though he found he needed support to stand.]

It does strike me as remarkable. How many times has this happened, in the brief span of weeks we have spent together? Líf, Alice Cullen, Seteth, Rose Quartz, Rhea, and now Vincent Valentine--

How many of us have been hiding what we truly are?

[Kirei spoke as though he were merely holding an ordinary conversation, even in a situation that was the furthest from it. Calm despite how pale and unsteady he looked, as though he was prepared for this very thing.]

[As though he never expected to get away with anything at all.]

I despised Seiros because she went to such lengths to justify herself. Twisting all logic and reason to paint herself as the moral superior, no matter what she did or what blood she shed in the process. I was disappointed in her, because she held the conviction to sacrifice everything for her single purpose and yet ruined such resolve by daring to justify it as for some imagined greater good.

Foolishly, I dared to think we were similar, and the disappointment I felt at realizing I was wrong can not be measured.

[Something flickered around him then; the same trick of the light that had been seen only for a split second when Rhea had angered him the week before was clearer now: forming into animate shadows twisting like intangible serpents and radiating an aura of pure curses and malice. Where it brushed against his podium, it corroded the structure as if its mere touch was antithetical to existence itself.]

There has only ever been one desire that I have held. To attain it I have taken many lives, and to pursue that desire is the only way I have known how to live. For that reason I could not truly condemn the morality of Seiros' acts even as I hated her demeanor, and because of that reason I would not curse or even blame the mindless demon once named Vincent Valentine.

[low I kneel, with heart's submission,
see, like ashes, my contrition,
help me in my last condition.]

For I also am what others would call 'a heartless monster'.

[bolderfell]

[Well. Birkin's off the hook for smelling the rocks, then. Yikesies.]

...So what did happen to the museum floor?

[blackmass]

There was no explosive--it was as I said, a concussive force of unleashed power.

[bolderfell]

Yeah, like what. Wind wouldn't do that.

[Did he pUNCH THE FLOOR]

[blackmass]

...

Angra Mainyu.

[bolderfell]

...

[???]

[blackmass]

I hesitated for only an instant, and all it took was a single shot. Again, right through the heart.

[He pressed a hand to his chest, where it seemed like the tangle of shadows either gravitated to or originated from.]

Countless untold curses, unleashed in an instant. It's no surprise it would act as an explosion.

[so basically, devil trigger.]

[fivestagegod]

[WHY THE FUCK IS HE THE ONE STANDING NEXT TO THIS.]

You're mad at us for being liars and hypocrites. Oh my god, get in line.

[blackmass]

No--just at her.

I only find it amusing that the rest of us are such a tangled disaster of buried secrets and hidden monsters.

[fivestagegod]

Right. Almost a shame the Professor caught me about five minutes early, otherwise I'd be one of them too.

So are you at least enjoying yourself with this, or is this grandstanding more pointless than the usual?

[blackmass]

I think you misunderstand me, Birkin. I hate this entire situation, and I was endlessly frustrated from the moment Vincent attacked me.

I had no interest in the Professor, his motive, or anything but feeling his neck snap beneath my hands. My hand was forced, and this is the result.

This is stalling because I won't give him the satisfaction of killing me.

[bogwife]

[She's so glad to be almost halfway across the courtroom because boy, that looks like some demon nonsense that she doesn't want to be near.]

He injured you in the fight. Some of that blood splatter was yours, wasn't it?

[blackmass]

He injured me once. And once was enough.

[fivestagegod]

No, I think you're the one misunderstanding. Let me rephrase: do you always get like this when you're stalling for time, or is this a special circumstance? Because I'm not sure you realize what a shitshow you're being.

By all means, keep doing it if it's going to get you what you want. I'm willing to stand here and argue about pointless shit with you until you die, if that's what you're after. I can get behind the whole not-giving-him-the-satisfaction thing.

[nothingcanstop]

...

Why were you in the garden? Just wanted some peace and quiet?

[hardnosed]

You weren't misleading us before, then. He was already a mindless beast when you encountered him.

[blackmass]

I've done many terrible things in my lifetime, Jasper. But I have a distaste for lying in as many words. We exchanged barely a handful of words, but I do not believe what I met in the garden was Vincent Valentine any longer.

[hardnosed]

And you put it down.

[ And that's that on that! No more to see here, folks. ]

How much longer do you have?

[blackmass]

Not long.

...Do make sure someone looks after the poison flowers. There are not many things in life I enjoy, but...I have ever been partial to that which others revile.

[hardnosed]

You know what half the people here are like. Someone will see to it.

... At least you didn't try and cover it up.

[mouflon]

Hey, so can we just hear in plain terms whether or not you killed Vincent? You can grandstand all you want after that, I don't really care.

[blackmass]

It is as all of you so clearly outlined--self-defense, not that it matters in the slightest.

I find it annoying I have to spell out as much for you.

[mouflon]

I just want to make sure there's no misunderstandings.

[ There's something else she wants to ask him, but... Look, even she can't manage the level of spite it would require to ask so, do you intend to off yourself before the vote? with a cheerful smile on her face, so!! ]

[blackmass]

There have been many between us, but this is not one of them.

[As if to answer, he took out a knife stained with traces of blood, hidden separate from his coat (the more obvious hising place, as Rin had determined) ...and laid it on the podium.]

In another world, this belonged to your father. Take it, or do not. I don't care.

[mouflon]

[ Ugh. Her spitefully sunny expression wavers in the face of that, and she briefly looks away. ]

...I've told you before, that Rin Tohsaka and I are different people. I can say that for sure, because I knew her when I was young.

That thing belonged to her father, not mine, and I don't think either of us are going to want it back if you're about to do what I think you are.