The impact of Nero's words was great, but it was more about how he said than anything else. Standing up on trial, facing possible banishment to a cursed zone, brought low by the cuffs restraining his aether, facing the scrutiny of three judges and an entire courtroom, Nero commanded the audience's attention as if he had been doing it all his life.
Everyone other than the judges suddenly became extremely aware of the fact that Nero was standing up on the… well, stands. More importantly, he was standing on an elevated platform so that he could be easily seen. But right now, it did not look like he was a criminal facing his trial. It looked like Nero was a warrior, standing above them, looking down.
The whole notion was entirely absurd because he was a mere Neophyte, the lowest level in the whole room. But it was also a fact that he had already killed more Initiates than many of the people in this room ever had, or ever would. After all, even if everyone joined the army for mandatory service, they didn't all become combatants.
"For now, I am only the best in the Neophyte realm, but it is only a matter of time before I become the best in the Initiate realm, and then the Arcanist realm. Why then do I need to rely on others?"
Nero's words echoed in the hall, and reeked of ignorance and arrogance - yet no one thought that. Indeed, as Nero suspected, over the past few days, many witnesses had been called, and Nero's excellent combat prowess had come to light, as well as his impressive fight records.
He had defeated Bael, son of Dagon. He had defeated Arter, progeny of the Ferro family. He killed berserkers left and right as if they were random strays. He could single handed destroy curses, which was far from ordinary! Normally, curses were only sealed! To destroy a curse would require complicated procedures and high level cards!
He feared no danger, was a natural born leader, and was an excellent warrior. He was the very culmination of all that Kolar admired, and it was a result of his own hard work and diligence. It was impossible not to be impressed by him.
"Bold words," the prosecutor began, but this time it was Nero who interrupted him.
"It's not bold, it's a fact. The Initiate and Arcanist realms are too far away from me, but you can test me in the Neophyte realm. The things I can do, no one else in my realm can do. And the things others can do, I can do better."
Nero glared openly at the prosecutor as if welcoming the man to challenge him. But there was no need. Everyone of them already knew the truth. Even if they had not learned of Nero's enhancements from the Vault, they knew his performance was better than his peers.
After a slightly prolonged silence, the prosecutor continued.
"You have mentioned an incident - the one with the cursed vines. It was the very first incident whereafter you gained a bit of recognition for your valiant efforts in trying to save your neighbours. Tell me, isn't it a little too coincidental that you, of all people, did not suffer from the same curse?"
"Hardly," responded Nero, though he could not help but notice the oddity of that question. It was… it was too dumb a question. It was as if he was being awarded a chance to show off on a silver platter. Could this be another trap? If it was, it was one Nero would walk into willingly.
"I was not the only one in the hostel who was unaffected by the vines. I was just the only one who stayed back to fight - everyone else had run away or had been caught already."
"Yes, yes you were the only one who stayed back when everyone else ran away. You say you used this opportunity to save as many people as possible, but a lot of people also died that day. If you were, to say, take that opportunity where no one was around to kill some of the students who were captured, no one would be the wiser, now would they?"
Nero narrowed his eyes. It was a trap, but a clumsy one. Or was this just bait too?
"If I killed anyone, it would be easy to identify. More importantly, I was not alone. One of the students I saved, Isa Hammel, was there with me throughout, and was a witness to all my actions."
Nero was suddenly struck by an odd thought. He had not noticed before, since he was too preoccupied, but now that he thought about it, it was strange. How come he never saw Isa again after that incident?
The prosecutor looked at him oddly, then looked at a few documents he was holding. He went through a few pages, before looking back at Nero.
"I'm sorry, but there's no report of any 'Isa Hammel' with you during the event. According to the reports, you did everything alone and unsupervised."
Nero frowned, but at the same time some things made sense. No wonder he never saw Isa again - he disappeared. There was yet another mystery for him to look into.
Nero had once felt like the ruins in Lumina were filled with secret deals and conspiracies, with a plot and a new danger around every corner. Yet now he had come to realise that normal, day to day life was no different. Someone had disappeared right beside him, and he had never noticed!
He, who prided himself in being so attentive, never even noticed when an entire person disappeared entirely. Who knew how many other secrets there were all around him? How many of them had Nero touched without ever realising them.
"I don't know what's in your documents, but I can tell you that I was with Isa Hammel through most of that ordeal. I discovered him…"
Nero told the whole story in vivid detail, leaving out only Isa's innate ability. Whether anyone believed him or not was not something he could control, but he could at least bring a shred of awareness around the situation.
Once Nero told the whole story, the prosecutor did not ask him any more questions about that instance, only commenting that, "at least at this moment, no one can confirm whether you killed others at that time or not."
Then the questions continued, and for hours Nero was asked a number of seemingly random questions, all from various times in his life. He did not seem to be building up towards anything, but it was as if he was searching for a loophole in Nero's claims.
Unfortunately for him, Nero had been playing this game his whole life. It was not so easy to trip him up.
Eventually, the prosecutor finally started to ask him questions about Lumina.
"Is it true that, within the cathedral, you threatened to kill two soldiers, even going as far as placing a knife to their necks?"
"Yes, completely," Nero answered without hesitation. "They were unknown soldiers whose life I saved against a horde of berserkers. But instead of being grateful, they wanted to use me and my team as cannon fodder to protect their progeny of a Great family.
When I did not comply, they became aggressive, which is why I had to remind them that while they were content to act as servants of others, we were not. We were not willing to give up our mission to help them complete theirs."
"So you claim that you only threatened them, and did not kill them. Yet they never made it out of the cathedral. Are you saying you had no hand in their deaths?"
Nero audibly scoffed.
"They were not worth the time it would take to kill them. Throughout the mission I was under view of my teammates, as well as the team Verdant-2 so you can ask them about it if you wish. If they died, I had no hand in their death. I just did not prevent them from rushing into it."
"Yes, but you are quite fond of threatening people, aren't you? Does it irk you if you don't get your way? Is that why you beat up Arter later on? Because he wouldn't listen to your orders?"
Nero shook his head. It was not good form to say such things, but since the judge excluded him from responsibility, and allowed him to speak freely, he wouldn't mind revealing what actually happened.
"It had nothing to do with that. His mission directives directly clashed with mine. For ownership of the artefacts, we were forced to fight. Even so, I did not hurt more than his ego during that fight. You can confirm this with others as well."
At this point, Nero was almost certain that he would be questioned about Vanessa. Her betrayal had already been revealed. Yet surprisingly, that did not happen.