fifth trial

[arsholes]

[With the last piece of evidence collected, Heisenberg's voice abruptly comes from everywhere and nowhere once again.]

Ready when you are. Come on up, Apprentices. You know the drill by now.

[Time to get in your weekly cardio climbing all these goddamn stairs again. Per usual, the ascension takes several minutes, with one final door remaining locked than that first time. The shimmer of purple shield magic remains, blocking the apprentices from accessing it but they'll know soon enough if they make it through this trial.

Finally they reach the courtroom door. It's a bit singed and a little splattered with dried blood. You'd think the tower would have eagerly drunk it up...but perhaps someone left it as a message. The door swings open to reveal a small set of steps, leading up to an imposing round chamber with a tapered roof. Twenty podiums stand in a circle in the center, lit brightly from below. Each podium is made of dark metal with a colored crystal matching the individual dorms enclosed on a thick glass dome on top of it. As always, greyed out portraits of the deceased have been added- Olive and Bruno. The courtroom looks completely unharmed from Hubert's attempt on Wednesday.

Heisenberg once again is up on his scaffold. He pulls a gas mask off of his head and runs a hand through his hair, before settling his hat back in its usual place.]

Hope you've brought your best. And all the evidence. You know how this goes by now. Either one person leaves here, or ten of you get the reward of going back down to the Institute.

Better get started.

Comments

[replacementshield]

Naturally and fortunately for you.

It also means they clearly had been planning this for awhile, already having such a thing prepared well in advance, and managed to still keep it well out of sight from everyone else.

An incredible feat in such a short amount of time.

[reresurrected]

That would only lend further credence to the idea that Bruno-san foresaw this quite some time ago, I would think.

[replacementshield]

And he likely foresaw it while he was in the storage room, judging by the salt left behind in there.

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

So he was trying to keep it from happening? Like Bryn-san's theory, maybe! But then...

[replacementshield]

Yeah, he probably did. But something clearly went wrong.

Not as planned, since I doubt Bruno desired this end result in the slightest. Naturally, 'not as planned' is where the killer came in.

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

Do you think it was the same person in his vision? Since we don't have that part yet.

[cuttingremark]

If he were trying to fake the prophesy, it's possible he could have called whoever is in that piece to the lounge with the note Baldr found.

[encelevenemus]

I would acknowledge that with the limited knowledge we currently have, there is no way of knowing if the individual in this prophecy even is our murderer, or merely someone who was involved some other way.

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

But why would they hide the last piece and send us hunting for the others if it isn't?

[encelevenemus]

It is merely an observation. As Brynhilde suggested, if the only thing that must occur is the specific end result in snapshot, then that could well mean anything for the circumstances.

[replacementshield]

I do. It'd make sense, anyway.

[rikonstructed]

...If it was a true accomplice, like Hubert put forward, they may have been unable to watch him die slowly of poison. The pose the body was found in suggests as much.

[pegasinister]

Or were so desperate to escape after seeing it that they acted impulsively. Especially if they were close to him.

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

Wait, so does that mean the poisoning and the stabbing were different people?

[reresurrected]

A mercy killing, then?

[rikonstructed]

[A nod at both of them.]

Yes. Either seems possible to me.

[replacementshield]

Desperation or a desire for a mercy kill. Or both.

It does seem they did respect him enough to pose him like that.

[draconite]

If it was purely out of mercy then why not confess? Why drag the trial out in such a way?

[encelevenemus]

Mercy or not, I wager all of us have something at stake given the motive. Why waste an opportunity?

[draconite]

You'd think at this point, people would be smart enough not to trust what that cowardly bastard has to say...

[ fuck heisenberg! all my homies hate heisenberg! ]

[replacementshield]

The deed is done and over with. But there still remains incentive for them to keep quiet:

Claiming the motive.

[cuttingremark]

He was very reluctant to attempt another prophesy after Stella's execution. What would have driven him to seek this one?

[draconite]

Desperation, perhaps. He did see his family threatened, after all.

[spitessier]

The motive, I suppose. He may have tried to figure something out.

[It's the biggest recent change Katsuya can think of, at least -- and Bruno cared about his family a lot. The motive may have spurred him to try a prophecy of some sort]

[replacementshield]

He could've wanted to see if foreseeing one would help in some way.