Chapter 2: The Trial

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

Chapter 2

The Trial
^{The Murder of Owen}

As you investigate the death of Owen you all hear a voice echo throughout the building, you recognize it as Cessair's.

Cessair: "I reckon that is enough time to investigate this case. Everyone, come to the Casino! This is an order from your Starless Overlord!"

Recognizing that disobedience means death, everyone heads down to the Casino and heads over to the third of the room with the large roulette wheel. Nearby you see Cessair, Silver Mask, and Itriot in their robes from before. They stand near the roulette and point everyone to a spot around it as they arrive. You take your place in front of your respective picture and weight for Cessair to signal for the trial to begin.

Before long, everyone has arrived and is situated around the Roulette Table. Cessair steps forward.



Cessair: "Welcome Clash Participants. You all find yourselves here due to the attempts of one of you to ascend. That one now seeks to end all of your lives to take up their place as Starless Lord. The darkness encroaches upon you all. If you should seek to survive the darkness, you must find the one who summoned it and cast them into the fire! This is the Trial for the Murder of Owen!"

Cessair: "It is time to deduce or die! Let us see how your luck holds out!"

-Cessair spins the roulette table and it spins rapidly around, never seeming to slow down.-

Cessair: "When the roulette stops, its time to vote! Show me what you have uncovered in this Darkest Clash!"

-With the image of Owen dead in your mind, you prepare to determine who among you killed him so that you won't die in a place like this!-

[Ryo Asuka]

Ryo cleared his throat. He wouldn't make the same mistakes he made last trial.

"I think we should begin by talking about the cause of death. Owen has bruises on his neck and his face is blue which looks like asphyxiation. Also, we found Owen lying on his back and he had a 245 pound lifting bar on his neck. I have found no other wounds on Owen's body, indicating that the asphyxiation is most likely what caused his death. As such, it seems reasonable that Owen was killed by the weight lifting bar found on his neck. Any objections?"

Ryo seemed very proud of himself for solving that so easily.

"Though, Owen has a look of agony on his face and his hands are locked on the bar as if in a desperate attempt to get the bar off of his neck. As such, it is reasonable to assume that Owen did not voluntarily want to die. Whether he dropped the bar on accident or somebody was there pressing down on the bar, Owen tried to get the bar off of his throat. Does anybody have any evidence otherwise?"

Ryo waited for a response but received none. He was getting bored with this already.

"Also, it would be nice to have the alibis for MISHY, DAYS, SATONE, SHINKA, RIKKA, YUUTA, and RIN for between Breakfast and 11:20am when the body discovery was made. Me and the others were stuck on the 6th floor between breakfast and then, so it would be nice to know from you all when Owen was last seen alive."

[Chatt]

Axel once again rises from the spinning roulette table
Death is boring so I decided to do a little investigating myself! BEHOLD: Owen has no other marks on his body besides those bruises on his neck. Also, Owen Obviously lifted a lot Due to his fantastic physique And so I believe he could have lifted this 245 pounds off of himself. Especially if his life were in danger.

[Ryo Asuka]

Ryo was shocked by the sudden reappearance of that robed person who tried to frame him for murder last trial.

"A GHOST! I mean, I've definitely seen worse, but man. You are definitely as unappealing to be around in death as you were in life."

Was that true or was Ryo just slightly bummed about being the framing target.

"Anyways, I agree with whatever that being is. It should have been easy for him to at least roll the bar off of his throat. Which leads me to believe that somebody pressed down on the bar to keep Owen from pushing or rolling it off. Meaning, it is likely somebody purposefully killed Owen. Which leads me to my next point. From where Owen was laying, it was entirely possible for him to see anybody enter the room if he tilted his neck. Meaning he either truly did not hear or bother to check to see if anybody entered and somebody managed to sneak past his sight which I find unlikely, or he trusted the killer enough to let him into the room. Considering he was likely lifting the weights when he was killed due to him being on the weight lifting bench with the weight bar in his hands, the killer could have been his spotter, giving the killer an opportunity to use this to kill Owen."

[Xaniks]

"I must tell everything I know so that you fools don't accuse me later on. Err, I did not bother to investigate - you all should've had that covered. Anyhow, the important part: my alibi! The others can elaborate, but the elevator went out of service some time ago and many of us were stranded on the 6th floor. I felt incredibly bored, so I headed to, God bless his soul, Yoff's former room. Of course, as Caster, I have a way with portals... This one led to a locker in the Iron Stars Locker Room. Then, I hid in a shower to stake out the portal! I did this until around 11, where I went back to check on the elevator, returning back to the Locker Room upon finding it was still broken. The discovery at 11:20 prompted me to join the others on the 6th floor as to not look incredibly guilty! But you may ask, why use a portal to the Locker Room? Truth be told, I have no idea why... It was as if I felt it completely necessary to use it. Was it an external magical force, perhaps? No, that would be nonsense! I'm too great of a mage to fall for mere influencing spells."

[Chatt]

"Out of curiosity, no one came or went through the portal but yourself, yes?"

[Xaniks]

"Indeed, spirit. I saw no living soul while I was camping. However, the possibility of someone using it while I was checking on the elevator is there, as well as someone using it after I left during the announcement."

[Daiwa Scarlet]

Satone storms into the casino and howls, "Where is this foul angel with their curse of fatigue? I'll catch you some day!" She grumbles to herself and sighs, "The Dark Flame Master, the Last Mage, and the Tyrant's Eye had been exploring other worlds with me following breakfast. I saw the familiar, the admiral, and spiky head outside as well. We spent an hour trying to overcome the champions of each realm, and manged to take over enough to unlock the seal on the third sphere. I watched the others entered the sphere before me and was about to enter myself, but the accursed angel captured me at the gate. Nine marks had passed by the time I escaped their labyrinth of nightmares. I found myself in the second sphere, with my companions nowhere in sight. Divination revealed that I should go to the tower of twilight and I found Yusha on the way. Mori Summer and the fallen angel arrived at the tower later. The familiar and spiky arrive for the red masked one's speech as well, but she had not arrived by the time two marks had passed. We left to find those that had not kept time, finding the elevator was broken at this point. The familiar and spiky go to the store which shall not be named and the rest of us find the Admiral... The red mask announces such soon after."

[Ryo Asuka]

Ryo stared at Satone before trying to decipher her message.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but what the demon child was attempting to say was that: Yuuta, Shinka, and Rikka had been exploring outside with Satone following breakfast. Satone saw Mishy, Owen, and Days head outside as well. They spent an hour exploring each of the new places, and managed to explore enough areas, unlocking a new one. Satone watched as the others entered before entering herself, but Rikka captured her. Some time passed before Satone escaped capture. Satone found herself alone. She went to the hotel again and found Yuuta on the way. Shinka and Rikka arrived later. Mishy and Days arrived for the special announcement, but nobody else arrived before more time passed. They then left to find everybody, finding the elevator was broken. Mishy and Days went to the store while the Chuunis went to find Owen. Was that analysis correct?"

[King V]

"This is a very simple case. This witness can attest to being the cause of the elevator malfunction, as I was standing inside the elevator holding the doors shut with the close button from 9am right after breakfast all the way until the body discovery announcement. I also heard some loud noises from both upper and lower floors, but that could be attributed to anyone wanting to access the elevator."

"The elevator was completely out of service between 9am until 11:20am. This means that if Caster is telling the truth, the murder must have occurred before 11am, and the culprit must have escaped at exactly that time to avoid being caught at the scene of the crime."

"However, the idea of another person forcing Caster to open a portal is absurd. Why did that person simply not force this witness to arbitrarily open the elevator and leave then? That would have been much more efficient while leaving far fewer traces of evidence. Seeing as this is the case, this witness must conclude that Caster is the culprit, and used his portal to escape from the scene of the crime after murdering Owen by pushing a set of weights on top of him while he was lifting them."

[Ryo Asuka]

Ryo looked at Rin but wasn't convinced.

"What proof do you have that the culprit ever went to the sixth floor? If the culprit was somebody outside at the time, they wouldn't need to go to the sixth floor. Although it could be possible that Caster is the culprit, the same could be said about anybody else outside at the time. What proof do you have that it was Caster and not Days or Mishy? Both Days and Mishy were seen outside with Owen after breakfast. Meaning one of them could have went into the gym with Owen to commit the murder. Then, the culprit could have snuck back outside without anybody noticing they were even gone. However, if you have proof of your accusation, I am all ears."

[King V]

"What is the reason that Caster arbitrarily made a portal from the locker room to a room on the sixth floor? If he did so to avoid the elevator, he would have left the locker room. Instead, he claims he stayed there for approximately 4 hours. Do you have any explanation why he did this, other than to serve purposes that only the culprit would need?"

"Simply put, Caster is the most suspicious. If you cannot find someone more suspicious, this witness has no need to find additional proof. There is no need for absolute proof."

[Ryo Asuka]

"Though, if Caster is the culprit, how would he have known that Owen would be in the gym? Caster was on the 6th floor after breakfast. Meaning there's no way he would have known that Owen would be in the gym before making the portal to the locker room."

[King V]

"There is no issue if Caster is the culprit. He simply lies about the time during which he opens the portal. Unless someone else found the portal during the time frame in which it was open, we have no idea when it was opened."

[Xaniks]

”Dear Lord, you drive a hard case, lass. I find it clearly unavoidable that I would be accused due to my actions, but you seem to have it out for me! I ask you to consider one thing: Did I not show that I am completely capable of camping a single room for up to an entire day during the events of the last case? Specifically, a room containing a very similar portal?”