Team COAL and Tsukiko returned to Shade Academy, only stopping at the police station along the way to deliver the unconscious Grimm Slimm into police custody. When they returned to Shade Academy, they reported everything that had happened during the mission to Professor Theodore.
"I'm impressed," said the headmaster of Shade. "Grimm Slimm was one of the most powerful gangsters in Vacuo. You all handled yourselves very well."
"Thank you, professor," said Lily. "Tsukiko also handled herself well."
"I knew she would," Theodore said before turning to Colby. "And I understand your semblance has reached another tier?"
"It has, sir."
"That's interesting," Theodore said before turning back toward everyone in the room. "You've exceeded my expectations. Not only have you retrieved the dust, but Grimm Slimm is behind bars."
"So does that mean you'll lend us your aid?" Colby asked.
Theodore shook his head. "Not yet," he said. "You've done pretty well, but I'm still not entirely sure you have what it takes yet."
"What else do you need us to do?" Colby asked while trying to hide the anger in his voice.
"One of my political allies, a huntsman named Bernard Beaumont, has gotten himself into some legal trouble," the headmaster explained. "He's been accused of murdering his opponent, Gallus Flavius, in a duel at the Vacuo stadium. That's an arena for full-fledged huntsmen and huntresses to have duels like those in the Vytal Tournament. Its events are very popular here in Vacuo and televised all over the kingdom. But if Bernard is found guilty, he could face twenty to fifty years in prison, or life. Or even the death penalty."
"And what would you like us to do about the trouble Beaumont is in?" asked Lily.
"The police and the arena's staff have been acting real weird ever since the incident," Theodore explained. "They won't let us near Gallus's body nor will the owner of Vacuo Stadium even show us the replay footage or their data on his aura before he died. Arena matches record that, you know. Anyway, something very strange is going on, and I think Beaumont is being framed. I need you to find out what's going on, and whether he's really guilty. Tomorrow morning, Detective Granite will come to Shade and give you further instructions. He's an ally within the police department, and I know he's trustworthy. But for now, get some rest. You've earned it."
The team and Tsukiko left Theodore's office and took the elevator down to the first floor. Tsukiko had some things to say to them before going to bed for the night.
"You all did a great job out there tonight," she said. "Good luck on the next task. I know you can do it."
"Thanks, Tsukiko," said Colby. "You did well too. Good luck with the rest of your classes at Shade." With that, they all headed back to their dorms and went to bed. As they slept, their minds drifted toward the tasks ahead of them. Not just the investigation, but also the battle against the White Fang and the rescue of their friends as well as the rebuilding of Beacon Academy. Beacon would become a shining "beacon" of hope across Remnant and a testament to the resilience of the huntsmen and huntresses of Vale. It would show that they could never truly be defeated, not by Grimm or terrorists or robots or even treason by one of their own. And of course, they would catch the traitors and punish them in due time.
The next morning, Team COAL reported to Theodore's office where the detective and the headmaster were.
"So you're the students that Professor Theodore told me about," the detective said with a smile. "I've heard good things about you. Let's hope you live up to your reputations."
"What do we need to do?" asked Ouranos.
"We need to gain access to Gallus Flavius's body and the footage of the fight," Detective Granite explained. "The body is being kept in the morgue at the police station, and the police aren't letting anyone anywhere near it or disclosing any details about what exactly killed him. Vacuo Stadium isn't releasing the footage of the duel, either."
"Do you have any idea why?" asked Autumn.
"No idea," replied the detective. "But we do know that since Bernard Beaumont is a close ally of Professor Theodore's. Someone is trying to get Beaumont convicted. It could be a political opponent or a gang leader like the one you just captured, but we can worry about that later. For now, we need to find out if Beaumont is innocent and how we can prove it."
"So we need to gain access to the body," Lily said. "How will we do it?"
"You'll need to sneak into the morgue," the detective explained. "I'd give you clearance if I could, but it isn't up to me. Your best chance of sneaking into and through the building is through the ventilation system. The morgue is in the building's basement. Once you find his body, look for anything suspicious."
"Sounds like a plan," Lily said.
"And the footage and aura data?" asked Colby
"They probably still have it somewhere at the Vacuo Stadium. You'll need to somehow get the owner to show it to you. Either convince him, or find some way to blackmail him."
"Okay, then," Colby said. "I hope we'll be able to convince him." He didn't want to have to resort to dirty tactics if there was any other way.
"Any more questions?" Detective Granite asked.
"No sir," replied Colby.
"Then you're dismissed," said the detective.
"Good luck out there," said Professor Theodore. "And be careful. If you get caught, I won't be able to bail you out. To do so would incriminate me in a break-in at the police station."
"We won't be caught," Lily said confidently. With that, they went into the elevator and down into the lobby. From there, they exited the building and went to handle their respective tasks. Autumn and Lily headed to the police station, while Colby and Ouranos went to the stadium.
At the police station…
Autumn and Lily approached the police station, seeing that it was heavily guarded by the Vacuo police department. They needed to create a distraction.
"Well, we're lucky I came here!" Autumn said with a big grin. "You're looking at the best guitar player in all of Remnant!" Autumn was, of course, exaggerating, but she was indeed a very popular guitar player back at Beacon. She frequently played her guitar in the quad, where many students would go to listen. Many of the young huntsmen and huntresses at the Vytal Festival also enjoyed listening to her music. Autumn never could have predicted how much would have changed in the few short months since then, but one thing that remained the same was her skill with her guitar.
"Do your thing, Autumn!" Lily said with a smile.
Autumn went to the sidewalk across the street from the police station and started playing her guitar as loud as she could without bringing the sound up to dangerous levels.
"Wow, that faunus girl's got some real talent!" said a man who happened to be walking down the street.
"Yeah!" said a woman. "Let's go listen to her!" Before long, Autumn had attracted a huge crowd.
"All according to plan," Lily thought to herself with a grin. While everyone was distracted, she made her way into the alley behind the police station. There, she climbed into one of the vents and into the building. The vents were big enough for her to fit through, and they led her toward the building's basement. Just before she reached the stairs, the ventilation shaft came to an end. She was forced to exit it through the grate.
As she approached the stairs, however, she heard footsteps approaching. Thankfully, there was an empty office nearby for her to sneak into while the officer below came up the stairs and went about his business. Once he was gone, she went down the stairs and around the corner, continuing on her way to the morgue.
At the Vacuo Stadium…
The Vacuo Stadium was an enormous building, not unlike the Amity Colosseum except it wasn't floating above the ground. After entering, they went up the elevator to the office sections of the stadium. There, they spoke to the receptionist.
"What business do you two have up here?" she asked.
"We're here on behalf of Professor Theodore," Colby replied. "We need to speak to your boss."
The receptionist seemed to recognize Professor Theodore's authority. Even though he wasn't officially part of Vacuo's government, his influence spread all over the kingdom. "Right this way," the receptionist said as she stood up to lead them to her boss's office. "Sorry to keep you waiting."
They walked into the office and saw a man wearing a business suit. "Is there something I can do for you boys?" he asked.
"We're here to talk about the duel between Bernard Beaumont and Gallus Flavius," Colby said.
The man frowned. "Theodore sent you, didn't he? I already told him, we aren't releasing that footage or the aura data."
"And why not?" Ouranos asked.
"It's none of his business," the man said. "It is the property of Vacuo Stadium, and we aren't going to show it to anyone."
"And why not?" Ouranos asked. "Don't you know that there's an investigation going on? That footage and data are very important pieces of evidence that could tip the balance of the case either way."
"It's too disturbing for the public to see. Hearing about a huntsman murdering another is one thing, but actually seeing how it happened is another matter entirely. It would destroy the public's trust in the huntsmen, not to mention create negativity that would draw more Grimm into the city and cause more Grimm attacks."
"That's a steaming pile of BS and you know it," Colby said. "You're just worried that the carnage will decrease your viewership and therefore your profits. The Grimm attacks and the loss of public trust are legitimate concerns, but it's crucial that we huntsmen be honest and forthcoming in times like these. We need to help them find the truth, and they will trust us all the more for it. But if we try to cover up the truth, they'll lose far more trust in us than they would have if we'd just cooperated with the investigation."
"Would they, though? You saw what happened in the Vytal Tournament with Pyrrha Nikos and Penny Polendina. You saw all the negativity it brought. Do you really want to risk creating that again?"
"Do you want to risk letting everyone think the huntsmen are a bunch of murderers? That would be bad for business too. Just admit it, that's what this is really about."
"Okay, fine. Yes, releasing the footage would be bad for business. I need to make a living, don't judge me. But if they never see just how bad it was, maybe they'll forget about it after a while and the money will start coming back. You can even have a cut of the profit. I've got some lien right here with your name on it if you look the other way." He slid an envelope full of lien across the table.
Colby looked at the envelope on the desk on the table in front of him. He would never admit this, but part of him was tempted to take it and go back to Vale. He could use the money to start a new life for himself and his friends and family. He could put all the pain of the past few months behind him.
But then he remembered why he had come all the way to Vacuo. His friends needed him. The next generation of Vale's huntsmen and huntresses was depending on him. Sure, he could take the money and run, but he and his loved ones would never truly be safe. He also remembered those who had given their lives so that he could even make it this far. Pyrrha Nikos. Professor Ozpin. His own father, Corbin Castanho. It would be an insult to their memory to turn his back on everything now. He was going to finish what they started.
"I don't want your money, you corporate scumbag!" Colby shouted angrily as he threw the envelope back at the man seated in front of him. "I came here for the truth, and I'm getting the truth! Everyone is counting on me. All the huntsmen and huntresses, their friends and loved ones, everyone in Remnant!"
"Not everyone's loved ones," the man said sadly. He breathed a deep sigh. "Look, this isn't about money either. I can explain, but we need to go somewhere else," he said as he set his scroll down on his desk. Meet me outside the stadium."
The boys thought his request was strange, but they did what he said. He met them in an alley outside the stadium.
"A group of thugs took my wife and daughter hostage," he explained. "They said they'd kill them if I released the footage and the aura data to the public. Please, you have to save them!"
"Really?" Colby asked. "Why didn't you tell us before?"
"They said they'd kill my family if I told anyone anything, and I had us leave the office because it may have been bugged." He paused for a moment. "Oh gods, I shouldn't have told you anything. Please, don't get involved in this. It'll only make matters worse."
"No, telling us is the best thing you could have done. We'll save them, we promise."
"But you're just a couple of students! How can you possibly expect to beat these guys?"
"We aren't ordinary students. You should have guessed that from the fact that Theodore trusted us with this mission to begin with. Do you really think he'd trust ordinary students with something as important as this?"
"You're right, he wouldn't." He took out a map of the city of Vacuo. "My family is being held somewhere in this area," he said as he circled a neighborhood in the southwestern outskirts of the city. "I don't know the exact location, but it's somewhere here. Please, find them. And don't let the thugs know you're coming."
"You can count on us," Colby said as he and Ouranos turned to leave.
At the police station…
The lower levels of the police station were full of officers and security cameras. Lily was careful to sneak past them, using empty offices and vents for cover. At last, she came across the morgue. There laid the body of the fallen Gallus Flavius, a large man with long, blonde hair. There was a huge gash that ran diagonally across his torso, implying that he had died of a sword wound. It looked like a straightforward case of murder through the use of a bladed weapon, but Lily was going to make sure that was the case. The police were behaving very strangely by not revealing the medical details of Gallus's death.
Lily began to examine the body, but before she could get far into the process, she heard a voice. "What the hell are you doing here?" The voice belonged to one of the doctors who worked in the morgue. "This area is off limits. How did you even get in here?"
"Oh, I just got a little lost, is all," Lily lied. "I'm pretty new here."
"No, you're not," the man said. "Nobody wanders into here by accident. This is one of the most secure areas in the building. And besides, if you truly were a new officer, employee, doctor, or even a janitor for that matter, you'd have your uniform on. You're trespassing in here. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't call the guards down here right now." He pulled out his scroll.
Realizing that she couldn't trick the doctor, Lily decided to try to reason with him. Her only options were to reason with him, incapacitate him, or kill him. Incapacitation would only be a temporary solution, and killing him would have the town up in arms against Shade if anyone found out she did it.
"You want a reason?" she asked. "How about this: your superiors are trying to cover up the medical details of Gallus Flavius's death without claiming any justification. Don't you find that suspicious?"
"My job isn't to question why my superiors are or aren't releasing certain details," the man said. "My job is to determine how these victims died, not to say who should or shouldn't be allowed to know. We can't go around questioning every decision the department makes. If we did, it would be impossible for us to do our job, which is to ensure safety and justice for every citizen of Vacuo."
"But if we just let them withhold information from the public with no justification, they'll no longer serve the interests of justice and safety. Listen to me: an innocent huntsman is about to be imprisoned or killed for a crime he didn't commit. If we let our institutions do that, no one will be safe. I'm here to ensure that the police serve their purpose, which is to serve the interests of justice. This information is vital for determining Bernard Beaumont's guilt or innocence. Please, help me."
The man thought about it for a moment. "Okay, you're right. My duty is to ensure that justice is done, first and foremost. He walked over to one of the tables and picked up a vial containing a red liquid. "Our analysis of Gallus's blood has yielded some...startling results." He took it over to one of the computers and ran a test. The computer displayed the chemicals present in the blood, including one that the man pointed to.
"You see this?" he said. "This isn't naturally found in human blood. Or faunus blood for that matter. It's poison."
Lily's fox ears twitched when she heard the word "poison." "Gallus Flavius was poisoned?!" Lily asked in shock.
"Affirmative," the doctor replied. "But we don't know who did it. We examined Beaumont's sword after he was arrested, and there was no poison on it."
"Someone set this up," Lily said.
"You're probably right," the man replied. "I also found this in Gallus's stomach." He held up a strange, round metal object.
"What's that?" Lily asked.
"It's an Atlesian device designed to release poison into a victim's bloodstream when activated from afar. Kind of like a bomb."
"But why would the killers use that?" Lily asked. "Unless…" Then it hit her. "They wanted to make sure the poison killed him at exactly the right moment," the fox faunus reasoned. "They wanted him to die at a time that would make it look like Bernard had killed him."
"I think you're probably right. I hope this evidence will help you."
"It certainly will," Lily said with a smile. "Thank you. You've helped me save an innocent man from being convicted of a crime he didn't commit."
"Not yet you haven't," the scientist said. "But this will help you. Nonetheless, I should warn you that whoever set this up has enough influence to pull the strings of the Vacuo Police Department. You're about to make yourself a powerful enemy."
"I'll worry about that later. Right now, my only concern is that justice be done," Lily said as she left the office and started sneaking out of the building the way she snuck in.
On the outside, Autumn was still playing on her guitar and entertaining a crowd. But despite her newfound fame, she wished she was helping her friends. No one noticed when Lily snuck out of the building. After Autumn and Lily left, they returned to Shade Academy to report their findings. They hoped Colby and Ouranos were doing well on their end.
Somewhere in southwestern Vacuo City…
It was getting late in the day, and Colby and Ouranos wandered around looking for any signs of suspicious activity. They went around asking the locals if they'd seen anything suspicious. Most of them didn't, but then the duo found a man who had something important to tell them.
"As a matter of fact, I have seen a weird group of thugs come in and out of a certain house at night," the man said.
"Could you give me the address?" Ouranos asked.
"Sure," the man said as he wrote the address down on a sheet of paper and handed it to them. "But good luck. These aren't your ordinary street thugs. Are you sure you want to deal with them?"
"Of course we are," said Colby. "We're huntsmen. It's our job."
They proceeded toward the address, a run-down house on the very edge of town. As they approached it, they saw a truck drive up to its driveway. They ducked behind a bush. Out of the truck came a man wearing a hooded jacket, but the weirdest thing about his appearance was that his face was obscured by a golden mask. Colby and Ouranos watched him enter the house silently, wondering who he was.
After the man entered the house, Colby and Ouranos snuck toward the back of the house. There, they looked through a window and saw a woman and a little girl kneeling on the floor. They were tied up, gagged, and visibly terrified. There was another gold-masked thug holding a rifle and standing guard. He did not notice the boys, otherwise he would have shot the hostages. Nor had the thugs learned that the stadium's owner had told them what they had done, or else the woman and her daughter would have been dead before the boys arrived.
"That's the stadium owner's wife and daughter," Colby said. "We need to get in there and save them. You go over to the front door while I jump through this window. Text my scroll when you're in position."
Ouranos snuck over to the front door. "Ready," he texted when he got to it. With that, Colby jumped through the window and lunged at the gold-masked man from behind, knocking him to the floor. He punched the man in the head several times until he passed out. Then, he turned toward the woman and the little girl in the room.
"Stay here," he said to them as he left the room and ventured into the other parts of the house.
While Colby was doing all that, Ouranos had burst through the door and was met by three gold-masked men. They all opened fire on him, and he deflected their bullets and charged in at them. Their guns turned into swords, and they started fighting him back. They swung at him relentlessly and put him on the defensive. Then, he kicked one of them back. Much to his horror, the man appeared to have an aura to soak up the damage. "Whoever these guys are, they have auras," he thought to himself. "Colby'd better get here soon."
As if on cue, Colby burst into the room and attacked one of the three men from behind, knocking him down and allowing Ouranos to bring his axe down on him. After that, Colby turned his attention toward one of the other two men. The man thrust his sword at Colby, who stepped out of the way and lunged forward at him. The thug blocked his attack, but Colby kicked the guy in the legs. The gold-masked thug staggered for a moment, allowing Colby to hit him over the head with the base of one of his axes and knock him out.
The last man was overwhelmed by the two boys. He tried to run away, but Colby shot him in the leg. Then Ouranos punched him in the head, knocking him out. With all the men dealt with, they returned to the woman and the girl.
"W-who sent you here?" the woman asked.
"Your husband did," Colby replied.
"M-my husband?!" she asked. "Well, I'm glad he found a couple of great huntsmen like you to save me and my daughter. But how did you find us?"
"Well, it's like you said. We're huntsmen, and it's what we do."
Before the boys left, Ouranos picked up the scrolls of the gold-masked thugs they had knocked out. "These may come in handy," he said.
At Vacuo Stadium…
The owner of Vacuo stadium was relieved to see his wife and daughter were safe. "Thank you so much for getting them back!" he said. "As promised, here is the footage of the match. With the aura data." He handed them a computer disc. "But be careful. That information could get you killed. Whoever's responsible for all this has some very strong connections to some very influential people."
"Don't worry about us," Colby said. "Just worry about whether we can see justice done." Then, he and his teammate returned to Shade Academy.
At Shade Academy...
When the members of Team COAL returned to their dorm at Shade Academy, they began discussing what they found.
"So he was poisoned?" Colby asked. "That's some very strong evidence in our favor. Let's see if this disc has anything on it that can help us." He put the disc into a laptop he had purchased to help with his assignments, and ran the footage with the data. He and his teammates were all quite startled with what they saw.
At first, the footage showed Bernard Beaumont slashing his sword across Gallus Flavius's chest, and Gallus's aura dropped to zero at almost the same time. But remembering what Lily had told him about Gallus being poisoned and dying at exactly the right time, he decided to slow the video down. It still looked like Bernard was killing Gallus, but he decided to run the video at the lowest possible speed. Then, he saw it.
Gallus's aura dropped to zero a split second before Bernard's sword hit him. He was dead before he was hit. But it had all happened so fast, no one could see it unless the video was slowed down to the slowest setting.
"There you have it," Colby said. "Whoever set this up poisoned Gallus and caused him to die right as Bernard's sword hit him. To the naked eye, it would appear as though Bernard killed Gallus. But now we know the truth, and so will the jury."
"If we can get that evidence admitted," Lily said. "We didn't exactly get it legally."
"But the people who concealed it were also acting illegally. I think that once the court figures out what they were trying to do, they'll have to admit the evidence. Otherwise, they'd be allowing Vacuo's institutions to conceal evidence whenever they want. They'd be able to decide who gets convicted and who goes free, regardless of whether they were really guilty."
"I hope you're right," said Lily. "Only time will tell."
They all went to Professor Theodore's office and presented their evidence to him.
"Excellent work," he said. "I think this will really help our case. The trial will be a week from today. Take this evidence to the trial. "
One week later, at the courthouse…
Team COAL went into the courthouse and sat down in the courtroom. Before long, Bernard Beaumont, his attorney, the prosecutor, the judge, the jury, and everyone else arrived. Beaumont was looking extremely nervous, as one might expect from someone being tried for such a serious offense.
Before long, the judge began to speak. "We are now on the record in the case of the Kingdom of Vacuo versus Bernard Beaumont," he said. "Mr. Beaumont has been charged with the first-degree murder of Gallus Flavius and has entered a not guilty plea. If he is convicted, he may face twenty to fifty years imprisonment, life imprisonment with or without the possibility of parole, or death…"
The judge continued speaking for a while, and then the time came for the prosecution to produce its witnesses. They called a huntsman to the stand, a professional gladiator from Vacuo Stadium.
"Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" the judge asked.
"I do, your honor," the huntsman replied.
"You may begin."
"I knew Bernard and Gallus for many years during my time competing at Vacuo Stadium, and I have never seen more bitter rivals. They were constantly at each other's throats, always trying to prove that they were the best."
"Was there any prior history of violence between them?" asked the prosecutor.
"Yes, there was. There were many previous fights between them both in and out of the arena, and I'm frankly surprised that Bernard didn't kill him sooner. But this murder was just the next logical step."
The prosecutor's witnesses came to the stand and spoke one by one, each giving a damning story about Bernard's previous behavior or a gruesome retelling of the murder itself. He didn't object to any of it, implying that the stories were true. But that didn't mean he was a murderer. After the prosecution's witnesses had all finished speaking, they presented evidence such as Bernard's sword, which was covered in Gallus's blood, and images of the wound on Gallus's body. After that, it was time for the defense to call in its witnesses and present its evidence.
"Our first witness is Dr. Acosta, who works at the morgue at the police station," said Bernard's defense attorney. The doctor walked up to the stand.
"Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" the judge asked the doctor.
"I do, your honor."
"You may begin."
"When Gallus's body arrived at our morgue, we were told to remain quiet about it and not release any of the medical details about how exactly the huntsman died. As if the police department were trying to cover something up-"
"Objection!" the prosecutor shouted. "That is a baseless accusation based on speculation alone."
"Is it, though?" he asked. "What about this email from the boss?"
As if on cue, Lily plugged a laptop into a projector and brought up an email for everyone to read.
"To all personnel," the email read. "Under no circumstances is anyone to reveal to the public details about the exact causes of Gallus Flavius's death. It is for the good of the entire kingdom of Vacuo that this information not be revealed to the public. Any officer, scientist, or other employee who violates this order will be prosecuted."
"And that is exactly why this information needs to be released," the scientist said. "Whoever tried to conceal it has a political agenda. An agenda that they have violated the integrity of our justice system in order to achieve. Bernard Beaumont has strong connections to Professor Theodore and Shade Academy. Whoever is trying to frame him for the death of Gallus Flavius did so with an anti-huntsman agenda, and will plunge our kingdom into chaos if their plot is allowed to succeed. That is why you must allow the defense to present the real medical evidence as to how Gallus Flavius died."
"Objection!" cried the prosecutor. "This man's claims about the motives of the police department are more baseless speculation, and he is disobeying a direct order from the department! He is trying to illegally release medical details about a murder case, and his evidence is inadmissible! His evidence must not be admitted, and he must be prosecuted for disobeying the department's orders!"
"On the contrary, your honor," said the defense lawyer. "The police department has attempted to conceal critical information about a case that could result in the imprisonment or death of an innocent man. Whatever its motives, it has not only placed my client's life in danger, but also the integrity of the justice system itself. The evidence must be admitted, or else prosecutors in this kingdom will be able to suppress whatever evidence they want to convict whomever they want. The integrity of our justice system will be irreparably damaged."
The judge took a few moments to consider the attorneys' arguments, then made his decision known. "The evidence will be admitted," he said.
"You've made the right choice, your honor," said the defense lawyer. Lily then brought up the blood test results on the computer, which were then projected so everyone could see them. "As you can see here, Gallus Flavius was poisoned. This compound here is a special poison designed to target the victim's nervous system and kill them very quickly."
"That proves nothing!" the prosecutor exclaimed. "Beaumont himself may have poisoned Flavius! And if someone had really set this up, how would they make sure he died at exactly the right moment to make it look like Beaumont had murdered him?"
"That leads us to our next piece of evidence," the defense lawyer said as Lily brought in an image of the device that was used to release the poison. "This device is an Atlesian weapon designed to release poison into the bloodstream of a victim when activated from afar. The true killers wanted Gallus Flavius to die at just the right moment, and they accomplished that task with lethal efficiency. Watch this."
Lily brought up the video of Bernard Beaumont killing Gallus Flavius. She slowed the video down to the lowest possible speed, showing Flavius's aura meter drop to zero a split second before Bernard's sword hit him.
"Gallus Flavius was dead before the sword even hit him," the defense lawyer explained. The prosecutor tried to stammer out a response, but was unable to find any other explanation as to what happened.
"And in case you have any more doubts as to whether someone set this whole thing up, we have one more witness to call to the stand. Mrs. Douglas, come forward."
The wife of the Vacuo Stadium's owner walked to the stand and prepared to speak.
"Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"
"I do, your honor."
"You may begin."
"My daughter and I were kidnapped," she said. "The people who set this up didn't want that footage you saw to be released to the public. They threatened to kill us if he released it. I'm only standing here today because a couple of brave young huntsmen from Shade Academy." As if in an admission of defeat, the prosecutor did not even try to object anymore.
"Those two huntsmen recovered the scrolls of the men who took Mrs. Douglas and her daughter hostage. These scrolls all had this message on them."
Lily began to play a recorded message, spoken by a voice that had been distorted to conceal the speaker's identity. "Keep an eye on the woman and her daughter, and don't let anyone know you're there. If anyone sees you, kill them!"
"That is all the witnesses and evidence we have," said the defense lawyer.
"Very well," the judge replied before turning to the jury. "If the evidence presented to you proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of the first-degree murder of Gallus Flavius, then you must find him guilty. But if any reasonable doubt as to the defendant's guilt remains, then you must issue a 'not guilty' verdict."
The jury left the courtroom to deliberate, leaving everyone else to anxiously await their verdict. But in less than an hour, they announced their decision.
"Has the jury reached a verdict?" the judge asked when they returned.
"We have, your honor," said one of the jurors. "We the jury find the defendant, Bernard Beaumont, not guilty of the first degree murder of Gallus Flavius." Beaumont was visibly relieved upon hearing those words.
"Thank you for your time, ladies and gentlemen of the jury," said the judge. "This court is adjourned." Everyone left the courtroom, including Team COAL who were satisfied with a job well done. Before they left, Bernard Beaumont had a few words to say to them.
"You've saved my life," he said. "How can I ever truly repay you?"
"Repay us by living the best life you can live and do your best to fight for justice in this kingdom. Whoever set this up is quite powerful, and this won't be their last plot."
With that, the team returned to Shade. They hoped they'd proven to Theodore that they were worthy of his support.
A/N: Please forgive any inaccuracies that this chapter may contain about the criminal justice system. Although remember, Remnant is another world whose justice system may be different than any of ours.