Arcane Journey

Chapter 155 Spiral Court
The spiral courts of the floating city of Sultanza are named for their distinctive features.

A flat piece of white ivory, about two paces wide, spiraled up the wall of the circular room.

As voices came from the depths of the well-like chamber, so did the black writing that spiraled: the transcripts of the testimony given below.

Gravity was twisted during the construction of the Spiral Court, allowing its walls to function as ground, and these walls are now populated by townspeople made up of arcanists and other amateur spellcasters.

They stand at just the right angle to see both the trial and the transcripts flowing under their feet.

At the bottom of the spiral court, the Shadow Prince Dessoud sits in an ornately carved sterling silver chair, which is suspended in the air at a hand's height from the ground.

He wears a judge's mask, but pushes it up on top of his head, revealing his face.

On the other side of the room, there are two intricate rings on the stone floor, painted with a brush made of three tauren tail hairs.

Each labyrinth circle is about two steps wide, and there is a woman with a proud and thin face and long red hair in each of the two.

A woman with her hair tied up in gold thread, her lips and eyelids dusted with ruby ​​dust, wears a silver-grey gown with tiny black specks swirling on the surface like ever-changing clouds of smoke.

The other's hair fell to her shoulders, and she was wearing gray leggings, a loose gray shirt, and thigh-high leather boots that were a bit frayed at the heel and knee.

Although the two women chose strikingly different outfits to attend court, one as if getting ready for a celebration at the Tower of Karthus, the other as if ready to set off on adventure, their faces were as unrecognizable as twins. the difference.

Even their expressions are the same.

They stood stiffly, looking haughtily at each other across the shimmering circle, whose lurking magic could cause them to lose their way in the labyrinth, physical or magical, should they try to pass through it.

Both women even expressed their nervousness in the same way: their pale green eyes squinted, and they tapped their thighs with their right fingers from time to time.

According to testimony, one of the women was a shadow clone, but the magic that made it was so cunning that it was impossible to tell which was the arcanist and which was the magical construct.

His assistant, High Judge Wintar, has tried all the standard tests but can't solve the problem.

Both women radiate powerful magical auras - but like most arcanists, Siris has been known to use powerful magic to prolong her life.

Winta had exhausted himself trying to pinpoint exactly which spell created the aura, and hadn't succeeded.

Siris's magic was stronger than expected.

Frowning, Dessoud ordered the two to remove all clothing and belongings to analyze whether the objects showed any signs of failure.

If they were created at the same time as the clones were made as part of the Siris spell, the magic shouldn't be able to fully sustain them once they're out of contact with the clones.

But all of the items turned out to be non-magical, and they were normal items obtained after making shadow clones.

As a final test, he even briefly teleported a woman to another plane, expecting the other to disappear—which is what usually happens when the magical connection between the alchemist and the construct is separated by such a distance.

Like the other tests, this is of no use.

Staring at the two women, De Soud found that the two were acting independently, as if they had complete control over their actions.

There is no sign of general shadow clones being ordered by their masters, no hesitation in words or imitation of actions.

The magic that sustains shadow clones is long-lasting.

He'd spent the better part of the day hearing, and the shadow clone wasn't fading at all.

Its maker seems to have cast a spell of permanence on it.

He looked expressionlessly at the Arcanist who gave the testimony.

Argo Ptek, a male with a protruding forehead and shoulder-length thinning blond hair, was pacing up and down in front of the chair he was sitting in.

Over his trousers, he wore an alchemist's leather apron over a loose white shirt.

His cuffs were stained yellow, and his clothes smelled of burning sulfur, suggesting he had come straight from the laboratory to give his testimony.

His eyes appear very large behind glass eyes floating in front of his face.

As he stated his testimony, he looked nervously at the two women in the ring.

He glanced at the judge from time to time, as if looking for encouragement, but he couldn't find it on De Soud's emotionless exterior.

The cloak Ptec was ordered to wear when giving his testimony, a worsted gold cloak.

Rolling and rolling as he paced, humming with every word he uttered, like a beautiful harp.

This is a polygraph cloak that will sound an alarm whenever you lie.

"You know I can't lie—at least not in this," Ptek grumbled:

"I'm telling the truth. Siris is the thief. I hired her to be my advisor on... my latest research. I need her expertise in magic that touches other planes and demiplanes. She guessed my research What's in the notes, figured out how I... where I hid them."

He showed a pained expression. "I trusted her! I will never work with other mages again."

As Ptek's words spiraled up the ivory trim, whispers rustled from the wall above.

Bystanders grew throughout the day, as it was rumored that someone was being tried for theft of state secrets.

"This is a serious question," Dessoud warned Putek.

"You are accusing a colleague of the Arcanist of a capital crime, but you have no evidence, except your own testimony. Your magic research was stolen, or Siris stole it."

"We are innocent!" they shouted together.

Both pointed at each other, their words in sync like heartbeats.

"she sure"

"She is."

They end up simultaneously, "Guilty!"

They continued to protest, each trying to silence the other.

Noticing that the testimonies on the ivory spiral had become so jumbled that even a spiral court could hardly distinguish them, De Soud spread the fingers of his right hand and cast a hold spell on both at the same time.

Both women were unable to move, could only breathe or blink, but were able to hear the testimony.

"They're all guilty," muttered Ptek, looking back and forth at the two immobile women.

"One is an Arcanist, and the other is her shadow clone. One is planning, and the other is committing a crime. Put them all to death, but first force them to tell what they did to my research notes."

De Sude curled his finger, "Cloak."

Ptek took off his cloak with a trembling of gratitude, as if it were a leech.

De Sud made a gesture, and the cloak leaped over the magic circle that trapped Siris, who was wearing jewel dust on her face.

Released from the spell she put on her cloak and stood poised, as if expecting something, with a haughty expression on her face, waiting for Dessoud to ask her questions.

"Are you Siris?" he asked.

"I am," she began to answer, flinching when a slightly harsh syllable sounded from the cloak.

Obviously, she lied.

"I mean, I believe I am. Of course it's possible I'm wrong. I don't know if I'm a shadow clone. I have all of Siris's physical and mental attributes, including her spellcasting abilities - even the same memory."

De Sud thought for a while, and then said, "Now suppose you are the original Siris, please answer my question accordingly."

He pointed to another woman in the labyrinth circle. "Did you make this shadow clone?"

"It must be me. No other arcanist could have made such a perfect replica."

"Do you remember casting this spell?"

"No. All I know is that this shadow clone must have been made by me, and somehow, my memory of that day has disappeared."

"What do you remember?" De Soud asked.

"One moment I'm sitting in the library, drinking morning tea while reading a book, and the next moment I'm in my lab, face to face with this...creature. I thought it was a doppelganger at first, only when I tried to use The magic bound it, and it unbound it as if the spell had cast itself, and I realized she must be a shadow clone."

"Have you tried ordering it?"

Celis nodded vigorously. "I did it right away, but it didn't work. For some reason, this thing seems to have a mind of its own."

"Have you tried disarming the shadow clones?" Dessoud asked.

Celis nodded. "That doesn't work either."

"Have you tried dispelling the magic that sustains it?"

"Of course," Siris said, pursing her lips in contempt. "You know, I'm not a rookie just getting started."

De Sude thought for a while, and then asked, "When did the law enforcement team arrest you?"

"When the shadows fall—dusk," Siris replied: "That's when I first heard that the research notes were lost."

"Did you steal Ptek's research materials?" Dessoud asked directly.

Celis stared at her clone and said, "One of us stole it. It may or may not have been me."

"Do you know where the stolen research notes are now?"

"Do not."

Throughout the entire time Siris testified, the Cloak of Reality responded to her words with a continuous harmonious tone, not a single dissonance.

Sirius was telling the truth.

De Sou had to try another set of questions. "What were the shadow clones doing when you restored your memory?"

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, frowning.

"Does it appear to be casting a spell?"

"No. It just stood there, looking at me."

De Sou had to sit and think for a while.

"Shadow clones generally have a limited duration, but this one seems to be constant. When High Judge Wenta cast the dispel spell on the two of you, the simple permanence spell would collapse, but this one didn't. How do you explain it?"

"How can I explain?" Siris yelled, waving her hands in the air.

"You obviously weren't listening to what I just said. I don't have any memory of what happened yesterday, including casting the shadow clone spell."

De Soud sat motionless in his silver chair.

He never let his judgment be swayed by the expression or tone of voice of the accused.

"The court will hear the plea of ​​defendant number two," he announced.

He pointed to the cloak on Siris' shoulders. "Take off the cloak of reality."

As soon as she was done, Dessoud held her in place and let the cloak float towards the second woman, dispelling the magic that was preventing her from moving.

He asked the same question - and received a nearly unanimous answer.

The second Siris also swears that she has no memory of making Shadowclones, saying her first memory after that blank period is of her and Shadowclones standing in her lab, looking at each other in confusion.

From beginning to end, the cloak responded to her words in perfect harmony.

There was a look of annoyance in Dessoud's eyes behind the ivory mask.

"By law, an arcanist is legally responsible for the actions of any creature he or she magically creates," he began, "but this case..."

"In this case, it's clearly no ordinary shadow clone," Siris interjected, tossing her long red hair.

"It's free and self-conscious. It could have committed the whole crime entirely on its own, using my spells and my knowledge of Ptec research to steal the notes. If that's the case—if you convict us both, put us both to death." two — you killed an innocent woman. You have no choice but to acquit us all and let us go."

He sat quietly in thought as the mutterings of the spectators came down.

Now that the pleas of both defendants have been heard, all attention is on the judge.

Especially de Soud.

The observers, the two defendants, the plaintiff, Ptek, stared closely at his face, looking for the slightest scowl or smile, hoping to read his expression.

As usual, he let them down.

"The court is adjourned," de Soud announced. "I need to discuss the case in chambers."

After speaking, he uttered the teleportation spell.

After a moment.

De Soud stood in a room with oddly spaced corners, whose walls and ceiling were made of a transparent glass-like substance.

This inner courtyard is located on the highest tower in the territory, surrounded by only the sky, which can be illuminated from all angles.

The sunlight streaming through the walls and ceiling was distorted into thousands of blue and red points of light, revealing that this inner courtyard was originally a huge hollow diamond.

Magic barriers are engraved on each surface of the gemstone to prevent the outside world from peeping inside.

Far below the towers that supported the crystalline inner courtyard, roofs and pinnacles were visible here and there, like barnacles clinging to the peaks that had been turned upside down to build the collar.

Two structures stand out in particular: cage-like enclosures that surround the domain's two mythar cores—huge spheres that channel raw magical energy from the Shadow Fiend's Web.

Each Mither Core pulses with energy, sustains the magic that keeps the domain aloft, and powers all quasi-magical devices within a two-kilometer radius of the energy field.

The energy can be seen with the naked eye, a gleam colder than ice and brighter than the hottest flame—and like fire, it attracts moths.

Those who would like to commit suicide can die instantly by touching a sphere emitting bright light, without any possibility of resurrection.

Seeing this, De Sude already knew what he should do next.

When the court resumes, the Spiral Court is more crowded than ever.

The news of the imminent announcement of the verdict in the case was revealed, and the walls were so crowded with spectators that the testimony that rolled along the ivory spiral was invisible.

On the ground below, everything is ready.

Shade Prince Desood sat on a silver chair.

He raised a hand for silence, and said, "I have discovered the source of magic that sustains this shadow clone: ​​the Mither core."

Excited voices echoed in the spiral courtroom, and Dessoud waited for the voices to subside while observing the faces of the two defendants.

They seemed wary but bewildered, as if they knew about Desudet's Mither core but didn't understand its importance.

It's logical.

All memories of creating and maintaining shadow clones using the Mithr core have been erased, as well as other memories.

"One of the women is a quasi-magical spell effect and is not responsible under the statute for her actions. As such, Siris will be found guilty for the crime she is accused of and committed."

De Soud held up a hand for silence. "As for shadow cloning."

He continued, "Since it's just a spell effect, it can be discarded."

It's just a spell effect...

"Next, I will hold a divine judgment." Prince Yinhun announced coldly:

"I will teleport the two defendants to a place more than two kilometers away from the ability. My assistant, the high judge Wenta, is waiting there. The shadow clone will be dispelled because it is far away from the maintenance magic of the secret energy core."

"The real Siris will survive this journey, and my assistant will immediately send her back to accept the judgment."

He turned to the two women, "Before accepting the divine judgment, do you have anything to say?"

The two women straightened their shoulders and shook their heads one heartbeat apart.

From the fearful eyes in their eyes, De Sude knew that both women knew what would happen.

Out of the scope of the Miser nuclear, one of them will disappear, and the other will face the death penalty.

Their earlier arrogance was gone, and the women in dresses crumbled and disappeared.

The adventurer in costume also suddenly opened his mouth like the mouth of an abyss, full of fangs, hissing and roaring:

"That's right, all of this is a disguise to steal your Nether scrolls and research materials... Hiss listen! You cowards who once hid in the shadow plane. Hiss, the real masters of the desert , the Felin Mokui has returned, and everyone hiss... must die!"

Immediately afterwards, this graceful woman transformed into a huge trumpet-shaped object at a speed visible to the naked eye. It kept wagging its venomous tail and hissed:

"The Ennook Desert is ours. Hiss. We're back! You cowards, die! Hiss."

Felin Mokui!

Seeing this terrifying monster appearing in the courtroom, the crowd screamed and fled in panic.

De Sude suppressed the shock in his heart, calmly recited a spell, and pointed.

——"A Finger of Death!"

A crimson negative energy suddenly and completely killed the hissing and roaring Felin Mokui.

Looking at the dead monster, De Sude heaved a sigh of relief for no reason.

He knew that this was the last time he would stay in this floating city where he had lived for more than 1000 years.

Although the sudden departure made him feel lost, he did not regret it.

Because his next goal is the magic kingdom called Halrua, which is known as the 'Glory of the South'.

"Everything is for the rise of the Arcane Empire."

He muttered to himself, stepped on the starlight circle, and disappeared without a trace.

(End of this chapter)