"Order in the courtroom." The judge hit the gavel, silencing the entire court.
Remiel wanted to speak, but he simply couldn't.
From the left of the courtroom, a frail-looking young man entered the courtroom and stood in the left dock.
Following that, a rather healthy-looking fella entered the court from the other side and stood in the right dock.
"Plaintiff, narrate your side of the story." The old judge ordered, ignoring Lucien, who was standing frozen in the middle of the court.
'The language is off, what kind of court is this?' Lucien frowned, but the court continued without him.
"Your honor, Mr Aris here is the city's guardsman. He saw a fire in the building, and instead of saving five children from the daycare, he chose to save a single girl.
"And according to the city's Immediate Public Peril law, a designated authority must prioritize the survival of the greatest number in an emergency situation. And in that situation, the math was pretty clear.
"Hence, according to the city laws, I demand the execution of Mr Aris for his criminal negligence and indirectly murdering five innocent children."
The plaintiff finished his story, the judge nodded, and so did the public.
Lucien was also intrigued by this case.
Everyone's head turned towards the other side of the court, and the judge ordered, "Defendant, now, narrate your side of the story."
Aris nodded and started speaking, "Your honor, yesterday morning, I was on my routine patrol in the city, when I suddenly noticed a fire breaking out in the daycare.
"Near the right window of the building, there was a group of five children, trapped, screaming together due to the fire. But on the left window of the building, was my own younger sister, who noticed and started pleading for me to save her.
"I had no time to think, so I rushed towards my younger and saved her instead, while the other children perished in the fire.
"While I do regret not being able to save the five children, it wasn't simple math for me. It was my own blood-related little sister, your honor."
Everyone nodded mechanically around him, and Lucien himself nodded.
It was pretty clear that neither side was wrong.
It was a very morally ambiguous, simple-looking, yet complex case.
But just as he was pondering over the case, the judge spoke.
"So, Mr. Remiel, what is your verdict?" Everyone's eyes landed on him, freezing him on the spot. "Whatever you decide right here would be the final verdict of the case."
Lucien felt the weight on his shoulders increase severalfold as he looked around.
The adamant gaze of the plaintiff, the pitiful gaze of the defendant, the curious and pressuring gaze of the judge, and the spectators.
All of them put an invisible mountainous pressure on him.
An innocent's life was on his shoulders.
He was used to killing beings who threatened him or beings who deserved it, but it was a whole other topic when it came to innocents.
He understood both sides of the case and empathized with both.
But he can only choose one.
Morally, Aris didn't deserve a death sentence.
Many sane human beings would choose to protect their loved ones in an emergency.
But morality was a complex and subjective topic.
Who was he to decide what is morally right for others?
After all, the five kids who died in the fire also had families and loved ones, didn't they?
What about their feelings?
It was Aris's duty to protect those five, but he saved his sister.
Saving his sister was a human decision, something he felt was more important for himself.
He had a choice, and he made his choice.
"Kill that murderer."
"Kill that murderer."
"Kill that murderer."
People shouted from behind, and he turned around to take a look at them.
They ran towards him and held the hems of his shirt and started crying collectively, begging for justice.
They were the family members of the five children who died, all of them who were crying and mourning their deaths.
It was heartbreaking.
Their children, their hopes, their futures, everything was crushed.
"No, please don't kill my big bwudder!"
A teary-eyed girl, no older than 5, ran towards him and held the other side of his shirt, and started bawling her eyes out.
He bit his lips hard.
He couldn't move, and he couldn't get the others to leave either.
The guards inside did nothing about it.
Both sides of his ears were being filled with mournful cries, one side asking for justice, while the other just wanted her big brother to live.
In all honesty, Lucien really didn't think Aris deserved any kind of punishment.
But when he thought about it, the volume of the family's cries increased.
He still wanted to save Aris, though.
Killing him wouldn't resurrect the children.
It would only result in a net positive here, since a life would be saved.
But then he remembered what the mirror had said.
[Choose the right option.]
It didn't say choose what you want, unlike the judge.
It said to choose the right option here.
He rubbed his temples hard.
He knew what he had to do.
Waahhh!
The volume of the cries of the little sister increased in his ears as he looked next to him.
Snot and tears flew out of her nose and eyes, her grip tightened on his shirt, practically begging him not to kill Aris.
Ugh!
He looked up at the ceiling, feeling a lump in his throat.
He contemplated the situation.
He knew this entire situation was made up, but it felt so real that he couldn't help but feel bad.
He knew that he just had to say one sentence, and everything here would be over.
"I…" He opened his mouth to say something.
"No. No. Please don't kill my bwudder." The girl wiped her tears on his pants.
"Aris is… guilty."
Smack!
The gavel hit the table, and the decision was made.
He couldn't look into his sister's eyes anymore.
He saw a huge mirror drop from the sky, piercing the court's ceiling, and…
Splurch!
It crushed Aris, splattering his guts and blood all over him and his little sister.
"Nooooooo!" The little sister screamed in horror, and the trial number 2 ended.
He had completed the second trial.
'I'd make sure you are dead, Arenox. Even if it's the last thing I do.'
He swore to himself that he would complete all four of the trials and make sure not even a speck of Arenox's existence remains in reality.
Then, he went unconscious.