Chapter 97: The Judgement Against Aiden

Presiding over the assembly was the Senior-ranked mage, Ynes of Crimson Dawn.

“Yes, Haman, what complaints do you lay against Aiden of Ravens Grave?”

“I-I, ehm…” Haman stuttered in trying to start. You could see that he was visibly shaking to an extent.

Talen then placed his hand atop Haman’s shoulder and said, “Speak up and tell them everything you told me. You need not fear.”

Haman then looked up again toward Ynes, who was waiting for him to continue.

“So yesterday…” Haman began, then explained his whole experience at the hands of Aiden to the assembly of mages. At some point, he let out the tears that he couldn’t hold back.

Although he conveniently left out the part where he had bullied, beaten, and treated Oliver unfairly.

The other mages were in shock after they heard all of Haman’s experience. Aside from the fact that an Initiate-ranked mage had cast those levels of spells, the cruelty behind them was mind-boggling.

Even Piers was totally dumbfounded as he stared at Aiden, wondering himself if it was really true.

“I’m going to ask you, Aiden of Ravens Grave: are these allegations levied before you true?” Ynes asked, with a face that looked disturbed and somewhat annoyed by the whole story.

Piers was the most expectant of this answer. He could swear that Haman’s account, which practically felt like a story of extreme punishment, was a lie.

Aiden simply said, “Yes. I did those things to him.”

The straight answer, combined with the fact that it was really true, had taken everyone aback, including Piers. One had even gasped in reaction.

“Even if you’re an Initiate who has only just entered the Academy, what makes you think such acts against another mage are justified?” Ynes questioned.

“Should we even go as far as asking what his reason was?” Talen asked, stepping forward just a bit.

“I do not support any of those acts, but I believe he is entitled to that question,” Piers interjected with a reply to Talen.

“Of course you would say that, given he’s from your guild,” Talen replied back.

Then Piers retorted quickly, “Can I not say the same for you? Haman is currently wearing the uniform for Fractured Stars.”

“Enough of the squabbles, please,” Ynes spoke out loud, bringing the exchange between Piers and Talen to a halt. “Aiden of Ravens Grave, I expect an answer from you. What justified such treatment?”

Aiden scoffed, then turned toward Haman, who immediately moved his gaze away from him. He asked, “Perhaps you forgot to include that you were very much a bully to your former guild mate, Oliver? The one you made miss a class meant for initiates? Or was it the bruises you left on his face?”

“These are untruths!” Haman spoke out desperately toward the senior-ranked mages sitting atop the platform.

Aiden scoffed and shook his head, then directed his gaze toward Talen, who stood to his side. “Perhaps you didn’t see reason enough to bring Haman to this place when he treated Oliver and the other initiates of your own guild unfairly. Plain hypocrisy, if you’d ask me, Talen.”

Talen turned toward Aiden at this point with a stern face. He took one step forward as if he was going to make a move against Aiden.

Aiden himself had stared right back at Talen fearlessly.

That was when Ynes spoke: “Do you mean that you did this in retaliation for this mage you call Oliver?” She directed her question to Aiden.

Aiden then turned his sights toward Ynes and replied, “Since no one in their guild could do as much as caution Haman, someone else had to.”

“I can also attest to this,” Piers added. “Oliver recently just joined our guild after the Grand Magus permitted the guild change under the very grounds of unfair treatment from both the guild captain and the members.”

Piers didn’t exactly like Aiden’s methods, but at least now he was certain that Aiden wasn’t just being plain cruel or abusing his extraordinary skills as a mage.

Ynes sighed, then said, “This still doesn’t make it an excuse for what felt like excessive punishment.”

Then she turned toward Aiden and said, “We will speak among ourselves right now and then come to a decision. You’re to remain outside until that is done.”

She gestured her right hand toward the exit so that he may start leaving.

Aiden then turned away and left the hall.

—–

About half an hour later, Aiden was asked to return to the halls, for they had come to a decision.

Ynes began, “We’ve come to a decision. The first one being that a petition letter for your suspension from the Academy will be sent to the Grand Magus. Should it be granted, you’ll be suspended from the Academy for 30 days. The second one is this: prior to the grant of this petition, you will take over from the servant charged with the responsibility of seeing that the corridors of Fractured Stars guild are clean. Every morning you will sweep their corridors…”

There was a brief pause, and then she continued, “You will also muck out the stalls holding the horses belonging to the same guild. This is to be done at the end of each day. Note that going against any of the punishments laid out by the Assembly is synonymous with a personal affront against a guild captain and will warrant further punishments.”

Aiden tried to muffle his chuckling but couldn’t, and then it turned into full-blown laughter. “Oh, you lot are silly…” Then he giggled a bit more and added, “Mucking out their stables and sweeping their corridors? I’m sorry, but that will not be happening.”

“Aiden!” Piers called out to him, hoping that he would call himself to order before he made it even worse.

Aiden scoffed and then turned to leave without offering another word to the members of the Assembly before him.

That was when Talen, who couldn’t condone the disrespect anymore, acted by stretching out his hand toward Aiden, who was now walking toward the exit.

“No…” Piers whispered to himself as his eyes widened at the sight of Talen’s hand being stretched out in preparation to cast magic. He knew how powerful Talen’s magic was.

Talen then whispered “Distortion Magic…” And at that moment, Aiden’s sight perception was instantly warped.

From Aiden’s view, the door that was so close now appeared several hundred meters away from him. It looked like an illusion until the system’s notification prompted in front of him:

[Technique Copied: Distortion Magic: View Warp(A)]

The technique had been copied the very instant it was used on Aiden. This also made him stop for a moment, and with a thought, he made the system bring out the technique’s description:

[Distortion Magic: View Warp → This Magic Technique warps the target’s perception of sight]

Talen immediately spoke up, “That’s enough of your disrespect, you foolish initiate.”

Then he cast a different variation of his distortion magic, which warped Aiden’s brain’s balance and made him experience vertigo.

Aiden, while still pondering the effects of the first attack, started losing his balance. The world was spinning around him, and he felt insanely dizzy.

For the first time since his confrontation with his father, Aiden had gone to one knee from the effects of the distortion magic.

However, the moment that technique was used, it was also instantly copied once more:

[Technique Copied: Distortion Magic: Wrong Balance(A)]

[Distortion Magic: Wrong Balance → This Magic Technique warps the target’s brain balance and causes the feeling of vertigo]

“That’s enough, Talen!” Piers called out, but that only angered Talen further. And then with one look at Piers, he cast the same magic technique that caused Piers to feel the same effects of vertigo.

Piers fell to his knees as well, trying to steady and balance himself before using his transport magic to disappear from there.

Ynes then spoke, “Talen, stop this minute!”

Talen looked at her for a few moments and then he stopped casting his magic.

Aiden immediately got a hold of himself, and then a grin appeared on his face.

He hadn’t initially acted because he was trying to get an understanding of the technique and respond appropriately. However, Ynes had just intervened.

Aiden slowly stood up and then turned back toward Talen with a grin on his face. At that moment, he recast the same distortion spell that had been copied just a few moments ago.

Talen faced the effects of the vertigo spell he initially used on Aiden, which prompted him to lose his balance and fall to a knee as well.

The other members of the Assembly witnessed this with shock on their faces. One of them was just about to act with his arm already outstretched when Aiden instantly intercepted the attempt.

He used the Wrong Balance spell once again, but this time it wasn’t just on the mage. It was all on 6 of them that weren’t already affected like Talen was.

And one by one, the members of the Assembly fell on their knees and succumbed to the effects of vertigo.

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