All knew the courtroom was already stifling. However, they could not help but to make it more torrid with their exhalation. All because of what they had just heard before their tiny ears. Without even caring about the world, everyone showed a sense of disgust for the young girl. Poor Alicia, she again received scorn for the umpteenth time.

“Could you be that Crimsonmane outcast who can’t do magic!”

“That girl tainted the sacred magic! Blasphemer of Silent Divine!”

“Sacrilegies! Sacrilegies!”

“Pathetic you are, indeed! Are you so desperate that you don’t accept just the way you are, to the point of finding a desperate way to become a mage just to be recognised by your family?”

“Imbecile! Yer nae different from those Protos particle addicts with delusions of grandeur!”

“You’re nothing special. Just accept that you’re not a magus!”

“Even with that pure Arcane power, you will never be a part of us!”

Her hands clenched into fists. Her ever-haunting nightmare long buried, at last, paid the Crimsonmane girl a visit again—feeling the whole realm reviled her for being a disgrace to a famous wizarding house.

“YES! I am the one, that outcast Crimsonmane! So what?” Alicia went violent with the magi, who mocked a sixteen-year-old without mercy. “What’s wrong with wanting to attain magical power? I’m not doing it so my own family recognise my existence! I don’t need their approval!”

Suddenly, the magic circle on her hand jolted her again, a sign that she was not telling the truth. All the magi looked down on Alicia even more, while Bartholomew looked up from above and sat in reticence, enjoying the bookworm being tortured.

“A little, m-maybe…,” Alicia stuttered. “But my one true ambition is, to spread happiness to the world with magic. That’s my dream as a mage! Orb will help me achieve it!”

The mages were disgusted by the girl’s cliche, yet naïve ambition. She learned to control her negative emotion. Alicia then reaffirmed herself once again, “But I can’t stop you from despising me. So go ahead, just revile as much as you want until your heart feels content!”

Bartholomew, the Vice Grand Magus, rose from his master’s throne. Not only his physical being, his deep anger also rose. “No more world-saving clichés from you, Crimsonmane! You are sixteen years old, woman, use your reason for once! Magic makes life easier, but it is not a toy you can play with as you please under the pretext of saving the world! You will never—never…! Create heaven on earth...!”

The veins on the black man’s face grew more and more. A thought crossed him. He became even more furious. Just as this moment, Bartholomew did not see Alicia as a mere spoiled brat.

He saw her as a foe.

“Unless...,” he added.

“Unless… what?”

“With whom are you conspiring?” the Vice Grand Magus replied back. “Did your family teach you this? Is that why you held that orb and no Crimsonmane ever reported it? To bring about that cursed happily ever after fairy tale? Oh, that thousand years bullcrap! You’re part of them, aren’t you? The crimson manes put their faith in this belief? Ellie’s wrath, a Crimsonmane amongst you, Ailsa, lost her life to expose this serious threat, and the threat is now among us?"

How Alicia was also enraged with the accusation she had no idea what it was. The girl sensed the Vice Grand Magus was only framing her to separate herself from the magic ball, before disposing of her in the vile alley. When Alicia heard her mother’s name on the lips of that wizard, she was reluctant to concede, even though tears glistened in both eyes.

“W-what? What kind of accusation is that? Damn ye! Ye have nae right to accuse me of being part of mama’s disappearance! You should be ashamed of yourself!”

Seeing the unfavourable situation, Sylvester started shouting to calm them down.

“Okay, calm down! ORDER! ORDER!” Sylvester admonished Bartholomew. “Bartholomew, you don’t bring up something that doesn’t belong here! You can’t just land such a severe allegation on that little girl!”

“Bah! You’re too naïve, old man,” said Bartholomew. “But alright. It doesn’t matter, anyway. We’re not getting anything from her either, are we?” After saying that, the Vice Grand Magus sat back in his seat.

Only then did the commotion slowly subside. After that, Sylvester scolded Alicia right away, saying, “You’re from Trinketshore. That means you’re Ailsa Crimsonmane’s daughter, right? Didn’t your mother ever teach you about the mystic art ethics?”

“Oh, I know very well what you mean!” replied Alicia, who was starting to be presumptuous. “That I cannot go against my nature as a human without magic, is it not? I say that is a ridiculous, archaic code of conduct!”

The audience was taken aback by the girl’s presumptuous statement. Not sure if Alicia was even able to endure their wrath!

“Be careful, Miss Crimsonmane! I’m warning you!”

“Why do you keep the aspiring people shackled? Where’s the value of freedom and expressiveness the Camelots used to adore? If we can be anything here, why can’t I be a mage, too? After all, I don’t receive magical power from Protos particles.”

“It doesn’t matter if you get your power from Protos particles or pure Arcane! Your actions cannot be justified! There is a reason this law was made!”

“I’m not the enemy here, Your Honor! My goal is the same as yours, to help prevent the power of Khaos from engulfing the world,” Alicia responded. “But at least I can spread this grace with sincerity, making things better. Unlike the Romans, who keep their pure Arcane for themselves, then treat it like a traded asset—”

“ENOUGH!” cried the angry old judge. This time, his wrath was almost the same tier as Bartholomew’s vicious aura. He jumped up while gripping the cloth of his shirt as if he wanted to tear it.

“An ignorant juvenile like you,” snapped Sylvester again. “… You won’t listen, even if I yell at you until the end of the world!”

Alicia had just made a controversial proclamation. Camelot might be subject to an embargo from the Eternal Empire of Roma! To receive such treatment from a most powerful imperium in a chaotic world was tantamount to killing the country itself.

Sylvester tapped his chest. As a greybeard like him, of course, this outburst of emotions could make him have a heart attack at any moment. The old man inhaled deep before facing the imbecile suspect.

“Humans are greedy creatures, especially when it comes to power! If no one makes rules to limit these tendencies, it doesn’t matter if you take power from the deepest Tartarus, or from the face of the Divine himself! You will lose your way, away from your principal purpose. You will never be satisfied. Thirst for power will stumble upon you, and before you know it, you destroy others because of your deeds!"

At first, Alicia’s initial reply would be, ‘Oh yeah? Like those minging Romans, the mastermind behind all recent mundane hostilities?’ But if it made her responsible for the genocide of the Camelots, the girl would not dare.

The old Sylvester continued, “Whoever can’t create magic with one’s own mana, one can never further develop one’s abilities, either with the help of Protos particles or pure Arcane! Because that’s one nature! Your nature! The Divine has designed your being and others that way.”

“That can’t be true,” replied Alicia, doubtful and dissatisfied she was with the judge’s statement. “Forgive my impudence earlier, but how do you know I won’t advance? At least can’t the entire Magisterium and Roma test me? Or at least teach me how to make better use of pure Arcane?”

“Bah! Do you think that I and your great-grandparents never thought of trying anything like that?” Sylvester replied back. “There’s no point in us teaching you anything if you can’t dive into it yourself, let alone connect with any mystic arts! The pure power of the Divine, just like the pure power of the Khaos—they are magical enhancers, used to increase the magical power that already exists within them!”

Judge Roan added to his colleague’s statement. “Unlike Khaos, which can give random abilities and even develop new mystic arts from it, ordinary people can only manipulate raw Arcane energy on a basic basis. You cannot develop further to anything.”

“Those who are not mages will not be able to carry those two raw energies in the long term,” Judge Tanner explained. “Your body will be overwhelmed by Arcane, even if your body gets used to it, other complications will arise. Your lifespan will be shorter, but your skill stays the same.”

“The main thing is!” said Sylvester again. “Giving you that source of pure Arcane is a wasteful deed. Just because you’ve removed someone’s black magic doesn’t mean you’re a chosen special being, Miss Alicia! That’s the true nature of pure Arcane! You might be able to remove the influence of Protos from an ordinary person, but it is impossible—I say again, IMPOSSIBLE to neutralise the black magic of a real mage, let alone a Morganian. Not with that constant ability of yours.”

The visage of the bookworm had a look of despair. “No way. You’re lying,” she mumbled.

“Believe us, there’s no point in us lying,” Tanner replied softly. “If we really want to take this orb from you, we just have to take it straight away without much effort.”

“Then why did Orb choose me? Pure Arcane always chooses its wielders! There’s no way it judges based on one’s magic ability, nor the purity of one’s heart, because none of us knows what it is! Don’t tell me it’s a divine mystery as said in the books, because otherwise, this discriminatory trial shouldn’t have existed in the first place!"

A statement that might make everyone pensive. Attaining the Arcane power straight from the mage to a commoner? It was common. The Romans did it. One Roman army had the power of ten men during the war because of the Arcane flowing through the one. One of many aspects why Eternal Roma was a superpower. But what about the Arcane choosing the commoners themselves? They found nothing about it in their documents of magic history!

“Hmm.…” Judge Tanner looked deep in thought. He did not care about his trembling legs. After calling for an opinion to the other judges, and they agreed, Tanner smoothed out his vine-patterned dark green coat. “I think you are… different from the others. An anomaly. An unexpected breakthrough.”

Alicia seemed to feel a glimmer of hope.

“However, you’re not as exceptional as you think, and we can’t take the risk. With our allies amid a storm of war against the Black Alliance, we barely have resources and time to allocate to studying you further.”

“W-what?”

“You heard what I said, Miss Crimsonmane. You may be something else. But for now, it would be best if we make your Arcane resources for better use. For national defence, for example.”

Four superiors exchanged their stares. As they nodded at each other, Sylvester then stated his firm verdict. “Therefore, Alicia Crimsonmane, we have decided that Magisterium of Arcane Plane will confiscate your magic sphere, with the help of the Roman imperial supervision. After some investigation procedures, we’re going to return you to Trinketshore. This case is postponed indefinitely!”

A Roman agent deftly controlled the sealed Orb with the same type of power as its own. It appeared that the magical seal made Orb lifeless, easily listening to his hand gestures without revolting.

How mystified the already puzzled Alicia had become when the superiors explicated their nonsense. It was just too bad that the sweet taste of power from Orb would not last long.

“Why can’t I be of any use to you? I’ve learned the tricks of using Orb. You just have to teach me the rest. Send me to whatever division you want me to be! Medics, alchemists, anything!” Alicia once again appealed to the judges.

The entire audience laid their whisper once again about how pathetic the Crimsonmane girl was. Despite all those facts, in their mundane eyes, the girl was still just a girl. An outsider, beyond the reach of their community.

“Forgive us, Miss Alicia,” said Judge Roan. “You may have noble intentions, but having this kind of power is very risky. If we let the magic sphere stay with you, we are afraid your head will be a forever bounty. It is impossible for you to defeat all of them. It’s for your safety too.”

Sylvester looked back at Bartholomew on the throne. “And you, ‘Vice Grand Magus?’ What do you think?”

“Verdict accepted. Please continue.” A straightforward reply from Bartholomew, signifying the end of the trial.

“We now declare the trial is completed!” Judge Layton pounded his hammer. The magical seal on Alicia’s hand was gone. The atmosphere in the hall became a little looser.

The warden came back and led Alicia away from the judges.

“You… you must be joking.” Alicia held a grudge against them for being humiliated by all the mages in the courtroom. She was forced to follow the warden’s direction without lingering. Disappointment, shame, hurt, and returning past traumas mixed into one calamity of the girl’s emotion.

The moment they stepped into the threshold of the exit, the doors suddenly shut by themselves. The loud bang startled everyone present. Alicia and the warden saw the wood veneer of the door emitted a kind of black mud and blood mixed together to form a peculiar magical circle—the one that left nothing but a terrifying impression. The warden took Alicia a few steps back. Wonderful, now what other misfortune would befall her?

“What happened there?” Sylvester asked in an echoing voice. Bartholomew immediately took an alert position from his throne.

Sylvester felt something sticky on his shoe. He looked down; the ground he was stepping on cracked and excreted a mixture of dirt and blood similar to the one on the doors. The old man’s worn-out reflexes could not save him when a bloodied skull suddenly jutted out from the tiled floor and squeezed the judge tightly! It seemed the skeleton cast out a spell, causing Sylvester’s body to disintegrate away, as if his body’s tissues had been transferred to the living carcass. It didn’t take eons for flesh membranes to coat the evil skeleton, and look alive! A half-baked human figure with white eyes was created! What happened to Sylvester? Now it was his turn to become a pile of bones, crumbling on the floor.

The pale figure earlier—which was in fact, an undead—instantly pounced on Judge Roan next to him. Roan, who was also lacking in agility, did nothing but scream, receiving the flesh of his neck in shreds, and his veins ripped by the zombie. Carcasses and living cadavers sprang up from all over the floor and walls, creating great panic for the unawares.

The barrage of indistinct magic shots, the groans of corpses, and the cries of those devoured invaded the girl’s soul. The warden protected Alicia and seek for a safe place. But with all the exits sealed by magic, they had to spend the day trapped in the chamber of inferno, not to mention that Alicia had to witness the horrid scene. Oh, these memories would stick in her head for eternity!

Among the audience, a hooded mage experienced pain all over his body. He felt something squirming inside his stomach so that the pain had crept to his own face. His jaw suddenly opened wide by force, as a hand flew out of the poor mage’s mouth!

The hand kept pushing his lower jaw, the mage looked like he wanted to spit out a whole watermelon. What curse was deserved for this man, that his jaw was completely torn and his whole body was split! Another human being covered in mucus and blood, came out of the poor's mouth hole, giggling.

Someone who just emerged from the mage’s body woke up and stumbled, like a baby on his first steps. But that did not stop him from having a hysterical laugh at the sight of the magi being slaughtered by the aggressive undead. It appeared a mask adorned his countenance. The mask itself resembled the shape of an orc with a sharp nose and wide eyes, glistening red as the victim’s blood that spilled his entire being. However, the mask only covered the upper part of his face to his nose, leaving a wide yet vicious grin exposed to the universe. One could not judge his fashion, for it was unclear by red liquid and body chunks.

But one could assure, this madman was in fact a magic practitioner, only different from the wizards in the hall.

“HAHAHAHAHA! What a goofy ass trial you got there! I’m still in shock. The European wizards are still a complete idiot to this day!” said that mage. “It’s no wonder your mystic arts are the weakest and least developed in the world of thaumaturgy!”

Then he saw a frightened Alicia taking cover behind the warden’s shoulder. The mad practitioner made a mocking pity face towards her.

“Ohhh, poor girl. Are you still sad that the bullies stole your candy? Don’t listen to them, miss! How about a word of encouragement?” He bowed his body. “You are a special girl. You and that magic ball? Not chosen at random. Oh, fuck! You are indeed destined to change the face of the world…!”

Nausea hit him all of a sudden. He tilted his head up and took a pool out of his throat. The series of grotesque events that kept coming up recently made Alicia not even know how to react, when she saw that mage pull out a staff slowly from his mouth.

The staff surprisingly shared almost the same length as the madman’s height. At its top was a charred skull roasted in the afterlife—at least that’s what Alicia thought when she saw the charcoal-black skull full of rough crusts.

The mage continued. “And they asked me to take you with the magic ball,” he said. “But to Hades with them! That's a piece of cake. There is absolutely no struggle there!”

The magus then stretched out his staff. The black skull suddenly opened its jawbone, and out came a curved blade that cut through the air with no mercy! His staff was now a giant scythe!

“How about instead of bringing you alive, I just try to kill you?” []