Now that his pain was no longer so furious, Sho thought back on what happened. Looking into his thoughts, he realized he was less angry at the fat bastard so much as at himself.
'How could I lose to that fat bastard? How could I lose? How could I let him beat me like that? That weak piece of shit, he's nothing compared to-'
That last thought shocked him out of his rage, at least temporarily. He focused on regaining his lost train of thought but it was too late. Still, he was a bit surprised at the fact he wasn't that angry at the disciple who beat him up. He did want revenge but he would expect himself to be angrier at the person he wanted revenge against. Instead, it was more of a cold feeling he felt against Andres.
He didn't get much time to dwell on it when he received a knock on his door. By now, he had taken a shower to wipe out all the acid and sweat accumulated from resisting it, and had dressed himself up in his new core disciple robe. The main difference between this and his old robe was that the core disciple robe had blue stripes running down the center and arms.
Walking to the door, he opened it to see Lahon loom over him, from across the entrance. A slight glint of surprise showed in Lahon's light beady eyes before he shook his head.
"You are not officially a core disciple, at least not yet. That will take some time. For now, you are still an outer disciple that is simply under my care. Of course, if you were to accept me as your master, and become my personal disciple then you would be considered a core disciple and receive all the perks that core disciples do, not to mention all the things I could teach you."
Sho stared at him for a second, interested, before suspicion replaced the mild interest in his eyes.
"And how much time would that take?"
A small smile graced Lahon's thin lips. "Not anything substantial."
Sho shook his head before reverting back to the original topic. "So, should I change?"
"No, your clothing is fine as it is", Lahon replied. "You seem prepared to go. Follow me." After that, the man turned and began walking out, Sho having nothing better to do other than follow.
'I don't trust this guy. His speech seems very controlled but that's what makes it strange. And why does he want me to be his personal disciple? He doesn't know me. Is it because of my results? Is that why he talks to me almost robotically?'
Sho's thoughts were almost entirely focused on Lahon's intentions, as he followed him. The paths weren't crowded but there were a few people walking around at the time. Their curious gazes turned to slight fear and respect once they recognized the person walking with Sho.
It didn't take too long before they reached the area the trial would be held. It was a grand courthouse with a small garden on either side of the path leading to the entrance.
Lahon led him in, walking through a hallway or two before they reached the main room. The trial room itself wasn't large. It consisted of a bench by the side, and two podiums which faced another bench in front of the room.
Seated by one of the podiums, was a man, his light tan skin complimented by blonde hair. He looked up to see Sho enter the room and while he slightly paled, he didn't react in any other way.
Sho recognized Juge but didn't pay much attention to him. On the bench to the side, there only sat the elder who had let him into the sect, Elder Bachi while on the bench in front, there sat three men.
"Go sit on the witness bench", Lahon said, gesturing towards the bench where Bachi sat. Sho obliged while Lahon walked to the other podium. Once he got there and once Sho was seated, he immediately began speaking.
"My fellow elders, this outer disciple is responsible for the deaths of 2 outer disciples as well as attempting to take advantage of other outer disciples during a crisis, and as such, should be executed."
At that, everyone except Sho paled: Juge out of fear, the rest out of shock. It was a very blunt way to announce one's point in the trial room.
Juge rushed to respond. "Respectable elders, this outer disciple is not responsible for the deaths of the two outer disciples that died nor did he attempt to take advantage of anyone on that mission, once a crisis occurred."
In a trial, it was usually simply the accused vs the accuser. There were no lawyers, almost no real procedure and sect disciples would have to personally defend themselves even if accused by a core elder, as is the current situation. The sect had decided that keeping a trial simple was the main priority even if one's status would make it much easier to win. Also, often, problems got settled out of court rather than it, so the judicial structure wasn't very advanced.
Lahon's eyes dimmed, in boredom. "Inner Elder Bachi, please tell the trial elders what we two elders saw at the area at which, we two elders apprehended this outer disciple."
Bachi stood up, making sure he didn't tip over due to his weight. "Fellow elders, this elder saw signs of combat. The grass was scorched with the energies of chaos and the surrounding trees were destroyed."
Lahon calmly asked a question. "Were there any signs of combat between humans?"
"Yes." Bachi replied.
Before Lahon could ask another question, Juge cut in. "Could you please describe the supposed signs of battle, Inner Elder Bachi?"
Bachi nodded. "Lightning scorch marks and clothing tears."
"Lightning scorch marks", Juge repeated. His voice rose, growing more passionate. "It's as this disciple said before, respectable elders. When I was imprisoned, I pleaded, saying that I had fought to defend my fellow disciples rather than destroy them. I had ran away at first to preserve my life. However, when I came back, I discovered a girl attacking Outer Disciple Sho who had been unconscious after managing to escape from the Chaos Beast. She had used lightning attacks and I had only barely managed to drive her away."
Lahon inwardly sneered. This outer disciple Juge truly was good at illusions. Every single motion of his, from his newfound passion to the fact his eyes watered at the end, was meant to provoke sympathy. He had even addressed himself as "I" instead of "this disciple" to make the trial elders see him as more human. However, it was, in no way, enough.
"Outer Disciple Juge, please remember to speak formally. Disrespect towards the sect court is also an offense you can be charged with."
Sho watched the proceedings with complete disinterest. Despite the fact he didn't truly know much about court procedures, or maybe because he didn't truly know much, he was able to understand that this trial was merely a formality. Juge had already been found guilty from the moment a core elder was the one that had accused him of murder.
Lahon continued. "This elder has found faults with this disciple's story. As such, he has several questions to ask him if my fellow elders oblige."
The three men on the bench in the front, looked at one another before nodding.
Lahon nodded before looking at Juge. "Why did you go back in the first place? Would you not have still been afraid of the Chaos Beast?"
Juge seemed to plead at this point. "When this disciple had ran a decent distance, he decided to go back to save as many of his peers as possible, even if he ended up losing his own life."
"Really, and what could you have done?" Lahon sneered.
"This disciple doesn't know. It may have been foolish but he truly wanted to save someone's life. The guilt was eating him up inside. He couldn't do nothing."
"When you fought this mysterious lightning girl, you claimed to have barely drove her away. Why, if you truly feared that this girl would attack Sho, would you leave him there?"
"Outer Disciple Sho was too heavy to lift and this disciple was afraid that we two disciples would be ambushed, causing both of us two disciples to die."
"So you believed that this lightning girl who you drove away, could potentially pose a threat if you carried Sho to safety, while if you had to face a Chaos Beast, at least one of you would manage to survive?"
"That is not what I said at all, Core-"
"That is exactly what you said. And I would like to officially add disrespect to the sect court, as one of the charges brought against this disciple, to be tried at a later date."
Juge began sweating. 'This old bastard is too slick. Even if I manage to prove myself innocent here, he'll just try again until I'm destroyed. He knows the ins and outs of this convoluted shitty system way better than me.'
Lahon continued. "Now, what you said, Outer Disciple Juge", Lahon said, emphasizing each syllable of the last three words. "What you said was that you ran back, hoping to save one of your peers. Now you say that you left the one peer you found because both of you would've died had you brought him.
Did you think that if you had fought a Chaos Beast upon coming back, that it would leave you alone once you ran away from it? That you would somehow manage to completely vanquish it or distract it before you ran away? Had you found a Chaos Beast and picked up Sho trying to run back to the sect, you both would have died regardless since you apparently find yourself incapable of protecting him or yourself from some random girl."
Juge paled. "This disciple finds these proceedings to be irrelevant. They do not advance the idea that this disciple was responsible for any deaths."
The trial elders looked at Lahon, implying that he should explain the relevance. Lahon merely sneered. "Fellow elders, this elder is trying to show you Outer Disciple Juge's unreliability. This disciple says that he has no ability to protect a peer from some random girl yet he supposedly runs back towards the last known location of a Chaos Beast to protect them. At best, this disciple is impulsive and foolish. This elder need not explain how such an action could be considered sinister as well.
In addition, this elder beseeches his fellow elders to look at the holes. How could this disciple have gotten away from a Chaos Beast? His Path is Illusion, something completely lost on a Chaos Beast. The only thing illusions would work on is a living being such as a human. This disciple is not faster than Sho. Then why was he able to escape? With this, I call Sho to stand witness to the events that transpired."
Juge's skin paled even further but he remained silent. 'By calling him so informally by his name, he's making Sho seem closer to him, furthering his case. It would raise the reputability of everything he says.'
Lahon, seeing Sho's disinterested, sleepy, expression, merely smiled a bit. "Sho, were you there when Outer Disciple Juge escaped?"
"Yes."
"Can you tell my fellow elders how he did so?"
"He first manipulated the girl into walking near the Chaos Beast, leading to her death. The boy attacked the Chaos Beast and then died, further distracting it. At that point, he was far enough away from it that it focused on me rather than him."
"Respectable elders, please ignore what Outer Disciple Sho just said. He is clearly addled. Look at his appearance. He looks tired and in no way conscious of what he's saying. In fact, does the sect even know where he was for the entire day before this trial took place? He may have suffered brain damage. After all, I found him when he was unconscious." Juge rushed, spitting out his words as if he was a machine gun.
Lahon cut in. "You dare question the reliability of Outer Disciple Sho? It is very easy to test his mental capability." With a grave expression on his face, he turned towards Sho and held up three fingers. "Sho, how many fingers am I holding up?"
Sho squinted but it was still blurry. The lack of sleep was catching up to him now. "Between one and four."
"Absolutely correct. Please, my fellow elders, add slander to one of the charges brought against this disciple, to be tried at a later date."
Juge nearly gave up. Of course, he could go down the rabbit hole of disputing the idiotically simple test but then Lahon would simply rejuvenate Sho and ask him to talk about what had happened before, again.
Juge's eyes lit up with a cruel light. It was better this way.
"This disciple finds Elder Lahon's test to be crude and utterly lacking. He would like to propose a Mental Challenge to Outer Disciple Sho."