Leo confronted the spirit of Rita, Eliot was hoping that the question would show that she had been lying all along, while Gilbert went back to his chair. He had done everything he needed to do, so there was no reason for him to care anymore. The sun could never actually burn him due to his power level, but that didn't mean he liked it.
Duma didn't like his attitude, but knew it was time to give the floor to Leo. "I only have a single question left. What kind of punishment should sir Vires get?"
The question wasn't just randomly made up, there was intent behind it. From her answer and the speed at which she came up with it, Leo could see whether her emotions were real and how much of it could possibly be an act. He could've asked how she felt with Vires' punishment, since the law dictated it, but he would rather test the waters one final time. Leo didn't see himself as a perfect investigator, but he didn't like loose ends, and Eliot did bring up a good theory. This gave him enough of a reason to act once more.
Rita was surprised by the question, at first she was stumped on how to answer. Her feelings clashed with one another, but the logical part of her mind still pushed forward. "Before I answer, what would he get according to the rules?"
"Sir Vires is accused of first degree murder, considering his rank and status, we can opt for 50 years of jail time. When he eventually gets out, his powers will be restricted for about 5 years, and then he'll be completely free."
"He needs to spend 50 years in jail! That's ridiculous!", Eliot got reignited after hearing what his teacher would be getting. Duma didn't like it when Leo got interrupted, so she quickly explained.
"He's a mage that's considerably far in Rank 2, 50 years are nothing to him, he should feel honored he wasn't sentenced for life without magic.", but Eliot wasn't happy with it. He started to discuss it further with Duma.
Leo didn't even bother looking aside since he was focussed on Rita, she could feel his stare deeply. Considering that 50 years weren't that much for a Rank 2 mage, it was still longer than she had lived, making the punishment feel heavier. "Hmm, 50 years seem like too much, how about this; his sentence can last as long as my life, in that way he'll never forget what he did, and it makes the punishment a bit lighter."
"I see, so you've chosen for that. Eliot? Do you still have any arguments you want to bring to the table?", Leo had decided, and didn't want to waste any more time on it. Eliot on the other hand was furious with the way things were going. So far, he had only wasted time and energy, and nothing was changing for the better.
His mind was spinning trying to come up with arguments, but they all got shot down pretty fast. Leo was about to look away from him, making him panic, 'I need to say something now!'
"What if the murderer simply used a spell to change his face to that of Vires?!"
"The same counterargument still hasn't changed, that spell is too complex for any Rank 1 mage to perform, even Rank 2 mages could experience trouble with it, so from all the teachers here, only a few could be capable of it."
"Aaargh, are you guys still not done!? I'm trying to read in peace, but not only are your stupid discussion ruining it, the sun is also becoming a pain in my ass. Look, I'm tired of all this, let me show you something.", Gilbert moved up from his chair to approach Rita who had been floating with tiny little flames around her.
"I've been picking up positive feelings from the surrounding lingering souls, meaning they agree with what we've been discussing. Rita, let go of your form and change back to your core, let the surrounding souls take the excess energy to materialize.", Gilbert was clearly done with this. The way he was handling things was like a parent tired of their children making so much noise.
Rita followed Gilbert's command without waiting for Leo's approval, since Gilbert was the one who brought her back, even if only temporary, it was enough to give him the most authority. Her form started to disappear, the only thing remaining was a single ball of blue flames, but things quickly changed. The energy it took to retain that form was now dispersed among the other souls waiting around, Gilbert took control of the flow so that only the correct souls could receive the chance to materialize.
Multiple balls of flames started to appear, all looked extremely similar. Slowly, multiple, if not tens, of small flaming balls of blue light started to materialize. All the flames started to shout in unison.
"Vires was the bastard that took my life! He needs to die!"
"Listen to her and make that man spend the rest of his life in prison!"
"I was a student here as well, but Vires killed me! He deserves death and nothing else!"
"If someone deserved to die, it has to be him!"
"He and that stupid Demonic Cult conspired to kill me!"
"Vires tortured me and showed me my own guts, but he made it seem like a suicide!"
Tens of souls started to spout and yell about how bad Vires was as a person. Even Eliot was starting to doubt himself, 'There's no way he actually killed so many, right?', his eyes focussed on Leo for a moment and knew that there was nothing he could do to change the outcome now. The only thing he could do was warn his teacher, he started to sprint towards Vires' next class. Duma had already forgotten about him and was waiting for further orders.
Leo looked determined and angry, he looked at Gilbert for a moment, but moved on. "Brothers and Sisters, we have a traitor to catch.", Gilbert couldn't help but smile at that line, 'My work is done here'
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Elam had been given an extensive list of tasks he needed to complete, ranging from small things like giving a letter to Gilbert to visiting Eleven and helping him. 'But the letter doesn't state with what or where the hell he's at! Argh, he really took advantage of me...which, I guess, is a good thing. If that is a sign he has his personality, then all the better.'
The only clue he had was that Eleven is next to Lucas, the only person who followed Gilbert's classes. So the only thing he could possibly do was stand guard at Gilbert classroom, he had locked it, and it's not like he was important enough to gain a master key from the teachers' council.
'Goddammit, should I have attended those weekly meetings? Then I would've probably gotten one, although, weekly meetings....yeah no, I'll just wait here.'
He created a simple stone chair to wait it out, if it was any other teacher they would've checked the general schedule. It contained all the classes every teacher would be giving during the week, making it easy to figure out when anyone would come to certain classrooms. Luckily, Gilbert had irregular timings for his lessons and both his students were quite diligent. Lucas always had something on his mind, trying to plan for the future, but Eleven could only wait for the next lesson.
This made him come quite early, giving Elam a stroke of luck. Eleven didn't recognize the strange man, during their last meeting on the mountains, all he could see were his eyes after all. Elam had a habit of keeping them closed, but the moment he would open them he would be recognized.
Elam, on the other hand, got a close look at him. "Ah, you must be Eleven, you're finally here.". Although Elam didn't like to work, he was looking at the future where he would be done with his work and he could laze back again.
"Yes, how do you know me? I'm not the only student that follows this class."
"Don't worry about that, Conrad asked me to help you out with your little project.", he said with a slight smile, he only had two things left to do.
After further confirmation did Eleven let his guard down, since Gilbert was busy with something else, they had the time to visit his little hideout. Eleven explained the situation on their way there.
Seeing the corpse, Eleven expected some kind of reaction from Elam, but he didn't even blink, literally. He inspected the runes that Lucas and Eleven were working on, but couldn't figure it out. Even if he was strong in his own field, that didn't mean he was good in a completely different field. After realizing he had received a scroll from Gilbert, he gave up pretty quickly and showed Eleven a way out.
"Gilbert gave me this, and well, the order of runes are remarkably similar to it.", the scroll gave the answer on how to summon the soul, even if only for a moment. "Thank you sir! I only wish Conrad was here with us, he would've been happy to know how it worked."
"That's fine, I'll show him the scroll once he's... When I see him again.", Elam let it slip for a moment, but Eleven didn't think anything of it. He was impressed by Lucas' power, but there was no reason to act like a bodyguard for him, they were at most close acquaintances.
Unlike Gilbert's way of summoning souls, the scroll Eleven had been a completely different procedure. Elam didn't want to bother with applying the runes to the body, so Eleven took care of the dirty work. As Lucas had found out, all the runes stayed the same, nothing really changed from the order. Only a few runes were replaced to improve efficacy, but that was it.
The problem lied in the fuel for the spell, using normal dark magicules wouldn't work in the slightest. The magicules had to be manipulated in a certain complex way to make contact with the souls in the air. Not many mages bothered to research magic that touched the realm of souls, since it didn't have an immediate use. Only certain mages, like necromancers, learned how to use this type of magic, but even then it had its problems. Thinking of making an army of the dead fell apart quite fast, since you would need to supply enough mana to constantly maintain the army. Thus, the school of necromancy fell behind the other more flashy schools.
The runes were perfectly applied since he had a reference point in the form of the other body. When he was done, all he could do was wait on Elam. He needed to form the magicules necessary to fuel the runes. Elam grasped the body's hands, pouring in the prepared magicules. Even if he didn't like to work, he was fascinated by the way necromancers manipulated the magicules to reach their end goal.
The runes slowly started to light up in a light blue color, they were placed over the entire body, giving it a mysterious look. After a while, the eyes opened up to reveal two eyes of pure blue light. "Argh, it feels good to feel again, I've missed this sensation, though I guess you can't keep it up for long?"
Elam still hadn't let go, the moment he did, the runes would lose their power and the soul would escape again. The body was a temporary vessel that could store a single soul, but that was it, it could only store it as long as the spell was active. Their conversation depended on the mana pool of Elam.
Eleven didn't know what to say, he was surprised at how casual his new acquaintance was. "Hahaha, looking at your face, it seems you don't know how this works. I've been observing you for a while now. After all, you had my body, I couldn't just leave you alone like that.", a smirk appeared on his face. This time it was actually visible since it wasn't just a materialization of pure energy like with Rita.
"What, NO, where was that camp at?!", he couldn't keep his calm now that he finally had a way forward.
"Hahaha, you want to go back to our lovely training center to take revenge or something? Or do you want to save the ones you left behind?", he was having the time of his non-existent life. He was already dead, and they couldn't hurt him in the first place.
"Just tell me! Where was it at?! Are they still alive?!", Elam didn't immediately know what was happening, he could only observe for now. The corpse started to lose his smile and became serious for once.
They went back and forth for a while, the corpse gave a few bits of information, but it couldn't give a lot in the end. The soul follows the body, so it's not like he could give an accurate report on how things were now.
"Listen, kid, I don't hate or like you, but going there will only result in your death. Don't even think of going back, this isn't a threat. I'm only saying this as a friendly warning, there's no reason for unnecessary killings."
"That doesn't matter anymore! I've grown in this school, I know how to fight now, not even that stupid overseer will be any trouble! I even have a plan to take him out!"
"Stop making a fool of yourself, even if you kill the leader, do you think it'll end there?! Who do you think employs the overseer?", it was a question Eleven hadn't thought about. If there was someone above the strongest person he knew, then he would still be too weak to fight.
"This isn't just a single camp that you would be fighting against, you would have to fight against a system that's simply impossible to grasp."
"Then tell me, who is this person that employs this so-called overseer?", Elam joined in the conversation, Eleven was clearly too unstable to think rationally. Besides that, he started to get curious about Eleven's situation.
"Hmm? I don't know who you are, but I guess I don't have much to lose now, do I? I don't really know what his name is, all I know is his moniker, The Hand. Not that it rea..."
"Huh?"
SMACK
A single chop of his hand was enough to knock Eleven out cold. Elam didn't have a lot of energy left after they had such a long conversation. Knocking him out was the only thing he could do at this point. 'To think he would be involved with them.'
"Goddammit, why does this always happen to me?"