“Very well. While there is likely little need for it, given the circumstances, I will deliver my verdict.”
He exhales slowly, looking the room over once silence had fallen.
“In the matter of the murders of Nikki Hera and Hideyoshi Ueno, the culprit is in fact Noburu Ueda. This is indisputable at this point. He prepared a trap that neither victim could escape, a makeshift locked-room double murder. This crime was premeditated, carefully calculated so both victims had no salvation open to them.”
Trailing off, he composed himself before continuing.
“You already see the cruelty of his actions, so there is little point in me dwelling on it. Noburu Ueda, you are to be terminated forthwith. If you have any last pleas before you are escorted from our grounds, now is the time. This is the only kindness we will afford you.”
A long sigh followed.
“I had intended to fine Jun Kuromuha for your false testimony, but given everything that’s taken place, and the fact you’ve clearly seen the error of your ways, I will waive that fine.”
“Now you understand the risks inherent in misplacing your trust.”
“Cadiz, Villalobos. I understand the reasons for your outburst, but please refrain from any direct violence in our meeting room, if you will. This is your first warning.”
A head. That of a serpent, except far larger, with horns and curved, pointed fangs bared at the room. Yellow eyes peer in, behind a familiar pair of glasses - was that where they’d gone?
Two more heads, identical to the first, round the corner as well, scanning the room, making sure none escape their gaze. It lumbers in, its massive body now blocking off one of the exits. It does not move, it does not speak. For a moment, it stood still in the entrance, like a statue.
And then it leapt forward.
Its now-shattered marble depiction really didn’t do the hydra justice. It was far bigger, lacking in the refined elegance of the statue, but making up for it in brutality.
And despite his skill as an artist, Hartmann’s sculpture failed to capture an ounce of the ferocity burning in the beast’s eyes right now.
Choharu shields her eyes with her hand as bright lights shine in her face. She rubs her eyes and blinks, opening her eyes to be met by a giant screen surrounded by flashing lights. Loud music plays through speakers. Words flash up on the screen.
“WEATHER PATTERN PREDICTION: GAME OF LIFE AND DEATH” they read.
Choharu steps forward, and notices a panel in front of her. On it, there is an assortment of different buttons. Each one has a different symbol on it, relating to a different weather pattern. A sun, a raincloud, a tornado… Choharu looks over them, before pressing one of them.
She hears a loud singing sound, and looks up. The screen has started flashing a countdown. 3. 2. 1. A number pops up in the corner, with the word “lives” over it. The game has begun.
A pattern shows up on the screen. Sun, rain, sun. Choharu takes a moment to look on in confusion, before pushing the button with the raincloud on it. The screen dings in response. Before the next pattern can show up, droplets of rain begin to pour on Choharu. She barely has time to look up or question it before the screen dings again. Cloudy, snow, cloudy, snow, cloudy. Choharu presses the snow button, and starts to shiver as the pouring rain turns to falling snow.
With each pattern she completes, the weather changes more and more. Choharu fans herself while sweating during a heatwave. She attempts to protect her head against falling hailstones. She grips onto the panel to try and hold her footing during strong winds. She narrowly dodged out of the way as lightning strikes the ground next to her.
The patterns shown on the screen begin to change as well. They start out easy, and they slowly become more and more complicated, eventually turning into completely nonsensical sequences that Choharu could never wrap her head around, even if given more time. They don’t even resemble patterns anymore.
Snow, rain, rain, snow, rain. She pushes the rain button. A buzzer sounds. Wrong. The correct answer was “sun.” She received a quick electric shock.
Thunderstorm, thunderstorm, thunderstorm, thunderstorm. She pushes the thunderstorm button. Wrong, the screen tells her. The answer was “cyclone”. Another shock.
With every wrong answer, the lives counter decreases, more and more rapidly. But despite all the shocks, Choharu keeps going. As far as she can tell, if she beats the game she could survive. The patterns continue to increase in difficulty, and Choharu’s lives dwindle down.
Rain, sun, thunderstorm, heatwave, heatwave, hail, snow, sun, sun, sun. Choharu glances over the buttons, not knowing what comes next. Squeezing her eyes shut, she presses the sun button.
The buzzer sounds, louder. The 1 life she has left turns into a zero. “YOU LOSE” flashes on the screen. A loud laugh track begins to play.
“You couldn’t even do something as simple as that, huh, Maita?”
Choharu takes a step back, clamping her hands over her ears to try to block out the noise. She shuts her eyes again. She doesn’t notice the bolt of lightning that heads right towards her until it’s too late.
She crumples to the ground as lightning bolts strike her one after another, again and again.
As the trial is winding down -- as people are losing track of the things they’re saying and--
“Oh, the drama! Oh, the outrage! Oh, my sticks!”
A lengthy pause.
“...Did you like that one? A bit of topical humor for us all? Hoo-hoo!”
“...I think we understand as much as we’re ever going to, surely? Oh, my gentlecreatures, this is ever so amusing -- but we all have to have things draw to an end eventually.”
“...And there’s no time like the now! Besides, I’m sure none of you are night owls like myself -- we’ll have to send you off to bed eventually! So do hold tight as I count these up!
The monitor flickers, and the scene is finally visible...
[cw stabbing, mild claustrophobia]
Raketsu Hachimitsu is dragged off to meet his doom… For a moment all is in darkness. But soon, light surrounding Raketsu snap on, revealing his location. A large empty room, with what look to be spotlights attached to the ceiling. There were a lot more than he was used to… he wasn’t understanding exactly what was going on here.
In an instant, the lights all snapped on, and he covered his eyes quickly. It was too bright… but what were all these colors? They weren’t typical spotlights, more like stage lights. Blues, greens, reds, pinks, all sorts of colors. And just as quickly, something else occured.
From the floor surrounding him, panels opened up, and out popped what seemed to be endless cardboard cutouts of people. All dressed for the club, and posed mid-dance. Being in the middle of such a sudden and huge crowd unsettled him, was this supposed to be some sort of fake night club? But all that was missing was the--
Music.
Just as everything before had come without warning, so did the loud, overly obnoxious thumping beat of some hip club dance music. Raketsu felt an incredible pain shoot through his head, and clasped his hands over his ears.
“SHUT IT OFF!!” He tried to yell, but he couldn’t ever hear his own yelling over the music. The fake clubbers began to dance, the cutouts shimmying about the dance floor, and Raketsu began to panic.
This was just cruel, he thought. Was he just supposed to stand there and cringe to death? That was when he felt a sharp pain in his back. He yelped and stepped away, trying to look back and see what had happened. All he saw was the sea of dancers, but he could feel something warm and wet on his back. Then he felt a sharp pain in his side. He jumped away, almost catching a glimpse of something glistening in the crowd. He looked down to see blood staining his shirt. He was getting stabbed… wasn’t he? That’s when he saw something dangerous coming at him from the front. He moved away ust in time, but could see that a cardboard hand had reached out from the crowd, with a knife taped to the hand.
There was a scratch to his arm that he couldn’t react to in time, and he saw that it was from a dancer with a broken bottle. The dancers were attacking him! And he could barely defend himself… because his hands were glued to the sides of his head, unable to stand the music. In his panic he tried to push through the crowd, in an attempt to find some sort of exit out. Anything, anywhere he could escape from the pain and the sound. The deeper he went, the thicker the crowd became, and the more dancers seemed to have it out for him. Every corner lead to another attack, and when he’d stumble away from one blow, he’d trip into the blade of another. Dizzy, hurting, scared, and disoriented, Raketsu had no idea where he was running, and he was breathing faster and faster. He started to run, but that only weakened him more, and the wounds kept piling on. Eventually… eventually he would…
[art credit: keri! thank you!]
He began to notice that everything began to sound… quieter… like he was slowly being lowered under water. All sound faded away into a dull hum. It felt almost relieving… and then Raketsu fell to the floor. A long streak of blood trailed behind him showing the long tangled path he took trying to escape from this prison. He bled so much that in the end, he ran out.
....
The monitor fades to black and the mascots stand silently in front of the crowd. After a moment, Modelkuma speaks.
"... Quite exhilarating, huh?.... Well done everyone!... Go ahead and enjoy your free time now... While you still can!..."
With that they wheel away in eerie silence, the other mascots following closely behind.
As you lay the final hit unto your foe, the room lit up, blinding all within with a bright, white light.
One.. Two.. Seventeen of you stood upon a hill, staring at the moon. It was over. It was all over.
Everything that had happened, it felt like a dream. All 16 of you stood on that hill, unharmed, alive. The only thing telling you that this was all real was… a very confused Dominique.
“You know… one thousand and one years, I’ve been living in Castlevania.” They’re stunned, and mumbling to nobody in particular.
“I.. don’t really know what to do with my life now. But in the end, I’m more thankful that you all worked so hard to get this far. Thank you, all of you.” And perhaps the most genuine smile you’ve seen was on Dominique’s face.
