257 THE TRIAL OF ZAIRGID
[Some time ago in Aukouma Industry Headquarters]
Zairgid stepped into the private room where his uncle, Arom, was already waiting.
Arom had only just been released from prison. He didn't come to reconcile—he came to collect.
"Why are you here, Arom?" Zairgid asked coldly.
Arom's eyes burned. "You bastard. You sent me to jail. You pushed me out of the company."
He slammed his palm onto the table. "I'm here to take back what's mine. My rights. My shares."
"You embezzled company funds," Zairgid replied. "You nearly bankrupted us. We owe you nothing."
Arom sneered. "Don't get cocky, boy. There are many ways to deal with you—and your father."
He leaned closer, his voice dropping. "If you don't give me what I'm owed, be very careful about what might happen next."
Zairgid's jaw tightened. In a flash of anger, he grabbed the clock from the table and hurled it at Arom.
Arom didn't even flinch.
He caught the clock mid-air.
There was silence for a moment.
"If you don't give me what I came for," Arom said slowly, "you and your father will end up just like this."
He crushed the clock in his hand.
The glass shattered, gears spilling across the floor.
Zairgid stared at the broken pieces, then shook his head.
"Do whatever you want," he said as he turned away. "People like you don't scare us."
He walked out, leaving Arom standing amid the wreckage—smiling.
-----
Moments after Zairgid left the room, the door opened again.
Kassely, his assistant, stepped inside.
Arom turned sharply.
"How did the negotiation go?" she asked.
His face twisted with rage."How dare you show up here, bitch," Arom roared. "You betrayed me. You fed them evidence and sent me to prison."
Kassely didn't retreat.
Instead, she walked closer.
"What are you doing?" Arom asked, startled.
Her voice softened. "Arom… you know how I feel about you." She lowered her gaze. "I didn't have a choice. They already had proof. Even if I'd protected you, it wouldn't have erased your crimes."
His anger wavered.
"So, you didn't betray me on purpose?" Arom asked quietly. After a pause, his voice turned bitter. "Then why didn't you come see me in prison?"
Kassely stepped closer, fingers undoing the buttons of his shirt.
Then she lunged forward and kissed him.
Arom didn't resist.
A sharp sound cut the air.
"A—ghhh!"
Arom screamed as a blade punched through his chest. A meta-powered dagger pierced his heart, blood spraying across the floor.
Kassely withdrew the weapon and let his body collapse.
Calmly, she wiped the blood from the dagger—then from her own fingerprints.
From her pocket, she produced a compact device. It hummed softly as it imprinted a new set of fingerprints onto the weapon.
She dropped the dagger beside Arom's body.
Then Kassely walked toward the surveillance camera mounted in the corner. She looked straight into the lens.
"Now," she said quietly, "it's up to you."
She turned and left the room.
-----
[Criminal Court of Silver City]
The Criminal Court of Silver City was in session.
Case for mention: Silver City vs. Zairgid Aukouma.
In the days leading up to the hearing, the city's networks had been flooded with exposés—allegations of judicial corruption, backroom dealings, and powerful families using the courts to crush an innocent man.
Whether true or not, the narrative had taken hold and the case in focus was the murder of Arom Aukouma.
By the time Zairgid's trial began, it had become a media spectacle.
Reporters packed the exterior of the courthouse, drones hovering above the plaza as feeds streamed live across the city.
Every major channel was watching.
Zairgid Aukouma was escorted into the courtroom and brought to the stand.
The prosecution took its place. Lander sat calmly at the defense table, already jotting notes. Moments later, the judges entered, and the chamber fell silent.
The trial began.
"Your Honors," a man's voice rang out, crisp and confident. "The prosecution presents evidence of the murder of the late Arom Aukouma—killed by his nephew, the accused before you, Zairgid Aukouma."
The speaker was Ambrone Melrose.
He was the Director Ambrone of the SIA. After the fall of Melrose city, he now serves as public prosecutor in Silver City. His assignment was simple: secure a conviction.
Lander smirked faintly at his opening but continued writing.
"Exhibit One," Ambrone said, turning toward the holoscreens. "Direct video evidence of the murder."
The footage played.
Zairgid appeared on-screen, arguing violently with Arom. He seized a clock and hurled it forward—then charged, a dagger flashing as it plunged into Arom's body.
Gasps rippled through the courtroom.
"Exhibit Two," Ambrone continued, unfazed. "The murder weapon."
An officer stepped forward, presenting a dagger sealed inside a transparent evidence envelope. It was passed for judicial verification.
Then came the witnesses.
Employees from Aukouma Industries testified that they saw Zairgid enter the meeting room shortly before the murder. Another witness detailed the long-standing rivalry between uncle and nephew—financial disputes, power struggles, resentment.
There was Motive.Opportunity. And Evidence.
The crowd murmured approvingly.
The case was airtight.
There were no obvious bias and no visible manipulation. The press was tricked by the circulations from social media to focus on such a clear crime.
Some reporters quietly shut down their feeds and slipped out of the courtroom.
The outcome felt inevitable.
Then—
Lander stood.
The room shifted.
"Your Honors," he said evenly, setting his notes aside. "The defense is ready to present its arguments."
Every remaining camera snapped back to life.
-----
"This is impossible," Kail's voice echoed through the comms. "The entire Aukouma Industries server has been scrubbed clean. Every single piece of footage shows Zairgid committing the murder."
Kail was working remotely alongside Lander and the others. Since his death, his consciousness had been transferred into cyberspace—allowing him to exist simultaneously within the New Myrone Fortress systems and Silver City's networks.
"There has to be a flaw somewhere," Damen said calmly. "No fabrication—no matter how sophisticated—can erase the truth completely."
"But this isn't ordinary fabrication," Dorin replied grimly. "This is the work of a Quantum Mind."
Silence hung for a moment.
Then Lander looked up. "What about peripheral evidence?" he said. "There was a fifteen-minute window between the time Zairgid left the room and when the murder supposedly occurred. Someone—or something—might have seen him during that gap. That would be our alibi."
"I'll check," Kail replied.
Streams of data flooded past as he searched.
"All drone footage has been wiped," Kail reported. "Clean. Too clean."
Lander frowned. "What about the employees? Staff movements, access logs, personal devices?"
Kail paused.
Then—
"I've got something."
The holoscreen shifted.
"This," Kail said, his voice sharpening, "was recorded by a covert spy camera. Not registered in the main system. A naughty staff is recording gossips in the company pantry."
The room went still.
"Play it," Damen said.
And for the first time since the trial began, the truth was about to surface.
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