The bracelet, as it hit the ground, finished shattering.
Luke took a step forward.
"What proof do you have that it was us who committed such an atrocity, Your Honor?"
"I have none, I am a neutral entity, but there are witnesses in this room."
The lights went out, and a single spotlight turned toward Kane, seated among the courtroom, also revealing a crowd watching the trial.
Kane stood up, still crying uncontrollably.
"It was them! They were the ones who destroyed my precious bracelet, and did this!"
Kane showed what used to be his arm, but now it was only a severed limb, still dripping blood. All the mysterious entities watching the trial were shocked, and began whispering among themselves.
The judge struck his gavel against the table again.
"Silence! We are in the middle of a trial!"—His expression showed clear anger.
At that same instant, everyone fell silent.
The lawyer stepped forward to speak.
"Your Honor, this alone cannot be enough to condemn a young man! And one of my clients is, on top of that, a victim!"
"How? Explain your argument."
"It is simple, Your Honor, my client, Luke Varyn discovered today that he suffers from a severe case of generalized memory loss, he doesn't even know why he is here, and he is being accused?"
The judge widened his eyes and began showing small blinking tics.
"And what proof do you have of this memory loss?"
"I have the word of my client! And if you wish, bring here a lie detector, the most precise one you have, Your Honor."
"Then so be it, bring the lie detector, and if he does not pass... he will be deemed guilty, the same for his companion."
The back door opened forcefully, and a faceless man pushed a cart with a small table and a small machine, the detector, he brought it to the center of the courtroom, and arranged the table.
"For the sake of this case, sit in the detector, and answer the questions."
"Of course, Your Honor."
Luke sat down, and was connected to the detector.
"Luke Varyn, do you solemnly swear in the name of God that you will tell the truth, and only the truth, and that otherwise you will be going against the order of this court?"
"I swear, Your Honor."
"Good."—The judge stood up, still with the tics in his eyelids. "Luke Varyn, do you truly suffer from what your lawyer mentioned?"
Luke was afraid, because he knew that if that was not completely true, his journey would end there.
"Yes."
The detector did not react.
The audience began whispering and murmuring again.
[ Memories exchanged... New mission ]
[ Mission: Prove innocence.
Reward: Exchange memories ]
Luke felt dizzy, he no longer knew where he was.
'What is this? Where am I again? Where is Petro?'
Everything felt strange to Luke at that moment.
A different kind of emptiness.
'...Mother?'
"Luke Varyn, do you remember breaking Prince Kane's precious bracelet?"
The judge asked the question while his mouth was almost foaming with anger and agitation, his tic becoming even more noticeable.
"Me...? I don't know any Prince Kane, and what bracelet is that?"
The judge couldn't take it anymore.
"SAY IT WAS YOU, DAMN IT! SAY IT! SAY IT! SAY... IT!"
The lawyer stepped in front of Luke.
"Your Honor, I can see that you are losing control, and I believe my client's innocence has been proven, the machine proved everything! No one can oppose the truth!"
The judge began striking his gavel again.
"BASTARDS, WE ARE THE VICTIMS, WE!"
[ Mission completed: Prove innocence ]
[ Reward: Memory exchange ]
Luke was back to "normal", however he was not aware of the current situation.
The judge kept striking the gavel and foaming in rage, until the system notified everyone again.
[ Act 2: Failure, crime not proven ]
[ Punishment: Death ]
The judge removed the wig, ran a hand across his forehead, and revealed herself to be Jane.
"NO! PLEASE! WE ONLY MADE THIS ONE MISTAKE"
[ Punishment: Death ]
Jane was crying again, just like her brother in the audience.
"So... so... kill only me! Don't take my brother, kill me! Now!"
[ Analyzing request . . . ]
[ Perfect twins: Registered as a single existence in the system ]
[ The death of one is the death of the other ]
[ Punishment: Death ]
Kane jumped from where he was and ran toward Jane, he used his only arm to wrap around his sister, both of them crying endlessly.
"Jane, it won't hurt, it won't, we have to be strong, mom said so, remember?"
"I don't want to Kane, I don't want to... I love you, Kane..."
"I love you too, Ja-"
The twins exploded, from the inside out, spreading blood and their parts everywhere.
The courtroom lights went out, and suddenly, Luke and Zhiang were back in the alley they came from, covered in blood and remains of bodies. In the place where the twins had been, on the ground, was the pendant that had been on the judge's table.
"What just happened?"—Luke was still in shock.
"I... don't know... it was supposed to be a certain death scenario for us, but somehow you... bypassed it...?"
"Was I supposed to feel sad? Or pity?"
Zhiang placed a hand on Luke's shoulder.
"We should always show compassion for others, even if they are enemies."
Zhiang walked to the pendant, picked it up, and kept it with him.
"They were people too, their family deserves to receive something from them at least."
"You're kind, Zhiang."
"I just wish that would happen to me."
The two were still processing what had happened, a piece of unconditional love between siblings.
Petra and Mira were still in the same situation, until Petra's opponent suddenly stopped. Petra found it suspicious, he was staring at the ground with both eyes wide open.
"JACO! THE TWINS HAVE BEEN KILLED!"
Petra also stopped at that same instant, and from the building where Mira had been trying to locate the enemy, a woman jumped down.
She landed beside the white-haired man, and embraced him, placing her hand behind his neck.
"We're retreating, consider this a white flag."
At that same instant, the two disappeared, leaving no trace, after that, Luke and Zhiang arrived at the place where Petra and Mira had been fighting.
"Hey, what happened?"—Zhiang asked.
"They retreated, said the 'twins' were dead, was that you?"
"Yeah, we dealt with ours, but it seems they saw the disadvantage and ran, smart."
Mira climbed down from the structure she had been on.
"Well, now we all have a huge target on our backs."
Petra felt someone else approaching.