Matthew's trial started at 8AM on a Tuesday. He went to trial wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans and carrying his school bag. The idea was to show the jury he was only a kid. Vanessa was there wearing the same suit she wore before, but with a skirt this time.

On the gallery was only permitted to enter people who were in the trial and family members. Professor Claude, Faralynn, Mia, Sarah and Matthew's parents were in there. Also, Maria, the paramedic that treated Matthew when he was stabbed by the robbers, the surviving robber in cuffs escorted by two police officers, the security guard who accompanied Matthew and whose gun he used to kill the kidnapper, Detective Richter, two other men, the jury themselves, and court staff were also there.

When Judge Johnson entered the room, the bailiff told everyone to rise. The trial was much more formal than the preliminary meeting. The judge sat down gesturing to everyone to sit down as well. Then the judge said out loud for everyone to hear:

"In the case of the State against Matthew Lordstone, are all the parts present?"

"Yes, they are." Vanessa and the prosecutor said.

"We shall now proceed with the trial of Matthew Lordstone. The defendant please rise." Matthew did so as the Judge said those words.

The judge then turned to the jury and said:

"The defendant is accused of two counts of murder, destruction of private property, destruction of public property and one count of assault. The defendant has pleaded not guilty on the grounds of self defense which excludes the illicit nature of the crimes, but it means he confesses doing them. The prosecution has argued that Matthew has exceeded the reasonable force required to defend oneself and thus the self defense allegation does not hold. Do you understand the terms of this trial?"

"Yes your honor." Each one of the 5 jurors said one after another.

"I must also remind to everyone present that the contents of this trial are under absolute secrecy. Revealing any information that is revealed during these proceedings is a crime punishable by a heavy fine and up to 2 years in jail. You also may not publicly discuss anything about the trial. The secrecy must be maintained by 25 years. All the personal information regarding the defendant's adventurer status, skills and levels must not be ever revealed until his death." The judge added and then turned to the prosecution: "The floor is yours councilor."

The prosecutor walked towards a pulpit that was turned to the Jury and stood there laying down some documentation on the table. Then he looked at the jurors and started his first remarks.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, this case is very simple. Matthew here is an adventurer and he studies at the most prestigious adventurer school in the country. One of the most prestigious in the world. This is a man who has trained with the best and became a living weapon. One day when returning home from the adventurer academy, he was approached by two robbers. The defense will say that what he did was self defense, and they'd be right but…" Prosecutor then showed on a screen beside the pulpit the picture of the robber Matthew killed. His face was disfigured. "But would you really call this self defense? The other man he killed. He was a horrible man. But Matthew there shot him 15 times. The man bled to death while he watched. This man, Matthew, is a dangerous adventurer that will kill again if you don't put a stop to him here. You need to send a clear message for all adventurers that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated. We have to police for a reason. Vigilante activity is not legal and should not be forgiven."

The prosecutor then pointed again at the picture on the screen and got back to his table.

Then it was Vanessa's turn on the pulpit. She changed the picture on the screen to a montage of pictures of Matthew's body with the scars from the injuries he suffered highlighted.

"This is my client. This is Matthew. He's 18 years old. Those are the injuries the robbers inflicted on him. That person there, that cute blonde girl." Vanessa pointed at Mia who was sitting on the gallery. "She was not only kidnapped, she was abused. Matthew was fighting for his life and fighting for her life. He is hardly a living weapon as the prosecution said. He is a kid who just started adventuring. The prosecution is telling you that a kid being attacked by two men needed to have the presence of mind of holding back all while being stabbed multiple times. That he had to hold back against an adventurer who was much stronger than him, an adventurer who kidnapped and abused his close friend. Make no mistake, ladies and gentlemen, Matthew is just a fledgling young adventurer who was put in two very difficult life and death situations and survived. Who had to do things that still haunt him to survive. Ladies and gentlemen, Matthew acted strictly on self defense of himself and of his friend and by the end of this trial, I'm sure you will find it as well."

Vanessa returned to her table where Matthew was sitting.

The prosecution started their case by calling Detective Richter to the stand. He said his credentials to the jury, then he gave a detailed explanation about the events on the night of the robbery and on the day of the kidnapping.

"In your opinion as a detective who has seen many similar cases, did the defendant act entirely on self defense?" The prosecutor asked.

"On the first case. The robbers. It felt he went overboard with Mr. Duval." He said referring to the robber who died. "I can't talk about the second case, because I didn't see the body myself."

"That would be all." The prosecutor said sitting down.

Vanessa got up at the same time and started her inquiry.

"Detective Richter, on the night of the robbery, how did you find my client?"

"He was sitting on the floor being treated by a paramedic."

"And how did you find him, emotionally?"

"He was a bit out of there."

"Would you say he was remorseful?"

"Seemed so."

"In your professional opinion, why didn't my client also kill the other assailant, Mr. Comb." Vanessa said pointing to the second robber who was on the gallery escorted by cops.

"He didn't want to."

"Why would he kill one and not the other?"

"He said he lost control. But it seemed he regained control before killing Mr. Comb when he begged for his life."

"One last question about the robbery. Why did you tell my client that you thought it was a clear self defense case the night it happened? Why didn't you arrest him on the spot if you think he went overboard?"

Richter looked at the prosecutor who was scrolling on his phone not paying attention.

"Because it seemed like it at the time. But with the case of the kidnapping, we reconsidered." He said clearly annoyed at the prosecution.

"You reconsidered? Are you saying that you changed your mind because of another case that has no connection to the first, beside having my client as a victim? Would that reason be because the kidnapping case appeared on the news and there was political pressure to bring this to trial?"

"Objection." The prosecutor said with a bored voice not taking his eyes from his phone.

"Councilor, if you may rephrase the question to things in the sphere of knowledge of the witness without leading him." The judge said to Vanessa.

"Why did you change your mind?" Vanessa didn't argue, she just wanted to point out the political nature of this case to the jury.

"We just did." The detective shrugged.

"Ok. Let's move on to the second case. The kidnapping. How was Matthew when you found him?"

"He was bruised. He was a bit down."

"Bruised? How much bruised he was?"

"His entire body. The kid took a hell of a beating."

"And his emotional state?"

"He was remorseful as well. But when I asked him if he thought that Mr. Silva deserved to die, he said yes."

"And why do you think he said yes to that question?" Vanessa said a bit irritated now.

"Because the man raped his girlfriend… I'm sorry." Richter took his notepad and read something soon correcting himself. "Friend. They were not dating."

"No further questions."

Vanessa sat down and whispered to Matthew:

"Sorry about that. That backfired. I'm a bit rusty. But it's alright. We still have the jury."

The next ones called to stand were the two coroners that examined the bodies.

They gave an accurate description of the injuries that led both men to die. Vanessa didn't question them, it would bring nothing good to their case.

The next one called was the surviving robber, Mr. Comb.

"You are the man who survived the assault aren't you?" The prosecutor asked.

"Yes. I am."

"Can you tell us what happened that night?"

"Me and George…"

"George Duval, the first victim, right?"

"Yes. Me and George were walking home when we saw the kid standing on the bus stop. You see, we needed the money. I was late with my rent and George had other bills to pay. We saw the kid with his fancy uniform and figured he had a lot of cash on him."

"So you tried to rob him. What happened next?"

"George was the one who approached him. Then the kid beat the shit out of us. He mounted over George and just slammed his head non stop. When I saw that, I tried to run away, but he stopped me and beat me up too."

The prosecutor looked at the jury and said:

"Clearly not self defense."

"Objection!" Vanessa slapped the table.

"The jurors will disregard that last statement." Judge Johnson said. "And councilor, don't damage the furniture."

"I'm sorry your honor." Vanessa said hiding her blushing face.

"No further questions." The prosecutor sat down.

"You said he beat you two up." Vanessa said getting up.

"He-he did." The man stuttered.

"But you two also did a job on him, didn't you?" Vanessa asked and when the man didn't answer she continued. "Didn't you stab him multiple times?"

"That was George. I couldn't hit him."

"So he was stabbed."

"He killed George!"

"Weren't you two trying to kill him?"

"I wasn't."

"What did you expect it would happen when you tried to stab him?"

"Look lady, we adventurers are different, a simple knife doesn't kill us. It's hard enough to harm a stronger adventurer."

"You adventurers are different. Would you say that you'd need to use extra force than normal to protect yourself against an adventurer, then?"

"Yes!"

"That's exactly what my client did." Vanessa said looking at the jury.

"The jurors will disregard that last statement." Judge Johnson said with a sigh.

"No further questions your honor." Vanessa sat down with a smile. That went better than she expected.

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