A Short Trial

Dimly, Souma became aware that he was looking up at the ceiling. He could see the vaults where massive arches stretched out from the stone columns and swept together. The sensation of the cool floor pressed against his back, mingling with a creeping, throbbing pain in his head. The familiar cloying taste of blood. Where was he again?

"W-what are you doing! Help!"

A voice made its way through the ringing in his ears. Hurried footsteps. People shouting.

"Grab his arms! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Let me go! I'm gonna kill this guy!"

"Nobody's killing no one!"

Ah, that's right.

The cogs in his brain slowly began turning again. He was no longer in his own world. He was somewhere else now. Somewhere new, though at the same time just as awful as where he'd come from. Not a second chance, then.

"Are you alright?"

Ami's face appeared, blocking the view of the stone vaults.

"Can you hear me?"

Souma nodded, and slowly leaned into his elbows. few paces away, a boy with furious eyes. He was being held in place by two other students with the same uniform as Ami.

"You shouldn't get up, you're bleeding," Ami fussed.

"Hm?" Souma touched his fingers gingerly to his nose. They came away red.

"Why are you making sure he's alright! I said let me go!" The boy with the furious eyes struggled, but he was held fast. Ami's friends looked like they could have been rugby players.

"Calm down!" One of his detainers snapped.

"Mayuzumi Tenka," Souma said quietly, and stood. He felt a little dizzy, but that would pass. Of all the people he never wanted to see again, it went without saying he'd be here.

"Let go!" Mazuzumi Tenka wrenched himself free. The rugby players looked at him warily, but they'd made their point. "You should let me throw this creep out a window. He's had it coming a long time. After what he did to my sister."

Souma felt twenty pairs of eyes swivel towards him.

Ah, here it comes.

He looked down at the floor. He could already hear people talking in low voices to one another.

“What did he do?”

“Did he say something about his sister?”

“He just punched him out of nowhere?”

“Whatever he did it must have been bad.”

Souma started to sweat. He knew how this would go down. He’d already lived through it once, after all. What was he even supposed to do now? Was there any way for him to talk his way out of this? Not likely. Souma had never been good at first impressions. Two years of not talking to anybody probably hadn't helped.

Maybe he could just escape?

Window? Too high up. Not the sort of escape I'm looking for. Anything else?

Past the gathering crowd there was something towards the back of the hall, a large stone door. But looked to be sealed shut. Definitely too big to push open in a hurry. Not an option. On the other side of the room was another door, much smaller, though decorated with an ornate border he couldn't quite make out from here. Also closed. He might be able to get through there if things went south, but that was assuming he could get through the mob. Until then he was trapped.

Tenka swept his eyes about the crowd. “None of you here know this guy ,but he... Arita Souma is the worst kind of person. He’s scum. If you knew what he did you would be holding me back. You’d be helping me get rid of him for good.”

Souma felt his cheek twitching. This wasn’t good. Tenka was practically suggesting a group murder. Everybody was looking at him. Some of the more overzealous guys were starting to edge themselves forward in front of the girls. Nobody really knew anything, but that wouldn't stop them from filling in the blanks with whatever they wanted. Souma was starting to think he might take his chances with the window when Ami stepped between him and Tenka. She held her hands held out as though to pacify them both. Despite himself, Souma was struck once again by just how beautiful this girl was.

"Hold on. Stop. Just stop. I don't know what this is, but it has to stop. Now. Everyone be quiet."

A silence fell over the group. There was just the sound of Tenka's ragged breathing, and the air whistling unceremoniously out of Souma’s nose.

Ami turned to face Souma, her voice soft and deliberate. Friendly, like she was going out of her way to signal that he didn't have to be afraid. “Souma? That's your name?”

Souma nodded. He wasn't sure he trusted himself to speak.

“Do you know what he’s talking about?” She asked.

"Why are talking to him! He's a criminal!" Tenka screamed.

Ami face hardened, just slightly, and she turned to face Tenka. Her voice was sharp, and precise. "You said it yourself. We don't know him. We don't know you either. But out of the two of you, you're the one who walked up to somebody else and hit the out of nowhere like a psycho. You're the one talking about killing people."

It looked like that might have finally made Tenka realize what the stakes were. He snapped his mouth shut, and looked about at the people gathered around them. He took a second to collet himself, and then spoke calmly.

"You're right. That was... But I'm not about to apologize for what I did. This guy is..." Tenka shook his head, as though he couldn't make himself speak the words.

"What? He's what?" Ami folded her arms. "You may not have noticed but something very strange is happening. To all of us. Before we know what's going on we can't afford to start throwing each other out of windows. If you're going to accuse somebody of something, then you should at least have the curtesy to be direct about it."

It was a surprisingly logical ultimatum. Souma felt his appraisal of Ami skyrocketing.

"Why don't you ask him?" Tenka said levelly. "Ask him why my sister wouldn't leave the house for months. Still has nightmares. Ask him what he did to her. Go on."

Ami's lips pressed together, and she looked back over her shoulder at Souma. There was no way she could just ignore what Tenka was saying, but it was clear she wasn't impressed by how he was pleading his case, either.

Souma felt light-headed. Everybody who had been looking at Tenka was now looking back at him. When he realized Ami had walked back and had touched his shoulder he flinched. He looked up at her, preparing himself for whatever her expression had turned into. And yet...

"Do you know what he's talking about, Souma?" She asked again, her voice very light, carrying no trace of judgement. She wasn't smiling, but her eyes were still neutral. To Souma, she was glowing.

Seriously? She's still asking me? Is she an angel?

"I-" Souma began, but was abruptly cut short by a chiming sound, like bells ringing somewhere deep in the back of his mind.

Congratulations! Unique skill allotment complete!

Fearless warriors, we implore you, hear our call. Our world is on the precipice of destruction.

The Demon Lord sits on his throne in the icy wastes of Hantarl. His horde grows more powerful by the day, and given time they will storm the heartland and lay waste to all humanity.

If you are able to rid the world of the Demon Lord, you will usher in an era of peace that may never see an end. Please, save us, all of humanity.

Defeat the Demon Lord, and we will send you back home, with more riches than you ever imagined possible.

Souma stared at the lilac screen in front of him, mouth still hanging open, then up at everybody else, who seemed to be seeing the same thing. Even Tenka was staring blankly down at nothing. The room that had been buzzing with nervous lynching energy was suddenly pin-drop silent.

He felt himself shiver. It was hard to really get a feel for it, given he was also midway through a public trail, but suddenly everything about what was happening started to feel inexorably wrong.

Unique Skill Unlocked: Restrain 

Souma blinked as one new screen appeared in front of him. Before he could think any more on why this was all creeping him out so much, he heard people in the small group start talking.

"Unique skill? What's that supposed to be?"

"Did you get one of these too?"

"Wait, all of us?"

The giant doors that Souma had seen at the back of the room began to groan. They all turned to stare as they threw up a cloud of dust, and slowly grated backwards, giant iron hinges creaking as though unused for hundreds of years. Through that newly opened doorway, at first nothing but pitch darkness. Then, they all heard a clear tone, echoing off the tall ceilings, tailing off in to a whining buzz, and the darkness beyond the door was filled with a blinding blue light.

Beyond the doors, etched into the floor was a giant glowing circuit of arcane shapes, arranged in a circle easily large enough that all twenty or so of them could fit inside.

"What is that."

"Do you think we're supposed to go in there?"

"Wait, is that part of... What was it? Defeating the Demon Lord."

"That's gotta be like a teleporter?"

"It must be!"

Souma's brain recoiled as he listened to everybody frantically trying to figure out what the giant runes were all about.

For real? For all they know it could be a suicide machine!

He felt the now familiar wave of panic rising again, and involuntarily took a step backwards. Souma was surprised when he bumped into somebody, and when he turned around saw one of the boys with the same uniform as Ami. He'd probably been standing there the whole time.

Ah, of course. They don't trust me yet either.

"Alright, everybody just calm down!" Ami called from the middle of the group. Surprisingly, people stopped and turned to see what she had to say.

Amazing. She's been here ten minutes and she already made herself the leader.

"Everyone, remember that we don't know anything about this place, wherever we are. We need to be careful! We can't just-"

But before she could finish warning them about whatever she was going to warn them about, there was a tremendous explosion from the other end of the room, where Souma had seen the smaller, ornately decorated door. In an instant, the whole hall seemed to be flooded with a thick grey smoke, and from that darkness a voice rang out.

"Foolish humans! To think you would have the nerve to show your faces here again! I'll make you regret thinking you could ever harm the mighty Demon Lord! I'll kill all of you before you step foot from this chamber!"

Everybody more or less started screaming.

"Get out of here! We have to get out of here!"

"We're being attacked!"

"Run!"

In the midst of the chaos, Souma looked at Ami. She was standing in the middle of the panicking group, and looking out with a fiercely determined expression. Finally, she seemed to make a decision, and yelled, "Get to that room! Whatever we need to do next, it's got something to do with that thing on the floor! Better there than here!"

As though they'd been given permission, everybody began to rush towards the newly opened room and its glowing blue floor. And, as though it were reacting to everything that was happening, the giant doors slowly began to shut again.

"Futile! You'll never escape me!" The voice boomed. With a fiery crackle that filled the air with the smell of ozone, two long red blasts of energy arced out from the smoke and struck the pillars between everybody and the door. It wasn't enough to bring down the roof, but dust and debris blasted outwards, and everybody covered their eyes.

"Keep going!" Ami yelled at them. "Before that door closes!"

Souma stood motionless. He wanted to run. To join the others. But also, almost just as strongly, he felt that he almost didn't care what happened from here on, so long as he didn't have to go near Tenka-

"Souma!"

He snapped back to reality. Ami was standing between him and the door, gesturing desperately for him to follow.

Of course. What the hell was he doing?

"C-coming!" Souma began to run forward.

Seeing that he had made his mind up, he saw Ami smile. A big wide smile like she'd been deathly worried he was about to do something tragically stupid. She turned, and began to run toward the doorway.

And fell flat on her face.

Souma watched in horror as she tripped on a piece of debris from the blast before and fell to the floor.

There was a laugh from behind Souma. Turning he saw a shape moving through the smoke. Small, and hunched over. Two red eyes gleaming through the dark smoke like burning coals. And then almost faster than he could process, it was moving, leaping forward.

Toward Ami.

In that instant, Souma felt far too many memories and emotions crashing into him. Two years of being cooped up in his tiny room, only ever venturing out when it was late enough he wouldn't run into anybody at the vending machine. The look of disgust of the whole town carried for him. The jeers of his schoolmates. The hours of being grilled by teachers, his parents.

And Ami, who barely knew him, but had still given him the benefit of the doubt. Who was about to be eaten by whatever monster had appeared out of nowhere to kill them.

Souma held his hand out, towards the thing that was racing at Ami. The words that rushed to his mind came from somewhere deep inside him. Somewhere that felt as thought it had always existed inside of him, but never come this close to the surface before he arrived here. Something that felt natural, like reaching out to stop somebody from falling.

"Restrain!"

There was a brightness, like the flashbulb of a camera, and a high-pitched whine, and Souma felt a sharp pain in his temple.

The monster froze in midair, as though it had been clutched by an invisible hand, and fell unceremoniously to the floor, throwing up a cloud of dust.

"Souma! Hurry up!" Ami called again, still on the floor. She'd done someting to her ankle, Souma realized. Two of the boys from her school had already made it to where she was. Helping her up.

Oh, good. She'll make it.

The door was almost shut, though.

"Go!" Souma yelled at Ami. "Get out of here! I don't think I can stop it much longer!"

Sure enough, the creature was already starting to struggle, sending waves of dizzying pain through his already throbbing head.

"No! You can still-"

"Run!" Souma screamed, his voice pitching.

The two boys picked her up, and pulled her along. Ami may be an angel, but luckily her friends were realists. Before they vanished through the door, he saw her looking back at him with an expression of utter horror.

The door slammed shut.

And Souma was alone, with whatever it was that had tried to kill them.