I felt a shiver run across my body as I watched the dark elf glide forward, his movements elegant, but that only made his intentions all the more chilling. His face was set into a friendly and compassionate smile, but his dark, impassive eyes seemed at odds with that outward expression. Or maybe that was just me seeing what I expected. Perhaps I was projecting my own sentiments.

Hand falling against my shoulder, I jumped and partially turned, finding Redgenald leaning close to me, his expression serious. "Do not resist Green. No matter how much it feels like you should, fighting back only makes the aftereffects worse."

Nodding my head, as I was unable to speak, the inquisitor stepped back, his expression returning to one of professionalism as he said louder, "So that everyone understands, you are requesting me to question both participants of the duel, and determine if they had any intentions of killing the other party?"

"In conjunction with me," slid in the voice of the dark elf, sidling up to us and giving me a broad smile and a wink. "After all, if I am not mistaken, the whole point of this is that both sides want transparency. And I would hope that this will be the first of many steps of proof that we can work in cooperation with each other."

"Well said," Cut in the fat senator as he bumbled forward, "Now, as no one seems overly enthusiastic about this procedure, I would like to start with a… gesture of goodwill." At the words, he looked over to Ponpti, a smug expression on his face, before continuing, "I will suggest that young Sathrin is the first to be questioned." The mountain of a man didn't seem to be happy about the proposal, but all he did was slightly shift in place as he crossed his arms over his chest, settling in for a wait.

"Well, if you are going to be so gracious, then I can only accept." Senator Ponpti said, though he didn't seem exactly happy about it, and I would swear I detected a hint of suspicion from the man.

Moving together, I watched as the Letairry and the reaper stepped up to both sides of the young noble. The dark elf simply stood there, a small smile quirking his lips, while Redgenald extended his hand and placed his fingers against the noble's temple. They stayed frozen in place for several seconds, then the inquisitor finally spoke, "Victorak Sathrin, did you have the intention of killing Scout Green during the duel?"

The eyes of the young man flicked around, his jaw clenching and unclenching as he internally struggled to overcome an internal dilemma. Finally, after a couple of seconds of him being stared down by everyone present, he hissed through his teeth, "Yes."

Some of the women in the onlooking crowd gasped in shock, and some men grumbled, though there weren't as many as I would have liked. If anything, it appeared to me that many of those gathered wanted to nod in approval of the young man. Some were even glaring at me, as if my actions had personally affronted them. Like it was my fault that the arrogant bastard wasn't prepared to fight when the duel actually started.

"Truth," declared the inquisitor, stepping back and dropping his hand while shaking his head, as if he was attempting to shake off droplets of water.

"I also detected the truth," said Ambassador Heart, his persistent smile shifting to smug for some reason, and his dark eyes glinting as he looked at me.

"How unfortunate," said the fat senator, shaking his head in mock remorse. However, in contradiction to his words, he seemed neither surprised by the declaration nor overly concerned. "I suppose that Victorak can not be called the winner of this duel. However, if the elf also fails, we will have to call it a draw, now won't we, Victorus?"

After a moment of hesitation, Senator Ponpti finally said, "Indeed, but let's not draw this out any longer. We are not here to put on a show."

"Very well. Ambassador Heart, if you would be so kind."

My heart rate spiked, and my vision narrowed onto the pair of men approaching me. The sound of those murmuring around me vanished as the sound of rushing blood filled my ears, but I did nothing. I had volunteered for this, and backing out now wasn't really an option.

Unwilling, or perhaps unable, to move, I remained rooted in place watching the pair. Two people who were going to violate the most sacred part of a person, their mind. As the reaper's hand stretched out to touch me, I flinched slightly, unable to remain still. And yet, all it did was cause a momentary extension of my internal agony.

As the man's rough fingers pressed against my temple, I felt a pressure against my mind. At the moment, it was far more than someone requesting a link to a union, but it wasn't bordering on what could be considered a mental assault. With a steady, resolute persistence, the telepathic tendril was increasingly probing into my mind.

Every part of my being wanted to fight the invasion. To lash out with the totality of my mental energy infused with my willpower, and push the invasion back. Gathering every shred of my will, I forced my natural responses down and even attempted to lower the natural defenses around my mind.

However, I wasn't sure to what extent I succeeded in that. My mind kept spasming, like your body twitching at something bothering it. Instinctual reactions that I could not entirely prevent or control, but it did not seem to bother the mental spike that was slowly but surely pressing into my thoughts.

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Soon enough, I felt like I wasn't alone in my mind. That every thought I had was being watched and judged by someone. An oppressive force that…

What is that? I thought as I looked at the mental spike wedging my mind open, inspecting the casting closer. The more I studied it, the more I realized something was connected to the casting. More accurately, around it. Gossamer-thin strands of telepathic energy that I didn't even know were possible to create and expel from the body were wrapped around the spike, nearly entirely enveloping it.

As I followed the strands, I realized their origin was leading off in the opposite direction of the mental spike… Wasn't there supposed to be two probes? At the realization, I felt my head explode in a world of pain as I suddenly felt a thousand vines wrapping around my mind while worming their way deeper into my skull. Releasing a burst of mental energy, I momentarily pushed the vines back, lessening the attack, but they quickly started regaining their lost ground.

"Well, now this is intriguing. I have not encountered many of your kind that can detect my intrusion… And you are even managing to push me back." A thundering mental voice shouted into my mind, causing me to flinch.

Have I encountered the incarnation of one of the Great Elementals? No, this is more like I was standing before the World Tree again, except this time, I had invoked her wrath. At the mental comparisons popping up in the back of my mind, rage bloomed within me.

No, this was nothing like meeting the World Tree. I knew that, but the thoughts that I should just give up as I was entirely outmatched kept appearing in my mind. And it infuriated me into action. Pulling on my mental energy, I infused it with my willpower and pushed it outward.

While the strands were numerous, none were particularly strong. A brush of willpower-infused mental energy could wipe them away en masse. And it did, until my power reached the edge of my mind, where it felt like a forest of thorny vines had appeared, encircling me.

Worse, Redgenald's contaminated spike, driven deep into my mind, was still present, and I couldn't force it out. In fact, it only drove itself deeper in response to my efforts to fight off the dark elf.

I felt a moment of betrayal, and then I realized what was happening. The dark elf's strands were altering what Redgenald was perceiving, and he was making the inquisitor think I was doing nothing more than attempting to push him out, exactly what he told me not to do, not fighting to preserve the sanctity of my mind.

A single time, the dark elf's vines constricted, attempting to break my mental shield, but he almost immediately gave up. The Letairry couldn't make a dent in my active mental shield, and he didn't need to create a new hole, as he already had a way in. Slowly but inevitably, I felt more of the dark elf's mental strands worm into my mind after writhing their way along the reaper's mental spike.

Every strand that entered my mind, I had to destroy with mental energy. From what I could tell, it was a losing fight, but I had no other choice. Forced onto a passive defense, all I could do was block his attacks as he made them. I tried to scrape off the small tendrils on Redgenald's spike, but before I could sever more than four strands, he sent a pulse of power into the spike, pushing my power back and digging deeper.

In essence, I was playing a game of wack-a-mole with the dark elf. The bastard would slowly gather his energy to stab his tendrils into my mind, and I would wipe them away before he could twist my thoughts. I don't know how many times I repeated the process, but eventually, I felt myself struggling to push the ever-growing strands back, and they started spreading.

"Ahh," purred the mental voice of the dark elf, almost sounding like he was getting sexual pleasure from this. "There is the despair I have been waiting for. When you finally realize the futility of your actions. And now, you will experience the first moments of your mind betraying you. As you become trapped in your own mind, never again having a thought or action of your own."

Such a primal and visceral fear speared through me at the truth of his intentions. He was going to take control of me. Utterly and entirely. And from there, what would he have me do?

Say yes to the question about intending to kill the little shit for sure, but afterward? I would be an unwilling spy. How many of my friends and companions would be put in danger because of me? Or would I have to watch my own hands slit their throats in their sleep?

I reached for more power, but I was already a hollow wasteland. There was nothing to pull on, except… The wisps of power that were steadily entering my body and making their way ever so slowly into my reserves. But it was far from enough. I needed more… So much more. I reached down my neck and then out of my body and pulled on the ambient power of the world, and to my surprise, it came.

A torrent of power, more than I had ever experienced, flooded into my body, and I almost felt as if I was going to burst. Panic consumed my mind, and I simply pushed the energy upward and out, expelling the dark elf's foreign strands with the rushing power and then shattering the forest he constructed around my mind. Eyes popping open, I saw the reaper, his words still slowly coming out of his mouth even after his expression shifted to shock and then to outrage. "-pponet in the duel?"

"No," I said simply, then turned to the side, finding the dark purple skin of the dark elf turning a pale gray. He had stumbled back a step, and some inky blood was dripping down his nose, but that wasn't what shocked me. The dark elf was looking at me in shock and with more than a hint of fear, and when I turned to face him, he flinched.

However, when I didn't do anything more, his normal condescending attitude returned, but I noticed the cracks in his demeanor. "Haha! Well, his mind was stronger than I expected. Perhaps I should have taken the handicap of making contact with his skull like the inquisitor. Anyway, he speaks the truth, and I believe that this is the end of our interactions."

Saying nothing more, the dark elf turned, adjusted his clothing, and marched forward, entering the crowd. "Hey! What— Where are you going?!" Called the fat politician in confusion before he waddled after the dark elf, quickly followed by the mountain and the shrimp, after they both glared at me and Senator Ponpti.

Mocking jeers followed the group, but my head was pounding as my body burned from the surge of mental energy it contained. Feeling like I would burst if I didn't release it, I started expelling dozens of orbs of mental energy every second to reach my usual amount. Head snapping to the side at a flash of light green, I saw White walking off into the garden.

A moment before she vanished around a hedge, she turned, locking eyes with me. She tilted her head, giving me a mischievous smile before gliding forward. Without thinking about it, I stepped to follow, only to be stopped by a strong hand locking onto my arm. Turning, I found the reaper's steely eyes boring into me as he demanded, "What happened?"

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