The next witness the prosecution called was the security guard who helped Matthew against the kidnapper.

"Good morning, Mr. Wells. Could you tell us who you are and where you work?" The prosecution asked.

"I'm Bruce Wells. I work as a security guard in the Farlight Mall."

"You were present when the defendant killed Mr. Silva, correct?"

"That's right."

"Could you tell us what happened that day?"

"At first, we got called due to the elevator's emergency button being pressed. The security camera showed him and elf girl going up to the rooftop. We thought they were just college kids messing around, so me and my partner went there to scold them, but we weren't in a hurry. But on our way up, we found a woman and her daughter saying that two men were fighting upstairs. That's when we rushed up. When we got there, we found Matthew and other man on the floor."

"The other man being Mr. Siric, the surviving kidnapper."

"That's right. While my partner secured Mr. Siric, I went with Matthew to save the kidnapped girl."

"Just one moment." The prosecutor interrupted. "What was the defendant doing with Mr. Siric?"

"He seemed to be interrogating him about the whereabouts of his friend."

"Was he violent?"

"Not at all, Mr. Siric was put asleep by a skill of his. He didn't seemed to be very hurt."

"What do you mean by very hurt?"

"He seemed to be punched on the face before."

"I see. Continue then, you and the defendant went to save the kidnapped girl…"

"Yes. Matthew ran in front of me. When I finally reached him, he was fighting with the kidnapper and the girl was half naked on the floor. I tried to help, but the kidnapper was too strong and beat me breaking my ribs." He said pointing at his ribs. "That's when Matthew and him struggled on the floor for my gun and Matthew shot him."

"What happened after Mr. Silva was shot?"

"He surrendered."

"And then the defendant shot him another 14 times?"

"Not exactly."

"What?" The prosecutor seemed genuinely surprised.

"The girl got up and asked Matthew to kill the man. But the kid refused to kill the guy and only kept the gun pointed at him."

"Then when did the defendant kill Mr. Silva?"

"When he tried to jump on Matthew. The kid got surprised and emptied the clip on the guy."

The prosecutor was stunned for a couple seconds. That testimony destroyed his case. He only sat down dismissing the witness. Vanessa only smiled and also dismissed the witness.

The accusation then rested their case.

Vanessa started hers by calling Professor Claude who came wearing his priestly robe.

"Could you tell us who you are?"

"My name is Claude Renaud, I'm a priest of the church of the Guiding Lady. I'm also a professor at Laufgraan who teaches holy magic. And I'm also the acting dean of the school while the dean is away on business."

"And Matthew here is a student of yours?"

"Yes he is. I'm teaching him how to properly use his Purification skill and how to deal with demonic mana."

"Why would Matthew need help dealing with demonic mana?"

"The child survived the Saint Helen's Inferno and was infected with demonic mana. After that he also survived the Red Moon Massacre, but his actions there made the demonic mana inside of him to fuse with his soul. Part of him now will always have demonic mana inside of him."

"And what demonic mana causes on a person?"

"Demonic mana brings fourth overwhelming feelings of anger, jealousy, lust… It amplifies all these bad emotions and compels the patient to act upon them."

"So… Let's say you are being robbed and stabbed by two people. How would a person infected with demonic mana react?"

"Objection. Speculation." The prosecutor said.

"Your honor. Professor Claude is a priest with vast experience with demonology and the holy arts. He teaches at Laufgraan about these things. He's overly qualified to give an expert opinion on the behavior of people infected with demonic mana." Vanessa argued.

"She's right, councilor. The witness may answer." Judge Johnson ruled.

"While being attacked, people with demonic mana get overwhelmed by rage. They react very violently."

"And do they usually stop themselves?"

"Very rarely and only with extreme willpower. Having a high Mind stat helps, but Matthew's level was too low at the time. It took him a lot of self control not to kill that man."

"Do you think Matthew is dangerous? Can he control himself?"

"He's not dangerous at all. He controls himself very well. And with my guidance he's improving a lot."

"Thank you, Professor." Vanessa finished sitting down.

The prosecution asked no questions.

Vanessa then called Matthew to the stand.

After introducing himself, Vanessa asked him about his adventurer career. How he started, the Saint Helen Inferno incident and the Red Moon Massacre incident. His heartfelt testimony of those events brought his mother and one of the jurors to tears. After that she asked him about the events that happened during the attempt robbery and during Mia's kidnapping. Matthew gave all the details he could remember.

"Did you intend on killing Mr. Duval?" Vanessa asked.

"I did not. I was just trying to defend myself."

"What about Mr. Silva?"

"A bit… Yes, I wanted to kill him for what he did to Mia. But I controlled myself until he tried to attack me again. Then I just shot him."

"How do you feel about their deaths?"

"I feel bad of course. If I could have done things differently, I would."

"No more questions." Vanessa sat down.

"You say you feel bad for them." The prosecutor got up. "But in truth you wanted to kill them, didn't you?"

"Objection." Vanessa protested.

"Rephrase your question councilor." The Judge ruled.

"Did you want to kill those men?" The prosecutor rephrased.

"No."

"Really? Not even the man who abused your friend? Didn't you tell detective Richter that he deserved it?"

Matthew breathed deeply, but didn't answer.

The prosecutor looked at Matthew and sighed. Purely performative.

"No more questions your honor."

Next, Vanessa called Maria, the paramedic that attended Matthew after the robbery. She described Matthew's wounds in detail and how she healed him. She also witnessed to his state of mind.

"How did the defense enter in contact with you?" The prosecutor asked as soon as Vanessa finished her inquiry.

"Objection. Relevancy?" Vanessa protested.

"I'm trying to verify the impartiality of the witness." The prosecutor argued.

"You may respond miss." The judge ruled.

"I gave Matthew my phone number after I healed him that night." Maria answered a bit embarrassed.

"And why would you do that?"

"Because I found him cute?" Maria answered sarcastically taking a chuckle from some of the people around.

"So you feel sexually attracted to the defendant."

"Objection. Your honor, the witness dating preferences are not on trial." Vanessa said annoyed.

"Your honor, if the witness has romantic feelings for the defendant, her testimony can not be fully trusted. Even if one sided." The prosecutor argued.

"Proceed, councilor, but don't be crass." Judge Johnson ruled.

"You have intentions of dating the defendant?" The prosecutor asked.

"I did, but he never called me. I got ghosted." Maria chuckled. "But what I said is true. I'm not just testifying in his favor because he's cute. I'm testifying because he's innocent."

"Your honor, objection?" The prosecutor protested. "The witness cannot talk about things that were not asked."

"You opened this can of worms, councilor. Overruled." Judge Johnson said with a smirk.

"No more questions." The prosecutor sat down with a sigh.

The next to the stand was Faralynn who testified about the events of the kidnapping. The prosecution didn't ask her anything.

The last one called was Mia.

"Tell the court who you are." Vanessa asked gently.

"I'm Mia Bright. I'm a friend of Matthew's and a classmate."

"You were the person kidnapped that day."

"I was."

"Could you tell us how it happened?"

"Well…" Mia breathed deeply. That was the first time she would tell that story out loud to strangers. "Me, Matthew, Lynn, Sarah and Erin were shopping. After the last store we visited, I went to the bathroom." She put her hand behind her neck. "When I was… Doing my things, I felt a sting on my neck. The next thing I knew I was waking up on the roof."

"What happened next?" Vanessa's voice got really soft.

"There was a bald man." Mia said. Her voice wavering.

"Mr. Silva." Vanessa elucidated.

"Yes." Mia said almost as a spit. "He was there. I tried to run, but he hit me on the face."

"Take your time." Vanessa said gently.

"Then he… He said he'd let me free, when they got Lynn. And then he started to talk about how pretty I was…" Mia's voice was really low now, the microphone in front of her barely picking her words. "He said… He wanted to have a little fun first." Here she stopped when tears flooded her eyes. Her face was contorted in anger as she remembered what happened to her.

"He abused you?" Vanessa asked trying to sound the most gentle possible.

Mia just nodded and tears started to run down her face. She looked scared now.

"Do you want to tell to court what he did?"

"Yes." Mia said trying to hold her tears.

"Take your time."

"He… He tore up my blouse. And… And… Felt my breasts. With his hands." Mia was fighting hard against the tears.

Matthew started to feel the demonic mana getting a hold of him. He knew the man abused her, but he dared not think about how he did it or what he did.

"Did he do anything else?" Vanessa asked.

Mia nodded quickly drying some tears on her face.

"He… He took it out. He made me please him. With my mouth." Mia took her hand to her mouth almost throwing up remembering.

"When did Matthew arrive?"

"He was already done. It was quick."

"What happened after Matthew arrived?"

"He charged the man. But he was too strong for him. Matthew was losing until the security guard came. When Matthew was wrestling him for the gun, I got close and used a magic missile on his face. But that didn't do anything. It was then that Matthew got the gun and shot the man." Mia answered getting calmer.

"What happened next?"

"Matthew was going to let him live. But I was so angry. I begged Matthew to kill him."

"And did he?"

"No… Not at first. Only when the man got up again."

"Thank you for your testimony. I'm sorry to have you relive that."

Mia shook her head and looked at Matthew saying with her eyes that she did it for him.

The prosecutor stood still a few seconds pondering if he should question Mia, but her knew better. Keep her on the stand crying would only harm his case. He dismissed her.

When Vanessa sat down, she noticed a faint glow of red mana surrounding Matthew. She quickly whispered to him:

"Control yourself!"

Matthew was almost scared when he realized what he was doing. He then cast Purification on himself glowing gold as the skill cleansed his body.

The light made the guards reach for their guns, but not draw them. All eyes turned to Matthew.

"Councilor!" Judge Johnson screamed. "What was that?!"

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