The Nightmare Wizard
Chapter 79: The Judgment

Chapter 79: Chapter 79: The Judgment

Agis’s gaze was as sharp as a blade, his demeanor showing clear displeasure with both of them. Held by the vines, William could remain upright, but his consciousness was clouded. It was as if he were in a trance and couldn’t escape it, unaware that he was already under the effects of a powerful spell.

Agis had used his spell, "Vines of Charm," which contained a potent narcotic that made people experience a very powerful trance where their minds were at the mercy of the invoker.

Agis raised his hand, and all three began to follow it. Aurus nodded, while the others also seemed pleased. "Good, all three of you are now under the effect of my spell. William, I want to know why you attacked your academy comrades."

As if a puppet, William began to speak: "They both murdered my female comrades, making it look like an accident. Only Kaela survived, but she is severely wounded. Furthermore, yesterday, during the Kraken’s attack, as we fled its assault, they both attacked me by surprise, forcing me to retreat and take the beast’s direct impact."

Aurus’s eyebrow twitched as everyone could feel his immense fury. That had been one of Aurus’s lingering doubts—why William had directly faced the attack—but now the answer was before his eyes. It had all been a trap designed for him to die, but he had miraculously survived.

"I see..." were Agis’s words, releasing William from the vine. His body fell like a broken puppet; he was so badly wounded that he couldn’t even put his hands out before his face slammed against the floor.

The impact opened his wounds a bit more, causing blood to gush out again. "Sorry... a small mistake." Lía once again took William, placing him on his back, but saying nothing.

Agis stopped observing them and looked back at the two suspended in the air. "What did you do from yesterday until today?"

Eldrin began to writhe upon hearing the question. Despite being only a Level 3 apprentice, his family had trained him in interrogation techniques, so he was still slightly conscious. The struggle continued for a few moments until he fell completely into a trance again.

As blood trickled from his nose and eyes, he began to speak in a monotone, like a puppet.

"Yesterday we were training the female apprentices, we took advantage of them and raped them a couple of times. Afterwards, when we went out, we saw that damned commoner and planned how to kill him. Some of the knight aspirants told us that they had been the commoners’ women, so we felt we were dirty for having touched trash. We went up to confront them, and although at first they refused to admit their sin, with a little persuasion they finally started singing like canaries."

"Then we went to..."

"Stop! Explain how you ’persuaded’ her." Although it seemed he was completely under the narcotic’s effect, Eldrin had managed to sugarcoat his words a bit, but this was far too easy for an old sage like Agis to notice. He quickly subdued him again using more narcotics. As he administered them, he turned to look at the other elders, who simply nodded in acknowledgment.

This interrogation technique, like any other, can cause irreparable brain damage to the affected. Initially, if he hadn’t resisted, he would have been released easily, like William, who had barely suffered any effects from the gas. Instead, Eldrin and Roderick continued to resist, forcing Agis to use more and more narcotics until their faces were now completely distorted, making them look utterly insane.

"We... we cut off their arms and legs, and we also gouged out their eyes and peeled off their skin while they screamed until they confessed. Right at that moment, the Kraken attacked, and we went up on deck to protect ourselves, but we didn’t see that one of those bitches had survived. At first, we had only broken some of her bones until she fainted, but when we left, we set that part of the ship on fire and closed the door, so when we saw her, we knew we had to silence her, but she was with that damned commoner again."

"Tell me what you did during the Kraken’s attack." Agis pressed Eldrin again to continue narrating what had happened.

"During the battle against the Kraken, we pretended to attack it while being careful not to get too close to that beast to avoid being accidentally killed. During the chaos, we saw how the damned commoner managed to cut off a Kraken’s tentacle, so we positioned ourselves near him to try and kill him if the opportunity arose. As we continued fighting that thing, the beast went crazy and launched a powerful attack, giving us the chance to kill him. I threw a fireball at his chest and managed to throw him several meters into the beast’s beam, but the bastard survived thanks to a necklace, and we couldn’t kill him. Today we went to silence Kaela, but we ran into the damned commoner, and he suddenly attacked us without saying a single word."

"Do you have anything else to say?" Agis now asked Roderick, who recounted the same story once more. The stories matched, so there was no need for further doubt. When they were dropped, both regained a bit of their composure and saw everyone watching them with a mysterious laugh. The effect of the drug was still present in their bodies, so when they tried to stand, they stumbled and fell to the ground ridiculously.

"How dare you use a spell on us, you bastard...?! I’ll tell my grandfather, and he’ll finish all of you!"

Trying to leave in indignation, he was stopped by a new magical vine, which again restrained them, lifting them a few meters off the ground and impaling two-inch thorns into their bodies. The pain made both of them fully regain consciousness, their eyes wide as saucers as they screamed lamentably.

"Eldrin Vaylen and Roderick Valhem are condemned to public execution for the crime of murdering their academy comrades. I, Agis Von Laudren, will execute the order. Now die!"

The vines holding them moved like snakes, entering their eye sockets, making them shriek like slaughtered pigs before everything fell silent. Seeing his enemies die, William closed his eyes and fell into complete unconsciousness.