Days passed...
Clover Kingdom's Parliament...
Courtroom...
The tension in the Clover Kingdom's parliament was palpable—
whispers of the upcoming trial spread like wildfire among both nobles and commoners.
Today was the day.
The air was heavy with anticipation inside the grand halls of the Clover Kingdom's Parliament.
The grand courtroom was filled with powerful figures—
Magic Knight captains, nobles, royals, and King Ben himself.
At the center of it all, the arrested members of the Liberators stood in chains, their faces a mixture of defiance, fear, and resignation.
Damnatio Kira, seated at the center of the courtroom, radiated authority.
His sharp eyes scanned the accused before him—
Sirius, McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Gandalf—
who stood silently, their hands bound by enchanted restraints.
Behind them, Seraphina Rapul and her team of assassins—
the ones who had ambushed Ben—
stood equally restrained, their expressions unreadable.
The tension in the courtroom was thick, every noble, royal, and Magic Knight captain was present watching intently.
Damnatio's voice rang out, cold and precise.
"You are all accused of treason against the Clover Kingdom. You led the Liberators, a faction that has caused chaos, destruction, and death."
His eyes narrowed.
"Do you deny these accusations?"
"____"
"____"
"____"
Silence.
Not one of them spoke.
Damnatio frowned but continued.
Frown~
"Reports state that innocent children perished in the wake of your actions."
He studied their expressions closely.
"Tell me, do you have nothing to say about the blood on your hands?"
For a moment, there was nothing but stillness.
Then—a chuckle.
Chuckle~
Low at first, but growing louder.
It came from Dumbledore.
"I regret I couldn't kill them with my own hands. My son.., my daughter... everyone!!!"
With clear hatred in his tone, Dumbledore declared.
The courtroom fell into an uneasy silence.
Ben's eyes narrowed.
"Why?"
His voice was firm, yet laced with curiosity.
"Why do you hate everything? Even your own sons and daughters?"
Dumbledore's mocking smirk remained, but his eyes held a deeper, darker bitterness.
He exhaled, shaking his head slightly.
"You wouldn't understand, Your Majesty,"
he said, voice dripping with contempt.
"None of you would. The world worships youth, strength, and potential. But when you're old, when you've given everything—your knowledge, your power, your loyalty—you are cast aside."
A murmur rippled through the courtroom.
Some nobles shifted uncomfortably.
The captains remained silent, their expressions unreadable.
Dumbledore continued, his words sharper now.
"The Liberators were not born out of some mindless thirst for destruction. We were once respected. Once loved. Fathers, mothers, mentors, leaders. And what happened when we were no longer useful?"
His eyes gleamed with fury.
"We were abandoned. Thrown away. Betrayed by the very blood we raised and nurtured."
Ben's frown deepened.
"At first, we were few,"
Dumbledore admitted.
"Scattered elders, left to rot. But then, we found each other. We shared our grief, our fury. We realize this world is built on ingratitude. So we swore to change it."
He laughed coldly.
"And what better way to ensure that than by recruiting the young? Oh, yes, we welcomed them with promises of a 'better world'—but that was a lie. They were never our successors."
His smile turned cruel.
"They were just pawns to push our will forward."
A tense silence settled in the room.
Ben clenched his fists.
"So that was your so-called revolution? A war built on your personal grudges?"
Dumbledore met his gaze with defiance.
"Not a war. A purge. A purge of a world that devours its elders and glorifies the naive."
The room exploded into murmurs and heated whispers.
Damnatio who was acting as a speaker asked the crowd to be silent.
"Silence!"
All eyes returned to the accused.
Ben inhaled slowly, then exhaled.
His voice was calm, but it carried undeniable authority.
"You justified murder, betrayal, and suffering just because you were wronged?"
His golden eyes locked onto Dumbledore.
"You became the very thing you hated."
A heavy silence filled the courtroom as Dumbledore's smirk faded.
His shoulders once squared in defiance, slumped ever so slightly.
"You want to understand why we did this?"
His voice carried a hollow weight.
"Then let me tell you... let me show you."
His eyes darkened as he sank into memories long buried.
"I had a son. A daughter. I gave them everything—a home, education, love."
"I worked tirelessly to ensure their future was secure. But when I fell ill when my hands trembled too much to hold a wand, do you know what they said?"
His voice cracked.
"Father, you take up too much space."
A painful chuckle escaped him.
Chuckle~
"That was all I was to them—a burden."
"Not the man who raised them, not the father who stayed up all night tending to their fevers."
"No, just an old man in the way. So, they left me to rot. Threw me out like garbage."
He exhaled sharply, his eyes flashing with bitterness.
Sirius clenched his fists.
His face twisted with hatred—
not for the world, but for the memories clawing at his soul.
"I loved my wife,"
he whispered.
"I loved my son with all my heart. But he wasn't mine."
Gasps rippled through the courtroom.
"____"
"____"
"____"
"My wife cheated on me. And the boy I called my son, the one I raised as my own, knew."
His voice rose, thick with anguish.
"When I found out when I confronted them, do you know what my son—the boy I loved—said to me?"
His fingers trembled as he spoke the words.
"Get out. If you ever step foot in this house again, I will kill you like the pest you are."
His breath hitched, his eyes gleaming with pain.
"That was the thanks I got for years of devotion. That was my reward."
McGonagall's lips trembled as she spoke next.
"I was a single mother,"
she admitted.
"I gave everything to my daughter. I worked until my hands bled, so she could live a life better than mine."
She squeezed her eyes shut as if trying to block out the memories.
"And do you know what she did? She framed me. Lied about me, accused me of something I never did."
The room went deathly quiet.
"Why?"
Her voice broke.
"So she could marry a wealthy merchant. I—her mother—was an obstacle to her ambition. So she destroyed me."
Her eyes burned with unshed tears.
Her daughter has acted as a helpless daughter and is painted as a demon mother who treated her cruelly.
"She betrayed me. And she never looked back."
Unlike the others, Gandalf did not cry.
He did not shake with anger.
His empty gaze simply stared ahead, as if he had long ago accepted his fate.
"I never had a wife. Never had children of my own."
His voice was soft, almost detached.
"But I took in orphans. I thought I was giving them a home, a future."
A dry laugh escaped him.
"Turns out, I was only giving them an opportunity."
His grip on the railing in front of him tightened.
"They used me. Played the part of innocent children, all while planning behind my back. And when the time was right..."
He turned his gaze toward Ben, his words laced with quiet devastation.
"They sold my house."
The courtroom was still.
"They sold me."
A noblewoman let out a small gasp of horror.
"To a noble,"
he continued.
It seems those kids were sent by the noble who was eyeing his house and land and used the right opportunity to make him sign the land deeds and servant contract which he didn't notice.
"I was nothing but a bargaining chip. And the moment I realized the truth... was the moment I understood how cruel this world truly is."
The weight of their stories settled over the courtroom like a suffocating fog.
Dumbledore's gaze swept across the room.
"Now you see,"
he murmured.
"Now you understand why we created the Liberators. We were not born with this hatred."
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"We were made."
The silence was deafening.
Ben exhaled slowly, his green eyes locked onto Dumbledore.
"I understand your pain,"
he said.
"But the moment you used others, the moment you made innocent people suffer, you became no different than the ones who wronged you."
"____"
Dumbledore did not reply.
"We will now proceed to the verdict."
The trial was reaching its final moment.
With a resounding clang, Damnatio Kira activated his Scale Magic, his golden scales glowing ominously as they tipped decisively against the Liberators.
"The weight of your sins has been measured," he declared, his voice echoing through the courtroom.
"By the judgment of the Clover Kingdom, you are all found guilty."
Gasps rippled through the audience.
"You will serve a lifetime sentence in the Clover Kingdom's prison,"
he continued, his gaze cold and unwavering.
"This includes all accomplices involved in your crimes."
The room fell into silence as the verdict sank in.
Dumbledore's lips curled into a small smirk, but he said nothing.
Sirius clenched his fists, while McGonagall's expression remained stoic.
Gandalf merely closed his eyes, as if resigning himself to fate.
With a final bang of his gavel, Damnatio sealed their fates forever.
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(Author's POV)
(A/N):Thanks for reading the chapter!
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