The spiral court of the floating city of Sultansa is named for its distinctive features.

A flat white ivory about two steps wide circling along the walls of the circular room.

When the sound comes from a room deep in the well-like room, the black text also flows along the spiral: it is the copy of the testimony made below.

In the process of building the spiral court, gravity was distorted, allowing its walls to be used as ground, which are now full of citizens composed of arcane and other amateur casters.

They stood at the right angle, and could see both the trial process and the copywriting flowing through their feet.

At the bottom of the Spiral Court, the ghost prince Desude sat on a gorgeously carved sterling silver chair, suspended in the air that was one hand high from the ground.

He wore a judge's mask, but pushed it to his head and showed his face.

On the other side of the room, there are two complex rings on the stone floor, painted with three thorn-headed and woven hairs.

Each maze magic array is about two steps wide, and each of them has a woman with a proud and thin face and long red hair.

A woman tied her hair up with golden thread, ruby ​​dust on her lips and eyelids, wearing a silver-gray dress, with small black spots spiraling on the surface, like changing smoke and dust.

Another had hair scattered over her shoulders, she was wearing grey leggings, a loose gray shirt, and high-thigh leather boots, with a little worn heel and knees on her boots.

Although the two women chose different outfits to attend the court, one as if ready to attend the celebration at the Tower of Kalsas and the other as if ready to set out for a risk, their faces were as indistinguishable as twins.

Even their expressions are the same.

They stood stiffly, looking at each other proudly through the rings that emitted light. As long as they tried to cross the rings, their lurking magic could make them lost in the maze array, whether through their bodies or magic.

The two women even expressed their tension the same way: their green eyes were squinting, and they tapped their thighs from time to time with their right fingers.

According to the testimony, one of the women was a shadow clone, but the magic that made it was so cunning that it was impossible to distinguish which was an arcane and which was a magic construct.

His assistant, Senior Judge Wenta, has tried all the standard inspection methods, but none of them can solve the problem.

Both women emit powerful magical auras—but like most arcanes, it is well known that Xilith uses powerful magic to prolong his life.

In order to accurately determine which spell created this aspiration, Wenta was exhausted and failed.

Xilith's magic was more powerful than expected.

Desude frowned and then ordered the two to remove all clothes and items to analyze whether the objects had any signs of ineffectiveness.

If they were made as part of the Hillis spell while creating clones, the magic should not be able to fully maintain them once they do not come into contact with the clones.

But all items were proven to be magic-free, which was a normal item obtained after creating the shadow clone.

In the final test, he even briefly teleports one woman to another plane, expecting the other to disappear - something that usually happens when the magical connection between the alchemist and the construct is separated by such a distance.

Like other tests, this is useless.

Staring at the two women, Desude discovered that the two acted independently and seemed to have complete control over their own behavior.

There is no sign of general shadow clones being ordered by the master, no hesitation of words or imitation of actions.

The magic that maintains shadow cloning is lasting.

It took him half a day to hear, and the shadow clones did not decline at all.

Its maker seems to have cast magic constant on it.

He looked at the arcane who gave the testimony expressionlessly.

Alg Putek, a sparse blonde man with a raised forehead and shoulder-length shoulders, paced back and forth in front of the chair he was sitting on.

Outside his pants, he was wearing an alchemist's leather apron and a loose white shirt on his upper body.

He had yellow on his cuffs and a scent of sulfur burning on his clothes, indicating that he had come directly from the laboratory to present his testimony.

His eyes looked very big behind the glass eyes floating in front of his face.

While he was presenting his testimony, he was nervously looking at the two women in the ring of law.

He glanced at the judge from time to time, as if seeking encouragement, but he could not find it in Desude's unfeeling appearance.

Putek was ordered to wear a cloak when giving his testimony, a worsted gold-wire cloak.

As he paced, he kept buzzing with every word he said, like a beautiful harp sound.

This is a lie detector cloak, and an alarm will be issued whenever you lie.

"You know I can't lie - at least I can't wear this," Putech complained:

"What I said is true. Xilith is a thief. I hired her as my...the consultant for my latest research. I needed her professional magic knowledge to reach other planes and semi-planes. She guessed what was in my research notes and figured out how I was...where I hid them."

He showed a painful expression. "I believe her! I will never cooperate with other mages again."

As Putek's words circled up along the ivory decoration, a rustling whisper came from the wall above.

The number of listeners increased throughout the day because of rumors that someone was being interrogated for stealing state secrets.

"This is a serious question," Desud warned Putek.

"You are accusing a colleague of Arcane for a death sentence, but you have no evidence, except for your own testimony, your magical research was stolen, or Hillis stolen."

"We are innocent!" they shouted together.

This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Both of them point to each other, and their words are as collide as if they are heartbeats.

"She must..."

"She is..."

They ended at the same time, "Sincere!"

They continued to protest, all trying to shut up the other person.

Desu had to notice that the testimony on the ivory spiral became messy, and even the spiral court could not distinguish them, so he separated the fingers of his right hand and performed a fixed technique on the two at the same time.

Neither woman could move, she could only breathe or blink, but she could still hear testimony.

"They are all guilty." Putek muttered, looking back and forth at the two women who could not move.

"One is an arcane, the other is her shadow clone. One is a planner, the other is a crime. They are all executed, but first they have to force them to tell me what they have done to my research notes."

Desu bent his finger, "Cloak."

Putek took off his cloak with gratitude, as if he had removed a leech.

Desude made a gesture, and the cloak flew over the magic circle that trapped Xilith, who was wearing a dress, and was scattered with gem dust on his face.

She was released from the spell and put on a cloak, standing calmly, as if she was expecting something, with a proud expression on her face waiting for Desude to ask questions.

"Are you Xilith?" he asked.

"I am," she began to answer, and a slightly harsh syllable sounded from the cape, and she shrank for a moment.

Apparently, she lied.

"I mean, I believe I am. Of course it's possible that I'm wrong. I don't know if I'm a shadow clone. I have all the physical and mental qualities of Hillis, including her spellcasting ability-even the same memories."

Desu had to think for a while, and then said, "Now, assuming you are the original Xilith, please answer my question with this."

He pointed at the woman inside another maze array. "Did you create this shadow clone?"

"It must be me. Another arcane cannot make such a perfect copy."

"Did you remember casting this spell?"

"No. I only know that this shadow clone must have been made by me, and for some reason, my memory of that day disappeared."

"What do you remember?" Desude asked.

"The moment I was sitting in the library, reading while having morning tea, and the moment I was in my lab, facing this... creature. I thought it was a shapeshifter at first, and only after I tried to bind it with magic, and it was unblocked like a spell was cast by myself, I realized that she must be a shadow clone."

"Have you tried to command it?"

Xilith nodded vigorously. "I did it right away, but it was useless. For some reason, this thing seems to have an independent consciousness."

"Have you tried to unblock the shadow clone?" Desude asked.

Xilith nodded. "That doesn't work either."

"Have you tried to undo the magic that maintains it?"

"Of course," said Xilith, curling her lips with contempt. "You know, I'm not a newbie."

Desu had to think for a while, and then asked, "When did the law enforcement team arrest you?"

"When the shadows come - dusk," replied Hillis, "that was when I first heard that the study notes were lost."

"Did you steal Putek's research materials?" Desude asked directly.

Xilith stared at her clone and said, "One of us stole it. Maybe it was me, or maybe it wasn't me."

"Do you know where the research notes that are being stolen now?"

"No."

During the entire process of Hillis' testimony, the True Cloak responded to her words in a continuous harmonious tone, without a single dissonance.

Xilith is telling the truth.

DeSuit tried another set of questions. "What is the shadow clone doing when you recover your memory?"

"What do you mean?" Hillis asked with a frown.
To be continued...