Wyatt and the others stood around the elevator in silence as the metal creaked down the stairs. This time, however, Dagger wasn't there to change the mood.

The elevator finally came to a stop, the doors slowly opening. Dagger was already waiting for them as he sat on his throne, his eyes glittering dangerously.

Wyatt looked at the pictures in the stands, noticing two more pictures with a red cross through them. They reminded the group of Isabell's brutal execution and Torch's horrifying death scene. Wyatt noticed the uneasy looks in a few people's eyes once again.

Dagger grinned when the door opened. "Well, my guests? Take your places! I can't kill anyone if you don't take your places! Come! Let's solve the murder of Brandon Mac, known to you guys as Torch! Ahahaha! I love it when people lie about their names!"

They slowly walked to their picture and stood silently, facing each other, knowing that a killer was among them. That fact didn't soothe anyone to relaxation as everyone's backs were stiff, the thirteen of them standing around the circle like totem poles.

Dagger laughed. "Oh, don't be so nervous, you have a one out of thirteen chance to guess the murderer correctly!" he lowered his head, a creepy smile crawling onto his face, "Anyway...let the Trial...begin!"

"Well, shall we do what we did last time?" Kiara asked, placing her hands on her stand, "It seemed to work for us."

Star nodded in agreement. "That's a good idea. I'll review what we know."

She cleared her throat. "Torch...er...Brandon, now that we know, was found dead at around seven in the morning. He was lying face down in the tub in the spa room, with various cuts and scrapes on his body, as well as a stab wound in his stomach. He had rope burn on his body, too. And, to add on to the facts...we already have a suspect."

"Who?" everyone except Wyatt and Harmony asked.

Star pointed at the person next to her. "You, Damien!"

Damien looked taken back. "Me?" he stammered, "I wouldn't do that! I...I can't think of killing anyone!"

Star looked at him, suspicion in her eyes, "Prove it. Tell us the alibi you told me earlier when we were still investigating."

"I...ah..."

"Now!"

Damien jumped. He looked at all the others with a pleading look, before taking a deep, shaky breath. "Last night...I was in the spa room with Torch. We had just talked because he didn't want to stay there...and then, I got up, and left. I went to bed, and I slept through the smoke detector."

"Strange," Sophie said, narrowing her eyes.

"Nobody knew that the cuts on Torch's body was from that of a sword...except for you," Star said quietly, "Someone who could have known because they were the murderer!"

Damien had tears streaming down from his eyes, "I swear! I didn't do anything! I'm bad at keeping secrets and hiding crimes!"

"Now that you mention it..." Harmony said, "Damien doesn't really seem like the type to kill someone."

"Oh, but he is. It's just a little dark secret he kept to himself," someone said firmly.

Damien closed his gaping mouth and stared at Crimson with wide eyes. She had small smile on her face that reminded Wyatt of a cat watching a mouse. Her eyes had a cold gaze to them, and the spiked bracelet she kept spinning only made matters worse.

"I got the secret of Damien from Dagger," she announced. "Damien...has two personalities! Yes, this side of him is so innocent and a literal mass of anxiety...but he has been hiding the other side to himself. That side is a notorious murderer!"

There was a collective gasp as everyone turned to look at Damien in shock. 

Damien had covered his head with his hands, sobbing. As soon as Crimson had stated the fact, however, he abruptly stopped crying and looked at everyone with a tear stained face. The hair covering his one eye looked menacing. His mouth curled up into a grin. "Haha! I didn't know you were all that smart!"

There was a burst of red light that surrounded Damien with power and magic, wind generating up from the source of the transformation. Wyatt clung on to the rails of his stand, the wind pushing his hair back and his clothes pressed against the front of his body.

The wind and the light stopped. In place of Damien was now a grinning, crazy person with the same looks...except...

Wyatt gasped at the eye Damien had always hid behind his bangs. His bangs were now pushed back, so now both eyes were visible. There was one problem, though. Damien had no eye where he had covered it with his hair. There was just an empty eye socket. A scar ran up and down that eye, the socket making it all the more grotesque.

"What...the..." Griffin whispered, backing up. "Damien?"

Damien spread his arms. "Who the hell are you calling Damien? I'm different! Don't compare me with that piece of garbage of a human being!"

"Who are you, then?" Amanda asked.

Crazy Damien smiled. "I'm Vega!"

"Slayer Vega," Crimson pressed on, "or Dark-Eye Vega. Those were his names."

"So...he's bipolar?" Wyatt asked.

"Ah! No! I wouldn't dream of being the same guy as that wuss I share this body with!" Vega looked horrified.

"You're different people...in the same body then?" Chase questioned.

"Close enough!" Vega said, doing a cartwheel off of his stand. "Whee!"

"Ugh, we have another Dagger," Star groaned.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Dagger said, his eyes narrowing.

"Back to the trial," Kiara said, shaking her head. She directed her cold blue eyes to Vega. "Did you kill Torch?"

Vega shook his head. "Sadly, no! It's against my rules to stab! I only slash! I never stab, and there's a stab wound in that kid's body!"

"You could've teamed up with someone..." Thane suggested.

"Ew! No! Slayer Vega is a solo killer! You could pay me five hundred bucks and I wouldn't do it! Nope! Nada!" Vega exclaimed, pretending to gag.

"Is this all true, Crimson?" Amanda asked.

Crimson sighed. "Sadly, yes."

"So, Damien...or Vega...isn't the murderer as far as we know." Star concluded. "But, there's one more suspect."

Realization hit Wyatt like a ton of bricks. "Amanda."

Star nodded.

"It wasn't me!" Amanda protested.

"I have evidence," Wyatt said. "Amanda, your room is the closest to the second floor. Where were you when Damien and Torch were at the spa?"

"In my room," Amanda said immediately.

"Wait, that's wrong!" Kiara said, butting in. "We were together, remember? You told me...you told me you were going to the spa! That's where you were!"

"Aha!" Star said. "There were three people in the spa room!"

"There was no blood near my room!" Amanda argued.

"Wrong!" Wyatt said. He took out the bottle of bleach. "Someone went into the science room and took out the bleach to cover up the evidence." He popped the top off, showing it to everyone. 

"Wyatt...what are you..." Harmony asked fearfully.

Wyatt smiled. "The plan was genius. You all think it's a full, untouched bottle of bleach." He took a drink from the jug, making everyone gasp in shock.

"Wyatt! Are you mad!? What are you trying to do?" Star asked.

Wyatt shook his head. "I'm not dead. That's the point. It's not bleach! It's mainly water! At the amount that I just drank, I should have already started to feel nauseous, but I'm fine. This means that the culprit used bleach to get rid of some blood on the wooden railings!"

"And the bathrooms are right next to Amanda's room, too!" Thane snapped his fingers.

"There's one more thing," Wyatt said. He turned to Amanda. "Where is, may I ask, your sword you always have?"

"In my room."

"You didn't use it, did you?"

"No, I didn't even kill him. Where the hell would I get a sword if I didn't use mine then?"

"I found a bloody sword in Torch's room. Torch's room, may I add, is right across from yours. It's very easy to sneak into his room and hide it. In addition, you're correct. You didn't use your own sword. You stole a sword from the very top wall in the arena!"

"But..." Erik said, his eyes wide, "You saw that jump height, Wyatt! It's so high!"

"Not if you're a ninja," Wyatt contradicted.

"One more thing," Cassie said, holding up something, "I found this pole in the girls' bathroom, cleverly lined up against the wall. It could have been used for pole vaulting to make it easier!"

Everyone's eyes turned to the ninja. Amanda pursed her lips in frustration and said nothing. 

"Let's go over the scenario, then," Thane said. 

"At night time, Damien, Torch, and the murderer were all in the Spa Rooms. After Damien left, Torch was left alone with the culprit. They had already planned their murder before, so, earlier in the day, because they were quick, and their room was close to everything they needed, they smuggled out stuff to help hide the evidence."

"First, the culprit ditched their sword, in fear of making their own weapon as evidence. They went to get a pole from the gym, before going to the weapons room and pole vaulting to the top of the wall, where they got the most deadly sword. They then got rope from somewhere. The culprit then hid the sword in their room, going into the science room to get the bleach they needed, knowing that the blood was messy."

"When Torch came out of the spa room, finished with talking to Damien, they were ready. They grabbed their sword and rope, attempting to bind him first. Since Torch struggled, that resulted in rope burns, and so they ditched the rope, using the sword to slash him. He attempted to fight back, using his fire, which resulted in the tiny flames at first. However, it was futile, and the culprit continued to slash until he was almost dead. They then delivered the finishing blow, stabbing him fatally in the heart, and for good measure, they carved the noose like cut around his neck, tossing him into the the tub and leaving, the fire still burning."

"The culprit then took the sword and put some drops near Damien's room to frame him, accidentally getting some one the railing, so they used the bleach and cleaned it, forgetting that the wood was dark red. They hid the sword under Torch's bed, the pole in the girls' bathroom, filled the bleach bottle with water and put it back where he used to be, and then went to bed, forgetting about the fire that woke us all up later."

"...and that culprit...is you, Amanda," Star finished.

She was frowning, but she wasn't hysterical. Amanda seemed to be in debate with herself, when, suddenly and surprisingly, she let out a small laugh. "You win."

"What?" everyone asked at the same time.

Amanda shook her head. "I tried. I lost."

"Why did you kill Torch?" Wyatt asked.

She bit her lip, tears finally escaping as she broke down. "It...it...was the secret...that Dagger told me...the secret...was so dishonoring...and I was raised under ninjas...so...I thought...he couldn't live...and I killed him!" she sobbed.

"H-he killed his own family!" Amanda screamed in a burst of anger. "What kind of a sick demon would do that?"

Amanda took a deep breath, wiping at her eyes as she looked at the group in the eyes with stony determination. "Anyway, I tried. But I'm not sorry for Torch's death."

They all stood in stony silence, processing the words that Amanda had just said.

"Ahahahaha!" Dagger laughed hysterically.

As he continued to giggle at the despair among his guests, everyone wondered who the real demon was in the Manse of Despair.