Mage Manual

Chapter 56: Chapter 54 Interactive Segment

The prisoners soon stopped hurling insults—because they realized that whenever they swore, the Executioner behind them would swiftly swell and grow taller.

That’s the thing about dimwits ending up as death row inmates; they actually forgot that hundreds of thousands of people in Kaimon City were watching them spew obscenities.

The audience watched and thought, Good! Swear, you filth, you lowlifes! Here’s a ticket for you; may you die sooner and find peace sooner!

When things quieted down, Nagu slowly said, “You will feel pain, not because of something we’ve arranged, but because of your own doing. I’ve said before that if you truly repent, you won’t be affected by the Purification Flame. The Purification Flame ignites sin and burns calamity.”

“And not everyone will feel the pain. Look at Mr. Ash Heath and Mr. Valcas Uer; they aren’t affected by the Purification Flame at all. Please learn from them.”

It was only then that the crowd, writhing in agony, noticed that Ash and Valcas were almost stuck to the Executioner, with the boiling Purification Flame passing through their bodies, yet they stood erect.

“If you feel pain, you should take this opportunity to embrace the cleansing of the Purification Flame, to repent, and to start anew,” Nagu stated, not in mockery but as if genuinely exhorting them to confess, “The Extreme Master of Blood Moon and the citizens of Kaimon City will see your true sincerity.”

“I admit my faults, I admit…ahhhhh!”

Harvey was in so much pain that tears and snot ran down his face, and his gaunt face twisted like wood grain. Most of his body was exposed beyond the platform, his hands clutching the steel wires, deeply cut to the bone.

Yet even such danger, such torment, was nothing compared to a singeing touch from the Purification Flame!

“You must fully recognize the unforgivable nature of the mistakes you’ve made in the past and completely sever ties with your former sinful self in order to receive the Blood Moon’s forgiveness.”

Nagu’s lips curled upward, “Of course, there’s a more convenient way: keep enduring the burning of the Purification Flame, and the sinful soul will turn to ash, leaving behind a virtuous soul.”

Although it sounded absurd, Ash didn’t think Nagu would lie, especially not on this live show watched by the entire populace.

This meant that the Purification Flame had the effect of splitting personalities, by tearing out a kind persona from the condemned through immense and sustained pain and cruelly torturing the original persona to death!

At these words, almost every condemned wished they could hang on the steel wires instead.

Compared to death, they couldn’t accept their souls being utterly destroyed!

“I understand… I understand…”

Ash looked towards Harvey, who was muttering to himself, the latter choking up, twitching his lips, “We’re all done for this time…”

Curiosity made Ash ask, “What are you afraid of? Wasn’t it said that only one would die in the Blood Moon Judgement? Just tough it out now; it’ll be over soon.”

“Not all Blood Moon Judgements result the same, and this time we’re facing the rare exception,” Harvey wept with a smile, “I remember old man Rein said, the Andrem faction is expecting significant deaths soon, many government officials and council members are going to be purged…”

“What does political reshuffling have to do with the Blood Moon Judgement?”

“What do you think is more interesting in a Blood Moon Judgement, a serial killer or a government official caught in corruption and fraud?”

Ash understood.

The entertainment value of a beheading correlated directly with the condemned’s former social status.

“The political strife in the Kingdom of Blood Moon is most brutal. Which official or councilor who’s climbed to power isn’t soaked in blood? The winner gets it all, the loser faces judgement; they’re milked for their last drop of social value, which serves both as a statement to the public and a warning to other bureaucrats: be more secretive, leave no evidence…”

“You know quite a lot.”

“What do you think the corpses I used to handle belonged to?”

“But even if new inmates are to arrive, what does this have to do suddenly with the Blood Moon Judgement’s indiscriminate approach?”

The sulking Harvey replied, “There aren’t enough beds.”

Ash was startled as countless herbs seemed to sprout in his heart.

That made so much sense!

Since there weren’t enough dormitories, they had to kill some people to free up space for future down-and-out bureaucrats to move in. What a realistic reason that was laughably absurd.

Because there were too many people in the prison, they had to die.

How ridiculous, how cruel, how straightforward the logic was.

“Ugh!”

At that moment, Harvey bit down on his teeth and hung his entire body on the steel wire, swaying forward toward the large platform.

Each swing caused his palms to be abraded by the steel wire, and soon the flesh on his palms was worn away, exposing the bones in his hands that made one’s teeth feel soft with trepidation. But Ash saw clearly that his bones were not the usual pale color, but were instead emitting a silvery light!

After the flesh on his palms was worn away, Harvey’s climbing speed suddenly increased. Even as the steel wire scraped against his hand bones with a grating noise like nails on a chalkboard, he seemed to feel no pain at all and looked very relaxed!

It was a Technique Spirit!

A Technique Spirit that enhanced the defensive strength of bones?

The other convicts on death row also hurriedly grabbed the steel wire to escape. Some had such strong skin defenses that the wire could only leave a red mark on their skin;

Others excelled in agility and ran straight along the wire;

The most outrageous was the ogre, who turned out to be a Mage of the Temperature faction, rapidly cooling the wire to form a thick layer of ice on it and then swinging his body to slide straight across.

The prison was indeed full of talented individuals, who were articulate and capable of various feats.

Compared to these convicts hastily escaping, Ash, who was not affected by the Purification Flame, naturally had more time to think.

He turned around and looked at Nagu standing on the viewing platform by the sea.

Nagu, noticing his gaze, stood with his hands behind his back and smiled slightly. “That’s a good idea. Instead of struggling with the steel wire under the rules of Blood Moon, why not break the rules and escape backward into the prison?”

…

…

“Right!”

The customers in the Red Mist Cafe all came to their senses. “If we jump back into the prison, can’t we avoid these arrangements and break free from the Blood Moon Judgement?”

“Are there no other traps?” @@novelbin@@

“So the convicts just escape torture like that? What’s going on with Shattered Lake Prison? How can such an entertaining judgment mode have such a major flaw?”

“A bunch of bastards born of whores, refund our money!”

Lorenz sharply noticed that at this moment, the betting odds for Ash Heath had suddenly dropped from 1.65 to 1.45, indicating that the snake boss felt that Ash’s chances of ‘winning’ had significantly increased, so he adjusted the odds in time to avoid losing money.

The Fishman thought for a moment and understood why Shattered Lake Prison had set it up this way.

The ‘Blood Moon Judgement’ event had been popular across the country for decades, not only because of its excellent watchability but also because of its strong interactivity.

Such an obvious loophole was actually left intentionally by the prison for the audience to have an interactive moment of enjoyment—to personally crush the hopes of the convicts!

Was there any entertainment more thrilling than bestowing Despair?