Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
Ten days later, the Citadel of Athens and the sacred mountain were still shrouded by a gloomy rain, but the crisis and the Dark Execution were finally put at an end by a fair judgment!
Two ex-Clergymen and two current Clergymen were responsible for supervising the Magistrates. They had to decide if the Magistrates had cast their votes for personal gain!
Five Magistrates who had colluded with Dulanc were busted. The rest of the Magistrates that voted with the black stones were fine, but they were still punished for not being able to assess the case objectively!
Dulanc’s corpse was found two days ago. The rotten body had a great stench. However, the body was present in court. The five Magistrates standing behind the body had grim faces!
Izisha was seated on the other side. She was also being interrogated by the four Clergymen. As long as the investigation continued, her freedom had been taken away, and her role in the Parthenon Temple had been temporarily suspended too! During the trial, Izisha only had one identity: the main person suspected as being responsible for the conspiracy. Once she was found guilty, there was only one outcome: her soul would perish!
Normally, a normal person would die after being executed. However, considering that she had just come back to life, sentencing her to death would not be effective. Her soul had to perish. At that time, even the strongest evil spell could not resurrect her, nor was it possible to turn her into a living dead, or an undead. She would cease to exist in this world!
“The five Magistrates have pleaded guilty, but they accused Izisha of being the mastermind. I hope that the Clergymen will understand that they are only accusing Izisha as the mastermind because of what Dulanc told them. It was quite obvious that Dulanc alone was responsible for the whole thing. He was trying to trick people to join him by abusing Izisha’s name, trying to achieve his goals by any means. Izisha was still asleep in the leaf coffin. I believe if she was alive, she would have tried to stop Dulanc too,” the lawyer defending Izisha claimed.
“Yeah, Izisha is innocent. Dulanc is the greatest evil. Even if he’s dead, he has to be punished too!” someone among the jury shouted.
Song Qiming sat in the seat of an ex-Clergyman. He seemed quite grim, as he strongly believed it was all Izisha’s doing. Dulanc might be ambitious and greedy, but he was not capable of plotting such a great conspiracy.
Izisha was terrifying because even though she was dead, she had already made plans for the next few years. They had said she died from sickness, but it was more likely that the woman had placed herself in a deep slumber until the Soul of the Parthenon Temple was found!
The investigation clearly found that Izisha did not really die back then. She held onto her final wisp of life force and had only woken up recently.
“Izisha, do you have anything to say?” the Magistrate Mochizuki Hachihebi inquired.
Mochizuki Hachihebi was from the Mochizuki Clan in Japan. The Twin Guardian Towers was the best place to lock away Magistrates, as no prison in the world was more suitable for imprisoning evil Mages.
“I was totally unaware of the whole thing. If the Clergymen find me guilty, I have no objection whatsoever. It’s true that it has all started because of me, but I’m hoping that the Clergymen will give me a chance to redeem myself. If the four Clergymen sentence me not guilty, I am willing to step down from the role of the Goddess and travel across the world as a Saintess. I want to contribute more for the sake of the Parthenon Temple and the people that are suffering across the world… As a Goddess, I have failed to guide my believers, and they have committed such unforgivable sins because of me. I am willing to suffer the consequences,” Izisha lowered her face. Her eyes had a sincere, irrefusable glow.
“Old Clergyman Song Qiming believes that if you aren’t sentenced guilty, you might proceed to harm Saintess Xinxia, who now has the Soul of the Parthenon Temple,” Mochizuki Hachihebi said.
“I can swear an Oath of Darkness that I will not do any harm to her. Not directly, not indirectly; I’m willing to let Clergyman Song Qiming hold onto the Dark Contract, and if it reacts even the slightest, I am willing to be punished accordingly,” Izisha said.
“Izisha will not do anything like that, there’s no need for the Dark Contract!” someone quickly exclaimed from among those watching.
Izisha smiled and comforted the person, “The trial must be fair. Everyone has a dark side in their hearts, including me. I am willing to sign the contract that will last for eternity.”
The four Clergymen discussed this among themselves.
Song Qiming insisted that Izisha was guilty, yet the other Clergymen believed they still needed more evidence.
However, would Izisha leave any evidence behind?
Izisha had been lying in the leaf coffin. There was no evidence; who would even look for evidence on a dead body?
Despite Song Qiming’s insistence, he was well aware of the difficulty of judging a person who had just come back to life guilty. All the accusations had been placed on Dulanc, Mellaura, and the five Magistrates. In addition to them, Panijia, Shawshank, and Vice Hall Master Lanjin would also be punished accordingly…
It was most likely why Izisha was so brilliant. Even in a struggle for power where everyone ended up with a torn body and crushed bones, she was still able to weather the consequences…
—
In the end, Song Qiming did not vote for Izisha’s guilt. They only needed two votes to sentence her, but Song Qiming knew that the other three Clergymen would not cast their votes, thus his vote would be completely meaningless.
After they were done with Izisha, it was Mo Fan’s turn.
Mo Fan had scorned the authority of the Parthenon Temple. The Black Totem Snake under his command had stirred up a great panic in the Parthenon Temple and killed many Adjudicators, Mages of Faith, and Holy Court Mages…
The trial to judge Mo Fan was not open to the public. Not only would the four Clergymen have to judge Mo Fan’s actions, they also had to evaluate Mo Fan’s Demon Element.
Once Mo Fan was sentenced, he would be punished too!
If Mo Fan’s Demon Element was regarded as evil, the Heresy Judgment Mages would treat Mo Fan as an evil Mage. They would either strip Mo Fan’s Demon Element or execute him.
Normally, Song Qiming would insist on judging Izisha guilty, as he believed it was the right thing to do, even if Izisha was not found guilty in the end…
However, for the sake of Mo Fan and the Black Totem Snake, he agreed to meet Izisha in secret.
If Song Qiming let her go, she would ask the other old Clergyman to spare Mo Fan and the Black Totem Snake.
Mo Fan and the Black Totem Snake had killed many people. No matter what the reason was, they still precipitated a bloodbath on the sacred mountain. Mo Fan could afford to ignore the laws and the order, yet it meant he would be blacklisted by the whole world.
Mo Fan had come in first in the World College Tournament, and the power of his Demon Element made him superior to demon creatures. He was surely their trump in dealing with the Black Vatican and the kingdoms of Demon Creatures in the future. Song Qiming wanted to send Izisha to Hell, yet he could not afford to let her take Mo Fan with her!
Izisha would basically lose most of her influence after the incident, but it was far from enough to stop her. Song Qiming believed Mo Fan would eventually send Izisha to Hell after he grew even stronger!
As a result, Mo Fan was found not guilty, too.
As for the Demon Element, not many people knew the demon was actually Mo Fan. Even Izisha could not actually tell.
The five Magic Associations would have to gather and discuss the Demon Element. It was a lengthy process. Mo Fan would still be fine for another one or two years.
However, the Heresy Judgment Court and the representatives of the five Magic Associations forbid Mo Fan from using the Demon Element before the final verdict had been decided. As long as Mo Fan kept that in mind, he would still be free until the Demon Element was judged to be evil magic.
Both Izisha and Mo Fan were found not guilty. Mo Fan’s identity was still recognized internationally and his Demon Element would not be made public. He was still the winner of the World College Tournament, but the Heresy Judgment Court, the five Magic Associations, the Citadel of Athens, and the Parthenon Temple no longer welcomed him.
Besides, even if they found Mo Fan guilty, there was another problem.
Were they going to use the Dark Execution on Mo Fan?
Didn’t he just kill Hayla not long ago? Not many organizations would be able to take him down if they fell out with him!
The Holy Judgment Court did not want to embarrass themselves again. After all, their faces were still burning and swollen from the slap that Mo Fan had left on them!
——
Mo Fan learned that the Parthenon Temple had a teleportation portal on the sacred mountain.
In order to chase the man of chaos away, the government of Athens did not want Mo Fan to leave on a plane. They simply asked Haylon to escort him to the teleportation portal in person to send him back home, despite the ridiculous cost involved!
Mo Fan was quite infuriated, but he reluctantly accepted the offer considering the teleportation portal was a lot quicker than taking a plane.
“Xinxia, where is your stuff?” Mo Fan asked when he saw Xinxia.
Xinxia was not bringing her belongings with her. They were supposed to leave today, no one could stop them from staying together from today on!
“Brother Mo Fan, I spent the whole night thinking about it… and I decided to stay,” Xinxia said with her head lowered. She was scared that Mo Fan would be angry. She had no idea how she was going to tell Mo Fan about it.
Mo Fan looked at the girl. He was not angry, but he was surprised.
“Why? This place is covered in blood and greed. Why would you want to stay?” Mo Fan said.
Haylon immediately glared at Mo Fan, wondering if the idiot had totally forgotten he was there.
“Is it because of that b**ch Izisha? You’re scared that if you leave, she will still become the Goddess in a few years, right? Who cares what’s going to happen to the Parthenon Temple?” Mo Fan sighed.
Xinxia shook her head. She seemed to be struggling to say something.
After some time, she finally spoke in an extremely soft voice, “I think I know why my blood was able to activate Salan’s blood stone.”