Witch trials

"Looks like this is it." Bai Liu smiles as he turns his head to show everyone a page of densely packed paper letters, "Our next course of action."

Mu Sicheng immediately pounced, "Where is the next trial case location?"

"Trial court number 2." Bai Liu's fingertips traced down the timetable as he saw the details of the trial case, his eyes turned deep, "The trial is against a hotel owner, 41 years old, accusing her of her guest, saying that she snuck into his room to take a shower, and intentionally seduced him into depravity."

"Shit!" Mu Sicheng's fists hardened, "This is exactly like the whole Baola trial!"

"No, not exactly." Bai Liu nodded her letter, "This is the forty-second trial for this lady boss, and she didn't plead guilty in any of her previous trials."

"She had already been subjected to the torture of washing, burning, and discernment of bones, or identification, but she still bit the bullet and did not confess, and she survived the torture without dying, so the trial court could not convict her of being a witch, and she was acquitted."

"This is the forty-third witch trial this guest has brought up against her, and this time it calls for the use of fire to identify her as a witch."

Mu Sicheng was dumbfounded: "Four, forty-three trials? What's wrong with this guy? Why doesn't he go to hell?

"Her body can no longer withstand this torture." Mu Ke's tone was grave, "If we don't succeed in hijacking the court, she'll burn to death in the courtroom."

Trial Chamber 2.

The lady boss had been tied to a post in the shelter directly below the courtroom for three nights, a process known as stasis, during which she was not allowed to eat any food or drink any water, the purpose of this stasis being, according to the Vatican, to remove the filth from her body - with the more plausible explanation, of course, that it was to prevent her from having the strength to struggle in court. There is of course a more plausible explanation, and that is to prevent her from having the strength to struggle in court.

There is no shortage of witches who have previously gone rogue after outbursting right in the courtroom and killing the trial judge.

She gazed vacantly at the glazed and colorful painting directly above the shelter, which showed an image of a god encircling a baby, who smiled lovingly and compassionately, just as the words they heard every day - [God loves the world, the Church is great].

God will have mercy on every good person, and God will watch over every good person - except for witches.

Immediately after dawn, she'd be dragged up to the Inquisition with a rack of firewood at her feet that was supposedly only lit when a witch was burned - but she'd seen from her experience of the last time she'd been set on fire that it seemed to burn without a witch.

"Number one pending witch trial." Someone from the escort pushed through the gloomy shelter, he looked at her tied to a post in disgust, "Prepare for court."

She was tied to a post and fought her way into the courtroom, her head hanging morosely, and she no longer had the strength to even look up.

"Silence! Silence!" The bishop acting as judge above hammered his gavel twice coldly and stiffly, "The court of judgment is solemn, please maintain silence!" The courtroom gradually quieted down.

"Raise your head and look squarely at the judge." The bishop said coldly, "The defendant."

She couldn't really lift it, but well, as this seemed to be a common occurrence for them, they padded her with a long stick under her chin and stiffly lifted her chin up to face the bishop squarely.

The Bishop withdrew his eyes in satisfaction, "The trial begins."

She rolled her eyes slowly, looking around the courtroom.

There are four parts to a witch trial, the first part being the plaintiff stating the reasons why the other person is a witch, the second part being the defendant defending himself, and the third part being proving that he is not a witch - a process of proof that involves testing you with various holy objects to see if you can withstand them.

If she can withstand the sacramental test without dying or confessing her sins, she is not a witch.

But these holy tests are no different from torture.

The fourth and final part is the sentencing of the jury.

There are two types of juries in the Inquisition, the first is called the Ecclesiastical Jury, which consists of four priests of the Holy See, and the second is called the Popular Jury, which is selected by the Holy See from among the general public, and can judge her, and usually consists of more than twenty men, basically all of them men interested in joining the Holy See - supposedly to avoid witches from mixing in with... It is said that in order to avoid the mixing of witches, all the members of the jury screened out by the Holy See are men.

The existence of this tribunal was established by the Holy See as a sign of fairness, and represents the public's ability to interfere with the outcome of witch trials.

Both types of inquisitorial panelists have two cards, one for guilty and one for not guilty, that can pronounce the outcome of her trial - and it is by these people that her fate is decided, so to speak.

Even if she passes the third part of the test of the holy relics, as long as the final result given by the Inquisition is guilty, she is not completely innocent, and there is still the suspicion of witchcraft in her, which can be prosecuted indefinitely - as it is now.

What made her feel very confused was that it was quite simple to obtain the result of a Judgment Panel's innocence determination, which was the focus of the Church's propaganda all along - only if one out of all the Judgment Panel members in the arena raised the [Innocence] sign for you, then you were innocent.

But she had been through forty-three trials, and not once had she seen the red sign representing [Innocence], and every time she had endured the sacred test, endured the severe pain, and turned back full of joy and hope, expecting to see even one red sign.

All she saw when she turned around was the dense, raised, cold, black [Guilty] sign.

But where exactly is she guilty?

"Plaintiff, state the defendant's crime of being a witch." The bishop inquired icily.

The one who stood at the plaintiff's table, her former guest, righteously accused her, "She slipped into my room to bathe! She had devilish ram's horns on her head! I saw it all!"

"That's my room." No matter how many times she heard it, she couldn't help but want to argue weakly, "You're the one who's in the wrong one."

The man glared at her with an almost vicious, mortified look, "You seduced me then, too! You purposely left the door open to take a shower when I was passing by! Don't you dare say you didn't do it on purpose!"

The whole court was in an uproar.

Several priests nodded quite approvingly, "Only a witch would bathe with the door open in order to lure men and kill them."

"I just forgot to close the outermost door." She said in a weak voice, "My bathroom door was closed."

The Bishop frowned, "But you do look suspicious, so why did you leave the outermost door open?"

With her last ounce of strength, she yelled out through her tears, "I proved myself as well, I withstood the test of the holy relics forty-two times! I am not a witch!"

"I am not guilty!"

There was a moment of silence in the room.

The bishop grudgingly turned his head to the plaintiff, "That is indeed true as well, do you have any other evidence?"

The plaintiff's man's face tore a very grimace as he looked with a very sinister gaze at the lady boss tied up in the courtroom, his hand balled into a clenched fist.

Why is it that this woman just won't admit her guilt, just won't submit - obviously she's forty-one, an old woman, and not worth a few bucks, wouldn't it have been over if he'd screwed her there in the bathroom a long time ago? And still have to yell and scream, making people think he did something, and disgracing his face!

Being tried too, for fuck's sake, how to plead not guilty! Not confessing to anything! Every time she pleads not guilty is a slap in the face to him, a trampling on his dignity!

He must screw this woman! Otherwise, how can he meet people in the future?

The man took a deep breath, he put on a horrified expression, and then said, very shakily, "I, I wasn't going to say this because I don't know if I'm wrong about this, Lord Bishop, and you know we can't judge anyone who isn't a witch so easily."

"But I did see her that night, and saw more than one witch in her bathroom! There was another witch next to her talking and laughing with her, and they were talking about attacking the Church!"

"She's most likely contacting and harboring witches privately!"

"What?!" The Bishop's face changed, "There's actually such a thing, why didn't you say so earlier!"

The plaintiff bowed his head in shame, "Because I don't want to accuse people at random."

"You are a good and merciful boy." The Bishop sighed tersely, "But this is too big a deal, you should have told us at the first trial, then we would have just pronounced her a witch."

She struggled up hard, her eyes filling with tears, "I'm not a witch!!!"

"I didn't do those things!"

The bishop ignored her hiss and indifferently banged down his gavel, "Now, the jury passes sentence."

A shiver almost ran down her spine, and then she slowly, slowly turned around, tears finally falling from her eyes.

The black [Guilty] sign was like a tombstone, neatly erected behind her, and the [Guilty] on it was her epitaph.

"Well, the sentencing is now over." The bishop's gavel was about to fall again, "You have-"

Hidden in the shadows, You Zhen's face was an icy blend of murderous intent, and the gun in her hand was raised - but not yet.

This group of dog men of the Church had surrounded the entire court of judgment in a dripping manner, and there was not a single woman from the inquisitors to the guards, it was extremely difficult for them to blend in - she was the only one in their group who had blended in so far, and firing a gun now would only scare the snakes, and could easily cause them to jump over the wall and kill the witch who was on trial outright.

At a time like this, even with her immense loathing and hatred of men, You Zhen pondered whether it would be possible to get everyone together to pretend to be a man and blend into the Inquisition, so that the rescue would be a lot easier - but the likelihood of that was too low, these people in the Order had too many tactics against witches, and she had been able to blend in this time around, and that was all because a lot of people from the Order had been pumped out of the The security line to the east was lax in defense.

But let her watch this trial go on and listen to the wails of the judged without moving ......

You Zhen gritted her teeth and closed her eyes as she clenched the gun in her hand.

"Snap-click."

With a crisp, sharp bone twisting sound, the black, with [Guilty] written on it, sign held up by one of the men on the field was violently flipped over and turned into the eye-catching red [Not guilty], and as the Bishop's gavel fell with a thump, You Zhen snapped his eyes open and looked at the jury.

The tried witch looked incredulously at the red sign that appeared, and a little light slowly surfaced in her eyes.

"This jury member." The bishop squinted through a sea of members dressed in black looking for the one holding the not guilty sign, "Why do you think she's not guilty?"

"Because the plaintiff is lying." It was a non-committal man's voice, which made the bishop let his guard down, "The man I saw contacting the witch that night, it was him."

"He has been compelled by a witch and is a spy on the witch's side."

The whole room was in an uproar.

"How can it be?!"

The plaintiff panicked too, it was a big offense, and he retorted hoarsely, "You're lying!"

"I've never contacted a witch!"

"Yes?" The man calmly asked back, "But you clearly said that you saw two witches chatting together about attacking the Inquisition, and in this case you didn't think to come and report to the Inquisition, but rushed into the bathroom uncontrollably, doesn't that already mean that you were seduced, compelled, and corrupted by the witches?"

There was a silence in the room.

Noticing that the bishop's gaze at him had changed, the plaintiff became thoroughly alarmed, "I was not seduced or compelled! I resisted the temptation of the witch! And I judged her!"

"--and yet it took the forty-third trial to tell us that you saw another witch?" The man laughed softly, "It's hard for me not to believe that you were in love with another witch."

The venue was filled with noisy discussions, and the whole atmosphere had become chaotic.

The man's face was covered in a cold sweat as he looked left and right with a ghastly white face, and after realizing that there would be no one on his side, he defended himself almost fearfully, tongue-tied, "There was no other witch! I was mistaken!"

"I just said I don't always see it!"

"So it's you who's lying is it?" The man questioned him in a calm tone.

The plaintiff gritted his teeth, "Not a lie, I admit I may have been mistaken! But this woman!"

He pointed viciously at the lady boss tied to the post, "She's still guilty! She's still a witch! She is to be put to death!"

"What is the basis of the offense?" The other inquired blandly, "The ram's horns you saw? How dare you even manage to misread how many people were in the bathroom, a pair of goat horns, are you sure you saw them right?"

"Silence!" The bishop banged his gavel angrily, "This member of the jury, order!"

"You do have some truth in what you say, but this plaintiff's accusations are never empty." The bishop nodded, "Then, as is customary, let's give this No. 1 Trial Witch the holy relic."

"Set her on fire with holy fire, and if she does not scream in agony and die from the holy fire, then she is not a witch."

As the bishop waved his hand, firewood was quickly brought up, and the moment it was lit, a water arrow fell from the sky and struck it, and the sacred fire went out in response.

"An arrow that can extinguish the sacred fire?!" The Bishop looked up in alarm as he looked at You Zhen, who suddenly appeared at the top, with a sinister gaze, "It's a witch!"

"Sorcery - Rocket." You Zhen drew her bow full again, she aimed the fiery arrow at the plaintiff who was running around in fear, and curled her icy mouth, "Your trial is over, how about we play a game of trial as well?"

"The rule of judgment is - if you're not burned to scum by the fire of this arrow, then you're not scum."

The arrow was released and landed on the plaintiff's clothes, and the plaintiff was violently burned, almost instantly to the bone, and he rolled miserably on the ground, and was soon reduced to a pile of cinder-like ashes.

You Zhen jumps down from the highest point of the Inquisition, the heels of his shoes grinding over the pile of ashes, sneering, "Looks like you're quite the scum of the earth."

The witches kept pouring in through the window that You Zhen had opened, and Lia's snake tail pushed the door of the courtroom straight open. You Zhen crossed his arms and looked down on Bai Liu's group, who were holding up signs of innocence, and his eyes narrowed mischievously.

--What are these men doing following them?

Mu Sicheng, sign in both hands, moved over to Bai Liu, who had his hands up in surrender, signaling his innocence, "Why didn't we just break out of the courtroom?"

"It's so hard to watch these idiots bla bla bla!"

"Because our tactician gave us the task of assisting in robbing the court, not robbing the court ourselves, we should distinguish the difference between assisting and main attacking, and be doing things when it's our turn to do them." Bai Liu looked at You Zhen with an unblinking eye, "If we strike at random, we will only interrupt their deployment and the rhythm of their offense."

"The real protagonists of this copy are the witches."

Bai Liu shows You Zhen a friendly smile while explaining to Mu Sicheng, "Figure out your position, we're just supporting roles."

You Zhen showed his teeth threateningly at Bai Liu, grunted, and turned away.

Trial Chamber 3.

"Witch number 17 awaiting trial." The bishop questioned icily, "You were accused by your father of randomly stealing the family's belongings and secretly purchasing magical materials to cultivate witchcraft, correct?"

The young girl tied to the post retorted loudly with tears in her eyes, "That was money I earned myself! It wasn't stolen by me! What I bought wasn't magic either! It's just some food!"

"It was my father who tried to take my money!"

"Those were all magical creatures disguised as food, and it appears the charges are true." The bishop slammed down his gavel carelessly, "Let the jury pass sentence."

Amidst a pile of black [Guilty] raised signs, a red [Not Guilty] sign was raised.

"I have an objection Lord Bishop." Bai Liu calmly questioned, "If what the defendant bought was a magical object disguised as food, did the plaintiff eat it?"

"And having eaten what the defendant bought, was the plaintiff also contaminated?"

The bishop looked to the plaintiff, "Have you ever eaten?"

Plaintiff's eyes averted, "No, no! Of course not!"

"I don't quite believe that." Bai Liu laughed at the words, but what she said was cruel, "If your daughter is a witch, then she certainly has enough power to tempt you to eat a demon disguised as food."

"It's an emergency trial, so it's no more than eight hours since you charged her, and you shouldn't have finished digesting the magic by now if you ate your last meal. "

Bai Liu looks up and smiles, "Why don't we cut open your stomach and see if there's any magic in there or not?"

"If there were no demons, wouldn't you be able to clear yourself?"

"Are you crazy?" The plaintiff looked incredulously at Bai Liu on the jury, "You're asking me, a living person, to cut open my stomach?!"

As his words fell, an immense and immense serpent's tail rolled into the doorway, and the sharp tail plunged directly into the plaintiff's stomach, and his pupils shook, spreading rapidly, and he collapsed on the floor spasmodically sputtering blood - from the pain.

For the tail of the serpent that had plunged into his abdomen had not stopped churning as it flipped in his intestines, wrapping out and slicing through the stomach pouch - with food flowing out of it.

--Those were the very same demons that had just been accused.

"It does seem to have been eaten." Lia said coldly, retracting the snake's tail and shaking it off in slight disgust, "Disgusting stuff, and it reeks of booze."

When she finished, she gave a slight sideways glance at Bai Liu in the jury room, who had his hands up and was backing away self-consciously, and her eyes lingered only for a moment before she turned away.

Trial Chamber 4.

The bishop lowered his gavel, "The jury passes sentence."

Bai Liu holds up sign, "I Feel Innocent ......"

The moment Bai Liu finished her statement, You Zhen blasted open the door to the courtroom with cannon fire as she sneered, "Let me pass sentence before you do."

Trial Chamber VII.

The bishop ordered icily, "If she does not confess her sins, then go up to the sacred fire for identification."

"Lord Bishop." Bai Liu raises his innocence sign and calmly raises his eyes, "I think there are holes in the plaintiff's accusation just now ......"

After a seventeen-minute defense, Lia's serpentine tail contracted, curling up all the members of the Order who had fallen asleep listening to Bai Liu's defense at once.

You Zhen A rocket set everyone on fire, and in the midst of the howls of misery, Leah glanced icily around at all of them and said, "Is it still pleasant to have holy fire cauterized for identification?"

......

By the time the seventy-seventh courtroom, the courtroom cleaning had come to an end, You Zhen finally turned her head with impatience, her face was covered with various injuries - the new weapons invented by the Church still caused some damage to them, but this still did not harm her eyes which were now full of anger and vigor, she drew her gun, took a few big and quick steps and She drew her gun and took a few quick strides, quickly approaching Bai Liu's group, who were not far behind them, and who hadn't intentionally covered their tracks.

"What the hell are you guys doing?!" You Zhen furiously disliked Bai Liu's head with his gun, "You've been following us almost all the way!"

Bai Liu raised his hands very familiarly, and with a glance at the more calm, silent Lia next to him, he tentatively inquired, "I thought that you acquiesced to our following?"

--That's true, too.

Bai Liu They were responsible for pretending to be jury members to blend into the trial court, delaying the trial, distracting the bishop's attention, and opening the door of each trial court with them, which gave them time to better and maturely deployed, and made their task of cleansing the trial court, which should have been particularly difficult, a lot quicker and easier, and at the same time reduced the casualties of a lot of witches - -both the witches being judged and themselves.

That's why Leah acquiesced to Bai Liu and the others following.

Leah was a bit more calm, "What do you want?"

Bai Liu's attitude was sincere: "We want to submit to the Witch District."

"What?!" You Zhen's voice instantly rose as she looked at Bai Liu with eyes that changed from tentative to hostile, and her tone became icy cold, "You guys want to enter the Witch Zone?"

"The Witch District will never take in men, get lost."

With that, You Zhen pulls Leah away - now she's really pissed off.

"You can use us as an aid." Bai Liu's tone is calm, "-- like today."

"This place, the Court of Judgment, is naturally repulsive to you, but we can be your tools to help you enter and assist you in your attacks, which will minimize your casualties."

"--You guys are preparing for the big battle right? With tools like us, your offense will go much smoother."

Leah's back paused as she turned her head and, simultaneously holding onto You Zhen's shoulder who was still continuing to walk forward, looked straight at Bai Liu with a pinch of salt and asked, "Why are you helping us?"

"There's no way in hell they're going to help us!" You Zhen finally turned his head angrily, "Come on, Lia! They must have a purpose for going into the Witch Zone!"

"Like something about respect and liking, but in the end using and swindling the witches in the Witch Zone!"

--This sort of thing is not without precedent in the Witch District.

Bai Liu raised an eyebrow, "That we would definitely not."

"My desires are mostly directed toward my boyfriend and money."

You Zhen was about to laugh at Bai Liu's lie, but when she met Bai Liu's eyes, she squinted a little, and the words she was about to curse stopped on the edge of her mouth.

"We can tell when a man is lying." Leah said to You Zhen, "He's not lying."

You Zhen's mood eased down, her expression was still cold, she pointed at Tang Er to fight, her tone sneered: "What about him? He looks like a straight man, it's impossible for him to have a boyfriend as well, right?"

Tang Er typed: "......"

Bai Liu's tone is subtle: "It's true he doesn't have a boyfriend."

Just as You Zhen was about to open his mouth to mock, Bai Liu sighed and said, "He's used up all his strength just by falling in love with one man."

Tang Er typed: "......"

You Zhen: "......"

"What about him?" You Zhen pointed at Mu Ke.

Bai Liu rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "He has a heart condition and can't think about that aspect."

Mu Ke: "......"

You Zhen took a deep breath as she pointed to Mu Sicheng: "What about him! He's always been a heterosexual man now!"

Bai Liu's eyes scraped over Mu Sicheng's body, then tsked regretfully -- Mu Sicheng was indeed straight, which was a bit of a problem.

Mu Sicheng's scalp tingled at Bai Liu's look, and then he saw Bai Liu's eyelids flicker as if he had thought of some good idea, and said in a dazed tone, "It's true that he likes the opposite sex, but he's not supposed to be considered a man in our area, and we seldom treat him like one."

Mu Sicheng: "????"

You Zhen: "????"

"What is he if not a man?" You Zhen asked, pointing incredulously at Mu Sicheng.

Bai Liu smiles, "Transportation and monkeys, whatever you like."

You Zhen began to faint as she pointed at Bai Liu and his group as they circled around, "What kind of strange organization of men are you, anyway?"

Bai Liu laughs softly and shrugs, "Maybe we're just an organization of normal men who want to follow the tactics of witches?"

You Zhen's eyes complexly swept over Mu Sicheng, who was furiously chasing Bai Liu with his monkey paw.

A gay man, a half-gay man who failed at being a gay man, an asexual heart patient, a transportation and a monkey - you guys can't relate to normal any way you look at it, can you?