The Sorcerer's Handbook

The night wind swept across the water. The Blood Moon hung in lonely silence, broken only by the lapping waves and the occasional splash of a Finger Shark leaping from the sea.

Ashe observed everything with cold detachment, seemingly uninterested in the heated exchange.

Clinging to words as if they were a lifeline, Andrei snapped, ”Even if that’s true, what does it have to do with you selling out the citizens’ interests to curry favor with the two Blood Moon races? You see through everything, so you want to join them?”

Fernandez’s gaze remained steady. ”I used every means at my disposal, united all races, and pleased the Blood Moon for one purpose only, to push forward the creation of the Combat League.”

”But that—”

Fernandez interrupted. ”You wouldn’t understand, Andrei. A short-sighted, cowardly human like you has no idea what real ferocity is.”

He continued, his voice low and unyielding. ”Yes, just as you predicted, once the Combat League is implemented, violence, death, and slaughter will define the rhythm of this city. The Blood Saints and Moonshadows will revel in it.

”But a new generation will be born from this chaos. They will learn savagery, brutality, and cruelty. They will develop a blood-fueled courage our ancestors never knew, the kind that dares to raise a blade even against a divine lord.”

Andrei stared at him in disbelief. ”For that alone?”

Fernandez laughed, a harsh, almost manic sound. ”No, not just that. More importantly... I may never acknowledge that I came from that trash heap called the Blunt Skull Orphanage, but I cannot deny it taught me one thing, that is, how to break through the Blood Moon’s law. The only way to do it is to fight. Nothing bonds two ogres better than combat. There is only one way for an ogre to make friends, by beating the other into submission first!”

Andrei forced a bitter smile. ”You sold out the people’s interests, flattered the two Blood Moon races, and secured your position as mayor, all for such a vague, illusory goal? Fernandez, are you really that selfless?”

”You don’t understand, Andrei. You truly don’t,” Fernandez said, his voice calm but fierce. ”If we want to bring down the two Blood Moon races, or even challenge the Blood Moon Lord, it will never be the work of one or two individuals. History must be driven forward by all races, by all people. Change demands it, at any cost.”

”At any cost?”

”Yes. At any cost. Both you and I are the sacrifice, and so are these generations of citizens. We are already spent. Our only hope is to plant that hope in the future. The greatest purpose of our survival is to become fertilizer for the soil, so that one day this filthy land might finally bloom with normal flowers.”

Fernandez tilted his head toward the blood-red moon. ”Of course, it would be a lie to claim I have no selfish motives. If everything goes smoothly, my reputation will reach its peak. If my successors follow in my path, a great revolution will one day erupt. My name, Arandor Fernandez, will be remembered forever. Ogre wisdom will be honored as the power that dared to challenge the divine lord.”

He roared, a voice full of fanatic fervor. ”I want you bastards to admit it from the depths of your hearts! Ogres are the greatest, smartest, and bravest race in this world!”

Andrei looked at the ogre, chained nearly to the neck, and found himself at a loss for words.

The moment Fernandez declared that the very foundation of the Blood Moon Kingdom existed to serve the two Blood Moon races, his fate was sealed. The citizens would never allow him to live.

It was like being trapped in a sealed room filled with poison gas. Everyone lay unconscious, slowly dying, until one man woke and screamed, like an alarm clock rousing the others. Would they thank him? No. Awakening only brought more pain. The walls were unbreakable. Mortals could not challenge a divine lord. All they wanted was for that vicious alarm clock to fall silent.

Moreover, Fernandez had never intended to save them. On the contrary, the ogre meant to offer these current generations as sacrifices, squeezing every last bit of value from them to nourish the soil so that future generations might be spared.

Aside from a few middle-aged and elderly citizens, most of the younger crowd erupted in fury. Why should we be sacrificed for the next generation? What do they have to do with us? Whether they live well or die miserably, what concern is that of ours? This ogre mayor is nothing but a race-obsessed fanatic trampling over everything in his path.

Suddenly, the stone pillar beneath Fernandez surged upward, lifting him alone more than a hundred meters into the air. From below, the crowd could see the ogre mayor suspended directly beneath the blood-red moon, as if he were about to be swallowed and melted by its crimson light.

”Votes have exceeded fifty percent. The executioner descends ahead of schedule,” Ashe said calmly. ”The executioner for this descent is the Hydra Executioner.”

The entire Shattered Lake seemed to boil. Amid the crashing waves, the stone pillar split apart, forming eight enormous, grotesque serpent bodies. Fernandez’s stone seat gradually transformed into the gaping maw of a giant snake. He sat within it, and with a single closing bite, the serpent could have dissolved him completely.

However, those who accepted redemption in a Blood Moon Tribunal never received an easy death.

The camera eye rose into the sky, capturing the scene from above. Fernandez looked directly at it and smiled. ”Ashe Heath, I have done exactly as you wished and stripped the Blood Moon Kingdom of its mask completely. I just don’t think it will change anything. What a pity. Had I known your true capabilities earlier, I would have contacted the Four Pillars Cult in secret. No wonder the Blood Moon has been cracking down on them so fiercely.”

Hiss!

The eight remaining snake heads writhed wildly beneath the moonlight, lunging from all directions at the ogre’s limbs.

Slash!

Blood blossomed across his body, each drop falling neatly into the serpent’s gaping mouths, not a single one wasted. Fernandez trembled slightly, but his eyes burned brighter and brighter. The smile on his face grew ever more feral, his neatly aligned white teeth seeming to sharpen.

”You fools raised beneath the Blood Moon. A savior can never be born among you. Trash like you does not deserve salvation. At best, you can only nurture schemers like me. I always knew you could not tolerate a kind savior. I just didn’t expect you couldn’t even tolerate a ruthless schemer like me. But that’s fine.”

Fernandez revealed an arrogant, savage grin. ”From the moment I was born, I learned how to endure the humiliation of being isolated by idiots.”

Crack!

Beneath the Blood Moon, the nine serpents fed.

***

Inside an ogre painting studio in Caimon City.

Lunchbox trash lay strewn across the floor, mixed with spilled pigments that released a stench sharp enough to sting the nostrils.

A young ogre sat slumped in a tattered armchair, staring at the light screen as Fernandez was devoured piece by piece by the nine serpents.

This was not the first time he had seen Fernandez. Through countless news reports, he had watched the well-dressed ogre attend elegant events and be praised as the most refined ogre. He had cursed him countless times in bars and cafes, for replacing his teeth to please voters, for ignoring ogres, and for being so rich yet giving not a single coin.

When the tribunal began, he had looked forward to seeing Fernandez crushed to pieces. He had long felt resentment, even hatred. We are both ogres. Why do you get to be mayor, enjoy wealth and glory, while we rot in the slums and cannot even afford takeout?”

If the mayor had been human or elven, he would not have been this angry. But Fernandez was an ogre too. And that made all the difference.

He had cast a redemption vote against Fernandez, but now, watching the tribunal unfold on the light screen, the young ogre felt an inexplicable emptiness gnawing at his chest. It hurt more than hunger, more than being beaten by a gang.

A vague realization crept over him, the thought taking shape like a nine-headed hydra that clamped down on his heart. He collapsed to the floor in pain, tears spilling uncontrollably, yet no sound escaped his lips.

He gagged, wracked with nausea, as if he wanted to vomit out his very soul, yet nothing came. He wanted to call out, but did not know which name to shout. Mayor? Fernandez? That bastard, more disgusting than any beastkin dancer?

At that moment, a voice message popped up on the light screen.

[Congratulations. Because your redemption vote successfully punished the criminal, you have been selected for the Justice Envoy Grand Roulette lottery and have won third prize. You will now receive...]

The message shattered his last mental defense.

The young ogre, fearless of everything under the sky, finally broke down. He curled up on the floor and wailed like an infant, tears and snot streaking his face, crying until he could not breathe. He babbled incoherently. ”Waaah... mmh... ehh... mama... waa... papa...”