Dying in Full View of Everyone

At Bekeland Nester Mental Asylum, the clock had struck eight, but thanks to Victoria's location, the sky was still quite bright.

"How's the situation?" Ms. Q stood in front of the transparent, high-strength one-way glass, looking at the Class D personnel wearing a strange helmet inside the ward, and casually asked.

"It hasn't started yet. According to the normal procedure, the death mechanism should be triggered two to three hours after nightfall." Mr. R sat on an uncomfortable-looking stool, flipping through the documents in his hands.

Two days and one night have passed since it was confirmed that the "Covenant Card" was not Imitation Case. During this time, MI9 has reviewed all the follow-ups of cases that were judged to be Imitation Case since the appearance of Libra.

Although many cases remain unsolved to this day, many more perpetrators have been apprehended.

All of those arrested had stolen property from the cases, and many were caught while trying to sell the stolen goods.

In order to figure out the difference between these people and the copycats who died after receiving the Covenant Card, Mr. R and Ms. Q, along with their team members, have been intensively working on various fan-made works of the Scales Covenant for the past two days, trying to find out the new execution rules added by this bizarre ghost.

However, with the end of the Olympics, the Weird Tale of Libra spread to all parts of the world through various media and tourists. Related fan creations included various languages and developed local characteristics based on different cultures and customs. This does not even include the discussions that took place in forums, online communities, and group chats.

Although most of it will disappear completely once the storm passes, at least in the current climate, it is extremely difficult to find useful information from this massive amount of information exchange.

It's not that no one has made relatively reasonable guesses, but ultimately, they are just guesses.

The reason MI9 is so keen on Libra is not just for profit or political achievements, nor because they have no other goals to pursue. The real reason lies in its influence.

Don't be fooled by the fact that "Libra" may seem like a harmless ghost to the public. For any country, it is a complete cancer. Even without considering the various interests involved and the subsequent copycats, its very existence undermines a nation's credibility.

Not to mention, there's the example of the Eastern Kingdom right before us.

Basically, everyone who can hold a high-ranking position in an organization dealing with Weird Tale has been to the Eastern Kingdom, not to learn any advanced ideas, but simply to let them understand how powerless humanity will be when these things get out of control.

Time passed slowly, and finally, it got completely dark. Ms. Q stopped working, and Mr. R stopped taking the documents from his assistant.

Not only them, but at this moment, many mid-level personnel unrelated to "Libra" also began to appear here one after another, some even bringing their favored juniors along, waiting for this D-level personnel to die.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock...

A screen was turned on, displaying an image identical to that in the ward, but this was not a live recording; rather, it was data transmitted from the brains of the Level D personnel inside the ward.

Numbered C-62, its appearance is that of a mechanical-looking helmet with a USB port.

It's not a mind reader or a lie detector; it can only convert the wearer's audio and video into video files. In essence, it makes the wearer feel like a high-resolution human camera or recorder.

It might sound like something that could be replaced by an ordinary camera, but compared to purely technological creations, this Magical Item naturally has its own unique wonders.

It does not capture "objectively existing" images and sounds, but rather the images and sounds that the wearer "perceives." In other words, it can record the wearer's "hallucinations" and "dreams."

"Everything is normal at the moment." Professional technicians continuously compared the images captured by regular cameras with those output by the Magical Item, and even the slightest sound or the smallest flaw in the image was detected.

This seemingly futile work lasted for a full hour, and some of the young agents who had been brought in were even beginning to show signs of impatience. But just then, a strange chime came from the computer speakers connected to C-62, and the D-class personnel sitting on the hospital bed also shivered.

"They're here!"

Everyone outside the ward tensed up, watching the two side-by-side monitors intently and glancing into the ward every now and then.

The ward was empty, but the D-level personnel made terrified noises. On the computer monitor linked to the Magical Item, a man wearing Skull Mask appeared in his field of vision.

"Gold Lapel Pin, European-style suit and tuxedo..." Mr. R kept noting the characteristics of the Skull Mask man's clothing in his notebook, while in his mind he was already comparing them with the relevant details in the secondary creations and eyewitness reports.

The staff were recording the footage. Although the video recorded by the C-62 could be saved, considering that Libra's secondary concept seems to include something like "erasing the surveillance traces of electronic devices," they still preferred to use pen and paper and their own eyes to remember it.

"Let me tell you three good things..."

An extremely oppressive sound emanated from the speakers, but the ward remained empty. The D-level personnel, who had been slumped by the bed, inexplicably floated into the air, and faint marks began to appear on their necks.

Outside the ward, pairs of eyes stared intently at everything before them, their breathing suppressed to a minimum. Only the scratching of pens on paper provided accompaniment to this death.

"... You're on the execution list."

As the last sentence faded, a final sound echoed through the now completely blacked-out screen—

"Snap!"

That was the sound of a neck bone breaking.

Seeing the screen representing the Magical Item's output port turn into static, the experienced administrators understood that this signified the wearer's complete death. Although the D-rank personnel was still floating in the air, they could no longer know whether the "Oath Keeper" had left any other information afterward.

After all, the side effects of B-44 are felt on the user, not on the environment. Although the user continues to change after becoming a corpse, they have no means to observe the significance of these changes.

The body finally fell, and patches of blood appeared out of thin air, outlining a series of grotesque and chaotic words. The Blood Text that the D-class personnel had seen through B-44 a few days ago had now become a reality.

One by one, mid-level agents left the ward with their subordinates, some terrified and some excited, "satisfied," while the administrator stood in front of the computer, waiting for the technicians to export the video and take away C-62.

Meanwhile, Mr. R and Ms. Q remained standing at the Room Door, quietly pondering the words left behind by the "Oath Keeper".

An idea seems to be slowly taking shape.

PS1: It's feasible to add extra settings to the protagonist to create weaknesses, but in reality, the protagonist can choose not to follow them, which is a major advantage of the Acquired Supernatural Tale genre.

For example, the protagonist can choose not to abide by the Ten Covenants, but when he does not, he will not be able to obtain the power brought by the corresponding covenants.

Furthermore, adding settings isn't easy. If your secondary settings are out of character (OOC), others won't accept them. If the secondary settings are too strong, they'll give the Weird Tale new power. So, it's generally not done that way.

PS2: Regarding the rules of execution, seven of the Ten Covenants exist as oaths to obtain protection. Violating them will at most invalidate the protection, but will not lead to execution. Only three rules will trigger the rules of execution: morality, justice, and balance.

(The balance refers to the balance between morality and law. That is, if someone is morally deserving of punishment or death, but the law does not punish them or punishes them lightly, then imposing a disciplinary measure is to maintain this balance.)

In other words, under normal circumstances, when you act under the Libra name, it doesn't matter whether you use guns or landmines, whether you accept a commission or not, and it doesn't even matter whether you have accomplices, whether you loot property, whether your actions are fair, or whether you harm innocent people.

As long as your motivation is based on your own morality and sense of justice (it's okay to kill for justice and then take the money afterward), and your target is an outlaw (someone who is not or cannot be punished by law), then there is no problem.

Conversely, if you are merely using justice and morality as a pretext to make money from the outset, or if you are taking action against someone who has already been appropriately punished by law, then the Oath Keeper's disciplinary mechanism will be triggered.