The Church Guards beside the prisoners stepped forward, pinned Albeck and the others to the guillotines, and swung their longswords to cut the hemp ropes.
Freed of their restraints, the blades dropped toward the heads on the blocks—
Thud!
But no heads rolled, and no blood sprayed. There was only the dull, dry sound of blades biting into hardwood.
"What?"
The Deputy Chief Judge swept his gaze across the seething Ring Plaza and spotted Albeck and the others dozens of meters away, where they had appeared in a flicker.
Albeck's shriveled skin suddenly swelled. Gray Bristles pierced his tattered Mage Robe and sprouted like iron burrs. His head stretched and warped amid the crack of joints, while his spine arched, inch by inch, into the curve of a predator.
The blue eyes that had once signified reason gave way to a mad scarlet.
The Blackwatch Soldiers who had escaped the guillotines turned into Ratfolk one after another, shrieking at the sky.
The Deputy Chief Judge's calloused fingers tightened around the judgment document, leaving deep creases in the wrinkled Human Skin parchment.
"Albeck, you actually..."
Albeck slowly rose after the agony of the Transformation Ritual. He fixed his scarlet eyes on the Deputy Chief Judge and screeched, "If the Empire isn't worth our loyalty... what's wrong with becoming Ratfolk?"
After his initial shock, the Deputy Chief Judge's face darkened. "You've gone mad, Albeck."
"If wanting revenge makes me mad, then call me mad..."
Albeck spoke softly. His hatred was not fierce, but it was pure.
"You think you Vermin can actually escape?"
The Deputy Chief Judge turned a page of the crumpled document and ran a fingertip over the parchment. His expression turned solemn.
The air around him rippled like a pond struck by a stone. His Black Robe billowed like