seattlejaycees Chapter 557 557
Chapter 557 557
"Brain, what do you have to say for yourself?"
Looking at Brain standing below with that vacant, half-dead expression, Jura Neekis shouted the question at him.
"..."
Brain said nothing.
He just stood there blankly, which left Jura Neekis a little awkward. This bastard really wasn't taking him seriously at all.
"Brain! Even now, standing here, you still refuse to accept your fate?! You've already lost! You're nothing but a prisoner waiting to be slaughtered!"
Before the embarrassed Jura could say anything else, one of the councilors above had already lost patience and began berating him loudly.
After all, Jura Neekis was still considered a newcomer among the councilors, relatively young by their standards.
Among the older generation of council members, there were people who genuinely knew Brain, and some had even worked with him before.
No matter what, the Magic Development Bureau had been an important department.
As its director, Brain had naturally held a high-ranking position.
Back then, he had dealt with the councilors plenty of times.
Brain's status in society had definitely not been low, and neither had his reputation.
Otherwise, Ur would never have entrusted her daughter to him, nor would she have so easily believed his claim that her daughter had died.
As director, Brain truly hadn't done a single decent thing.
Relying on his status, he had deceived no one knew how many people.
"You bastard! Do you even know how many lives you ruined?!"
One councilor was visibly agitated, cursing Brain with full force.
Anyone who didn't know better might have thought his own family had also been harmed by Brain.
"I plead guilty."
Faced with the councilor's enraged insults, Brain finally spoke.
He admitted every last crime cleanly and directly, without the slightest attempt to argue back.
He even began adding details on his own, filling in crimes that had never been recorded in any official case file.
And as Brain continued speaking, everyone came to understand why that councilor had been so emotional.
He really did have a granddaughter who had been harmed by Brain.
That councilor's granddaughter had been in much the same situation as Ultear—only it had happened even earlier, nearly twenty years ago by now.
Back then, Brain had only just begun his experiments and was still clumsy at it.
He had directly killed the girl.
Fortunately for him, he had managed to smooth the matter over, and no one had suspected that he had done it deliberately.
It could only be said that people back then had been too simple, and far too trusting of Brain's status and position.
No one could have imagined that this polished, distinguished "Director of the Magic Development Bureau" had secretly been trafficking children and conducting human experiments.
Brain's words were faithfully recorded by the magical video recorder.
The entire trial process was being preserved in full.
Everything had to be archived so that if any issue arose later, it could all be reviewed again.
Once Brain had laid bare the whole rotten truth about himself, the crowd cursed him fiercely.
There was no helping it—this man had truly been insane.
Back when Brain first began researching the magic "Living Link Seal," he had indeed harmed far too many children.
"Begin the vote."
Jura Neekis announced Brain's sentence with a cold face.
Naturally, it was death.
And naturally, the voting result produced no disagreement whatsoever.
"With a unanimous vote, the verdict is now officially declared: Brain is sentenced to death, to be carried out immediately!"
The moment the result was in, Jura Neekis did not hesitate in the slightest and directly announced the sentence.
Bang!
As the little hammer in Jura's hand came down heavily, the trial officially came to an end.
Next, everyone would head to the execution grounds.
Once the sentences had been handed down, they naturally had to go witness the executions as well—at the very least, to make sure those who deserved death were actually put to death, and that nothing went wrong.
The criminals who had not been sentenced to death would also be brought along to watch, so they too could be thoroughly intimidated.
"Before that, there's still the matter of Cubellios that needs to be discussed by everyone."
Before the crowd moved off to watch the executions, Marco stopped them.
The issue of the giant snake Cubellios still needed a collective decision.
Since it was Marco making the request, naturally no one dared treat it lightly.
Those who had already stood up all sat back down again and waited for him to explain.
Looking at the crowd, Marco didn't waste time.
He briefly laid out Cubellios's situation, including both sides of the argument, without showing his own personal leanings.
The idea of the "giant snake as a weapon"—combined with Cobra taking all the blame onto himself—had shifted quite a few people's positions.
After some discussion, there were actually many who felt Kinana should not be sentenced at all.
After all, the girl truly was innocent in a very real sense.
Marco's gaze shifted toward Jellal, who was sitting off to one side.
He wondered what Jellal's stance on the matter would be.
Although Jellal was still a prisoner, and a major one at that, he absolutely had the right to speak on this issue.
If Kinana could avoid a sentence, then he too could theoretically appeal.
Marco was not the only one who thought of that.
Quite a few others turned to look at Jellal as well, some clearly worried that he might seize the chance to stir up trouble.
"I have no objection. This child's situation is different from mine."
Noticing Marco's gaze, and noticing everyone's wariness toward him, Jellal spoke up on his own.
He also supported a lighter judgment for Kinana.
He had no intention of causing trouble because of this. He would continue accepting his own punishment.
He didn't want the others, out of fear of him, to impose a harsher sentence on Kinana than she deserved.
"..."
Marco let out a soft sigh.
Jellal really did have a good nature at heart.
Without Brain, without Ultear, without the Tower of Heaven, perhaps Siegrain truly might have been the life Jellal lived.
He might really have become a pillar of the Magic Council, a true legend of the magical world.
Now that even Jellal himself had spoken this way, the matter of Kinana naturally had its conclusion.
In the end, Kinana was placed under the custody of Fairy Tail.
Fairy Tail would be responsible for teaching her, watching over her, and ensuring that she grew up within Fairy Tail.
She would not be allowed to leave Magnolia.
In truth, that was essentially a life sentence of confinement within Magnolia.
After all, this problem had been created by Fairy Tail's people, so naturally Fairy Tail would be the ones responsible for resolving it.
If they had never turned Cubellios back into a human girl, the matter would have been simple enough—they could have just killed the snake along with the others and been done with it.
With the matter of Cubellios settled, everyone rose and headed for the execution grounds.
The members of Oración Seis and the other dark wizards had already been waiting there for quite some time.
For them, the waiting itself had been an extreme form of torment.
Every extra second of delay was another second of suffering.
The prisoners who had been brought along to watch were suffering too.
Seeing the terror on the faces of those about to be executed, they were truly shaken.
If it were them standing there instead, they would probably be trembling just the same, crying and begging just the same.