The smell of blood made Caroline feel faint. But what truly unsettled her wasn't the smell itself, but the onlookers.
When the condemned was pushed onto the platform, the onlookers began to cheer and jeer. The crowd's bloodthirsty excitement peaked as the person's neck was locked into the groove. The deafening roar would only subside after the head rolled to someone's feet, was held aloft, and paraded through the streets.
And perhaps that quiet was just the crowd losing interest in the "performance" now that it was over, before they all dispersed.
What unsettled Caroline was how the crowd reminded her of her final days in the Imperial Capital. Their fanaticism made her deeply uneasy.
Only a few people remained in the square, including an ashen-faced Caroline and the other Mages. Rorschach remained perfectly calm, his gaze fixed on the blood-stained blade as if admiring a watchmaker's crossover design—and his final creation.
