Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: The Ten Plagues Descend
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"Let the second half of Exodus begin!"
"All troops, take your seats! Return to your places and prepare to watch!"
An officer called out to the Holy Knights, declaring the play's resumption.
Holy Knight Mark, one of the spectators, clutched his pounding chest as he watched the theater staff buzzing about, then sat down.
It had been so long. Truly so long.
Since he'd last felt this vivid thrill from watching something.
"……"
Truth be told, when they first heard the church was putting on a morale-boosting play, Mark and his comrades hadn't felt much excitement.
It was probably no better than the tired old religious dramas they'd been staging forever.
Just a rote retelling of the same old stories to forcibly rally their weary bodies.
That had been the consensus among all the Holy Knights gathered here, right up until the curtain rose on Exodus.
But this play was definitely different.
The gripping narrative pulled them in with its sheer force.
And a profound holiness that couldn't be dismissed as mere storytelling had captured their hearts.
'Sure, they've often invented tales not found in scripture to drive home a moral lesson.'
A tale of an ordinary man succumbing to the devil's temptation.
A story of a faithful girl saved by the grace of the Celestial God.
Explanations of Celestial Faith doctrine wrapped in fable form, and so on.
Creating plausible stories to praise God's power and love was more common than one might think.
So he'd assumed this Exodus was much the same—a work extolling the greatness of the divine.
Even if it used fictional settings and characters.
The image of God in the play embodied the merciful agape of the Celestial God himself.
Yet the real reason the Holy Knights were sinking deeper into the drama was something else.
'It feels so familiar.'
It's just like us.
Watching the Hebrews under Egyptian rule—not the protagonist Moses—Mark felt an instinctive pang of shared suffering.
The Hebrews in Exodus were suffering in endless darkness without end in sight.
Day by day, enduring grueling lives, desperately praying for light to enter their existence.
Just like them, slowly crumbling in body and soul amid this interminable holy war.
'……It almost feels like a prophet really came to embrace us.'
Though it was just a simple religious play, Mark and his comrades were falling deeper into it.
The intricate tale crafted in a single stroke by playwright Phantom.
They were starting to mistake it for a vivid reality.
Bit by bit, it soothed their fatigued hearts, as they overlaid their own plight onto the unfolding drama.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ ["Pharaoh! Ruler of Egypt, king of the heathens! Release my people!"]
Upon returning to Egypt, Moses wasted no time and went straight to the palace as God commanded.
He demanded that the Pharaoh grant the Hebrews freedom to worship their true God.
Not the false gods of Egypt, but the one and only true God.
["You dare command me, Moses?"]
But as expected, the Pharaoh didn't even scoff.
Instead, he mocked Moses's insolence by doubling the Hebrews' suffering.
["Double the slaves' workload! And make them gather their own clay and straw for the pyramid construction! If they complain, drill it into them that it's all because of Moses's foolish tongue!"]
Thus, the Hebrews were struck by a terrible bolt from the blue overnight.
Their rage, fueled by the even harsher labor, naturally turned toward Moses.
["Damn it! Moses, this is all because of that wretched bastard!"]
Moses hung his head in dejection at the failure.
The Hebrews pointed fingers and poured out their resentment.
["Why'd you have to stir up pointless trouble and make our lives even more miserable?!"]
["Right! When did a guy living it up as Egyptian royalty become one of our own?!"]
["When did we ever ask you to be our leader? Or beg you to be our judge?!"]
Moses had failed to overcome the insurmountable wall that was the Pharaoh.
And it wasn't just the Hebrew extras who were deeply disappointed.
"……"
"……"
The Holy Knights, who had secretly hoped for some clever twist from Moses, now wore crestfallen expressions, gazing sympathetically at the protagonist.
What the audience craved deep down was that exhilarating catharsis of the downtrodden finding salvation.
They'd assumed Moses would deliver it, but the unexpected setback left them deflated.
["Moses, my Moses. Do not despair."]
But God comforted Moses, urging him to wait for tomorrow.
Explaining that the Pharaoh ignoring his warnings was to be expected.
["When dawn breaks, lead my people to the Nile."]
["You will all witness my miracle smiting Egypt."]
And as time passed and the stage shifted from night to dawn,
At last, the terrifying divine punishment of the Ten Plagues descended upon Egypt.
The first plague to appear was...
Bubbling, gurgling—!!
"Th-the river?! "
"Blood! It's blood!"
"My God! The whole river's turning to blood!"
The long, beautiful Nile rendered on stage via illusion magic.
Its pristine blue waters boiled furiously, transforming into crimson blood in an instant.
The Holy Knights panicked in unison, murmuring in shock.
Even they, who had lived their lives in faith, had never imagined God's wrath depicted in such grotesque, chilling form.
["Do not be afraid, people of the Lord!"]
["The Celestial God promises your hardships will bear fruit, that you will escape all trials!"]
Meanwhile, Renua, the actor playing Moses, who had unveiled the first plague before all eyes,
"He watches over all your pains without fail and vows to lead you to salvation!" "Watch now, lambs of the Lord! See the divine punishment upon the foolish unbeliever who dares obstruct the salvation of God's people!" ⟨ Moses's Proclamation ⟩
"Oh, ooh...!"
"Aah...!"
The Holy Knights, soaked through like clothes in a drizzle, were utterly swept up in Renua's electrifying performance.
It was clear they were no longer merely consuming Exodus as a play.
They were over-immersed, fully identifying with the Hebrews.
Now was the moment for the elite choir handpicked by the Papal Court to shine.
"Foolish Pharaoh, king of false gods, heed the Lord's word~♬" ⟨ Requiem of the Plagues ⟩
As the Ten Plagues segment truly began, the choir's song rose.
Starting in a eerie, chilling tone, the chorus swelled, rising in pitch to become a grand, terrifying requiem.
"For defying the Lord and refusing to free His people, God sends these plagues~♫" "He raises His hand against Egypt, proclaiming no other god in heaven or earth~♪" "For your arrogance and folly, all Egypt's people shall weep blood tears~♩" With that requiem as backdrop music, Yahweh's heavenly punishments—rendered with this world's cutting-edge tech and magic—unfolded on stage.
In the original scriptures, the Ten Plagues occur sequentially with time gaps.
But I'd adapted it, mimicking the musical number "The Plagues" from The Prince of Egypt,
making them all erupt in a spectacular cascade at once.
'This way, there's no room for boredom—they'll be hooked on the story.'
And sure enough, the Holy Knights' reactions matched my expectations perfectly.
"Oh, God!"
"That's the punishment the Lord inflicts on foolish unbelievers!"
"That's the steadfast will of God to save His suffering people!"
The special effects were so staggering, they'd rival modern CG.
The Holy Knights gasped in awe, eyes sparkling as they competed to exclaim.
Before their eyes, hordes of frogs swarmed ashore, blanketing the land.
Flies and pests infested all Egypt; boils and pestilence ravaged livestock and people alike, dropping them dead.
Hail laced with fire and lightning plummeted from the sky; ravenous locust swarms devoured every crop.
Before the relentless plagues, the mighty authority of mere mortals was reduced to rubble.
And all that suffering fell squarely on the innocent Egyptian populace.
["Pharaoh! King of the heathens!"]
The Egyptians wailed in terror and torment amid the onslaught.
Taking pity, Moses urged the Pharaoh to abandon his stubbornness.
Standing at the stage's right edge under spotlight, he cried out.
["Release the Hebrews now! Cease tormenting your people further, and send forth mine—whom God has promised salvation!"]
But the prideful Pharaoh refused to yield.
["Don't make me laugh, Moses! False prophet returned from wandering the wilderness!"]
The Pharaoh, towering at the stage's left edge as Moses's antithesis,
raised his arm, pointing accusingly at Moses and the Egyptians in defiance.
["I am Pharaoh! Incarnation of the sun god, living god! Shall I bow to parlor tricks from some rootless desert deity and free my slaves?!"]
"Th-that arrogant—!!"
"Daring to call our mighty one true God a 'desert mongrel'—?! "
"Grrgh, Pharaoh! You dare—!!"
The Holy Knights bristled at the Pharaoh actor's blasphemous outburst.
To them, it was sacrilege, sparking righteous fury.
I found myself breaking into a cold sweat at their fervor.
'……It's just phrasing I tossed in from my old world's memes.'
A faithless guy in his thirties—why would I revere Yahweh?
I'd recalled using it in online banter and slipped it in, but the reaction was fiercer than expected, hitting a nerve.
At least, amid their immersion, they weren't blaming the playwright or actors—small mercies.
["Ah, Pharaoh! Blind fool!"]
Even as a solar eclipse plunged all Egypt into three days of pitch blackness, the Egyptian king clung to his obstinacy.
Looking upon him, Moses declared gravely.
["Then have it your way! Your pride will return as punishment a thousandfold heavier!"]
And indeed, Moses's prophecy proved true.
The final plague: the slaughter of the firstborn.
Angels of death descended from heaven, simultaneously claiming the lives of every firstborn in Egypt.
……Including the Pharaoh's own son and heir, the young crown prince.
At this, even the Pharaoh could endure no longer.
The stage, once echoing with the wails of Hebrew parents robbed of their infants,
now rang with the screams of Egyptian parents bereft of their firstborns as the Pharaoh weakly conceded.
["……I permit the Hebrews to leave Egypt."]
Finally, the edict of liberation from his lips.
Turning his back on the despairing Pharaoh, Moses led the Hebrews from Egyptian soil.
And the Hebrews, at long last savoring longed-for freedom, followed joyfully regardless of age or gender.
"Lord of glorious victory, we praise You~♩" "Lord of glorious victory, we praise You~♪" ⟨ Hymn of Liberation ⟩
Beautiful hymns from the choir underlay the scene, praising God's miracles.
To that song, the Hebrews took their first step toward the promised land flowing with milk and honey.
And the Holy Knights in the audience shared that joy at the Hebrews' deliverance.
"Lord, who in heaven is like You~♬" "Lord, who is like You, majestic and holy~♬" "With Your love, You led Your people to the grace of freedom~♫" "Ahh, hallelujah...!"
"Emmanuel! Emmanuel...!"
Watching it all from the seats, the Holy Knights began shedding hot tears.
The Papal Court's finest choir music fused with the actors' fervent performances—they were lost in the high.
Undoubtedly amplified by projecting their own ordeals onto the Hebrews.
Hoping their own trials would one day be rewarded.
That God's silence meant He was watching over them all.
'But they can't get swept up in emotion just yet.'
The true climax still awaited.
The scene shifted, and soon Moses and the Hebrew throng reached the Red Sea, resting there.
Ba-bam—!!
A military trumpet blared from afar, signaling battle.
["Moses! Moses! Disaster! The Pharaoh—he's broken his promise!"]
A frantic extra came running up, breathless with urgent news.
["He's leading his army to slaughter us Hebrews!"]