Status Updates From La divina comedia

Canto IX, fourth circle of Hell. Dante has met Virgil and seen the poets and philosopher and have passed over the River Styx. Things are getting...bleak.

Canto 22: the system breaks. A sinner surfaces from the pitch, and the demons turn punishment into a competition. But he plays them—promises another soul, distracts them—and escapes. A damned soul just outsmarted Hell. Demons start fighting and crash into the pitch themselves. Corruption breaks enforcement. No trust, no control. When the system can be gamed, it’s not a system. It’s a performance.