King's Rule: Creating the Strongest Kingdom With My Broken Talent-Chapter 42: Arganis vs Duke Artilon Climax, Second Verdict
King Aurora’s eyes moved to the left, to a small one-meter square screen that showed the fight that was also about to end.
And he couldn’t help but grow sour as he let out a silent sigh.
Meanwhile, the whole city gasped and burst into an uproar.
Arga suppressed Duke Artilon with each move and forced him to go all out without any reserve.
And yet, Arga broke through to SS-rank Swordsman mid-battle under the influence of King’s Rule.
S-rank Swordsman awakened Sword Intent, which boosted the damage of all techniques unleashed through swords by 100%.
SS-rank Swordsman boosted Sword Intent further, which not only increased damage but also the speed of all techniques unleashed through swords by 150%.
It was an immense boost.
The gap instantly widened.
Duke Artilon unleashed Hell Blaze Bullets and Piercing Infernal, his strongest techniques. By combining both techniques, he created a construct of flame akin to a storm that rapidly formed rotating bullets at high speed while shooting at the target with powerful penetration and speed.
But in the face of that, Arga calmly chopped his sword downward in a strange, uneven pattern. In that motion, something akin to a constellation formed in the shape of a dragon.
When he finished that wavy swing, a literal blazing dragon manifested, its power and speed boosted by 150% as it was unleashed as a sword technique.
The dragon surged forward at hypersonic speed and annihilated the tornado before bursting and turning into waves of slashes that shot at Duke Artilon.
The Duke’s rapier blurred as veins all over his body were popping, trying to cut away and disperse the slashes.
Alas, he only lasted for 1.3 seconds before he was overwhelmed, his right arm and left leg splitting instantly.
Arga broke down the magic to prevent further harm.
After taking a deep breath as King’s Rule executed successfully, Arga floated with a dazed expression behind his helmet.
’I won...’
But his whole body was screaming in pain, and he had broken his own bones by using some extreme moves, as the Duke was overall faster than him.
If not for being under the King’s Rule, he would have lost for sure.
"Are you a monster?" Duke Artilon chugged a potion while asking. Shaking his head, he added, "How did you improve while fighting like that?"
Arga wryly smiled. "That’s a trade secret. Anyway, I also can’t fight further."
Below on the platform, Rovina stood up.
Seeing her, Scarlet grinned. "Guess it’s my turn now."
Standing up, she could feel Rovina’s gaze on her from behind her mask.
Rovina’s combat suit was a long black dress with dark gold laces and patterns. She looked like a witch with a big hat and a half mask that only showed black and gold eyes behind a veil, one surging with darkness and the other with light.
Both of them flew up.
Stem-rank and Root-rank powerhouses could fly using a little bit of mana instead of requiring a flying technique like Sprout and Seed-rankers.
Because B-rank and A-rank mana could overwhelm the atmosphere easily, allowing them to control their mana more dominantly, which reduced the consumption of flying significantly.
The higher the rank, the lower the consumption.
But combat suits designed by Vesh had perfect flight systems run by micro-vortexes that refined atmospheric energy during flight and provided refined magic energy of varied ranks instead of using batteries or the user’s mana.
...
Both women arrived in the colosseum, and the ten-second countdown began as the audience, who were watching all over the city, eagerly awaited another round of excitement.
Meanwhile, Vesh looked at his second case and frowned.
The case was extreme.
A family of three. Middle-aged parents and a twenty-year-old daughter.
But they had one more daughter, as both girls were twins.
One day, she didn’t return home from her working shift as a maid in the Muzak Household, who were the owners of Muzak Alchemy Tower.
But she was found brutally assaulted and dead at a nearby garden, just outside the Muzak Household.
Everyone knew who did that. It was the degenerate youngest son of the family head, Korvis Muzak.
They were sitting there on the left side, the family of five with their maids and butlers.
To the right side was the family of three who never got justice, but since the city had transformed, they decided to start the first morning of their new life by setting things right.
And they really hoped to get justice for their daughter.
Vesh looked at the degenerate Muzak son. A slightly chubby man with a double chin and a perpetual expression that annoyed Vesh.
Nature often did that.
One’s actions and thoughts are usually reflected in their physical body. Someone might have a perpetual frown, someone might have a perpetual perverted look because they were used to being in that state.
This asshole’s face clearly showed he was degenerate scum.
Vesh narrowed his eyes. "So you did that?"
"Shadow Lord Eka, there is no proof that my son did that. We really do not know who raped and killed her that way. It must be a passing criminal," the family head spoke out.
"She left our house after cooking as usual. We loved her cooking," the mother spoke out, her face showing pity as she shook her head and covered her face as if remorseful.
But even without using any technique, Vesh could see they were lying, and quite badly at that.
Vesh looked at the family trio, who didn’t say anything. Their eyes held both hope and despair because they were not fully sure they would get justice.
"Your daughter will get justice. The whole city will see the exemplary way the Ananta Court handles criminals. All actions will have consequences, whether good or bad."
Vesh turned to the Muzak household. "Last chance. Ananta Kingdom’s laws, which everyone can read on their ID wristband, are clear regarding this. If you hide a criminal or aid them in escaping, you will receive punishment in proportion to the criminal’s offense."
"B-But there’s no proof!" the family head, Muzak, stammered, now visibly sweating.
"Proof?" Vesh narrowed his eyes. "I have the proof."
A glint flickered in his eyes. Mana whirled, and a big screen appeared in front of everyone.
Memory Feed.
Vesh showed the degenerate dragging the girl inside his own room while passing by a butler who acted as if it was normal, and asked if he wanted some biscuits and wine.
Instead, the degenerate, who was clearly drunk, slapped the butler without saying anything and dragged her into the room.
That was enough, as Vesh closed the screen.
"You have three seconds to tell me if you have also done that and if anyone else has committed such crimes. Yes or no. One word will seal your fate."
"SPEAK!"
The people trembled as Vesh’s voice sent jolting vibrations through their bodies.
"Y-Ye-Yes! Please forgive me! I will never do it again!"
The degenerate was scared out of his mind and began begging.
Vesh’s eyes flashed with disgust.
The degenerate flew up under Vesh’s control before getting stuffed inside a small metal prison half his height for some minor torture, and a barrier was placed around it so Vesh wouldn’t hear his begging.
"Verdict is execution by slow fire. He has ruined over fifteen lives!" Vesh’s jaw clenched. "He will slowly burn until death in the underground pit below this courthouse."
"With him will be his father and mother, who didn’t stop their son from committing this atrocity, and instead supported him, and could even be said to have encouraged him. In this civilized society of Ananta Kingdom, no such depraved acts on innocents will be tolerated."
"B-But this was before your Kingdom overtook this!" the mother shouted. "We also deserve a new chance."
Vesh waved his hand, and the mother and father joined the son in a slightly bigger prison.
"You all no longer need to be servants, so why are you still with them? Start living your new lives. Food is free, the training center is free, and work is available."
The butlers and maids looked at each other. All of them were in their twenties and thirties, sold as slaves.
They had done nothing but this their entire lives, so even after the change, they just followed the Duke.
But those three were now hanging and about to die.
"We... we will do that, Shadow Lord Eka," the oldest, a twenty-five-year-old, said. "If you have any suggestions, what should we do?"
"That’s up to you. Explore the city and decide for yourselves. Start thinking independently and visit General Help Centres, which I will open soon. People will guide you."
’It seems help centres are needed for former slaves who have been chained and brainwashed so much they can’t live independently.’
Vesh then looked at the trio as he put the prison down and constructed wheels beneath it. "Send them to the pit and start the punishment right away."
"Yes, sir!" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂
’Ananta AI. Send the footage from when I entered to when I leave to every single Ananta ID wristband, and broadcast it tomorrow. This will serve as a good example and guideline.’
King Aurora was impressed. ’With technology that can freaking read memories, and this type of punishment...yeah, law & order will be perfect here it seems.’
