Hero of Darkness

A deathly silence filled the Verlassen fiefdom as Kahn… their sovereign, outright carried out a death sentence right in front of their eyes. He did not bother waiting up for a ceremony or made some roundabout talks about a public hanging event but mercilessly put a sword inside the bearkin's chest.

His indifferent gaze while doing so shook the resolve of the many who participated in the voting as they saw the aftermath of the semi-saint lying bloodied on the chair as Kahn pulled out lucifer.

Just in a matter of a couple of hours, one of the strongest people of the fiefdom who they thought was one of their guardians previously… turned out to be a monster who caused millions of people to lose their lives because of his greed for wealth.

And after their new ruler gave them the role of the judge and the jury… their votes took the life of this culprit.

"Steel your resolve. There is no weak or innocent justice in this world.

I will carry the burden of taking a life… while all of you decide whether the criminals decide this punishment or not." spoke Kahn in a serious and domineering voice.

His firm tone brought everyone back to reality and they came to realize the gravity of the situation. After all…

With great power comes great responsibility.

After a few minutes of pause, Kahn declared that at this very moment… all the involved parties who played a part in the crime have been captured.

Let it be capturing the bearkin a few days ago or everyone related to his crimes was arrested. They kept it a secret so no one was to be alerted and eventually everyone was caught and brought into custody.

The People's Court shall bring in all the related people tomorrow as well as the other criminals currently under investigation related to various crimes and in different departments of the government were to be brought in in following weeks after a thorough investigation was done first.

"With this.. I end the first hearing of the People's Court." announced Kahn and his gaze turned serious as he continued.

"I know many of you are overwhelmed. Some of you may think that my act was barbaric and not something that should be shown to the public.

But do know that unlike you.. These criminals like commander Aswala wouldn't even blink before making such a choice.

I want all of you to remember this…" spoke Kahn in a stern tone and his voice echoed throughout the fiefdom.

"A criminal's life is not worth more than the lives of their victims."

He said and ended the broadcast.

Kahn knew that today's event was going to greatly affect the minds of the people and soon, many would start to have second thoughts about the whole idea of participating in the People's Court voting process itself.

And that's why he spoke those words to strengthen their resolve and let the whole thing sink in their minds.

After all… you decide your choice by your free will.

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As for the body of this semi-saint itself, Kahn took it personally to his castle.

Apart from Ronin, everyone else was busy with their respective tasks given by Kahn so there was no one else apart from the normal covenant soldiers in the castle.

Just then, Ronin came in and reported about today's matter.

"We did everything as you ordered, my master." spoke Ronin and showed him a recording artifact that ran the entire session of today's session of the People's Court.

"How many do you have ready?" asked Kahn.

"More than 150 million copies have been made.

I guess running a fiefdom and having access to everything does come in handy." spoke Ronin.

"Don't be complacent. Commander Aswala was right.. At the end of the day, it's them who truly run this place while I'm the ruler in name only.

I need to take control of everything before the people from the capital react and interfere here." spoke Kahn with a serious tone.

He quickly had to do takeovers on various ruling infrastructures as soon as he could and control them. Otherwise, his rule would be compromised and he won't truly hold the power in the fiefdom.

Commander Aswala was just the beginning.. Kahn had already made a long list of people he had to take down and replace them with his own loyal servants and henchmen.

And just like this semi-saint, his assassins were gathering enough proof against those individuals as well.

"Now, send those recordings to several parts of the empire using our warships. People from every important region of the empire as well as the capital should see this. Spread those artifacts amongst the public of the empire using the underworld organizations.

The more exposure this matter gets, the more support I will get from the normal citizens of the empire and those three factions won't be able to question my authority because I'm using the law to legally punish these criminals." spoke Kahn.

"But my lord.. Doing this will also have consequences." responded Ronin.

Kahn nodded and spoke in a grim tone.

"It's a necessary move that must be made regardless of the risks of provoking the top powers.

As for the consequences… we're spreading these recordings to minimize them to the lowest. They can't touch me or criticize me because I'm doing it lawfully." he said and looked at the body of the dead semi-saint.

"Have you received a response from Elijah & Niklaus yet?" asked Kahn and walked closer towards this battleaxe warrior.

"Yes, my lord. By next week, they will also be done.

After today, both the brothers would think that the task you gave them is related to the People's Court." spoke Ronin as a grin appeared on his countenance.

"Well.. It's partially true." spoke Kahn and let out a light smirk.

"Now.. Let's round up these guys within a week and start the next phase of our plans."

"And what is that, my lord?" asked Ronin.

Kahn gave a sinister smile and replied in an excited voice..

"We are going to rob our enemies… in the broad daylight."