Chapter 321: On This Land, None Have the Right to Judge Me
Steven didn't care how the others looked at him. He simply read aloud, voice cold and detached, from the stack of documents in his hand—each word only fanning the strange fire smoldering in his chest. Then, without the slightest hesitation, he activated the teleportation function of his Evol Armor, dragging those listed within one by one, and hanging them from the streetlamp he had prepared in advance.
If the earlier battles had been Kazimierz's answer to his so-called "knights," then what he was doing now—this was his reply to the nation itself.
Had it been someone else, perhaps they might have felt a pang of pity, might have hesitated. But Steven? This was the man who, for the sake of a desired enchantment or a cheaper trade, could casually send an entire village to the slaughter. Dealing with these profiteers and parasites was nothing more than second nature to him.
Of course, Steven wasn't completely indiscriminate. He only skimmed through the documents, but if the crimes listed weren't truly worthy of death, he didn't bother to haul them up. After all, even though he had deliberately made the streetlamp tall and sturdy, hanging so many people at once was still rather cramped.
Not that it mattered—if he wished, he could just conjure a few more poles. But today, he was feeling generous. For the moment, he would start with only the most vile among them.
As for the rest, he was certain that the Grand Knight would provide him with a satisfactory answer sooner or later.
And so, atop the platform at the peak of the tower, only the Black Hole Knight's cold pronouncements rang out, naming the sins of the K.G.C.C's members. From time to time, the solemn silence was broken by the faint, strangled sounds of bodies struggling against the ropes above.
The old woman who bore witness to all of this could no longer keep her back straight. The proud bearing she had shown, even when begging the Black Hole Knight for a deal earlier, was gone. Her face sagged with exhaustion, her figure seeming to have aged decades in an instant.
This—this was Kazimierz as it truly was, the nation born of her indulgence. She had thought she knew enough, but when the Black Hole Knight tore away the final scrap of its veil, only then did she realize just how rotten it had become.
Perhaps… perhaps what the Black Hole Knight was doing was the correct path. And yet, only he could do this. Whether in strength or in resolve, it was only this man—this man who dared stand against all of Kazimierz—who had the right to pass such judgment.
If it had been left to her, she knew the outcome would have been far different. Bound by circumstance, by hesitation, she would have chosen the safer path—punishing a few petty offenders as a warning, while leaving the true culprits untouched. But the Black Hole Knight… He dragged them all into the light, stringing them up beneath the streetlamp one by one.
And what unsettled her even more was the reaction of the Silverlance Pegasi by her side. None showed restraint. None protested. Instead, they looked on with faces filled with grim satisfaction, even relief.
As the nation's strongest line of defense, they had long walked the battlefield prepared to die. And perhaps it was precisely because of this that they loathed even more the thought of the homeland they bled for being controlled by such despicable vermin.
To knights who fought with their lives on the front lines, the Black Hole Knight's way of dealing with these men wasn't cruel in the slightest. If anything, it was too merciful—ending things far too quickly.
Among all present, the only one who felt even a trace of hesitation was Margaret, the Radiant Knight.
And yet even she made no move to stop him. First, because as the defeated, she no longer held the right to oppose him. Second, because every verdict the Black Hole Knight delivered came with evidence in hand. These men were only receiving the punishment that was already theirs by right.
The executioner had simply changed faces. Kazimierz's judge was no longer the law, but the knight before them.
Yet no matter how one dressed it up, the murderous intent radiating from the Black Hole Knight could not be concealed. With every sheet of paper read aloud—each line dripping with crimes and corruption—his voice grew colder, sharper, until it cut like a blade through the silence.
No wonder, he thought idly, that Ultron had once tried to destroy the world after browsing the internet for a few hours.
Faced with this endless flood of negative filth, even he was tempted to swallow the entire city whole and be done with it.
Fortunately, as each guilty name was dragged into the light and strung up beneath the lamps, his irritation eased.
There was simply nothing more satisfying than hanging a group of filthy capitalists like dried meat for all to see. Well—except perhaps hanging even more of them.
The grim ritual continued for half a day. For half a day, the citizens of the Grand Knight Territory domain watched the streetlamp fill with corpses. Their fear of the Black Hole Knight slowly began to shift—transforming into awe, and then into something dangerously close to worship.
Only when his proclamations rang out did they truly grasp the reality: this chaotic city they lived in was rotting from the core, its wealthiest and most powerful freely committing unspeakable evils without ever facing justice.
When Kazimierz's laws no longer had the right to pass judgment, perhaps it really did take someone like the Black Hole Knight to step forward.
And the more victims of these parasites who stepped out of the crowd, the louder the voices became—calling him hero, judge, even savior.
Steven himself, of course, hadn't expected this outcome at all. To him, this was nothing more than his routine "lamp-hanging" exercise. Who would have thought it'd boost his popularity too?
Come on—hadn't he just sworn earlier that he would destroy the entire Grand Knight Territory? Was this city suffering from mass Stockholm Syndrome? Or were they all secretly a bunch of masochists?
Thankfully, he had no interest in puzzling over their twisted psychology. What mattered was finishing the task at hand: reading every last record looted from the K.G.C.C's archives, and hanging anyone whose crimes rubbed him the wrong way.
Finally, the last paper slipped from his fingers. Before him, the once-empty lamp tower was now crowded with corpses—hundreds of them, dangling like smoked meat. Even a glance upward was enough to leave one speechless, overwhelmed by the grotesque spectacle.
It was a punishment far beyond tyranny. Even the harshest judges in history would never have dared such excess. Yet this knight before them had done so without even a tremor in his tone.
In fact, when he finally spoke again, his voice carried a strange, almost cheerful ease—like a man who had just finished venting all his frustrations.
"Why the long faces? You all look like you've got something stuck in your throats. Relax. As long as you don't do anything shady, I won't string you up too. Consider this a friendly reminder… and, well, a new landmark for your Grand Knight Territory. A little tourist attraction, if you will~"
His smile was as casual as ever. But the meaning beneath his words was clear enough: if you sin, you hang. No guarantees, no exceptions.
A landmark, he said. The Grand Knight couldn't help but grimace. What kind of country, after all, would treat a streetlamp strung with corpses like some cult's offering ritual—and call it a "scenic spot"?
"…Tell me," the Grand Knight finally spoke, her voice hoarse. "Do you truly not realize? This isn't your responsibility. There is no need to… to go this far, is there?"
Only now did the Grand Knight finally force herself to speak, voicing a question she herself wasn't sure should even be asked.
At this point, what meaning did it hold? The dead would not be returned to life. She couldn't possibly expect the Black Hole Knight to undo the hangings.
Yes, those people deserved death—but executing so many at once? It was hard to say whether Kazimierz's economy would recover from such a blow. And that was something she did not wish to see.
"…Did you ever once think of the consequences?" she asked softly.
"Not at all," Steven replied, almost sheepishly at first. "I did it simply because I wanted to. That's all. I'll admit it—I have no right to judge them."
But then his tone shifted back to its usual arrogance, his words sharp and domineering:
"But so what? On this land… who among you has the right to judge me?"
His voice was utterly unyielding, brimming with the confidence of one who truly possessed the power to say such things.
And indeed, he had the capital to back it up. For strung from the lamp post were not just members of the K.G.C.C. Even some from the Adeptus Sprawiedliwi had joined their ranks, dangling like grotesque trophies.
Steven had never expected them to give him the answers he wanted. And since that was the case, why not take matters into his own hands and enjoy himself along the way?
Sated by the slaughter, his mood lightened. With a flash of movement, he appeared before the aged woman, casually patting her shoulder as if to comfort her.
"Don't get too happy. No need to thank me, either. This was nothing more than a whim on my part. But I do hope…" He gestured toward the lamp post, sagging under the weight of countless corpses. "…that this serves as a reminder for Kazimierz in the days to come."
Then came his final words, a whisper that slithered into every ear like the murmur of a demon:
"If, in the future, you fail to uphold the promises you've made to me… and I happen to be in the mood again… well, don't blame me if I string you up beside them."
"Believe me—I can do it. And I have more than enough lamp posts to hang the entire population of Kazimierz."
"Fuhahahahahaha!"
His laughter, wild and unrestrained, tore through the skies. Above, the gaping black hole began to collapse inward, letting sunlight once more spill across the Grand Knight Territory lands. At the same time, the vortex swallowed the Black Hole Knight whole, erasing his figure from sight.
The great tower began to crumble, stone by stone, until only a single thing remained standing: that lone streetlamp, corpses swaying from it like grotesque ornaments.
Like a pine standing tall in the frozen wastes, it endured—an eternal reminder to the people of Kazimierz that the terrifying knight could return at any time.
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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