Chapter 587 - 583 – BLOODY JUSTICE IN THE FALLEN STAR CITY SQUARE

The morning sun had just begun to cast its rays over Fallen Star City, the capital of the newly transferred Southern Star Province. Inside the main office of the governor’s residence, a magnificent building in the style of an ancient fortress with black stone pillars, the atmosphere within the room stood in sharp contrast to the beauty of the morning outside.

Hua Zhaoyue, the First Princess who had now officially become the absolute ruler of the territory, sat frozen in front of a large wooden desk. Around her lay piles of thick parchment scrolls, large financial ledgers, and secret investigation reports that had just been gathered by loyal spies and the remaining bureaucrats.

Zhaoyue’s beautiful face appeared heavy, marked by fine furrows on her brow. Her slender fingers held a financial report that recorded the city’s defense fund flows over the past five years. The numbers on the paper revealed a deeply nauseating reality: trillions of credits that should have been allocated to reinforce the border walls, maintain the mana crystal cannons, and distribute logistical rations for the border soldiers had been skimmed by as much as ninety percent by high-ranking local officials.

Not only that, the sheets in the neighboring pile contained a list of humanitarian crimes committed by the former Mayor of Fallen Star City and his lackeys. From extortion of small merchants, tax embezzlement, illegal forced labor, to harassment and physical violence against civilians who opposed their rule.

Zhaoyue drew a long breath, set the parchment down with slightly trembling hands. She leaned back against her small throne-like chair and massaged her throbbing temples.

As a royal princess raised in the Holy Palace of the capital, Zhaoyue was accustomed to facing palace political intrigue, power struggles, and cunning diplomatic debates. Yet she had always been educated in conventional noble methods: political compromise, conditional pardons, or transferring corrupt officials to other positions in order to maintain factional stability.

Now, confronted with this mountain of foul criminal evidence before her eyes, Zhaoyue was seized by a heavy moral dilemma. What should I do with them? she wondered inwardly. Should I sentence these corrupt officials to death to create a deterrent effect, or should I allow some of them to continue working in order to keep the transitional city bureaucracy running smoothly? If I am too harsh, the local factions may sabotage me in secret. But if I am too lenient, the people will regard me as no different from the old rulers.

Unable to find a satisfactory answer in the heads of her palace advisors, Zhaoyue decided to seek out the only person in this world who never hesitated when making decisions: Sylvia.

She rose from her chair, stepped out of the room, and walked toward the private pavilion where Sylvia was staying during her time at the governor’s residence.

In the pavilion garden surrounded by mint-scented border flowers, Sylvia sat relaxing on a velvet lounge chair. Near her feet, Sol (in his golden cat form) was purring lazily while enjoying a bowl of spiritual milk, while Noir (in his black cat form) slept curled up in peace.

Hearing hurried footsteps, Sylvia opened one eye. She saw Zhaoyue approaching with a gloomy expression and clear confusion written on her face.

"What’s the matter, Royal Princess?" Sylvia asked in a casual tone, lifting her marble teacup. "Is your new governor’s chair too hot, or have the city’s rats dared to dirty the floors of your palace?"

Zhaoyue sighed heavily, then sat in the chair opposite Sylvia. She rested her chin on the table. "Sylvia... I need your advice. I’ve been reading the financial reports and the crime records of the former mayor and the old officials in this city. The evidence is complete. Their corruption ran rampant, and they also committed many heinous acts against the civilian population."

Zhaoyue looked at Sylvia with clear eyes that revealed her doubt. "What do you think... what should I do? Should I execute them all to uphold justice, or let some of them live for the sake of governmental continuity? I... I’m afraid that if I act too cruelly, the local factions will rebel."

Hearing that question filled with hesitation, Sylvia slowly set down her teacup. She regarded Zhaoyue with her flat gaze, the gaze of an absolute ruler who had toppled cosmic gods and led oceans of death.

Sylvia’s answer left her lips without a single second of pause, sharp and cold as a blade of ice.

"Public execution," Sylvia stated with absolute finality. "Choose the busiest central city square, erect a high platform, and behead them in front of the entire populace."

Zhaoyue gasped in shock at the cruelty of that answer. "A-All of them?! In public?!"

"Of course," Sylvia continued in an indifferent yet iron-logic tone. "You are the new ruler of this borderland, Zhaoyue. In a place as harsh as this, compromise is a sign of weakness. Those corrupt bastards will not respect you because of your kind heart; they will only regard you as a child who is easily deceived. If you want to clean a nest of filth, you must use a hot iron broom, not a chicken feather."

Sylvia leaned forward slightly, staring straight into the princess’s eyes. "And for the first person who must be executed... make sure it is that damned former mayor. His crimes are not merely budget corruption, but also extortion, forced harassment of border women, and the planned murder of citizens who reported him. He is the foulest pile of garbage in this city."

Zhaoyue swallowed hard with difficulty. Her heart pounded fiercely. Deep down she knew that what Sylvia said was absolute truth. Yet as a princess raised in a palace environment full of peaceful etiquette, the thought of ordering a bloody execution in the public square made her stomach turn.

"I... I don’t know whether I have that kind of firmness, Sylvia..." Zhaoyue murmured softly, lowering her gaze. "I’m not the type of cruel military leader. I’m afraid of blood..."

Seeing the doubt that still enveloped her friend, Sylvia rose from her chair. She stepped closer to Zhaoyue and gently patted the princess’s shoulder with full tenderness.

"You don’t need to dirty your own hands, Zhaoyue," Sylvia said with a thin, mysterious smile. "You are the symbol of justice and the future of Southern Star Province. The dirty work, the reception of the executioners, and the cleansing of society’s trash... leave that to me."

Hearing that offer, the heavy burden on Zhaoyue’s shoulders was suddenly lifted by half. She looked up, meeting Sylvia’s dull black eyes that radiated absolute calm. There was an extraordinarily great sense of safety in knowing that behind her stood someone who shared the pressure.

"Thank you, Sylvia..." Zhaoyue whispered sincerely, the corners of her lips lifting into a relieved smile.

The next morning, the Central Square of Fallen Star City was suddenly packed with a sea of people.

Shocking news had spread like fire through dry grassland since dawn: The First Princess, the new ruler of this territory, will hold a Public Trial and Mass Execution for the corrupt officials and the former mayor who have long oppressed the people!

Thousands of civilians, small merchants, border hunters, and mine workers flocked to the square. They came with mixed feelings of curiosity, fear, and a long-extinguished spark of hope. For years the people of this borderland had lived under the terror of high tax oppression, extortion, and the arbitrary rule of the former mayor. Not a single official had ever been touched by the law because their corruption network was rooted all the way to the capital council.

In the middle of the square, a high execution platform made of black teak wood had been erected.

Upon that platform knelt ten middle-aged, portly men in once-luxurious clothing that was now dirty and wretched. Their hands and feet were chained with anti-magic shackles. In the frontmost row, with head bowed wearily and face deathly pale, was the former Mayor of Fallen Star City, the man who had once been deeply feared and worshiped as the absolute ruler of this city.

At precisely nine in the morning, the sound of a magical trumpet resonated.

From the direction of the platform stairs, Hua Zhaoyue stepped up with grace. She wore her ceremonial robe as the territorial ruler, her silver tiara crown gleaming under the fierce sun, and her face radiated a calm yet firm authority. Behind her walked Sylvia in her silver-black Night Silk dress, escorted by Sol and Noir in their cat forms walking gracefully on the left and right sides. The presence of those two great dragons in disguise though in small forms still radiated an invisible oppressive aura that made every citizen in the square hold their breath.

Zhaoyue stood before the magical microphone that amplified her voice to every corner of the square. Her gaze swept across the sea of people below, then shifted to stare sharply at the corrupt officials kneeling before her.

"My people of Fallen Star City!" Zhaoyue’s voice thundered firmly, full of restrained emotion. "I know how greatly you have suffered all this time! I know how your sweat and blood have been sucked dry by those who were supposed to protect you!"

Hearing those words, several citizens in the front rows began to shed tears. That sentence was not merely empty political rhetoric; it was the first acknowledgment from a central ruler who truly understood their suffering.

Zhaoyue raised the parchment scroll of criminal evidence in her hand. "Today, before all of you, I expose their entire crimes! Embezzlement of defense funds, extortion of the people’s taxes, illegal forced labor, and countless humanitarian crimes! According to the laws of Southern Star Province, there is no pardon for traitors to the people!"

Hearing that verdict, the former mayor kneeling in the front row suddenly panicked. He lifted his head, trying to fight his fear, then shouted hysterically toward Zhaoyue.

"You can’t do this to us, Princess Zhaoyue! We have connections with the elders of the Capital Noble Council! If you kill us, the capital factions will destroy your life! You’re just a newly empowered upstart!" the former mayor screamed with strained neck veins, trying to use old threats to frighten the princess.

Several citizens in the crowd immediately shrank in fear at the mention of the ’Capital Noble Council.’ They knew full well how dangerous the corrupt factions in the central government were.

However, before the former mayor could continue his shouting, a cold voice cut through the air.

"The Capital Noble Council?" Sylvia’s voice sounded extremely soft, yet every syllable she uttered felt like the strike of a death gavel at the bottom of hell. "Even if every last rotten elder of that council stood here right now, they would not dare breathe too loudly in my presence, let alone save a border pig like you."

Sylvia stepped forward ahead of Zhaoyue. Her dull black irises stared straight at the former mayor.

Without chanting any complicated magic spell, without drawing a weapon, Sylvia merely raised her right hand slowly, then clenched her fingers in the air. It was a demonstration of her Absolute Death Authority and Chain of the Abyss.

ZREEEET!

A thin black flash of light shot invisibly from the tips of Sylvia’s fingers.

In a fraction of a second, the dull black life-fate thread bound to the former mayor’s body was forcibly plucked by Sylvia.

The former mayor who had still been shouting threats suddenly froze. His eyes bulged wide, his mouth opened without being able to produce a sound. Every flow of mana and every heartbeat inside his body stopped completely in the blink of an eye. No physical wound was visible, no drop of blood sprayed forth, yet his soul had been forcibly ripped from his physical body.

Thud.

The former mayor’s portly body collapsed rigidly onto the platform floor, dead instantly without feeling any meaningful pain, leaving total silence across the entire square.

Thousands of citizens who witnessed the event swallowed hard. They had not even seen what kind of magic the silver-dressed girl had used. Death had occurred so quickly, cleanly, and absolutely, as if a human life were merely a feather that could be blown away at any moment.

Sylvia glanced at the nine other corrupt officials still kneeling and trembling violently behind the former mayor’s corpse. Their faces were as pale as living corpses; some of them even immediately wet themselves from extreme terror, filling the platform with a sharp, foul smell.

"Your turn," Sylvia said flatly.

Without wasting time, Sylvia flicked her hand nine times in succession through the air.

Sret! Sret! Sret!

Nine black thread flashes shot forth like invisible scythes. The nine most influential corrupt officials and criminals of Fallen Star City collapsed simultaneously in a single second, dead instantly without even the chance to beg for mercy. Ten corpses now lay sprawled upon the black wooden platform, marking the end of the era of darkness and oppression that had gripped the city for years.

For several long seconds, the Central Square of Fallen Star City fell into absolute silence. A gripping stillness enveloped the crowd. The people were still digesting what had just happened before their eyes.

Then an emotional miracle exploded.

A middle-aged elderly woman in the front row, whose husband had once been murdered by the mayor’s underlings for refusing to surrender his land, fell to her knees on the ground while sobbing hysterically. She raised both hands into the air, shouting the princess’s name in a hoarse voice filled with overwhelming relief.

"THEY’RE DEAD! THOSE DEVILS ARE DEAD!" the old woman cried out in joyful tears. "LONG LIVE PRINCESS ZHAOYUE! LONG LIVE OUR NEW RULER!"

That cry was like a spark in a pile of gunpowder. At that very moment the dam of emotions from hundreds of thousands of oppressed people burst completely.

"HUUUUURRRRRAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Thunderous cheers, tears of relief, and roaring applause exploded to fill every corner of Fallen Star City. Hundreds of thousands of citizens cheered, jumped with joy, and knelt en masse toward the platform, offering the most sincere and sacred respect to Princess Zhaoyue.

Rather than feeling fear or horror at the sight of the bloody execution and the corpses sprawled on the platform, the people instead felt immense joy, satisfaction, and liberation. They had been exploited for far too long by parasites masquerading as officials, and a new leadership that was firm, uncompromising, and dared to eliminate criminals without mercy was the answer to all the prayers they had offered until now.

Upon the platform, Zhaoyue stood as if frozen. Her eyes grew slightly moist at the sight below. She saw thousands of people weeping with happiness, shouting her name with a sincerity she had never once felt throughout her life in the capital palace filled with falsehood.

Zhaoyue turned to the side, looking at Sylvia who stood calmly while adjusting her dress. The princess smiled faintly, fully realizing that what Sylvia had taught her was not cruelty, but a form of absolute protection for the oppressed.