Public Trial (Part 2)

This was also a major reason why Huron felt too angry to be weak.

Even though Huron considered the nobles of Palatus to be mere beasts, as the sector capital of the only sector in the Maelstrom region, their quality was already above the average line for nobles across the entire Imperium.

At least because the monastery of the Astral Claws was floating in the sky, they were still trying to do some things to maintain a facade, so as not to offend the eyes of the God-Emperor's angels.

Except for the previous batch of noble rebellions that colluded with xenos to smuggle psychoactive drugs, the whole of Badab could be described as having favorable weather and peace.

This was not even their own boasting, but an objective evaluation according to Imperial standards.

After all, around a Warp rift like the Maelstrom, they had maintained peace for the entire planet for hundreds of years, with only a single rebellion ever occurring.

Across the entire Imperium, this was already an unquestionable model world.

Because of this, Huron could not even imagine what kind of mortal hell other Imperial worlds were.

On the judgment platform, Odinson continued to read the verdicts: "First charge, the Salome Family has a long-standing habit of cannibalism. Existing data shows that the Salome Family averaged thirteen instances of cannibalism per person annually, and the recorded number of murdered and consumed people reaches a staggering 130,000."

The entire hive city was in an uproar; even in the underhive, only extremely dangerous mutants would feed on humans, and most people would avoid eating human flesh given a choice.

As a result, these nobles, who never had to worry about food or clothing, maintained a long-term habit of cannibalism?!

"Second charge, premeditated murder. In addition to the 130,000 consumed victims, we have also discovered that the Salome Family possesses a massive record of hiring hitmen or committing murders personally. The scale is impossible to tally, but at least over a million people have died as a result. The motive for most of these murders was 'outdoor recreation'."

"Third charge, manslaughter. The Salome Family has long sold fake vitamins under the guise of 'medical-grade vitamin pills.' Their prices were enough to bankrupt underhive residents, but these fake medicines contained no active ingredients. The number of deaths caused by this is difficult to tally, but according to sales records, over the span of several centuries, at least tens of billions of people purchased these fake drugs. Optimistically estimated, the dead number in the billions."

Although he said optimistically, Odinson's expression was stern, cold as ice.

With Huron setting such a lofty example, Odinson often felt ashamed of his own actions when he served as a planetary governor.

Even though Huron repeatedly emphasized that he enjoyed the Emperor's protection and could not be used as a standard example, and Odinson had done a very good job, he still believed his experience as a planetary governor was a dereliction of duty.

Yet after looking at the crime data of Palatus... no, after looking at the crimes of Marcus Salome alone, he suddenly found that he might not have been as terrible as he had imagined.

Although making a comparison with such a beast was an insult in itself, Odinson was suddenly relieved. Perhaps the Chapter Master was right, and he had actually done all right.

At this moment, the audience below was silent, and the commotion stirred upon hearing about the nobles' long-term cannibalism had also vanished.

Unbelievable statistic after statistic spilled from Odinson's mouth, directly shattering the imagination of the spectators.

Old John was one of them. As a typical representative who had grown up from an underhive resident, he was naturally invited to the scene as a spectator.

Originally, Old John thought he was quite worldly, but those figures were truly beyond anything he had ever witnessed.

Right now, the entire Auxilia numbered only tens of millions, and using them to fill the Salome Family's crimes wouldn't even count as a fraction.

And this was merely the crimes of a single family, the Salome Family; there was no way the other major nobles had done any less.

This sent a shiver through him.

On the stage, Odinson gave the audience no time to digest the information and continued reading the crimes of the Salome Family: human sacrifice, torture-murders, instigating murder...

Every single charge was followed by concrete data, except the audience had already grown somewhat numb, their brains utterly overloaded and refusing to accept new information.

Finally, after more than an hour, the major felonies were read through.

Odinson looked toward Marcus, who knelt on the ground: "Stand up, sinner. Do you have anything else to say?"

Marcus had been kneeling for over an hour, and his legs felt somewhat weak as he rose, but he still forced himself to straighten his back: "My family are nobles directly enfeoffed by the Council of High Lords of Terra! All our power is bestowed by the Imperium of Man! I am innocent! My family is innocent!"

Odinson wore a blank expression: "Finished?"

Marcus suddenly grew hysterical: "You are the heretics! Astartes cannot interfere in mortal politics; this is the Emperor's interdiction! Heretics defying the Emperor like you will be judged by the Inquisition sooner or later! You--"

"Enough." There was not the slightest expression on Odinson's face, yet it caused Marcus's ranting to cease abruptly.

"The sinner Marcus refuses to admit his wrongdoing. I hereby declare that, grounded upon Imperial Regulations and Imperial Law, Marcus and his family are all heretics. They are all sentenced to death, to be executed immediately."

Following Odinson's delivered sentence, the remaining members of the Salome Family were also dragged onto the judgment platform, hundreds of people forming a dark, oppressive square formation.

Most of them had been injected with muscle relaxants, and quite a few wore Psychic Suppression Collars, held down onto the platform's surface by Auxilia soldiers clad in exoskeleton armor.

"Prepare," the Auxilia soldiers raised the lasguns in their hands, aiming at the brains of these individuals, "fire!"

"Pew, pew, pew."

Following Odinson's command, the firing sound of the lasguns rang out, directly roasting the brains of the Salome Family members.

These individuals had undergone various genetic enhancements, and standard-output lasguns could only cook their internal organs without causing an explosive effect.

Still, this was just right for an execution, sparing them from overly bloody scenes.

After all, this ultra-high-definition recording would later become part of Badab's compulsory education; if it were too bizarre and bloody, the negative impact on teenagers would be incalculable.

Even though hundreds of people suddenly died on the platform, the audience below did not produce much commotion.

After all, everyone was used to watching such things, and even the small minority of representatives from the mid-hive and upper hive had witnessed mass executions more than once.

Now that the sole major noble whose patriarch had been captured was judged, Odinson handed the scene over to another Astartes in his team to take over.

The trials of these major nobles were handled by the Astral Claws because they were too distant from ordinary people, and few knew of their crimes; they could only be judged by the Astral Claws in the name of the Emperor and the Imperium.

As for the minor nobles, along with the various merchants and factory owners affiliated with the nobility, they would be sentenced by other ordinary courts.

When conducting public trials, these lower courts would invite living victims to the courtroom as much as possible to testify and accuse, so as to evoke resonance from others.

Instead of doing what was done just now, which simply numbed the vast majority of people completely.