Tax evasion?
Colluding with an enemy nation and selling classified information-which of those wasn't more serious than this?
Besides, which of his activities even required him to pay taxes? Selling state secrets?
Dio had graduated with a law degree two lifetimes ago, and the charge immediately struck him as wrong.
Though puzzled, Dio never stopped writing.
Cheadle's expression remained unruffled. Still sitting upright with a smile, she began explaining the statute:
"Under Article 402 of the Criminal Code of the Minbo Republic, a taxpayer..."
"...citing the precedent established in the public hearing held at the Calebilara City Court on July 18, 1978, as well as..."
"That concludes the statutory text and cited precedents. Your Honor, please examine the evidence."
Judge Bell took out the documents and began reading the evidence:
"The prisoner, formerly an officer in the Minbo Republic's national defense forces, organized a mahjong game involving gambling with three other individuals at his home on April 15, 1987... The prisoner won one thousand seven hundred Jenny from foreign trader Laka Buqier and subsequently failed to report this to the relevant authorities or pay the corresponding taxes..."
Dio calmly recorded the proceedings at speed.
He had a feeling this trial would end less than half an hour after it began.
The reason lay in the "Four-Three-One" principle.
The judge had already completed two steps: presenting the claims and overseeing the examination of evidence. If everything was expedited, all that remained was essentially to announce the verdict.
Some might ask: if there were only claims and an examination of evidence, what about the defense?
Dio discreetly glanced up at the burly, short-haired man.
He had not said a word since entering. His head hung low, making his expression almost impossible for Dio to see.
If Dio's guess was right, the prisoner's tongue had already been cut out, or his vocal cords had been destroyed.
After all, the Secret Court tried highly sensitive "criminals," not "suspects."
Who knew what they might reveal in court that no one else was supposed to hear?
"...the court hereby sentences you to death, to be carried out immediately!"
As Judge Bell brought down his gavel, everything seemed settled.
Cheadle deftly put away her legal documents, then tilted her head to watch Dio scribbling furiously.
Judge Bell also let out a long breath and was just about to smile.
Just then, an unexpected voice rang out-
"Heh heh heh... You lapdogs have no idea what you've sent..."
Officer Sangli, the prisoner who had remained silent throughout, suddenly let out a cold laugh!
Bell's pupils contracted. His freshly relaxed nerves instantly tightened:
"You-you weren't..."
"Wasn't my tongue cut out? Heh heh... You think I can't talk without a tongue?"
Officer Sangli opened his mouth as though showing off. Where his tongue should have been sat a strange, thick slug!
A deranged smile spread across his face as he raved:
"Kakin gave me far more than you ever did! I risked my life fighting for this country over a hundred times, and you cut out my tongue!!!"
Then his demeanor abruptly changed. He turned cold and despairing, his voice sinking low:
"I'm not getting out of this alive, but you lapdogs aren't escaping either!"
The presence of death!
Alarm bells screamed in Dio's mind. Ripple surged wildly through his body. Something was about to emerge!
"Aaaargh-!!"
Officer Sangli suddenly threw back his head and screamed, crimson light leaking from the openings in his face.
The slug in his mouth abruptly opened its eyes and crawled out, unleashing a terrifying wave of malice!
Then his body rapidly swelled like a balloon, as though it would burst at any moment!
In that split second!
"The World!"
"Time, stop!!"
Dio roared inwardly, summoning his Stand, The World, without hesitation.
But in the instant before he activated its ability, he saw a white-gloved hand already blocking his front.
Bzzzt!!
The world abruptly lost its color. Faced with death, Dio's mind was stretched to its limit, and his perception of time seemed to stop along with the world outside.
Dio felt as though his entire body had sunk into mercury. Every movement was excruciatingly slow!
Did I enter bullet time right as I stopped time...?
He followed the white glove upward. A figure in a white sterile suit was frozen to his right, caught in the posture of a desperate sprint.
From this angle, he could only see the back of her head, but Dio immediately recognized her-it was Cheadle!
In the instant before the lethal threat struck, Cheadle, whose reactions far outstripped Dio's, decisively did two things.
First, she activated her ability, Dr. Yorkshire, summoning the sterile suit.
Then, instead of retreating to avoid the obvious explosion, she thought of her student-
Dio! He has no Nen ability!
Instantly realizing the danger Dio was in, Cheadle rushed in front of him at tremendous speed!
At the same time, her aura began flowing rapidly. Her calm Ten erupted into powerful Ren within 0.1 seconds, and almost simultaneously, that surging aura drew inward, forming a thick layer of Ken!
I have to block the head-on impact, or Dio will die...
Cheadle gritted her teeth, unable to keep herself from regretting bringing Dio here.
She had no idea what was happening to Dio behind her, but she knew that if he died here, she would unquestionably be to blame!
Within this sensation of time standing still forever, Dio was as calm as a spectator.
Cheadle... Is she trying to protect me...?
Within Time Stop, Dio sharply lowered his center of gravity, bending his knees and leaping backward in one fluid motion. His back smashed the chair behind him to pieces.
At the same time, he unhesitatingly commanded The World to grab the back of Cheadle's neck, carrying her backward through the air with him!
Within Time Stop's 0.7 seconds, the two flew clear of the explosion's core!
BOOM!!!
The terrifying red light instantly swallowed Judge Bell and the bailiffs before they could react. Dio and Cheadle escaped disaster by leaping out of the expanding red light's core.
But the enormous explosion that followed rapidly intensified within the confined space.
It became an earth-shaking shock wave, slamming heavily into Cheadle, who stood in front of Dio!
Outside Time Stop, Cheadle felt the scene before her change in an instant. The red light that had been right before her eyes abruptly shifted a considerable distance backward.
Then a terrifying impact struck her chest. Her vision went black as she was hurled backward at an unbelievable speed.
"Ripple!!"
Behind Cheadle, Dio had already raised both arms in front of himself and was driving his Ripple at full power!
After Cheadle took the first wave, the remaining impact and her backward-flying, sterile-suited body all slammed into him!
Dio flew backward at a terrifying speed. By sheer luck, he struck the iron door in the wall behind him, smashing it into a lump of scrap before hurtling into the deep, dark passage beyond!
Boom, boom, boom-!!
Countless cracks raced up the walls of the courtroom as the shock waves curled back and collided, producing repeated thunderous crashes.
The superheated gas within the tiny space shattered the surrounding walls inch by inch. Vast waves of pressure battered the hard stone, and the little room collapsed in an instant.
Hundreds of millions of tons of earth and stone poured down from above, burying the passage entrance and the room completely...
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