Mechanical Alchemist

Bullets forged through alchemy spewed from the barrel and converged into an exaggerated Metal Storm in the air. Like a hammer, this storm smashed head-on towards the three hundred gold-armored knights across the street with overwhelming force.

Knights charged with no way back, and seeing this, the captain of the knights’ order raised the red cross heavy shield in his hand.

With a loud unified clang, three hundred knights simultaneously lifted their shields. The golden spears instantly transformed into three hundred shimmering golden shields, tightly protecting the entire order.

In the blink of an eye, the storm’s heavy hammer clashed with the knights’ order.

What does it sound like when ultra-high-speed bullets hit their target?

Not the "tat-tat-tat" sound, but more like continuous booming thunder.

This terrifying sound echoed through the streets and instantly spread throughout most of Lingdun City.

The gold armor and shields engraved with "Absolute Defense" runes blocked the first wave of alchemical bullets. But the "Thirty-Six-Barreled Metal Storm" continued to pour out ammunition, striking the light shield with hundreds of thousands of alchemical bullets. After just a couple of breaths, the knights’ golden radiance visibly suppressed.

Machines don’t need to catch their breath like humans do; as long as they operate within their limits, they can fire ammunition endlessly.

Usually, single alchemical bullets posed no threat to professionals above the third tier. And high-tier professionals still using firearms had mastered techniques like "multi-layered firing" to hit the "point" target frequently, generating a momentary breach to injure the enemy. The principle behind this is that high-frequency collisions can disrupt most materials’ stability and create elemental vacuums and energy chaos, causing structural damage to defensive runes and various energy shields.

And here lies the armor-piercing principle of the "Thirty-Six-Barreled Metal Storm."

With a firing rate of millions per minute, even if the hit rate isn’t high, the frequency of hits in the same area within range is unrivaled by any gunner’s "stacked shots."

Su Lun watched coldly as the nearby launchers spewed blue flames; in the distance, the knights’ charge into the storm grew increasingly difficult.

The distance between the two sides also narrowed.

There were only two possible outcomes: either the knights’ order would be obliterated or they’d charge through and smash Su Lun’s fire base!

Although he knew the superweapon’s terrifying power, it was still his first time using it against Emperor Luying’s top knights’ order.

Su Lun wasn’t completely sure of defeating the enemy.

Nevertheless, the deadlock soon yielded results.

Suddenly, Su Lun’s pupils dilated: "A breach!"

The knights’ order’s gold armor remarkably defended well, but that did not mean every part of their body was as absolutely defended as the heavy shield; there were inevitably the weakest spots.

The "Metal Storm" excelled in area coverage precisely for this reason— even without knowing where the target’s vulnerability lay, it could find the defensive weakness in an instant due to its blanket coverage.

Just exposing one "point" of a defensive flaw was enough for the Metal Storm to tear through it!

Just then, Su Lun spotted an opening as a knight’s horse’s armor momentarily dislodged during its charge. Such a tough-to-catch flaw was exploited by countless alchemical bullets seeping in through the breach.

"Pff~" "Pff~" "Pff~"

In an instant, countless bullets penetrated through that gap, and a splash of blood was visible immediately.

Ripping open a breach was like breaking a dam, with floodwaters furiously squeezing out of the gap, unstoppable.

The scale of the war tipped after a moment of standstill, decisively turning towards the other side!

The Metal Storm swirled into the midst of the gold knights, then violently tore apart from within.

Su Lun slightly narrowed his eyes and heaved a sigh, thinking, "At least all that money wasn’t wasted."

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...

Producing this "superweapon" didn’t mean Su Lun had the confidence to use it.

Every second was painful.

Just now, in the ten or so seconds that these machines opened fire, he estimated the ammunition spent, visibly seeing a substantial reduction in his wealth.

Alchemy bullets sold for nearly ten thousand Liso each on the market, and even though Su Lun now had his own war workshop, the manufacturing cost of alchemy bullets was around a quarter to a fifth of the market price. Still, he couldn’t afford the consumption of the "Thirty-Six-Barreled Metal Storm."

This device’s ultimate firing rate of over a million rounds per minute meant one machine theoretically could consume tens to hundreds of billions of Liso.

Even a regular bullet costing ten miles each is immensely expensive—worth tens of millions.

Su Lun felt like a nouveau riche without a steady income; he simply couldn’t afford such luxuries.

If it really were a hundred billion a minute, no one could bear the cost.

It was purely a matter of throwing money at someone’s face, a costly tactic.

With that money, it would be better to invest in other powerful weapons or cursed objects.

In short, it was totally not worth it.

Overall, Su Lun felt that this thing... was pretty much a white elephant.

It gave the impression of using a cannon to kill a mosquito, only applicable under specific conditions.

Just like now.

With the charge of the Golden Knight Legion, Su Lun had no other choice.

If he weren’t reluctant to use the "Plane Crystal," he wouldn’t have dared to use this thing.

Once this money-losing machine started firing, the loss was guaranteed.

He prayed that perhaps gathering the corpses afterward might recoup some of the losses.

...

Being the creator, Su Lun was naturally aware of the pros and cons.

But others hadn’t yet realized the uselessness of this "Storm Hammer,"

They only saw the terrifying power of the weapon!

All the bystanders saw was Su Lun flicking his finger, and then a few machines spewing flames.

Then, in just a few moments...

Emperor Luying’s top knight legion "Golden Shield Heavy Armor Knight Corps" got breached?!

A massive charge by a knight legion, untouchable by top professionals, was actually stopped by a few machines?

It was not just breached; in an instant, it turned into a one-sided slaughterhouse, with the Metal Storm shredding through the knights, limbs and chopped arms flying everywhere, quickly followed by a rain of blood.

At the same time, spectators from all over had different expressions, all shocked.

Delin Street,

Chief of Police "Solo Dragon" Megan Charlez: "Damn it! Since when did such terrifying weapons get smuggled into Lingdun City without the police getting any information! Quick, find out how these weapons entered and immediately confiscate the related personnel, supply, and blueprints!"

Fish Market Street,

Head of Military Intelligence Donald Morton: "Arrange for someone to find a middleman immediately, see if we can get the blueprints of this weapon!"

Tailor Street,

Elder Bartolo whispered eagerly: "Oh boy, this young man indeed has some nice items. Sweetheart, why don’t you ask him if he can sell the blueprints? Oh, I almost forgot, he’s your fiancé? Tsk tsk... nice, nice."

XX Reporter: "Super big news! The ’Reaper’ destroys three hundred armored knights in a single attack, my god, what is the backstory of this weapon. This act is even more brutal than his initial slaughter of tens of thousands of pirates..."

All the spectators were greatly alarmed!

All were astounded!

Seeing this unprecedented superweapon, everyone felt a huge sense of crisis.

There was a feeling among them that traditional alchemists were being left behind by modern mechanical alchemy.

Meanwhile, in a building, a mysterious figure wearing a golden mask watched the scene unfolding on Parrot Street and pondered for a long while before finally letting out a deep, melancholic sigh of a hero at twilight.

On the other side, at the Imperial Military Headquarters.

General Nikola Rostov, his shoulders adorned with four golden stars, was drinking coffee.

Although he wasn’t present at the scene, he watched the grand battle on Parrot Street through a special cursed crystal ball.

The moment the "Metal Storm" was fired, the coffee cup in the hands of this top military figure of the Emperor Luying’s Empire paused at his lips, his eyes trembling with emotion, he murmured, "I wanted to see what that Barrett boy had told me about—a person who could bring change to the world. It seems the times have indeed changed... The old steps of Luying can no longer keep up with this era."

...

Scarlet rain, laden with flesh and blood, fell from the sky.

Su Lun held a black umbrella, listening to the pitter-patter of the rain.

He looked up, his umbrella now soaked with blood.

It’s a shame, knights brave and fearless, crashing against the cold spear tips of the mechanical age.

Blade against blade, one must break.

Three hundred heavily armored knights came fearless, left blood-drenched.

At both sides of the Metal Storm, just over a hundred surviving knights scattered.

As the strong wind swept past, Su Lun packed up several "Metal Storms" and walked past the now blood-red long street without looking back.

To him, the scattered heavy-armored knights no longer posed much of a threat.

Watching him leave, the sixth-tier legion commander regrouped with the remaining knights and launched another fierce, small-scale charge.

The knights received orders to intercept, so the battle continued until even the last man wouldn’t retreat.

Although Luying was decadent, the knightly spirit was still respectable.

They wanted to leave, and Su Lun had no intention of pursuing them to the death.

But if they came, Su Lun wouldn’t show mercy.

He now held in his hands a black scythe and Dragon-slaying Coins, two armor-piercing weapons, with which the small groups of golden knights were often cut in two, their heads and horses shattered beside him, his eyes filled with blood.

The more they charged, the more they died.

"You have harvested ’Roya Hughes’ soul"

"You have harvested ’Lunen Samuel’s soul"

"You have harvested ’Cleveland Perez’s soul"

"..."

A shadow of death loomed behind Su Lun as he coldly went on his way.

....

Su Lun continued on his way, harvesting the souls of the knights.

Just this two hundred odd, the alchemy knowledge harvested was more than tens of thousands of pirates from the North Sea initially.

He then realized that the Rodriguez family had been completely infiltrated by the "Giant Hermit Order."

Su Lun wasn’t in a hurry to digest those memories. He shook off the remaining few knights, and through several short-distance teleportations, appeared at the other end of the street.

"Prism Barrier" covered several blocks; he had to go a bit further to fully escape the encirclement.

The sound of horse hooves still pursued closely behind him; he didn’t delay any longer, teleporting and quickly walking, soon passing half of the street, which was Manglin Street.

Because of the intense commotion on Parrot Street, the Manglin District above was deserted. Shop owners on both sides of the street were busy closing doors, only the bold occasionally sneaked a peek at the man with the black umbrella walking down the street.

Su Lun didn’t feel that breaking through the encirclement of the Golden Knight squad had made his situation any safer.

Even though various factions were watching the play unfold, the Rodriguez family was one of the top elites with a seat among the six big seats of Emperor Luying. Killing him and the old ancestor would naturally involve more than just what had been shown.

As expected.

Just then, Su Lun heard the black crow on his shoulder suddenly caw sharply.

He immediately knew that a master had arrived.

"Seventh order? I wonder who it could be…"

Su Lun had a rough guess in his mind.

...

Although there were a few eighth-order professionals in Lingdun City, they were all influential figures, probably too busy to get involved in this level of siege.

Moreover, since the "Shadow Baron" had chosen to lend a hand, a deadly deadlock like this would certainly not occur.

Su Lun was not worried.

And the fact that neither the intelligence agency nor the police station’s seventh-order had shown their faces meant that they probably wouldn’t.

So who would come?

Su Lun also yo

Just at that moment, Su Lun’s pupils suddenly contracted, and a sensation of being targeted made his scalp tingle instantly.

The arrival was a middle-aged woman dressed in a business suit with a skirt, carrying a black briefcase in her hand.

As soon as this person appeared in his field of vision, he heard her muttering;"Oh dear, I was advocating for an important verdict, and now I’ve been sent to handle this matter, truly troublesome. But at least I haven’t been delayed, I made it just in time."

The woman had meticulous makeup, and although she was older, she retained an elegant charm. From her expensive-looking business attire, it was clear she belonged to the elite class of Lingdun City. But her long eyeliner and sharp chin gave her face a stern and imposing look.

Seventh-order professionals were all big shots, and Su Lun recognized this woman right away.

She was one of the top ten legendary bounty hunters, "Adjudication Lawyer" Amo E. Clair, a professional of the mystery sector with considerable strength.

It was rumored in the martial world that countless outlaws with bounties over a billion had died at her hand, and she never left survivors.

Heinous methods, malicious scheming.

This person was not only a professional but also one of the top lawyers in Luying.

Of course, this lawyer, as long as you could afford her fees, could help you win any legal case and solve any problem, regardless of whether you had actually broken the law.

Thus, she typically represented the interests of the top nobility.

...

Upon seeing that the newcomer was this woman, Su Lun immediately felt a sense of retreat.

This was not like Master Aubrey, another puppet master, but a seventh-order who posed a significant threat of death.

Moreover, she was not just any seventh-order, but one of the top ten legendary hunters.

None of those ranked among the "top ten" were simple.

Plus, Su Lun had heard of this woman’s bizarre and extreme mystery sector abilities... he really couldn’t beat her!

Although Su Lun knew that his energy had been locked on, the moment he saw her, his body erupted with a layer of spatial fluctuations.

He executed a short-distance "Teleportation" spell, as smooth now as breathing.

But just as he was about to move, the woman lawyer suddenly opened her briefcase, took out an old codex, flipped it open, and began reciting a spell from it with seriousness, "My adjudication codex, clause eleven: I decree, teleportation is forbidden here."

As soon as the words were spoken, an invisible fluctuation instantly covered the entire block as though everything was enveloped in an unseen realm.

Even though they were still a hundred meters apart, Su Lun felt as if the ancient spell was echoing right next to his ear, his expression becoming momentarily dazed.

He thought "crap" to himself, realizing something was awry.

In an instant, he found his "Teleportation" spell had actually failed!

It wasn’t unexpected for Su Lun, as he turned his gaze toward the woman in a suit in the distance and helplessly thought, "Can’t escape, huh..."

He had heard rumors, but facing the Legendary Bounty Hunter firsthand, the feeling of impending death was real.

Yet, Su Lun wasn’t about to surrender without a fight. Facing this overwhelming aura that made it hard to even breathe, a fighting spirit overflowed in his eyes, "Then why not give it a try?"

Escape was possible, but he wanted to exchange a few moves more.

The opponent was strong, but not enough to suppress his will to resist completely.

The moment Su Lun was restrained from teleporting, an imposing aura enveloped him, his skin shimmered subtly, and a shadow of Death rose behind him, while a crow instantaneously transformed into a cloak draped over him.

From a distance, the woman in the suit approached step by step.

Having restricted Su Lun’s teleportation abilities, she was no longer in a hurry, walking and speaking simultaneously, "My Adjudication Law, Article Eight: I declare you guilty, deprived of elemental control."

As soon as the words fell, as if "Word Becomes Law", Su Lun immediately felt his connection to the elemental vibrations around him vanish.

He had indeed experienced the Adjudication Lawyer’s tactic by now.

This woman battled with her tongue in court and did the same in combat – her nagging could literally kill.

Su Lun wasn’t flustered, though, for with the "Heart of Isaac’s Alchemy", being stripped of elemental control wasn’t a major issue.

As he watched the woman make her moves twice, he didn’t stand idle, spreading his hands and slashing a dark scythe at her.

But the woman didn’t dodge or evade; instead, her scornful expression revealed a disdainful smile, and she shot back with verbal jabs, "My Law, Article Two: Here, I am invincible."

Speaking, and before the echo of her voice faded, a spatial rift from the black scythe appeared at her neck.

However, this usually unbeatable slash just whisked past like a breeze, failing to inflict the slightest damage on the woman.

Su Lun internally scoffed, "This tactic is truly exceptional. If others in different professions encountered this – one hand stripping elements, the other boasting invincibility – how could they even play..."

But he had figured out a few things.

The methods of Occultists are bizarre but still operate within the "Principle of Equivalent Exchange."

All of this woman’s various judicial spells stemmed from one domain power of hers – the Judgment Domain.

Its essence was a sort of "absolute control" over substances that don’t exceed her understanding of the laws.

A flash of light swept through Su Lun’s left eye, noticing that this whole street block was within the woman’s domain.

That meant, within this domain, whatever she decreed, the laws must follow.

This is why reaching Tier Seven is such a milestone.

For those who haven’t grasped a domain, facing a Tier Seven, the oppression from the domain will be quite apparent.

Of course, it must be something she understands.

If it exceeds her understanding, she becomes powerless.

Like Su Lun’s Death Law ability, for instance.

If this woman truly understood, she would have stripped it already.

....

Su Lun wasn’t scared; wanting to gauge the extent of their disparity, he charged fiercely toward the woman!

The physical body was a weak point for Occultists, which was the only breakthrough he could think of to potentially harm the enemy.

How fast was Su Lun?

The distance of a hundred meters could be covered in just a couple of breaths, even at the speed of the flesh.

As the black scythe was about to slash across her face, the woman showed no panic and continued to recite the words from the codex, "My codex of retribution, Article five: Time halts, the wicked shall suffer a thousand arrows through the heart!"

Su Lun hadn’t figured out what was happening, but his thoughts were still coherent.

It was as if time had indeed stopped, freezing him in place. Not just him, even the raindrops in the air and the ripples in the puddles had come to a halt.

The only thing moving was the woman’s lips.

The next moment, Su Lun saw judgmental light arrows suddenly appearing from all directions, shooting toward him densely like rain, "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh"...

His body was still in the time-stopped state; there was no way to dodge in space, so he could only watch helplessly as the light arrows flew toward him.

Had it been any other fifth or sixth tier magician, they would have been utterly bewildered by the woman’s one-two punch of spatial restriction, time halt, and invincible BUFF, leaving them with no way out.

Fortunately, Su Lun was wearing a Two-Way Raven Cloak. Countless light arrows were shot, all diminished and absorbed into the two-way cloak.

The woman furrowed her brows when she saw this, clearly aware of the cloak’s formidable power and dared not to let Su Lun come closer or touch it.

What was most important was that she "didn’t understand" the Black Raven’s dimension-lowering ability, so she didn’t dare to touch it.

The "Time Stop Spell" seemed to have its limits, as Su Lun felt the paralysis lift instantly and he was able to move again.

He didn’t care and swung his scythe at the woman.

As expected, the woman became "invincible" again.

With a clang, the scythe struck as though hitting metal, making no progress.

Su Lun was not surprised; he had earlier estimated that the basic attack level of the black scythe was around tier six, so it was not strange that it couldn’t injure this "top ten legend."

To achieve higher damage would trigger a curse backlash like before with the black scythe, dealing massive damage to the enemy but also hurting himself significantly.

There was no need for that now unless it was absolutely necessary.

However, even if his strikes had no effect, he did not idle and kept swinging the black scythe, searching for a weakness to exploit.

In this brief exchange of blows, Su Lun confirmed, as the external intelligence suggested, that Adjudication Lawyer Amo’s close-combat skills were relatively poor.

Not that she wasn’t good, just that her close-combat skills were far from reaching tier seven.

Plus, relying on her invincible BUFF, the slashes from his black scythe were brushed off, posing no significant threat.

Then, the woman used another powerful spell, chanting from her codex again, "My codex of laws, Article eight: The guilty shall undergo the mountain punishment!"

Although the woman had shouted out her move, Su Lun knew no information about this attack.

He also understood why none of the fugitives with a billion bounty who encountered this woman had left alive. Since those bounties mostly involved tier-seven magicians who would not hold back, exposing too much of their tactics would be best dealt with by silencing them.

After all, her "Spell of Word" required the chanting of spells as a prerequisite, and more exposure significantly reduced the threat.

But the Black Raven hadn’t made a sound, which meant there was still not much of a problem.

As Su Lun watched her launching the powerful spell, his gaze sharpened, and he horizontally slashed with the black scythe.

If one looked closely, one could see a cunningly hidden crimson dagger entwined with silk thread beneath him.

Launching a powerful spell was not without its costs; he had carefully observed this woman using her powers several times, each instance marked by a moment when her energy was focused.

It was like the recoil of a gun, which provided the only opportunity.

Though for a tier-seven magician, this "rigid state" was minuscule, Su Lun still sharply seized it!

The woman seemed to sense the danger too, catching a glimpse of the red dagger in her peripheral vision. Whether it was because her body was rigid from spell casting and couldn’t dodge in time, or she felt fearless due to her "invincible BUFF," her evasion was not noticeable.

Almost instantly, as the spell succeeded, Su Lun felt as if an invisible giant mountain had smashed down upon him, like being pierced in the heart by the tip of a bull’s horn, and a mouthful of old blood spat out!

The Two-Way Cloak could reduce the dimension of physical objects and even elemental magic. But against such a pure, intangible conviction, it was utterly powerless.

But at the same time, the blade of the Crimson Dagger in his hand touched the woman’s abdomen. The invincible state that even the black scythe couldn’t penetrate was now, surprisingly, cut open like mud, leaving a gash.

As the cut grew longer, the woman’s complexion drastically changed, and she didn’t continue her spell to suppress Su Lun but retreated repeatedly. Her eyes widened in shock, clearly not understanding why the dagger had effortlessly sliced through her body without any domain intervention.

Su Lun also escaped from that strange stance, where it felt like he was being crushed by a massive mountain, and retreated dozens of meters.

As the force eased, "puh-chit," another mouthful of old blood sprayed out, but a brilliant smile appeared on his face.

Being able to injure one of these "Top Ten Legends" was something only he could do across Luying among the Fifth Order.

By this point, Su Lun had tested some of the woman’s techniques.

He immediately realized that he couldn’t save the [Plane Crystal Core] and had already begun thinking of retreating.

...

The [Siegfried’s Dragon Slayer Dagger] had a continuous bleeding effect, and with one cut to the woman’s lower abdomen, the blood had drenched her white shirt red.

The wound was deep; one could even see the intestines inside the abdomen.

For the first time, fury appeared on the face of this elite class, always wearing an air of arrogance. She then turned another page in her codex, murmuring, "My Adjudication Codex, Article Nine: I am the messenger of justice, not to be troubled by the pain of evil."

Upon casting the spell, a tuft of healing green light emerged from her abdominal wound.

Unfortunately, because of the dagger’s bleeding effect, the wound healed very slowly.

Su Lun watched with a mocking smile curling up at the corner of his mouth.

For such a laceration, the best treatment would still be stitching. Not everyone could stitch wounds with silk thread like him.

The woman’s magical healing methods weren’t too effective.

Moreover, it clarified some things for Su Lun.

Her invincibility was conditional.

All attacks within her domain’s rule level were invincible.

But anything beyond that could injure her.

This meant that the [Dragon Slayer Dagger] was at a higher rule level than her domain!

Now with this dagger, he could even face Seventh Order professionals without fear, possessing a lethal weapon.

"Tsk tsk... really found a treasure. I wonder if it can break through Master Aubrey’s [Barrier Domain]... it would be interesting the next time we meet," he muttered to himself.

At that moment, seeing the raging fire in the woman’s eyes, he knew she was about to unleash her power again.

Even the black crow issued a warning.

The woman was clearly gearing up for a real fight, already flipping through her codex, uttering, "My Adjudication Codex, Article One: What I speak is justice..."

Su Lun had no intention of physically testing what other lethal techniques this "Top Ten Legend" had, always ready to crush a large chunk of [Planar Crystal] and teleport away.

But just then, an unexpected scene occurred!

Before the woman could finish her incantation, suddenly, a coarse "Pah!" interrupted her spellcasting!

Yes,

interrupted!

Not only was Su Lun taken aback, but the woman also had an incredulous look on her face.

Someone had actually interrupted her spellcasting?

Then, unabashed mockery came from the street corner: "You call yourself the embodiment of justice? Ha, how pretentious!"

She sharply turned her head, cautiously looking toward the street corner.

Su Lun found the voice strangely familiar.

Upon remembering who it was, his expression turned odd.

At this critical juncture, that exceedingly cowardly fellow dared to show up?

Even though Su Lun was aware this guy was strong,

are you sure you have the capacity to face off against a "Top Ten Legend"?

Based on his various experiences, Su Lun didn’t believe Old Cowboy had that strength.

But since the woman’s spellcasting was interrupted and there was no immediate threat to his life, he wasn’t in a hurry to escape anymore.

Watching the old man step forward, it was clear he intended to come and "save" him.

Su Lun felt conflicted.

Had he escaped alone, that would have been that, but now someone had come to "save" him.

If he didn’t flee, it was likely a scenario where the opponent achieved a "Double kill";

If he fled, it would seem dishonorable.

Someone had come to save you, how could you just run away?

Su Lun was utterly surprised; he had not expected Old Cowboy to step up at this moment.

Before he could speak, Old Cowboy said, "I’ve got this. You go first."

Su Lun’s eyes twitched as he retorted, "Can you beat her?"

Old Cowboy didn’t directly respond but instead sighed deeply.

"..."

Despite the urgency, Su Lun couldn’t help but roll his eyes: What are you implying, old man?

If the old man planned to fight back, Su Lun was prepared to try with him and flee if they couldn’t defeat her.

But the old man... what does this mean?

However, before Su Lun could get a clear answer, another surprising moment occurred.

The woman opposite seemed to recognize Old Cowboy and sarcastically said, "Well, well, the honorable judge, I didn’t expect you’d still be clinging to life..."

This left Su Lun completely speechless.

Although he knew the old man might have some background, the term "great judge" was still beyond his expectations.

There are many judges in Luying Empire, but only a few could be called "great judges."

If it wasn’t just a nickname, it looked like the old man previously held a high position?

But could such a craven and cowardly person be associated with the sacred profession of a judge?

Su Lun always found it striking.

But then he thought again,

A "Great Lawyer," a "Great Judge"...

These two people, do they actually know each other?