47 Modern Art Sculpture

"Heard that our future priestess arrived today, and we came to greet her. After all, she will join us to dedicate herself to Mother, the goddess of the Holy White Mountain." The male elf known as Elashor Herydark said to everyone normally while tension between two sides was high and ready to kill each other.

The Archbishop has a slim body, green eyes, white skin, and golden hair of an elf race. His clothes were a long white robe with gold lines decoration showing his status as a high-ranking religious group member. Around his neck, he wore a golden necklace with a white mountain symbol in the middle made out of silver. In his hand, he holds a gold staff with a small green emerald in the middle with four different rare gem orbs around the middle piece, showing rainbow color.

As for the three men, they wore similar white robes but without the fancy coloring of gold but had the same golden necklaces just like Archbishop Herydark's. Unlike the Archbishop, the three men show terrified faces as they see four giant warriors clad with full armor and strange devices glowing in blue. But unfortunately, the moment three men saw Prime Minister Waylon behind William, they regained their postures, for they misunderstood William and his battle-brothers as members of the Order of Black Flame, elite knights loyal to the crown.

"You… you should control your dogs, Prime Minister Waylon. If one of us gets injured by your knights, it will spark another war with our goddess and her holy crusaders." One of the three men said with an ignorant and condescending tone to the Prime Minister as they have diplomatic immunity as members of the Legellan representative.

William didn't say anything or do anything as he waited patiently. If this happened outside of the capital city, William would gladly crush all their skulls with his bare hands for insulting him and his battle brothers. The only reason he isn't doing this is because of a promise and deal he made with the Duchess for bringing his three battle brothers to the palace.

"I'm sorry, but William isn't…." Prime Minister Waylon couldn't finish his sentence as the same man stepped forward from the Archbishop and pointed his finger, pressing it at William's chest armor (More like his stomach area).

"You, so-called Knights from the Black Flame, are nothing but hypocrites and cowards. How dare you show your presence in front of us while we are trying to retrieve that murderous whore of a…." The man didn't finish his words, more likely couldn't, as his neck and entire body were snatched from the ground by a giant hand and lifted in the air with a single motion. No one couldn't stop this, for it was beyond a mortal's ability to stop or even react as Space Marine's superhuman strength and reflex can't be matched.

William's face was all to see, for he left his helmet in the audience room previously. His eyes are burning with a raging fire equal to the surface of the sun and emitting death itself as if the wrath of God Emperor himself was coming out from him.

The moment William grabbed the foolish mortal's neck, his three battle-brothers blasted their weapons, disintegrating all eight soldiers of the Legellan in a second. As for the rest of the Holy White Mountain representatives, two men fell to their rear, for they instantly saw their bodyguards' death. As for the Archbishop, he didn't flinch or show any sign of emotion. If he did feel it, he has great willpower to hold himself from showing it.

William pushed the mortal's entire body to the wall and placed him at his eye level so the man could see William's face and eyes. The Emperor's Champion could have easily crushed the windpipe, but he wanted to deliver a personal message for the insult he said without thinking first.

"You, a nameless mortal, dares to insult the follower of the God-Emperor? The pure insolence and audacity to demand her presence is nothing but a mockery to my brothers and me. Be grateful that I will spare your life at this moment, but that will be all as I only made a promise not to kill." At the end of his sentence, William pulled the man's body and shoved it to the wall, leaving a small crater and planting the mortal in the wall as if he was a modern art sculpture. William's hand left the man's body and turned around to see the four men from the Legellan. He knew he broke the promise and was in big trouble for his action, but what was done was done, for he must either pull back or push to cement his responsibility.

"You will not see the Duchess of Argus or take her for your false religion. I, the Emperor's Champion, won't allow this even if you bring an army." William drew his black sword and placed the edge at the Archbishop's face. William's action itself is a declaration of war, and it will spark the war between Legellan and Alder.

Prime Minister Waylon's face is pale as white snow, for he understood what just happened. This was the same for Prince Benton, Rana, Queen of the Alderim, and the rest of the royal guards, as they just witnessed the damage William caused.

The two priests of the Holy White Mountain were both blue and pale as they couldn't believe how a simple knight demolished the diplomatic relation between two nations and killed one of the senior religious figures in front of the Archbishop.

Compared to two simple mortals, the Archbishop showed a completely different reaction. His emotionless facial expression is gone, and his smile can be seen as if he just found lost treasure or excitement that was gone long ago. Moving the edge of William's black sword with his left hand, the Archbishop Herydark faced the giant Black Templar with no show of fear or anger.

"You said you are an Emperor's Champion? I'm not familiar with this title, but I assume you are not a member of Alderim's knight order nor serve them whatsoever. More like a religious mercenary, if I have to guess." Archbishop Herydark guessed it with 100% accuracy, for his composure didn't show a single sign of doubt. This revelation shocked the two men, for they realized their mistake of misunderstanding William for a member of Black Flame. But their fear disappeared as William, and his battle-brothers committed murder in the royal palace, which many of the royal guards were summoned due to plasma weapons fire.

"I serve only the God-Emperor and his will. I do not present Alderim or their crown. This means I just declared war against your Legellan and so-called 'Mother of Holy White Mountain.' This is between you and me, not Alderim." William said out loud to deliver his intention and current situation.

For one thing, this was true as William doesn't serve anyone from Alderim as he holds no title or position within Alderim (If he was given one more day, he would have held a small title from the crown for his achievement).

From a political point of view, a mercenary leader just declared a separate war against Legellan without any backing from the host country, Alderim. In the history of both two nations, this kind of ridiculous scenario never happened or was thought of by no one. If Legellan wants to, they could request military assistance from the Alderim to crush William and his forces since they previously formed an alliance with the crown. This is possible as no monarchy would allow presents to be armed and overthrow the official government, even if it's from a foreign nation.

"I see, but someone invited you here. Someone who has enough authority to invite you and three armed soldiers to the royal capital. I will personally demand reparation from King Benton for your action today, and I look forward to our war on the battlefield." Archbishop Herydark said to William and waved his hand to pull out his man from the wall using magic. A nearly dead mortal levitates in the air, three Black Templars once again ready their weapons to full charge and about to purge the psyker and his warcraft. Unfortunately, they couldn't commit their action to the fullest as William blocked them with his black sword.

"Save it for the battlefield. We broke enough promises, for we shouldn't tarnish the Holy Throne's name for our action." The Black Templars obey William's order, for which if it were a normal situation, they would have ended the war right here right now. The only time they ever restrained their tradition was during Celestinian Crusade, where they had to use their full willpower to stop themselves from purging the Aeldari faction known as Ynnari and Xenos witch Yvraine.

"As the Emperor's Champion commands." The Black Templars stand down and power down their energy weapons, to which everyone finally draws their breath after holding for the Emperor knows how long.

"Killing their bodyguards should be enough warning for them and will take my declaration seriously, for if they want to take Rana, they have to go through me." William turned around and said to the main group in front of him as if it was nothing. The only thing he received from the group is a single punch to his face coming from Lioness of Argus.