Down With The Count

"Hm?" The man in black was Artemis. Knelt in front of him was the knight commander of the Fortress City garrison Wart had told him about before he went to visit. 

He was told that Reinhard was a man of good character and honor. Artemis wanted to exploit his sense of good character and honor as a weakness against him. 

But Artemis did not expect them to make the first move, attacking him just after he came out of the forest.

'Damn these people, I had just got out of another 20,000 packs of Wolves, Hobgoblins, a Hydra and other these little annoying creatures out there.'

Artemis thought. 

But thanks to getting mowed down by Mages who all use many types of Holy spells that were directed at him, it did the opposite effect. If Holy magic is used against any Undead, would result in the undead being sucked of all their mana and replaced with pure mana that would instantly kill them. 

But Artemis wasn't dead nor alive in any sense that magic understood. He was in between. And so, his systems that lacked enough energy to function, were powered up to levels even Artemis did not know he could withstand.

The immense power that surged within him was too great and so, he needed to use one of his weapons on the palm of each of his hands at maximum power to expel the excess energy.

If he did not do so for a minute, he would have exploded.

Not exploding into millions of pieces, a type of explosion that causes a wave of energy out of his body. While harmless to Artemis, it will cause mass destruction in the surrounding areas.

His Core Reactor will reject that much energy, which will automatically shoot it out of his body and destroy everything around him. With the destructive power reaching dozens of Gigatons of TNT, it will definitely destroy 1/5 of the continent and kill millions of lives except for himself who can still withstand such an explosion.

He shot the beams two times. The first beam was the most powerful, a pillar of energy was thrown in a straight line and obliterated the gate. The second was less powerful but had a wider range. Instead of launching it vertically, Artemis swiped both his hands around resulting in a horizontal beam that was still powerful enough to decimate the top of the walls and towers over. 

Even Artemis himself was a bit surprised at the amount of power.

"So this is the power of magic," He said nonchalantly after completing his attacks. 

"What a disappointment," He also added.

That kind of power is nothing even compare when he uses Argent Energy.

And right now, Reinhard was begging for mercy in front of him. His head gazing on the ground, his arms shivering and trembling. 

There was no point in killing him and the knights. It was against his plan anyway to do so. 

"Stand," Artemis said. Surprising Reinhard.

"I merely retaliated against your attack but my true intentions don't involve killing any of you folks," Artemis said. Reinhard and the rest, upon hearing this, were taken aback.

They were being shown mercy by a person with Demigod strength.

Reinhard then stood and faced Artemis. The red eyes of his still made him feel fear.

But Artemis did something even he did not think he'd do to a human again.

He placed his right hand over Reinhard's left shoulder and gave him a smile.

"You did good, your men did good," Artemis said.

"All of you," Artemis announced. 

"You did good. Despite being shown such power, despite seeing your friends, teammates, wiped out and killed. You still stood your ground to face me even though you knew that death was the only outcome whether you ran away or not," Artemis said.

"But I don't export death. Not anymore, I merely retaliated against your aggression but now that has been said and done, there is no point in me attacking," Artemis continued.

"Now, let me get to the point. I merely want to visit your lord, I have no intentions of fighting any of you, blood has been shed but I promise you, just let me through and no innocent blood will be needlessly spilled," 

His offer seemed too good to be true but what choice did they have?

But they still weren't convinced.

Artemis sighed in his mind.

"What business do you have with the Count?" Reinhard asked. Feeling more confident. 

"Well it depends, first, I intend to ask him some questions and depending on his answers, it's either I send him running for his life or I take his head right here and now," Artemis said.

"What?" The knights were shocked. Jord suddenly saw a glimmer of hope in the midst of the darkness that had enveloped them until now.

"You intend to assassinate Count Tyrian?" One of the knights stepped out of the line and walked forward.

"You! Get back in the line," Jord shouted.

Artemis then raised his hand. Jord shut his mouth.

"I don't intend to assassinate him. It's either I dispose of him with his head still attached or I execute him for his crimes," Artemis said. 

The knight that had stepped out and walked forward began to tear up. Before he bawled his eyes out, he went to his feet and cried out.

"Thank you, thank you, at long last! My daughter shall receive her justice!" The man cried. His fellow knights looked on and then looked at each other. Each of them had a story, had their own loss and sacrifice, all of which could have been avoided if the Count had just not been greedy. 

One by one, the knights threw away their magic shields and swords and knelt down before Artemis. 

A mysterious and manaless man with power could rival Demigods yet was merciful. If he was going to bring to them the head of the Count they hated, then what happened to the southern wall, they could forgive.

For them, it was a small price to pay. The souls of their comrades-in-arms could forever rest in peace knowing that they did not die in vain and that their sacrifices were going to be honoured.

Reinhard and Jord, seeing the resolve of the knights, bowed their heads.

"We swear allegiance to you," They said.

Huh, now it was Artemis who was taken aback.

These men are crazy, he thought.

Artemis then started walking. The knights all stood aside.

"Pick up your magic weapons and your shields and protect the families here, you and Reinhard, come with me," He said. He pointed at Reinhard and Jord to come with him.

"Where are we going?" Jord asked.

"We're gonna make good ol Tyrian answer for his crimes, that's what we're doing. It's either he answers with him running or his head rolling,"