The Duel Part Three

[Terminator Armor, Hercules Pattern: Created to fight during the Dark Age of Technology, this heavy-duty power armor is designed and made to lead AI drones during combat by one person. With built-in teleportation and multi coordination panel, the Hercules Power Armor is a walking command center with compatibility to take over command of an entire company of drones if the situation demands. Range and melee weapons not included.]

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"You freaking cheater!" Makato screams his lungs out with hate and irritation the moment his terminator disappears into thin air. With his armor gone, Makato knows he is doomed and unable to fight William, who is still standing even though he is heavily hurt and missing his left hand.

"I demand the return of my armor and immediate surrender, right now." Makato quickly moved from blaming William to unconditional surrender even though no rule was broken from William's side. In all honesty, Makato is the one who should be the loser of this duel since he did give a command to his party member to interfere using magic.

"Yea, no." William gave his answer and took one step forward towards Makato, still sitting on the grass. Even though he is heavily damaged and missing his left hand, William now has control of the duel and the opponent's prized possession tucked in his inventory.

Makato quickly back-peddled with his hands and got himself up from the ground. Even though he lost his armor, Makato saw his two weapons near him and attempted to grab one from the ground to fight back the black-armored giant. But without his armor, he struggles to lift the heavy weapon from the ground, and before he knows it, William gets close and gives Makato a backhand slap with his missing left hand.

"Our fight isn't over yet. One shall stand, one shall fall!" William activates his black power sword, igniting blue lighting around the blade, giving off an imposing and intimidating appearance.

"Screw this fight and screw you." With half of his face swollen purple, Makato ran away and retreated back to his side of the army where his party and army are. Meanwhile, William watched pitiful retreat and pulled out his bolter rifle from his inventory. With no left hand to hold the rifle, William uses his left arm as support and aims his weapon at the Makato's back. Before William could pull the trigger, he received a vox call from Magos Callias, which he answered but maintained his aim at retreating Makato.

"Magos Callias, if you are calling me, then I assume you are done with the ritual?"

[Your assumption is correct, Lord William. I'm waiting for your order to cut the connection. Still, I'm more concerned with the missing holy relic of the Machine God.] Callias's answer was machine-like due to his dedication to Cult Mechanicus. William couldn't help but sense a slight sense of nervousness coming from the Magos.

"Don't worry, Magos Callias, I have the armor, and you will have the opportunity to study it when we are done with this fight. By the way, cut the connection right about…." Still observing through bolter scope, William ordered to cut the single between Makato and his companions after he saw something interesting happening.

Meanwhile,

Because of Mother's previous interference, Makato couldn't make his party members do as he wished or communicate at will. Makato's frustration increased when the general and the priest of the White Mountain demanded an explanation of breaking the duel, which he initiated.

"What are you doing? You just admit your defeat by coming back here." The general said while his two officers followed him.

"You lost a fight you could have won easily because of your ego. Either you get back to the duel or…." The priest couldn't finish his sentence as Makato drew a sword from one of his companions and stabbed the priest in the stomach. Everyone around him was shocked, and some drew their weapons but didn't attempt to fight back or anything. Meanwhile, none of Makato's companions reacted or moved even when Makato drew the sword from one of the party members. Like puppets without a puppeteer, they didn't move or respond to Makato's command ever since Mother paused the primary link between their devices.

"I don't give a shit about the rules or fight with honor. General, send your troops to engage the enemy now!" Makato pointed his sword at the general and demanded movement of the army with rage until someone behind him grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. Before Makato could turn around completely and see who it was, a solid punch hit his face, the same face William slapped him in previously.

The punch was much weaker than William's, but it was significant enough to hurt Makato and put him down to the ground with a few teeth missing. To everyone's surprise, including Makato, the culprit of the punch came from one of his party members. More specifically, it came from a fighter named Tina, who was the first member to join Makato's party when he first started as an adventurer.

"Why?" Makato said to himself with a questioning tone until the answer to his question came to him with a shiny metal piece tossed to his chest.

"This is why you piece of shit. For everything you have done to us, you are going to pay with blood and pain." Tina picks up the sword from the ground and says to Makato while the rest of the party members remove the metal device and approach the fallen hero.

Consumed by the unmeasurable anger and desire for revenge, each party member attacks the hero while everyone watches it happen. The swords decapitate body parts, daggers stab nonvital organs, and lute smash the groin while binding spells prevent escaping, and healing spells didn't give quick death to the ex-leader of the hero party.

This continued for 30 minutes while no one, even from William's side, bothered to stop the torturing of the disgraced hero of the Legellan. By the time everything settled, Tina had dragged the beaten body of the Makato towards William while the rest of the party members followed her with faces with different expressions.

"Here, take this thing and end it. We want nothing to do with it." The girl named Tina tossed the ragged body of the Makato, who is still conscious, at William and stepped aside to make room.

"Hey, I see you have a relationship problem. Do you want my advice?" William put his bolter and black sword away while asking Makato the same question Numen asked him a few days ago.

"Go fuck yourself," Makato spoke to William powerlessly. Makato is sure his body is missing a few essential body parts and in so much pain that he can't move around to check at all.

"You have to be honest, man. You can't just manipulate people close to you like chess pieces. Trust me, I know someone who has done something similar, and it didn't go well for him in the end." William said to Makato with a sympathetic tone as if put away his bolter rifle and black sword. This action gave crippled Makato hope to live even if he had to be a prisoner of war.

"Does this mean you will spare me from them?" Said Makato. Hearing this, William pulled out his weapon from his inventory and lit it up, ready to use it. Even though William is missing his left hand, he can still hold the weapon with his primary hand and use it without any problems as long as he doesn't have to move or change direction.

"What is that? A flamethrower?" Makato's hope went to zero percent the moment he saw William pull out a strange weapon with fuel cans and torch ignited from the end of the barrel.

"Oh, this isn't called a flamethrower. It's called flamer, a heavy flamer." William answered Makato's question and unleashed the flame hot enough to melt tank plating armor in full force. In a second, Makato's body is washed away, and the duel between two champions of two factions ends with William as the victor.

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The army of the Legellan surrendered to William without any resistance after the duel ended. Knowing what William is capable of and seeing more giants with similar armor, many soldiers of Legellan, including the officers, willingly lay down their arms. William's army captured 5,000 soldiers, 800 knights, and 1,000 non-combatants such as cooks, servants, and other supporting personnel from Legellan.

With an exceptional record of only two deaths (Makato and the priest), William's first military campaign so far had no casualties or wounded, except for William himself, who is missing left hand, wounded, and power armor needing heavy-duty repairs.

Even with clear victory and no loss, William faced an overwhelming number of prisoners of war and trouble with handling them. William has to be responsible for the prisoners and their needs, including food and shelter, which he doesn't have a number or location to handle them. There is always an option of wiping them out with bolters and flamers, but William decided to avoid it since Rana would surely disagree with that solution.

"How about you confiscate their weapons and let them go? Of course, you will hold important prisoners such as high-ranking officers, but it will reduce your responsibility significantly. Also, you don't have to worry about prisoners coming back since they are more than willing to run back home and stay hidden instead of facing the death penalty for desertion." Rana said to William when he asked her about how to handle Legellan prisoners. Hearing this, William decided to go with this direction since he will be ruling the same people in a few days, but many of his own people object to this idea for many reasons.

"You can't expect them to stay hidden. What if they come back with more force?" Veteran Cantus of the Black Templar said to Rana while a few of the Space Marines nodded their heads with an agreement.

Fewer words came and exchanged while William sat silent while a few medics treated William's missing hand. William is not on his armor since it requires repairs, and due to heavy damage, it would take two weeks to completely repair it, according to his repair drone in his inventory. As for the terminator armor, William can't really use it since the Mother could manipulate the armor just like she did to Makato. So, William gave it to Magos Callias to be researched, and this includes two weapons they recovered from the grass field. Until then, William decided to wear his plain civilian clothes with his standard war gear with him.

"I don't think we have to worry about them coming back any time soon. I agree with the Duchess, gentlemen. I know soldiers when I see one, and they are nothing but peasants mixed with politics of heretical religion. If they come back, let us handle them with flamers and bolters." Lord Creed said out loud, which silenced the room and made Black Templar sit back down.

"I agree with the Lord Creed. We could end this war by the end of this week. Holding this many prisoners will just slow us down and waste needed resources. As for the mass execution, that won't do us much good if we are to hold the land in the end." Veteran Sergeant Sariel of the Blood Angel said with an agreement to the Duchess and Lord Creed advice, which even Commissar Cain agreed to it.

"We are going to release them. There is no need to have an extra mouth when we have our own people to take care of. Commissar Cain, please oversee this matter and separate the prisoners based on their importance and status. If they trouble you, you have my blessing to execute them accordingly. Brother-Lieutenant Bolic Firehammer, please handle the weapons we confiscated. I'm sure you can make something out of all those irons with your skill of forging. As for the rest, we will move once Commissar Cain and Brother-Lieutenant Bolic Firehammer are done with their assignment. Prepare yourself. We will end this war and destroy this 'Mother' once and for all." William ends the meeting while having Lord Creed stay behind. When everyone left the meeting tent and made sure no one was around, William asked Lord Creed what had been bothering him since the end of the duel today.

"Lord Creed, I need your honest opinion from you. What I'm about to ask isn't something I want others to know." William said to Lord Creed with a severe face and tone. This made Lord Creed curious on what could make William, the Champion of the Emperor, serious enough to keep it secret from the rest.

"What is your concern, Lord Imperator Fratrum?" Creed pulled out his flask and gave it to William as he asked with a neutral tone.

William received the flask and took a small sip from it, which he could taste the bitter but somewhat smoky flavor from the drink. Afterward, William returned the flask and didn't say anything until Lord Creed took a swing from the flask.

"I think this being called 'Mother' isn't Chaos but rather something else. I'm not sure, but we have to reconsider our next plan of action."