—3rd Person POV, Earlier—
Getting ready to march on the Sikul Capital, the Holy Knights and Apostles were in the middle of tearing down camp when Vermillion made a surprise visit. Telling them that their marching orders had changed, she commanded that all the troops present to stop what they were doing and line up. Sensing that she was in a very foul mood, everyone rushed over to fall in line and stood silently so she could speak.
“There has been a change in plans, we are no longer attempting to capture the capital…we are going to burn it to the ground. Not a single man, woman, or child is allowed to be spared under any circumstances. Anyone that doesn’t follow this will be killed immediately by me, and their families will be forced to work the mines till they drop dead…assuming the Living God hasn’t taken a liking to the women.”, she told them as she scratched her neck uncontrollably, “Do you bastards understand!?”
“Yes…ma’am.”, the Holy Knights replied hiding their discontent.
Having hoped to let some of the civilians flee, as they didn’t have the heart to kill everyone, their plans were now ruined. With Vermillion here watching them closely, there was no way they’d be able to let people go without being caught. Coming to the realization that they were going to have to kill women and children, Griamore couldn’t take it anymore. He loved Veronica dearly, but he knew she’d never condone killing children in exchange for her own life.
Going to stand up to Vermillion, even if it meant losing his life, Griamore was stopped by Gilthunder who couldn’t watch his brother-in-law and friend get killed. Holding him back as Vermillion turned away from them, Griamore looked at him with tears in his eyes. He had hoped this would have changed Gilthunder’s opinion on the matter but it appeared his friend intend to stick to protecting his wife.
“I refuse to kill innocent women and children, nothing you can say will change that.”, he told Gilthunder in a low voice, “Neither of our wives would want us to do that to save them. They would be guilt-ridden if they knew we had done it to protect them. We have to make a stand…if we go through with this, there won’t be any going back and any honor we have left as knights will be gone.”
“I agree with you.”, Gilthunder admitted making sure no one heard him, “If we are going to make a stand, at least wait till we have Meliodas and the Sins to help us. Standing up to her now will guarantee our deaths will be for naught, waiting till we get there at least gives us a small fighting chance. We can make a stand before the fighting starts, can you wait at least till then? At the bare minimum, our lives can buy the people a few moments to flee…it’s the least we can do after all we have done.”
“Of course…we can die with some dignity and honor.”, Griamore agreed wanting to use his life to save at least one person.
“Why are you two still standing there, get moving!!”, Vermillion shouted at them from afar, “The longer we wait the closer our enemy gets to the capital!”
Having been preoccupied with the itching and biting sensations all over her body, Vermillion hadn’t heard a word they said. Even though she hadn’t, a few knights heard it and agreed with their sentiments. Secretly spreading the word around camp to all the honorable knights, everyone agreed to back Griamore and Gilthunder’s move.
Doing as Vermillion ordered, the troops quickly finished tearing down and mounted up. Heading down the road once everyone was ready, Vermillion pushed them hard trying to beat Cole to the capital. Her plan was to start the massacre before his arrival and vanish when he arrived to avoid being killed today. Since her father and she were aware of the discourse among the Holy Knights, she intended to leave the Holy Knights behind when she left taking only the Apostle with her.
Believing that Cole would butcher them for her, she intended to use this as a warning to the remaining knights under their control. In addition, her father would use their families as meat shields around the temple to ensure Cole didn’t wipe them out from afar. Their only hope for escape was getting Cole close and sending him into another world to buy them time. It would only take a few moments for them to quickly slip away while he was distracted which is what their ultimate goal was now.
“Lady Vermillion, do we have a plan for breaching the walls?”, Hendrickson inquired trying to glean any information out of her, “Our last few attempts were foiled by the Sins and Archangels.”
“We have an inside man helping us this time, he believes that his daughter will be spared if he aids us today. What he doesn’t realize is that his daughter has already died in an unfortunate accident serving the Living God.”, she replied with a smile, “He will ring the eastern alarm bell, and pull our enemies' strength to the east while we attack from the south. Our intelligence shows that the majority of the refugees are on the south side so we should expect minimal resistance.”
Hearing that they were actively targeting civilians first instead of a military target, the knights scowled behind their helmets. Cursing her in whispered tones, all the knights resolved themselves to die buying the civilians time to flee. Even if it was only a few seconds, as they were substantially weaker than the Apostles and Vermillion, the knights were more than happy to die for it.
As the group drew near the capital, they began to hear the sounds of bells ringing in the distance along with smoke rising from the east. Nodding her head with satisfaction, Veronica was feeling good as they hadn’t come across Cole during their travels which led her to believe he was still far away. Coming over a large hill, the capital came into view along with a large group of refugees outside the gate. The moment they saw their group, all hell broke loose among the refugees as they began to panic.
Watching them trample over one another running towards the gate, the City Guards started to close the entrance in their faces while pushing them back. Realizing that the guards were going to abandon the refugees to save the city, the knights knew they had to act now before they got close. If they didn’t do anything it would be too late to save any of them, but as they went to act everyone felt a surge of Killing Intent fall on them. The pressure was so intense that horses began trying to turn and flee from the city which was very odd.
“What is going on!?”, one of the Apostle shouted as he tried to get his horse under control, “Why won’t they listen to us!”
“Fuck he beat us here!!”, Vermillion shouted as she realized her plan was moot now, “Damn it!”
Watching a man they didn’t recognize effortlessly leap over the wall, he began giving the guards orders. When the guards didn’t react to him, the man started to threaten them.
“Get them processed quickly and then close the gate. I will handle the enemy, just focus on getting these people inside safely. If you leave one fucking person outside for a stupid reason, I swear I will kick your ass into last week!”, Cole shouted at the guards as he glared at them.
Turning to face them again, another wave of Killing Intent hit them causing their advance to crumble. Watching a huge wall of earth rise up and come barreling toward them, the group instinctively broke rank and tried to get behind it. Even though most of them could use magic, something told them their spells wouldn’t have done a thing to stop it. Noticing that the man was now on top of the wave, Gilthunder and Griamore hung back to see what he would do next.
“I am right here you bastards!!”, Cole proclaimed as he blew off the head of an Apostle, “Don’t think you going to get past me! Greater Summoning: Behemoth!!”
Watching two giant magic circles appear on opposite sides of the wave, the knight’s blood froze over in fear as gigantic beasts made of fire and smoke emerged from them. Feeling the intense heat the creatures were releasing, many of the knights had to look away as they felt their flesh start to cook beneath their helmets.
“Gilthunder, fall back!!”, Hendrickson shouted as the one closest to them began moving and the wall of earth came crashing down on them.
Swing its massive sword at the fragmented group, only a few people managed to dive out of its way before it reached them. Eviscerating everything it touched, the creatures roared in anger as it unleashed a torrent of fire upon the battlefield. Raising their shields to try and avoid it, the first few Apostles were instantly reduced to ash without a sound. Using his sword to create a trench, Hendrickson grabbed Gilthunder and Griamore before diving into it.
Hearing the flames roar overhead, the three men could hear their comrade’s screams as they were engulfed in flames. Getting out of the trench the moment the fire subsided, they rushed out to engage the beast only to be hit by its explosive roar. Falling to their knees, most of the knights and apostles that survived felt their hearts nearly stop under the onslaught.
“Where is Vermillion!?”, Gilthunder shouted as he searched for her, “Did that woman abandon us to die here!?”
Scanning the battlefield for her, he spotted her running past the beast hell bent on reaching the city. Seeing the bloodthirsty expression on her face, Gilthunder thought she was going to slip past before the man appeared next to her in an instant. Her bloodthirsty expression turned pale a split second before his hand slammed into her left cheek. Watching her skip several times across the ground, she slammed into the hillside behind them creating a twenty-foot crater on impact.
Realizing that blow had seriously injured her, the surviving Holy Knights were left dumbstruck. The Sins and Commandments could barely hold her back, but the unknown man had left her in a daze with just a punch. Knowing that he was stronger than Vermillion, the Holy Knights began to hope she could be stopped by him. Even if he killed them with his beasts, they knew that if he killed her their families might live to see another day.
“Did you really think you’d slip past me bitch?”, Cole said with a smirk, “I am a man of word, I will put you six feet under after I rip your heart out.”
Glancing over at the knights and apostles, Cole gave them an ultimatum.
“If any of you wish to see your loved ones again, throw your weapons to the ground now. You have five seconds to comply or this field will be your graveyard.”, Cole demanded.
Having already sensed the gap in their strength, none of the Knights dared to try and fight him. Throwing their blades to the ground and raising their hands in surrender, Cole nodded his head before waving his right arm.
“Kill anyone with a weapon in hand, leave the rest alone for now.”, Cole commanded his summons before teleporting to Vermillion, “Now then, I think you are overdo for an ass kicking. Having seen the destruction your father and you have orchestrated, I am pissed off and need a punchbag to blow off some steam.”
Creating an intense magnetic field around the entire area, the weapons the Holy Knights threw to the ground began to float up into the air. Precisely maneuvering them into position all around her, he pointed the tips directly at Vermillion. Drawing her own blade out, Cole ripped it from her hands and pulled it into his. Looking it over carefully, he quickly threw it into storage for review later.
“You coward, you intend to fight me when I am unarmed!”, Vermillion shouted trying to throw him off balance.
“Bitch please, I don’t need to hear that from someone who ordered the deaths of countless civilians. Your complaint may work on the Holy Knights because deep down they are good people. Unfortunately for you deep down…I’m not.”, Cole replied as his blue iris’ turned red, “I am done suffering your fucking voice, all I want to hear now is your screams of agony! The whole capital is going to hear you before I feed you your own heart, assuming you have one!”
—3rd Person POV, Earlier—
Getting ready to march on the Sikul Capital, the Holy Knights and Apostles were in the middle of tearing down camp when Vermillion made a surprise visit. Telling them that their marching orders had changed, she commanded that all the troops present to stop what they were doing and line up. Sensing that she was in a very foul mood, everyone rushed over to fall in line and stood silently so she could speak.
“There has been a change in plans, we are no longer attempting to capture the capital…we are going to burn it to the ground. Not a single man, woman, or child is allowed to be spared under any circumstances. Anyone that doesn’t follow this will be killed immediately by me, and their families will be forced to work the mines till they drop dead…assuming the Living God hasn’t taken a liking to the women.”, she told them as she scratched her neck uncontrollably, “Do you bastards understand!?”
“Yes…ma’am.”, the Holy Knights replied hiding their discontent.
Having hoped to let some of the civilians flee, as they didn’t have the heart to kill everyone, their plans were now ruined. With Vermillion here watching them closely, there was no way they’d be able to let people go without being caught. Coming to the realization that they were going to have to kill women and children, Griamore couldn’t take it anymore. He loved Veronica dearly, but he knew she’d never condone killing children in exchange for her own life.
Going to stand up to Vermillion, even if it meant losing his life, Griamore was stopped by Gilthunder who couldn’t watch his brother-in-law and friend get killed. Holding him back as Vermillion turned away from them, Griamore looked at him with tears in his eyes. He had hoped this would have changed Gilthunder’s opinion on the matter but it appeared his friend intend to stick to protecting his wife.
“I refuse to kill innocent women and children, nothing you can say will change that.”, he told Gilthunder in a low voice, “Neither of our wives would want us to do that to save them. They would be guilt-ridden if they knew we had done it to protect them. We have to make a stand…if we go through with this, there won’t be any going back and any honor we have left as knights will be gone.”
“I agree with you.”, Gilthunder admitted making sure no one heard him, “If we are going to make a stand, at least wait till we have Meliodas and the Sins to help us. Standing up to her now will guarantee our deaths will be for naught, waiting till we get there at least gives us a small fighting chance. We can make a stand before the fighting starts, can you wait at least till then? At the bare minimum, our lives can buy the people a few moments to flee…it’s the least we can do after all we have done.”
“Of course…we can die with some dignity and honor.”, Griamore agreed wanting to use his life to save at least one person.
“Why are you two still standing there, get moving!!”, Vermillion shouted at them from afar, “The longer we wait the closer our enemy gets to the capital!”
Having been preoccupied with the itching and biting sensations all over her body, Vermillion hadn’t heard a word they said. Even though she hadn’t, a few knights heard it and agreed with their sentiments. Secretly spreading the word around camp to all the honorable knights, everyone agreed to back Griamore and Gilthunder’s move.
Doing as Vermillion ordered, the troops quickly finished tearing down and mounted up. Heading down the road once everyone was ready, Vermillion pushed them hard trying to beat Cole to the capital. Her plan was to start the massacre before his arrival and vanish when he arrived to avoid being killed today. Since her father and she were aware of the discourse among the Holy Knights, she intended to leave the Holy Knights behind when she left taking only the Apostle with her.
Believing that Cole would butcher them for her, she intended to use this as a warning to the remaining knights under their control. In addition, her father would use their families as meat shields around the temple to ensure Cole didn’t wipe them out from afar. Their only hope for escape was getting Cole close and sending him into another world to buy them time. It would only take a few moments for them to quickly slip away while he was distracted which is what their ultimate goal was now.
“Lady Vermillion, do we have a plan for breaching the walls?”, Hendrickson inquired trying to glean any information out of her, “Our last few attempts were foiled by the Sins and Archangels.”
“We have an inside man helping us this time, he believes that his daughter will be spared if he aids us today. What he doesn’t realize is that his daughter has already died in an unfortunate accident serving the Living God.”, she replied with a smile, “He will ring the eastern alarm bell, and pull our enemies' strength to the east while we attack from the south. Our intelligence shows that the majority of the refugees are on the south side so we should expect minimal resistance.”
Hearing that they were actively targeting civilians first instead of a military target, the knights scowled behind their helmets. Cursing her in whispered tones, all the knights resolved themselves to die buying the civilians time to flee. Even if it was only a few seconds, as they were substantially weaker than the Apostles and Vermillion, the knights were more than happy to die for it.
As the group drew near the capital, they began to hear the sounds of bells ringing in the distance along with smoke rising from the east. Nodding her head with satisfaction, Veronica was feeling good as they hadn’t come across Cole during their travels which led her to believe he was still far away. Coming over a large hill, the capital came into view along with a large group of refugees outside the gate. The moment they saw their group, all hell broke loose among the refugees as they began to panic.
Watching them trample over one another running towards the gate, the City Guards started to close the entrance in their faces while pushing them back. Realizing that the guards were going to abandon the refugees to save the city, the knights knew they had to act now before they got close. If they didn’t do anything it would be too late to save any of them, but as they went to act everyone felt a surge of Killing Intent fall on them. The pressure was so intense that horses began trying to turn and flee from the city which was very odd.
“What is going on!?”, one of the Apostle shouted as he tried to get his horse under control, “Why won’t they listen to us!”
“Fuck he beat us here!!”, Vermillion shouted as she realized her plan was moot now, “Damn it!”
Watching a man they didn’t recognize effortlessly leap over the wall, he began giving the guards orders. When the guards didn’t react to him, the man started to threaten them.
“Get them processed quickly and then close the gate. I will handle the enemy, just focus on getting these people inside safely. If you leave one fucking person outside for a stupid reason, I swear I will kick your ass into last week!”, Cole shouted at the guards as he glared at them.
Turning to face them again, another wave of Killing Intent hit them causing their advance to crumble. Watching a huge wall of earth rise up and come barreling toward them, the group instinctively broke rank and tried to get behind it. Even though most of them could use magic, something told them their spells wouldn’t have done a thing to stop it. Noticing that the man was now on top of the wave, Gilthunder and Griamore hung back to see what he would do next.
“I am right here you bastards!!”, Cole proclaimed as he blew off the head of an Apostle, “Don’t think you going to get past me! Greater Summoning: Behemoth!!”
Watching two giant magic circles appear on opposite sides of the wave, the knight’s blood froze over in fear as gigantic beasts made of fire and smoke emerged from them. Feeling the intense heat the creatures were releasing, many of the knights had to look away as they felt their flesh start to cook beneath their helmets.
“Gilthunder, fall back!!”, Hendrickson shouted as the one closest to them began moving and the wall of earth came crashing down on them.
Swing its massive sword at the fragmented group, only a few people managed to dive out of its way before it reached them. Eviscerating everything it touched, the creatures roared in anger as it unleashed a torrent of fire upon the battlefield. Raising their shields to try and avoid it, the first few Apostles were instantly reduced to ash without a sound. Using his sword to create a trench, Hendrickson grabbed Gilthunder and Griamore before diving into it.
Hearing the flames roar overhead, the three men could hear their comrade’s screams as they were engulfed in flames. Getting out of the trench the moment the fire subsided, they rushed out to engage the beast only to be hit by its explosive roar. Falling to their knees, most of the knights and apostles that survived felt their hearts nearly stop under the onslaught.
“Where is Vermillion!?”, Gilthunder shouted as he searched for her, “Did that woman abandon us to die here!?”
Scanning the battlefield for her, he spotted her running past the beast hell bent on reaching the city. Seeing the bloodthirsty expression on her face, Gilthunder thought she was going to slip past before the man appeared next to her in an instant. Her bloodthirsty expression turned pale a split second before his hand slammed into her left cheek. Watching her skip several times across the ground, she slammed into the hillside behind them creating a twenty-foot crater on impact.
Realizing that blow had seriously injured her, the surviving Holy Knights were left dumbstruck. The Sins and Commandments could barely hold her back, but the unknown man had left her in a daze with just a punch. Knowing that he was stronger than Vermillion, the Holy Knights began to hope she could be stopped by him. Even if he killed them with his beasts, they knew that if he killed her their families might live to see another day.
“Did you really think you’d slip past me bitch?”, Cole said with a smirk, “I am a man of word, I will put you six feet under after I rip your heart out.”
Glancing over at the knights and apostles, Cole gave them an ultimatum.
“If any of you wish to see your loved ones again, throw your weapons to the ground now. You have five seconds to comply or this field will be your graveyard.”, Cole demanded.
Having already sensed the gap in their strength, none of the Knights dared to try and fight him. Throwing their blades to the ground and raising their hands in surrender, Cole nodded his head before waving his right arm.
“Kill anyone with a weapon in hand, leave the rest alone for now.”, Cole commanded his summons before teleporting to Vermillion, “Now then, I think you are overdo for an ass kicking. Having seen the destruction your father and you have orchestrated, I am pissed off and need a punchbag to blow off some steam.”
Creating an intense magnetic field around the entire area, the weapons the Holy Knights threw to the ground began to float up into the air. Precisely maneuvering them into position all around her, he pointed the tips directly at Vermillion. Drawing her own blade out, Cole ripped it from her hands and pulled it into his. Looking it over carefully, he quickly threw it into storage for review later.
“You coward, you intend to fight me when I am unarmed!”, Vermillion shouted trying to throw him off balance.
“Bitch please, I don’t need to hear that from someone who ordered the deaths of countless civilians. Your complaint may work on the Holy Knights because deep down they are good people. Unfortunately for you deep down…I’m not.”, Cole replied as his blue iris’ turned red, “I am done suffering your fucking voice, all I want to hear now is your screams of agony! The whole capital is going to hear you before I feed you your own heart, assuming you have one!”
