With the undending rampage of his colossus, as well as the precise strikes of his pegasus knights, the resistance Echlisiarchy's army could put up was dwindling with every hour the fight kept going on, bringing the siege of the city closer and closer. Though Rex was more than sure there would be no true siege to be had. Not with the colossus that he had at his beck and call. No, breaching the walls would be easier than ever before and with the addition of a unit of SS class humans with angelic bloodlines, he could not see the capital city Rahen lasting long at all. Sure, there would be resistance, there always is, but since Rex was not here to take over the rule of the people present, but to remove them from existance, the unwillingness to cooperate from the local residents was only natural, regardless of how pointless and insignificant it was.
And so, in a few more days of constant bloodshed Rex's army of constructs was knocking on the city walls. As he had planned beforehand, his colossus made short work of a section of the city wall, making more than sizable breach for his remaining constructs to push through. Rex had not been idle in the last few days, constantly working on expanding his construct army, having reached a solid hundred thousand by now, effectively doubling the numbers under his controll in comparison to the start of the final battle. he had to not only erase the capital off of the face of the earth, inhabitants and structures alike, but then send off his army, split in multiple units to the remaining teritories he had yet to purge. Of course, with the most of the capable men slaughtered in this final confrontation, his constructs will have a much easier time finishing the job, allowing for relatively smaller squads to be sent out.
That did not mean he would slack off on his own self imposed rules, not quite ready, or willing, to let any pockets of the cancer that the Echlisiarchy's doctorince and pure hatred for archons to remain and propogate their sick ideology any further. No, it would end with the current generation and if he earned a reputation of a tyrant, that goes to the extremes when he is angered enough, all the better. That would become an aditional layer of security for both Blythe and his people.
So, with the walls breached and his constructs pouring in, begining their slaughter as per ussual, Rex focused his attention on the main task at hand, namely gathering the twelve council members together and introducing them to the soul drain technique. He was not very fond of the technique, having clasified it as one of the worst possible things to do to a soul, but sometimes there were specimens that demanded the most cruel of punishments and in Rex's humble opinion, the council lords were one such group. Becoming a serial murderer after a particularily traumatic childhood Rex could still understand, and even sympatize with the plight of the villain. There would be an obvious cause and effect, but the shit the council lords had ordered, the shit they indulged in their free time as a relaxing activities, well theiy were heavily in line with the practices of their respective families, at times going so far beyond the most wicked and twisted ways, even Rex felt a metaphysical nausea. And that, well that was a feat in and off itself.
Since Rex was in the last strech of his campaign, he decided to do the honors himself, quickly moving towards the first location of interest. It was a rather luxurious mansion on the outskirts of the noble district, paired with a well maintained walled garden of quite spectacular size as well. From a birds eye view, teh garden revealed a rather large expanse of densly covered, but well maintained forested area, clearly a part of the owners frequent games. being the outdoor area with quite the asortment of birds and smaller creatures, his ravens have had a rather easy time infiltrating it, providing Rex with quite a bit of info of the things happening in the well maintained personal park of said noble.
The personal park had been used as a hunting ground of the noble and his friends, the prey delivered from all acorss the continent and beyond. That, on its own did not warrant much of a response. The councill no doube was bussy, limiting the ability of their members to travel around and slake their thirst for a proper hunt. Well, that would be the case if the preffered game of the noble would not be children of the sentient races and that included humans and other 'allied' childern of the light. And the better off the children and the more they struggled during the hunts, the more said noble was willing to pay for the game he had enjoyed, employing quite a few mercenary companies to provide him with quite the selection of quarry.
One such hunting game was actually just started, clearly a celebration of the succesfull execution of their replacement plan, leaving the thrue masterminds out of the harms way, or so the nebles thought. Rex spent little to no time, taking in the current situation in the park, flaring his aura and mana, caralling the frantically escaping kids in one dirrection, having them getting closer and closer to each other with his actions. Soon, the children stoped in a small clearing, clearly spooked opon seeing the others entering the same clearing. They had ran in different dirrections, hoping to somehow escape the pursuit, not aware of the confined nature of the location, guaranteeing their eventual demise. Rex too soon apeared before them, his inhuman eyes working as a calming agent instead of the absolute terror it would instill in his enemies. The kids were well aware of the hatred between Echlisiarchy and archons, so there was no way the young adult archon was working with their captors.
"Heh, not every day I see the sight of my eyes calm people down. Ussually its the other way around. Though admitedly, I have spent too much time lately in the teritory of Echlisiarchy so that kinda makes sense. Seems like we have quite the smart group collected this time." and seeing the sudden alerted glances to the sides at his words, Rex elaborated.
"Sorry, might have made a misunderstanding. While yes, I have been observing the place for a while now, and I have witnessed more than a single of their hunts here, before I was not quite in the position to interfere. Now, however, I was close enough to act. So, the good news is that you will all get to live and go on your own way, as long as you listen to orders for a day or two. I have some business here and cant leave instantly, thus creating the need for a moment of obedience from you. The bad news is that you dont get to have any sort of revenge on the noble cunts responsible for your current situation. Though that particular information comes with a caveat, a pleasant one for you. Whatever I am going to do with them is so much worse than anything you could imagine, you dont want to actually see it take place. So, what say you? Are you capable of following me around for a little while, and maybee, just maybee see a small bit of your grievances quelled?"
It did not take a genius to figure out the safest path for the kids and in no time at all, each and every one of them nodded their heads in agreement.
"Wonderfull." Rex clapped his hands and spoke. "Shall we go and collect my spoils before we move you to a safer place for the time being." Then Rex yelled out a name ''SORIANA!" and shortly after a pegasus with a beautifull lady in rather speldid armor landed next to the group.
"Protect the kids while I deal with the shits in th forest, also, be a dear and point out the council member for me, will you."
"Understood master." she replied, switching her focus to the surroundings, though the children were guarded against her, the clear paladin gear not helping her.
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"Dont mind her. I took her from Echlisiarchy and made her my branded slave, so she is of absolutely no danger to you kids. As long as you dont try to hurt me or her that is."
With a small flare of his mana, Rex mapped out the small wooded area, noting the locations of the hunters, turning in the dirrection of the closest one and moving towards said group, with Soriana and the kids folowing along. In just a few minutes they came face to face with a noble born, acompanied by a group of mercenaries, evident by their aged, but well maintained gear and the general sharpness of their gazes and movements.
"The fuck are you?" spat one of the mercenaries, then, upon noticing the group of kids and the exquisite woman on the pegasus, he exclaimed in confusion "The fuck?"
"Commander Soriana? But? How are you alive?" The noble stammered, clearly quite belivdered by the sight of the high paladin before his eyes. In the corner of his eye he noticed the forsaken looking towards her and Sorianas shaking head, followed by her response to the inquiring gaze of the archon.
"Just a minor noble lord. Not a council member."
"Good to know." Rex noted, his arm moving towards the hilt of his sword. One firmly in his hand, he moved forward, dissapearing from the sight of everyone present, with Soriana barely able to follow his movement. Then Rex appeared in front of the group, slashing at them as he drew the sword from its scabbard, ending the lives of the entire group, earning a few exclamations and a few cries of joy. With a swift motion of his hand, spalltering the remaing blood off of the blade and the returning it to its scabbard, Rex turned his head to the few kids who had exclaimed with happiness at the demise of the mercenaries.
"I take it they are the one that brought you here, most likely raiding your home vilages and such?"
Recieving a few nods and repeated 'Thank you' from said kids, Rex just shrugged, offering them a light smile and a few words.
"You are welcome I suppose. Same thing gonna happen to the rest of the mercs present. Dont have much love for ones who would be willing to provide for the likes of these scum."
It was obviously slightly hypocritical of him to judge the mercenaries with all the shit he has done during his own campaing in the lands of Echlisiarchy, but he had a simple rationalization of his judgement. He was taking care of scum, despicable people who could barely be considered civilized due to the doctorine and faith they practiced and preached. These mercs hunted ordinary, hardworking fold and then brought the kids here to be hunted and slaughtered for sport. So yea, Rex felt more than justified in making a rather obvious distinction between himself and the people here, the kids not including.
The same scenario was repeated a couple of times as Rex and the kids encountered a few other groups of lesser nobles joining in the small hunt that had been organized here. Untill finaly, funnily enough, upon encounering the last group within the hunting grounds, Soriana confirmed Rex guess.
"The blond man with the overly ornate sword is one of the councilmen. The chubby blonde by his side is one of his daughers and the pretty blonde on the horse a bit further back, besides the mercenary captain is his eldest one."
"Good to know. Neos Holy Whores are lacking a few noble woman, so it works out perfectly." Rex nodded in agreement, and in just a few moments dispatched all of the mercenaries and the guards present, eliciting a scream of panic from the chubby daughter and a gasp from the eldest one, leaving only the councilman and his two daughters alive, who, soon enough, were disarmed and tied up with ropes and a few magical seals, making them incapable of resisting. Though the trio was shocked and scared enough to not have any ideas of resistance in mind. Their enemies were just too much beyond their skill level, how else were Soriana claimed by the enemy if not even more overwhelming power. And that idea, it was trully terrifying.
In a similar manner, not before sending of the kids he had with him, Rex moved around the city, collecting the remaining members of the actual council, his constructs having already surrounded the remaining ones, each in turn revealing yet another party where they indulged in their sick hobbies. And unlike with the kids, with most other places Rex and Soriana arived well past the rescue time, revealing a multitude of differently brutalized and torn apart corpes of the poor sods who had fallen in the clutches of the damn nobles.
"Quite impressive is it not? The levels to which the true leadership of your nation has fallen ever since the new commandment left your prophets lips and were recorded in the annals of history. Tell me, do you feel just as proud of what your nation has become as you were whne you started to serve? Just as proud as you were before the barrier around this nation was erected?" Rex asked cassualy as he and Soriana walked towards the main assembly hall of the council, eleven, by now decently beat, nobles in chains were dragged along by a blood construct. Even to the overly arrogant and haughty nobles it was clearer than day, they were dragged towards their ultimate destination. An end of the road none of them wanted to see and come to. Though at this point in time, there was basically nothing they could do to save their own hides from the inevitable end.
"It has been a long time since I looked at my home with fondness, all too aware of the corruption and rot eating it away, a small piece by piece over time. And yet, as the blades that we were, there was nothing we could do, besides bowing our heads and following orders." Soriana was clearly unhappy with how she had acted beforehand. Unhappy, but not repentant, indicating that her aproach most likely would be the same, were she to go through it once more right now.
"We have to be the change we want to see, not bow our heads and trod along, hoping for someone else to do something about the messed up shit that happens all around us." Rex spoke, giving his opinion on the matter, though more as a ,atter of fact, than personal ideology.
"Is that why you started this senseless crusade?"
"Heh. Thats a bit harsh, dont you think? Besides, how many times should I just ignore blatant attempts on my life? I have been far too generous in acting only after the third time."
"Beg your pardon?" confusedly questioned Soriana, visibly distrought about the revelation.
"Hmmm? Did I not share that yet? The reasons for my absolute decisivness in this purge of mine? Ow well, allow me to elaborate then. I will start from the latest ones then. The final nail, so to speak, was the attack of a rather sick inquisitor and his patsies when I was in the heart of Blythe. Deployed a barrier, the dumb cunts, and happily yapped about how they will purge my sins through pain and once I would be broken, they would send my sould to be cleansed by your god or some sort of insanity like that. not too long before that, a party from Echlisiarchy attacked me in the dungeon as soon as they noticed my eyes. Though there was a bit of tracking and staking involved on their side. And the first one was when teh elders of one of your villages discarded me in the woods, as the customs dictate to be done with 'forsaken spawns'. So you see, THE ROT had set in the entirety of your people, thus bringing us to the current situation."
The remaining walk towards the main catedral, where the council held their meetings and steered the path and policies of the nation, was rather quiet, neither Rex nor Soriana speaking, both deep in their own thoughts. Rex was clearly more relaxed, lightly smiling even, unlike Soriana, who had more than a simple frown adorning her face. No, she was full on scowling, more than a little repulsed by the knowledge she had learned from Rex just a while ago. She believed, naively so, that the discarding of the infants had been abolished long ago and while Rex's case would indeed be an old one, the fact that he survived, no matter how, was more than enough to justify some sort of a retaliation. Add the two latest attacks, both in another country and suddenly, the extreme reaction of teh archon somehow starts making sense. If ones mind is brought towards the belief of 'either me or them', it desnt need a genious to figure out which path would a being as powerfull as her new master would take. Did not make it easier to swallow, or accept his course of actions though, no matter how understandable they want to present themselves as. In the end that did not matter much. It was a decision, as well as the consequences of making said decision that Rex had to live with, not her. She was an unwilling slave in this all. Forever bound and branded, but a slave nonetheless. Just do as the master orders. Be the sword once more and it will all be as simple and 'black and white' as it used to.