The grand hall was an enourmous building. Built from white marbe, with quite the magnificent garden, filled with numerous aromatic roses and countless statues of angels , all around it. Large, well decorated and grafted columns decorated the road that led to the main entrance, though now, it was also littered withe the corpses numerous defenders in warious states of dismemberment, their blood pooling at a rather inconvinient point in the middle of the aproaching path, displaying a small mistake in the design of the place, the small drain blocked by a body of a rather fat nobleman, giving the place a rather dark and sarcastically humorous view. At the very least, with Rex words

"It trully reveals its splendor with the aid of noble blood of this nation."

Rex chuckled, then not seeing the purchase of his humor in the visage of his current companion and the nobles being dragged along, he sighed, shrugging his shoulders.

"Tough crowd today it seems." Rex could not help himself. This rather arduous, if somewhat productive........

Who was hetrying to fool? He himself knew better than anyone just how ineficient thi campaign had been, On a pure growth aspect he could have spent a month devling deeper in one of his already started dungeons, far surpassing whatever he had gained during his crusade. Though the fact he had run into and subsequently saved his sister from a likely death, either by suicide, there at the graveyard where he met her, or suicide after the damn toll collector would have finished having his way with her. That alone was more than reason enough to justify this part of his new life. Still, he felt glad that he was almost done and very soon, could return to a more relaxed and pleasant activities. He had a couple of brats on the way, a lot more willing ladies waiting for their turn, a GOD expecting more and more entertainment, even if unspoken and with no dirrection. Still, there was far too much to enjoy in this world. Countless continents, islands and dungeons to explore. Numerous races and cultures to witness and much, much more. But first, first he would finish what he started, thenbe present for the second auction hosted by Blythe and then, well, who knows.

The large metalic doors, lined with numerous golden engravings smoothly opened with a simple push of Rex's arm, revealing a pristine path forward, not a single guard in sight. After a quick surge of both mana and aura, Rex sensed only a single person within the grandious building, sitting in the largest and central meeting room.

"Well, well. It seems we are expected. Come along." Rex smiled lightly as he took the front position of their group, consisting of him, Soriana, the chained council members and now the remaining paladins of pegasus knights, finishing the procession. In just a few minutes they reached the room in question, once again the door in front of their group easily opening with a light push. The building was indeed in a pristine condition, Rex had to admit. It was also a rather magnificently crafted piece of art, no matter how much Rex would like to deny it. It was also old, very much so, but the constant and continious care had kept it in a pristine condition.

"I have to say, one upon a time your peopel must have been worthy of respect. Sadly, there is nothing left of them now." Rex begrudingly admited, entering the room.

What faced him was an incredibly well crafted marble table, with some extremely high quality twelve chairs surrounding it. All the chairs, mini thrones even, were adorned with plush cussioning and plenty of gems and jewels, indicating the eccessive luxury and wealth they represented. Only one of the chairs was occupied, and old and tired man sitting in his seat.

"Damn, you look a decade older than a few days ago. Ate something bad?" Rex smirked, revealing he had a way of keeping tabs on the enemy leadership, even if in a limited capacity, though there was no sudden gasp or any other action that imply a suprise on the old mans face or in any of his actions. Only a small sigh, a sign of an expected piece of knowledge being confirmed.

"Though as much." the councilman Bairon spoke, his words even and calm, not loud, not quiet either, spoken with enough volume to be heard by the group standing in front of him at the door.

"Here to finish the job I asume?" he asked, momentary glancing towards the remaining bound councilmen.

"Ahh, I see you have gathered everyone. He, he. I suppose thast for the best. Woud'nt want to take over with rodents still insfesting the gardens. Smart. Cough, cough." Rex could see that his campaign had also hastened the already decaying health of the most feared and respected councilman in the last century.

"I have yet to figure out your vice old man." He spoke, seeing as the Bairon elder was waiting on him to say something. "Everyone esle, including your family had beenrather easy to catch with their hand in the proverbial cookie jar, but you, you have eluded me. Care to enlighten me before your end?"

"Cough, cough." the old man coughed, but apparently humored the enemy lord in front of him, withdrawing a stack of papers from his storage ring. "Have a look. This is my hoard. My sick and twisted hobby, so well hidden not one of my fellow nobles were aware of it."

Rex walked over, not worried one bit about the old man, who exuded not an ounce of aura, mana or even desire to fight. He was tired, and finally ready to enter the cycle, having doen his best to live a good life acording to his own principles. He examined the stack of papers, his face displaying a rather prominent frown.

"Oi, is this what I think it is?" Rex ganced at the old man, his arms moving in his field of vision, his left hand formed an OK sign, while his right hand folded into a fist, then extended his index finger and moved it back and forth through the circle made of the connecting index finger and thumb of his left hand.

"Really?" Then he looked towards Soriana and theremaining council. "How much part has he taken during the council meetings before the rise of the barrier?"

"I have rarely been here during any of those, though from my experience he tends to say nothing, leaving the decisions to the rest of the council, as if he was there to just fill in the position, not caring of the decisions made." Soriana spoke, seiing noone else daring to pone their mouths. They had been moved to sit in their respective seats during this time, their mouths no longer gagged at this point, though still mostly chained and incapable of much else.

"You have seen the state of my house, have you not? It was better to sit here and do nothing, than let anyone of my blood make decisions here." the old man slowly spoke. "Could I have done something to reign in my people? Probably. Did I care enough by this point? Not really, thus the result. So tell me archon, what was the plan of bringing us together here? Surely there is more than just gloating in store for us. I dont think even for a second you are that kind of a man."

"Normally, I would proceed with the torture righ about now, but seeing your vice, I find it kinda hard to do so." Rex replied, once again looking over to the parchments, dsiplaying several letters and a few portraits of quite beautifull women, some even with a child or two and some more with young adults in them.

"I asume none of the kids are like the mothers?" Rex asked now, not seeing the distict archon eyes in the children, unlike the mothers in the portraits.

"Good thing too. Cough, cough. Could be hard to deal with my condition. Plus that was a double blessing. They were safe from any of the inquisitors who could have wandered into the towns they lived in."

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Yes. Rex was suprised as all hell by the vice of the most powerfull and feared of the Bairen blood. The man had an insatiable sexual apetite for archon women. So much so that he had embraced them whenever he met one during his travels outside of Echlisiarchy.

"Could have curbed a lot of the shit that lead to this you know. Why didnt you?" Rex asked, rather interested in the mans answer.

"Heh, cough, cough. I am but a single man in a den of vipers. No matter how well protected and skilled I am, there will always be an opening that would be exploited. I would just end up dead much sooner and then there would be no unseen protecors for them." he tgestured towards the stack of papers he had placed on the table.

"And besides, my inactivity did finally drew you to deal with us, did it not? Cough, cough. I say I did my job well enough while looking out for my own." A slight smile appeared on the mans tired face.

A few minutes of silence followed as Rex processed the words he had just heard, not one of them being a lie, or so his senses told him. Then Rex slowly lifted his hands and clapped them together once, then slowly did so again, and again, increasing the pace bit by bit, untill it resulted into a rather slow, but rithmic clapping.

"Bravo sir, Trully." Rex had to admit, the man had played his cards well, allowing the rotten carcass to roll untill it hit soemthing that would burn it to the ground, while ensuring that his own people had long escaped said carcass, avoiding the coming calamity. And unlike Rex, who could do as please, the old man had too many limitation and too many possible enemies to solve the rot any other way. He had, rightfully so, realised that only a proper purge of the nobility and upper echeaolons of their society could their nation start its healing process, and maybee, one day it could reach the prosperity it had once in the ages past.

"You know, there is only one small hickup in your plan, as good as it is." Rex spoke once he was done applauding the old man for his selfishness and ingeniuty at the same time. "I am a slight bit genocidal towards your people. Been ensalving or eradicating everything along my path. Where I walk, no Echlisiarchian remains. Cant quite recover and heal if not even corpses remain behind, can you? Though perhaps, just maybee I dont have to trully exterminate every single one of you. Your god must be watching, surely. Think he has enough juice to send down and angel that rebuffs the retarded teachings of his last prophet, working on fixing the coming generations? You will all die, regardless. Just so you know. Will let you through to the cycle though. Not the rest. No, I have something special for them. Same goes with the nobles, no ones gonna survive as a free person. Death or slavery is all they can hope for."

"I wouldn't expect otherwise, though I do hope that mercy for the common folk could be found in your heart, orwhatever black void you have there. And yes, I do believ our Lord is prepearing such an agent as we speak, most likely poised to descend once you are done with us, should there be our people to descend to, that is."

"Good thing I dont need to oversee that. Purging nobles and leaving the rest alone could be doable." Rex thought for a moment. "Meh, will consult my women later." he shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, that was fun." he grinned as he stepped back from the old man, arriving near one of the the remainng councilmen sat in their seat, tremling even more now than before. Little did they know the trembling they experienced now was nothing with what was to come. And so, Rex hand landed on the head of the councilman he had stood next to, his hand slowly squeezing said head, stopping once it was firmly in his grasp, a cry of pain escaping the poor bastard in his grip. And then then it started. A white, semi transparent energy surged over the man, bringing out the first of many soul shaking shrieks as the man started to toss around, desperatelly trying to dislodge himself from the vice like grip, all the while screaming at the top of his lungs as if his life depended on it, and it sure did, though not in a way that made sense to the poor bastard.

Rex did go somewhat slow with the drain on his first victim, elongating the suffering his first subject of the day. To ensure that the remaining recipients patiently awaited for their turn he pressed on them with his mana, locking each in their own seats, denying any chance of an attempted escape. Some of the members, lord Bairon not including, had already tried to get on their feet and make a desperate attempt at escape, no matter how impossible it would be. Almost no one was crazy enough to just sit and await their torturous demise.

A couple minutes later, the shrieks finally ended, with the body of the first councilman shattering in incredubky small and dispersing mana dust, leaving no trace of the mans existance behind, his clothing and jewelery not witstanding. Those all fell to the ground, no longer supported by the body that had worn them. And to add yet another level of terror to their current situation, Rex delivered the kicker.

"Ow, and this death here, will be the final one you will ever experience. What I am doing here is true and proper soul death. No reincarnation wheel for you fucks."

That knowledge was what made the already terrified councilmen to start trembing even more, some even pissing themselves in fright. Then came the wailing and begging, promising secrets and whatever else they could think of, in hopes of avoiding their coming fates. Rex slightly grimaced, clearly annoyed by the wails and pointless begging, his mind set on this part of his plan. So, he moved his mana once more, shutting the remaining ten councilmen up, since lord Bairon was just sitting in his place, awaiting his turn. Then Rex picked one of his ears with his pinky, scoffing and remarking about the annoyance of the pointless noice he had just been put through.

What followed in the next half hour was more of the soul shaking cries of the councilmen, whose souls were slowly shattered one after the other, untill only the lord Bairon remained. The paladins were going through the space rings of the now deceased councilmen, taking notes of the contents and sorting them. An order Rex had given them after the third councilman was disposed of. Rex stood in front of lord Bairon and looked at him.

"Well, seems like you are the last one remaining. Got anything to say?"

"A shame that, I suppose. The true end of the road. I believe there is meaning in the cycle, even if I am not aware of it. Being plucked from it is undeniably not prefferable, but if that is the price I have to pay for the end of this monster my home nation had turned into, well, so be it."

"Ha ha ha ha." Rex lightly laughed at the mans words. "Quite the resolve you got there old man, but a bit wasted in this case. Funny, isn't it?" Rex asked as he glanced towards on of the windows, a thoughtfull look on his face. "I left a mountain of bodies and countless rivers of blood behind me in this quest of mine, killing and enslaving everyone from your country and yet, all it took was one old amd decrepit man with a fetish for archon women who shoved a possible alternative. A possibility, that maybee, I dont have to exterminate the entirety of your people. That maybee they can be redeemed."

Then Rex looked back towards the old man in front of him "I am still purging the nobles, repurposing part of the territory for the use of my Svergi friends and a few other things, but I suppose a soul on its way to the wheel has no use for the info."

The old lord Bairons eyes widened at those words, but before he could speak, his head fell of his shoulders, cleanly seperated from his body by a swift and decisive slash from Rex. He had drawn another simple sword from one of his storage spaces, cleanly ending the old mans life.

"Have a nice and honest next life old man. Ow, and snag a wench or two, you no doubt deserve it."

Rex withdrew a chair from his space ring and sat on it, his mind in deep though. He remained like so for a few hours, no doubt contemplating his actions during the campaign in light of his latest discovery. He had gone and went overboard, he realised. Sure, his original hometown deserved a proper purge, so did the first village he tested with that little trick of his, but the rest? Rex would never know now, any chance for a proper test out of the question now.

He sighed, a realization slipping into his mind. "Guess i will feel somewhat guilty for a while for my overzealous crusade."

With those words Rex constructs stopped their indiscriminate slaughtering, though more than half the city was already in ruins.

"Soriana." He adressed his high paladin slave.

"Yes master?"

"New orders for you and your team. Can you find uncorrupted and honorable people among the survivors in the city? Does your skillset allow for it?"

"Yes sir, I believe so."

"Good. Then gather a group of a hundred or so. And get us some records of the noble family trees. Still have to purge that taint if I am to spare most of the sheep that is still alive. That too will be your and your teams responsibility, so make sure it is thorough, because it is that, or I WILL finish my damn purge. Are my orders clear?"

"YES SIR!" she exclaimed. "Thank you sir!" she added as she turned to leave the hall. "With me paladins. Its time to save our people." For the first time since she was branded there was a fire of conviction in her voice once again. A purpose of the light she had sworn to serve.