Chapter 369: Beneath Throne Mountain, Part 2
"Halt! Under the law of the royal court, serfs found fleeing their assigned district are to be put to death. Final warning. HALT!!"
Two six-meter squire-suits sprinted after a crowd of fleeing commoners, the pilots' stern voices carrying over the vox, ordering them to stop.
But whatever the commoners had seen, the warning only made them run faster, not slower.
"Traitors! Under the law of the court, I sentence you to death!!"
Both squire-suits' vox-amplifiers barked out furious orders, and the suits surged forward, plowing straight into the fleeing crowd.
These were six-meter towers of adamantium, over a hundred tonnes each, their absurdly overpowered engines letting them hit speeds north of a hundred and fifty kilometers an hour.
The instant the two squire-suits crashed into the crowd, bodies came apart in every direction.
Anyone struck outright was left twisted into grotesque shapes. Anyone underfoot was ground straight into the mud, reduced to a smear of blood and pulp.
The two suits ran several passes through the crowd, and in moments, several hundred people lay dead.
Luca stared in disbelief, then bellowed out loud.
"STOP! Which House do you serve?! How dare you slaughter the court's own people like this?!"
The Knight's vox carried far enough that the two squire-suits, several kilometers off and still butchering civilians, heard him clearly and froze, turning to face the towering Knight suit approaching in the distance.
They snapped into a combat stance immediately. On a world where powered weapons no longer worked, both squire-suits had their arms fitted with chainswords, and they still looked plenty intimidating.
"We serve as squires of the High King's own House! We're carrying out royal law, hunting down escaped serfs! Freeblade ahead, identify yourself!!"
One of the pilots, noting Luca's Knight carried no house crest, immediately clocked him as a Freeblade, and there was a distinct thread of contempt in his voice.
A Freeblade had cast off his family's honor. Men without honor, even lowly squire-suit pilots, looked down on that kind of person.
Luca scoffed coldly. "I am the Freeblade Luca."
He didn't give his surname. Since becoming a Freeblade, he'd abandoned it entirely, going by Luca alone now.
But the name Luca clearly carried weight on its own. Both squire pilots froze for a beat, then dropped their combat stance almost instantly, their tone shifting to something close to deference.
"Lord Luca! It's been some time. It seems your world tour is nearly complete. Are you heading home now? Shall we escort you?"
Kian looked at Luca, genuinely surprised. What's this about, then? So this guy actually is somebody important. Squires of the royal House itself showing this much deference, this "boy" clearly wasn't as low-key as he'd let on. Playing the pig to eat the tiger, was he?
Luca gave a cold snort.
"What exactly do you think you're doing? You dare slaughter the court's own people?! Has the royal court gone so mad it's turned you jackals loose on innocent civilians? Have you completely abandoned the Knight's code?! STOP THIS SLAUGHTER, NOW!!"
Both squire pilots' expressions soured at being scolded like this.
"Lord Luca, you left the royal House. You became a Freeblade. You abandoned even your own surname. That being the case, you have no authority to give us orders. We are currently enforcing royal law, hunting escaped serfs. Do not interfere with our duty."
With that, both suits ignored him entirely and went right back to trampling the surrounding civilians.
The crowd scattered in every direction, but nothing on foot could outrun a Knight suit, and they died screaming, crushed into pulp underfoot.
Luca's eyes went bloodshot with fury.
"STOP! Our world has no slaves! Every soul on it is a subject of the High King! How can you do this?! HOW CAN YOU DO THIS?!"
Neither squire-suit paid him any mind, continuing their hunt.
In that short span, the two of them had already killed well over a thousand civilians, the ground soaked red from end to end.
Luca couldn't hold back any longer. He let out a furious roar and charged.
His Hellstrike chainsword roared to life in his right hand, lightning crackling across the powered gauntlet on his left.
He broke into a full sprint, and twelve meters of adamantium moving at speed shook the ground like an earthquake.
His Knight class was the fastest of all Knight patterns, and he closed the distance to both squire-suits in what felt like an instant.
Both squires were still occupied hunting civilians, too distracted to notice him coming, and the next moment, Luca was already on top of them.
His powered gauntlet shot out and scooped one squire-suit clean off its feet.
The disruption field in the gauntlet spiked to full output, fingers closing hard, and the smaller suit's frame crumpled and shrieked, warping into an unrecognizable mess in seconds.
The pilot inside never even had time to cry out before the cockpit deformed and the crushing steel pulped him where he sat.
The second squire-suit froze for a beat, then erupted in fury.
"LUCA!! You dare attack a Knight of the royal court?! You TRAITOR!!"
He swung both chainswords and charged straight at Luca's Knight.
Luca gave a cold snort, discarded the wreckage in his left hand, and brought the roaring Hellstrike chainsword up, charging to meet him head-on.
Both closed the distance at terrifying speed, an oddly surreal sight, a six-meter squire-suit charging a twelve-meter Knight looked uncomfortably like a child challenging an adult.
The actual outcome matched that comparison almost exactly.
Luca's Hellstrike chainsword was nearly as large as the squire-suit itself.
The squire's stubby little arms couldn't even reach him.
Luca simply raised his blade and swung, and the instant the two passed each other, the squire-suit came apart in two clean halves.
One exchange, and both squire-class units were dead. That was the gap in raw scale between them.
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you