"Protect His Majesty!" The Saint Knight commanded the Knights who stepped forward, raising their shields to protect Gabriel.
Gabriel stood in silence in the rain of stones with his back facing the citizens. Blood dripped down his forehead slowly....
An incomprehensible feeling overtook his heart, filling him up with something he had felt many times before. The same feeling he felt when the people in his town turned on him, asking him to be killed.
The demands of people here were slightly different than the demands of those people, but in his heart, there was the same pain. These were the people he saved? These were the people he offended the Church of Flames directly for?
He slowly touched the blood on his forehead as he slowly muttered, "Good... Very good. Thank you for not letting me forget..."
He didn't bother looking behind at all. Only his cold words echoed in the surroundings that made not only the citizens but even the Royal Knights tremble.
For a moment, even the Saint Knight wondered if he heard Gabriel right?
"Kill everyone here!" These words fell like thunder in everyone's ears. Even though they had beaten up people last time to make them calm down, but killing people and so many at that...?
"Your Majesty...?" The Saint Knight frowned.
Gabriel didn't explain himself. "Either you kill them, or I kill all of you with them."
Saint Knight was frozen in place. This was the first time he heard Gabriel be so emotionless. Usually, Gabriel was always calm, even in the face of criticism. That's why he didn't do anything to the citizens all this time. He even scolded them for beating the citizens last time, and now this...?
The rain of stones had stopped entirely. The citizens were still in shock. This Emperor... he wanted to kill them? Even the Royal Academy students who joined the protest were stunned.
Entering the carriage, Gabriel closed the door. He didn't even bother casting a healing spell, letting him bleed.
"This will make things quite troublesome in the future," Callum stepped inside the carriage. "I think we should-"
"I don't care what you think." Gabriel stated without much emotion. This time, even Callum felt that Gabriel was different. It was as if he had... stopped caring.
Callum didn't dare speak anything else for now. He felt as if he spoke more, Gabriel would've killed him as well. He just sat silently, worrying about the future.
If thousands of citizens were killed here, the news couldn't be kept hidden. The entire Empire was going to erupt in violent uprisings. He was sure that Gabriel knew about such a thing since they had discussed this before. However, Gabriel couldn't care less.
There was a knock on the door of the carriage. The door was opened and Saint Knight peaked inside. "Your Majesty, there are students of the Knight Academy as well. Should we let them go at least...?"
"If I single person left alive, I'll make you and your men compensate with your lives," Gabriel's cold voice fell in his ears, sending a chill down his spine.
"If the Academy has any problem with it, destroy the Academy as well! If ten raise their voice, kill ten! If thousands raise their voice, kill thousands! If millions raise their voice, kill millions!"
Each of Gabriel's words made Callum and Saint Knight's heart tremble violently. They could see that Gabriel was serious this time! It was as if the citizens of this Empire had lost any meaning to them and he wasn't going to hesitate in killing everyone if there was a need.
The Saint Knight closed the door. His face was slightly pale but Gabriel neither noticed nor cared.
Outside the carriage, all the Royal Knights looked at the Saint Knight with expectant eyes.
"Lord Saint, did he... Rescind the order?" They asked.
The Saint Knight shook his head as he slowly pulled out his mighty Sword.
"Knights of the Empire! Follow the commands of His Majesty!" He roared, pointing his swords toward the citizens.
Usually, even he was hesitant in doing something like this and felt as if his heart wasn't willing. However, for him, his life was more important than anything! He had a feeling that if he really let one person escape, he was going to die!
He had already seen how easily Gabriel killed people last time! Moreover, Gabriel was also the person who single handedly attacked the Church of Flames! There was no doubt that he could destroy this Empire and them if he wanted.
In his heart, he even tried to somehow justify his actions. "The Emperor was kind enough to ignore these people, not even allowing us to use the slightest force on them, yet they dared to attack His Majesty directly! They were given an inch yet they took a mile! Attack on His Majesty couldn't be accepted! Follow my commands and charge!"
The Saint Knight was the first person to charge. At the moment, even the students of the Academy of Knights were stunned. They had never expected the situation to turn like this! The Royal Knights were attacking them and there was clear killing intent in their eyes.
"Wait! Wait! I'm from the Knight Academy! You can't kill me! You're declaring a war on the aca-"
Slash~
Before the young knight could even finish his sentence, a cold Sword came slashing and took his head off in a single strike.
The screams of people resounded outside, but Gabriel just sat inside the carriage. His eyes were closed yet he wasn't asleep. He was hearing everything. His arms were folded around his chest. His head was still aching but the bleeding had stopped.
"If there is a civil war, the other Empires might take this as an excuse to invade," Callum softly muttered, shaking his head. He could feel as if turbulent times were ahead.
"I don't care even if gods came to take this Empire from me. They'll only leave their lives behind," Gabriel's cold voice was heard in the carriage.
Even though Gabriel only spoke a few sentences, Callum felt unable to raise his head. He didn't know just what magic was in these words, but he felt as if his heart was screaming and telling him to never offend this person, no matter what!
The slaughter lasted for less than twenty minutes. Even though the Knight Academy students who were in their early twenties were good fighters, before the Royal Knights, they still couldn't last long.
The streets were covered in blood and not a single person was left alive.
The carriage finally started moving again after the path was cleared, passing over the puddle of blood on the ground.
When the news of what transpired here spread, heavy waves were created in the Empire.
The person who was called Chicken Emperor was soon known throughout the Empire as Blood Demon Emperor!
