Chapter 3 – Judgment and Redemption

The young Emperor Constancious 'Connie' Augustus the 23rd /Prime Minister Honest – Imperial throne room

"Not guilty!" Honest screamed in his defence, he tried to get closer to the Emperor but the guards stopped him and pinned him to the ground "why would I ever harm your father and mother I respected them! and the empire I would never harm the people!"

"It's quite simple really" the armoured man spoke up "you assassinated them so you could control the empire through the young Emperor, elevating your position to Prime minister. After all, it is stated in your personal diary how you murdered them in their sleep."

"What!?" Honest screamed out as the man brought out his diary from his cloak showing the Emperor. "See written proof in his handwriting," the man said.

"Guards search for any weapons and bind his hands" the Emperor commanded, the guards following his command began to search him.

"Take his ring as well, it's a Teigu that can disable any other Teigu for a short amount of time," the man said to the guards and they did without question. "What!?" Honest said "how do you know of Erastone?! I never told anyone of it!?"

"I know quite a bit of the other Teigu's and their users especially those who use there's against the people they were made to protect." He replied as Honest was incarcerated, he then turned towards the Emperor and stated "Emperor Constancious Augustus the 23rd, you may be thinking why you would believe a stranger of accusing your Prime Minister, well allow me to bring you proof and witnesses of the crimes he has committed".

In that instance, all the guards in the room proceeded to take off their helms and revealed to their faces and kneeled to the Emperor. "Forgive us my liege, but this man is right, the Prime Minister is evil and has never cared for the empire!" they said in unity.

The Emperor again was shocked at this and to his knowledge, the Throne Room Guards were all handpicked out by the Prime Minister and Great General Budo himself, it just didn't make sense? He thought I would've thought that they were on the Prime Minister side. Yet as the Emperor was shocked so too was Honest as he had thought that the Throne Room Guard would defend him due to him paying them extra and letting them do whatever they pleased.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Honest screamed "Petrocles, why have betrayed me? Haven't I given you all you have ever asked for and more!? You would believe a stranger over me? The man who gave you your position!"

Petrocles the captain of the Emperor's Guard, was a large man in stature and height, he towered over Honest even though Honest was at least over 6 feet. "You may have given me my rank and position but you never held my true loyalty or any other man and woman here" he stated boldly "our true loyalties have always been to the Empire, the Emperor and this man that stands in front of you today!" as he points at the armoured.

"This man a stranger who didn't even know who we are had showed us kindness and compassion, he saved all of our lives and gave us hope when all we knew was despair and misery. He trained us, feed us, cared for us and treated us as equals, as people! Unlike you who treated us and everyone else as just tools for your own ambition and greed!" he roared. "When the Empire and military abandoned us to the wolves we thought we were finished, our homes destroyed our land taken yet in this time of hopelessness he appeared and helped us, while you left us to die! Now you want us to support you just because you gave us the 'honour' of watching you bring this empire to its knees."

Honest knew at this point that the odds were really turning against him, yet to make matters worse for him they started to explain that they had been the villagers of the North-east sector of the empire. That they had been taxed heavily and abused by their own garrisons and lords that the Prime minister placed into power further giving cause to the Emperor to execute him.

"Wait this is some sort of misunderstanding, I sent those men to support the north-east region I had no idea that they had turned on you when the military left." Honest frantically said as he looked for a way out, he then spotted Felix and said "Felix my friend, you know I never meant them any harm I was trying to help! Tell them, tell them!"

Felix then coolly said "Honest you're a liar and a coward, you know for a fact that you never cared for the outside of the capitol. Hell! Last night you even confessed to me that you wished to 'purge' the third circle even though the people there have the least amount of support in the capital and have done nothing to wrong you either, then trying to live their lives!" Felix then brought out documents of the plans to purge the 3rd circle and his own personal diary of his victims of cannibalism "not to mention the fact that you have murdered and ate innocent women for your sick twisted appetite, you make me sick!"

The Prime Minister now in utter shock knew that it was over, with the betrayal of Felix he knew all his hard work to manipulate the young Emperor and the military were for nothing. As he knew that these people had planned this for some time and had thought of how to outdo him at his own game. But how!? He desperately thought how did they manage to do this all without me knowing any of it? How did I not see that the guards were against me? I picked them out myself because of their ability and blind allegiance to the emperor.

"Do you finally understand Prime Minister?" a voice said. The Prime minister looked up to the armoured man who he did not know of. Wait who is this man? How has he turned the emperor, the guards and Felix against me? He thought angrily how dare he! How dare he do this and Felix you traitorous fucking bustard how dare you to betray me!?

"Understand what, you fucking bastard how dare you to do this to me?! Who are you anyway?!" he said with every fibre of hate within him.

"Who am I? I am just a man who's cleaning up the mess you made of this empire." The armoured man said as he stared down at the Prime minister "I am just one more person who you thought you could trample over for your own selfish desires. But not this time Honest you don't get to hurt or manipulate anyone else."

"You…" Honest growled with hostile intent "you ruined everything! I'll kill you! I'll kill everyone in this fucking room including you boy!" He roared at the Emperor "You would be nothing without me you hear me! Nothing!" he struggled against the guards as he tried to step forward.

The Emperor had heard all he needed to hear from the Prime Minister, "Throne Room Guards place the Prime Minister into the dungeons and make sure that he is guarded 24/7, I don't want him escaping or having any communication with any of his associates."

"Yes Emperor, get moving!" Petrocles stated and the guards restrained Honest and dragged him out of the throne room with him screaming threats. "I'll kill you all! I'll kill you boy! I built this empire you can't take it from me!" With a last-ditch ever Honest lashed out and managed to break free from the guards he then charged at Felix but before he could reach the man the armoured reached Honest at a speed that astonished every person in the room. He then delivered a powerful punch creating a loud cracking sound of the fat man's bones breaking, he dropped immediately to the ground unconscious, the guards then immediately grabbed the man and pinned him to the ground. But the guards realized that the man had died instantly as his heart had been completely crushed by the blow.

A guard looked up and said to the crowd "he's dead". The emperor was struck with awe and horror at how fast and powerful the strike was, all he could do was nod as the guards dragged the corpse out.

"I'm sorry you all had to witness that," the man said with his head down, you could tell by just looking at him that he didn't like what he did think the Emperor but yet there was no hesitation either. Nevertheless, the deed was done, it needed to be done so the empire could repair the damage he caused.

Connie sighed in exhaustion from all the commotion, Honest is dead and the Empire wouldn't have to tolerate him any longer. But as he started to relax he then began to realize that his reign was barely beginning and that he had a lot to do to make up for the mistakes of Honest. But right now, he just wanted to rest for a little while as the mentioning of his parent's death again made him feel emotionally exhausted and he just wanted to go back to bed.

"My emperor, I am sorry for making you go through this but it had to be done" Felix suddenly chirped up "the empire is going to have to go through a quick restoration of political and military personnel."

The Emperor sighed again as he regains his composure "yes I'm sure that Honest has still many allies left in pivotal positions in both the political and military structures. We will have to 'clean the board' so to say, to get the right people in the right positions."

"I couldn't agree more Emperor, but as of immediate effect, I believe you should assign Felix as your new Prime Minister as he does have a large amount of experience in politics and governing being Honest 'right-hand man. I also trust him with my life, I believe he is more than capable of the position if you will take my word for it" the armoured said as he kneeled again in front of the Emperor. "I know it may take some more time to trust me as well as Felix, so I understand if you question us."

The Emperor to his credit did not fully trust this man, as in the case of Honest that was different. As he trusted his word due to the proof he provided with Felix, the documents and the Throne Guards word but also to the fact that deep down he knew that this day was eventually going to happen as Honest was not a good man. I just thought there would be more blood involved, but I'm glad that it happened this way instead of what I envisioned with the revolutionary army he thought quietly to himself but back to his offer…

"I take your offer very seriously as I too believe Felix is the best man for the job, however, I do question your loyalty and more importantly trust." The Emperor standing off his throne and started walking towards the two men kneeling before him and then addressed everyone in the room. "The first issue of loyalty, I do not concern myself with too much as you have all proven with your act today that you value the people of the empire more than your personal desires. However, the second issue of trust I do have some concerns, such as the fact with you Mr Albatross betrayed Honest even though he was an evil man he still considered you as a friend and failed to inform me of your plot against him and working with this man."

Felix replied to the Emperor by looking up at him and saying "I understand your concern emperor of trust between me and you but I assure you I- "

"However," the Emperor interrupted "I do understand why you have made the decisions you have made and why you have done the things you have done to secure your position but also to eliminate Honest. In that I thank you however in the case of you." The Emperor said while looking at the armoured "you have done this empire a great service and I am not just referring your part in the exposure of Honest but also all the people you have helped on the way here. I listened to what Captain Petrocles said of your efforts in helping the victims of the North-east region and how much you have done for them on your way here, also organizing and creating this plot for over a year just to expose honest and ensure my safety in doing so and I thank you for this"

The armoured man remains where he was, "there is no need for thanks Emperor Constancious all I ask is that we make right what Honest and his allies have made wrong and try our very best to serve the people to our fullest."

As Connie looked down at the beautiful helm that the man wore man he said to him "rise armoured soldier," the man did as he was asked and rose slowly and at that moment Connie embraced him in a hug and whispered, "thank you for freeing me." The man was startled a little bit but then hugged the boy back as he remembered that he is still just a young boy.

They stayed like that for a few seconds until the boy let go and said to the man "I want you to earn the trust of this empire little by little, and then when our efforts have paid off and the nations are at peace I wish to reward you in some way. But until that day I will work hard until a become a good Emperor just like the 1st."

The man stiffened at the sentence but then relaxed as he replied, "of course Emperor if you work hard and find the right people to help you, you shall become an even greater Emperor than the 1st."

The Emperor then turned to Felix "well newly appointed Prime minister we have work to do so let's get to it." To Felix shock as he honestly thought that the boy would have chosen someone who he trusted more but then he remembered that the boy had trusted his friend.

"Of course, we shall begin immediately sire," Felix said with a smile however it soured due to his next statement "but sire I must inform you that with the return of Esdeath from her hunt things may get complicated when she hears that Honest no longer holds power."

The Emperor was somewhat confused, as he thought Esdeath was a respectable woman yet then he remembered her track record and looked past her charm and realized that she could be a massive problem. Her annihilation of the north being the first thing that came to mind as it shows her raw power but also her callousness and sadistic nature, if I recall she killed 400,000 northern's and reduced their Prince who was considered a hero to nothing more than a broken man mentally and physically.

Yet as the Emperor pondered his options the armoured man spoke "do not worry yourselves with general Esdeath, I will deal with her." The room went quiet with this but then the Emperor spoke up "are you sure you can deal with her? You do know her ability and nature do you not?"

"As I said, Emperor, I believe I can handle her, it may prove to be difficult at the start but I believe I can change her for the better given a chance and time" the man stated with all seriousness in his voice. Well, he seems serious, the emperor thought and this may be actually advantageous for the empire if he can manage to change her nature she would be a very useful ally to have, however…

"How will you deal with her and her army? They are the most effective fighting force of this nation including her Jaegers" the Emperor asked to which the armoured replied "yes, I assumed you would ask that but I believe if I can defeat her in a duel they will stand down for her safety. As she may be brutal to her enemies she is very loyal and I believe her army reflects that belief."

Felix added, "sire I know you have not known this man for long, however, you must be informed that his battle ability to second to none as evident of the transgression early." Indeed, he seems quite powerful the emperor thought, then he spoke: "I concur but if he were to combat Esdeath he would need a Teigu and a powerful one at that."

"Do not worry yourself with that Emperor, for I am already wearing one?" the man said as he removed the cloak revelling the rest of the gleaming golden armour. The Emperor was amazed at the sight as it was absolutely stunning, with golden plates covering most if not all of the man from head to toe covered in beautiful engravings of black dragons that reminisced the ones on the helm. Yet it seemed extremely adaptive and well suited to the wearer as the plates of gold perfectly covered the man's physique allowing him to move with complete ease. It was more a work of art than armour the emperor thought yet it still seemed practical and reliable as it was simpler around the rougher areas such as the torso, legs and shoulders were heavy plates rested.

"Emperor please trust me on this," the ma said as he began to kneel "I believe I may be the only one who can do this task."

The Emperor contemplated his options yet it seemed clear there wasn't much debate, "very well I will leave this task to you while I and Felix shall deal with the politicians and Great General Budo."

"Thank you, Emperor," the man said, as he turned around to leave Connie called out "wait a minute, what's your name?"

The man stopped and turned his head slightly and then stated, "It Arthur…" then he left out the great heavy doors.