OR1-EP3: The Bloody Coat of Arms (17)

Three heavy trucks pulled up in front of the warehouse, raising sand and dust in the faces of the workers, who coughed violently as they opened the doors to allow the guest in the passenger seat of the first truck to go first. The dusty Michael McNeil, with a scarf wrapped around his neck, wearing the leather top and a pair of sweatpants over the bottom half of his body, looked like an ordinary citizen on the side of the road, and outsiders couldn't discern any characteristics belonging to the guest of honor from him at all. The workers welcomed McNeil into the open space in front of the warehouse and dispersed in a flurry of activity, each returning to his post, with only the clerk in the suit still in front to lead McNeil into the warehouse.

"We're running out of time." McNeil looked at his newly purchased watch, "Where is His Excellency?"

"His Excellency went to the palace to meet with His Imperial Majesty, he probably won't be back today." A clerk at the forefront said, "The situation seemed very urgent, the messenger who came to inform the Duke said that His Imperial Majesty asked him to go to the palace without delay."

McNeil nodded and looked around at the busy workers and decided to act as quickly as possible. They needed to transport the weaponry and supplies to several strongholds within the Pendragon metropolitan area, and if they didn't encounter any surprises halfway there, the Breisgau family would be able to begin preparing armed paramilitaries by this evening at the latest. It had cost Bradow von Breisgau a great deal of money earlier to keep the officials from suspecting his motives and to allow them to arrive at the warehouses on the outskirts of the city with the equipment and supplies in one piece, but the rest of the journey would probably not be so smooth. This was the city where the magnate nobles fought most fiercely, no one would care about others, they themselves were the biggest backstage.

Half an hour later, arriving at the warehouse in two other trucks, Wang Shuang and Father Palaskas saw McNeil feverishly directing other workers to move those bulky boxes. Their motives were more or less different from McNeil's; McNeil was assisting Bradow more from a personal standpoint - whereas Wang Shuang and Palaskas were representing the South Court Protectorate and the EU. The state of affairs could not have been clearer, the conflict was imminent, and it was not just the Breisgau who were around to prepare for the impending civil strife, even if Even if Breisgau didn't do it there would be others who would flock to it. The priest expected the conflict to be unstoppable, and inwardly felt nothing but sorrow for the citizens and fighters who were about to die a horrible, innocent death. These people's deaths were meaningless, paving the way for others' domination and gaining nothing for themselves.

"That guy is so rude, he called us here and ran away himself." Wang Shuang looked around at the surrounding workers, "Moreover, this place is crowded with people, who knows which family's scouts ... will be there."

The priest followed behind Wang Shuang without a word, clutching the cross hanging around his neck tightly in his hand. The two walked into the nearest warehouse, in front of them was a row of mysterious cockpit-like machinery, some workers were operating the machinery next to them to load them into cargo boxes and put them onto the trucks.

McNeil, having finished the work in front of him, similarly came into the warehouse, pondering how much longer it would take to get all of this stuff out of here. They were running out of time, and the opportunity was fleeting. No one wanted to be accused of being the first to use force, but no one wanted to be beaten. As long as the magnate noble group dared to fire the first shot in Pendragon, Bradow von Breisgau needed to make sure that these traitors would be beaten bloody and incapacitated by the loyal subjects of the Emperor. As McNeil was greeting the King's pair and the priest, a group of uninvited guests suddenly walked in through the other large door of the warehouse. The man at the head was wearing a white robe, and on his back was the insignia of a Knight of the Rounds, the very same Knight of Twelve who had fought with McNeil the other day. The people present were completely unclear as to why the Knight of the Rounds had appeared here, and were greatly embarrassed for a while.

McNeil didn't realize that the enemy was near until he saw the shock on Wang Shuang's face, and he turned around unhurriedly, smiling as he rushed at Adolf Nordhaug:

"It's really surprising that you guys would show up here."

"That's to blame for their lax guarding, we touched in here last night, but we can't just report it without finding evidence of the Duke's collaboration with the enemy." Nordhaug smiled sardonically, "Well now, it's already a nail in the coffin that Bradow von Breisgau has colluded with a foreign power, and even His Imperial Majesty the Emperor doesn't have any excuses that can save his life and family. However, before I dispose of that obstructive Duke of Fame, I still have some unresolved troubles." He pulled the pistol out of his coat pocket, "I've thought about it, and this is a much better solution for you."

McNeil stared straight at the muzzle of the gun while removing his top. What caught everyone's eyes, besides the muscle scars and gunshot wounds, was an undershirt he wore close to his body, covered in long black chunks with flashing red lights.

"Fine, we'll die here together." McNeil sneered, "You can bet on it, bet on me bluffing."

Adolf Nordhaug froze, recognizing it as a sakuradite bomb undershirt designed for suicide attacks - a method many assassins had hoped to use to take out dignitaries or aristocrats. This bomb device could usually blow up an entire venue in a bloody mess, leaving no one able to identify the attacker. Considering that there were Sakuradite engines nearby, once McNeil detonated the bomb, the entire warehouse would fly into the air and no one would walk out of here alive.

"Where did you get this?" Nordhaug couldn't even speak properly, "I don't recall you having any recent contact with arms dealers."

"I recently accidentally obtained a large chunk of cherry stone, so I commissioned the Zevon family to build this life-preserving tool for me." McNeil stepped forward without fear, and Adolf Nordhaug stepped back at the sight, fearing that McNeil would detonate the bomb at the drop of a hat. McNeil extended his right hand backward and gestured, signaling Wang Shuang and Father Palaskas, who were on the side, to quickly leave the scene. The surrounding workers had long been scared out of their wits, but McNeil asked them to continue their work without caring about the confrontation happening over here.

"What are you going to do?"

"Your behavior disgusts me, but I'm a law-abiding man, so I'll deal with you by my rules." McNeil drew a short stick, "You win, I let you out of here; you lose, I kill you alone and your subordinates can leave."

Adolf Nordhaug continued to take a few steps back, drew his longsword, and called for his men to surround McNeil. However, he soon regretted his decision. The first man's long sword in mid-air was McNeil pivoted away, his face received a heavy stick, three incisors were knocked out; the second man flanked McNeil attacked McNeil, was McNeil a stick on the right hand of the sword, and then immediately followed by a stick to hit the location of the head, a few consecutive stick whip this person's mouth and nose bleed, collapsed and fell to the ground ... Seeing this, Nordhaug was trying to escape, but he found that Wang Shuang, who was wearing robes, had already blocked behind him, and a few workers raised their guns and aimed them at the Knight of the Rounds, who thought highly of himself. Within two to three minutes, all of his dozen or so squires were knocked down by McNeil, some were seriously injured, while others were killed on the spot.

McNeil wiped the blood on his short stick, seeing another squire struggling to pick up his weapon, he caught up with him from behind, and shone a few clubs on the back of his head, the man's skull made a cracking sound, seeing that he would not survive.

"You don't seem to care much about the death of your men, so there's no need for me to be merciful." McNeil took a step towards Adolf Nordhaug, "I heard that you often bring your men to kill civilians indiscriminately, is this true?"

"Civilians are nothing more than renewable resources, and they deserve to be dominated by the strong." Adolf Nordhaug raised his longsword and aimed it at McNeil, but the sword in his hand fell to the ground in the next second, and it turned out that McNeil hadn't recovered from the damage he had inflicted on his wrist that day. The Knight of Twelve picked up his longsword in a panic and was relieved to see that McNeil did not come after him.

"I see. Then, your life is now at my disposal." McNeil placed the other end of the short stick in his hand, "When jurisprudence fails to rule, citizens have the right to uphold justice in their own way."

Adolf Nordhaug roared and charged at McNeil. He raised his longsword and slashed down from above, which was blocked by McNeil with his short stick. At that moment, the sinister Knight of the Rounds flew up and tried to kick McNeil in the abdomen, but McNeil reacted faster than him and kicked Nordhaug's right leg on Nordhaug's right knee with his own right leg the moment Nordhaug stretched out his left leg, knocking Nordhaug backward. Nordhaug staggered back several steps, barely able to stand, while McNeil remained poised, waiting for his opponent to launch an attack.

"Come on!" McNeil roared at his opponent, "Aren't you a Knight of the Rounds ranked as one of the strongest in the Empire? You can't even kill a single EU civilian, you're just trash who isn't even qualified to play the role of a killing machine!" Saying this, McNeil himself laughed, "Hang yourself while you still can, how much are you really worth? You're no better than anyone else even at the craft of killing, I see you only worthy of being buried with the civilians you despise."

Fear of death prompted Adolf Nordhaug to launch a second attack, but McNeil flung the short club in his hand directly at him, striking him impartially in the left eye. The Knight of the Rounds screamed in agony and stopped moving, covering his eye. Taking advantage of this opportunity, McNeil picked up the longsword that had fallen to the side and violently rushed forward, launching an attack from the side. Nordhaug saw this and rushed to defend, but the injury on his hand limited him and he failed to block McNeil's slash. McNeil slashed his opponent's right leg with his sword, and a bloodstain spread along the straight direction of their fight.

"He's a real monster." The priest shivered and squeezed the cross, "But also a righteous man ... It's a shame he wasn't born in the Crusades."

"I think I heard him say that his fighting skills were originally applicable to long swords." Wang Shuang scratched his head, "Now he's kind of like a fish comes back to water."

Just as the two of them were still discussing McNeil's melee combat techniques, they heard another scream from the front, and it turned out to be McNeil cutting down Adolf Nordhaug's right hand with his sword. The young ex-commander didn't give him a chance to counterattack, and smoothly cut off his opponent's left arm with another sword. This ferocity not only dazzled the surrounding workers, but also shocked Wang Shuang. He was about to step forward to clean up the mess when he saw McNeil take off the bomb undershirt he was wearing and handed the undershirt to Wang Shuang.

"You can try using it to blackmail the enemy." McNeil smiled shyly, "Provided that they are afraid of death themselves."

"Good, I will try it when I have the chance." Wang Shuang took the undershirt and went with the crowd to surround the Knights of the Rounds who were already severely injured. They had only heard before that the Knights of the Rounds were all experts in melee combat, and they did not expect this so-called expert to lose so quickly under McNeil. When the crowd heard McNeil recount the rumors from the Zevon family, their hearts were filled with uncontrollable rage, and they demanded that this social scum be executed on the spot.

Adolf Nordhaug was near unconscious, but still had a stiff upper lip. He screamed incoherently:

"You will not end well."

"You will die before us, and that is enough." McNeil greeted the workers around him and brought a bucket of gasoline to pour over Adolf Nordhaug, "You have to understand that some people don't care what happens to them after the fact, because they never had a future in the first place. You can't threaten them with something that doesn't exist."

Wang Shuang picked up a lighter and lit the gasoline, looking at the unknown object struggling and screaming in a sea of flames, the crowd could not help but feel some fear. This fear came from McNeil's decisiveness and ruthlessness, he thought of the most effective way to avoid his movements being detected. As long as the bodies of the men were all destroyed, no one would notice they were missing anytime soon.

The equipment and supplies in the warehouse were almost finished being moved, and they hadn't waited for any news from Bradow von Breisgau. Together, Wang Shuang and McNeil swept the pile of charred black mixed with gray and white mixture into the backyard and buried it, neither saying a word the entire time.

"It's pathetic." McNeil muttered as he returned to the warehouse.

"You mean him?" Wang Shuang glanced back at the place where the Knights of the Rounds were buried, "This kind of person is hateful and will never be pathetic."

"He was also a victim, as are all people." McNeil leaned weakly against a side wall, "Except for those who stand at the apex and those who prostrate themselves at the bottom, all people are both victims and victimizers, being slaves and masters at the same time. They never pondered that this fate was inherently irrational."

"Because they are incapable of rebelling against their own masters, they can only rely on enslaving others in order to achieve balance." Wang Shuang sighed, "I have a hunch that they will want to use forceful means to impose this fate compulsorily on everyone, so that no foreign thoughts will interfere with their realm."

Later that night, McNeil received an unexpected piece of bad news: there had been an assassination attempt on Emperor Charles, and the Emperor was currently tracking down the culprit. Apparently, the last gamble of the magnate nobility group has failed, all means other than those of force have failed, and war will sweep across Pendragon.

TBC.

Chapter Notes:

I'm afraid that the Knights of the Rounds' individual combat prowess came into play after the KMF was popularized, and before that the role of the Knights of the Rounds' individual abilities was unremarkable in warfare.

It's reasonable to assume that oil actually exists in the Code Geass universe, it's just been eliminated by solar energy and sakuradite.