[Warning: Proximity Alert]
Artemis woke from his unexpected slumber. He had fallen asleep, with the child still snoozing on his thigh. The voice in his head was the voice of the security system he activated prior. Something or someone was lingering among the dead bushes and the dead trees, the oozing fields and the darkness of the night.
Artemis stood up and readied himself for combat. Scanning his surroundings, he found what caused the proximity alert, a humanoid, hiding behind the dead trees behind them. He stared at its position, making sure his gaze never left it. Artemis was also checking for other instances if this was a planned ambush.
He had made a lot of enemies, these enemies did not know who he was or where he came from, but they knew that he is one of them. One of the new beings, a race of metal demons that have overrun the Senadate Theocracy and are threatening the rest of the Eastern Region.
"Ah, you noticed me?" A voice rang out.
Artemis did not reply, he just stood and watched as the figure revealed herself, stepping out of the shadows of the forest. It was a feminine figure, a pale skin was visible and her beuty was otherworldly. She wear a green dress and has green eyes that gave an eerie atmosphere.
The figure clasped its hands and continued its approach before stopping a few meters in front of Artemis.
Artemis' red eyes glowed in the darkness, the moon had disappeared from sight and the sky was void of stars. He knew something was not right, but whatever it was, it involved magic, one way or another.
"Allow me to introduce myself to you, my future apprentice." Its voice sounds seductive in nature.
Artemis, although he was held aback by the unknown advantage of this fellow, could not feel but be amused. That female clown was about to give him its name, regardless if it's true or not, he can use it to track it down if it ever escaped.
"I am Galianna, one of the remaining great and powerful generals of the Demon Lord and you will henceforth call me, master" She said.
Galianna laughed like a maniac, exposing her arms and summoning dark magic circles on top of her fingertips. After she chanted a few words that sounded completely gibberish to Artemis, two shadow figures appeared behind him. They manifested like a gas that came together and wielded a sword and a hufe shield, the beings are gave a terrifying aura that froze an army in fear. They look to be in black armor with unknown metal and the face of the creature are rotten flash abominations and they have a lack of flesh on their chest and torso.
They are also known as Undead Knights, created by most necromancers, Galianna was the very few last necromancers in Fordalt and her summons were powerful enough to kill tens of armies, they could slice few veteran knights in half like butter and have superhuman speed. Each Undead Knights are mid C-rank and could only survive 20 21st century RPG missiles if they face against modern soldiers.
Two Undead knights came out behind Artemis and are ready to attack.
"Come now, my apprentice, or else, that child, will perish"
Before the Undead Knights engaged, Artemis was done. He lifted his arms sideways and out came his a bright saber on both. He clutched the foundations of the sabers tight as they glowed in the night a shining white. He was not going to tolerate Galianna any longer, seeing that he won't even gain much from keeping him prisoner, he began to plan his first attack.
"You fool, you think you have a chance? I have watched your kind from a distance, studied you all and know how you fight! Your magic is strange but my dark magic is stronger!" Gesturing to her Undead Knights, she said, "Capture him!"
The Undead Knights then sprang into action and lunged towards Artemis with shockingly speed while wearing that heavily armor.
Artemis assumed a defensive pose and tracked their movements. The Undead Knights are corpses in armor harder than Titanium and had swords that could cut through steel, he did not understand the properties of these metals and figured that his plasma blades may do.
The two Undead Knights came at him from left to right and at the same speed. They held their swords high and were about to strike him down. Artemis had no intention of prolonging the fight, if Galianna was true to her word then she'll be able to deduce the moves of his Androids, but he was not one of his Androids, he was the Queen of the hive itself.
The Undead Knights were now within reach of him and so, in a flash, Artemis moved in a more greater speed and sliced through both of the Undead Knights very easily. Their forms began to disintegrate as soon as Artemis had already sliced them, they wailed with the voice of a beast and then disappeared. Galianna watched with a smile on her face.
As she laughed, "You have done well, even going as far as defeating two of my most deadly summons, those weapons of yours.. they glow with power! And I shall soon have them and you!"
As she finished, she summoned another magic circle, this time on the ground. It glowed blue instead of black and after a few seconds, its purpose was revealed. The girl was transferred to where the circle was.
Teleportation! Artemis thought in his mind.
Two more Undead Knights appeared behind the Necromancer and took the little girl by their hands. They held their dark sword against her neck and forehead. One more millimeter, her skin will instantly cut. Galianna then walked forward, to see what Artemis would do and talk him into joining her and the Demon Lord's army.
This recruitment process, however, did not fancy Artemis.
He retracted his sabers and hid them away. He did this as Galianna looked delighted.
Artemis knew that she was naive, even for her power or age. Judging by how she treated Artemis, she was confident with her pawns to deal with him. The Undead knights that were holding the girl hostage now were visibly different than the previous ones. They were more bulkier in appearance and their armor covers most of their body and their swords and shields glowed brighter and were wider. Symbols that were present on the iron of the swords glowed too, with his knowledge of magic, he deduced them to be magic inscriptions.
Artemis did not know the speed of which his enemies possessed, he wanted to save the girl and eliminate Galianna at the same time. But, he switched his plans a bit. He won't kill Galianna outright, no, he is going to torture her first and take pleasure from it. The naive necromancer has gotten to the nerves of Artemis and he was ready to make her pay.
A few seconds of staring ensued, with Galianna continuing his taunts. Galianna was not willing to kill the girl outright, or else she'll have no bargaining chip. When she was ordered to capture one of the metal demons by other high-rank demon generals, she did not expect to come by an one that was all alone among the deadlands. Though she and other great demonic generals themselves did not know why the deadlands came to be a few days prior, she and they assumed that the metal demons were one of the reasons.
Ever since the metal demons came into this world, only death and destruction ensued wherever they may be and to the lands that they have plundered and conquered with relentless force. Pissed off of taking their roles and praise to their Demon Lord and his army are the ones who are the most destructive beings, whom he got killed 2000 years ago in the first great war from the summon hero.
The Strongest among the Great Generals of the Demon Lord ordered Galianna ventured forth to observe and study these metal demons and report back so they could know their weaknesses, what she got was that they were stronger than any race on Fordalt and looked far smarter than any being themselves.
Now, she was facing against a metal demon. But, she did not know, that the metal demon she was facing, was the most powerful of all metal demons. After this metal demon slew her Undead Knights with ease, she felt fear shrivel from her feet and into her heart. For 2000 years of living, she felt fear for the first time in her entire immortal life. What has she done?
The fight was not over yet, she cried out in her mind. She had a hostage, and as long as she had a hostage, she would have a chance. She can't vanquish this metal demon, her second most powerful undead summons was destroyed by him! Now she has summoned her strongest undead and summons 5000 of Elite Undead Knights around him which all of them are peak B-rank summons.
She used up a huge amount of her inner magic. She hoped that her gamble will pay off.
Artemis already knew that there were literal corpse surrounding him with equipped with glowing weapons, primitive but had power nonetheless. The moment Galianna summoned them, his proximity alerts skyrocketed as the Undead Knights appeared on each magic circles.
They formed a circle around him, raising their shields and their weapons. Their weapons varied and so did the glow of these weapons and Artemis assumed that the various glow represented the power of these weapons. By examining Galianna, he was able to conclude that the dark green glowing weapons were the most formidable and presented the most threat to him while the lighter and more visible shades of green were weaker and posed a lower level of threat.
The Elite Undead Knights began to bash on their shields. The bashed as loud as they could, joining in the taunts of Galianna.
"You see this power? How can you possibly go up against my finest summons? I have slain countless foolish heroes, I have slew even the dragons who were descendants of legends! I have also slew some of the summon hero's otherworldly allies! It is not too late to back down now, my apprentice" She tried hard to put up a facade of nonchalance.
Artemis saw through her facade. He saw the fear in her once she gulped. She was not confident against Artemis and has shown her trump cards. He, on the other hand, was not going to use any of his trump cards. He did not need any, instead, he was going to incapacitate Gadianna.
"Now? What do you say?" Gadianna extended her hand, it shivered with much violence.
Artemis stared at her and after raising his chin, he said.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"No"
A sonic boom then occurred, sending Gadianna and her pawns backward against the sheer ferocity of the shock wave. Before Gadianna could even realize what was going on, Artemis was already within arm's reach. She shriveled with fear at the sight of those red eyes that were focused entirely on her. The eyes of the metal demon reminded her the eyes of her previous Demon Lord. Artemis, upon reaching the necromancer, smashed her body against the ground with monstrously strength just enough to knock her out cold.
The two Elite Undead Knights were pushed aback and dropped the little girl who was now lying on the floor. She was alive but suffered some bruises. Artemis took advantage of the confusion and took out his sabers. He dashed towards the Undead Knights and sliced them in half, as he did to the previous Undead Knight. The Undead Knights wailed with a voice so distorted and disintegrated.
The army of Elite Undead Knights were just getting up when Artemis began his summary execution of all of them. One by one, he hacked and slashed through their shields and their swords. He crushed their bones through their strong armor, tore them and broke them. There was no escaping him.
While the Undead Knights did not have the means to scream for help or beg for mercy, they displayed those words through their actions. They raised their hands and even lowered their weapons once they saw how futile it was.
It was also futile to beg for the slightest ounce of mercy, as Artemis gave them none of it.
The one-sided massacre was only took less than 4 minutes as Artemis killed the remnants of these so-called abominations.
The scattered remains of the Undead knights littered the dead grass around them. Their enchanted weapons lied there, oozing with power but that power was not needed by Artemis. He walked towards Galianna, she was just about to stand up.
He kicked her.
Galianna wailed. With just a normal human kick won't hurt her, not even a slightest, but as for Artemis strength is immeasurable.
He kicked her once more, but harder.
Galianna could not breathe as Artemis hit her on the stomach.
Artemis kicked her again and again. Until finally, he drew out his saber. No, he was not going to kill her, Artemis wanted to enjoy the moment. He was being bullied, thinking that they could best him, but sad to say, that was not the case.
As he held his sabers, Galianna begged for mercy.
"No! Please! I beg yo-" Artemis cut off her right hand as it was raised towards him. The hot woman screamed, her voice echoing into the night. Nobody was going to save her, not her summons, not even the other Generals who have no clue of her situation.
"NO!" She begged and begged but Artemis cut off her right foot anyway. She wailed again and Artemis cut off her left hand and then cut off her left leg.
The woman no longer had her arms or legs.
She gave out one final cry, one final plea for mercy.
"I'll give you anything! Everything! Please!"
Artemis raised his two sabers above her chest and stared at her.
"No" He said.
He stabbed her through the chest with his two sabers. He did not stop there, while the sabers were deep inside the chest of Galianna, he moved them and sliced her chest into a box. Galianna died in an instant, her dreams of capturing a metal demon and witness the previous Demon Lord's resurrection and slept with him, died with her.
Artemis withdrew his sabers and paid Galianna no more attention. He walked towards the little girl who was still down on the ground. She had woken up and was crying.
Artemis knelt down and looked at her, she was afraid but she did not panic. She did not move although she was struck with immense fear.
"Hm,"
And then, Artemis patted her head.