Sorry. I should have posted this earlier but I am to groggy and mentally tired this day from writing non-stop so yeah, I only get to post this chapter now.

Please enjoy the read.

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Chapter 071: Siva Must Be Punished

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Longyun held the megaphone with a wide grin on his face while Tabata who was beside him hid the excited trembling of his body under his fake calm and composed visage.

When Longyun finished talking, he glance behind him, towards the man who was called "Captain" by the remaining troops of the warship that became a collateral damage to Siva's and that NPC's clash.

Although the fight was a spectacle on itself, they were nothing more than that, a spectacle.

They have more than 30 warships here. What was there to be scared about?

"We've given him three in-game days. That should be enough time for him to understand that our will to establish contact with him peacefully is sincere and true. It's him who forfeited the handshake so he can only blame himself for this violence."

"It is a necessary violence." added Tabata with a nod while wearing that same calm smile.

The poor captain could only close his eyes and take a step back. He had done his best to follow the command of his higher ups.

It was a different Elder who sent these two here.

After they showed legal documents about their intent to 'talk' with Siva and make him submit to the will of The Union, he could no longer use his own 'order' to make them understand that instead of antagonizing Siva, they should talk to him and peacefully negotiate about their business.

But alas, the level of authority they hold within The Union was a world apart from his.

These two carried an order directly from an Elder while he was ordered only by his direct superior.

Being King Candidates on the King Test at that, as one of the three [Top Priority] missions in their list of priorities, their authority was more substantial than any of his excuses to insisting that they must treat this mission with patience and open-minded intent.

But... now that they've made use of this incident to bolster their 'image' in the King Test and make the entire country hate Siva, why would Siva still talk to them peacefully?

The entire thing was just their farce.

Even if Siva had shown himself within these three days, they still would have gone through with their charade regardless.

If he was Siva, he would be raging on behind that tornado and planning on how to dispose of these two arrogant clowns very painfully.

But he wasn't. And so, he can only sigh and shut his mouth, retreating in haste and falling back to the group behind the entire contingent.

He had already sent his report to his superior so what's left for now is to follow the superior's order to standby here and wait for Siva until the last second of the given time period.

Longyun snorted and threw the megaphone at his back, not minding in the slightest about the waste.

Then, he looked over at Tabata who nodded back at him and faced the troops before looking up and gazing at the 30+ escort warships of The Union.

Actually, these 30+ warships aren't subordinates of The Union, but they are contracted by the two King Candidates using their 'chances' to become the next [King of Jeremiah] as collateral.

For these guilds and organization, nothing could be more useful to them than being good friends with the future king. That would pave the smooth expansions of their organization in the Kingdom of Jeremiah in the near future.

Seeing the readiness of their troops, Tabata gave Longyun a nod as Longyun pulled up his sword from his waist and raised it as a signal.

"I will count to ten. If Siva still does not intend to come out and talk to us, then we will be forced to execute a more impolite gesture of our sincerity."

With his voice echoing in the quiet crowd, the first count rung in the still silence.

"One."

The tornado remained slowly swirling.

"Two."

Still nothing.

"Three."

Many people in the crowd of players began to grin and sneer. Some activated spells and readied themselves for looting. After all, Siva had looted a lot of things in Maria and everyone knew that no one can store all those items in their Inventories.

So there can only be one place where it was all stored, and that was the City Lord's Mansion that he currently occupies.

"Four."

In the quiet surroundings, the sound of readying cannons could be heard as they prepared to free all their charges towards any resistance.

Although it was overkill, the fact remains that Siva and that NPC managed to destroy a Warship as a collateral damage upon their battle so they fought with logic and treated Siva as a warship as well.

"Five!"

As Longyun's voice rung aloud, 80% of the player population of the area pulled up their equipments, with some even panting in excitement.

This was Siva they were going to attack. Who isn't in their right minds wouldn't get excited at the prospect of defeating and looting the items of this legendary player?

"Six..."

Flaps were heard as the flags of The Union were raised at every possible place it can be stick into.

"Seven!"

At the end of the note, Longyun's raised sword began to glow a bright green and the equipment on his body also changed in a flash of light. Now, he was wearing metallic-modernized armour with a red and blue alternating colour theme on its every edge —trademark color patterns of The Union's very own Engineer Union.

"Eight."

Tabata's equipment also changed and he was now a Sword Mage, his expensive sword and lavishly decorated red-themed armour and cape ladened with gems and many other glittering ornaments is as expensive looking as a decoration.

Both of them looked 'expensive' but The Union's standard of equipment is as famously strong as any of the other Engineering Organizations in this game planet so those envious glances from these players were met with the deterring barrier of The Union and how they will suffer if they harbor their designs on these two after this event.

"Nine!"

When Longyun roared, many players and NPCs began to cheer loudly as they prepared to dash at the mansion after the opening salvo of cannons that will tear apart the blue smoke tornado.

And just as Longyun was about to give the signal to attack—

——the blue smoke tornado began to morph as a change occurred: its rotation slowed, dissipating as if that invisible hand that moulded its swirling shape lifted its control to let it finally scatter.

Everyone's hearts beat wildly. In the quietness of the devastated city, they heard the sounds of iron or wooden soles stepping on sand and debris. It was so quiet, in fact, that the cold feeling of this blue smoke touching their skin only made this one constant sound even more eerie.

Surrounded by the dissipating blue smoke, they saw a shadow of a person wearing a not-so-bulky dark red-bluish armor.

Although it looked compact than the dark blue one they saw Siva used before, this was still the same-looking armour they've been seeing all this time.

"It's him." the 'Captain' whispered but no matter how much regret he felt, there was nothing that's going to stop what those two planned today.

Longyun and Tabata, behind their equipped edgy helmets, beamed a delighted grin.

The former lowers his sword and walked towards Siva, his stance carrying neither respect nor was it cordial, only the feeling that he was giving Siva a credit for being seen as somebody who was on the same level as him... if not lower.

"You must be Siva?" he stopped when he was ten meters in front of their troops, Tabata beside him.

"Stop." Tabata took a step further and stretched a hand to make Siva halt his approach. "Remove your helmet to confirm your identity..."

Siva stopped his approach and looked at the two with his red eyes. Following the instructions, Siva raised both his hands and placed it at the sides of his helmet, pulled it up, and revealed the jet black shadow-like skin underneath it.

Many people gasped at the sight. This might be the first time that the world was seeing Siva with no kind of 'mask' after he was cursed in Anazon Forest just a few kilometers away from this city.

Siva's eyes were devoid of any resemblance to an iris... it was just red, nothing more. When he looks at Tabata, the latter felt as if the person looking at him doesn't have any soul at all and was just a tall humanoid puppet with no thoughts and will that'd chop him into pieces of it felt like it.

That writhing surface, there was no doubt Siva is currently wearing BlackTech but these guys only knew that it may just be the curse's effect on him.

Longyun's grin faded as he looked at Siva.

"Took you long enough." He said, the wariness in his heart increasing the further he looked at him.

Siva then turned to him, speaking in a voice that sounded neither human nor demon according to their senses —it was just plain......unemotional.

"Long enough to what?" Siva said flatly. "To use me as your stepping stone to popularize yourself in the King Test of Jeremiah?"

The two candidates frowned, their grin now totally gone. Siva's sarcastic remark pulled some string on their perfectly laid out plan. Who would have thought that he would be this smart?

Was their plan not elaborate enough?

"What are you talking about? We are here acting as a messenger for The Union. We bear the will of the Council Elders, as well as the will of those innocent civilians slain during the defense of the Castel City of Jeremiah..."

When Longyun was speaking, he raised his hands to the air as his tone carried all righteousness and integrity with every word he said, "But let's not talk about that. Let's talk about The Union's losses for all these times you've caused us troubles."

Here we go... thought the 'Captain' behind him.

Whether Siva appeared sooner or later these past three days meant nothing. Just Siva's appearance alone is already part of their plan.

Longyun pointed his sword a Siva, "We are a big organization, everyone knew that, and with it was the livelihood of simple men and women who only wanted to earn a small amount to buy food for their families' tables to eat... but you deprived all of them that chance when you killed them three in this city, days ago!!!"

His strong voice resonated in every direction.

Siva calmly looked at him. He held his helmet on his waist. His gaze locked at Longyun.

The latter's voice calmed again, "I will list all your crimes for you then." He did let Siva spoke a word and only went on.

Longyun cleared his throat and opened up a list to read for Siva, "For destroying a property of The Union and looting its remains, for stealing the True Dragon Carcass in Alexandria, destroying an envoy of peace's warship, and the rest of the casualties the incident back then had brought to our desks; and for this last incident, not only did you destroy the Walled City of Maria, you also looted its treasury as well as desecrated the City Lord Mansion. Tell me then, does these crimes not warrant enough reasons for you to be punished by death? YES! These facts are enough to warrant your execution! You have deprived 11,451 households of their livelihood, not to mention of their breadwinners, but their pensions, all of these expenses, would have to be shouldered by The Union... alone...... as well...."

"Siva, you're so heartless!"

"Bring me back my husband!"

"I will avenge my brother!"

"I will avenge my sister!"

"You killed me once!"

"I was killed twice!"

"I lost my house!"

"Pay me back my allowance!"

Many echoing cries for justice rung and all of them were recorded and broadcasted live to the citizens of Jeremiah to witness.

Of course, Siva knew that all of these were just a scripted play for The Union and although all these words may not directly affect Jeremiah, just the fact alone that it was being broadcasted live in that country means that the 'punch line' of this façade was yet to be delivered.

Everything Longyun said were only the losses of The Union —what connects it to Jeremiah and its people, as well as the incident back then, were still to make its entrance.

Siva remained silent.

He wanted to see where this play would end.

Longyun took his silence as his feeling of guilt but he jeered secretly. We're just getting to the good part, Siva, don't feel bad yet...!!

Tabata, who remained silent all this time, began to pant heavily and his shoulders rose and fell as he removed his helmet, threw it on the ground, as he pointed an angry finger at Siva.

"You killed Sylvie! She defended Jeremiah with all her heart and wanted nothing more than its safety but you killed her in cold blood, you murderer!"

When Tabata was about to rush at Siva, Longyun grabbed him and pulled him back and chided him.

"Remember why you are here."

"He killed Sylvie! I have to bring her justice!"

"Justice will be served but there is a process that you must follow! It had to be fair for him as well."

"Damn it." Tabata roared, "When I become King, I will assure all my citizens will not experience the injustice that Sylvie went through in your hands!"

"Murderer!"

"He's a cold blooded murderer!"

"Siva must be punished!"

"He's guilty!"

"Kill him!"

"He must pay for his crimes!"

"Justice to the real saviors of Jeremiah!"

Siva remained stolid and he stood there without as much as any indication of any emotion, 20m away from the duo.

By now, the dissipation of the blue smoke already reached an area of 300+ meters in front of Siva.

And for some reason, it was concentrated there, almost being guided by an invisible hand.

No smoke remained behind him as the wind was blowing the rest of the smoke towards the crowd of players and NPC on the side of The Union.

Longyun, saw this still reaction and felt something was wrong with him.

Tabata, also sensing it, forcefully calmed down as he pointed his finger at Siva, "The fact that you killed so many of the Allied Defenders will be the very reason itself that you will be tried in the court with our authority as King Candidates! This is for justice to all those innocent lives that you killed."

Longyun chimed in, "The Union government is benevolent, we're only here to talk... and if you come with us, we will also promise that no harm will befall upon you and there may even be a big chance that your trial will not result in death but a few months or years of labor. Why don't you think about it? The Union is merciful and I promise with my honor as a Knight and King Candidate that you will not be treated poorly until the judgement."

This event was being broadcasted live right now and many Jeremiah citizens could clearly see his sincerity and benevolent openness with a fair trial for Siva on their projectors.

Even if Siva was deemed a criminal, a King who's partial with his judgement wasn't worth a trust.

Many citizens thought that Siva might actually be a victim of something in the shadows so they didn't condemn him as hard now as before.

As the seconds ticked by, more and more people were supporting the two King Candidates showing a criminal leniency. Many more were finding faults on all of Siva's actions... now and back then, but they also thought Longyun's show of 'mercy' was Siva's right so they supported the two.

"This is a merciful king!"

"Both of them are worthy of the throne."

—they thought.

In but a moment, Volt became third as Tabata was now the second and Longyun fourth.

Tabata's cry for justice earlier made him an anchor for the citizens of Jeremiah's trust.

Now, at least 40% of Jeremiah saw Siva as enemy and someone that must be punished for his crime.

No one questioned who this Sylvie was but they judged from Tabata that she might be his lover or something else since he dared to shout her name in public like this.

With the death of an imaginary knight or defender that chased Siva back then, with a King Candidate as 'famous' and dignified as Tabata, would he risk a white lie at this point?

Regardless of the reason why Siva killed them all that day, the fact remains that those were the Allied Defenders of Jeremiah and Siva killed them all in cold-brutal-blood.

No Jeremiah Citizen doubted his dignity.

As such, Tabata rose to second place.

Siva... remained silent.

Longyun didn't waste any more time and spoke in full righteousness, "Siva, you have been deemed guilty of these crimes and as a King Candidate as well as an agent of justice representing the Union of Six Federation, I, Knight Longyun, is here to demand your immediate surrender."

"I, Knight Tabata, King Candidate, also demands your immediate surrender..."

"You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to employ yourself an lawyer but all things you're going to say or do will be used against you so we suggest that you come with us peacefully."

"I, as a respectable knight and King Candidate, will promise that no harm will happen to you if you so choose to surrender to us peacefully."

When the two spoke consecutively, Tabata had now, miraculously, brought back his helmet and wore it whereas Longyun's sword and dignified stance had also accentuated his knightly conduct.

This act alone justified his just sudden rise to the third place in the rankings.

Volt was now fourth.

There was a silent lull and Siva remained still as he stood there erected like an iron pole.

An awkward silence befalls them. After ten or so seconds, Longyun took a step forward and just as that step fell on the ground, Siva spoke in that cold and indifferent voice.

"Is that all you have to say?"

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