Armipotent

Aleesa and Sylvia were in the main hall of the mansion. The two girls were holding a whip with thorns. The whip was covered with the blood, the sign that they had used it for a while. Zhang Mengyao did not ask what these were doing as four men limbless men were lying down on the giant table in the middle of the hall.

"Are they the four leaders of the rebel army?" The four men were stark naked, and they had lost all their five limbs. The four men were covered in their own blood and barely breathing.

Aleesa and Sylvia did not notice Zhang Mengyao and Kang Xue's presence, so they were surprised to hear the voice. Aleesa turned around, and Sylvia was like a kid that was caught doing something bad, so she hid behind Aleesa.

"Yes, they are the rebel army leaders," Aleesa answered calmly. There was no need for her to feel guilty for torturing the depraved human beings like these four.

"You will regret this, woman! My King will turn into a whore where all our armies will f*ck you until you die!" The man gritted his teeth while throwing the threat, maybe his attempt to scare the girls. If it was his plan, then it did not work, as all four women showed no reaction to the threat.

"Let's not say that it will never happen to us; even if we become the whore for the rebel army, you will not be alive to witness it," Zhang Mengyao shook her head as she was amused by the threat. She then motioned to Kang Xue to heal the four men, "I don't care what you want to do with them, but just make sure you don't kill them. We will execute them publicly tomorrow. I want the people of Harnian to witness all the rebel army get executed."

The public execution was not just to vent out her anger toward the rebel army for what they had done, but it was a method to win the civilians' hearts. Since she decided not to move discreetly anymore, she needed more force on her side. The Kingdom of Athilia was just the start.

*** ***

The next day

The people of Harnian City gathered in the city's largest open area, surrounding a two-meter-tall platform that was recently built. These people were the civilians trapped in the city when the rebel army took over the city. They came to this area because the new people who took over the city told them to come. They found out that it was not the King's army that killed the rebel army.

People talked in small voices as they looked at Wei Xi on the platform. Black hair, tanned skin, and quite short compared to their average height. They tried to find out where Wei Xi came from based on his features because all humans in the four human kingdoms had similar features. White skin, 1.8 meters tall on average, and no people with black hair. The closest was the dark-brown hair, so this was the first time they saw a human with features like Wei Xi.

"Good morning, everyone," Wei Xi started with a greeting, but he did not smile. It was not the right occasion to smile after finding out what the rebel army did to these people, "I know you guys are still in strain for what these vile rebel army did to your friends and family. But I feel like we need to gather you guys here to introduce who we are. I am Vice Supreme General of the Tang Empire, Wei Xi!"

"We are the Tang Empire's army, not Athilia's army! We are not part of the King's army, also not the reinforcements to help the Athilia Kingdom from the rebellion! The Tang Empire is a country from a far place, and why are we here? We are here to take over the Athilia Kingdom! We are in a war against the Athilia Kingdom!"

The atmosphere turned intense all of a sudden as the people suddenly turned silent after hearing the declaration from Wei Xi. After what the rebel army did to them, they were scared of what awaited them after the Tang Empire took over the city.

"Don't be scared! We might be at war against the Athilia Kingdom, but we are not the vile rebel army. We will not hurt you, the innocents and civilians. The Tang Empire will not hurt any of you unless you try to get involved and fight for your kingdom. If that's the case, we don't have a choice but to kill you!"

Wei Xi stopped his speech, watching these people's reactions. There was no extreme reaction from them, and there were no nationalist citizens among these people. No one said anything or even tried to stand up for their kingdom.

'I guess the rebel army has killed all the nationalist people already. This will be easier than I thought,' Wei Xi thought to himself.

"The Tang Empire will not force you to fight for us, but we warn you to be neutral. Siding with the Athilia Kingdom means you are our enemy!" That was something weird to say, but Wei Xi did not care. He was blunt with his words and told these people the consequence of siding with the Athilia Kingdom. "There's nothing changed when we defeat the Athilia Kingdom. If there's really a change, we will ensure you will never have to experience the same tragedy again! We will protect you from the dangers and vile rebel army!"

Wei Xi said that with confidence, as if the Tang Empire had already won the war, "I guess that's all I want to say. I will not keep you long, and next, we will hold a public execution for the rebel army! We can't forgive what they have done to our fellow humans, and they don't deserve a second chance! So, if you bring your children here, please bring them back. We don't want the execution to traumatize the children."

"NO! Let me see the execution!" A childlike voice rang in the air. Since all the people were silent, the voice was very clear to everyone's ears. Wei Xi looked toward the source of the voice. He saw a boy, around ten if he had to guess, with khaki-colored hair. Tears streamed down his eyes, but he wiped them and tried to look strong while facing Wei Xi. "Let me watch you execute these bastards! They raped my mother and sister in front of me! They executed my father in front of me! So let me see, they were executed! Let me see them die with my eyes!" The boy's firm words rang in the air.

The strong hatred was very clear in the boy's eyes as he faced Wei Xi. The boy had nothing to lose since all his family had been killed already. He was not scared of Wei Xi or the Tang Empire.

Wei Xi opened his mouth as he wanted to say something to comfort the boy, but no words came out. He could not say anything because he wanted to watch the execution if he was in the boy's position. He wanted to see the people who killed his family get executed.