Swordmeister of Rome

<Guarran-Tia Manual: Chapter 3 Section 7>

-All Guarran-Tia are duty-bound to protect the Kingdom's military property. This is in effect at all times, regardless of the situation or place.

...….

Kurandas felt a chill pass through his bones as he entered the Third Stage. He was also relieved. If Phareon managed to take control of this, Tian Kingdom and all other nearby kingdoms would surely fall under his rule.

The <Armory of Arankal> they found was nothing compared to this. It explained why the Empire was able to oppress any rebellions so far from the capital.

The room had two hundred Anti-Master Bander-level machines, or <Kel-Rufens>, that were now being absorbed into the blue light. Kurandas smiled. One of these would be enough to fight against a Master-level warrior, but there were two hundred here.

Even he wasn't sure if he could fight more than thirty at once.

If he returned to his kingdom with these weapons, the neighboring Con Kingdom would be no match for them. The Taran Kingdom, who was always waiting to invade, would be no match either.

That was when Kurandas turned to another wall. He read the ancient Empire writing and was shocked.

"The… the Fourth Stage! So it exists! The rumors are true after all!"

Kurandas was delighted.

The <Armory of Arankal> found within Usharan Kingdom had three stages.

The First Stage – storage of the Anti-Civilian, or the four-legged automated machine: <Pavlock>

The Second Stage – storage of the Anti-Expert Bander, or the four-legged automated machine: <Kanuan>

The Third Stage – storage of the Anti-Master Bander, or humanoid automaton: <Kel-Rufen>

Those were powerful assets. When they first found the armory, they were mesmerized by the ancient technology. It was astounding that a machine could go up against a Master-level Bander.

However, that made them wonder; these were not enough to control all Seven Kingdoms of the Ra-Sian Continent.

Grand Banders did exist during that era, and no matter how many Kel-Rufens were available, it wasn't enough to fight against the number of Grand Banders.

Then came another theory.

<It's not here, but the other armories might have a fourth stage where the machines were stored to fight against Grand Banders.>

All the warriors scoffed at the idea, it seemed impossible. The theory was ignored and abandoned as it did not exist within their own armory.

But to see that it was true! Kurandas could not help but shiver in excitement.

He began breaking down the door that blocked him from reaching the Fourth Stage. It was very durable, but it seemed that it wasn't made to withstand such an attack.

He walked in.

"Oh… OOH!"

After walking in with the <Void space of Nitzmatan>, he trembled at the sight of the ten human-like machines. They were not activated, but he could feel that if even one of them came to life, he would have to fight for his. He closed in and read the name.

<Arankal>

"So the name <Armory of Arankal> comes from this…"

Kurandas was filled with amazement as he gazed at them, but he flinched. These machines were not same as the ones in the prior stages. The ones prior were not charged with energy, but these machines only needed activation words to bring them back to life.

If he was correct, he knew the phrase. It was probably the same as his armory.

After working as a guardian of the armory for a long time, he knew what the machines did if they were activated without an administrator.

He reminded himself to be careful with this machine and began preparing to activate the <Void space of Nitzmatan>.

That was when he heard a voice from outside and turned around. He was surprised since he didn't feel anything before.

"Hey! Old man! You should leave that there. You're stealing, you know? You should know better."

Some young boy was looking at him with an annoyed face. Kurandas grasped his sword and walked up to him. It wasn't Phareon, but he didn't care who it was. Without thinking, he swung his sword to kill him.

Sian sighed at his situation as it had gone terribly wrong.

He even took up his manual (simplified) as he could not believe what Phareon requested to exercise.

"Huh… you are a smart man."

Sian sighed and began running toward the man that opened the door for him to enter the armory.

He just needed to subdue him, so it didn't seem to be dangerous, but he was still annoyed. When he arrived, he found some old man caressing some weird human-like machine with a mesmerized look.

It gave him the chills.

'Is he some kind of pervert? He looks old enough…'

The machines belonged to the country now, so he needed to do his work.

"Hey! Old man! You should leave that there. You're stealing, you know? You should know better."

Sian shouted, and the man flinched before turning to him. He figured the man knew what he was doing was embarrassing.

But as he approached him, the man swung his sword without a word.

Sian did not expect him to be arrested quietly. The man was familiar with swords.

But this was not something that would require him to unlock his power, so he had time. This man seemed to be weaker than the old man with the golden sword from before and there no one tying him down with some strange black thing. He could just take some time to beat him up.

"Trespassing, stealing Kingdom treasure, and assaulting a Guarran-Tia. You're under arrest."

Then he began smacking the man down with his scabbard.

"UGH! ARGH!"

Kurandas couldn't pull himself together. This young boy who just avoided his attack spoke some nonsense and began swinging his scabbard at him.

However, what was happening to him now was utter nonsense.

The boy wasn't doing anything special; his speed and power weren't high either. But he couldn't dodge or block the attacks. He had managed to avoid the first few hits, but that was it. He was getting beaten up.

The boy was not one of the three Grand Banders of Tian. There were only a few Grand Banders in the world, so he could recognize all of them.

But one thing was certain.

'He's much stronger than me. And he still has more power hidden within.'

Kurandas felt despair as he was being beaten up. What was worse was that he was going to be captured soon; he felt like he was going to faint.

He had already killed the Viscount before he came, and he was going to kill Phareon when he was done. But how would any of that matter if he got caught?

Usharan Kingdom would be revealed to be behind this entire plot, and he would be put to death. The two kingdoms were not in a good relationship to release a Grand Bander who had been caught trespassing and stealing.

He wasn't sure if this was a trap set up by the Tian Kingdom, but he knew for sure that he was going to be killed. So, he decided to make this place hell before he died.

Kurandas gathered all Bander he could muster and it exploded outward. Sian flinched and stepped backward, but he shrugged off the Bander storm that was directed at him and approached again.

It was enough time for Kurandas to activate the automation.

"AKO-RAK-TA-SHE, A-RANKAL!!"

Red light glowed from the eyes of the machines. The <Arankals> came to life.

<CAUTION! Fourth Stage weapon, <ARANKAL>, has been activated. Searching for registered administrator… None. It will now eradicate all non-registered lifeforms.>

"DAMMIT!"

Phareon, who was watching Sian through the <Kranga>, stood up at once. He didn't expect the intruder to know the activation words.

The problem was that these machines had no administrator. Without a master, these machines were programmed to do one thing.

<Kill everything that is not registered.>

This was how the Empire used to control the Seven Kingdoms. This forced all the people from the Old Kingdom to register within the Empire to avoid being killed. Even if they didn't, the Empire did not care. It just meant that whenever the system, <Armory of Arankal>, was activated, anyone not registered would end up dead.

As far as Phareon knew, these <Arankals> were made to fight against Grand Banders.

<Kranga> informed him that it was when they made these machines that the Empire was finally at ease, no longer worrying about the Seven Kingdoms as the Empire could control them without human forces.

It wasn't much help in the Kal-Gul war, and that was why they were abandoned here.

This activation meant that the ten Grand Bander-level machines would now roam the land, killing everything in sight.

Phareon used <Kranga> to teleport into his castle at once.

He felt sorry for Sian, but he had to evacuate his family as far away as possible.

"Ra-Kadum! You should run! Quick!"

Phareon quickly began evacuating his family and friends once he returned. But Ra-Kadum looked calm. He looked at Phareon and smiled bitterly.

"Ra-Kadum?"

"Boy, you're promising, but you still have a lot to learn. You didn't listen to me until the end."

That was when Phareon remembered Ra-Kadum's final words that he had forgotten while escaping.

<Don't run away alone. Stay there unless you want to get beaten up in front of your girlfriends.>