In the World of Sword and Magic as Space Marine

Chapter 61: The Holy Relic

"By the nine hell, I will not!" The Duchess said with a sudden eruption of rage equivalent to Khorne Berzerkers on the battlefield. As for William, his face showed signs of disappointment and anger since he was holding his helmet in his right hand. At least he didn't pull out his bolter pistol and blow the guy's face out of pure rage.

William's rage is indeed related to ridiculous demands coming from a guy who has the gull to identify himself as 'Chosen one from another world' and attempt to take Rana as his seventh wife. Like countless nerds and people who want to escape to a different world, William can understand the fantasy of living in a different world. Still, it doesn't mean you can toss your principle and common sense because you are in a different world.

William has no problem meeting another person from Earth. If the situation were different, he would love to have a conversation and compare notes regarding which Earth time the other guy came from and form some sort of alliance while living their own life. Honestly, William doesn't mind the other guy having six different wives (I don't know about you, but one relationship is enough for a lifetime, in my opinion), but coming after his Rana being all, 'I steal your girl' is out of line.

"What don't you like about it? You will have great respect as a priestess and as one of the wives of a national hero. You should be honored and thrilled by the once-in-a-lifetime luck." Makoto said with a confused tone as if someone had just thrown away free money. Hearing this, William stepped forward to defend the Duchess and put this punk in his place.

"You should be more respectful to people you just met, or did you lose your proper mannerism after gaining fame?" William used his giant body to stand between Makato and Rana. This usually intimidates regular people by now, but for some reason, the other guy didn't show any sign of fear or even caution.

"Don't interrupt my conversation with my future wife, you second-rate NPC. Your fancy armor and size don't impress me at all. Why don't you go get some refreshment while adults talk business?" The rude protagonist shushes away William with his hand gesture while he moves himself to look at Rana's face. After hearing this, William had enough and was about to place his left hand with a combat knife to draw, but Rana beat him to it to his surprise.

The Duchess jumped off from her horse and stepped forward to get close to the other guy. This only took a second, and Rana slapped Makato's face without hesitation when she got close. The sound of slap echo can be heard on the battlefield, and a second later sound of 'Ohh' could be heard from William's side as Commissar Cain watched the entire thing from a Jurgen's binocular.

Rana wasn't done with just a slap. After slapping the man, she moved back a few inches and pulled back her right fist, and was about to punch the man's face with full might. Just as Rana is about to one punch Makato (Remind you, she is wearing a metal gauntlet with sharp knuckles), William quickly moves to stop her from killing the man.

"Thank you for defending my honor, my lady, but I think you warned me about doing the exact thing prior to this meeting." William did the best he could to maintain Rana's position as noble and remind her that it was his job to smack the guy, not her's.

At this point, what is done is done, and any room for negotiation of one's surrender is gone. After letting Rana's right hand go, William returns to his original spot and declares his demand to Legellan's leaders.

"As you can see, we will not follow or meet any of your demands. If you want Rana Bassilo Beckett, then you must go through my troops and me to do so." William then put his helmet back on and was about to leave with Rana next to him when his helmet gave off a warning from his sensor.

[Warning! Unknown technology detected. Sending notification to the nearest Tech-Priest.]

When William turns his head back at Makato and the priest of White Mountain, the helmet zooms in at Makato's face and scans the area. The helmet focuses on a small white metal piece on the Makato's side of the forehead and takes a quick snapshot. With that done, William's helmet went back to normal, and the warning signs disappeared, but soon William heard a loud metallic-like voice of 'What!' coming from his side.

'Oh crap, did my helmet just send an image to Magos Callias?' William thought to himself and was about to return to his troops quickly. The talk is now pointless, and this Makato guy is pissing him off. By looking at William and his armor, the guy should realize that he isn't the only one who came from Earth. Instead of greeting fellow isekai travelers, the guy deliberately ignored William's existence and called him a second-rate NPC. Now that is rude even for fellow Terran.

"I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!" Makato, with a bloody face and broken nose, said out loud enough for two armies to hear the declaration. When the challenge was announced, Makato's side cheered with excitement as if they had just heard a surrender from the other side. Meanwhile, William's side was busy with something else and didn't pay much attention as if they found something more important than winning a war.

"Fine, I accept your challenge. So, will this be a classic 1 vs 1 to the death?" William said with no interest since he was more focused on his troops. No one responds to his vox radio call, or any primary vox handlers are Admechs since they do all the rituals to ensure all machines work correctly.

"Yes. You have 30 minutes to get ready, and there is no restriction. The fight will end when one of you dies, and no one can interrupt the duel. If this happens, then it is automatically considered surrender without question." The priest of the White Mountain quickly explained the rules. Just before both sides were about to return to their side Makato who was covering his face with one hand, gave a middle finger at Rana and William with his free hand.

"After I kill your man toy, I will make you the ninth slave instead of my wife," Makoto said with a sharp knife tone and proceeded to walk back to his side with each step in anger.

"Did that hand gesture mean something rude?" Rana asks William a question, but both of them quickly return to their side with haste. They only have 30 minutes to prepare for the duel to the death, and William is a bit curious about MagosCallias's reaction earlier.

When Rana and William arrived back to base, both of them saw all tech priests comparing notes and sharing image data captured from William's helmet. Even tech marine from Black Templar was in the group while other commanders, including Lord Creed, watched quietly in the side as if they had just received dire news from tech-priests.

"What in the golden throne is going on here?" William said with a loud voice to get everyone's attention. To his surprise, it worked too well since every tech-priest turned their heads at the same time at William's direction without saying anything. Magos Callias is the one who approaches William up close and answers the Lord Imperator Fratrum's question.

"The holy relic is here. One of the holy relics of the Dark Age of Technology is here in the New World, and our enemy has it."

A few minutes later, Magos Callias pulled out the image, which was from William's helmet. The close image of Makao's side head can be seen as a red circle at the white metal piece. The white metal is triangle-shaped with nothing much to pay attention to or mention. At best, it was something people would think of as jewelry, and according to Jurgen, all of Makato's harem have the same metal piece on the side of their forehead.

"Ok, what is so special about this metal thing? It can't be STC, can it?" William finally asks the question, which causes Magos Callias and the rest of the Admechs to tremble with excitement.

"This metal piece is not an STC itself but part of the holy design. According to Mars's data library, there is no name, but we have a piece of record indicating it as a sort of communication device with a large range. This relic allows individuals to communicate without speaking, and there is a legend that it allows one to share minds with others as long as they have the devices." Callias explains the whole thing within 30 seconds and shows an old picture of a similar metal piece from Mars's library.

"Wait, you can share your thoughts with others using that tiny device?" Rana said but couldn't believe what she had just heard. This magical item is unheard of, and if there is, there is no way something that powerful could be that small.

"Yes and no. Share thoughts, but only the primary relic can do such a thing and more. According to the record, the primary relic can negate others' will and even push others to absolute authority by giving a command. The theory is that this relic was used on a harsh labor colony and even on the Men of Iron, but this is only a theory until now." Magos Callias said the last part only to William through vox radio, for he is the only one allowed to know the existence of Men of Iron as the head of the state.

'That explains one thing regarding what we saw earlier. Makato maybe is bending those girls and others using this device against their will. Man, I hate sinnister isekai MC. They are human garbage and give bad rep.' William thought to himself and connected the dot, but a voice called everyone's attention before he could say anything.

Jurgen, who was surveilling the enemy side, finally saw movement that required William's attention. When everyone, including Magos Callias, arrived at the edge of the base camp, they witnessed the answer to the 'Grey Armor' rumor.

Makato, who is now fully healed thanks to the healing magic, walks towards the carriage that four oxen pulled on another side of the plain. After giving a few words, the soldiers climb the carriage and remove the white blanket covering the content. Shining bright from the sunlight reflection, a large silver-grey armor in a kneeling position revealed itself.

After kissing one of his girls and looking in the direction of William's base, Mankato turns around and pulls himself up on the carriage, in which he proceeds to open the upper part of the armor.

The chest and head of the armor open like some sort of mech pilot chamber, and cables of various sizes automatically reach out and attach themselves at Makato's suit injection ports. With a swift motion, Makato got inside, and the armor closed itself. A second later, the armor itself is light on, including a helmet (The helmet is shaped like an Aegis pattern, but instead of two eyes, it has a long thin visor. It is similar to Felix from the Red vs. Blue series).

When ready, Makato's armor got up and grabbed his weapons placed beside the carriage. Long halberd with a golden blade in his left and a large power hammer in his right, the armor jumped off the carriage, and the entire Legellan army erupted with cheers and chants of Makato's name.

"I'll be damned. By the looks of it, that is terminator armor, but I'm not familiar with which pattern it is." Sergeant Dioricus of the Ultramarine said and looked around to see if others knew what pattern the armor was. All of the Space Marines shake their heads, and even LT. Bolic Firehammer from the Salamander couldn't answer the Ultramarine.

"That armor isn't something widely known or seen since the Age of Strife. I have seen that armor once from the STC vault library of the Metalica. It is a terminator armor from the Dark Age of Technology, and its name is Hercules pattern." Magos Valadus Callias said to everyone while they continued to watch Makato in his armor walk towards the middle of the field with powerful weapons in both hands, ready to kill William once and for all.