Emery could clearly perceive, through his Spirit Reading, the strength of all the Logress knights who were surrounding him. His eyes were scanning over his surroundings as he took his fighting stance.
There were two golden knights, a few silver knights and a dozen or so knights from those who had just arrived. Combined with the two figures that stood next to the king and included the two Pendragons and Sir Gawain, there were a total of 7 golden knights of the Logress Kingdom gathered in this room. A force that was more than enough to completely annihilate a battalion of foot soldiers.
"Protect the King!!" Shouted the golden knight standing next to King Uther.
While the golden knights were swiftly moving to protect the king, Arthur who still stood next to Emery was still startled seeing the latter's hand covered with silver furs. He gaped at the unbelievable sight before him
"You... You are a Fey as well, Merlin? What...? I mean... How? I thought only females..."
Looking at the dumbstruck expression on Arthur's face, Emery cocked his eyebrows upwards.
"Does it matter now?"
Arthur was surprised by Emery's abrupt question. He quickly shook his head and looked at the latter with a complicated gaze.
"No… no, it doesn't… If you are a Fey, then that's even better... However, the matter of you killing Sir Badgemagus... That's where the problem lies."
Before Emery could say any words, King Uther abruptly drew his sword and shouted out loud.
"Merlin, you have confessed to the killing of Sir Badgemagus! Therefore, you must pay for your crime!"
All the knights, who already placed their hands on their sword hilts, quickly followed the king by drawing their swords out. On the other hand, the dozens of court ministers that were in the room swiftly left, so as to not be affected by the side effects of what was about to happen, leaving only the king's aides and Gaious in the area.
Now that his 'crime' was exposed, Emery didn't care about these people anymore. The first thing he did was walk towards the restrained Morgana and relieve her suffering.
King Uther and the knights could only watch in astonishment as Emery broke the chains with his bare hands as easily as breaking a loaf of bread. It was at this exact moment that the knights finally realized the level of strength the young man in front of them had.
Seeing Emery releasing Morgana, Arthur became anxious.
"Merlin?! Are you leaving?"
Emery turned to Arthur when he heard his questions. He looked around at the surroundings and shook his head to the latter's surprise.
"No. If this peace you wish for would ever go to work, they should know the real me, or rather, who we are. No more hiding!"
Honestly, Emery felt worried about what he's doing right now. Not for himself, but for the whole fey people. But he believed no peace could be done in hiding. If he loses today, he would take responsibility for what he did, and if he wins, he will give lessons to these people not to mess with the fey.
Arthur somehow knew what Emery was planning. Thus, he quickly persuaded him.
"Merlin, don't! Those four golden knights, they are my teacher and seniors, they are all stronger than me. You cannot win against them, not with all four of them combined!"
Seeing that Emery was just staring at him, Arthur continued his words.
"Please, just stop this madness. I promise, I will make sure you go through proper trials later. Just don't do it!"
Silence permeated through the courtroom as everyone waited for Emery's response, who just stood there staring at the prince.
Moments later, Emery finally moved. He threw his gaze around before stopping at Arthur once again. Arthur could clearly feel bad premonition the moment he saw the smile on Emery's face.
"Arthur... dont you get it? Just look around you!" Emery said while spreading his arms wide.
"Can't you see these people? Can't you see the expression on their faces? I don't think they care much about Sir Badgemagus's death! They just need a reason to kill me. All was controlled by hatred or fear… and if they don't want to leave us alone, I would rather see them fear us!"
Arthur's face changed when he heard Emery's words. He realized that the thing he wanted to prevent at all costs would still happen.
"Stop your chattering! Surrender now, or you will breathe your last here!" shouted King Uther loudly.
The shout caused Emery to shift his gaze to the king. Then, he noticed that Morgana was chanting a fire spell, which was apparent from the embers seen on her palm. Immediately, Emery grabbed her wrist, bringing her out of her concentration and stopping the spell.
Emery only flashed a faint smile when he received a confused look from Morgana.
"No… not today… alright?"
After stopping Morgana, Emery returned his gaze back to Arthur and said, "If you really want to help, just protect her and I promise you I'll restrain from killing anyone here."
Without waiting for Arthur's response, Emery told Morgana to go. At first, the girl didn't want to listen, but the moment she saw Emery's gaze, she immediately nodded her head and made her way towards the Logress Prince.
The golden knight closest to Emery became annoyed when he heard what the latter had said.
His eyes exuded brilliant light as he used his ability, [Divine Power].
Afterwards, he quickly jumped to the air and lunged at great speed while swinging his sword downward. A flash of light was seen as the sharp blade of the sword headed towards Emery's head.
[Battle Art - Immortal Gate stage 3]
Emery, who had watched everyone in the room with his Spirit Reading, immediately activated his battle art technique the moment he perceived someone making a move. Coupled with the enhancement that his stage one [Fey Transformation] brought, Emery's battle power increased tremendously.
Thanks to that, he could clearly see the sword coming at him. In a split second, Emery casted [Granite Skin] on his untransformed hand, stretched his hand over the trajectory of the swing.
Swish! Thud!
The sword stopped in its track as its blade was grabbed by Emery's hand. The sight dumbfounded everyone who saw it, including Arthur and Morgana.
Then, much to the golden knight's horror, he wasn't able to move anymore!
He couldn't pull his sword back no matter how hard he tried, as if it had stuck deeply inside a mountain.
While the golden knight was dumbfounded by what was happening, Emery quickly used his other hand, the transformed one to grab the sword's body before twisting it like a piece of dough. As a result, the sword shattered into pieces under his bare hands.
Seeing that his weapon was basically gone, the golden knight swiftly leapt away from Emery, who just stared at him fleeing with a flat gaze.
The shock the golden knight experienced at the moment subconsciously took him several steps back. Meanwhile, the other knights were still in shock at how easily the wizard handled one of their strongest.
Ignoring the golden knight he had just defeated, Emery walked several steps forward and looked at King Uther straight in the eye.
"It wasn't my purpose to kill Sir Badgemagus. It was purely self defence on my part. But if you forced me, the same things could have happened here. Are you sure you want to proceed?"
The King realized what Emery was trying to convey. But currently, he didn't worry about the death of the golden knight at all. The monster he saw in front of him reminded him of what he saw twenty years ago.
The wizard and fey, those two combines only made him more terrified of what the future of the kingdom will become.
"We...WE will not back down!"
The king turned his head to the side and shouted, "Knights of the Logress, do not be afraid! Kill this beast!"
This time, as the knights realized they couldn't take care of Emery on their own, they decided to attack together - 4 golden knights and 6 silver knights at once.
Emery closed his eyes when he saw the line of knights coming at him. Sensing their position getting closer to him with every passing second, he then raised his hand and quickly cast a spell.
[Crushing Wave - Tier 3 Water Element Spell]
Massive blobs of water swiftly materialized around Emery's body before coalescing into a huge wave. The moment it was fully formed, the wave immediately shot forward, rushing towards the incoming knights. All the ten knights were thrown back by it.
The silver knights were thrown as far as hitting the wall, but the golden knights, with their buff on, only got pushed a few steps back and were all still standing. It was evident that Emery's spell wasn't doing much to the latter.
"His magic are nothing to be worried about!" said one of the golden knights.