<h4>Chapter 422 How the mighty have fallen</h4>


    "Hmmm, should I keep up on doing this untilter?" Alex thought to himself as he watched the struggle made by the people around him. He could barely suppress the glint on his eyes as he saw what his ’acquaintances’ are doing right now. "I know that I only have to do this for distraction, but it actually feels great making people give their stuff to me...."


    All of the people around Alex were now coughing up all of their valuables, with none of them showing any resistance against doing this.


    Some even removed their own shoes or essories, maybe in an effort to make them appear more sincere.


    "..."


    Alex honestly had no words to say about what he was seeing, as he can only feel a strange sensation at the sight of numerous people voluntarily giving up their items.


    This strange sensation was something that felt somewhat good to Alex, although it also made him guilty and bemused.


    "Jermo... you must have been always feeling like this whenever you stole from people. Heh, no wonder you always want to steal. It just makes you feel good..." Alex thought to himself as a wry smile appeared on his face.


    "Thud." At this point, Alex was cing his wallet on the top of the pile, which drew a confused stare from Wisteria.


    "What’s the problem, Miss Wisteria? Did I do something wrong?" Alex asked as he pulled out his coin purse, which he also ced on top of the loot pile. "Hurry up and tell me what’s wrong already. I cannot stay all day here, you know."


    "...It’s nothing." Wisteria replied as she shook her head. "I just found it weird that you are giving up your own items too. I mean, I know that you are powerful enough to leave this ce. Since you are that powerful, then why did you still stay here? Leaving us here would be a better choice for you..."


    "I don’t know what made you think of that Wisteria, but I am disappointed that you thought of me in that way." Alex suddenly said as he gave Wisteria an aggrieved look. He appeared to be hurt by Wisteria’s question, and the words that he said next made it more apparent.


    "Miss Wisteria, I am a teacher in this Institute, which means that if something happens here, I must do my best to help the Institute out. It is just that simple." Alex said as he appeared to be deste. "Huhuhu.... Why are you thinking this lowly of me? Are you still terribly suspicious of me?"


    "...I swear that I will find out your motives. You may have kept your secret safe for now, but that won’t be like that in the future." Wisteria mumbled angrily as she backed away from Alex. From the looks of it, Alex’s passionate words had forced this woman to stop interrogating him, although the promise that she said shows that she will still try investigating him in the future.


    "Do what you want to do, Miss Wisteria. You have the freedom to do that, after all." Alex replied as he gave Wisteria a smirk.


    "Hmph, if my freedom means to be held down by debts, that I am not sure if that really is freedom." Wisteria muttered to herself as she let out a sigh.


    By this point, Wisteria had already given all of the valuables that she had with her, which were unsurprisingly only her cheap essories and wristphone.


    Compared to the things that other people had given up, what Wisteria gave up can be said to have no value at all.


    But even when these items were only cheap, tinges of pain could be seen on Wisteria’s eyes after giving them away.


    Alex tried to pretend that he did not see this as he discreetly activated his ’Jermo mode’ again.


    [[[NOW THIS IS WHAT I LIKE WITH MY CUSTOMERS. THEY ALWAYS COMPY WITH THE RULES, AND THEY FOLLOW WHAT I SAID WITH EFFICIENCY. YOU DID ALL OF THAT, SO I THINK I CAN SPARE THE LIFE OF YOUR BUILDING.]]]


    After ’Jermo’ said these words, the antimatter cannons began to let out whirring sounds as they deactivated themselves.


    They then swiveled back inside the ship, which made the people below sigh in relief.


    [[[EHEM. THIS PILE LOOKS A LITTLE BIG, SO I WANT SOMEONE TO BRING THIS PILE UP MY SHIP . IS THERE ANYONE SKILLED ENOUGH TO DO IT?]]] ’Jermo’ said, which made the people below tense again. [[[OH COME ON, I JUST WANT SOMEONE FROM YOU TO BRING THE ITEMS HERE. IS THAT EVEN HARD?"


    "..."


    [[[FINE, YOU WON’T ANSWER ME? WELL THEN, I SHALL JUST CHOOSE SOMEONE FROM YOU BY MYSELF! HMMM, I CHOOSE YOU, BEAUTI-]]]


    "You scum, you are under the presence of a General, and yet you dare do something sphemous like this? How deplorable!"


    A booming voice, which appeared to be filled with both magnanimity and pride, echoed out the whole area, which interrupted the speech that ’Jermo’ was giving out.


    Even when Alex was already using industrial grade speakers to let out Jermo’s voice, the booming voice still had managed to overwhelm it.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    This booming voice seemed to have wiped away the tension brought by ’Jermo’, as everyone who heard it had their eyes suddenly light up with hope


    Literally everyone in this ce, excluding Alex, felt a warm, fuzzy sensation inside their bodies as the owner of the booming voice continued to state this words.


    "I was only having my pious time, and the next thing I know, a filthy thief like you had appeared here! Hmph, you really are getting more audacious now, Jermo!" The owner of the booming voice said as the whole surroundings began to shudder. "Do you think I will just allow you to do more injustice here? No! With my authority as the Emperor’s General, I hereby judge you in this ce!"


    "Boom!" The speaker then let out a shout as his muscr body was suddenly covered in golden armor. His face, which can be described as ruggishly handsome, was now covered by a golden helmet that had the symbol of the Undying Empire etched on its side.


    A silver cape then appeared on his back, which wasplemented by a pitch-ck spear that he held on his right hand.


    "Tring..."


    Thebination of these objects had sessfully made the speaker appear gant, which was an understatement to his already dashing appearance.


    When this speaker had revealed his Golden Armored form, someone from the crowd pointed her fingers at him as a look ofprehension dawned on that person’s face.


    "Ah, its General ivewood! He... he’s actually here! Hahah! Eveyrone, we are saved now!" The person from the crowd shouted out, which made the other people look at the armored man with fervor in their eyes.


    The words uttered by this person seemed to have lit up more hope on the people’s hearts, which led to more and more people suddenly celebrating on the spot.


    This celebration was apanied by more exmations from the crowd, which seemed to be talking about the armored man alone.


    "It’s really General ivewood! Hahaha! He’s supposed to be one of Emperor LItch’s new Generals, right? He... he’s actually staying in this ce! Oh thank you Emperor! We are now saved!"


    "Hahaha! So what if Jermo is a scary thief? General ivewood is one of Emperor Litchs’s strongest Generals! There’s no way that Jermo can live with General ivewood here!"


    "Hmph, what will you do now, Jermo? Will you run away from General ivewood? Hahaha, you better not try doing that, as you are now dead in his eyes!"


    As time passed by, the mor created the people’s celebration became louder and louder, until it reached the point that it became irritating.


    But even when the people were already this loud, the armored man did not do anything to silence them.


    Instead he seemed to be even approving of their celebrations as he just continued on talking.


    "Jermo... I have only heard of your name when I was still a mere squire under the Undying Empire. At that time, everyone seems to be scared of you and your capabilities. Even I felt scared of you too. But now, I cannot help but feel disappointed upon seeing you." The armored man, who was called as General ivewood by everyone, said as he shook his armored head.


    "I thought I will feel fear upon seeing you here. But instead of feeling that, what I can only feel from you is nothing...." General ivewood muttered as he slowly raised his spear. "Honestly, are you really Jermo? Howe you are just this weak?"


    "..."’Jermo’ did not give any reply to the words that the general just uttered, which seemed to have infuriated the general more.


    "Fine, if you don’t want to talk, then I shall eliminate you right now!" General ivewood said as he pointed his spearzily at the floating spaceship.


    This action seemed to becking any kind of power, but everyone who saw it could not help but take a step back, as they felt a horrifying power contained in that simple gesture.


    It may just be azy poke, but to those who witnessed it, this poke seemed to be just enough to destroy anything on its path!


    "Skrrt!"


    Out of nowhere, a ck beam of light suddenly shot out of the general’s spear.


    The whole area began to feel drastically cold, as if the appearance of the ck light beam had sucked all the heat in the ce. This was not the only anomalous thing that happened, as the colors themselves appeared to have dimmed down, with the areas nearest to the ck light beam having the dimmest colors.


    This beam of light, which was only as thick as a human finger, quickly expanded in size until it became asrge as the spaceship that ’Jermo’ was in.


    Before anyone could know it, the whole spaceship was abruptly engulfed by the ck light beam, with no part of the ship unaffected by it.


    At the instant that this happened, hissing sounds began toe out of the ship, with steam and bluish vapor leaking out of the ship’s windows. The appearance of these objects was something that drew curiosity from the people below, although nobody from them dared to ask about it


    These steam and vapor disintegrated at the moment that they made contact with the air, leaving nothing but only small blue specks of dust falling on the ground.


    These specks were quickly destroyed General ivewood, who used golden needles to pierce these specks into oblivion.


    "I only suspected it earlier, but now that I attacked you, I can confirm it. You, Jermo, is nothing more but a weakling." General ivewood uttered out, with disappointment palpable on his voice.


    "I heard stories about youying waste to some of my fellow Generals, with you even managing tond a hit on Emperor Litch himself. That ’you’ being told in the stories was someone that I had dreaded to face. Even when I heard that you were injured, I still did not think that I will have an easy time fighting you. But now that I am here, I realized that my worries were just unfounded. You have grown terribly weak, Jermo, that you can only steal from the weak themselves. Sigh... how the mighty have fallen."


    After saying these words, General ivewood flicked his spear, which ended the assault of the ck light beam.


    "I don’t know why you are this weak, but seeing you almost die from this simple attack of mine is already enough to satisfy me." General ivewood said as he caught one of the blue specks with his finger. He then crushed it until nothing was left of it. "It might be dishonorable for me to attack you in your weak state, but for the Emperor, I will do everything to appease him. Just me your bad luck for meeting me today. Hehe, you can go and enjoy prison starting from this moment. Well, that is if you are still alive..."