I Aggressively Stack Steel of the Heart in the Knight Order

Evil Dragon Knights poured from the Abyssal Teleportation Gate, their ear-piercing shrieks blotting out the sky.

A tide of Convicted Demons and an army of Abyssal Hounds engulfed Baihe Town.

The terrifying war drums and roars drowned out the rain, echoing across the heavens.

Commanding Mages held eerie green Soul Lanterns.

Intricate, dark-red Desecration Runes spread out in all directions from the base of the Teleportation Gate. They pulsed with a dim, dying light, suffusing the air with an unsettling aura of fear as they corrupted the land and the rain.

Wherever the runes touched,

vegetation withered and the earth cracked open.

Pools of blood churned to the surface, and bones piled up layer by layer.

At that moment,

Reinhardt finally understood why Knight Elias had once told him that the demons who had invaded Frostfire Fortress were just a small contingent.

However,

the Abyssal Teleportation Gate inside Baihe Town was only the beginning.

Even on this dark and rainy night, as far as his eyes could see across the vast Northern Grassland, Reinhardt could see hundreds of Abyssal Teleportation Gates appearing one after another!

Countless savage creatures swarmed out!

The earth and sky trembled.

Skin as red as blood, bodies covered in spikes, wielding Skeleton Giant Axes. They stood over five meters tall, like living war machines!

Their low roars shook even Reinhardt and the Radiant Angel to their core!

If any mortal were to come here, a single glance at the desecration symbols on the ground would instantly shatter their sanity, plunging them into boundless terror and causing them to lose control of their bowels.

Reinhardt and Albert stood before the Abyss Legion, like two specks of dust trying to stop a tsunami of slaughter.

The Radiant Angel, holding the unconscious Dietlinde, grabbed Reinhardt’s shoulder. His expression was grave. ”I’ll use the Waymark to send her to the Radiant Angel Legion Headquarters.”

”If the Holy City hasn’t fallen, someone there can take over her treatment.”

”But if...”

Albert didn’t finish. The fall of the Holy City would mean the Empire’s entire command structure and supply system had collapsed.

Cut off from supplies, support, and all contact with the outside world,

the Infantry Legions and Imperial Knights stationed across the Empire’s vast territories would be utterly annihilated by this premeditated rebellion and demonic invasion.

Given the situation, he had to risk it. Otherwise, Dietlinde would surely die here.

He couldn’t risk letting hatred consume Reinhardt’s heart and allowing Avernus’s scheme to succeed.

Reinhardt knew what Albert was worried about.

But,

even as the invading demons rolled toward them like a dark tide, Reinhardt simply stood before Albert, his rough right hand gently caressing Dietlinde’s cheek.

At this moment,

whether it was love or friendship,

what mattered was a sincere and passionate heart that could not be betrayed.

After he left Frostfire Fortress, during the darkest six months of his life, Dietlinde had remained by his side.

He knew

that once Dietlinde boarded the Radiant Waymark to the Holy City, this chaotic era might mean they would never see each other again.

The bone-chilling rain ran down Reinhardt’s arm, trickling past the corner of Dietlinde’s eye and down her cheek.

Reinhardt leaned down and kissed her forehead.

Then, he looked up to face the tide of demons. Clenching his fists, he took a step forward, his towering figure standing before the Radiant Angel. ”I’ll clear a path for you,” he said in a low voice. ”Stay close.”

At that moment,

Reinhardt radiated a light of courage and unyielding will—qualities possessed only by the most loyal of Radiant Angels.

Albert knew his instincts and his sin-purging sight weren’t mistaken. His assessment had been correct. Reinhardt, this ordinary young man born on the Empire Border...

...he was a natural-born Radiant Angel!

The Imperial’s Sword!

Albert couldn’t remember the last time someone had told him to ”stay close,” but Reinhardt’s strength and unyielding will were worthy of a Radiant Angel’s trust.

Their Radiant Waymarks were all located north of Baihe Town. Alone, Albert would never be able to break through the astonishingly vast Demon Army.

Albert clutched Dietlinde tighter. Before his eyes, Reinhardt’s body, already battered and broken from intense combat, was once again covered by the dark purple Extraordinary Armament.

A sonic boom erupted as he became a streak of light, crashing viciously into the demonic tide!

So utterly fearless!

So incredibly brave!

Albert was profoundly shaken by Reinhardt’s death-defying charge. He spread his Steel Wings, and Knight Power converged in his right hand to form an Energy Broadsword radiating pure light. With a roar, he followed close behind!

The Reinhardt of today was no longer the New Recruit Knight from Frostfire Fortress who had treated one or two Convicted Demons as a life-or-death threat.

Even bare-handed,

even with his right arm completely shattered and hanging limp at his side,

Reinhardt charged into the Demon Army as if it were empty. His Morphic Armor, possessing the durability of a Five-star Military Rank, was something these Abyssal Hounds and Convicted Demons couldn’t even scratch!

Swinging Chain Hammers, frenzied bites, even the Abyssal Fire that had once nearly killed him—none of it could so much as graze the surface of his Morphic Armor!

Perhaps Reinhardt’s fighting style lacked the flashy elegance of Knights who had received formal training in Body Techniques.

But any technique that dealt death was a good technique.

Fierce. Brutal.

A spray of flesh and blood!

This was Reinhardt’s style—utterly unique, like that of a Great Demon of slaughter!

He abandoned all defense.

He crushed the upper jaws of Abyssal Hounds with his bare hand!

His Iron Fist punched through the abdomens of Convicted Demons, ripping out their entrails and bones!

Completely ignoring the soul-eroding corruption of the Commanding Mages, he brutally kicked them down. Before their horrified, ghost-seeing eyes, his huge Steel Boots stomped their detestable faces into pulp!

Or, he would grab a Convicted Demon’s severed arm, smash aside any demons in his path, and shove it straight down a Commanding Mage’s throat, silencing their rotten mouths that blasphemed the glory of humanity!

Albert carried Dietlinde on his shoulder, his own combat prowess undiminished.

Swathes of demons fell with every swing of his sword.

He stayed right behind Reinhardt. If the demons separated them, he knew it would be nearly impossible to break through alone while carrying a wounded person.

But his faith and purity would never allow him to commit such a despicable act—abandoning an Imperial Knight, a comrade-in-arms he had fought beside.

The only thing that shocked him was the sheer cruelty of Reinhardt’s methods.

’Great Radiance!’

’It was disloyal, perhaps even blasphemous, but a morbid, untimely thought surfaced in his mind—a bit of dark humor built from corpses and bones.’

’No wonder Avernus took notice of Reinhardt at such a young age.’

’If you gave him a Slaughter Giant Axe with an Abyssal Blessing right now, no one would doubt you if you called him a Great Demon of slaughter.’

’If an Imperial Judge saw this, they’d put him on a priority watch list for immediate investigation!’

Before the shock could fade,

a Convicted Demon with bizarre mannerisms caught his eye.

While all the other demons desperately charged at Reinhardt under the duress of the Commanding Mages, this one was just... dawdling. Furthermore, the look on its face was completely different from the frenzy of the others.

’Is that... fear?’