I Aggressively Stack Steel of the Heart in the Knight Order

「A week after the meeting.」

In the training room, Reinhardt received a mission briefing from Sedon, along with a top-secret roster for an elite tactical squad. Codename: Vengeful Angels.

Security Level: Legendary.

In other words, aside from Sedon, the leaders of the various Battle Groups, and the six Governors of the Imperial Administrative Region, anyone who learned of their whereabouts or identities would be secretly silenced or disposed of.

The entire tactical squad consisted of six members, with Reinhardt as its captain and core.

Raphael served as the squad’s Combat Priest and Think Tank.

This arrangement was partly because Reinhardt was tasked with monitoring Raphael. Another reason was that the Mind Mage bloodline provided what was arguably the best talent for a Think Tank in the entire Empire.

During the three years of Reinhardt’s secluded retreat, Raphael had not been idle. Under Sedon’s arrangement, he had been studying under a high-level Think Tank from the Death Battle Group.

Bathed in the power of the Void Divine Artifact, he had grown rapidly from an Apprentice Level Tier One Mage during the Verne campaign to the Master Level.

The ranking system for Wizards was similar to the Military Ranks of Imperial Knights, also using traditional titles from ancient times. Their power levels were divided from Tier One to Tier Seven, from lowest to highest.

Within each tier, Wizards were further divided into four distinct ranks: Apprentice, Researcher, Master, and Great Tutor.

The power of a Master Level Tier One Mage was comparable to that of an Imperial Knight with a Six-star Military Rank. Beyond raw combat strength, the Extraordinary Power wielded by Wizards also came with all sorts of peculiar abilities.

For example, Raphael’s Mental Power included two Special Abilities of immense tactical value: Thought Invasion and precognition.

Thought Invasion could be further subdivided into four major abilities: Telepathy, Mind Reading, Will Control, and Weakness Mastery.

As the Think Tank for the Vengeful Angels Elite Tactics Squad, Raphael was tasked with the heavy responsibilities of formulating tactics and analyzing combat situations.

Besides the two of them, the other four members came from the Death Battle Group’s elite Ash Guard, the Emperor Shield Battle Group’s elite Steel Shield, the Assassin Court, and the Mechanical Order.

Reinhardt had never heard of one of these: the Assassin Court.

The assassin on the tactical squad didn’t even have a name, only a number: Seventy-Six.

As for the Mechanical Order, Reinhardt knew quite a bit. All the Technician Soldiers required by the Battle Groups came from the Mechanical Order, and they all worshipped the God of All Machines.

Sedon had also clearly outlined the missions and responsibilities for the Vengeful Angels squad in the report. These included deep-strike decapitation missions behind enemy lines, stealing enemy intelligence, sabotaging key enemy strongholds, handling small-scale Demon contamination incidents, and performing rescue and escort operations.

But before departing on their first mission, and compared to their official roles as Knight and Think Tank, Reinhardt and Raphael were essentially running naked. They needed to be outfitted with a set of extremely expensive, custom-made weapons and equipment. Of course, all expenses would be reimbursed by the Imperial Administrative Region’s treasury.

...

Aquitaine Casting World.

The most important industrial planet in the Imperial Administrative Region, and also its largest military equipment production base.

Unlike the sun-drenched Ilibya World, the skies of Aquitaine World were perpetually shrouded in thick industrial exhaust and heavy smoke, the air filled with the smell of coal dust and tar.

A tremendous noise permeated every corner of Dordogne Stereoscopic City, and the heat from industrial production kept the steel metropolis steeped in an unbearably hot and humid environment all day long.

But the civilians living here had long since grown accustomed to this climate. Their skin had a deep, brownish-black color, and their builds were generally thin and wiry.

Even for a citizen of the Imperial Administrative Region with the status of a Knight, and even holding an edict signed by the Grand Governor, communicating with a Master of Casting from the Fire Dragon Battle Group was still extremely difficult without the right personal connections.

These Technician Soldiers were obsessed with machinery and had mastered profound Ancient Witchcraft Technology. They spent their days either tinkering with new inventions in their workshops or poring over Ancient Witchcraft Creations without rest.

Because of their faith in the God of All Machines, they rarely communicated or interacted with their Battle Brothers and were known for being withdrawn and difficult to deal with.

Although Geoffroy was a Great Tutor of the Emperor Shield Battle Group, he had been quite sociable in his youth. Furthermore, his faith aligned with the radical faction of the National Church, so he held few prejudices against the Mechanical Order.

Thus, over the course of many campaigns, he had befriended numerous Masters of Casting from the Fire Dragon Battle Group, forging deep connections with them.

With him making the introductions, Reinhardt would be spared a great deal of trouble.

Of course, if a rookie Knight were to assume that a Technician Soldier with the title Master of Casting was just some ordinary technical staff, that notion would quickly be dispelled the moment they relied on their Knight Power to challenge one to a duel, only to be hammered into the ground.

This was because before joining the Mechanical Order and training to become Technician Soldiers, they were genuine Imperial Knights, most of whom had come from the elite ranks of their respective Battle Groups.

Not only was their combat prowess terrifying, but their intellect was also far beyond that of an ordinary Imperial Knight.

The Emperor Shield Battle Group was one of the Empire’s thirteen Main Battle Corps.

The Fire Dragon Battle Group was the local Battle Group of the Aquitaine Casting World in the Ash Soil Star Zone. It was also a subsidiary of the Dragon Hunter Legion, but not under its direct control—much like the Death Battle Group, which had recently declared its independence from the Seventh Group Army to form its own legion.

As the Battle Group Grandmaster of the Emperor’s Shield, Geoffroy had heard about the Vengeful Angels Elite Tactics Squad.

He didn’t know the specific members, but he was certain that the Combat Priest, Raphael, who followed behind Reinhardt, had to be one. A Mind Mage’s talent was exceedingly rare even in the Land of Stars; to use such a person merely as a Battle Group’s Think Tank was a gross underutilization of his abilities.

The only tragedy was that this young Priest’s mind had been severely corrupted by a Void Divine Artifact.

Even without the Radiant Angels’ Eye of Punishment, just by standing near Raphael, he could sense the faint, twisted, and ominous power of a Demon.

Geoffroy felt it was a shame. If not for the schemes of a Great Demon, this young man would have likely been trained to become a top-tier Grand Think Tank for the Imperial Administrative Region, with a limitless future ahead of him.

The trio walked into the forge of the Fire Dragon Battle Group.

As soon as Geoffroy saw the Master of Casting, he greeted him with a warm embrace.

”Brother, how have you been?”

The Master of Casting, clad in a suit of deep green-painted Anti-Magic Steel Armor, was burly in stature. He first cast a wary gaze at Raphael before laughing and clapping Geoffroy on the back. ”Old friend,” he said, ”the fact that you’re still alive today is reason enough for a celebration.”

Geoffroy gave an awkward laugh, his expression one of resignation.

’Romance. An Earth Knight, an Advanced Technical Soldier of the Fire Dragon Battle Group, a Master of Casting, his Battle Brother. The man was perfect in every way... except for his complete and utter lack of tact.’

After the two exchanged some pleasantries, Geoffroy stated the reason for his visit.

”Reinhardt and Raphael here are two of my juniors. I’ve brought them to you today because they need a set of custom equipment.”