I Aggressively Stack Steel of the Heart in the Knight Order

In an instant, a torrent of greedy gazes fixed upon the opening tomb chamber.

The composite metal gate was towering and heavy, its surface and interior lined with energy circuits. After being sealed by the dust of a million years, it was now rising with excruciating slowness.

The grinding of rusted machinery and the deafening boom of bursting hydraulics made the entire tomb complex tremble.

Then, a terrifying aura from the ancient Saint’s Remains, like a monstrous flood bursting through a dam, roared out and engulfed the crowd.

Decay, deathly silence, profound darkness.

The corrupting aura of the Wizard Saint was powerful beyond their wildest imaginings. Though he had been dead for millions of years, the sensation was like watching a star fall from the sky—a cataclysm that overturned heaven and earth and made rivers flow backward.

Yet this aura of a Demigod of the Human World also spoke of the passage of time. Its former greatness and immortality had long since turned to dust, vanishing in an instant.

The crowd’s shock lasted only a moment.

The next moment, the true powerhouses who had been lying low in the crowd all rushed for the tomb chamber. Their varied Extraordinary Powers clashed in the air, the aftershocks of battle destroying the walls and floor along the way.

The Tier Two Mage under Grand Lord Kles snorted coldly. He took out a fist-sized Wizard’s Secret Treasure, a contraption of intersecting gears and clockwork springs, overflowing with the energy of faint blue circuits.

With a thought, the Secret Treasure’s mechanical structure spun wildly, unleashing a furious, storm-cloud-like current that completely blocked the only entrance. Without pausing, he turned and vanished into the depths of the tomb.

「Meanwhile.」

When Reinhardt hacked the first Wizard to death with his axe, the faces of the other Wizards and Knights trying to earn Grand Lord Kles’s bounty changed drastically.

Many of the Official Knights and Tier One Mages saw that things were going south and immediately turned to flee.

They realized that this Imperial Knight from the Imperial Administrative Region was not joking when he ordered the slaughter of all who resisted!

And the strength Reinhardt displayed wasn’t just enough to scare them; even the six Earth Knight Level Transcendents who had come to besiege him were aghast!

They didn’t even have the spare mental capacity to care about the damn Ancient Black Box.

Terrified and disbelieving gazes fell upon Reinhardt.

Especially that horrifyingly massive War Axe, with the Flame of Blood Fury blazing upon it...

A second attribute of Knight Power!

’A One-star Military Rank Earth Knight? What kind of fucking joke is this?!’

’This level of power... even a Three-star Military Rank... no! Even a Four-star Earth Knight would have trouble fighting this! This Imperial Knight named Reinhardt is simply not someone we Interstellar Pirates can handle!’

It was at this moment that someone finally recognized his identity from his War Axe and his terrifying appearance after activating the Flame of Blood Fury.

”The Emperor’s Vengeful Angel... I know who he is! He’s the Emperor’s Vengeful Angel, Reinhardt! Damn it...”

The two campaigns on Grillers World and Verne World were fought against either the Abyss Legion and the Empire’s elite or Void Realm Great Demons and Demon Princes.

Yet in those terrifying campaigns, each capable of destroying a world, Reinhardt had managed to achieve victory time and time again.

And his current subordinates were either incredibly powerful Mind Mages or Elite Knights from the Empire’s main Battle Groups. He even had Agate, a 400-year-old veteran who was practically a living fossil, an Advanced Technical Soldier from the Mechanical Order, holding down the fort.

Each one of them was the elite of the elite in their respective fields. Only one Transcendent is born for every hundred million Imperial Citizens.

Yet, in the eyes of the vast majority of Transcendents...

’Besiege the Emperor’s Vengeful Angel? That Divine Chosen Knight? Us?!’

’Grand Lord Kles certainly has a sense of humor.’

When the Interstellar Pirate who recognized Reinhardt’s true identity realized their enemy wasn’t just some ordinary Knight squad from the Imperial Administrative Region, but that each member likely possessed the terrifying strength to single-handedly slaughter an entire ship of Interstellar Pirates, he panicked.

He didn’t dare to linger for a second longer, cursing the cunning Wizard Ellery in his heart!

’Fifty thousand Radiant Gold Coins? The Baze Nobility?’

’What a load of bullshit! That bastard must have known we wouldn’t be a match for those Imperial Knights! He promised a huge reward just to trick us into getting ourselves killed to buy him time!’

Their purpose in coming to Kemola this time, aside from making a tentative attempt to snatch the Ancient Black Box, was mainly to excavate valuable Witchcraft Technology and Wizard’s Secret Treasures from the surrounding ruins.

It wasn’t worth getting involved in a conflict between Grand Lord Kles and the Imperial Administrative Region and dying for nothing.

But now, it was too late to escape.

The battle, which had started as a hundred-man siege on the Vengeance Angel Squad, was instantly turned on its head the moment someone recognized him as the Emperor’s Vengeful Angel.

The more aggressive their charge had been, the more pathetic their retreat now was.

At this point, the battle had begun. Raphael no longer held back. In his Mind Release state, his Mighty Power swept over the fleeing Transcendents as his body, supported by white lightning, gradually rose into the air.

His voice, solemn and dignified, echoed as if in a cathedral.

”By Imperial law, Interstellar Pirates are not protected by the Knight’s Compact. Whether they live or die is irrelevant.”

Even as he dealt out death, the squad’s Think Tank still made a point of finding legal justification for the slaughter. After all, they were Imperial Knights, not pillaging Interstellar Pirates.

Agate’s Thermite Beam cut through them like a scythe through grass. Any target he locked onto had no chance of survival. At the same time, he glanced at Raphael, a flicker of appreciation for the rookie’s sharpness in his heart.

Although the Think Tank’s duty was to manage the squad’s psychic communication, he also bore another very important responsibility: politics.

Within the system of the Imperial Battle Groups, this was a serious issue that no Imperial Knight could avoid. If there were no members of the Judgment Court or the Secret Orders present, they, as Imperial Knights, could slaughter everyone here without needing any justification.

But he had long heard of the factional struggles within the Imperial Administrative Region. Too many higher-ups were staring daggers at them, just waiting for them to make a mistake and fail.

If the Judgment Court found a reason to censure them over this incident, it would not be a good thing for them.

Raphael’s meticulous legal declarations seemed like a warning to the Interstellar Pirates in the tomb, but they were actually meant for the ears of the Judgment Court and Secret Orders, to shut their mouths and leave them with no leverage.

It was a perpetual battle, one fought without smoke or gunpowder.

Under the crushing weight of factional strife, the intensity was no less than a battle on the front lines. The slightest misstep could lead to eternal damnation.

’It seems the Vengeance Angel Squad’s rookie Think Tank isn’t as naive as I thought,’ Agate mused. ’Aside from being sentimental about matters of principle, his thinking is actually quite meticulous.’

As Raphael raised his right hand and pointed at a fleeing Tier One Mage, his Mental Power instantly crushed the man’s soul.

Reinhardt’s battle was just beginning.

Through Raphael’s Telepathy, he already knew that the six Earth Knight Level Transcendents who were still trying to surround him were all pirates wanted by the Empire.

However.

’I’m waiting for my Steel of the Heart to charge. What are they waiting for?’