I Aggressively Stack Steel of the Heart in the Knight Order

Meanwhile.

In the Golden Capital’s Upper City District, the Law Enforcement Officers’ lockdown of major districts and intensified identity checks on passersby were making more and more people aware that something was amiss in the Stereoscopic City.

The bridge corridor leading out of the Upper City was a chokepoint, now roaring with the sound of a massive crowd.

Hundreds of thousands of Mortals were gathered at the head of the bridge. A contingent of over a hundred Law Enforcement Officers and ten Clan Knights held the bridgehead firmly, allowing no one to leave.

”Everyone, form a line! You will be inspected!”

”This is an order from Lady Catherine! I demand that you return to your residences immediately!”

”Where are your identification papers? I need... Don’t run! Stop him, quickly!”

BANG—!

The loud gunshot and the runner who collapsed in response were like a basin of cold water poured into a pot of boiling oil. The already tense and chaotic bridgehead erupted in gasps of shock.

Among them were a number of troublemakers with ulterior motives, who took the chance to fish in troubled waters, roaring at the top of their lungs.

”They’re killing people! They’re killing people!”

”They’ve betrayed the city! They’ve betrayed us!”

”There’s a Cult rebellion in the Lower City District! They’re trying to trap us here to die!”

Although these rabble-rousing shouts were highly inflammatory, less than an hour had passed since Reinhardt and his group had stormed the tower in the Upper City District.

The vast majority of the local Mortals were still completely bewildered, having no idea what was happening.

Even though the crowd was restless and agitated, they still maintained some semblance of order.

The Law Enforcement Officer captain was sweating profusely. He adjusted the tall hat on his head, climbed to a higher vantage point, and used a megaphone to shout an explanation to the crowd below, ”Please, do not believe these rumors! We have locked down the Upper City District on Lady Catherine’s orders because there are some individuals with malicious intent...”

Just then, a massive boom from the top of the tower, like a clap of thunder before a downpour, suddenly exploded through the air!

The crowd gathered at the bridgehead looked up at the sound.

They saw purple lightning, formed from a Spiritual Storm, spreading wildly through the clouds high above. From the top floor of Capet Tower, the symbol of the Golden Capital’s supreme authority, two figures flew out of a window, one after the other.

The clash of the Transcendent’s powers even distorted the light around them.

Shattered window glass rained down toward the ground.

After a brief moment of silence, the crowd at the bridgehead instantly erupted, shoving and trampling one another in a frenzy. No one listened to the Law Enforcement Officers’ commands anymore; some desperately tried to break through the lockdown and escape.

Others turned and fled toward the port in the Upper City District.

A battle between Transcendent had broken out in Capet Tower. The implication was self-evident.

The Mortals living in the Upper City District were, for the most part, upper-class nobles with some degree of power and wealth. Their keen sense for war and death prompted them to flee this world before true turmoil arrived.

Meanwhile, in the Lower City District, a long-planned Cult rebellion was silently spreading toward Midtown and the Upper City District.

The Law Enforcement Officers, surrounded by a large number of Cultists in the Lower City District, hid in an abandoned factory, still shaken.

They peeked through a crack in the wall.

The once-peaceful streets of the Lower City District were now filled with fleeing civilians. The bloodthirsty Cultists seemed to have received some kind of order; they all dropped their disguises, brandished blades, and frenziedly slaughtered every living person they encountered.

All the while, they shouted, ”For the Prophet!”

A young Law Enforcement Officer’s back was soaked in cold sweat. Hiding beneath a wall, he asked in a small, terrified voice, ”Captain, what do we do now?!”

「Twenty years.」

For a Transcendent, it was but a fleeting moment, but for a Mortal, it was a quarter of a lifetime.

Even though it had experienced the Great Rebellion, the Golden Capital had never truly been impacted by war. For the local Law Enforcement Officers, helping to capture fugitive Interstellar Pirates was the most chaotic event they had ever encountered.

A Cult rebellion. When an event once confined to the pages of history unfolded right before their eyes, even the Law Enforcement Officer captain, with his eighteen years of experience, was thrown into a massive panic.

Accustomed to their pampered and privileged lives in the Golden Capital, when had they ever witnessed such a bloody scene, with streets full of madmen killing anyone on sight?

Blasphemous symbols of Void Demons spread like a plague, proliferating wildly throughout the city district.

The Law Enforcement Officer captain forced himself to remain calm. He took a deep breath, preparing to give the order to break out. However, when he turned to look at the window opposite them, he saw three Cultists with savage expressions climbing on it, their bloodshot eyes staring straight at them.

Meanwhile, in the various ports of the Golden Capital, Interstellar Pirates were beginning to stir, like sharks in the sea that had caught the scent of blood.

The Oil Girl, Gwen, was alone in her ship, performing maintenance while waiting for the evacuation order. However, just as she unscrewed a bolt on a temperature regulation valve, a series of horrific screams suddenly erupted from the port.

She stopped her work, ran to the ship’s cockpit, and leaned over to look outside.

A strand of pale golden hair fell from her crimson hood. Ignoring her hands, which were covered in black grease, she pushed the hair away from her forehead. What she saw sent an instantaneous chill through her entire body.

A large number of Interstellar Pirates had begun to indiscriminately plunder the merchant ships in the port, slaughtering caravan guards and traveling merchants!

She took out her Radiant Beacon to try and contact the Combat Priest, but then she was shocked to discover that an extremely powerful Spiritual Pulse was blocking the port’s Radiant Channel.

「At the same time, on the top floor of the tower.」

The Trick Witch, Evelyn, faced Reinhardt’s fierce assault. Her Energy Protection Force Field was like a candle in the wind, and even her two Fine Craftsmanship Furnace Cast Level Treasures, her greatest assets, had sustained varying degrees of damage.

She floated in mid-air, turning her head to look at Delany and the Judge as they fell from the tower. A trickle of blood ran down her forehead, and she clenched her teeth.

Although she had broken through the opposing Wizard’s Spiritual Energy blockade, the cost had been heavy.

The bullet lodged in her chest felt as if it were coated in a fatal poison, or as if it were a living thing. A dark purple substance clung tightly to her delicate skin, continuously seeping into the flesh beneath, invading her nerves and disrupting her mind.

She looked up, her gaze fixed on Reinhardt as he approached her step by step, the Black War Axe in his right hand and his gun, Slaughter, in his left.

The shadow of death transformed into an immense pressure that enveloped her heart.

”Wait—! We were also bewitched by Grand Lord Kles! If you’re willing to spare me, I’ll pay any price!”

After the Kemola Battle, Reinhardt had already achieved the rank of Three-star Earth Military Rank, and his strength was on a completely different level.

Suppressing a Master Level Tier Two Wizard of her caliber didn’t even require him to use his Second Great Power.

The reason he had held back and not killed her outright was because Reinhardt needed this Witch to stay alive. Or rather... he needed her to be left barely breathing, just long enough for Raphael to reach the top floor.

To use Mind Magic to search her memories for valuable intelligence.