I Aggressively Stack Steel of the Heart in the Knight Order

A roaring Mind Storm, manifesting as rampaging white lightning, tore the souls of entire swathes of Slaughter Demons to shreds within the Spiritual Domain.

Raphael hovered in mid-air, his eyes blazing white.

After a long silence, he responded to Manon, ’Ports Four and Five have fallen. The defensive line in the upper-level battle zone is currently holding sixty meters in front of Port Three.

’I need to know for certain if you can break out on your own.’

Upon hearing the voices of Matthias and Manon, Raphael was internally far from the calm his voice projected. It felt as though a suffocating weight had finally been lifted from his chest.

However, as a frontline commander, he had to remain rational and composed at all times.

Even though he was ecstatic with relief and desperate to rush to the lower-level ports to reinforce them, his position demanded he consider the strategy for the entire battle zone.

This was not just about the rescue mission; it was about the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers.

Of course, if the lives of these Mortal Soldiers could be traded for the safety of Manon and Matthias, a single order from him would be enough to have these Mortals willingly march to their deaths.

Even if it were reported to the Military Affairs Department after the battle, those Imperial bureaucrats would consider it a more than profitable exchange.

Such an act would not only be free of any infraction of Imperial law, but the Military Affairs Department would likely deem Raphael decisive and even commend him for it.

After all, in the eyes of an Imperial Knight, the life of a Mortal was utterly insignificant.

But Raphael would not do that.

In his eyes, every human, regardless of noble or humble birth, was a dignified compatriot, a child blessed by the Divine Emperor.

’Matthias used a Blood Burning Needle. He can hold on for a while longer. I’ll contact you when we reach the upper-level port...’

Before Manon could finish.

Matthias’s voice—feverish, burning with life, and surging with adrenaline—resounded in Raphael’s mind through the Mind Mark.

’It’s no coincidence that Dark Mages and Fear Knights have appeared at the Orbital Port. I suspect the traitors have already guessed our objective. The rebels and the Demon Legion are very likely to deploy their main forces to the Orbital Port next.

’Relay this to Agate and Lord Reinhardt: if the Punisher Ship can’t be repaired, we must formulate an alternate plan for entering the Void Storm.’

After listening to Matthias’s report and analysis, Raphael responded grimly, ’I have already considered your hypothesis and consulted Agate on the matter.

’The worst-case scenario is that we commandeer one of the rebels’ Flesh Battleships to enter the Void Storm.

’But you and I both know full well what the consequences of that would be.’

Be it an ordinary civilian vessel or a rebel Demon’s Flesh Battleship, they had plenty of ways to force an entry into the Void Storm.

The problem was getting in would be a one-way trip.

Even if a conventional ship managed to force its way into the Void Storm under Agate’s control, it would completely disintegrate upon arrival.

As for the latter... no one could guarantee that a Demon vessel would remain under their control after entering the Void Storm, instead of taking them straight into the heart of the Demon Legion’s main stronghold.

Most importantly, simply forcing their way to the Dark Side of the Empire within the Void Storm was not their objective.

According to the rescue plan, they and the Ash Guard were to enter the Void Storm with a total of four ships, including the Punisher Ship. These vessels not only had to bear the load of transporting them into the Void Storm, but also had to retain sufficient capacity to accommodate the Radiant Angels after their rescue.

Although intelligence suggested that the Radiant Angels and one hundred Emperor’s Shield Elites had launched a Holy Boarding action on a Demon Mother Ship.

They were not alone when they fell into the Void Storm. Over a thousand Imperial Knights from various Battle Groups, who had immediately boarded the Demon Mother Ship to provide support, fell with them.

Furthermore, as they and the Demon Mother Ship plummeted into the Void Storm, ten nearby Short-range Large Transport Ships, carrying a total of one million Imperial Infantry, were dragged in along with them.

However, more than three days had passed since they entered the Void Storm. In a region where time itself is in chaos, no one knew what might have transpired within.

Therefore, the high command of the Administrative Region who had planned this rescue mission were already operating under the assumption that everyone but the Radiant Angels was dead, and that all ships had been lost.

Based on this core premise, the rescue teams of the Vengeful Angels and the Ash Guard had to have a viable means of extraction after entering the Void Storm.

If both of these rescue teams were lost inside the Void Storm, not even the opposition factions within the Imperial Administrative Region could afford such a staggering loss.

This wasn’t the early era of the Great Rebellion, a chaotic time when one could act with impunity.

War and death hung over their heads like the Sword of Damocles.

A decade ago, they might have sabotaged the Knight Battle Groups of the Sedon faction for political gain, but the Vengeful Angels and the Ash Guard were premier strategic assets, the future cornerstones of the Administrative Region.

Across the three hundred worlds of the Administrative Region, each one lost was an irreplaceable blow.

In the face of a truly powerful entity, a Knight Battle Group lacking elite combat support was nothing more than a number, regardless of its size.

Of course, the opposition factions within the Administrative Region were hardly concerned about the Vengeful Angels and the Ash Guard being lost in the Void Storm out of some sense of duty to the Empire’s greater good or any noble cause.

They were afraid that without the support of powerhouses from Sedon’s faction, their Battle Groups would suffer repeated defeats, ultimately leading to the Administrative Region being carved up by their enemies.

Leaving aside the damage to their personal interests, they knew that without the major Battle Groups and powerful Knights on the front lines, the butcher’s knives of the Demons and rebels would carve a path straight to the Iberian World and, eventually, to their own necks.

After a moment of silence.

Matthias’s voice, feverish yet laced with an extreme, weary weakness, echoed slowly in Raphael’s mind.

’If it really comes to that... I hope you can explain the situation to Lord Reinhardt and request permission for me to go with the Ash Guard into the Void Storm.’

He had barely finished speaking when Manon furiously snapped, ’What kind of bullshit is that! Agate will definitely... Brother! Dammit... Get a grip! We’re almost back at the upper-level port!’

Had anyone else said such a thing to Raphael and Manon, it would have been tantamount to mocking them, members of the Vengeful Angels, for being so weak.

But to Raphael’s ears, those words sounded like a final testament.

He knew all too well the side effects of the Blood Burning Needle.

Even Lord Reinhardt himself had spent four years recuperating on Verne as a mere Mortal just to regain a fraction of his former strength.

And the voice on the telepathic link...

Raphael’s expression remained as calm as ever, but the fleeting, dazed look in his eyes and the slight, uncontrollable tremor in his right hand had already betrayed his inner turmoil.