I Aggressively Stack Steel of the Heart in the Knight Order

If Reinhardt had hurled his War Axe at him, Ticky would have instantly decided to either block or dodge.

However, that split-second of hesitation cost him the precious opportunity to create distance.

Or rather,

To an Imperial Knight of the Earth Military Rank, the destructive power of ordinary firearms was nowhere near enough to pose a real threat. The strongest among the Body Technique Knights could even catch a high-speed bullet with their bare hands without using their Knight Power.

Furthermore, with even a slight upgrade to their Power Armor’s specifications, the solid Composite Steel Armor and Energy Shield would be impervious to bullets, let alone cause any substantial damage.

When Knight General Ticky saw Reinhardt aim a firearm at him, his first instinct wasn’t to dodge, but to tank the hit with his body and Power Armor.

He planned to use the opportunity to close the distance with Reinhardt and attack again.

This miscalculation, born from combat instinct, was his undoing. By the time he realized something was wrong, it was too late to dodge.

At that moment, time seemed to slow to a crawl in Ticky’s perception.

An expression of horror was frozen on his face.

His eyes were glued to the firearm in Reinhardt’s hands—a weapon whose design now looked rather ornate.

It had a deep black finish, a frame of stunning aesthetic design, a golden Sun Ring-style Loyalty sight, and a massive, winged skull Holy Emblem fixed to its side.

’An Extraordinary Creation...’ a thought gradually crystallized in his mind.

For both the Empire and the Mechanist Cult, the ruins of the ancient Wizard Civilization were a massive, inexhaustible treasure trove.

The prosperity and flourishing of the ancient Wizard Civilization represented the absolute zenith of military power and equipment!

He wouldn’t have been surprised if the Mechanist Cult had dug up a World-Ending Level war machine from some ancient ruin, let alone this gun in Reinhardt’s hand, which was clearly an Extraordinary Creation.

After all, the trump card Governor Claudius had used to seize supreme authority from Grand Governor Sedon and launch this war was an ancient armory buried in Cyrenaica, one he had painstakingly concealed for years.

Without that great discovery in Cyrenaica, the preparations to launch this war would have taken at least another thirty years.

But now...

Facing the muzzle that was beginning to glow, Ticky made one last attempt. As he retreated to create distance, he thought he heard a shrill, synthesized mechanical noise from somewhere beyond.

It sounded like the holy scriptures chanted by the Cultivators of the Mechanist Cult during their prayers.

Then,

A burst of high-temperature flame erupted from Reinhardt’s muzzle, striking Ticky square in the chest at close range.

It was over in an instant.

He didn’t even feel any pain.

Knight General Ticky—a man renowned as an army of one, so powerful he had once single-handedly slain twelve Elite Slaughter Demons on the battlefield—could no longer feel his own body, nor could he feel himself breathe.

When he looked down at his chest...

His ornate, metallic-gray Power Armor now had a gaping hole in it. Molten, crimson-hot metal dripped from its edges. Within the breach, his chest and abdomen had vanished completely.

All that remained were a few thin, carbonized black remnants hanging from the cauterized wound.

”You...”

Ticky had often imagined how he would die—a heroic sacrifice on the battlefield, draped in the glory of a Knight, fighting a powerful enemy to the bitter end, a glorious death in combat.

But he never dreamed he would die at the hands of such a deceptively designed firearm.

He raised his head to look at Reinhardt, but the words he wanted to say never came out. The light faded from his eyes, and he fell backward, crashing stiffly to the ground.

CRASH!

The brief, synthesized mechanical sound he’d heard as he died was no hallucination. It was the sound Slaughter itself made when Reinhardt activated Thermite Mode and pulled the trigger.

An Imperial Knight might not understand the meaning of these synthesized sounds.

But had a Technician Soldier or a Mechanic Priest been present, they would have clearly understood the meaning of the rapidly-played, synthesized message.

[Blessed is my station by the Holy Om Messia! Kneel, traitor! Receive the thermite fury that shall be thy judgment!]

Of course.

At the very moment Reinhardt pulled the trigger, that synthesized mechanical sound—sped up to last less than a second—materialized as stylish, ethereal blue subtitles in his field of vision!

Reinhardt himself was taken aback. ’He never expected that after its upgrade, Slaughter would not only have astonishing destructive power, but also a... chatty function?’

It was just like how the Divine Emperor’s Fury had granted him the Extraordinary Power of the Eye of Judgment.

’Is this... also part of the Om Messia’s blessing?’

’It kills a powerful enemy in one shot and throws in a taunt for free?’

Meanwhile,

After Reinhardt activated Thermite Mode and obliterated Knight General Ticky with a single shot, Thunderlight Battle Commander Franz, who had already been considering retreat, felt a cold sweat pour down his spine.

He stared in disbelief at the horrifying corpse on the ground. Its chest... no, its entire upper torso, along with the Power Armor, had been melted into slag.

’This was the legendary army of one, Knight General Ticky!’

’Dead, just like that?’

Franz scrambled to a halt, then recoiled as if shocked, rapidly backing away while staring at Reinhardt as if he were a monster.

Before he’d set out, after swearing a military oath to Governor Claudius, every member of the Think Tank and every strategist in the massive command headquarters in the Cyrenaica rear had been discussing the strength of this Emperor’s Vengeful Angel, analyzing the probability of a successful assassination.

But they had all overlooked one thing: the quality of his wargear was far superior to that of any Imperial Knight they had ever seen.

Or perhaps, the massive halo created by Reinhardt’s strength and accomplishments had blinded everyone to the true nature of his equipment—they couldn’t discern what Extraordinary Creation Level his wargear actually was.

Even Urus, lurking in the shadows and waiting for his moment, was stunned into stillness by that single shot—a shot from a weapon that looked simple and unassuming, but whose destructive power was nothing short of divine.

Moreover, he had heard the decoded Mechanist Cult Holy Word with perfect clarity.

Even without understanding its meaning, he realized in that instant that the inconspicuous firearm had likely reached a terrifying Extraordinary Creation Level, blessed as it was by the God of All Machines.

Nelom, still on the ground, looked at the corpse that had crashed down beside him, his expression a mixture of shock and fury. He roared, ”Franz—! You ball-less coward! You disgrace—!”

Based on his knowledge of Franz’s Knight Power, he knew the man had been capable of saving Ticky. But his inaction, his retreat in the heat of battle—it made Nelom wish he could kill this greedy, pig-stupid teammate before he even got to Reinhardt!

At the same time, Urus, seizing the opportunity, became a Wind Demon and appeared silently behind Franz.