I Aggressively Stack Steel of the Heart in the Knight Order

”A bunch of failures.”

Tania Flagship.

Inside the magnificent palace aboard the ship, Claudius stood before a massive floor-to-ceiling window, hands clasped behind his back. His face was incredibly grim as he watched the Avenger Flagship shake off a swarm of Assault Boats and race toward Cyrenaica.

At this rate, in half an hour at most, the enemy vessel would brazenly enter Cyrenaica’s upper atmosphere.

Once the Vengeful Angels made landfall, getting rid of Reinhardt would no longer be as simple as just blowing up a ship.

Claudius may have outwardly shown contempt for this ”Emperor’s Vengeful Angel,” but in reality, he was deeply wary of Reinhardt’s power and influence.

It was true he had an army ten million strong under his command, but it wasn’t his main fighting force. When it came to high-end combat power, he didn’t have a single ace up his sleeve that could guarantee a victory against his opponent.

The Domain Level Powerhouses on their side were almost all gathered under Governor Cicero’s command. Without an order from the Sky Knight, Claudius’s own power and status were far from sufficient to command those titans—beings who could make half the Administrative Region tremble with a mere gesture.

Sipia, the Lord of Ostia—his most powerful Knight Warlord and sole Domain Level Powerhouse—had boarded the Avenger Flagship and still hadn’t sent any response after all this time...

An ominous premonition began to surface in Claudius’s heart.

He knew he was the one instigating the rebellion, but even he had his limits.

Accepting secret funding from other powers didn’t mean he was willing to let them interfere in the Administrative Region’s internal power struggle.

This was especially true of that ambitious and powerful Wizard, Grand Lord Kles.

He accepted the man’s funding purely for mutual benefit. Once the coup succeeded and he had forced the Grand Governor’s crown onto Cicero’s head, he would immediately turn on Kles and purge any Knight Warlords under his command who were connected to the Grand Lord.

But...

Things had progressed to a point completely beyond his control. He was riding a tiger and couldn’t get off!

Or perhaps, it was that Reinhardt had grown from an unremarkable Imperial Knight into a terrifying presence, one that Claudius could no longer eliminate, no matter what methods he employed!

He was constrained by his war pact with the Mechanical Order. Blowing up the Avenger Flagship would be simple, but the price would be steep. Never mind future cooperation; those profit-obsessed, secretive gearheads would turn on him in an instant.

Claudius mulled it over for a long time. ’Has it really come to this?’ he thought.

This rebellion—a massive deception he’d staked everything on—was an all-or-nothing gamble. If he won the war, he would be hailed as the chief architect of Cicero’s reign over the Administrative Region!

Wielding the immense authority of his army and the Ancient Armaments, his power and status would reach their absolute zenith after the war!

He was also keenly aware of the consequences of losing. Cicero would be the first to demand his head, long before Sedon could even break away from the front lines to kill him!

Whether for profit or for his own survival, he had no other choice.

After a moment of silence, Claudius took a deep breath and gave an order, ”Please ask Lord Enok to come. I have urgent matters to discuss with him.”

「Not long after.」

A Wizard who had no business being in the Imperial Administrative Region—let alone Cyrenaica—slowly ascended the stairs, Scepter in hand and a feathered ornament on his shoulder.

His dark Wizard Robe was uncommonly magnificent, covered in esoteric Energy Patterns that flowed like fire. In the presence of the aura they emitted, the stable laws of physics in the Real Cosmos constantly warped and twisted.

An abstruse Cosmic Power emanated from him, reminiscent of dying stars and the annihilation of all things.

Even the ancient light of distant stars could not escape the influence of this Mighty Power, transforming into a trail of brilliant, flowing colors that lingered behind the Wizard.

A noble of the Bator, the most trusted student of Grand Lord Kles, one of the supreme powerhouses of the Ash Soil Star Zone, a Cosmic Mage: Silencer Enok.

He was also the ambassador Grand Lord Kles had dispatched to Claudius’s side—sent to monitor his every move.

Like a debonair young lord, Enok’s speech was elegant and gentle. He smiled. ”Your Excellency,” he said, ”I knew you wouldn’t refuse Grand Lord Kles’s proposal.”

Claudius couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh at the sound of his voice.

’Does Kles really take me for a fool?’

’Hmph. The fact that we gathered at Cyrenaica was undoubtedly leaked by this bastard right here. He deliberately fed the information to the Administrative Region, guiding Reinhardt to Cyrenaica step by step! All to force me to bow my head and accept his unreasonable terms. And I’m sure that God of Conspiracy had a hand in it.’

The obsidian stairs were immaculately clean, a picture of luxury. Claudius suppressed his fury at being manipulated, let out a heavy breath, and gazed at the distant warzone among the stars. ”I agree to Grand Lord Kles’s proposal. If I win this war, I will grant your merchant ships free passage in and out of the Administrative Region, and I will accept your request to secretly station troops on Tania World.”

Enok smiled. ”A wise choice.”

Although Claudius wanted nothing more than to cut down this passive-aggressive heretic, he knew full well that in the man’s eyes, his own power was no more than that of an ant.

”But I have one condition,” Claudius said. ”You will be the one to do it. You will help me eliminate Reinhardt. Otherwise, the deal is off.”

At the mention of Reinhardt’s name, Enok’s smile widened in satisfaction. This was all going according to his and the Infiltrator’s plan.

He was the one who had released the information to lure Reinhardt to Savenxis Fortress World. He was also the one who had deliberately leaked news to the Administrative Region’s intelligence network that the rebel forces led by Claudius were massing.

The location he’d given them, however, was not Cyrenaica, but Lelag World.

Perhaps the only part of the plan that had deviated from his control was the Technician Soldier lurking on the Avenger Flagship. His exposure had come too early, forcing Enok to use some... additional measures to ”help” Claudius seize control of the vessel.

Still, killing one mere Reinhardt would not be difficult for him.

A mere Five-star Earth Military Rank, a newly ascended powerhouse who had only recently touched upon Domain Power... The threat he posed was extremely limited.

After feigning consideration, Enok readily agreed. ”I will handle everything for you. A pleasure doing business with you, Your Excellency.”

Although Claudius would rather die than cooperate with a damned heretic—let alone strike a deal with a devil—he was now riding a tiger he couldn’t dismount. He had no other choice.

Between honor and survival, he chose the latter.

As for whether Lord Cicero would settle scores with him afterward, he could no longer afford to worry about it.

The only thing he could count on was that, as Enok represented Grand Lord Kles’s interests, the Wizard would surely make a move to help him weather the storm if he were to face a purge.