I Aggressively Stack Steel of the Heart in the Knight Order

In his Overlord Form, Nelom slowly turned. He twisted his head to look at Reinhardt, and their gazes met across the distance.

Even in their silence, the confrontation between two Domain Level Powerhouses—even a mere clash of their Knightly Auras—was more than any Imperial Knight below that level could bear.

On the spacious bridge of the Tania Flagship, the sweltering air was thick with the oppressive tension of an impending storm.

Seeing this, the expressions of Matthias and the three Holy Fire Guards shifted. They instinctively tightened their grips on their weapons, their Knight Power coiled and ready. At the slightest suspicious move from Nelom, they would rush to Reinhardt’s side in an instant.

After a long silence.

The arcane black markings on Nelom’s face slowly faded. His short, dark-red hair, which had resembled a volcanic eruption of magma, gradually cooled and fell limp.

His skin returned to its normal color, and the ashen-white hue on his Power Armor faded away.

He stared into Reinhardt’s eyes and said in a deep voice, ”If Jens were to surrender, would you kill him?”

No one present was a rookie to the games of war and politics. They all knew that while Nelom was ostensibly asking about Jens, he was truly inquiring about his own future.

Matthias’s brow tightened. He strode quickly toward Reinhardt, the three guards following close behind. They took up positions on either side of Reinhardt, guarding him closely, ready for any attack Nelom might launch.

Reinhardt stared directly into Nelom’s eyes and said coldly, ”This isn’t a question of simple choices, Nelom.”

”So, everything you once told me... was it all a lie?”

Nelom stood his ground. Unlike his battered state during the earlier battle, he now stood calmly, completely unafraid of the Lord of Vengeful’s power and majesty.

Matthias frowned. ”My Lord,” he said gravely, ”you have no need to explain your decisions to a traitor.”

With that, he stepped forward to face Nelom’s threat directly. ”You know better than anyone the crimes you have committed,” he retorted.

”The Lord of Vengeful has shown you the greatest mercy and forgiveness by letting you live this long.”

”And yet you have the audacity to stand here and question him?”

As one of Reinhardt’s former subordinates and the Lord of Vengeful’s current Guard Captain, Matthias’s ability to assess a situation and guess Reinhardt’s true intentions was far beyond that of Koller or Urus.

’Given his Lordship’s methods, if he had wanted Nelom dead, the traitor would have been a corpse after their first meeting.’

’Keeping him alive until now meant that, for the moment, he didn’t want him dead.’

Matthias’s sudden interjection, while seemingly just an attempt to uphold the Lord of Vengeful’s authority and escalate the conflict, was actually a way to give both sides an out and de-escalate the tense standoff.

Nelom ignored Matthias’s retort. All he wanted was an answer from Reinhardt.

After a long while.

Reinhardt gave Nelom a cold look.

”Whether they were lies or not is for you to judge for yourself.”

With that, Reinhardt paid Nelom no further attention. He turned and strode briskly off the bridge, issuing an order to Matthias as he went, ”Contact Koller, report the situation, and prepare for withdrawal.”

Gripping his sword with both hands, Matthias gave Nelom a long, hard look. The warning and threat in his eyes were so palpable it was as if they were saying, ’I’ll be watching you.’

Nelom stood alone, wordlessly gazing at Reinhardt’s retreating back. His right hand was clenched into a tight fist. After a moment of internal struggle, he hesitantly took a single step, then quickened his pace to follow Reinhardt’s withdrawal.

He hadn’t received a direct answer, but in a way, wasn’t this the very answer he had been hoping for?

Because the ideals of a Knight and the truth of the Empire were never empty words. The only way to realize them was through the path of sacrifice and Bleeding; there were no shortcuts.

「During the withdrawal.」

Hearing footsteps behind them, Matthias considered for a moment before speaking in a low voice. ”My Lord, are you truly planning to absorb that traitor into the Vengeful Angels?”

”I know I shouldn’t interfere with your decisions, but I urge you to consider this carefully, My Lord.”

Matthias’s apprehension was shared by the other three Holy Fire Guards. Metaron, formerly of the Ash Guard, frowned deeply. Accepting the surrender of a Domain Level Powerhouse was tantamount to planting a time bomb within the Vengeful Angels.

And no one would know when that bomb might suddenly detonate.

Reinhardt’s pace never faltered. ”He craves redemption,” he responded coldly, ”but that does not come without a price.”

「On the way out.」

Whether in the narrow corridors awash with blood or the office spaces littered with corpses.

When the rebel reinforcements heading for the Tania Flagship encountered Reinhardt’s group, their expressions were of shock and horror.

Yet not a single one ordered their soldiers to attack.

They simply parted to make way, kneeling on one knee on either side of the path as Reinhardt passed.

For in that moment, everyone knew one thing: Governor Claudius was dead.

In the hangar of the Tania Flagship, three thousand reinforcements, including a squad of ten Lord Knights, had received orders to stand fast.

They remained there until six Imperial Knights appeared at the far end of a corridor.

A young soldier stared in utter shock at the Emperor’s Angel with a War Axe slung across his back. His body trembled faintly with fear, his lips moving as he whispered the revered title.

”Vengeful Angels...”

Following the young soldier’s lead, the three thousand soldiers stationed in the hangar knelt on one knee, one after another.

Nelom walked behind Reinhardt. They were at the top of a long ramp, looking down upon a magnificent scene of triumphant victory. Even for a man who had experienced many such returns, the sight still stirred something deep within him.

Because the soldiers offering their respects were not an honor guard; they were the enemy.

More than the fear of the defeated, he understood that these soldiers were simply paying their utmost respects to the man walking before him.

Verne’s Vengeful Angels.

That symbol no longer simply represented Reinhardt’s past achievements. Now, the Vengeful Angels had become a spiritual symbol of unyielding resistance in the hearts of countless soldiers.

It inspired them, time and again, to fight to the death against powerful foes in this dark age.

Claudius had exhausted every means and promised immense rewards just to barely scrape together such an army. In contrast, Nelom had every reason to believe that if the man before him simply raised his arm and gave the call, tens of millions of soldiers from the rebel fleet would respond.

To fight for Claudius was to fight for wealth and status.

But to fight for Verne’s Vengeful Angels, countless people would willingly give their lives.

Because the tenets of the Fire of Vengeful Sect led these soldiers to believe, without a doubt, that Verne’s Vengeful Angels was the Demigod closest to the Emperor. If they died fighting for him, not only would their souls return to the Divine Emperor’s light, but the Lord of Vengeful himself would bring down punishment upon the enemies who had killed them.

Just as the ancient proverb says: Loyalty is its own reward.