Chapter 133: Chapter 98: Blood Fury War Axe, Promotion to Seven-star Military Rank
His muscles and skin sealed shut, his bones and organs mended.
Deformed, mutated organs grew within his body.
Like a deserter scared witless, Stein knelt on the ground, weeping and wailing. He crawled away like a pathetic worm, completely ignoring the tens of thousands of Raider Knights and Mortal Soldiers staring at him.
The shock and disbelief in the eyes of the four Wolf Guards, who had been watching the duel intently, was even greater than the impact of witnessing a mighty being’s birth—greater than when they had seen Reinhardt himself ascend to the Seven-star Military Rank on the battlefield!
’Was this man—crawling on the ground like a worm, devoid of all knightly honor and courage, begging for mercy with words that made them blush with shame—truly their spiritual leader? The invincible Leader of the Wolves, Crusher Stein?!’
Now, after witnessing Stein’s weakness and pathetic display, morale utterly disintegrated—not just for the Raider Auxiliary Army on Verne Bridge, but even for the Raider Knights themselves.
This was especially true for the Raider Knights.
Their minds were reeling as if in a dream, unable to process Stein’s act of abandoning all honor and dignity to beg for his life.
An ordinary Knight might show fear or retreat in battle, but their spiritual leader cannot. In fact, it is precisely through a superhuman, iron will that a Knight grows through countless battles to eventually become the spiritual leader of a Battle Group—its very soul.
Sedon was such a leader.
So was Heinrich.
But the Plunderers could never have imagined it.
All of Stein’s honor was a sham, built entirely on the power of a Demon, on despicable and shameless schemes, and on a painstakingly crafted public persona.
Without the power of the Void Divine Artifact to deliver the killing blow, everything he had built would instantly crumble before a truly powerful opponent.
If Stein were given another chance, he absolutely would not have believed the lies of the Ten Thousand Changes Demon Monarch, who claimed this was his opportunity to become a Great Demon and sent him here to make trouble for Reinhardt.
’He hated his demonic master, the Ten Thousand Changes Demon Monarch, to the very marrow of his bones. But kneeling to beg for his life, to beg to complete the Demon Ascension Ceremony and obtain the power to kill Reinhardt—that was still necessary.’
At that moment, under a sea of horrified stares, Stein dropped the act. He dug into his own torso, pulled out the Void Divine Artifact hidden within his organs, and held it aloft in his cupped hands. With an expression of unparalleled piety, he cried out.
"Great Master! God of secrets and schemes! Your most faithful servant begs for your consent! Grant me supreme power, let me embrace..."
As Stein prayed, the fighting on Verne Bridge gradually came to a standstill.
All eyes stared in disbelief at Stein, the former leader of the Plunderers, as he called upon a Demon.
It wasn’t just Reinhardt.
Far away, Raphael, who was fighting fiercely outside Caster Monastery, also heard the demonic whispers from the depths of the Void Realm.
Reinhardt’s Black War Axe descended with the force of a thunderbolt, aimed at Stein’s neck to stop the traitor’s Demon Ascension Ceremony. However, a layer of invisible power forcefully deflected the blade.
Stein whipped his head around to look at Reinhardt and burst into maniacal laughter.
Then, his expression turned grim. His hate-filled eyes stared at Reinhardt, who had been sent flying by the Great Demon Power. His voice was savage, overflowing with a monstrous hatred.
"Reinhardt! Once I complete the Demon Ascension Ceremony, you will pay for everything you’ve done! I’ll rip out your heart with my own hands, and I’ll make you watch as I slaughter every living creature in this world!"
