Chapter 160: Chapter 125: Betrayal and Loyalty, Squad Infighting
Frontline Fortress Twenty-Seven, Rebino World.
The fortress had originally been constructed by the Imperial Administrative Region, a military-grade defensive line meant to repel Grand Lord Kles’s invasion. But after the Empire lost the war, his legions took control of the facilities.
In addition to a five-man squad of Knights from the Conqueror Battle Group, a fifty-thousand-strong Infantry Legion was also garrisoned here.
At this moment.
In a detention cell deep within the Fortress.
An ordinary Mortal woman, stark naked, was hung on a torture rack covered in spikes.
Her once-voluminous, charming brown hair was largely scorched. On what should have been a fair, flawless young body, not a single patch of skin or muscle remained intact.
Her back was covered with wounds so deep they exposed bone, the flesh flayed open.
A huge scorch mark on her chest had almost burned through the muscle.
The bones in her legs, held fast by restraints, were shattered. The skin was a dark, purplish red, and the limbs were grotesquely twisted and swollen.
An interrogator from Baze World paced back and forth in the cell, his sleeves rolled up, his forehead beaded with sweat. His brow was furrowed in frustration that had curdled into rage. He held a lit cigarette between his fingers, his mouth spewing profanities.
"I’m telling you, the Empire is fucking dust! Turned to ash! And that so-called Radiant Divine Emperor? Where the hell is he? You think I’ve ever seen him?! Your loyalty is worthless—it’s complete and utter bullshit!
"Just give me the list! Status, power, money, even Extraordinary Power—you name it, and it’s yours!"
Losing his temper completely, the interrogator pulled out a bottle of Demon Poison. He flaunted it, deliberately provoking the Old Empire remnant on the rack, his voice rising to a roar. "Imperial Knights are nothing! See what I’m holding? Drink this, and not only will all your injuries heal, but the great Prophet will also grant you unparalleled Extraordinary Power.
"You’ll be able to crush those lackeys of the Pseudo-Emperor with one hand!
"You could even shoot straight to the top in the Ash Soil Star Zone and become one of the Baze Nobility!
"Think about it. You’ve given so much for the Empire, and what have you gotten in return? A pitiful, laughable salary. You’re just a sacrificial pawn in the eyes of its rulers.
"Give me the list, and I’ll send you to Baze World right now for an audience with Grand Lord Kles himself, where you’ll be handsomely rewarded."
The woman’s face was a ruin of lacerations, her original features long since unrecognizable.
If the interrogator hadn’t been continuously injecting her with Alchemy Potions, such grievous injuries would have killed even an Imperial Knight, let alone a mere Mortal.
He had assumed this would be an easy interrogation, but he never imagined breaking this woman would be so difficult—even harder than breaking an Imperial Knight.
But no matter what he said, no matter what tortures he inflicted, she stubbornly refused to speak.
The only answer he ever got was a single request: for him to kill her.
After a round of impotent rage filled with threats and temptations, the only answer the interrogator received was the woman’s numb, lifeless gaze, and a single word that struck a raw nerve.
"Traitor."
Hearing her dare to call him that, the interrogator erupted in fury.
Of course, he knew the so-called Prophet was a Great Demon, but a man has to find a way to justify his choices.
That one word, combined with the fact that days of brutal interrogation had yielded nothing, completely shattered the interrogator’s composure. He snapped, punching the woman’s ruined face!
He then grabbed a pair of pliers and viciously snapped her fingers.
In the dark corridors of the Fortress’s deepest levels.
The woman’s feeble screams and the interrogator’s profanities began to echo once more.
The soldiers garrisoned there showed no sympathy or pity. Their only expression was greed, their eyes hungry for the so-called Prophet’s potion.
「Meanwhile.」
In an abandoned house one kilometer from the Fortress.
Manon slammed his fist into a wall, his body trembling with uncontrollable rage. "Those bastards! Traitors... Traitors—! I’m going to slaughter those sons of bitches!
"Priest! Don’t you dare try to stop me!"
But Raphael simply blocked his path, his face expressionless. As the squad’s Think Tank, the cold ruthlessness he now displayed made him seem a world apart from the gentle, refined Priest he usually appeared to be.
"That Clerk from the Civil Affairs Department has proven her loyalty to the Divine Emperor. But we must stick to the pre-approved battle plan. The safety of Seventy-Six and Matthias depends on it."
Raphael’s sigil connected the minds of every squad member.
When he had located the rescue target deep inside the Fortress and begun his covert surveillance, everything that happened in the interrogation room—every last word—had echoed in their minds.
"To hell with the battle plan! I’m going to tear that traitor’s filthy mouth off! Move—!"
Raphael’s Physique was nowhere near strong enough to stop Manon, the Emperor’s Shield Knight, who was now utterly enraged.
The traitor’s bellowed insults against the Divine Emperor, combined with the agonizing screams of their sister from the Civil Affairs Department, made it impossible for the eight-and-a-half-foot-tall giant to contain his fury any longer.
A monstrous rage roared in his chest; he wanted nothing more than to tear those traitors apart with his bare hands.
"Manon Knight—! Don’t force my hand!"
Dazzling white lightning erupted from Raphael’s body as he levitated into the air, unleashing his Mental Power in an attempt to temporarily imprison Manon’s thoughts.
But Manon had reached his limit. He lunged forward, his iron fist striking like a cannonball, and smashed it against Raphael’s Mind Force Field. Jabbing a finger in the Priest’s face, he roared, "Maybe you can stand by while she endures another forty hours of torture, but I can’t! Do you understand me?"
At that moment, the hoarse, telepathic voice of Seventy-Six only added fuel to the fire.
"Any sacrifice is acceptable to achieve the tactical objective, Lord Manon. Your anger solves nothing."
"You’re all a bunch of cold-blooded bastards!"
Manon was furious, but he wasn’t a green recruit. Reason told him that if he charged in now, the entire plan—and by extension, all the suffering the clerk from the Civil Affairs Department had endured—would be for nothing.
The moment the enemy detected a rescue attempt, they would kill her without a second thought, especially if they couldn’t get the list.
As the ones tasked with carrying out the order, they had no authority to change it.
Those six Provincial Governors held far too many secrets of the Imperial Administrative Region; assassinating them was a priority on par with the rescue mission.
But Manon had now abandoned any thought of integrating with this squad. He’d already decided that as soon as this mission was over, he would request a transfer.
He would never become Battle Brothers with these cold-blooded bastards.
’As far as he was concerned, Reinhardt’s silence as team leader was a tacit endorsement of Raphael’s brutality! No wonder he’s the Knight Sedon values most—he’s just as much of a bastard!’
Just then, Reinhardt, who had been silent all this time, slowly rose to his feet.
Raphael and Manon both looked at him.
Reinhardt was beginning to understand something of what Sedon must have felt all those years ago when he persecuted the Imperial Knights.
The woman’s unyielding screams still echoed in his mind. At this fateful crossroads, he chose another path.
He took down his Black War Axe, ignoring Raphael’s attempt to stop him, and said in a low, heavy voice, "The assassination plan proceeds.
"Raphael, find the officers and Knights in the Fortress carrying Radiant Beacons. Report their locations to me.
"Tell Sergeant Agate to prepare for extraction in twenty-four hours."
Reinhardt’s plan was simple and brutal, but it required absolute, overwhelming force to succeed.
After all, if they slaughtered the entire garrison in the Fortress, Grand Lord Kles wouldn’t learn of their arrival on Rebino World for some time.
