Chapter 163: Chapter 128: May Your Soul Return to the Divine Emperor’s Light
The lowest level of the frontline fortress was dark and cramped.
Blood dripped endlessly down the interrogation rack.
Romana’s nerves were long past numb; she couldn’t feel the pain. All the sounds of the outside world seemed to have sunk underwater—muffled and indistinct.
Her thoughts drifted back two years.
Back then, she had been a well-regarded Clerk in the Civil Affairs Department, a Master of Internal Affairs, who had arrived on Rebino World for the routine collection of the Tithing.
But the war changed everything.
Rebino World’s planetary orbit was seized, evacuation routes were cut off, and the local Administrative District Legion suffered one defeat after another.
That was, until a panicked, gravely wounded man on the verge of death handed her an old codebook. He told her that no matter what, she had to deliver it to the Lord Governor in person.
The information absolutely could not be transmitted using a Radiant Beacon.
Because the future of the Empire depended on it.
At first, she hadn’t thought much of it. But just to be safe, she memorized the codebook, burned the original, and planned to retreat back to the Iberian World with the defending forces after they broke through the blockade.
But then the defensive lines on Rebino World completely collapsed. The last Infantry Legion and the Imperial Knights fell in battle on the Southern Continent.
Only then did Romana realize she might never get back.
But that wasn’t what frightened her most. A year ago, a large contingent of Interrogators from Baze World had arrived on Rebino. They had even resorted to using expensive Witchcraft Technology to conduct a planet-wide grid search, all to find a single person.
If she hadn’t been a mere Mortal, she would have died here a year ago.
Although she didn’t know what the data in the codebook meant, from that day on, she understood that what was hidden in her head was more important than her own life.
Despite hiding and fleeing all the way from the Southern Continent to this remote town, she was still captured.
And the Interrogator, eager to claim the credit for himself, chose to conceal the fact of her capture. He began torturing her privately, trying to force her to give up the codebook.
In her disoriented state, she seemed to hear the Interrogator screaming from outside her cell.
"How did you get in here?! This is impossible... Impossible! The Imperial Administrative Region’s Legions have all withdrawn! You... AARGH—!"
But it all felt so unreal, like the visions a person sees on their deathbed.
The sound of breaking bones echoed endlessly through the lowest-level corridor.
The Interrogator’s screams came one after another.
Romana heard the sickening thud of a body hitting the wall and the sound of that traitor begging for his life like a dog.
"Agh... (a low groan of pain) For the Divine Emperor’s sake, I was forced into it! No, no, no... I can tell you everything I know!"
"Baze World, Grand Lord Kles’s plan, and... AARGH! My leg! My leg!"
"Imperial Knight! You’re forcing my hand!"
Romana summoned all her strength. She lifted her trembling head, and through her blurry, double vision, she saw the Interrogator down a vial of potion that could supposedly heal any wound.
She saw feathers and tentacles sprouting continuously from the Interrogator’s skin.
She also saw an imposing, powerfully built man gripping the traitor’s mutated head in his right hand. He held the struggling, screaming Interrogator pinned firmly against the wall, as if crushing an ant.
"Raphael, access this traitor’s mind. Dig out any valuable intelligence."
Suddenly, the Interrogator, who had now fully transformed into a Demon, let out a soul-piercing shriek! His body convulsed violently as if being electrocuted.
That same ghastly shriek pulled Romana’s consciousness, which had been on the verge of slipping into nothingness, back to the real world.
She looked outside her cell at the man who had crushed the Demon as easily as one would crush a bug.
Her cracked lips parted slightly, her tone filled with disbelieving confusion.
"...An Angel?"
As she spoke the title that symbolized the majesty of the Radiant Divine Emperor, the gentle voice of a Combat Priest echoed in her mind.
"You’re safe now, sister."
The voice felt so distant, yet so very close.
She watched as the towering man, ignoring the Interrogator’s screams and pleas, brutally and mercilessly wrenched his head aside, snapping his neck. Then he threw the body to the ground and stomped, crushing the fully demonized head!
As the man walked into her cell, Romana made out his features in the faint light.
"You came... to save me?"
Reinhardt looked at the horrifying wounds covering the Mortal woman’s body. His face was expressionless, and he remained silent.
He took out a Blood Burning Needle, injected its contents into her, then snapped the iron chains binding her hands and feet. He lifted her into his arms and started walking slowly out of the Fortress.
Only an Imperial Knight was worthy of being called "sister" or "brother" by a Combat Priest.
Romana, a Mortal, had earned far more than the respect of a single Manon Knight with her sacrifice and dedication—Raphael’s attitude also represented Reinhardt’s.
She had already done everything she possibly could.
Although he couldn’t bear to put more pressure on the rescue target’s mind, which was already at its limit, Raphael hadn’t forgotten the purpose of their mission. He used the gentlest voice he could, trying to dispel the resistance and suspicion in her heart.
"I am Raphael, the Think Tank and a Combat Priest of the Imperial Administrative Region’s Vengeance Angel Squad. The one who saved you is Lord Reinhardt. Sister, please lower your guard. I need to find something important in your memories. Please understand."
Romana was already delirious, but at the mention of the codebook’s secret, she instinctively became guarded. On a mental level, this defense mechanism made it very difficult for Raphael to read her memories.
At least, not without harming her. Raphael could not break through her mental defenses.
At the end of the long, narrow corridor of the underground fortress, Romana saw a sliver of light. She said weakly, "If... you really are a Priest..."
Leaning against Reinhardt’s broad, solid chest, sunlight gradually filled her vision. Her eyes, so long imprisoned in darkness, could barely react to the light.
After the blinding whiteness faded, she heard the shouts of routing soldiers and the roars of battle.
Her pupils gradually lost focus. She stared blankly at the sky as her arm slowly slid from the crook of Reinhardt’s elbow.
In the end, she never got to finish what she wanted to say.
In that moment, she seemed to hear the stern voices of her long-dead parents, and the busy silence of the Civil Affairs Department.
The golden light that gradually filled her vision was like the radiance of the Divine Emperor himself—so warm, filling her with a peace she had never known.
She heard someone whispering in her ear, but she could no longer make out the words.
Raphael had used his Mental Power to kill hundreds, even thousands of Demons, and countless Mortals and soldiers. But never before had he felt such immense guilt, a weight that threatened to crush his very soul.
To get the information, he had personally extinguished the final flame of his sister’s life.
「Three hundred meters from the frontline fortress.」
Raphael knelt on one knee. His voice was so heavy with sorrow that it trembled slightly as he offered Romana a final prayer of parting.
"May your soul... return to the light of the Divine Emperor, sister."
