Chapter 168: Chapter 133: Madam, We Are Not a Good Match, Reinhardt’s Power Armor
The Vengeful Angels project was classified as Legendary. Across the entire Imperial Administrative Region, no more than twenty people were privy to their true identities and movements.
Though Lady Catherine always appeared humble, that was only when she faced Reinhardt.
As a staunch member of the Empire’s Loyalist Faction, she was not only wary of Reinhardt’s might as an Earth Knight but also held the religious prophecy about him—that he was one of the Emperor’s Vengeful Angels—in awe.
Two years ago, on the matter of the Vengeful Angels, the National Church had even ordered the Judgment Court to covertly investigate whether Raphael was authoring some blasphemous text to slander the Divine Emperor.
However, after a series of investigations—and especially after the great debate led by Albert—things changed.
The Archbishops within the National Church, men who spent their days obsessed with deciphering the Divine Emperor’s hidden messages and studying religious texts, remained stubborn. They refused to acknowledge the Angel Holy Scripture as part of the National Church Classics. Nevertheless, copies of the scripture—the product of thirteen years of Raphael’s painstaking effort, compiled using Reinhardt’s deeds as prophetic signs—were already circulating wildly within the Church.
Now, the Cultivators of the National Church in the Imperial Administrative Region would all shake their heads if you mentioned the Vengeful Angels to their faces. In private, however, they spent all day clutching the Angel Holy Scripture and studying it with fanatical devotion.
Some radical factions even revered it as the final great classic to emerge from the Dark Ages of the Great Rebellion.
They saw it as the glorious revelation that would bring an end to this Dark Age.
It was just like the most classic line from the Angel Holy Scripture: The wrath of the Vengeful Angels will ultimately burn this rebellion to ashes.
Whether Raphael’s Mental Power had truly foreseen visions of the future was no longer important. The truth was that, against the backdrop of the Great Rebellion, the Cultivators of the Imperial State Church needed spiritual comfort and hope for the future.
They simply couldn’t find any scripture within the established National Church Classics that could explain the rebellion or offer hope to the Empire.
But the Angel Holy Scripture had appeared before them at this darkest of times, bathed in blood and death.
Lady Catherine was authorized to know about the Vengeful Angels project, to track the movements of Reinhardt and his team, and to personally lead her family’s merchant fleet to help the Vengeance Angel Squad complete their extraction.
Clearly, her identity and status within the Capet Family were not as simple as she had claimed in her introduction.
"You needn’t worry about the Grand Governor. Besides, the Administrative Region needs a more detailed intelligence report on the ruins for the Mechanical Order to take over."
Lady Catherine lifted her chin slightly, her eyes fixed on Reinhardt’s as she placed her right hand on his chest.
"The only thing you need to watch out for on this mission are the vanguard teams sent by the other Wizard Lords and warlords. There will be some Mages mixed in among them as well.
Hmm... you look so much like him. Even your heartbeat is the same."
Finally, Reinhardt, who had been stone-faced until now, smiled—a sudden, knowing smile of release.
"Are you serious?"
"You saw right through me, didn’t you?"
Reinhardt saw through Lady Catherine’s little ploy instantly. Far from being embarrassed, she just smiled. "Since you’ve put it that way, why don’t we be more honest with each other?"
"My husband died during a trade expedition when I was twenty-seven. I’m now one hundred and seventy-three."
"Honestly, putting aside all this mess of power and politics, you’re quite my type. And... there’s no rule about celibacy for Imperial Knights, is there?"
Reinhardt removed her hand, his gaze meeting Catherine’s. "But for me, you’re too old, my lady."
Catherine just smiled and shook her head, not pressing the personal issue any further. She returned to the matter at hand. "You’ll come to like it one day... I’ll send you the exact location of the Saint’s Remains later.
Lord Governor is waiting for you to return and report on your mission, after all."
With that, Catherine flashed Reinhardt a brilliant smile and slowly walked away down the corridor.
...
「Ten days later.」
「Iberian World.」
Reinhardt and Raphael’s Power Armor had been forged and delivered to them.
Both suits of Power Armor were painted with a black base and a crimson color scheme. The pauldrons bore a large Vengeful Angels insignia: a longsword flanked by blood-red Angel’s Wings.
In addition, along with the suits came detailed specifications and an instruction manual. The armor had far more functions than Forging Master Romance had verbally described to them back on the Aquitaine Forging World.
As it was forged to Fortress Level standards, the Full Coverage Helmet included an additional tinted visor. According to the manual, this visor was derived from an ancient form of Wizard Military Technology.
Utilizing its full functionality would require a Wizard’s Secret Treasure connected to the spinal nerves, but traditional Imperial Knights refused any such surgical modifications.
Therefore, only the most basic infrared heat-signature detection function was retained.
The weapon hidden in the vambrace was called a Sleeve Sword, but in a Mortal’s hands, it would be nearly indistinguishable from a Knight’s Broadsword. The blade was ten centimeters wide and seventy centimeters long, forged entirely from composite steel. It was also enhanced with Energy Blade Imperial Technology, allowing it to easily cleave through the tough scales of the Scaya Dragonfolk.
The armor’s Power Backpack contained a built-in Radiant Beacon capable of maintaining twenty-four hours of high-intensity, planet-side communications.
The leg-mounted flintlock gun fired rounds remade through Alchemy, each capable of piercing a basic Loyalty Level Anti-Magic Force Field. Meanwhile, the armor itself was covered in etched composite steel layers that generated a Dreadnought Level Anti-Magic Force Field. Even without activating his own powers, this field allowed Reinhardt to resist the Extraordinary Power of any Official Knight below a Two-star Military Rank.
Additionally, the left arm housed an Energy Shield Generator. It could project a massive Energy Shield Tower capable of blocking attacks from anyone below the rank of a Four-star Official Knight.
At first glance, such equipment might seem of little use to an Imperial Knight of Reinhardt’s caliber. But its true value would only be understood on the battlefield—when trapped and surrounded, feeling one’s stamina drain away as the number of enemies only grew.
With this suit, Reinhardt wouldn’t have to expend the precious stamina required to fuel his Knight Power when dealing with mere grunts.
Most importantly, this suit of Power Armor was incredibly cool.
Wearing it not only signified the lofty status of an Imperial Knight but also made Reinhardt’s already powerful and imposing physique even more formidable.
He looked like a humanoid armored vehicle, a walking steel tank.
Its silhouette alone was intimidating.
’As a Transmigrator, what red-blooded man could possibly refuse a suit of Power Armor this badass?’
However, Reinhardt, possessing the miraculous Imperial Technology provided by his System, managed to sling the Black Cutter and the Divine Emperor’s Fury onto his back, stacking them on top of the Power Backpack without any external assistance.
It gave off the distinct impression of a video game clipping error.
And it was as Reinhardt finished donning the Power Armor that the long-silent System finally stirred, its ethereal blue text flashing across his vision.
