I Aggressively Stack Steel of the Heart in the Knight Order

Chapter 190: Chapter 155: Veteran Agate, Oh My Avernus

The violent explosion jolted Raphael and the others from their terrifying illusions.

Matthias staggered and dropped to one knee. He tore off his Full Coverage Helmet. Beads of sweat mingled with the rain, streaming down his face as he retched violently.

He gasped for air as if he had just survived a bloody battle.

Manon and Raphael weren’t in much better shape.

Their souls had been assaulted by a terrifying gaze. The mental trauma was tantamount to having a sharp sword plunged into their brains through their eye sockets.

That was the Extraordinary Power of a Great Demon!

The fact that none of them had passed out, despite the severe mental trauma, was a testament to the iron will of every member of the Vengeance Angel Squad.

The only one who was largely unscathed was the physically modified Technician Soldier, Agate.

Unlike the other Imperial Knights, Agate always wore a wide, dark-red cloak over his Full Coverage Power Armor, one emblazoned with various religious symbols praising the God of All Machines.

His green-glowing Mechanical Eye zoomed in and out, silently fixed on Reinhardt.

While he had his practical reasons for joining the Vengeance Angel project, the primary motivation was that his personal philosophy was completely at odds with that of the Mechanical Order in the Imperial Administrative Region.

As a result, he had always kept his distance from the other members of the squad.

This wasn’t just a matter of faith. He simply didn’t trust the abilities of the other members, especially their captain, Reinhardt.

Agate had served in the elite formations of the Steel Hand for over four hundred years. Given his record and experience, it was a tall order to expect him to genuinely accept the leadership of an Imperial Knight who was under forty and had served for less than two decades.

That in itself went against human nature.

If Reinhardt had been born on the Steel Hand’s homeworld, he could have read about Agate’s name and deeds in the ancient history books.

Because to these new Imperial Knights, a four-hundred-year-old veteran like him was a figure straight out of a history book.

Not to mention that Think Tank in the Vengeance Angel Squad, who was a complete rookie.

Although Agate was a man of few words, he held some of Raphael’s and Reinhardt’s decisions in contempt. He found them naive and overly idealistic.

But after witnessing Reinhardt withstand the terrifying gaze and cut down Destiny Knight Logan, he finally believed the stories of Reinhardt’s deeds during the Verne Campaign were not exaggerations.

He had served for a very, very long time, so he knew all too well how corrupt and chaotic the Battle Groups of the Old Empire System were. It was a place where the unworthy drove out the worthy, a phenomenon he had long grown accustomed to.

Unless he saw and understood something for himself, he wouldn’t believe it—not even if the bureaucrats of the Imperial Administrative Region and the Knights of every Battle Group hyped the Verne Campaign to the heavens, or if the Grand Governor’s promises for the Vengeance Angel project reached beyond the Cosmos.

But now, he had a reason to temporarily let down his guard and give the Vengeance Angel Squad the benefit of the doubt.

Their Think Tank was still an emotional rookie, it was true, but at least he wasn’t a bad person. He possessed a pure heart, the most precious thing in this Dark World.

If there was time, he wouldn’t mind telling the other members of the Vengeance Angel Squad about his past. He could tell them about... the Imperial Knights he’d met, the ones he’d served with who were rotten to the core, devoid of all faith and honor.

Perhaps the only good news to come out of the Great Rebellion was that most of these rotten apples had accepted the corruption of the Void Realm, fallen to darkness, and betrayed the Empire.

Finally, after the sound of the explosion faded, the mission-focused Technician Soldier ignored the approaching Demon Army overhead. He took the initiative to help Raphael to his feet and asked in a low voice, "Still no response from Seventy-Six?"

Raphael, stunned for a moment by the gesture, shook his head.

"The members of the Assassin Court are implanted with all kinds of life-saving Alchemy Technology. Besides, if he doesn’t contact us, we’ll never be able to find him."

As he spoke, Raphael grabbed Agate’s arm to warn him about the Demon Legion right overhead.

In the next instant, an immense surge of Knight Power erupted from Agate’s body and flooded into the six mechanical arms on his back. With the characteristic CLICK-CLACK of machinery, the tips of the arms morphed into weaponized emitters.

Then, six beams of eerie green, high-energy laser fire shot toward the sky!

They tore through the army of hundreds of demonic minions as if scything through grass!

Raphael’s eyes widened. He glanced at Agate in disbelief before looking up at the sky. He saw countless severed limbs, mixed with demonic blood, raining down with the storm!

Even Matthias and Manon were rooted to the spot, stunned by Agate’s display of power.

Technician Soldiers rarely saw frontline combat. So, no matter which Battle Group they had served in, they were eventually written off as mere support staff.

This...

Agate’s alchemically modified face betrayed no emotion. "This is my Extraordinary Armament," he stated coldly. "Time is short. Inform Reinhardt that we must enter the ruins at once.

If Seventy-Six isn’t dead, he’ll find us before we exfiltrate.

Trust me."

Raphael was taken aback by Agate’s sudden talkativeness. He exhaled sharply, then used Telepathy to inform Reinhardt of the plan to enter the ruins.

But the Void Governor overhead had no intention of letting them go so easily.

The Governor had been excitedly hunting the Space Dragon Race. After sensing the power of the Eye of the Great Demon, he realized he had a chance to seize a great treasure. But to have over a hundred of his demonic minions slaughtered mid-pursuit—how could he not be enraged?

Gripping the reins of his Abyssal Fire Dragon, the Void Governor flew toward Raphael and the others in a rage, roaring, "Imperial Knights! You’re courting death!"

The power of a Void Governor Mage can vary wildly.

The strongest among them can rival the most elite Seven-star Military Rank Earth Knights, while the weakest are no match for even a newly minted Earth Knight.

Even so, a Void Governor’s power was far beyond what an Official Knight could handle.

Just as the Void Governor, seething with malicious rage, prepared to charge down and slaughter Raphael and his squad, an utterly terrifying presence suddenly materialized nearby!

The curtain of rain was thick.

It was impossible to see far with the naked eye.

But then his vision caught a flash of scarlet, and the aura of Radiant Power pierced his extraordinary senses.

The Void Governor’s expression shifted from fury to confusion, then to utter horror. He gasped so sharply it felt as if he’d sucked all the cold air out of the sky.

For a moment, he thought his senses had failed him.

For a Mage who had painstakingly clawed his way up from a lowly Tormentor to the rank of Void Governor, the sheer absurdity of the situation was comparable to going out for a morning stroll only to bump into the Radiant Divine Emperor himself buying groceries at the front door.

Sweet Avernus!

’How could Radiant Power possibly exist in a godforsaken place like this?’