Chapter 67: Chapter 53: I Will Stand at the Top of the World
A moonless night.
The stars were dying.
Reinhardt tilted his head back, gazing at the distant sky.
Born in the poorest rural town in Lanshi Province, he had heard time and again of the Radiant Empire’s grandeur and the Imperial City’s splendor.
Before becoming a Knight.
Reinhardt had been utterly convinced that this world was nothing more than a Middle Ages Empire with Extraordinary Power—a place of low productivity, backward and barren.
He believed that with his system and his own grueling efforts, he would one day stand at the pinnacle of the world.
But when he truly stood upon the magnificent battlefields of the Empire’s territory,
he finally understood.
He understood just what a colossus this Human Empire, standing firm in the Dark World, truly was—!
Tens of thousands of Dao Mark Teleportation Gates, like fiery meteors, tore through the pitch-black night, weaving a dense, impenetrable grid that completely obscured the distant sky!
The distant land and sky were burning fiercely.
In that moment, the world became a sea of fire.
Countless lives were being devastated.
He knew the Imperial Rebel Army had arrived in Grillers World. Only two fates awaited them.
To die alone and unknown, like weeds in a remote corner of this rebellion, with no one to know they had fought and bled for the Empire. No one would commemorate their sacrifice. Everything they had done would be buried beneath the dust of this magnificent war.
Or.
To walk through a sea of corpses and blood, to shatter this dark and desperate hour, with the bodies of their enemies paving their path to ultimate victory!
Imperial Citizens would sing of their glory and sacrifice, the Regent Council would bestow medals upon them, and the Lord of the Empire himself would drape the great cloaks of heroes over their shoulders upon their triumphant return!
Though the road ahead was fraught with peril, Reinhardt’s dream of pursuing Knight Power had never wavered!
In fact, after learning the truth of it all, as he stood for the first time upon the vast stage of the Radiant Empire—a stage built of death and glory—with the right to call himself an Imperial Knight...
...a wordless surge of hot blood rushed into his heart.
Reinhardt gripped the handle of his axe, raised his head to stare at the distant sky, his will to fight soaring!
A magnificent mountain with no visible peak might scare off a coward, but it would never halt the steps of a true Knight.
The great humiliation he had once suffered!
The hatred from nearly being persecuted to death!
One day.
He would stand at the pinnacle of the world!
And he would personally twist off the head of the architect of all this, the great traitor Karloman, and hang it from the ruins of Frostfire Fortress as a blood sacrifice to honor those who had died there!
The Radiant Angel had intended to execute this young Knight suspected of corruption, but the boy’s response left him speechless.
In the past, according to Imperial law, every word Reinhardt had spoken would have been considered an act of great disrespect toward the Empire and the Radiant Holy Image!
He would have been branded a Desecrator, hauled before the National Church Court, and finally exiled to serve in the most dangerous worlds being pioneered on the Empire Border.
But now.
The Lord of the Empire, Karloman, the Regent Council, and even a large number of National Church Priests had led a rebellion. Even for a Radiant Angel who had once kneeled before the Radiant Holy Image to swear his Knight’s oath...
...when he learned the truth...
...the ideals and beliefs in his heart had teetered on the brink of collapse.
The Radiant Angel’s gaze passed through his helm and fell upon Reinhardt’s back. ’To still possess such a noble conviction even after being influenced by the power of the Abyssal Lord Avernus...’
He lowered the Flying Wing Broadsword in his hand and said in a low voice, "I am Albert, a member of the Third Tactical Squad of the Steel Wings Mobile Combat Team, Third Echelon of the Radiant Angel Legion.
Tell me your name, Knight."
"Reinhardt."
—
The Scaya Dragonfolk retreated quickly.
The strategic goal of this Alien Race’s sudden invasion was most likely to seize territory in Lanshi Province during the Empire’s internal turmoil.
However, they were only a small outpost settled in the Northern Mountain Area. Faced with the Empire’s regular legions, they chose to cut their losses and retreat decisively.
Unlike the Human Empire, which relies on the Radiant Waymark to transmit information between worlds, the Scaya Dragonfolk can use the power of their Ancient Blood to send information to their direct blood descendants without loss, regardless of spatial distance.
It was reasonable to assume they had learned of the rebellion within the Empire even before Reinhardt did.
In this battle, the Iron Blood Battle Group was all but annihilated. The only survivors were Battle Group Commander Fei Ning and the three Knights of the Ninth Squad, including Reinhardt.
They were, after all, only third-class Knights from an Imperial Mercenary Corps. Even fighting to the death, they could not escape their fate of sacrifice.
The three Knight Orders of the Dragon Hunter Battle Group remained relatively intact.
Their casualties were only in the single digits.
They had been fighting these Alien Races for a thousand years. The Scaya Dragonfolk settled in the Northern Mountain Area of Lanshi Province were far from a main force on a grand battlefield.
If it had been the main Scaya Dragonfolk army, they would have been devoured without a trace in half an hour.
Even so, they still had no chance for a brief rest. The Death Battle Group had arrived half an hour ago and was now engaged with the reinforcing Mobile Combat Team on the grasslands south of Baihe Town.
The night wind was cold.
It carried the chilling, metallic scent of blood.
Dietlinde sat exhausted on a piece of the ruined city wall, cradling a battered longsword. Dark purple scabs of dried blood were caked under her fingernails. A slight burn marked her left cheek, and a large portion of her once shoulder-length golden hair was scorched, emitting a burnt smell.
She was a twenty-year veteran.
Although she felt sorrow, she was long accustomed to life and death, so her emotions remained steady.
When she saw Reinhardt and a Radiant Angel return to Baihe Town, one walking behind the other, she slowly straightened up and raised a hand to greet him.
"I thought you’d died out there."
"Where are the others?"
"You’re looking at them."
Reinhardt glanced at the dejected Maxim, and then at Battle Group Commander Fei Ning, who was sighing repeatedly, his expression one of utter constipation.
Though their comrades in the Battle Group had been all but wiped out, at least their situation wasn’t as dire as the Steel Knight Order’s, haunted by the crushing pressure from the Imperial City.
On the contrary.
For third-class Knights of the Empire like them, being able to fight alongside Lord Heinrich and a Radiant Angel was an immense honor.
Born for glory, died for glory.
To die on the battlefield defending the Empire and its citizens—for a Knight, it was a worthy death.
Maxim, who had been slumped on the ground, heard Reinhardt’s voice, scrambled to his feet, and threw a punch right at Reinhardt’s face!
The young man, who only ever thought about making money, going home, and enjoying a good life, glared furiously at Reinhardt. "You really led us on, Reinhardt! Battle Group Commander Fei Ning already told us everything about you.
Dammit, if I’d known you’d pissed off some big shot, I would’ve just packed my bags and gone home to get married!"
He rolled his eyes and glared at Reinhardt for a long moment before letting out a helpless laugh and pulling him into an eager bear hug.
"Welcome back, brother."
Battle Group Commander Fei Ning had a large, blackened patch on his bald head. His brow was furrowed tightly, as if wrestling with some troubling, incomprehensible thought, and he sighed again and again.
"Why would Lord Sedon want to harm me? I was the one who took that blade for him back in the day..."
