Chapter 283 - 246: The Heresy of the Emperor’s Offspring, The Port’s Lower Levels

As he spoke, his gaze passed through the window of the Punisher Ship, landing on Reinhardt’s back.

He had served in the Ash Guard for over forty years, enduring one bloody battle after another and slaying countless enemies. Only then had he been promoted from the Three-star Earth Military Rank to Four-star...

He had just personally witnessed Reinhardt standing over the corpse of a powerful foe that even he couldn’t defeat, achieving a grand promotion in Military Rank.

The shock he felt went far beyond what words could describe.

As an Iron Crown of the Ash Guard, his status and strength granted him access to some of the secrets of the Administrative Region’s high command.

He knew that Reinhardt was the young man Lord Sedon had encountered in a training camp of a loyal Battle Group, back when Sedon, having been deceived and betrayed, was purging the old subordinates of Bashk, the leader of the Steel Knight Order.

He had also heard the tales of the Empire’s Chosen One tearing a Great Demon apart with his bare hands from a champion of an Ash Guard Battle Group.

But it wasn’t until he met Reinhardt in person...

...that he truly understood. The man’s deeds, and his power, were far more incredible than even the most outlandish rumors!

He arrived with a Three-star Earth Military Rank and was promoted to Four-star mid-battle. This wasn’t just immense talent; this was a genuine Empire’s Chosen One!

The Regent Council had been handing out the Imperial’s Chosen Crown liberally through the Imperial Arena, gradually debasing the title’s meaning.

But in Reinhardt, Florian personally witnessed the kind of terrifying talent and power that a true Empire’s Chosen One possessed—the kind only recorded in the histories of the Radiant Expedition, who would later become Lords of the Imperial Legions.

Archangel Tiberius, Lord of the Radiant Angel Legion, was just one such example.

According to the most conservative interpretation of the Imperial State Church’s scriptures, the meaning and symbolism behind the Empire’s Chosen One was that they were the children of the Divine Emperor, scattered across the Dark Cosmos after He reshaped the flesh and blood of old humanity with His Radiant Power.

Of course.

The Lord of the Empire, the Regent Council, the various Lords of the Legions, and the mainstream sects of the Imperial State Church had always denied this, outright calling it heresy from within the Church.

For the Emperor never had any children, and the Empire’s true line of succession lies only with the Lord of the Radiant Holy Sword.

Inside the Punisher Ship.

Under Agate’s orders, the six Mechanic Priests dared not delay and immediately began repairing the Punisher Ship.

Medical personnel also began their work, tending to Florian’s injuries.

Stearns turned and looked toward Raphael, who was hovering in the distance, white lightning crackling all over his body. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Sir, am I supposed to know who these people are?"

Even as the medics cut open his chest and continuously removed fragments of broken ribs from the incision, Florian merely furrowed his brow, his face pale but otherwise stoic.

Had anyone else asked, he wouldn’t have said a single word.

But Stearns was not only his old subordinate but also a veteran of the Death Battle Group, deeply trusted by Lord Sedon.

Besides, he had participated in the defense of the Barge Port’s front line and had the right to know certain things. Florian considered it for a moment before responding cautiously, "They are a top-secret tactical team under the direct command of Lord Sedon. That is all you need to know. Do not ask any more questions."

Stearns removed his Full Coverage Helmet, revealing the face of a tough-as-nails soldier, covered in scars, his short brown hair soaked with sweat. He glanced at Agate out of the corner of his eye, horrified. ’A top-secret tactical team that requires a Mechanical Sage to serve as a Technician Soldier... He couldn’t even imagine what kind of squad would require such a luxurious assignment.’

’If I’m not mistaken, that Thinker with the exceptionally unique Spiritual Power must be the frontline commander I was just speaking with.’

’His Extraordinary Power is only at the level of a Tier One Mage, but that Combat Priest and Thinker named Raphael... when I looked at him earlier, my combat instincts screamed that he was a tremendous threat.’

"I understand. What about Bach and the others?"

As an Iron Crown, Florian wasn’t entitled to the protection of a Battle Group champion, but he did have a powerful three-man squad assigned to protect him and Thinker Bach at all times.

"They went to the lower levels of the port."

Hearing this reply, Stearns’s heart sank, and his brow furrowed deeply.

If the intelligence he’d received while rushing to help defend the Third Orbital Port was correct, then in the Third Orbital Port warzone, everything except the top-level Barge Port above the 270th floor had long been abandoned by frontline command—a fallen zone.

The only fate for the defenders and any personnel who hadn’t evacuated from there was to wait for death.

If manpower were sufficient, the Administrative Region certainly wouldn’t have abandoned them. But right now, the main forces were locked in a fight to the death with the Demon Legion in the Verne ground warzone.

Sparing a team like theirs for reinforcements was already the result of frontline command thinking until their brains smoked, scraping together every last soldier they could from every corner.

Although he didn’t know why Bach and his team had gone deep into the Orbital Port, it was a decision far above his Level.

After confirming that Florian’s life was not in danger, he met with Seventy-Six, who was responsible for the ship’s security. He then drew his Knight’s Broadsword and quickly dove back into the battle to help the defenders hold the line.

「Meanwhile.」

「Orbital Port Mid-levels, Floor Sixty-Five.」

In a dim, narrow corridor, red alarm lights flashed incessantly. The corpses of humans and Demons were piled up like mountains. The Steel Boots of Power Armor stepped onto the floor, the gradually congealing blood feeling exceptionally thick and sticky.

Aside from the occasional sounds of shouting and gunfire, the entire Orbital Port was terrifyingly silent after Matthias and his team entered the warzone below the 100th floor.

Hordes of Little Demons squatted in the dense warren of administrative offices, gnawing on corpses with a sickening rustle.

Accompanying Mages carried Soul Lamps, cruelly reaping the souls of the heavily wounded and dying soldiers.

A woman with disheveled hair, covered in blood, and wearing the uniform of an Orbital Port administrative Clerk walked beside Matthias, her expression anxious.

She clutched a new-model rifle issued to soldiers, speaking very quickly.

"...During the initial evacuation, Colonel Colson had planned to retreat from the lower port to the nearby Verne’s Stereoscopic City. He had over thirty Technician Priests who worked at the port with him.

I can’t guarantee they’re still alive, but that’s the only place I know of where there might still be living Technician Priests."

The skull painted on Matthias’s Full Coverage Helmet looked exceptionally cold under the dim red glow of the alarm lights. After hearing the woman’s report, he frowned deeply.

The situation in the middle and lower levels of the Orbital Port was far worse than their operational plan had accounted for.

According to the plan Bach had formulated using the Orbital Port map before they set out, they were supposed to find a sufficient number of Technician Priests in the repair workshop on the 130th floor.

But there, aside from tens of thousands of bodies piled into small mountains, they had found nothing.