Chapter 290 253: War, Fuel, and Ladder | Dog Eat Dog

Just as Raphael was worrying about Matthias's party and their mission, a Mind Mark he had placed on an Ash Guard reconnected with him.

'We found eight Technician Priests at the lower port who had yet to evacuate. We are on our way back.'

'What about the others?'

Model, the Ash Guard responsible for covering the Technician Priests' retreat, fell silent for a moment before replying, 'We were ambushed by Dark Mages and Fear Knights at the lower port. I was ordered to cover the Technician Priests' evacuation first. We expect to return to the upper port in seven minutes.'

Raphael's expression shifted slightly when he heard the names Dark Mage and Fear Knight.

He had planned to consult Reinhardt, either to request reinforcements or to dispatch Seventy-Six to support the lower port. But before he could even report, an Imperial ship, corrupted by the power of the Dark Abyss, suddenly emerged from the Net Path and came to a stop above Barge Port Three.

At the same time, a potent Knightly Aura from within the ship, laced with hysterical madness, crashed down upon the upper port!

The hatch, covered in flesh and sprouting bone spurs, opened.

A Void Knight in Anti-Magic Steel Armor, now overgrown with sharp bone spurs and flowing like dark red blood, leaped from the hatch. Over three meters tall, he wielded a mutated Knight's Broadsword and landed heavily on the ground.

His eyes, burning with sulfurous flames, surveyed the battlefield. The oppressive aura of his Mighty Power—that of a Four-star Earth Military Rank—filled the air!

Behind him, three more Knights of Seven-star Official Military Rank landed on the battlefield, taking their positions behind their Combat Gang leader. Their flesh and bone had also been completely warped into demonic forms.

And it didn't stop there. Another Flesh Battleship, packed with soldiers of the Imperial Rebel Army, simultaneously appeared over Barge Port Five.

A similar aura of Mighty Power, that of another Four-star Earth Military Rank, roared as it descended upon the battlefield.

At that exact moment, Reinhardt, Death Battle Group Second Company Commander Stearns, and the heavily-injured Florian all turned to look toward the two barge ports.

...

If the grand war was a speeding train, then the lives of Mortals were its fuel, as well as the rungs of a ladder for every Transcendent to climb.

The Demons of the Dark Abyss reveled in blood and slaughter.

Fear Knights constructed their Mighty Power from the terror of the mortal races.

Dark Mages and the Great Demons of the Divine Domain Maze schemed from behind the scenes, using all of creation as their game board. Plots and conspiracies were merely tools to please their Divine Monarch.

Even if the torch of the Imperial Knights' ideals could drive back the darkness, their Knight Power was ultimately born from eternal combat and slaughter, holding no true glory.

It seemed everyone but the Mortals stood to gain something from the grand war.

It was less for a great and just cause and more of an excuse they used to amass power for themselves.

「Lower Port.」

The massive breach rammed open by the Flesh Ship acted like a pump. Due to the immense pressure difference, tons of debris and the Destiny Abominations infesting the lower port were violently ejected through the gap at high speed.

Even super-heavy machinery bolted to the floor groaned with the sound of snapping metal as it was torn apart by the terrifying force of the pressure differential.

Götz, an elite of the Caster Battle Group, supported the incredibly weak Thinker Bach, his brow deeply furrowed.

This was because the insidious words of the powerful enemy in the distance were like buzzing flies, constantly trying to tell him the "truth" behind the Dark Cosmos and the grand war.

His psyche having been severely traumatized, Bach's eyes were now pitch black, and his Spiritual Power had lost all perception of the outside world.

But he still gripped Götz's wrist tightly, growling through an expression of agony, "Don't… believe its lies…"

As he spoke, Bach violently coughed up a mouthful of blood. Even with Götz supporting him, he collapsed to his knees. His eyes lost the defiant light they had held back at the upper port when he had provoked Raphael.

As a novice Thinker for the Ash Guard, he wanted to refute Iskander's insidious and chaotic words, but with his mind so severely traumatized, just remaining conscious consumed all his strength.

The power of a Dark Mage was far beyond what a novice Thinker like him could ever hope to oppose.

However, he had clearly underestimated the determination of the Imperial Knight beside him, whose Battle Group affiliation was unknown.

Iskander's deep black, hooded cloak whipped in the wind. A brilliant yet fatal, neon-like turbulence of blue and purple Spiritual Energy coiled around his body.

His mocking voice, carried by his Spiritual Power, echoed ceaselessly in the minds of Götz, Bach, and Matthias.

'…A great cause? Noble ideals? There is no lie more laughable. How is anything you do different from the Demons?'

'Fighting, killing, vying for power and profit…'

'Your Pseudo-Emperor, the one you worship as a Divine Spirit, is far better at manipulating minds than you could ever imagine, Imperial Knights.'

Bach desperately tried to focus, clenching his fists. He wanted to refute Iskander's absurd, blasphemous words, but he couldn't speak. Even his consciousness was beginning to slip away.

At the same time, the Ash Guard who had saved Götz earlier knelt motionless before the Dark Mage Iskander. A malevolent, neon-like torrent of blue and purple Spiritual Power washed over his body, extinguishing the last spark of life.

Like a piece of space debris, it was dragged away by the pressure differential. As Matthias watched in a rage so intense it felt like his eyes would split, the body collided with a piece of engineering equipment and vanished through the breach into the deep void of the cosmos.

If Iskander's blasphemous words had filled Matthias with rage, then Artur's death was like pouring a barrel of gasoline on the fire!