Chapter 311 - 271: Conversation

"She should be awake by now."

The cold, mechanical voice pierced through Lu Jia’s muddled consciousness. Her eyes snapped open, and as she sucked in a sharp breath, her hand shot to the dagger strapped to her thigh.

With a furious cry, she sprang to her feet and lunged at the tall figure standing before her.

"You damn traitors—! Die!"

THUD—!

A pair of powerful hands caught her upraised wrist, but her combat instincts, etched into her very muscles, took over. Lu Jia immediately swung with her other fist.

But the rebound from striking an Energy Shield threw her off balance. She was flung back against a metal bulkhead, collapsing heavily to her knees.

Just then, a right hand encased in Power Armor extended toward her.

"Sister, we are not your enemy."

Lu Jia warily slapped the offered hand away and raised her head, cautiously scanning her surroundings.

The metal bulkheads were covered in a variety of gears and conduits. Outside the viewport swirled the warped, phantasmal scenery unique to travel through the Net Path.

’A ship?’

’Shouldn’t I be on Hiniya World?’

Lu Jia’s brow furrowed. She glanced to her left at a Technician Soldier piloting the vessel. The hooded cloak he wore, a symbol of the Mechanical Sages, gave her a moment’s pause.

Then her gaze returned to the two Imperial Knights standing before her.

One stood around two-point-three meters tall, a strong, burly figure. His Power Armor was painted black, emblazoned with a massive Golden Flying Wing Longsword Battle Emblem on the Chest Armor. His pauldrons and helmet were marked with unique crimson stripes that looked like flowing blood.

The Black War Axe slung across his back was exceptionally large and eye-catching.

The other man was just under two meters tall and wore no helmet, revealing a gentle face. However, her Knight Perception detected an extremely powerful and intimidating wave of Spiritual Power emanating from him.

Furthermore, the surface of this man’s matching black Power Armor was adorned with various strange emblems. Over the heart on his right Chest Armor, a line of dense religious text was inlaid in gilded Holy Capital Language: *In the name of the Vengeful Angels*.

A white sash, the symbol of a Combat Priest, was draped over the Golden Warhammer in his hand, its fabric covered in dense scripture.

’A Priest?’

Even though Lu Jia had already slapped his hand away once, Raphael extended his right hand again and explained patiently, "It was Lord Reinhardt who rescued you and brought you aboard."

"This is the *Punisher*. I am Raphael, this squad’s Combat Priest and Think Tank.

There are no traitors here, and no Demons. You’re safe."

’Reinhardt?’

Lu Jia mulled this over, then looked up at the other Imperial Knight standing silently beside the Priest. Based on the attitudes and positions of the others on the ship, she deduced that this must be the Lord Reinhardt he had mentioned.

’And that Black War Axe...’

She took Raphael’s hand to stand, then tilted her chin up to face Reinhardt, her brow slightly furrowed. "So... you’re the one who saved me? What about the others?"

At that moment, under Lu Jia’s gaze, the previously silent Reinhardt finally responded.

"Seventy-Six and I cleared all the Demons from the warzone. Unfortunately, your Baron fell gloriously in battle. Command was transferred to his Adjutant."

"Sister, I have some questions for you, and I need you to answer them truthfully."

Facing Reinhardt up close, Lu Jia, now fully awake, felt an immense pressure. It was the kind of pressure one felt when being questioned by a Nun Superior, stemming from both the iron will he projected—one forged in a sea of blood and mountains of corpses—and his faint, yet still terrifyingly powerful Knightly Aura.

She stared at Reinhardt’s Full Coverage Helmet, fell silent for a moment, then said, "But I need to know which Legion you hail from."

Raphael’s brow twitched. "You have no right to question Lord Reinhardt," he said, his voice low. "Answer his questions. Afterward, I will answer yours."

Though it was a small detail, a clear picture of a powerful, high-ranking Imperial Knight was beginning to form in Lu Jia’s mind.

’After all,’ she thought, ’no matter the Battle Group, for a high-status Combat Priest to address someone as ’Lord,’ that person must either be a Battle Group Leader or a powerful figure in the Legion’s high command.’

She took a long look at the Black Armored Knight before her. ’This Imperial Knight, Reinhardt... his authority and esteemed position are probably on par with a Nun Superior.’

Having confirmed that the men on this ship were not rebels, but Loyalist Knights of the Empire, she took a deep breath. She knelt on one knee before Reinhardt and bowed her head. "Angel of the Emperor, please forgive my presumption. I will answer all of your questions truthfully."

Reinhardt recalled the intelligence he’d gathered on Hiniya. This Battle Sister kneeling before him had crash-landed there alone three months prior.

"What is the current date?"

Lu Jia froze.

’The date? What kind of question is that?’

But she answered truthfully, "Radiant Calendar, year 1443. February ninth, around dawn, Holy City Time."

After she gave her answer, Manon and the now-recovered Matthias exchanged a look. Raphael also frowned. He glanced at Reinhardt and, after receiving a tacit nod, leaned down to help Lu Jia to her feet. "You probably don’t realize," he explained, "but you were inside a Void Storm."

"When we arrived on Hiniya, it was already the year 1460 of the Radiant Calendar."

"1460? How is that possible—?! My sisters and I only retreated from the African World three months ago! You..."

Reinhardt held up a hand to calm her, then removed his Full Coverage Helmet. "I know you’re confused," he said, his voice deep, "but a Void Storm doesn’t just devour the Real Cosmos. It also twists time..."

「Afterward.」

In his conversation with Lu Jia, Reinhardt learned that the Battle Sister belonged to the Holy Rose Order, which served under the Inquisition. When the Great Rebellion began, they had followed Judge Olga to the African World in the Radiant Star Realm to suppress the insurrection. However, during their withdrawal, they were caught in a Void Storm. She lost contact with everyone else and crash-landed on Hiniya World.

When Reinhardt told her that they were now in the Ash Soil Star Zone, on the fringe of the Empire and far from the Radiant Star Realm, Lu Jia’s eyes filled with disbelief.

A journey of that distance, even via the Net Path, would take several months, perhaps even half a year.

But that wasn’t what shocked her most. When Lu Jia learned that Archangel Tiberius had fallen and that the very ship she was on was en route to rescue the Radiant Angels, she fell into a long, profound silence.

This was the same Battle Sister who had once faced a siege of six Slaughter Demons without flinching, yet now her spirit seemed adrift. She leaned against the bulkhead and sank heavily onto a bench.

After a long silence, she lifted her head. Her once-soft white hair was matted with grime and blood, and the star-shaped tattoo on her face was obscured by streaks of mud and gore.

Even the fingernails of her right hand, which she used to brace herself on the bench, were caked with dried Demon’s Blood.

She slowly raised her head to look at Reinhardt’s scarred, resolute face. Her heart trembled as a soul-wrenching question escaped her lips.

"Angel," she pleaded, "tell me... has the Empire... truly fallen?"