Chapter 322 - 281: Top-Tier Battle

At the same time this excited, furious roar echoed out.

A sturdy, mountain-like figure crashed into the hangar bay at high speed through a breach in the hull. Like a meteorite, it hurtled toward Reinhardt!

This time, Flayer Du Ma still did not use his Domain Power.

He didn’t even use the power of the Steel Execution Rack or the Earth Ring.

The traitor was like a crazed Dragon Beast. He swung his massive fists straight at Reinhardt’s face, completely devoid of technique!

"Fight me, Imperial Knight!"

At this moment, the aura Flayer Du Ma displayed seemed to strip away his identity as a Fear Knight, returning him to the past—to when he was still a Dragon Hunter.

Clad in glory!

Thirsting for battle!

In this traitor, Reinhardt even saw the shadow of Heinrich, whom he had fought in the past.

Just as powerful.

The same crushing sense of pressure washed over him!

Facing Flayer Du Ma’s incoming Iron Fist, even without the use of Domain Power, the force and Knight Power it carried far surpassed that of any foe Reinhardt had ever encountered.

But this traitor wasn’t the only one with an indomitable will to fight!

Propelled by his Micro-Aikacia Nozzles, Reinhardt dodged sideways, his Full Coverage Helmet almost grazing the enemy’s Iron Fist. He thrust out his right arm to protect his head and deflect Du Ma’s limb.

At the same time, he crouched to build power.

The as-yet-unleashed Combat Skill·Humiliate People’s Power enveloped his left fist. Driven by a roaring torrent of blue, high-temperature Energy, he slammed it viciously into Du Ma’s unprotected side!

BOOM—!

A shockwave blasted through Du Ma’s body, forming a ring of airflow behind him that roared and billowed in the hangar’s chaotic currents.

But having already suffered from this once, there was no way he would take a second brutal beating from the same Combat Technique.

At the point of impact on his waist, Du Ma’s Demon Scale Armor flared with incredibly potent Demon Evil Power. After absorbing the bulk of the force from Humiliate People’s Power, the scales merely vibrated, completely undamaged.

At this moment, Flayer Du Ma’s immense power was on full display!

This was because Reinhardt’s punch, even without the added kinetic energy from acceleration, would have shattered the muscles and bones of an Elite Slaughter Demon.

After withstanding the punch, the crimson flames in Du Ma’s eyes swirled violently, his expression twisting into a ferocious grin.

Because every one of Reinhardt’s tactical moves was within his calculations!

All he had to do was endure the blow and use Reinhardt’s own defensive maneuver to his advantage. As Reinhardt deflected his assault, he would press in and trap the Imperial Knight in a death grip!

This would prevent his opponent from using that time-accelerating Special Ability to move faster than his optic nerves could track, which would pose a fatal threat.

Without a doubt, the instant Reinhardt threw that punch, Du Ma’s thousand years of combat experience allowed him to make the perfect prediction.

Of course, for any other Knight, using such a tactic would be tantamount to suicide.

But he was a Fear Knight. He was Flayer Du Ma, a being who possessed a Dragon Descendant bloodline even before the rebellion. He was a terrifying entity who could withstand a ship’s cannons and rip vessels apart with his Physical Strength alone!

Even though he was severely wounded, killing a single Reinhardt would still be child’s play for someone of his power!

However, what he would never have expected was that all his plans and tactical objectives were also anticipated by Reinhardt.

Their second clash occurred at the twenty-eighth second of the Fourth Earth Ring’s flowing Time Sand.

Twenty-nine seconds.

Thirty seconds.

At this moment, the Fourth Earth Ring·Sands of Time completed a full cycle.

Activating downstream Time Sand flow: Time Dilation.

Just as Flayer Du Ma’s eyes erupted with intense excitement and rage, and he was about to lock Reinhardt down for the killing blow just as he’d predicted...

He suddenly realized that his arms and his lunging body were barely a fist’s length from Reinhardt. Yet this negligible distance...

...had suddenly become impossibly vast!

Even his body seemed frozen in midair, unable to budge.

’Another Special Ability?!’

Enraged, Flayer Du Ma stared at Reinhardt. The crimson flames in his eye sockets trembled violently. But without using his Domain Power, even a top-tier powerhouse of the Seven-star Earth Military Rank could not break free from the effects of a Special Ability.

’This damned, cunning ant!’

However, when he saw the plain Iron Sword fly into Reinhardt’s hand and suddenly ignite with the Divine Emperor’s Flame, suffused with Radiant Power...

...Flayer Du Ma, feeling he’d been toyed with again and again, completely lost his composure. Beyond his hysteria, for the first time in the hangar bay, he felt the threat of death!

’A Radiant Holy Artifact—?!’

「Meanwhile.」

Having received the order, Matthias placed his unconditional trust in Reinhardt’s judgment and immediately took action.

Florian, who was already grievously wounded and had been pushing himself through every battle, still wanted to resist, but Senior Think Tank Albert quickly stopped the hot-headed member of the Iron Crown.

No Imperial Knight would willingly abandon a brother-in-arms to flee the battlefield and save their own skin.

Such a disgrace would be worse than death.

But Albert knew that if Florian and the others continued to engage the Fear Knight—a being powerful enough to rival a Great Demon—they would only hinder Reinhardt.

’Florian! The Emperor’s Vengeful Angel is the supreme commander of this operation! You and I must obey his orders! Fall back now!’

Florian cursed, ’Are you telling me to just watch him stay here and die?! Damn it—! If I wasn’t injured...’

Reinhardt’s command and their exchange were no secret on the shared Telepathy link; everyone could hear it.

At this moment, Stearns’s vision was a chaotic blur from his grievous wounds. He looked at Reinhardt’s back, trying to rally and fight alongside his lord.

But he was only an Imperial Knight of the Two-star Earth Military Rank.

Flayer Du Ma’s crushing whip-kick had shattered all of his ribs right through his Power Armor, and the impact had left him with horrific internal injuries.

After Matthias carried him over his shoulder and onto the Punisher Ship, his vision faded to black.

Although Battle Sister Lu Jia was just a twenty-two-year-old rookie with only three years of service, and despite being somewhat stubborn and inflexible, she realized what was happening. The Imperial Knight named Reinhardt was preparing to stay behind and cover their retreat alone.

She stood on the ramp of the Punisher Ship, sword in one hand, her right foot forward.

Her black-painted Power Armor was spattered with the blood of Demons, which mingled with her Holy Rose Battle Emblem.

She hesitated, then glanced back.

A blood-stained white lock of her bangs fell before her eyes, obscuring her vision.

Lu Jia brushed the lock of hair aside and watched in silence as Reinhardt fought the Fear Knight to the death. She remembered Raphael’s admonishments.

And it was at this moment that the dogma and faith she had held as supreme since the day she enlisted were, for the first time, truly shaken.

Whether Reinhardt made it off the Demon Mother Ship alive or not, reporting him afterward to the Judgment Court and the Holy Rose Order would be a despicable act.

It was a deed utterly devoid of honor.

On one hand, there was her absolute faith in the Empire and the Divine Emperor, and her absolute revulsion for the heretic.

On the other, there was the honor of a Knight and her own dignity.

This choice would not have been difficult for a Vengeful Angel or a veteran from the Ash Guard. But for a twenty-two-year-old rookie Sister—a girl who had likely eaten fewer meals in her life than the number of Demons a veteran had slain—any decision felt impossible to accept.