Chapter 336 - 293: The Emperor’s Whisper

As the Divine Emperor’s Fury slowly ignited in Reinhardt’s hand.

The holy Radiant Power dispelled the ever-present malice of the Eternal Battlefield—a malice potent enough to corrupt the hearts of the faithful.

Like a sun, it drowned the darkness.

Sister Superior Eleonor, who was in a standoff with Fedor, paled. Her eyes, fixed on Reinhardt, were filled with immense and utter disbelief!

’A Radiant Holy Artifact—?!’

’How could a corrupted traitor possibly—?!’

’This must be malevolent Spiritual Power clouding my judgment! It must be an illusion!’

She stared intently at Reinhardt, searching for any flaw or weakness on the Emperor’s Angel.

But no matter how much she doubted, the Holy Power of the great Divine Emperor could not be faked. To her Knight Perception, it felt utterly real, as if the Divine Emperor himself had descended!

As doubt bloomed in her heart, the other six Battle Sisters witnessed the holy scene. Without exception, they dropped to one knee before the Eternal Flame of the Divine Emperor’s Fury, their reverence absolute.

Unlike their fanatical Nun Superior, these Battle Sisters had not served long and had never been exposed to the struggles of the upper echelons; their worldview was far less complex.

Obeying orders was their duty.

Their devout faith in the Emperor was the conviction that drove them to fight until death.

Eleonor wanted to berate her subordinates, to warn them not to trust illusions crafted by Demons. But she knew full well that no Demon possessed the power to fake the Radiant Power.

Furthermore, questioning the Mighty Power of the Divine Emperor was, in itself, an extremely dangerous act.

The Nun Superior’s mind raced. A dozen thoughts flashed through her before she sheathed her Knight’s Broadsword and decisively knelt before the Divine Emperor’s Fury.

After expressing her reverence and faith toward the Emperor, she slowly rose to her feet. She gave Reinhardt a long, hard look, her expression a mixture of conflict and confusion. In her sixty years of service, she had never encountered anything like this.

’A corrupted traitor, wielding a Radiant Holy Artifact without the slightest fear?’

’Had the great Divine Emperor forgiven his sins?’

’Or...’

Before ending the conflict, she stared at Reinhardt, her resentment clear. "I will keep my eyes on you, Angel," she said coldly.

Her words, however, sowed dissent among the other Battle Sisters.

However, intimidated by Sister Superior Eleonor’s authority, they dared not voice their disagreement and remained silent.

Fedor had met Sister Superior Eleonor of the Holy Rose Order on the Eternal Battlefield. After fighting side-by-side for three long months, he was suddenly struck by a realization: she ultimately served the Inquisition.

Unlike his Battle Brothers, with whom he had faced life and death, he couldn’t be sure this "sister" wouldn’t report him to the Judgment Court after they evacuated.

After all, three years of high-intensity warfare had taken a severe toll on their materials and supplies.

On the Sector Six front, over three hundred thousand soldiers were armed with weapons scavenged from Space Aliens and Demons—and that was just the number he was personally aware of.

In the sectors beyond his command, perhaps only the Great Emperor knew how many blasphemous weapons the 33rd Infantry Corps had truly equipped.

Frontline warfare is not child’s play.

To buy time and maintain stability across the vast front, he had long ago given his tacit approval for his men to use Demon and Space Alien weaponry.

The thought that someone now had leverage over him, that he could be reported at any moment, made him deeply uneasy.

He sheathed his Knight’s Broadsword and took a step back, putting distance between himself and the Nun Superior.

Compared to the "sister" he’d fought alongside for three months, he felt a greater kinship with Reinhardt, a man he’d known for less than half an hour.

And far more worthy of his trust.

"Sir, you have a way to leave the Eternal Battlefield?"

Reinhardt glanced at the Nun Superior, who was still staring at him, then sat down on a rock behind him. He planted the tip of the Divine Emperor’s Fury on the ground with a heavy thud.

His hands rested steadily on the hilt, where the Eternal Flame burned. His imposing figure sat upright, the Demon’s Blood on his Power Armor still wet. With his iron-willed bearing, he looked like a Death God on the battlefield.

In response to Fedor’s question, Reinhardt remained silent for a moment before answering in a hoarse voice.

"I heard a voice, brother."

A voice?

It wasn’t just Fedor who was stunned by this answer; everyone else, including Eleonor, froze for a moment.

Unlike the shock of witnessing the Divine Emperor’s Fury firsthand, Reinhardt’s ambiguous answer was like a shot of adrenaline to the heart.

The expressions of all the Imperial Knights present had long been numb from endless battle. But at this moment, an irrepressible excitement and glory erupted from the depths of their eyes.

Because they already knew the answer.

They knew where that voice had come from.

Even Eleonor’s expression twisted in utter shock!

She couldn’t tell if Reinhardt was lying. Or rather, she knew that if she dared question the truth of his words now, she would be drowned in the furious admonishments of the other Imperial Knights.

But she still refused to believe that the great Divine Emperor would speak to a traitor.

As for whether the Emperor had truly whispered in the mind of an Imperial Knight... only Reinhardt himself knew the answer to that.

But if one wanted to unite everyone, to resolve all conflicts before retreating from the Demon Void Realm, there was no tool more effective than the Emperor’s will.

The only ones not particularly surprised by this were Bach and the five Ash Guard members stationed at the frontline command post.

Twenty years ago, they had heard from Matthias about this very man—how, blessed by a Miracle of Radiance, he had obliterated the head of an Abyssal Great Demon with a single punch.

Having received a firm answer from Reinhardt, Fedor immediately convened his command staff to begin drafting a viable evacuation plan.

They weren’t planning to withdraw a small Battle Group of a few hundred or a thousand men from the Eternal Battlefield.

It was an entire Infantry Legion that had been fighting for three years, holding a five-hundred-kilometer front, with six million soldiers still combat-ready! Compared to such numbers, evacuating the Red Flame Son was practically a negligible task.

The entire process required careful planning to address a series of thorny issues: the sequence of withdrawals, the contraction of the defensive line, the risk of a counterattack from the Demon Army, and more.

Formulating a workable plan would take a considerable amount of time.

When Fedor asked Reinhardt for the specific method of evacuation, to be honest, while Reinhardt knew that the Divine Emperor’s Fury now possessed the Extraordinary Trait "Illusion Breaker," he still had to test it to understand how to use it.

"...Sir, are you saying the method of escape requires... testing?"

Fedor’s question was remarkably tactful.

Beside the crude tactical table in the frontline command post, Reinhardt, leader of the Red Flame Son, faced the question. He also faced the doubtful gazes of more than twenty staff officers.

Reinhardt ignited the Divine Emperor’s Fury.

He prepared to test the power of the Illusion Breaker, to tear a path through the Demon Void Realm back to the Real Cosmos. This would help these Mortal staff officers—who were tearing their hair out and whose brains were practically smoking—devise a more rational evacuation strategy.

And at that very moment.

A bold, heroic voice, like one from a distant, unreachable shore, echoed in his mind.

’Follow your heart’s guidance, Reinhardt.’