I Aggressively Stack Steel of the Heart in the Knight Order

’The Rebel Suppression Order, the Foreign Exclusion Sect, and the Holy Hammer Order are the three most powerful Monasteries in the Judgment Court, representing the Inquisition, the Alien Inquisition, and the Demon Court respectively.

’Beyond them, there are also a vast number of smaller Monasteries and organizations.

’The Judge who framed you... personally, I believe he’s one of the radical lunatics from the Blue Rock Island’s Rune Faction. You can see the signs from that bastard Kavol secretly possessing and using the power of a Demon.

’These madmen have been trying to find and resurrect the Great Emperor through certain unspeakable means...’

Seeing that Reinhardt offered no response, Koller continued, ’The Secret-Keeping Order, even within the Judgment Court, is an extremely secretive group.

’They have few members, and each operates alone, completely different from the group-based rule of the three major Monasteries.

’According to my analysis, Judge Robbie Hiling must have at least one World-Ending Level evil artifact sealed within his body. Lord Reinhardt, you must have noticed it too. The power he used when appearing and leaving was neither Knight Power, nor was it a technique of Spiritual Energy or Magic.

’At the same time, I suspect his split personality and bouts of madness are strongly related to that evil artifact sealed inside him.’

Koller, whose seniority made him a living fossil, possessed a wealth of experience and a sharpness of instinct and judgment that the rookie Think Tank, Raphael, could never hope to match.

From just a few superficial observations, he could analyze a wealth of intelligence based on his vast experience.

Even though Reinhardt was his superior, the old soldier’s loyalty and seniority still commanded his respect. ’A genuine "thousand-year-old monster."’

Koller’s keen observational skills had evidently allowed him to notice that his superior didn’t know much about the Judgment Court’s affairs, which was why his explanation was so detailed.

Reinhardt remained silent for a long time before responding.

’Robbie Hiling’s father is Duval, a Sky Knight and the commander of the Silver Knight Order in the Seventh Group Army. Back on Grillers World, he and I were both followers in the Steel Knight Order’s training camp.’

Upon hearing Reinhardt speak of his origins and past,

Koller was clearly stunned for a moment. Urus, who could also hear their conversation on the command-level Spiritual Energy comms, turned to look at Reinhardt as well.

Perhaps it was their preconceived notions,

but Koller and Urus had always taken it for granted that Reinhardt—a man of such immense power, capable of forging an ironclad alliance with the Grand Governor—

must be either a descendant of a Great Lord from the Holy City or the son of a Knight General with close ties to a Lord of the Legion.

At the very least, they thought he had to be from the bloodline of a prominent noble house in the Radiant Star Realm.

The Silver Knight Order, of course, they knew.

But the Steel Knight Order?

Koller knew something of the internal struggles within the Seventh Group Army. The Steel Knight Order, which had a glorious history stretching from the early days of the Great Expedition to the present, had ultimately been reduced to the level of a local Battle Group.

Urus had never even heard of this designation.

This...

Reinhardt stood on the second-level command platform. Outside the viewport, the bizarre light of the Net Path swirled, and the lights overhead cast a pale, dim glow.

His brow furrowed. He had clearly noticed the subtle shift in the two men’s attitudes. "Is there a problem?" he asked in a cold voice.

Koller cut the Spiritual Energy comms.

"No, just a little surprised."

Urus spoke up, his voice low. "Duval, the Sky Knight? My Lord, are you saying that Judge Robbie is the descendant of that traitor?"

"Traitor?"

Hearing what Urus said, Reinhardt was also taken aback for a moment.

He clearly remembered that time outside Frostfire Fortress, when that immensely powerful figure had shot past overhead. Fear Knight Dortmund, who had been tangling with him at the time, had fled faster than a rabbit after seeing Duval.

’Duval Hiling... turned traitor?’

Sedon and Robbie had never told him about this. Irenia, on the other hand, had once told him with pointed significance that the three skulls hanging from Robbie’s waist belonged to his parents and his teacher.

Although it was just a few words, the scene instantly fell into silence.

Reinhardt, Urus, and Koller looked at each other wordlessly. As the command staff of the Vengeful Angels working together for the first time, there was no camaraderie of Battle Brothers between them.

At most, they were colleagues with aligned Force Fields.

However, after their recent conversation, the atmosphere between them had become rather subtle.

’From Reinhardt’s perspective, his two subordinates weren’t arrogant and unruly soldiers who were difficult to command; they just required a certain approach.’

’And from Koller’s and Urus’s perspective, this terrifyingly silent Great Tutor of Vengeful was not the young, arrogant, and unapproachable leader they had imagined him to be.’

Stearns, who lacked the clearance to access the command-level Spiritual Energy comms, was completely bewildered to hear the three silent men suddenly start talking.

Perhaps still shaken by the Technician Soldier’s sudden betrayal, the moment Reinhardt uttered the word "traitor," the Second Company Commander immediately drew his Knight’s Broadsword. He stood up, looked at Reinhardt while eyeing the other two warily, and boomed, "A traitor?! My Lord, are you referring to...?"

Koller raised a hand, signaling for Stearns to relax. "There are no traitors here, Second Company Commander. Put away your weapon."

Reinhardt didn’t explain. He gripped the guardrail with both hands, lost in thought.

’Back then, that cunning woman Irenia was always hinting that Robbie was an out-and-out madman, one who had even killed his own parents and teacher with his own hands.’

’But he knew Robbie. That poor wretch had spent his entire youth craving the approval of his father and others. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have constantly come looking for fights with me.’

’A pity.’

’The things one cannot obtain in youth will haunt them for a lifetime.’

’Now, with the intelligence he’d gotten from Urus and Koller, it was clear that Robbie’s transformation from a member of the National Church Knight Order into a Judge of the Secret-Keeping Order was far from as simple as Irenia had made it out to be.’

Reinhardt raised his right hand. His Fourth Earth Ring had been fused into existence, using the Wizard’s Secret Treasure Irenia had given him as a base.

’Thinking of that Witch, deep in Reinhardt’s memory, he still saw the girlish figure he had first met at Frostfire Fortress: flawless eyes like green gems, with a few strands of black hair falling from under a huge, fluffy hood to hang across her forehead.’

’Two years...’

’I wonder if she’s still alive.’

’And that valiant Imperial Knight who once fought by his side, Dietlinde...’

’He had been fighting on the battlefield for so, so long.’

’Surrounded by powerful enemies, with conspiracies weaving a noose above his head, every step forward was a dance with the Death God.’

’These precious memories, even if they were filled with the simple, naive "deceptions and schemes" of his youth, were all he had left—the only things that could bring him a trace of peace in his rare moments of leisure.’

When the bizarre light of the Net Path outside the viewport transformed into the deep expanse of the Cosmos,

the Radiant Beacon on Koller’s back lit up.

"My Lord, we have arrived."