I Aggressively Stack Steel of the Heart in the Knight Order

Kurs was about to stand and report, but a heavy footstep sounded from behind him. He turned to look, then quickly snapped to attention. "Sir! He..."

Standing beside the Technician Priest's corpse, Reinhardt said nothing. He merely glanced down at it before his cold gaze swept over the other two Technician Priests from the technical team. "Which of you can take control of the ship?" he asked coldly.

Confronted by Reinhardt's authority and iron will, the two Technician Priests were scared silent. Long accustomed to the strict hierarchy of the Mechanist Cult, they didn't dare to even breathe too loudly.

From their perspective, this Great Tutor of Vengeful wasn't just demonstrating that he didn't care about the dead Danske; he was holding them accountable!

After a long hesitation, a young man who looked to be in his thirties replied, "I... I can try to take over, but I can't give you any guarantees."

"Disconnect his neural link. You're in control of the ship now."

It wasn't just his commanding presence. The sheer disparity in height and physique was enough. Just standing before Reinhardt, the two Technician Priests felt an invisible pressure that left them breathless.

Having dealt with the issue of the ship's control, Reinhardt's cold gaze fell upon the other Technician Priest. "What was the name of the one who died?"

The Technician Priest lowered his head. "Danske. He was the maintenance team leader of the Fourth Fleet's vessel, the *Crimson Rainbow*."

Just as Reinhardt learned the fallen man's name, the sound of frantic running echoed from the corridor to the bridge—a death knell pounding in the hearts of every Mortal who heard the ominous sound.

Their expressions varied as they all turned to look at the bridge's steel blast door.

A grim reality lay before them.

The enemy... was breaking in.

Urus's voice also rang out over the command system's Spiritual Energy comms. "I've intercepted two squads in the hangar bay. There are four more squads—twenty men—heading for the bridge.

They're led by four Earth Knights.

There are also six Technician Soldiers and one Mechanic Priest. Make them your top priority targets."

Reinhardt took down his Black War Axe and turned toward the bridge's sealed blast door. At the same time, Nelom, on the second-level command platform, stretched his muscles before vaulting over the railing and dropping down.

As Reinhardt strode forward, he issued an order over the Spiritual Energy comms.

"Koller, arrange for someone to properly handle Danske's remains. If we complete the mission successfully, his body must be returned to the Fourth Fleet. Also, patch all project leads in the command system into the Spiritual Energy comms. We need to maintain constant information sharing and flow."

"I'm on it."

The Technician Priest who had just spoken was stunned for a moment when he heard Reinhardt's order. Then, with complex emotions, he watched the man's retreating back before his gaze finally fell on Danske, whose nerves and brain had been fried.

No one knew what he was thinking at that moment.

Upon hearing these arrangements, the Navy veteran Kurs felt a hot surge of emotion in his chest, and his gaze toward Reinhardt grew even more reverent.

As a veteran with a long service record.

A commander who cared about the lives of his soldiers was far more inspiring than any empty slogan.

He had personally experienced how the high-ranking, noble-born lords in the Imperial Navy treated common soldiers as less than human.

To those lords, a soldier's sacrifice was nothing more than a stepping stone for them to climb higher and seize more power. They believed those lower-class mortals should feel honored to have the chance to die for them.

After hearing Koller relay the order, Kurs immediately had two of his assigned Navy men move Danske's body to a corner. He took off his own jacket and gave it to them, telling them to secure the body to an empty bench with rope and then cover it with the jacket.

It wasn't that he didn't want to handle it with more care; this was simply the best he could provide under the circumstances.

This was the Cyrenaica warzone, the enemy was latched onto them and wouldn't let go, and there certainly weren't any coffins prepared on the Avenger Flagship.

「Meanwhile.」

The footsteps in the corridor outside the blast door abruptly stopped. After a brief, dead silence, a terrifying force slammed viciously against the door! This was followed by the piercing screech of mechanical saws cutting into the metal!

Reinhardt stood motionless before the blast door.

Nelom stood at his left, while on his right was Lu Jia, her Knight's Broadsword already drawn, flanked by her sisters.

Reinhardt turned his head to look at her and said grimly, "Lu Jia, your mission is to protect those two Technician Priests. At any cost. Understand?"

Although he and Koller were on the bridge, along with the recently-defected Nelom, the enemy had launched too many boarding ships. It was impossible for them to stop all the landing parties outside the blast door.

If even one enemy slipped through their defenses, broke onto the bridge, and killed the two Technician Priests, every battle plan they had just formulated at the command console would be reduced to a worthless piece of paper!

In other words, the two Technician Priests—the only ones who could pilot the Avenger Flagship—were now the very core of this battle plan.

Sending Lu Jia to protect those two was less about protection and more about having her and her sisters delay the enemy for as long as possible. They were to buy precious time for him and Koller to fall back and reinforce, even if it cost them their lives.

This was why Reinhardt had emphasized "at any cost."

Lu Jia clearly realized this was an extremely arduous task. She simply nodded. "Understood."

With all arrangements made, Reinhardt tightened his grip on his War Axe. His gaze fell upon the blast door as he issued one final, pre-battle command over the Spiritual Energy comms.

"Open the door. Let them in."

Just as he gave the order, Koller, who was monitoring the overall situation, frowned. "Sir," he said in a low voice, "three more ships have docked in the hangar bay. Their intentions are hostile."

With a piercing hiss, jets of steam depressurized.

The thirty-centimeter-thick steel blast door began to open slowly.

A massive, Power-Armor-clad hand shot through the opening, gripping the edge of the door. The moment the gap was wide enough for a person to pass, its owner was the first to squeeze onto the bridge.

The Power Armor was painted a dark yellow, extremely similar to that of the Emperor's Shield.

In fact, the insignia of the Emperor's Shield Third Battle Group on his shoulder pauldron hadn't even been painted over.

Upon seeing Nelom, the Four-star Earth Knight snorted, his deep, rough voice extremely oppressive. "Nelom, Lord Claudius said you'd turned traitor and defected to the enemy. At first, I didn't believe it.

Do you intend to become that dictator Sedon's hound as well?"

As his words fell, the enemy boarders filed in, rushing onto the bridge one after another. They took up positions behind the Earth Knight—apparently a defector from the Emperor's Shield—and greedily eyed every inch of the Avenger Flagship's facilities.

It was as if, in their eyes, this was not a ship of poured steel and cast iron, but a vessel laden with gold—a ladder of desire leading to status and power!

Faced with the enemy's taunt, the Ash-Burning Tyrant Nelom, who always prided himself on his personal conduct, sneered back sarcastically, "Well, look who it is. I was wondering who we had here, but it's just a stray dog that the Emperor's Shield kicked to the curb.

What's the matter?

Can't win a real fight, so now you're trying to win with your mouth?

Oh, and I almost forgot—the way you took handouts from Claudius? You were far more loyal than any hound. More like a well-behaved little lapdog."

If the ability to verbally eviscerate people and expose their shortcomings could be ranked by power level, then Nelom was undoubtedly a top-tier master aboard the Avenger Flagship, and perhaps in the entire Imperial Administrative Region.

Hearing Nelom's mockery, the Earth Knight who had betrayed the Emperor's Shield felt his anger visibly skyrocket.

After the Epic Level disastrous defeat that occurred shortly after Reinhardt joined the Administrative Region, Anand—the former Battle Group Tutor of the Emperor's Shield Third Battle Group who had secretly taken bribes from Claudius—had decisively chosen to defect.

It reached the point where the Emperor's Shield had to publicly announce that they had already kicked the coward out for his failure in battle, eventually going so far as to completely erase all of Anand's records.

Anand took a deep breath, suppressing his fury so it wouldn't interfere with the mission. His voice trembled slightly with rage as he spoke to the men behind him. "Proceed according to plan. We'll be responsible for holding them here. The rest of you, push forward and seize control of the ship."