Free Web NovelChapter 122: Chapter 93: The Rise of Reinhardt: An Army of One
Even though he fought only for lofty ideals and the just cause of humanity.
Even though the Radiant Divine Emperor himself had once proclaimed to the world that the future was in their own hands, that only humanity could save itself.
But it was at this moment that he began to understand why, in this dark cosmos, mortals still offered their faith to the Divine Emperor.
Reinhardt stopped and tossed aside the raider knight’s head he was holding.
Just then, an innocent little boy broke free from his mother’s embrace. Staring at Reinhardt from a distance, he asked, "...An Angel?"
His father scrambled to grab the boy and cover his mouth, terrified of angering Reinhardt, whose appearance was that of a butcher.
To the common people, whether they were Imperial Knights or the Divine Emperor’s Angels, these lofty figures never cared if the lower classes lived or died.
Even the Imperial Main Battle Legions had their share of warmongers who would wantonly slaughter mortals in the name of "disrespect" and never face any consequences.
And now, thanks to the relentless propaganda of the Fire of Vengeance Hermitage, Reinhardt had become the very incarnation of the Vengeful Angels and of Death itself.
According to the Hermitage, any and all impurity or disloyalty would be met by the merciless slaughter of the Vengeful Angels.
In the words of these fanatics, Reinhardt was a God of the Human World who had lost his humanity, born only for slaughter and vengeance.
Reinhardt walked over to the little boy and knelt on one knee, making himself smaller so as not to frighten him with his towering frame.
"There are no Angels in this world, little one. You can call me an Imperial Knight. The name’s Reinhardt."
The little boy’s innocent eyes were filled with curiosity.
"Imperial Knight?"
He reached out with his tiny right hand, trying to wipe the blood from Reinhardt’s face, but to no avail. Then, he pulled a dirty little handkerchief from his pocket.
"Mama says you should rest when you’re tired. This is for you."
His rough, calloused right hand gently stroked the boy’s head. A smile, one that hadn’t appeared on his face in twelve years, flashed for a moment before vanishing.
He accepted the handkerchief and rose to his feet. "Midtown and the Lower City have fallen. Take refuge in the Upper City. The Divine Emperor... is with you."
Even with his Combat Skill, Split Armor, the battle had been a long one. After more than two hours of fighting, slaughtering thousands of enemy troops, and single-handedly clearing an entire city block of infantry and Knights, Reinhardt’s stamina was depleted by more than a third.
As he rose to leave, as he walked past the Defense Army soldiers, he felt their gazes, one after another, filled with reverence.
He heard the civilians behind him rising to their feet, preparing to evacuate to the Upper City District.
He heard the voices of the Defense Army soldiers behind him.
"It was an honor to fight alongside you."
"I would die for you, Lord Reinhardt!"
Their voices were clipped and forceful, their words simple and unvarnished, yet they held the highest respect a mortal could offer an Imperial Knight.
The Divine Emperor.
The Angels.
When darkness fell and despair gripped every heart, they knew who was fighting beside them, drenched in blood as he cut down their enemies.
Even without reinforcements, fighting all alone, he was an army of one!
He was worthy of their reverence, and worthy of being followed!
Reinhardt didn’t respond. The high-pressure airbags on his armor activated, launching him out of the industrial district and toward the next city block.
「Time ticked by, second by second.」
Forty-five standard hours had passed since the call for aid was sent.
Reinhardt had lost count of the invaders who had died by his hand. Grand Lord Kles’s army seemed endless; even if he slaughtered an entire thousand-man infantry company, another would soon take its place.
However, despite his presence, despite the Central City District’s Defense Army fighting without fear of death—trading life for life in a desperate struggle—the fall of the district was still inevitable.
More and more enemies poured in, either swarming up from the Lower City District or landing from high orbit via drop pods.
Squad after squad of raider knights fell to Reinhardt’s war axe.
But on the Seventeenth, the Defense Army was facing invaders with far superior equipment and Knights who wielded Mighty Power. The two hundred thousand Defense Army soldiers stationed in the Central City District were all but wiped out in four hours of grueling battle.
Only a small fraction of the soldiers, those who had encountered Reinhardt, survived to escort the remaining civilians to the Upper City District.
「High noon.」
Reinhardt stood tall on a causeway leading to the Upper City District. A scorching wind blew across his face, drying the blood caked on his skin. In his eyes was the reflection of the Central City District, now a complete sea of fire.
The bodies of countless civilians and Defense Army soldiers were piled high as mountains, blanketing entire city blocks.
After watching the last group of civilians retreat into the Upper City District, Reinhardt tightened his grip on his war axe. He looked up, his gaze fixed on the propaganda ship still hovering over the Desolate Wasteland Ruins.
Grand Lord Kles’s mocking voice echoed across the city, like a god watching the annihilation of an ant colony. freeweɓnøvel.com
"Reinhardt, I know you’re hiding in this city, too afraid to show yourself and face my wrath.
Cowardly, timid, and arrogant.
Hah. You call yourself an Imperial Knight, but you can’t save this world, just as you couldn’t save your ruined Empire, and just as you can’t save this world abandoned by the Divine Emperor."
The majesty and power of a Lord of a hundred worlds, a high and mighty arrogance that hung like a thick, dark cloud over the Stereoscopic City—and over Reinhardt’s head.
The immense sacrifice made in the Desolate Wasteland Ruins’ resistance, in his eyes, was nothing more than the squabbling of lowly beasts in a fighting pit. He watched with utter contempt, as if seeing them struggle in the war, seeing soldier after soldier die for their beliefs, was a form of entertainment.
Reinhardt’s expression remained unnaturally calm.
’Because one day, he would personally rip that bastard’s mouth open and make him swallow his own damn words, along with his blood and teeth!’
His pneumatic system switched to Aikacia Nozzle mode, and he became a streak of light, ascending nearly a hundred meters in an instant to reach the Upper City bridge corridor—the one leading to the core district where the Caster Monastery was located.
Though this area had not yet fallen, the Defense Army and the Governor’s Guard were under immense pressure!
Against the Infantry Legions, they could perhaps use the terrain to their advantage and mount a desperate resistance. But when facing the Knights of the Raider Battle Group, the only thing they could do was plug the gaps with human lives!
The stamina of One-star, Two-star, and even Three-star Knights was limited. Their Extraordinary Power had not yet undergone a qualitative leap. Twenty veteran soldiers, maybe thirty, could wear one down and kill them.
But at such a horrific attrition rate, after only two hours, the main force of nearly six hundred thousand Defense Army soldiers stationed in the Upper City District had already been cut in half.
The bridge corridors could no longer hold the sheer volume of corpses, could no longer contain the rivers of blood. ƒreewebɳovel.com
Body after body tumbled from the heights, plummeting into the Lower City below.
Rivers of blood flowed like waterfalls, cascading from the sides of the bridge corridors.
The deafening war cries and agonized screams wove together into a symphony of hell on earth.
Even so, the defensive perimeter on the four Steel Bridge Corridors was steadily being pushed back toward the heart of the Upper City District. The magnificent tower housing the Governor’s Mansion had already collapsed, becoming a ruin amidst a sea of fire.
Able-bodied civilians had joined the fight, using scavenged weapons to wage a desperate struggle from alleys and the gaps between buildings against enemy troops landing from the sky.
The bodies strewn everywhere had piled up into small hills.
「Verne Bridge Corridor.」
This was the main thoroughfare into the heart of the Upper City District. Here, thousands of soldiers had formed a defensive line with their own bodies, trying to halt the enemy’s advance.
As the Mortal Soldiers fell one after another under the immense pressure of the raider knights, the defensive line was pushed back until there was no more ground to give.
The commanding officer now had only one arm, but he had a powerful Personal Guard prop up his broken body so he could roar, "It doesn’t matter how many of us die! The line must hold! We—"
Before he could finish, a massive crossbow arrow, wreathed in Knight Power, shrieked through the air and pierced through both him and his Personal Guard, pinning them to the ground.
The officer’s face was a mask of fury as he glared, but his life was draining away, and he could no longer make a sound.
Courage and despair warred within him, a dark storm cloud enveloping his heart.
He watched the defensive line shatter, his soldiers routed by the Knights’ charge. As his own life flickered like a candle in the wind, a single thought consumed him: ’The line has collapsed. The city... is lost!’
And yet, in the very moment he was about to succumb to despair and death, a dark purple figure, radiating the terrifying aura that only a truly powerful Knight could possess, slammed down onto the bridge corridor with immense force!
