Chapter 416 - 369: Boarding, Fleeing, Pleading, All in One Breath

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

Even before he hit the ground, Sipia violently coughed up a mouthful of blood. Despite the protection of his Extraordinary Armament, the Shield of Destruction, the immense force of Reinhardt’s deceptively simple roundhouse kick slammed into him like a boarding Assault Boat.

Adrenaline flooded Sipia’s body.

The churning, agonizing pain in his abdomen was a constant reminder that his internal organs had been severely damaged by the impact.

The terror of a Body Technique Knight was on full display.

No flashy Special Abilities, only pure, unadulterated power.

One axe, one kick.

He was already this grievously wounded after taking just two of the man’s attacks head-on. Sipia couldn’t imagine what would happen if he endured another of Reinhardt’s assaults. Forget escaping—he wasn’t even sure he would survive.

However, when Sipia saw Reinhardt closing in at high speed, his heart pounded with terror and his blood ran cold.

He gritted his teeth and cursed inwardly, ’This madman...’

In the blink of an eye.

As Reinhardt’s hand shot out to grab him, Sipia’s pupils contracted. He activated his Raptor Flying Bag, fighting through the pain that threatened to make him black out. At the last possible second before slamming into the wall, he wrenched himself away from Reinhardt’s grasp.

Propelled by the force, he ricocheted off the wall like a pinball and fled without a backward glance toward the hangar he had used to board.

He didn’t know the speed limit of Reinhardt’s Extraordinary Armament, but he knew one thing for certain: the Avenger Flagship’s interior was a labyrinth of winding corridors, and Mach 1 was the absolute limit for maneuvering within such tight spaces.

There was simply no room to handle the immense inertia that came with higher speeds.

It was this keen insight that gave Sipia the confidence to turn his back and flee for his life.

Clearly, his judgment was correct.

This wasn’t open ground; it was the interior of a starship.

Mach 1 was nowhere near the Aikacia Nozzle’s top speed, but in a ship where the longest corridor was no more than fifteen meters, it was the absolute limit for maneuvering.

The hangar was only one hundred seventy meters from the bridge. The path required either taking a lift or, more directly, crashing through the elevator shaft down to the transit corridor thirty meters below.

At that moment, Reinhardt pursued and Sipia fled. They were like two streaks of light, their forms visible only for a split second as they rounded each corner.

Sipia could sense Reinhardt’s Knightly Aura drawing ever closer. With cold sweat pouring down his forehead, he smashed straight through the elevator shaft and plunged toward the transit corridor below.

However, just as he began his descent, an immense force suddenly clamped around his ankle.

Sipia looked up through the jagged opening of the elevator shaft to see a massive, power-armored hand gripping his ankle in a death lock.

A moment later, a second hand shot out, grabbing the edge of the opening.

Sipia didn’t need to wait for Reinhardt to pull himself into view. The sight alone sent a wave of pure terror through him.

But a man who had clawed his way up from the Auxiliary Army had sacrificed far too much to die now. At this moment, Sipia couldn’t care less about losing a leg.

He was willing to pay any price to survive.

Sipia roared, his eyes wide. An Extraordinary Armament in the shape of a Knight’s Broadsword materialized in his hand. He wasn’t aiming to counterattack. He brought the blade down mercilessly on his own right leg, just below the knee.

The heart-rending pain was so intense that even with his Earth Knight Level Physique, Sipia could not suppress an agonized roar.

But now, he had no time to vent his hatred for Reinhardt. His every thought was consumed by a single purpose: escape.

He wished his entire body was covered in thrusters so he could escape at light speed.

The moment blood sprayed from the wound, Sipia, propelled by his Raptor Flying Bag, vanished into the elevator shaft, fleeing desperately toward the Assault Boat parked in the hangar.

Dark red emergency lights flickered incessantly throughout the wide transit corridor.

The bodies of Thunderlight Battle Commander Franz, Knight General Ticky, and six other Imperial Knights lay in pools of their own blood, still warm.

Sipia shot through the corridor like a gust of wind. He dove into his Assault Boat in the hangar, slammed the hatch shut, and immediately fired up the engines.

Ever the cautious one, Sipia had planned his escape route long before heading to the bridge. He had parked his Assault Boat where a single press of the ignition would allow for an immediate departure from the Avenger Flagship’s hangar.

But just as the Assault Boat cleared the hangar, the violent impact of something heavy landing on the hull made his heart lurch.

He inwardly gritted his teeth. His hatred for Reinhardt had reached a fever pitch, matched only by his absolute terror.

’Even after I’ve escaped the Avenger Flagship, that madman still won’t let me go?!’

A second, violent impact followed.

He looked up. The blade of a War Axe was buried deep in the ceiling, looking like a specter of death and causing the color to drain from his face.

His gaze shot past the gash in the metal to see an eye, burning with Blood Flame, staring back at him.

At that moment, the immense pressure finally broke Sipia’s nerve. He screamed hysterically, "Reinhardt—! You absolute madman! Does our feud really have to go this far?!"

As he screamed at Reinhardt, he finally understood why this Battle Group was called the Vengeful Angels.

If he were dealing with Claudius’s faction, they would have let him go as long as he was willing to cede some of his interests. They wouldn’t be like this lunatic, hell-bent on killing him.

He had even chased him off the Avenger Flagship!

Pushing the Assault Boat to full throttle, Sipia had lost all semblance of the tough, iron-willed warlord he had been upon arrival. Drenched in sweat, he screamed, "This is just a civil war! A civil war! I’m not a Demon, and I’m not your real enemy!"

"To hell with this rebellion!"

"To hell with the rewards!"

"And to hell with Claudius!"

"Reinhardt, I’m begging you, let me go! I swear on the Divine Emperor’s name! If you let me live, I’ll never be your enemy again!"

Perhaps his begging had worked.

After that last axe strike, he clearly heard Reinhardt’s footsteps disappear from the top of the hull. It seemed he had left.

Cold sweat streamed down his face. The harrowing experience of barely escaping Reinhardt’s clutches, combined with the surging adrenaline, almost brought Sipia to tears right then and there.

But then, screaming Living Bombs descended, completely engulfing Sipia’s Assault Boat in a sea of fire.

Floating in the void of space, Reinhardt watched the burning vessel get caught in the planet’s gravity and plunge toward Cyrenaica.

Only then did he activate his Aikacia Nozzle and race back toward the Avenger Flagship.