Chapter 429 - 380: Reinhardt vs. Atlas, Chief of the Gods

Koller had barely finished speaking.

The scene before Reinhardt’s eyes changed in an instant. The bridge, once splattered with blood and gore, was replaced by a storm-wracked sky, ten thousand meters high, with dark clouds and torrential rain.

Before he could even think.

The next second.

A massive figure suddenly appeared before him. A fist the size of a wok, screaming through the air, came hurtling viciously toward him!

"You wanted to see Lord Enok, didn’t you? Come on, fight me! Let me witness the true power of a Vengeful Angel!"

Even as wild thunder raged and the downpour hammered against Reinhardt’s Power Armor with a constant roar, Atlas’s gruff voice remained clearly audible.

Activating his Extraordinary Armament·Morphic Armor, Reinhardt raised his arm to block Atlas’s incoming Iron Fist with his forearm and kicked the man away.

The Aikacia Nozzle on his back erupted with an azure stream of high-temperature energy, the immense force propelling him through the air toward the Avenger Flagship, less than a hundred meters away!

In that brief instant, Reinhardt already understood what these heretics were trying to do.

As he turned and flew off, two more figures were abruptly teleported out of the ship, one after the other.

Unfortunately, Nelom lacked his ability to hover and fly short distances. Encased in his Ashen Battle Armor, he was like a burning meteor, whistling as he plummeted toward the ground ten thousand meters below!

But that wasn’t the end of it.

The woman whose ankle Nelom had grabbed in a surprise attack dove after him, enraged. From the looks of it, only killing Nelom with her own hands could quell the towering fury she felt for nearly being killed herself!

Nelom’s playful smile, in particular, made her grind her teeth in hatred.

In that brief moment, less than a second, the aftershocks of the Spiritual Power confrontation spread out like lightning cracking across the high altitude. A spectacular display of blue and purple light radiated out from the bridge, instantly expanding for a thousand meters!

Unsurprisingly, it must have been Koller who intervened, foiling their attempt to teleport him away.

At this moment, Reinhardt’s expression was extremely grim.

Killing a traitor wouldn’t be difficult for him, but he didn’t have time to waste tangling with the bald man here.

As part of the battle plan, Urus had already led his troops to infiltrate the Mechanical Order’s mining site to buy them time and divide the enemy’s forces.

If they couldn’t get to the Giant Beacon as quickly as possible to send a warning and a request for aid to the Administrative Region, not only would they die, but the subsequent waves of the Rebel Suppression Army heading for Cyrenaica would also fall into the enemy’s trap and be annihilated!

But Atlas’s goal was to stall Reinhardt; how could he possibly let him go so easily?

The skin over his shoulder blades began to split open, and a stream of ghostly blue, high-temperature energy shot out, propelling his body violently toward Reinhardt.

"Are you running from a fight? Coward!"

In a life-or-death battle, verbal attacks were also part of the fight.

Atlas knew the ways of Imperial Knights very well—they valued honor, valued ideals. As long as he kept up his verbal provocations and insults...

...he refused to believe that this Vengeful Angel, who intelligence reports described as obsessed with battle, could truly endure his humiliation.

He grabbed onto one of Reinhardt’s Power Boots, his flesh-and-blood body directly withstanding the high-temperature energy stream from the Aikacia Nozzle. He yanked down hard and roared, "Is this the power of a Great Tutor of Vengeful? Pathetic—!"

With the energy nozzles on his back running at full capacity, he forcibly dragged Reinhardt’s body into a sharp descent toward the ground!

It was because of this brief stall that the high-speed Avenger Flagship, shrouded in a sonic boom cloud, instantly pulled away. It became a tiny black dot and vanished into the stormy sky, leaving only the faint rumble of its passing.

Watching the Avenger Flagship fly away right under his nose, the fury and killing intent that Reinhardt had been suppressing were completely unleashed!

He whipped his head around to glare at the bald man clutching his Power Boot.

’You’re courting death!’

The Micro-Aikacia Nozzles on his legs flared with power, forcibly breaking free. At the same time, he twisted his body in mid-air, his right fist becoming a Cannon Fist, screaming toward Atlas’s head!

His ploy successful, Atlas faced Reinhardt’s fury not with fear, but with a grin. He crossed his arms in front of him, bracing to receive the blow from the Cannon Fist.

The instant Reinhardt’s heavy fist landed...

...a look of disdainful mockery filled Atlas’s eyes. At the same time, from his clenched fists, he extended a friendly middle finger from each hand toward Reinhardt.

As if to say: ’If you’ve got a problem, come and kill me.’

After that.

Already falling, he used the momentum from the heavy blow to accelerate, hurtling toward the ground like a meteorite.

Catching up to the Avenger Flagship, which was traveling at over Mach 20, was now impossible. With things having come to this, Reinhardt decisively changed his battle plan.

He would first kill this bald man who kept provoking him, then rendezvous with Nelom.

The mission to find the Giant Beacon and send a warning to the Administrative Region had, in fact, fallen to Koller alone... no, to Koller, Lu Jia, and the entire crew of the Vengeful Angels.

Whether he trusted the strength of his subordinates was now meaningless.

Because the only thing he could do now, besides slaughtering these two heretics in the cruelest way imaginable, was trust!

Having made the tactical change, Reinhardt hesitated no longer. The Aikacia Nozzle propelled his body in hot pursuit of Atlas!

All the suffering and sacrifices the Vengeful Angels had endured after entering Cyrenaica... he would make these people repay with their blood.

Ten thousand meters up in the sky.

The two figures plummeted toward the ground like blue shooting stars.

As they neared the ground, a vast complex of buildings grew clearer in Reinhardt’s vision through the dense curtain of rain.

Even.

With the enhancement of his Angel Vision, he could clearly see the civilians and rebel soldiers in the city below, looking up at the sky with expressions of terror and unease.

After a short pursuit.

BANG—!

BANG BANG—!

BOOM—!

Atlas, back-first, smashed through several bridges and roads. Vast swathes of buildings were destroyed and collapsed under the terrifying force of the impact!

He finally crashed into a local church, skidding backward through flying dirt and rubble until he slammed into the Radiant Holy Image enshrined within, barely coming to a stop.

Propelled by his Aikacia Nozzle, Reinhardt landed steadily and gave chase down into the city district.

Along the path he passed, tens of thousands of civilians, regardless of what they were doing or what their status was...

...from street vendors to decorated nobles, all looked on in horror as they piously dropped to one knee.

"An Angel..."

"An Angel has come."

"Mommy, is that Lord Angel?"

The rain fell in a dense curtain, and damp mist filled the air.

Outside the now-ruined church, a large crowd of local civilians had gathered. The rebellion and the clashes of power were all too distant from their lives.

They didn’t know what had happened.

Nor did they know what had fallen into the church.

But they knew that the one who had descended from the sky, who emanated a divine light, and who had ’wings’ on his back, was one of the legendary Emperor’s Angels.