Chapter 474: Holy Fire Battle Banner, A Loyal Explosive Arrow Gun Never Reloads, The Boundary Between Mortals and Demigods

Chapter 474: Chapter 417: Holy Fire Battle Banner, A Loyal Explosive Arrow Gun Never Reloads, The Boundary Between Mortals and Demigods

The Punisher.

Koller’s voice rang in Reinhardt’s ears via a spiritual energy transmission.

“…Many unexpected situations could arise following Claudius’s death. The Grand Governor requires us to deal with the rebel forces in Cyrenaica as soon as possible.

Offering amnesty is the best option.

But if their resistance is stiff, the Grand Governor recommends we break up their fleet formations and scatter them. This will prevent the local warlords from quickly amassing power and posing a threat to us.

The situation with the Mechanical Order is unclear. Rumor has it they are in the midst of their own civil war. The Grand Governor has tried to make contact, but they don’t like outsiders meddling in their internal affairs.

If anything develops, he will contact us immediately.”

With his helmet tucked under his arm, Reinhardt asked coldly, “Any concrete leads on the Wizard’s Divine Artifact?”

“By Holy City Time, forty-three minutes ago, I detected a burst of intense magical fluctuations in Cyrenaica. The two sides may have clashed. The Divine Artifact’s location remains unknown for now.

However, I attempted to scry a vision of the future. In that vision, our enemy showed no sign of possessing the Wizard’s Divine Artifact.”

Reinhardt’s brow furrowed slightly after he heard Koller’s report. He had seen Enok and the Wizard who snatched the Divine Artifact at the quarry, but they had only crossed paths briefly, without any conflict.

Until he could identify that mysterious Wizard, finding the Divine Artifact would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Setting aside the matter of the Divine Artifact, Reinhardt issued his next order to Koller. “Relay my command. Order the Eleventh and Twelfth Infantry Corps, the Fourth Fleet, and all units of Stearns Second Company to depart for Cyrenaica immediately.

Inform the rebel Local Lords that in forty-eight hours, by Holy City Time, I will hold a closed-door meeting in Cyrenaica. Anyone who is unwilling to attend will be dealt with on charges of rebellion.”

Koller clearly understood what Reinhardt meant.

Those who didn’t attend the closed-door meeting would be dealt with for the crime of rebellion. In other words, the Local Lords who were willing to attend would not have the charge of rebellion pinned on them.

This was the art of subtle phrasing.

Although the subtext had to be carefully considered, the Lord of Vengeful had also made no promise that those who attended the meeting would truly be absolved of their crimes of rebellion.

Whether to attend or not was a decision for them to consider carefully, not for the Vengeful Angels.

After Reinhardt finished issuing the order, eerie blue text from the system flickered into his vision.

[Act Five, Event Two: Complete.]

[Claudius is dead, but this war against the rebellion is far from over. His death has also made Cicero’s faction feel an unprecedented sense of crisis.

They know full well that the Lord of Vengeful, who now holds sole authority over suppressing the rebellion, has no intention of playing their dirty games of political compromise this time.

Whether to seize power or simply to survive, they are bound to make a move soon.]

[The Wizard’s Divine Artifact is a real prize, a joy for whoever wields it. But unfortunately for you, the operational plan you painstakingly devised—and for which the Silencer paid a heavy price—did not succeed.

Nor did Silencer Enok, who also went to great lengths to plot against you and the Vengeful Angels, expect an uninvited guest to appear out of nowhere and completely disrupt all his arrangements.

Of course, you’ve seen the mysterious person who stole the Wizard’s Divine Artifact.

And you should know who she is.]

[Basic Reward: Holy Fire Battle Banner.]

[In ancient times, great military honors included being the first to seize an enemy banner and shattering enemy formations. Often, a battle banner with a long and storied history is the very soul of a Knight Battle Group.

Capturing a banner is not as simple as just snatching it.

The Imperial Knight qualified to hold the battle banner aloft is invariably the Battle Group’s champion, its greatest fighter. Furthermore, killing one standard-bearer only inspires thousands more to step forward and take their place.

Few can steal a Battle Group’s banner before killing all its standard-bearers, and few warriors are strong enough—or foolish enough—to invite that kind of trouble.

Wouldn’t it be easier to just win the war conventionally?]

[Holy Fire Battle Banner: A Divine Creation for wartime use, imbued with a sliver of the Knight Power of Verne’s Vengeful Angels. As the Battle Group’s symbol, it provides nearby Vengeful Angels with Spiritual Energy resistance, fear reduction, wound recovery, morale enhancement, and ammunition replenishment.

Multiple banners can exist and be handcrafted. Effects do not stack. Usable only by members of the Vengeful Angels.

Area of Effect Diameter: Twenty meters.

Before activating the banner’s abilities, you must personally preside over a banner-bestowal ceremony to select the first standard-bearer for the Vengeful Angels.]

[Make no mistake: the Special Ability of the Holy Fire Battle Banner comes from your Knight Power. When Vengeful Angels members fight within the banner’s coverage radius, they receive the blessing of the Lord of Vengeful.]

[Some Vengeful Angels will surely be confused as to why a battle banner would provide the strange function of ammunition replenishment. This is because a loyal Explosive Arrow Gun never needs to be reloaded!]

[System Reward: Heart Steel Layers x5000]

[Heart Steel Layers Increased: 5000]

[Giant Devouring Current Layer Number: 30,030]

[Physical Enhancement Coefficient: 30.03]

[Heart Steel Goliath Giant Current Permanent Physique Enhancement: 90%]

As the system’s eerie blue text appeared, a searing power slowly flowed into Reinhardt’s body, as if his Physique had been tempered by a million-meter-long raid across the vast lands of Cyrenaica.

Although the increase in his strength was minuscule, Reinhardt could still clearly perceive the enhancement of his Physique and Knight Power.

His power was drawing ever closer to the Six-star Earth Military Rank, as if he were just one final step away.

But the system’s eerie blue text had not finished.

[The Physique Enhancement provided by Steel of the Heart has reached its limit and cannot be increased further.]

[For an Imperial Knight, mastering Domain Power is the fundamental threshold to becoming a top-tier expert. At this stage, an increase in Physique strength can hardly bring about a qualitative leap in power.

In other words, there is an unforeseen, invisible ceiling to the enhancement of a Knightly Physique during the Mortal stage.

To break through this boundary between Mortal and Demigod, the Seed of Legend of a Sky Knight is one of only two paths. Of course, you know what the other path is, as you have witnessed someone use it with your own eyes.]

The other five men aboard the Punisher were all powerful Imperial Knights. Although the change in aura from Reinhardt’s increase in power was faint, they still sensed it.

Matthias was unfazed by it.

But the remaining three Holy Fire Guards were all inwardly astonished.

Metaron glanced at Reinhardt, thinking, ‘I’ve never seen such a powerful Knight Talent… No wonder the Lord of Vengeful was able to rise so quickly in just twenty-odd years.’

Perhaps the successive wars had taken too great a mental toll.

During the return trip, Reinhardt and Nelom remained completely silent, and Matthias and the others found it improper to speak.

A silence thus settled over the cabin, lasting a full forty minutes.

They crossed the rebel fleet’s defensive line, finally sailing slowly into the hangar bay of the Avenger Cruiser.