Heinrich saw Sedon unleash his second-attribute Knight Power. Or rather... it was the first-attribute Knight Power he had awakened back in his youth.

Extraordinary Armament: Formless Mechanism.

In the past, no matter what tricks Reinhardt pulled, he could never have forced Sedon to use the power of his Formless Mechanism.

But the Empire’s betrayal.

The sudden defection of the Regent Council and the Imperial State Church.

And then there was Karloman, the man he had revered as the Empire’s savior.

The same man who had once stood before the Radiant Holy Image, solemnly rested the Imperial’s Sword upon his shoulders, and told him personally that the Empire needed his loyalty and devotion.

Now, that same man had opened an Abyssal Teleportation Gate in the Radiant Holy City. He not only chose to embrace corruption but did so by trampling upon the Empire’s glory—a glory forged from the flesh and blood of countless Knights and Mortals—and kneeling to welcome the descent of Avernus.

All this chaos had utterly shattered the faith and resolve of a Knight who already carried too great a burden.

Though his exterior remained cold and steady, showing no sign of panic, the fact that Reinhardt could exploit an opening in battle meant his mind was surely in turmoil. ’He’s probably a complete mess on the inside!’

Heinrich was not like the new recruits in the Death Battle Group, who had only served for five or ten years.

To them, Sedon might just be an Earth Knight with an Elemental Domain who specialized in using Special Abilities. But Heinrich knew that even as a youth, Sedon had been renowned for his combat intellect and Body Techniques, capable of perfectly fusing the nature of his Power with his physical application of it.

Formless Mechanism.

It was an Extraordinary Armament whose power was entirely dependent on a Knight’s imagination and combat instincts.

It had no fixed form.

Its Special Abilities could also be freely altered to match the user’s imagination and fighting style.

The Formless Mechanism’s only weakness was its immense stamina drain. For the same duration of use, it consumed more than three times the energy of a typical Extraordinary Armament.

He’d heard rumors that after Sedon fell into the Abyss, his faith had imbued the Formless Mechanism with a trace of Radiant Holy Power.

But that was just a rumor.

「Meanwhile.」

The battle between Reinhardt and Sedon was only now truly beginning.

In the wake of the last exchange, the two faced off in a brief standoff.

The high-pressure bladders on Reinhardt’s back let out a piercing sonic boom, forming a terrifying vacuum in the curtain of rain behind him!

In the span of a single breath, an Iron Fist wreathed in Knight Power was already crashing toward Sedon’s face.

But this time.

The Earth Knight didn’t use Elementalization. Instead, he stood his ground calmly. With a creak of Mechanical Structures, a pair of steel gauntlets materialized over his left hand and clamped down vise-like on Reinhardt’s wrist!

The force was so immense that the living matter of the Morphic Armor, connected to Reinhardt’s own nerves, let out a silent scream of agony as it dented inwards!

Sedon remained expressionless. His prosthetic right arm clenched into a fist and shot forward, aimed squarely for Reinhardt’s face!

Reinhardt raised a hand to block, but a grinding of gears suddenly echoed from within Sedon’s prosthetic. His right arm defied the inertia of the punch, abruptly changing direction in midair. It shot up from below to grab Reinhardt’s right arm, while his left hand yanked Reinhardt’s body off balance!

BOOM—!

The back-suplex, empowered by Knight Power, was utterly vicious. Reinhardt’s body, clad in Full Coverage Steel Armor, slammed into the ground hard enough to create a shocking crater.

Mud and water flew everywhere!

The backplate of his Steel Armor even cracked completely under the terrifying force!

If not for the protection of the Morphic Armor, the force of that single blow would have shattered his spine and ribs, causing his heart to stop from the shock.

Even so, the violent change in internal pressure nearly made him vomit his own organs.

But Sedon’s relentless assault gave him no time to even think of a counterattack. That same strange mechanical whirring came from his raised right Steel Boot as he aimed for Reinhardt’s head and brought it stomping down with immense weight!

Reinhardt fired the Aikacia Nozzle on his back. A massive burst of force propelled him away, skimming across the ground to evade the fatal stomp.

He dragged Sedon’s body along with him at high speed!

Their combined weight and heavy Steel Armor turned them into a living cannonball, destroying everything in their path and crashing through one dilapidated house after another!

Before they even landed, the whirring of machinery was incessant. Sedon defied the basic laws of physics, twisting his body to climb onto Reinhardt’s Armor. He pinned down Reinhardt’s right arm, raised his prosthetic Iron Fist high, and brought it down with crushing weight onto his chest!

"COUGH—!"

The immense force felt like a Giant Dragon had slammed into Reinhardt’s chest.

He coughed up a great spray of blood. The Morphic Armor on his chest had completely caved in; those sections of it rapidly necrotized, cracking and weathering away into dust.

New living matter seeped from his skin to fill the void.

Sedon released his grip, his feet landing heavily on the ground. He put a hand down to brace himself, sliding for a distance across the muddy earth.

Reinhardt, however, crashed hard into the ground!

Like a runaway juggernaut, he tumbled and crashed across the ground, carving a deep trench until he flew clean out of Baihe Town before finally skidding to a halt.

Reinhardt lay face-up on the ground, blood pooling and spilling from the corner of his mouth.

But his face showed no pain or fear from his grave injuries. Instead, it was split in a wild grin, the kind of laughter only seen when one is thoroughly enjoying a good fight!

Just from taking that one punch, the amplification from his Destructive Field·Bloodthirsty Madness had already reached 100%!

A terrifying mist of blood billowed around Reinhardt. His horrifying aura pulsed and spread like the eternally beating heart of a Great Demon of slaughter, filling the air with bloodlust!

When the Knights witnessing the battle felt this aura permeate the air—an intensity comparable to the Seven-star Military Rank—they were all deeply shaken!

They didn’t understand the nature of Reinhardt’s Knight Power.

But the intensity of his Power didn’t lie.

Seven-star Military Rank—the legendary peak for an Official Knight!

The night grew deeper, becoming pitch-black.

But the rain kept falling.

The vast grasslands of the Northern Lands had turned into a sodden mire, where the corpses of Dragonfolk and Knights lay piled together, staining the earth red.

The Knights followed Heinrich to the other side of Baihe Town. As Imperial Knights witnessing this battle, they had a duty to observe the duel between Reinhardt and Sedon to its conclusion and officially bear witness to the outcome.

Through the slanted curtain of rain.

The figure shrouded in blood-red mist and the other Knight, completely swallowed by the darkness, stared at each other from afar.

A bolt of lightning split the sky.

In its ghastly white light, cold, damp rain streamed freely down their faces.

A terrifyingly vast amount of Knight Power gathered around Reinhardt’s arms!

Combat Skill·Humiliate People’s Power.

Then, Reinhardt moved.

Like a bolt of lightning streaking across the waterlogged, putrid mire, he moved. The colossal aura gathered in his hands tore the curtain of rain asunder as he hurtled viciously toward Sedon!