Chapter 379 - 343: The Pacification War, Part 1

According to plan.

After leaving the Penance World, the Avenger Flagship would depart immediately, heading for the Cyrenaica World at full speed.

Although there had been some delays, the Avenger Flagship’s Net Path secondary acceleration technology made its travel speed more than ten times that of an ordinary vessel.

The bridge.

Three Battle Sisters stood wordlessly behind Lu Jia.

Their several days of captivity had made them realize that they and the Holy Rose Order had been embroiled in a terrible conspiracy and struggle.

Their gazes, as they looked at Lu Jia, were filled with fear and unease.

This was because the sister who once had a fiery heart, who had often joked and laughed with them, who had been fiercely brave in battle, now seemed like a completely different person.

Her gaze was cold.

Utterly composed.

Most importantly.

Six sisters had been imprisoned in the Cathedral of Atonement, but after each of them had spoken with Lu Jia, only the three of them remained.

’Where did the others go?’

’And where was Sister Superior Eleonor?’

They had a vague suspicion of what had happened, but they didn’t dare believe that the ’innocent’ Lu Jia they once knew could have done such a thing.

What they found even more unbelievable was that Lu Jia, who had been missing for so long, had returned with a status and power far exceeding their own.

She was backed by the Great Tutor of Vengeful, Reinhardt.

In the name of the Blood Flame Order, she had gathered them here.

"...I once gave my all to the Holy Rose Order, but Eleonor betrayed me. She betrayed the faith of the Monastery. Because of her taint, the Judgment Court has declared the Holy Rose Order dead, on the charge of no longer being loyal."

Lu Jia, once again clad in her black Power Armor, looked serious. Her gaze swept over the faces of her three former sisters as she said coldly, "But our mission is not yet complete.

The Dark Forces seek to blot out the Divine Emperor’s light.

In the name of the Blood Flame Order, I want you to join the Monastery and fight against the enemies of the Empire with me."

The three of them looked at each other, speechless.

It was difficult for them to accept such a drastic turn of events in just a few short days.

One of them remained silent for a moment before responding, "Lu Jia, we... we need some time to think. Also, what you said about the Judgment Court disbanding the Holy Rose... is it true?"

Lu Jia didn’t answer, simply taking out an official document signed by the Judgment Court and handing it to her.

"Eleonor betrayed the Empire. The Judgment Court has sentenced her and the Holy Rose to death. But with the help of the Great Tutor of Vengeful, the Blood Flame Order has been re-established.

This invitation is not mandatory. You have the right to pursue your own paths."

It was a small detail, but the three of them noticed that Lu Jia had not once addressed them by the sacred title of ’sister’.

In other words.

If they refused, the bond between them would be severed completely.

They could feel the hatred and rage buried deep within her, even though her tone was as placid as ever.

But they didn’t know the source of this hatred, or what Sister Superior Eleonor had done to the woman who once fought alongside them as a sister.

What could have turned her into the person she was today?

On the upper command platform.

Koller stood beside Reinhardt, silently observing the conversation below between Lu Jia and the three Battle Sisters.

With the power the Vengeful Angels currently wielded, raising a Battle Group was not difficult. But to raise one that would serve him personally... one that would accept only Reinhardt’s direct command...

That was not something that could be accomplished with money or authority alone.

Undoubtedly.

Although Reinhardt, the Great Tutor of Vengeful, possessed formidable personal strength, he had very few core Battle Groups under his command that would unconditionally answer his summons.

Aside from perhaps the Caster Battle Group and the Defense Army on distant Verne, mobilizing even a single soldier within the entire Ash Soil Star Zone remained more difficult than one would imagine, even when the Great Tutor invoked the authority granted to him by the Grand Governor.

A leader lacking the support of their own core Battle Groups is ultimately weak and isolated, even in the lofty position of Great Tutor of Vengeful.

The Blood Flame Order, established through political maneuvering, was still in its infancy. However, Koller had reason to believe that once the Monastery’s armed forces were developed,

it would surely become one of Reinhardt’s own loyalist Battle Groups.

And such a traditional alliance could even be passed down to the next Great Tutor of Vengeful and the Blood Flame Order.

Still, there was nothing wrong with Reinhardt treating Lu Jia so generously.

It was thanks to that sister’s unwavering ideals that they had been able to smash through the opposition Within the Empire and purge the die-hards from the Judgment Court.

If Reinhardt had been indifferent to her, Koller would have been the one to grow wary.

After all, no one wants to lay down their life for a superior who is arbitrary with rewards and punishments, or who is driven by personal gain.

A tremor ran through the Avenger Flagship. Koller looked up and out the viewport. The dazzling splendor of the Net Path vanished in an instant, and the verdant, atmosphere-wreathed planet of the Cyrenaica World abruptly appeared before them!

And in the very next moment after they exited the Net Path.

The color drained from Koller’s face—!

He was horrified to discover that his Spiritual Perception could not penetrate beyond the hull of the Avenger Flagship. It was as if some immensely powerful Spiritual Power in this region was suppressing his own!

Realizing this, he immediately whipped his head around to look at the ship’s Radiant Beacon.

Sure enough, the Radiant Beacon had also grown dim.

But before he could open his mouth to warn Reinhardt, a former Navy veteran on the bridge in charge of the cannons roared, his face a mask of fury, "Enemy attack—! Enemy attack—!"