Chapter 436 385: The Bridge: A Tangled, Multi-Sided Battle

"Lu Jia—!"

Avenger Flagship, the bridge.

A technical heretic from the Shadow Temple ran a sword through Lu Jia's abdomen, the immense force slamming her viciously against the wall!

'Damn it...'

Lu Jia's left hand desperately gripped the Power Sword impaling her abdomen. The Spiritual Power coating the blade ceaselessly eroded her flesh, battling furiously against her Knight Power.

"Delanxi, protect the Technician Priest! That's an order—!"

At this moment, a Spiritual Power Spectacle of blue and purple neon light submerged the bridge. The aftershocks from the colliding Spiritual Power even engulfed the entire one-kilometer radius outside the Avenger Flagship.

Koller alone had to not only suppress the Chaos God Chaos, but also divert his attention to disrupt the Wisdom Goddess Minerva's spiritual attacks aimed at the ship's controls.

This heretic, with six tubes extending from the back of his head, had an antenna-like spiritual power amplification device fixed to the spine behind his neck.

Although he didn't display any formidable combat power, his interference threw the Avenger Flagship's control systems into chaos. Even the holographic star chart on the secondary command platform became distorted and flickered erratically.

And the image that flashed during those brief distortions was none other than the Demon Void Realm!

But that wasn't even the worst part.

According to the feedback from Technician Priest Pavlo's consciousness, members of the Dark Mechanist Cult outside the bridge were constantly attempting to hack in remotely and seize control of the Avenger Flagship.

The current situation had far exceeded the limits of what his power could handle.

"Your resistance is futile, Think Tank. Why don't you cooperate with me? We can kill the traitors from the Shadow Temple first. I promise that after I gain control of the ship, I won't kill a single one of you.

Furthermore, I'll even take you to the region where the Giant Beacon is located.

Of course, whether or not you can send a warning to the Administrative Region will be up to your own efforts."

In a war, everyone has their place and a mission to fight for.

For the five members of the Gods' Plan, their mission was to kill Reinhardt and seize the Avenger Flagship. As for the bigger picture—whether the rebellion could be won, or the consequences of sending Koller and his group to the Giant Beacon—he couldn't care less.

As long as he could win Lord Enok's favor, that was all that mattered.

In fact, more than Koller, it was the Shadow Temple's sudden interference that he truly feared.

Because those grease monkeys actually had the ability to brazenly snatch control of the ship right under his nose, and all he could do was watch helplessly.

Although the Wisdom Goddess Minerva could hack into the control systems, that was the extent of her ability. When it came to the specialty of military hardware, their power and methods were far inferior to the Shadow Temple.

Koller treated this proposal with utter disdain.

Clad in the glory of the First Legion's Eldest Son of the Emperor, he would rather be killed outright than bear the shame of cooperating with a heretic.

Dark purple lightning flared in his eyes as he roared, "Silence, heretic! I swear on my life, as long as I draw breath, none of your schemes will ever succeed!"

The moment his words fell, one of the metal cables connecting Pavlo to the control interface suddenly spewed thick black smoke, clearly burned out from an energy overload.

Just trying to control the ship's navigation was already killing him; now he had to fight against the Shadow Temple's remote hacking on top of the heretics' spiritual interference.

For a low-level Artificial Creation Officer who was only used to tightening screws, this level of work intensity was far beyond his capabilities.

It was no different from asking a Mortal Soldier to take on an Elite Slaughter Demon with nothing but an Iron Sword.

The Battle Sister Delanxi, who was holding the Technician Priest and keeping his head firmly in place, felt Pavlo's struggles in her arms grow weaker and weaker. Her eyes widened, and she shouted to Koller, "My lord—!"

But Koller, fighting a war on two fronts, no longer had the spare energy to maintain the stability of Pavlo's Spiritual World.

Seeing this, another Battle Sister standing guard by Delanxi's side with her sword drawn immediately pulled a Blood Burning Needle from her belt pouch and threw it to Delanxi. "Inject him! Now!"

Delanxi's expression and face still retained a girlish appearance, making her look at least ten years younger than her actual age.

And her eyes lacked the firm resolve of Lu Jia's.

"But he'll die..."

"To die for the Emperor is his glory."

For Technician Priest Pavlo, the immense pain had long since separated his spirit from his body. He could clearly hear and perceive everything happening in the physical world.

He felt a cold liquid being injected into his body through a vein in his arm.

The power of the drug made his once-weak Spiritual Power strong and forceful again.

Hearing the two Battle Sisters argue, Pavlo, who had long accepted his inevitable death, felt a strange sense of helpless amusement.

Lying on his back in the arms of the Battle Sister Delanxi, he could vaguely make out a beautiful but anxious face through his blurred vision.

Feeling the warm embrace, Pavlo wanted to speak, but he couldn't even perform a basic action like opening his mouth.

In the end, all he could do was sigh internally, finding bitter amusement in his suffering.

'Praise the God of All Machines.'

'He wouldn't deny the fact that the Emperor is the master of humanity.'

'But he was no Imperial Knight...'

Just as the Blood Burning Needle forcibly gave Pavlo a new lease on life, the bridge's broadcast system suddenly crackled to life without warning, a coarse, indifferent voice echoing through it.

"This is Great Sage Cassio. On behalf of the Mechanical Order, I am informing you that I am commandeering this Supreme King's Guard Ship. All non-essential personnel have three minutes to evacuate.

After three minutes, anyone who remains will be considered my enemy.

You will bear the consequences."

The heretics of Grand Lord Kles were not yet dealt with, the Shadow Temple was still trying to breach the control system's security barriers from the outside, and now Great Sage Cassio of the Mechanist Cult, instead of helping to purge the heretics, had interfered to vie for control himself.

Koller suppressed his rage, but before he could even begin to curse...

A sinister voice quietly sounded over the broadcast system.

"Cassio, you old relic, you're still alive, (static) heh heh... But you're too late. The Guard Ship already belongs to the Shadow Temple.

I imagine you wouldn't mind if I took it back for a bit of research, would you?"

Great Sage Cassio did not respond to this.

But the hundreds of assault gunboats that simultaneously launched from every Military Port in Cyrenaica were response enough.

「Meanwhile.」

Lu Jia spat a mouthful of blood and let out a furious roar. Her Broadsword, empowered by the Fires of Punishment, violently sheared through the Power Sword impaling her abdomen. She then kicked away the technical heretic who had attacked her.

With a single strike, she cut him down.

Facing the encirclement of the boarding Shadow Temple Defender Army, the Elemental Holy Fire blazed across the surface of her Power Armor. Ignoring the fatal wound in her abdomen, she charged fiercely toward three more Defender Army soldiers who were closing in to attack.

"In the Emperor's name—!"