Chapter 496: I Acknowledge Your Strength: Second Domain·Bionic Mimicry (2)

He and Metaron exchanged a glance.

“This aura… It’s Nelom.”

Even Morphis, the ever-composed Holy Fire Guard, frowned upon sensing the Knightly Aura emanating from the distance.

Because at this moment, the intensity of Nelom’s aura had completely overwhelmed Reinhardt’s.

Standing by outside the Combat Boat, Stearns gripped his sword hilt tightly, his gaze fixed on the distance in utter shock.

And now.

He finally understood why Lord Koller had sternly warned him not to provoke Nelom.

A Knightly Aura of this magnitude could crush him as easily as an ant!

As the immense gap in power between him and Nelom became clear, Stearns’s hands began to tremble uncontrollably. But this wasn’t fear; it was the raging fire of an Imperial Knight’s ambition, a burning desire to pursue the path of a Knight.

Stearns’s Knight Power was an Attributeless Destruction Force Field.

Because of this, he knew full well that there were no shortcuts on his path as a Knight.

The three Personal Guards at his side also stared toward the distant battle, aghast. A fight of this magnitude was so far beyond their strength that their involvement would be utterly meaningless.

“Sir, should we inform Commander Koller?”

Stearns let out a heavy breath, his eyes fixed on the horizon. “If this fight needed to be stopped, Lord Koller would have already intervened.”

「Elsewhere.」

Koller, who was still handling official matters, sensed the battle erupting thousands of kilometers away and his brow furrowed deeply.

He knew, of course, that Reinhardt intended to use this battle to try and break through the barrier to the Six-star Earth Military Rank. But wasn’t Nelom’s power a bit too excessive for a Knight’s Duel?

But Reinhardt had told him beforehand not to interfere, no matter what happened.

Despite a faint sense of unease, he chose to observe from the shadows. If things truly escalated to an irreversible point, it wouldn’t be too late for him to intervene then.

Nelom was strong, but for Koller, who possessed immense Spiritual Power, stopping the conflict between the two wasn’t an exceedingly difficult task.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

On the Gobi Desert battlefield, Nelom, in his Overlord Form, was not only faster than Reinhardt, but the force behind his punches was also absurdly powerful.

Tearing through the air and creating sonic booms, every punch he threw unleashed a terrifying peal of thunder, as if from the heavens above!

But that wasn’t even the most oppressive part.

Right now, bolstered by his monstrous Self-Healing Ability, even after taking one of Reinhardt’s ultimate Combat Techniques—Humiliate People’s Power—which blew his chest apart and left his head connected to his body by only a few tendons and blood vessels, an injury grievous enough to kill an ordinary Imperial Knight ten times over would heal completely within a single second.

Even with their weapons shattered, forcing them into hand-to-hand combat, the destructive force of every single blow was enough to flatten a steel war machine!

Reinhardt raised his left arm to shield his neck and head. Nelom’s high whip kick, wreathed in a terrifying sonic boom, followed instantly, slamming viciously into the Morphic Armor.

The next moment, the dark purple living substance, which could withstand naval cannon fire, caved in deeply.

As a price for absorbing the impact, the living matter on Reinhardt’s forearm, where he blocked the kick, began to wither and die. This necrosis even started to spread outward.

In all of Reinhardt’s long years of service, he had only encountered an attack with destructive power that surpassed the Morphic Armor’s Self-Healing Ability once before: his encounter with the Fear Knight, Flayer Du Ma.

And now.

Nelom was the second person to ever break through the Morphic Armor’s defense!

In a flash, when the Morphic Armor’s defense could no longer absorb and block Nelom’s high kick, the tremendous impact tore through the muscle and bone of Reinhardt’s forearm like a freight train.

The immense pressure shot up through his muscles into his neck and face.

If not for Reinhardt’s terrifyingly durable Physique, which was at the Peak Level of an Earth Knight, the price of this failed defense would have been his life.

The moment before he was sent flying, Reinhardt’s and Nelom’s eyes met in mid-air.

Despite the excruciating pain ripping through his neck and face, Reinhardt’s expression remained unchanged. Nelom, for his part, felt no satisfaction from his blow; instead, his expression grew even more solemn.

He knew perfectly well that Reinhardt still hadn’t used his Domain Power.

He was going head-to-head with him in his Overlord Form relying solely on the strength of his Extraordinary Armament’s Special Ability!

Before Nelom’s eyes, under the crushing force of the high kick, Reinhardt’s body shot away like a cannonball. WHOOSH! He flew straight backward.

He crashed down hard, not only carving a deep crater in the ground but also sending spiderweb cracks racing across the surface. His momentum sent his body tumbling and bouncing across the hard, gravel-strewn ground of the Gobi Desert.

He didn’t stop until he slammed into a massive boulder with a deafening CRACK.

BANG—!

In that final moment as Reinhardt was sent flying, Nelom wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him. He had detected a pale flame igniting on the surface of Reinhardt’s body, similar to the one from his own Overlord Form.

‘An illusion?’

‘No…’ Nelom’s brow furrowed. He was certain it wasn’t an illusion.

He stomped on the hard ground of the Gobi Desert. The immense force caused the ground to sink as a spray of gravel shot up, and his body transformed into a streak of fire, chasing after Reinhardt.

Following the location of the Knightly Aura.

Through the swirling sand and dust, he saw a figure sitting on the ground, leaning against the boulder with his head bowed.

A large pool of blood coughed from his mouth soaked his thin linen clothes. His broken forearm was bent at a gruesome, sickening angle.

Nelom stood a short distance away from Reinhardt, but the other man didn’t move.

‘Did I win that easily?’

Nelom found it hard to believe. Had Reinhardt, the Master of Vengeful, the man he believed was too powerful for him to handle, truly been defeated just like that?

The more it seemed this way, the more he dared not make a rash move.

Because according to his Knight Perception, Reinhardt’s Knightly Aura hadn’t weakened in the slightest.

Suddenly, a wisp of pale flame, formed from Knight Power, silently ignited over Reinhardt’s wounds. Empowered by this Extraordinary Flame, his broken forearm began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The resetting bones made a faint CRACKING sound, and even the dark bruises on his skin rapidly faded.

And then.

Nelom’s gaze met Reinhardt’s as he lifted his head. At the same time, he felt Reinhardt’s Knightly Aura begin to climb in intensity, and the hair on his body stood on end!

“I acknowledge your strength.”

The cold voice fell upon Nelom’s ears. Rather than praise, all he could feel was a mortal threat!

‘This aura… It’s Reinhardt’s Domain Power—!’

Nelom’s pupils instantly shrank to the size of a pinprick. He knew that even if his kick hadn’t contained his full power, it was more than enough to kill a Five-star Earth Military Rank expert who had misjudged their defense!

But not only had Reinhardt not been mortally wounded by his mistake as he’d expected, he was actually growing stronger the more they fought!

Especially his Domain Power, which, according to his Knight Perception, felt bizarre in every way.

It was as if an invisible pair of eyes were constantly staring through his soul, watching his every move.

The feeling was like a spike pressed against his back!

BANG—!

Reinhardt, who a second ago had been ‘critically injured and slumped on the ground’, vanished from his spot. The massive reactive force flipped the boulder behind him, and when he reappeared, an Iron Fist wreathed in pale flame was already blasting toward Nelom’s face!

Nelom felt that this method of aggressive attack was somewhat familiar, but he had no time to think about it.

Although Reinhardt had activated his Domain Power and the intensity of his Knight Power had increased significantly, there was still a huge gap compared to his own in Overlord Form.

‘Trying to defeat me with this level of Domain Power is nothing but a dream.’

If he weren’t certain that his powerful opponent was Reinhardt, the Master of Vengeful, he would have never been this cautious, sticking only to Body Techniques. Against any other enemy, he would have long since lost the patience for this back-and-forth exchange of punches and kicks.

His face was expressionless as he stared silently at Reinhardt.

‘Is this the full extent of your power, Master of Vengeful?’