Chapter 507: This is My Way of the Knight! Six-star Earth Military Rank

Reinhardt’s heart, however, was calm. War, conspiracy, death, sacrifice… He had already lost too much. If he didn’t even have the courage to face such a bleak future, how could he have possibly fought his way out of battlefields filled with mountains of corpses and seas of blood time and time again?

A cold gust of wind blew in through a church window, making the candlelight flicker incessantly.

Reinhardt raised his head.

In the flickering light, he looked once more at the bronze sculpture of the Holy Word Scripture, shaped like an open book, that was placed directly in front of the Holy Image.

The sculpture of the scripture bore a single question: Why do you fight?

Many years ago, Reinhardt had answered this question: one day, he would stand at the pinnacle of the Knight’s path, at the very summit of this world.

‘But was that really the answer?’

At this thought, scenes from his past flashed through his mind, starting from the very first day he had transmigrated into this world…

Finally, Reinhardt smiled.

Because in that moment, he finally realized he was no longer the Transmigrator full of strange ideas, no longer the outsider who wouldn’t have cared even if the sky fell.

Or perhaps, without even realizing it, he had silently become a part of this world.

Until… a faint trace of Knightly Aura emanated uncontrollably from his body.

At that moment, Reinhardt knew. His Knight Military Rank had crossed the great chasm that separated Mortals from Demigods.

Six-star Earth Military Rank—!

Knight Power was the transcendent manifestation of an Imperial Knight’s physical body and Spiritual Power merged into one. The instant his Military Rank promotion was complete, a new power was deeply etched into his very flesh and soul. It was as instinctive as a newborn life searching for food and water.

Its name: Domain Awakening.

Feeling the immense power surging within him, Reinhardt let out a long breath. He rose slowly to his feet, gave the Radiant Holy Image before him a wordless glance, then picked up his War Axe and turned to push open the church’s great doors.

A cold wind swirled with fine snowflakes, blowing right at him.

But before the snowflakes could even reach him, they melted into water in the air two meters away.

This was a sign that an Imperial Knight couldn’t fully control their Knight Power for a short period after a Military Rank promotion. The Knightly Aura escaping from his body was like a scorching desert heatwave. Even the damp ground beneath his feet began to warm up, releasing wisps of steam.

Reinhardt looked up at the gloomy, gray sky.

‘Has it been forty-three days already?’

With a thought, a ghostly blue light descended and enveloped the Black War Axe in his hand. The light broke the axe down into countless tiny components that swiftly rose into the air and vanished.

This was the ability Reinhardt had gained after unlocking partial access to the Armory·Messiah’s Gift: he could store and retrieve his equipment, ignoring spatial limitations.

He secured the Divine Emperor’s Fury to his back.

Reinhardt clenched his right fist. The difficulty of advancing to Six-star had far exceeded his expectations, much more so than his initial promotion to the Earth Military Rank.

Recalling his earlier duel with Nelom and the Domain Power his opponent had used, Reinhardt now understood why Nelom, with only the strength of a Five-star Earth Military Rank, was considered one of the top experts in the Ash Soil Star Zone.

Although what he used wasn’t a true Domain Awakening, by burning his life force, he managed to grasp a power that was not supposed to be accessible at the Five-star Earth Military Rank: Domain Awakening. This temporarily boosted his combat power to an unbelievable level.

If Reinhardt hadn’t been boosted by his Special Ability, Steel of the Heart, which brought his Physique to the peak of an Earth Knight, the outcome of their battle would have been uncertain.

As for Domain Awakening, it was, in essence, a Knight obtaining a pass to use Domain Power in a more advanced way.

In other words, no matter how powerful their Physique, the Spiritual Power of Imperial Knights below the Six-star Earth Military Rank was simply incapable of bearing this Mighty Power—a power that surpassed the limits of a Mortal and brushed against the domain of Demigods.

Furthermore, every Imperial Knight’s Domain Awakening manifested in a different form.

To master such a greater power, training and meditation were far from enough. Since its very name was ‘Domain Awakening,’ it had to be comprehended and achieved through breakthroughs in actual combat.

Even so, Reinhardt’s current strength was a quantum leap compared to what it was before.

If he were to fight Nelom at his Five-star strength again, not only would the outcome be a foregone conclusion, but Reinhardt could also win with crushing dominance.

However, the closer he got to the peak strength of an Earth Knight, the more Reinhardt understood Heinrich and Sedon, the two he had fought back on Grillers World.

Those two powerful Imperial Knights of the Seven-star Earth Military Rank had probably been holding back enough to fill an entire ocean during their fight.

If they had truly intended to kill him, dispatching an Official Knight would have been easier for them than crushing an ant.

Reinhardt stood in place and removed his Full Coverage Helmet, carefully taking in the season’s cold… and its vitality.

As a Transmigrator, he sometimes thought back on his past.

With his current strength, he could easily walk away from it all, go anywhere he pleased, and live any life he wanted.

After all, from the very beginning, he had only one reason for joining the Knight Training Camp: to fill his stomach.

Later, after he mastered Knight Power, he added another goal: besides living a better, more comfortable life, he wanted to become the strongest in the world and stand at its very summit.