Leo could not wait to climb up the maintenance ladder along the Knight suit's leg.
The metal rungs were spotted with rust, yet remained sturdy.
Before long, he reached the entrance of the cockpit.
The genetic identification lock beside the hatch was covered in a thin layer of dust; Leo reached out, wiped it clean, and pressed his palm flat against it.
"Ding! Genetic match successful. Direct bloodline of House San Gallus. Permission level: High King Direct Line."
A cold, synthesized mechanical voice sounded as the lock illuminated with a faint blue glow.
The cockpit door hissed with pressure release as the heavy adamantium hatch slid to the side.
The smile on Leo's face froze entirely the moment he saw the sight inside the cockpit.
Sitting quietly in the pilot's seat was an old man.
He wore an old, family-issue battle suit covered in scratches and scorch marks, the High King crest on his chest dim and lusterless.
Graying hair fell messily across his forehead; his back was slightly hunched, his head lowered as if asleep.
That face was one Leo knew all too well.
Karadogon San Gallus.
His grandfather, who had been missing for months—the previous High King of House San Gallus.
"Grandfather?!"
Leo's voice cracked slightly.
He took a step forward instinctively, only to freeze, unable to believe his eyes.
How could his grandfather be here?
He had been missing for four full months, and everyone assumed he had met with disaster or been carried off by Chaos cultists.
Yet he had been inside the cockpit of the Wrath of Divine Judgment all this time?
As if hearing his voice, the old man in the seat raised his head slowly.
His eyes were completely clouded over, bloodshot across the whites; his once-sharp gaze had vanished without a trace, leaving only the decay of twilight years.
When his gaze landed on Leo's face, his clouded pupils contracted sharply, and the corners of his lips twitched violently.
He seemed desperate to speak, but only raspy gasps escaped his throat, unable to form a single word.
He shook his head frantically, his eyes filled with terror and urgency, as if using his final thread of strength to urge Leo to leave immediately.
"Grandfather, what happened to you? Why are you here?"
Leo's heart tightened; just as he stepped forward to check his condition, a sudden mutation erupted.
"Pfft~!"
Countless dark-red fleshy tentacles suddenly burst from the gaps in the seat.
Like living blood vessels, they wriggled and expanded frantically, slithering into the gaps of Karadogon's battle suit to spread along his limbs and torso at breakneck speed.
Those fleshy tendrils gleamed with greasy luster, their surfaces sprouting pustules that burst to leak thick, dark-red fluid, exhaling a stench of rotting flesh.
In the blink of an eye, the fleshy growths covered Karadogon completely.
His face was wrapped and reshaped by flesh, bones crunching beneath his skin as the contours altered bit by bit.
Ultimately, an ancient, withered face emerged from the biomass.
Its facial features bore a sixty-to-seventy percent resemblance to Karadogon, yet appeared far older and more somber; the skin displayed an ashen, dead hue, and the eye sockets were deeply sunken—devoid of pupils, holding only a haze of chaotic grayish-white.
Leo felt an icy chill shoot up his spine as his body hair stood on end.
Chaos!
It was the foul power of Chaos!
His grandfather... had been corrupted by Chaos?!
Fury instantly overwhelmed fear.
Leo let out a low roar, clenching his right fist to strike hard against that eerie, old face.
His fist hit the fleshy mass, but instead of the expected crunch of flesh, it felt like punching a lump of sticky putty.
A soft, cold sensation slithered up his fist as the biomass churned and clung, attempting to creep up his wrist to drag him inside as well.
"Damn it!"
Leo's heart grew cold as his left hand drew the laspistol at his hip, pulling the trigger against the thickest cluster of biomass.
"Sizzle!"
A scorching laser beam struck the flesh, burning a charred hole that spewed foul-smelling black smoke.
The biomass contracted violently as if sensing pain; Leo seized the moment to yank his right fist back.
His fist was coated in dark-red mucus carrying a mild acidity, sending a needle-like sting across his skin.
He shook his hand, took half a step back, and stared vigilantly at the monster in the cockpit, shouting sternly:
"What in the world are you?!"
That old face turned slowly, its empty eye sockets "looking" toward Leo.
A second later, a wheezing laugh escaped its throat—like a broken bellows being pulled, raspy and grating.
"Karadogon... is this the child you claimed could hold up the glory of San Gallus?"
It laughed while rising slowly from the seat.
Not standing on two legs, but lifted straight up from the cockpit chair by the fleshy tentacles beneath it.
More biomass spread along the cockpit bulkheads like a blooming poison fungus.
"Not bad, not bad—a young bloodline and vibrant vitality." Its gaze swept greedily over Leo's body.
"Far more useful than your old bones."
Foul Chaos aura washed over him, causing Leo's stomach to churn.
Seeing this monster wearing his grandfather's face while passing judgment in a senior's tone sent the rage in his chest burning through his skull.
"Shut up! You are not fit to lecture House San Gallus!!"
Roaring, Leo raised his laspistol once more and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Shot after shot, scorching laser beams struck the old face repeatedly, burning charred holes into its fleshly body.
Yet those holes wriggled and healed at a visible speed, dark-red sprouts churning as they grew back; in seconds, it returned to normal without leaving a single scar.
Leo did not stop, holding the trigger down until the pistol emitted a soft click, its energy cell drained completely as faint white smoke rose from the barrel.
The monster inside the cockpit stood completely intact, even tilting its head slightly as if watching a throwaway tantrum.
"Young people are always so impatient," it spoke lazily, its voice carrying unreserved mockery.
"Identical to your grandfather when he was young—full of blooded temper, yet lacking half a brain."
It paused, its ash-white eyes "sweeping" over Leo's tense body, its tone carrying an eerie lure:
"Are you not even curious about who I am? Not curious why Karadogon is here?"
"Not curious... about what secret House San Gallus has protected for generations?"
Leo tossed aside the empty pistol and drew the tactical combat knife from his belt.
The moment he pressed the activation button, the blade heated up to a glowing red.
Crouching down, he adopted a standard combat stance, his eyes sharp as a blade's edge.
"I don't care what you are," Leo's voice was cold as ice. "A Chaos traitor impersonating my grandfather has only one path—death."
"Death?"
The monster laughed wheezily, the biomass throughout the cockpit trembling along with it.
"Child, death is merely another beginning."
"Just like your grandfather—he believed he could change everything, yet in the end, did he not walk down the exact same path as me?"
It leaned down, bringing that face resembling Karadogon close to Leo, murky mucus seeping from its empty eye sockets.
"Do you know?" its voice dropped low, like a venomous snake whispering near his ear.
"Ten years ago, he had already accepted the Master's grace."
Leo's heart contracted violently.
Ten years ago?
His thoughts immediately flashed back to the past; that seemed to have been the very last time Karadogon piloted a Knight suit into combat.
The result had been defeat. Everyone believed Karadogon would not live long after that, yet no one expected him to stubbornly hold on for ten more years.
"Could it be... that Grandfather relied on the power of Chaos? That's impossible..."
Leo's breath hitched, but he gritted his teeth tightly, forcing himself to calm down.
Chaos monstrosities were masters of honeyed words and deceiving human minds.
The more it spoke like this, the less it could be trusted.
"Save your wicked words!" Leo growled. With a flick of his wrist, his dagger carved an arc, slashing hard toward the biomass spreading out from the cockpit.
"Get the hell off San Gallus turf!"
The blade bit into the flesh, its disruption field scorching the Chaos tissue with a sharp sizzle as black smoke scattered in all directions.
The monster let out a muffled grunt of pain, but immediately, even more fleshy tentacles surged from every corner of the cockpit, lunging toward Leo like a swarm of venomous snakes.
They wanted to drag him inside, pulling him into that foul mass of flesh to assimilate him together.
Leo retreated swiftly, dodging the tentacles lunging directly at him, yet a faint tremor ran through the alloy floor beneath his feet.
He looked down to see dark-red fleshy hyphae sprouting from the gaps in the floor, creeping upward along the soles of his boots.
These things... had already corrupted the entire warehouse?
Leo's heart sank.
He had originally thought it was merely a single evil entity inside the cockpit, but now it appeared that this entire underground vault had become the Chaos monster's nest.
It seemed that when Grandfather disappeared back then, he had likely been driven here by Luna.
"You cannot escape, child," the monster's voice drifted over slowly, carrying an eerie, hypnotic aura.
"The blood of San Gallus is born to be a part of me."
"Karadogon held out for ten years, yet didn't he still slowly merge into one with me?"
"You are no different."
"Stay behind, and be reunited with your grandfather."
The fleshy tentacles multiplied, sprouting from every crack in the walls, ceiling, and floor, closing in on Leo in dense clusters.
The yellow-green light flickered erratically, casting an increasingly grotesque sheen over the dark-red flesh.
Leo gripped the dagger tightly in his hand, his back and palms drenched in cold sweat.
Facing this head-on in a raw fight was impossible.
His gaze passed instinctively over the cockpit, sweeping across the heavy armor of the Wrath of Divine Judgment.
If he could just sit inside the cockpit and truly activate this Dominus-class Knight suit...
No matter how strange this monster was, it could not withstand a direct point-blank hit from the Plasma Decimator.
As the thought flashed across his mind, Leo subtly shifted his footing toward the cockpit hatch.
Yet as if seeing straight through his intent, the monster chuckled wheezily.
"Wanting to activate the Wrath of Divine Judgment?"
"Child, you are far too naive."
The moment the words fell, the body of the Wrath of Divine Judgment trembled slightly.
From the seams of the bright yellow adamantium armor, strands of dark-red biomass hyphae seeped out, slithering slowly along the armor's grooves like spiderwebs to cover nearly half of a pauldron.
Leo's face turned deathly pale in an instant.
Even... even the Knight suit had been corrupted?
No!
If this Knight suit had been fully corrupted, why wouldn't this monster simply drive it out?
Why stay here for a decade or more?
What was it waiting for?
Waiting for the bloodline of San Gallus?
Waiting for someone who could truly unlock the machine's core?
Countless thoughts raced through Leo's mind.
It was waiting for him—or rather... it hadn't truly assimilated Grandfather yet!
It needed a direct descendant of San Gallus to achieve full control over this Dominus-class Knight suit.
That was why it tried to bewitch him with words and surround him with tentacles, yet consistently refrained from dealing a killing blow.
It wanted to assimilate him, wanting to use his hands to undo the final lock on the Wrath of Divine Judgment.
Once he understood this point, Leo actually calmed down.
Having a desire meant it had reservations.
It was not invincible.
Leo raised his head slowly, meeting the monster's empty gaze as a cold sneer curled up his lips instead.
"Wanting to assimilate me?"
"With this half-man, half-ghost look of yours?"
The monster's laughter cut off abruptly. It seemed not to expect this young man to dare voice a provocation in such a hopeless situation.
"Ignorant of life and death," its voice turned cold as the surrounding tentacles accelerated instantly, pouncing toward Leo's face like snakes striking from their den.
"Since you refuse to be obedient, I will disable your limbs first, then slowly assimilate you."
The tentacles burst through the air, bringing a gust of foul-smelling wind.
Leo's eyes turned sharp. Just as he prepared to sidestep, a faint warmth surged in his chest.
A cold, heavy power erupted from within his body.
It was the very power he felt in that strange space when he returned from death.
The aura of that black sun.
An icy chill spread along his blood vessels to his four limbs and entire frame; Leo felt his body instantly grow several times lighter.
He could even clearly "catch" the motion trajectory of every single tentacle, seeing the writhing patterns on their surfaces.
"This is..."
Inside the cockpit, the monster's assault froze mid-air as well.
It stared fixedly at Leo, a distinct emotional fluctuation appearing in its empty eye sockets for the very first time.
It was shock, mixed with a thread of unhidden terror.
"This power..."
"How do you have its aura on you?!"
That black sun rising in the depths of his soul had scattered an icy brilliance that once purged all Warp whispers and temptations.
And the moment his consciousness crashed violently back into his physical shell, all that silence and chill churned furiously within the bloodline of San Gallus.
Ultimately, it transformed into warm, blazing golden flames, erupting out from Leo's entire body.
Hum!
Pale-golden holy flames expanded outward centered on Leo like a tide, their scorching light illuminating the dim cockpit.
Those dark-red fleshy tentacles clinging to the bulkheads and creeping toward him recoiled violently like a cat's paw touching hot water.
At the same time, a sizzling sound echoed as foul black smoke billowed upward.
The adamantium armor covered in Chaos flesh emitted a piercing screech as the corrupted tissue charred and peeled away rapidly beneath the holy flames, revealing the bright yellow body of the Wrath of Divine Judgment underneath.
Leo rose slowly, the tactical dagger in his hand now coated in a thin edge of golden flame.
He stared at the writhing mass of flesh in the center of the cockpit, his eyes devoid of the initial shock and panic, holding only bone-chilling rage and disgust.
"Traitor!"
His voice was raspy yet firm, every word like a block of fire-quenched iron:
"A foul thing fallen to Chaos—fit to wear a face of San Gallus? Fit to lay hands on the family's Knight suit?"
Before his voice faded, Leo drove power through his feet, his body shooting forward like an arrow.
The power dagger sliced through the air, carrying golden holy flame as it stabbed deep into the core of that writhing flesh mass.
"Aaargh!!"
The old face on the flesh let out an agonizing shriek as the entire biomass twitched and churned frantically.
Dark-red tentacles whipped wildly toward Leo like enraged vipers, only to curl back scorching hot half a meter from his body, repelled by the golden holy flames covering his form.
The holy fire seeped frantically deep into the flesh along the blade; wherever it passed, the Chaos tissue melted like wax.
The massive mass of flesh swelled and contracted violently, as if enduring unimaginable pain.
"Traitor?"
"We bleed the blood of San Gallus, taught from childhood to be 'loyal unto death.'"
"But have you ever thought about what the Corpse Emperor gave us?"
"A palace destined to collapse, a duty that can never be finished, and a one-way road to death."
"They sing praises of sacrifice because the more people sacrifice, the sturdier the bedrock beneath their throne becomes."
"This is the Corpse Emperor's 'eternity': eternal exploitation, eternal oblivion."
"Look at your grandfather; look at those who turned to dry bones on the forbidden wall."
"What did the Imperium give them? A stone tablet, an elegy, and then tossed them straight into the dustbin of history."
"Yet I found the true way out. Grandfather Nurgle is not destruction, but eternal opportunity—a compromise that transcends death."
The fleshy human face roared as it drove even more fleshy tentacles to surge from all directions.
Foul Chaos energy and golden holy flame collided violently within the narrow cockpit, crackling with sharp explosions.
Perhaps the foundation rooted here over decades was too profound, or perhaps Leo's newly awakened holy flame was not yet strong enough.
The surging tide of flesh managed to hold back the holy flame's purification, locking him in a deadlocked struggle.
Cold sweat beaded on Leo's forehead, his arms trembling under the continuous strain.
He could clearly feel that Chaos power acting like a viscous swamp, grinding down his holy flame bit by bit.
The entity was like a malignant tumor rooted deep inside the Wrath of Divine Judgment, its system spreading into every line of the Knight suit to draw an endless supply of energy.
The golden flame within his body was more like a newly lit spark—scorching hot, yet limited in total volume.
"Stubborn fool!"
Leo gritted his teeth and growled, his left hand reaching toward his waist, but the pistol's energy cell was already drained.
Just as he tried to pivot for another angle of attack, the contour of the Knight suit's right shoulder caught the corner of his eye.
The twin-linked autocannon was rotating its barrels, slowly aiming right at him standing at the cockpit entrance.
In the gaps of the gun mount, dark-red biomass hyphae wriggled along the cooling vanes, forcefully driving this heavy weapon that had been dormant for years.
"Clack-clack, clack-clack..."
The stuttering sound of mechanical rotation proved exceptionally grating in the quiet cabin, each click echoing like a funeral knell.
"Damn it!"
Leo's expression shifted drastically.
He knew all too well how terrifying a Dominus-class Knight suit's weapon systems were; if detonated inside the cockpit...
Forget his mortal body of flesh and blood—the entire cockpit would likely be scrapped.
He wanted to pull back and retreat, but several fleshy tentacles sprouting from the floorboards had already coiled tightly around his ankles.
The tentacles yanked hard, aiming to drag him into the biomass core for assimilation.
Leo swung his dagger frantically to sever the tentacles, but even more instantly wrapped around him.
The shoulder cannon's charging indicator had already illuminated with a dangerous red light.
At this critical juncture, the wildly writhing mass of flesh suddenly froze.
Every tentacle stopped mid-air, and the charging shoulder cannon hitched with a crackle of current noise, its red light flickering erratically.
The entire body of flesh distorted and deformed violently, as if two distinct wills were locked in a frantic struggle for control inside this foul tissue.
"Ugh, get off..."
The old face roared in agony, its features twisting out of shape. "This is my body... my Knight suit..."
Yet before the words fully fell, the other side of the cheek began bulging irregularly, as if another face were fighting to break through from within.
Holding the dagger, Leo took a cautious half-step back, his brows furrowed tight.
What was happening? Internal strife?
A second later, a wrinkled, aged, yet resolute face fought its way out from the flesh.
It was Karadogon.
He looked far older than in Leo's memory—his hair sparse and white, his face etched with deep furrows, the corners of his eyes and lips twitching uncontrollably as he endured immense agony.
His bloodshot, clouded eyes cleared of pain the moment his gaze landed on Leo, replaced by a thread of unhidden relief.
"You've come."
Karadogon's voice was faint, carrying the frailty of a flickering candle in the wind.
The hand Leo used to grip his dagger trembled violently.
Three months.
He had searched for his grandfather for three whole months.
He had envisioned countless reunion scenarios—perhaps at an icefield mining site, perhaps inside a Chaos cage, or perhaps that his grandfather had long passed away.
Yet he had never imagined the two of them would meet again like this.
Wrapped in Chaos flesh, sharing a body with a strange old monster, trapped inside this dust-sealed family Knight suit without seeing the light of day.
"Grandfather..."
Leo's voice trembled uncontrollably, his eyes flushing red instantly.
He wanted to step forward, but his feet felt heavy as lead.
He knew that the grandfather standing before him had long been corrupted by Chaos.
In this world, to be tainted by Chaos meant fall, and it meant death.
There was no such thing as salvation.
As if reading his thoughts, Karadogon forced a twitch at the corner of his lips to form a smile, only for his facial muscles to be pulled out of shape by the opposing power.
"I can't hold out... Leo," he gasped, every word exhausting his remaining strength.
"Quickly... kill me."
"Together with... together with him."
"Him? Who is he?" Leo blurted out.
"Aurean San Gallus," Karadogon said, his voice carrying a trace of sorrow.
"My father... your great-grandfather."
Leo's pupils contracted sharply.
Aurean San Gallus?
The High King before last of House San Gallus?
Family records stated that High King fell in battle during the Xenos Wars over two hundred years ago, his body never recovered—a renowned hero in family history.
How could he... become like this?
As if sensing Leo's confusion, Karadogon seized the opening while Aurean was weakened by the holy flame's burn to speak at rapid speed:
"Back then... he was mortally wounded and near death. Unwilling to see the family decay, he rejected the Emperor's call and accepted Grandfather Nurgle's gift."
"He hid inside this underground vault, using the Wrath of Divine Judgment as a womb to cling to life for over a century."
"Twenty years ago, during my battle against pirates, I was mortally wounded... and he took the chance to entice me..."
"Promising me power, promising me eternal life, promising to restore the family."
Karadogon let out a bitter chuckle, full of self-deprecation and helplessness.
"I knew Chaos must never be touched."
"But with internal troubles and external threats back then—Luna ambitious, the nobles plotting, Greenskins eyeing the borders..."
"If I had died, San Gallus would have truly been finished."
Leo listened in a daze, his heart feeling suffocated.
He finally understood.
Why his grandfather had turned into that wretched state sitting upon the throne.
He had pretended to accept the power of Chaos, using his own soul and body as a cage to lock up this dormant monster Aurean...
Along with the corrupted Wrath of Divine Judgment, trapping them together inside this underground vault.
Twenty years.
Twenty full years.
He had relied on the power of Chaos to sustain his life while using sheer willpower to resist the corruption.
Navigating between Aurean's temptation and consumption, never letting this foul power take a single step out of the vault.
Until recently, when Luna launched a surprise attack on him to seize power.
Karadogon, already running on empty, fell gravely wounded and could no longer suppress Aurean's consciousness.
Had Leo not stumbled in by chance, it would not have been long before Aurean completely consumed Karadogon and drove the Wrath of Divine Judgment back out into the world.
When that time came, all of Brevis would have faced a catastrophe.
"My life... has been a sin."
Karadogon's voice grew fainter as his facial features blurred, Aurean's power counterattacking.
"Siding with Chaos... I have failed the ancestors, failed the Emperor..."
"To die at my grandson's hands... ended by the bloodline of San Gallus... is a form of redemption."
"Do it, Leo."
He raised his clouded eyes to look deeply at Leo, his gaze holding relief, guilt, and a deep expectation.
"San Gallus... I leave it to you."
The moment his words fell, Karadogon's face was yanked back hard by the opposing force.
Aurean's venomous face reclaimed dominance, roaring frantically:
"Unfilial sons! Two unfilial sons!"
"I slaved to preserve the family line, yet you want to destroy everything!"
"The glory of San Gallus can only be written by me!"
The flesh churned wildly once more as the shoulder cannon's charging indicator lit up again, casting a blinding red light across the entire cockpit.
Leo closed his eyes.
Two lines of scalding tears slid from the corners of his eyes, dropping onto the dust-laden floor.
He remembered his childhood, when his grandfather carried him on his shoulders and taught him to identify the family crest.
He remembered his grandfather guiding him hand-in-hand to recognize the models of Knight suits, telling him that the glory of San Gallus lay in protection, not power.
He remembered their final argument before his grandfather's disappearance, over the decision to reinforce the Forbidden Wall...
Every memory flashed through his mind at breakneck speed.
Ultimately, they all froze on Karadogon's eyes—eyes filled with expectation and release.
"Aaargh!!!"
Leo snapped his eyes open, letting out a roar of rage.
Golden holy flames swelled violently around him, burning several times brighter than before.
Gripping the dagger with both hands, he poured every ounce of his strength and holy flame into the blade.
The golden fire on the weapon burned furiously with a dazzling brilliance, illuminating his tear-stained yet unwavering face.
"Old bastard, I don't need your prompting to destroy you with my own hands!"
Leo slammed his foot forward, driving the dagger imbued with golden holy flame into the core of the biomass with everything he had.
Right at the center where the two souls were entangled.
Pfft!
The blade plunged in completely.
Violent golden holy flame flooded the biomass core along the blade like a breaching dam.
"No!!!"
Aurean released an excruciating shriek, his voice thick with terror, despair, and unwillingness.
Golden flames detonated inside the flesh, sending out countless gold lines that spread like a web; wherever they reached, Chaos tissue purified and vanished at high speed.
Dark-red pustules, writhing tentacles, foul mucus...
Everything turned to black smoke in the holy flame, scattering into the air.
Aurean's face twisted and dissolved in the fire, melting into a wisp of blue smoke.
Karadogon's face turned translucent within the flames as well; he offered Leo one last look, his lips bearing a relieved smile before dissipating completely into the light.
The temperature inside the cockpit surged rapidly as golden holy flame illuminated every corner.
When the last trace of Chaos flesh was purified to nothing, the fire retracted slowly, returning to Leo's body.
The smell of burned protein lingered in the air, alongside a faint, divine scent.
The cockpit, previously smothered by flesh, finally revealed its true form.
A control panel radiating regal wildness, control sticks worn by time, and on the seat back, the distinct winged crest of San Gallus.
Everything settled into place.
Leo knelt on one knee in the center of the cockpit, gasping heavily for breath.
Sweat mixed with tears dripped from his chin, striking the cold metal floor.
He had won.
He had purified the Chaos, ended his great-grandfather's fall, and fulfilled his grandfather's last wish.
Yet he could feel no joy.
Only after a long while did Leo slowly rise to his feet.
He walked over to the empty pilot's seat, reaching out to gently brush his hand over the family crest on the seat back.
The metal was cold, yet carried the weight of a shared bloodline.
"Grandfather," he murmured softly, his voice raspy yet firm.
"Rest easy."
"The glory of San Gallus—I will guard it."
"Brevis—I will guard it too."
"I will never disappoint you."
With that, he took a deep breath, turned around, and sat upon the pilot's seat reserved for the High King.
The genetic identification locks on both armrests glowed with a pale golden light as a soft, synthesized mechanical voice sounded in the cabin:
"Genetic match successful."
"High King authority confirmed."
"Wrath of Divine Judgment, preparing for startup!"
With the mechanical voice, the Dominus-class Knight suit that had laid dormant for twenty years opened its "eyes" once more.
Yet piloting a Knight suit required far more than a simple startup.
He still had a necessary surgical procedure and a "ritual" to undergo.
A second later, two servo-skulls flew out to prepare the "Incarnation Ritual" for Leo.
They opened the pre-installed port at the back of Leo's head, inserting the throne interface into it.
In an instant, Leo felt an illusion of ascension, his physical body drifting upward.
The sound of fierce combat and the roar of the battlefield filled his ears as a massive iron bear appeared before him.
A smile touched the corner of Leo's lips; he knew this big guy was the machine spirit of the Wrath of Divine Judgment.
The giant bear let out a roar—as a machine spirit, it maintained a stubborn hostility toward anyone sitting upon the throne!
This was no physical brawl, but a contest of pure mental strength.
The pilot had to overpower the machine spirit mentally, proving to it that his will was sufficient to command it.
It was a painful trial where the pilot's mind and soul could be burned to ash or driven to madness.
Yet Leo, having endured so much, felt no fear.
"Then bring it on—let's see who the true master is!" Leo roared.
The giant bear whipped up a storm, attempting to tear Leo's will to pieces.
Yet within the storm, Leo's will grew firmer, even gleaming with a faint gold light.
Finally, with a fierce shout, he shattered the storm and leapt onto the giant bear's head.
Fist after fist slammed down until he stamped his mental mark—the mark of Leo San Gallus—onto the giant bear.
The moment the mark took hold, the wild, rebellious machine spirit submitted completely.
Leo finally felt the physical presence of the Wrath of Divine Judgment.
The winged angel crest on the chest plate glowed with a soft golden light; the engine emitted a low, powerful rumble, and energy flowed anew through the conduits.
The twelve-meter-tall, bright yellow Knight suit stood tall inside the dust-sealed underground warehouse.
Inside the cockpit, Leo gripped the control sticks.
His eyes no longer held the greenness or confusion of past days, leaving only a composure and sharpness beyond his years.
Under his command, the alloy gate of the underground warehouse rose slowly.
The roar of artillery and battle cries from the outside world drifted through the gap in the door.
The new High King of House San Gallus was about to march onto his battlefield.