Leo closed his eyes.
Two streams of hot tears slid down her cheeks and landed on the dusty floor.
He remembered when he was a child, his grandfather would carry him on his shoulders and teach him to recognize the family crest.
His grandfather also taught him how to identify the models of the knight mechs, telling him that the glory of St. Garus lies in protection, not power.
I remembered my grandfather's last argument before he disappeared, about the decision to support the Forbidden Wall...
All the images flashed through my mind.
Ultimately, all eyes were fixed on Caladogon's eyes, filled with expectation and relief.
"Ah!!!"
Leo suddenly opened his eyes and let out an angry roar.
The golden holy flames on his body suddenly surged, becoming several times more intense than before.
He gripped the dagger tightly with both hands, pouring all his strength and holy flames into the blade.
The golden flames on the sword burned fiercely, emitting a dazzling light that illuminated his tear-streaked yet incredibly resolute face.
"Old man, you don't need to say anything more, I will personally eliminate you!"
Leo took a sudden step forward, using all his strength to plunge the dagger, burning with golden holy flames, deep into the very core of his flesh.
That place was the center of the entanglement between two souls.
"Pfft!"
The blade sank completely into the ground.
The raging golden holy flames, like a flood bursting its banks, surged wildly into the core of flesh and blood along the sword blade.
"No!!!"
Orian let out an extremely piercing scream, his voice filled with fear, despair, and resentment.
Golden flames exploded inside the flesh and blood, and countless golden patterns spread out like a spider web. Wherever they passed, all the Chaos tissues were rapidly purified and dissipated.
Dark red tumors, wriggling tentacles, filthy slime...
Everything turned into black smoke in the holy flames and dissipated into the air.
Orian's face twisted and melted in the flames, eventually turning into a wisp of smoke.
Caladogon's face gradually became transparent in the flames. He glanced at Leo one last time, a relieved smile on his lips, before disappearing completely into the light.
The temperature inside the cockpit rose sharply, and golden holy flames illuminated every corner.
As the last trace of Chaos flesh was purified, the flames slowly subsided and returned to Leo's body.
The air was filled with the acrid smell of burning proteins, along with a faint, sacred aura.
The cockpit, which had been covered in blood and flesh, finally revealed its true form.
The console exudes a regal and wild aura, the joysticks bear the marks of time, and the clearly visible St. Garus winged emblem on the seat back.
Everything has settled down.
Leo knelt in the center of the cockpit, panting heavily.
Sweat mingled with tears, dripping down his chin and hitting the cold metal floor.
He won.
He purified the Chaos, ended his great-grandfather's depravity, and fulfilled his grandfather's last wish.
But he couldn't feel happy at all.
After a long while, Leo slowly stood up.
He walked to the empty driver's seat, reached out, and gently stroked the family crest on the backrest.
The metal is cold, yet it carries a profound sense of connection to one's bloodline.
"Grandfather."
He murmured softly, his voice hoarse but firm.
"Don't worry."
"I will protect the glory of St. Garus."
" Brevis, I'll guard it too."
I will never let you down.
After saying that, he took a deep breath, turned around, and sat in the driver's seat reserved for the Supreme King.
The gene recognition locks on both sides of the armrests lit up with a pale golden light, and a soft, synthesized mechanical voice echoed in the cockpit:
"Gene matching successful."
"Supreme King's authority confirmed."
" The Wrath of Holy Judgement, prepare to be activated!"
As the mechanical sound faded, the entire Fortress Lord-class Knight Mech, which had been dormant for twenty years, reopened its "eyes."
But piloting a knight mech is far more complex than simply starting it up.
He still has a necessary surgery and a "ritual" to perform.
The next second, two Servo-skull flew out, preparing Leo for the " Ritual of Becoming ".
They opened a pre-reserved port on the back of Leo's head and inserted the Throne Mechanicum port into it.
In an instant, Leo felt a kind of ascension, his body rising higher and higher.
He heard the chilling sounds of battle and the roar of the battlefield, and a gigantic steel bear appeared before him.
Leo smiled; he knew this huge creature was the Machine Spirit of the Wrath of Holy Judgement.
The giant bear roared, and as Machine Spirit, he was stubbornly aggressive towards anyone who sat on the throne!
This was not a physical fight, but a pure battle of wits.
The driver needs to mentally overpower the Machine Spirit and prove to it that their will is sufficient to control it.
This is a painful trial; the driver's mind and soul may be "burned out" or even "driven mad" in the confrontation.
But Leo, who had experienced so much, was not afraid.
"Then come on, let's see who the real master is!" Leo roared.
The giant bear relentlessly fueled the storm, attempting to tear Leo's will apart.
But amidst the storm, Leo's will grew stronger, even faintly gleaming with golden light.
Finally, he roared, shattering the storm, and leaped onto the bear's head.
He rained down punch after punch until he imprinted the spirit of Leo St. Garus onto the giant bear's body.
The moment the brand was applied, the wild and rebellious Machine Spirit finally became docile.
Leo finally felt the true existence of the Wrath of Holy Judgement.
The winged angel emblem on the breastplate glowed with a soft golden light, the engine emitted a deep and powerful roar, and the energy in the pipelines began to flow again.
A twelve-meter-tall bright yellow mecha stood upright in the dusty underground warehouse.
Inside the cockpit, Leo gripped the control lever tightly.
The naivety and confusion of the past were gone from his eyes; only a composure and sharpness beyond his years remained.
The alloy gates of the underground warehouse slowly rose at his command.
The sounds of gunfire and shouts of battle from outside drifted in through the crack in the door.
The new High King of St. Garus is about to head to his battlefield.