The surviving Star Cup knight was named Wade. His power armour was heavily damaged; the ceramite chestplate had stopped one bolt round, but the shrapnel from the explosion had still pierced the armour, causing a ragged, bleeding wound across his chest.
Fortunately, the armour's life support system was still functioning. When it detected Wade's vital signs dropping, it automatically administered potent painkillers and coagulants. These emergency measures couldn't save his life, but they could temporarily stabilise his condition and keep him conscious.
Though Lion wanted to immediately eliminate the Iron Blood Order's attackers, Wade's testimony was crucial. He had to prioritise Wade's safety.
When Luther's squad arrived at a run, Lion gave his orders without waiting for him to speak. "It's the Iron Blood Order. They ambushed the Star Cup knights. I killed three, but there are at least five more."
"Tell the other squads to converge on us immediately. Form an encirclement. We mustn't let them escape the forest!"
Luther's gaze swept over the three knights in crimson power armour lying on the ground. One had 'stood out', one was 'preeminent', and one was 'narrow-minded' and near death.
He nodded to Lion, silently donned his helmet, and relayed the orders to the other squads via communicator.
Before long, more gunfire echoed from the forest.
Luther removed his helmet and spoke. "Gamma Squad just lost contact. The enemy should be there!"
"Stay here and protect him. I'll be right back!"
Before the words had faded, Lion's form had darted into the forest like the wind, disappearing in moments.
He passed through Beta Squad's ambush site. The air was thick with gunsmoke and blood.
Uncoagulated bloodstains and power armour fragments lay scattered on the ground. Numerous chaotic footprints led southwest.
From the scant traces alone, Lion could roughly reconstruct the scene.
Beta Squad's encounter with the Iron Blood Order was no coincidence. It was a premeditated attack.
The attackers lay in ambush in the undergrowth. There were nine knights in total.
They had focused fire, killing Beta Squad's leader in a hail of bolts, leaving behind bloodstained power armour fragments.
A second knight was impaled from behind by a chainsword. Though the remaining three fought desperately to cover Wade's escape, they were outnumbered.
Though they might have killed one enemy, no bodies were found at the scene.
The Iron Blood Order had taken all their dead.
Of course, they weren't interested in the knights' bodies, but their valuable power armour.
On Caliban, power armour was a knight order's most strategic resource.
Even the powerful Order only had a few hundred sets. Smaller orders were even more stretched. Many didn't even have factories to produce power armour. Each set was a hereditary heirloom.
An armoured knight could easily slaughter ten unarmoured knights. A knight without armour wasn't worthy of the name. A knight order without knights would also perish.
In any knight order, once someone died, their armour was taken. Otherwise, it would be a terrible waste.
But the Iron Blood Order had dared to attack their ally in the Order's territory, loot the battlefield, and show no concern that the bodies would hinder their escape. They had utterly disregarded the Order!
Faced with such a blatant provocation, even Lion felt the sting of humiliation!
By the time Lion arrived, the battle was still raging.
Five Order knights from Gamma Squad were locked in heavy fire with five Iron Blood knights.
Several cold corpses lay on the ground. Four were Star Cup knights. One was an Iron Blood knight in crimson.
These attackers clearly hadn't expected the Order's response to be so swift. Carrying five bodies slowed them down, and they hadn't been able to escape the encirclement before it closed.
With the advantage of surprise and numbers, the Iron Blood Order had easily ambushed and destroyed the Star Cup squad.
But when numbers were equal, the battle became a stalemate.
Though the Iron Blood knights were all veterans, Gamma Squad had three newly knighted knights. But they all wore power armour of similar performance. The experience gap would make their defence harder, but the Iron Blood knights couldn't break them quickly.
The longer it dragged on, the more the scales tipped towards the Order.
The Order's encirclement was tightening. Reinforcements were on the way.
The isolated Iron Blood knights were between a rock and a hard place. They couldn't shake the persistent Order knights. Unless they wiped out Gamma Squad, they couldn't escape.
When Lion arrived, the outcome was no longer in doubt.
His assault was swift as lightning.
The first Iron Blood knight's visor barely caught a blur before the power sword's disruption field had sliced through his gorget.
His head spun away. Before the headless body could fall, Lion's blade had pierced the second knight's chest.
He didn't withdraw the blade, instead spinning to face the third knight.
In an instant, a split crimson helmet spun through the air, describing a bloody arc.
As Lion raised his hand, a headless body crumpled to the ground.
"Leave one alive." Lion's voice was as cold as his expression.
Lion sheathed his sword, clean and precise, without a wasted motion.
The Order knights, who had just been fighting for their lives, swallowed hard. They had been struggling to hold on, but in an instant, their powerful enemies had become headless corpses.
This wasn't a battle. It was a slaughter!
Though the Order knights all knew of Lion's astonishing achievements, they were achievements of slaughtering Great Beasts.
When he killed people, even enemies, it was chilling.
His movements were simply too fast!
Anyone who witnessed his fight couldn't help but put themselves in the enemy's shoes.
If Lion had attacked them, could they have stopped him?
Of course not.
They would have died just as quickly as those three knights.
But amidst the fear, they couldn't help but be grateful Lion was on their side.
Otherwise, there would be more than a few bodies lying here now.
Five against two, the outcome was obvious.
The previously stalemated battle turned in an instant. One knight's chestplate shattered with a screech of tearing metal, the serrated blade piercing his heart.
The other two knights barely had time to react before one's sword arm flew off, blood spraying.
Disarmed, he staggered, realising he was alone.
Several Order knights piled onto him, cutting his power armour's power supply, immobilising him completely.
"Sir Lion, thank you for arriving in time! We were in danger!"
Squad leader Andrei's voice was sincere. He removed his damaged helmet, revealing a pale face.
If not for Lion, he and the other senior knight would have been fighting five against two. Everyone would have become the Iron Blood Order's spoils.
In the fight just now, one Order knight had nearly died.
Andrei knew that once the situation turned from 5v5 to 5v4, it would spiral quickly.
The thought of how close he had come to death made Andrei break out in a cold sweat.
Lion asked, "How are the wounded?"
Andrei said, "We're all fine. As for him, he won't die."
He glanced at the Iron Blood knight still pinned to the ground, sneering.
To attack the Order's knights in their own territory was practically a declaration of war!
Faced with such an insult, no knight order would back down.
The Order had been stabbed in the back. They wouldn't forget the lesson.
Compared to these treacherous villains, the Great Beasts took a back seat.
The prisoner was for interrogation. Even if they got nothing, it gave them a legitimate cause.
Caliban was a feudal age, not a rule-of-law age.
As long as they could prove the Iron Blood Order fired first, and the Order acted in self-defence, no one could object.
And if anyone still objected, Lion would challenge them to a duel, offer them a 'fine head', or help them 'stand out'.
Might made right.
That was how it had always been between knights.
Before long, the heavy footsteps of power armour came from the forest.
Lion's squads arrived first. Then Amadis and other senior knights led reinforcements, at least a hundred fully armed knights assembling in the forest.
When the Star Cup knights from other squads saw their comrades' bodies, their anger was palpable even through their helmets. The sight of the corpses enraged every Order knight too.
Amadis pushed through the crowd. "Brother Lion, what happened?"
Lion replied, "The Iron Blood Order ambushed the Star Cup knights. Wade is the only survivor. I intercepted them with my men."
Hearing there was a survivor, Amadis's tension eased slightly.
Looking at the bodies, one could guess the truth.
But a guess was still a guess. If not stated by those involved, some people would never believe.
Without witnesses, no matter how solid the truth, it was just empty words.
No matter how they explained, there would always be malicious people secretly spreading rumours about the Order framing others.
And the cost of refuting rumours was high, with little effect.
Even if you killed the rumour-monger, people would think you were guilty.
People tend to believe conspiracy theories.
But with witness testimony, they could silence the masses.
If anyone still slandered them, the Order wouldn't care about public opinion. They would just march to their door.
They didn't need everyone to believe, only the Star Cup Order.
In this incident, the Star Cup Order was the victim.
As long as the Star Cup Order believed the Order, others' opinions were just opinions.
But if even the Star Cup Order didn't believe, the Order's other allies would also grow wary of them.
"Thank you, Sir Lion."
Riley, the Star Cup squad leader, stepped forward and struck his chestplate with his fist. "The Star Cup Order will not forget this kindness!"
His gaze swept over the crimson-armoured corpses, anger surging uncontrollably.
Five brothers, knights he had lived and fought with, were dead.
Not in an honourable battle against Great Beasts, but in a despicable ambush.
But the Order's hunt had been so public, known to all Caliban.
The Iron Blood Order's ambush was clearly aimed at the Order. The Star Cup Order had taken the blow for them.
But Lion's deployment was blameless. He had treated all squads equally, not singling out the Star Cup Order.
They had just stumbled into the trap. Losing five knights was just bad luck.
The Iron Blood Order knew it was the Star Cup Order, yet still ambushed them. They clearly didn't care who they hit.
They would remember this debt of gratitude. And they would also have blood for blood!
Amadis said, "Brother Riley, this was undeserved. The Order will not stand idly by!"
Lion's gaze fell on Wade. "Brother Wade, I have some questions."
"The ambush site is three kilometres from the standard patrol route. Tell me, why were you in that area?"
Amadis and Riley's gazes both fell on Wade.
Wade gave a wry smile. "Sir, what attacked us first wasn't the Iron Blood Order. It was a Great Beast."
"It wounded one of our brothers. We let our anger cloud our judgment and chased it, only to fall into the Iron Blood Order's trap."
Riley's voice was low. "Why didn't you report it?"
Wade: "Our comms suddenly failed at that moment. We thought it was just a brief signal interference."
Lion didn't press further. He had a good idea of the cause.
Lion and Amadis exchanged glances, both seeing surprise and excitement in the other's eyes.
"Brother Amadis, it must be them."
"Great Beasts and knights? Who else could it be?"
The other knights were confused, but Riley immediately frowned. "You suspect the Iron Blood Order is controlling that Great Beast, luring our men into the ambush?"
Lion nodded, "Otherwise, why would it be so coincidental?"
It was too coincidental. Beta Squad's patrol radius was several kilometres. Why would they step into a trap outside that radius? Why did that Great Beast lead them so precisely into the ambush?
If not premeditated, none of it made sense.
Amadis asked, "Brother Wade, where is that Great Beast now?"
Wade's expression was grim. "It disappeared after leading us into the ambush."
Lion theorized, "Someone else must be controlling it. The Iron Blood Order is just a pawn."
If it were the Iron Blood Order controlling the Great Beast, they wouldn't keep it hidden.
They must be working with the mastermind. So where was the Great Beast's real owner?
Amadis asked, "Brother Wade, before the attack, did you hear a horn call?"
"There was indeed a horn call." Wade smiled bitterly. If they had been more alert, so many wouldn't have died.
Lion's gaze swept the forest like a blade. "That means the enemy is right here, among us!"