But of course, Julius knew this wouldn’t be enough. Even with pillars as heavy as trucks crashing down one after another, it still wouldn’t be enough to bring Lukas Meinhardt to his knees.
This was the same behemoth who had torn through magi-tanks and combat mechs as if they were scrap metal. A few falling constructs, no matter how dense, were little more than a distraction.
Below, Lukas roared as crystal armor thickened across his shoulders and arms. The pillars cracked against the expanding shell.
Julius watched from above before recalling the nanites into smaller constructs toward him.
He adjusted his stance, nanites responding instantly, gathering for the next strike. He had always known this fight wouldn’t be won through brute force. No amount of weight dropped from the sky would finish someone like Lukas.
"Gisela! Come out!"
"...."
Julius’s brows rose slightly. Even with an entire squad of Revenant Knights surrounding him, Lukas wasn’t focused on them at all. His massive head turned side to side, searching through the rain-soaked street.
He was still looking for his wife.
Lukas slammed a foot into the ground, shattering the concrete as he roared again.
"Gisela! Please! Come out!"
His crystal armor fractured in places as he twisted his enormous form toward the nearest alley, ignoring the Knights swarming him from every direction.
According to Klaus, whose subtle manipulation of Gisela over the past months had extracted information she never realized she was giving, Lukas was a simple, predictable man at his core.
Klaus had learned everything through harmless questions and conversations that Gisela thought were casual. She never understood she was being profiled, piece by piece.
When Lukas was angry, he left the room like a sulking child until he calmed down.
When he was sad, he would hide in the bathroom and cry until Gisela knocked and pulled him into her arms.
When he was happy, he would cook for the entire family.
When he was stressed, he would clean the house from top to bottom.
Oftentimes, he took morning walks in Hamburg with no direction, wandering aimlessly until his head cleared.
He worried too much. And he could not function when afraid.
Klaus recorded every potential weakness that could be turned into a weapon through psychological profiling.
It was why Julius chose to confront Lukas tonight. It was why the Revenant Knights were positioned exactly where they were. It was why Gisela had been unknowingly used as an emotional trigger until her guilt pushed her into the streets.
And it was why Lukas was panicking, making him abandon combat entirely.
Because Klaus had warned them.
"Lukas is not rational when frightened. If he believes he’s losing his family, he becomes unstable. He will expose every ability he’s been hiding."
And now, with Gisela gone, with fear overtaking every instinct he ever had, Lukas was doing exactly that.
Crystals ruptured across his limbs in chaotic bursts. His voice cracked with desperation as he called for his wife again and again.
But no matter how many times he called her name, no matter how loudly his voice echoed through the empty, rain-soaked street, Gisela never showed up.
"Gisela... We can talk about this..."
The Revenant Knights surrounded him cautiously, watching the behemoth sway between rage and despair.
"Major Dieterich..." Hans-Peter muttered. "He’s not even fighting anymore..."
"Gisela! Answer me!"
Crash——!
Lukas thrashed violently, swinging his massive crystal-covered arms in all directions. The force of each movement shattered the pavement beneath him.
The ground trembled as if the earth itself recoiled. A nearby building cracked down its side as the windows exploded outward under the shockwave. Debris scattered across the street, carried by the wind and rain.
Sirens wailed in the distance as emergency systems detected the structural damage. Lights flickered on in apartment windows. Terrified voices rose in confusion. The entire district felt the impact of Lukas’s tantrum as he rampaged through the street.
The Revenant Knights scrambled to contain him, spreading out to redirect falling rubble and erecting barriers to keep the destruction from spreading further.
"Dieter, get those civilians back!" Gabriel shouted, deflecting a flying shard of crystal with his blade.
"I’m trying, but he’s ripping up the whole street!" Dieter yelled back, ducking under a sweeping limb that crashed into a lamppost.
Cornelia slammed her palms into the ground again, conjuring a shield of wind to divert collapsing debris. "He’s completely lost it!"
Lukas roared and spun. He slammed his fists into the ground, sending shockwaves that split the asphalt and buckled parked cars.
"Gisela! Please! Answer me!"
"Lukas..."
"Gisela!"
"Lukas... is that you?"
Now where had Gisela gone? Anyone watching from afar might have assumed she ran to Klaus, or as she knew him, Director Heitmann. But Gisela was not that heartless. She hadn’t run into another man’s arms this time.
She had simply gone out to take a breather to clear her thoughts after everything.
She certainly never expected to see this.
"Gisela...!"
Lukas turned toward the sound of her voice. The massive, crystal-covered form froze for an instant, then took a step in her direction. His breathing eased. Relief washed through his expression.
Slowly, the crystal armor began to crack, falling off him in fragments. Each piece clattered to the ground as if melting away the moment he heard her speak.
"Thank god... you’re here..." Lukas whispered, his voice breaking as he took another step forward.
"Ah..."
But the look on Gisela’s face did not mirror his relief. Her eyes widened in terror. She took a step back, clutching her arms as if trying to shield herself.
This was not the husband she recognized.
Lukas’s hair was soaked and wild. His eyes were bloodshot. Crystal shards still protruded from his shoulders and forearms. His body was enormous, and he certainly wasn’t human.
"Gisela... it’s me," he said, reaching out a trembling hand. "Please... don’t be afraid."
"You’re..."
Of course, Gisela recognized this entity.
A Glassheart. The race that was oppressed by society due to the possible harm they could cause just by existing.
She had married him, lived with him, and raised children with him.
And yet she had never once known.
"W-Why do you look like... that?"
"...."
Lukas froze.
A piece of crystal plating slid off his arm and shattered on the ground like glass shards.
"I... I didn’t want you to know like this," he said. "I never wanted you to see this side of me. Gisela, please... just listen to me."
"...."
But Gisela only took a step back.
"I was trying to protect you," Lukas continued. "I didn’t want you to be scared. I didn’t want the girls to be scared of me."
She took another step back and bumped into someone standing behind her, causing her to gasp and turn.
"D-Director?"
It was Klaus.
He stood there as if he had been waiting for this exact moment. Julius, still watching from the rooftop, let out a whistle. Whew—The timing was perfect.
Klaus was truly an expert in his craft, appearing when emotions were at their peak. Julius grudgingly admitted to himself that he could learn a lot from the man.
However, contrary to what Gisela expected, the cold barrel of a gun pressed against the back of her head.
"D-Director... what’s the meaning of this...?" she whispered, fear trembling through every word.
She didn’t dare turn around. The man she had trusted, her superior, her confidant, the person she had emotionally leaned on these past months, was now holding her life between his fingertips.
Lukas froze completely.
Every crystal strand shattered at once, falling to the ground in a rain of glass-like fragments. His eyes widened, and his pupils shrank to pinpoints at the scene before him.
"What are you doing? Get that away from her!"
But Klaus’s expression did not change.
"Don’t move, Lukas," he said. "If you take even one more step forward, she dies."
Gisela’s lips quivered. "Director... why...?"
An opportunity to be seized.
It was then.
———!
A streak of light flashed.
Lukas jerked as steel tore into his chest. Blood burst from the wound. The impact forced the air from his lungs, and he staggered back, eyes wide with shock as the blade slid deeper, bypassing his ribs cleanly.
His crystal armor, shattered earlier from emotional collapse, did nothing to protect him.
Lukas looked down at the blade buried in him, then slowly turned his head toward the one holding it.
"...T-Teacher Jeremy?"
Julius stood behind him, rain dripping down his hair, as his crimson eyes gleamed coldly, completely devoid of the compassion he had shown earlier that day.
"That’s right. It’s me."