Chapter 590: Life-and-Death Line and Awakening

Su Xing sat on the commander’s chair, looking incredibly petite.

One must know that after Su Xing experienced the tempering of his body through national martial arts and the human-immortal martial way, his height had already exceeded two meters, and his whole body looked like it was made of sinewy muscle. From the outside, this body was already that of a burly man.

But the Warhammer dream world truly judges a person’s strength based on their height... at least that’s what Su Xing thought.

Just look: any random Space Marine is about 2.3 to 2.5 meters tall, special ones are close to 3 meters, then the Custodes are over 3 meters, and according to data, Primarchs are generally about 3.5 meters tall. While the legendary Emperor left no height information, one can see from ancient images of Him standing with the Primarchs that His height is at least 4.5 to 5 meters.

A five-meter-tall human?

Su Xing stood before Him and couldn't even reach His waist!

And this commander’s chair was designed based on the Emperor’s chair from the time of the Great Crusade, only slightly reduced to avoid blasphemy.

So Su Xing sat in this chair, and if viewed from a distance, it felt like an underage child sitting on a dragon throne.

This made him sit very awkwardly.

When the battleship named *Oath of Victory* sailed into the matter-folding transition engine route filled with grotesque light, he stood up from the commander’s chair, and immediately more than ten guards stepped forward.

Su Xing did not stop them, just went on his own toward the arena of the battleship.

The battleship was very huge, and the arena built inside had a three-dimensional structure, enough for ten thousand people to be seated at the same time.

Su Xing came to the arena, took out the Hero’s Broken Blade, and silently practiced his sword techniques, one move at a time.

"Do you think this kind of exercise is useful for the war we are about to face?" A voice sounded behind Su Xing, followed by the sound of power armor moving and colliding.

At the entrance to the arena behind Su Xing, Imotekh the Stormlord stood there, and blocking it were ten 300-year-old Space Marine veterans.

As Su Xing turned and waved his hand, the ten Space Marine veterans stepped aside, and then they continued to stand around like silent steel.

Imotekh the Stormlord didn't mind, just stepped into the arena and asked, "You haven't answered me yet."

Su Xing turned around and continued to practice his sword techniques, saying as he practiced: "If it were a normal universe-level war, what I am doing now would just be relieving pre-war anxiety. And I am not a qualified commander... not even an unqualified one. I don't understand the joint force following me, nor do I know how to march, fight, handle logistics, or coordinate the troops... I don't understand any of these."

Imotekh the Stormlord was silent. It knew what Su Xing said was true, because after these days of contact, it already knew that Su Xing was completely ignorant of these things. Let alone compared to it, any commander from any race present would be better than him... even those super-evolved Ork giants were better than him.

Before it could continue, Su Xing added: "But I am the crucial core of this war. The reason is that our enemy is the Warp. That is not a simple war of cosmic civilizations, but a war between materialism and idealism. The laws of cosmic space don't work in the Warp. Machines fail, weapons fail, personnel get corrupted—what do you use to fight?"

Imotekh the Stormlord said: "I know all of this. The Necrons have known the horror of the Warp for hundreds of millions of years longer than humanity. For this, we have created many technological artifacts specifically to resist the Warp, but they are limited to resistance, isolating the Warp from the material universe, and cannot counter-attack the Warp."

Su Xing nodded: "This is why I say I am the core of this war... Because of some reason, I can isolate the influence of the Warp. Note, not isolate the Warp, not the dead silence domain created by your Necrons, but isolate the influence of the Warp, while being able to enter the Warp normally. This can make the absurd idealistic effects of the Warp become materialistic around me. At the same time, I am very strong, especially suitable for combat in the Warp mode. This is why I am the core."

Imotekh the Stormlord’s thinking module was running rapidly. Especially since the Necrons had a sufficient information database on the Warp, through the simulation of sufficient information in the database, it quickly understood what Su Xing meant.

Su Xing might not be a commander and might be ignorant of universe-level wars, but once he entered the Warp, all common sense of cosmic war would become insignificant. The Warp is a grotesque and chaotic idealistic world. Once a cosmic warship enters it, it might be washed into slag by time, or the entire crew might be corrupted, the warship might turn into a grotesque living organism, or demons might revel—all of these could happen.

And now with Su Xing, the situation is immediately different. If he can truly isolate the influence of the Warp and truly has the authority of death, and can bring absolute death to all life, including demons, then he might truly be able to lead the army to attack the Warp, and truly have a slim chance to kill the four terrifying Chaos Gods.

But it is limited to a slim chance...

Imotekh the Stormlord thought for a moment and said: "Then do you think that after entering the Warp, our battles will all be of the close-combat type? That long-range weapons will be useless?"

"No."

Su Xing continued to swing his broken blade, saying: "It’s just for myself... With the rise of my strength, I have begun to possess wide-area attack and long-distance attack means. But in fact, whether it is wide-area attack or long-distance attack, for me, it violates my core of combat. Such means can only be used against a large number of enemies much weaker than me. When facing enemies stronger than me or equal to me, the effect of wide-area attacks and long-distance attacks is actually a weakening of my own strength."

Speaking of this, Su Xing sighed: "Sure enough, the title was not chosen wrongly... *Pifu* (commoner/brute), *Pifu*—it truly is the rage of a commoner, blood splashing five steps. This is the title most suitable for me, and it is also an abbreviation based on my own personality and essence. Originally, I wanted to learn some cool techniques, or become a sword immortal, and then easily defeat the enemy without injury or loss. But in the end, I found that I still need to be like a commoner, covered in blood—either my own blood, the enemy’s blood, or both..."

"Sure enough, this is the most suitable for me... *Pifu*, from beginning to end, I have always been a *Pifu*."

Imotekh the Stormlord naturally didn't understand what Su Xing was talking about, but based on Su Xing’s uniqueness and the existence of the "essence of death" it had personally verified, it already had a blind confidence in Su Xing.

It naturally didn't understand that what Su Xing was talking about was actually the title of *Pifu*.

No matter how many power multipliers he stacked, his essence was still a mortal, and he had not reached the sublimation body. So theoretically, he couldn't even cause any damage to the root, except... the *Pifu* title!

This is the core of all his combat modes. Within five steps, multiple judgments weaken the enemy’s defense, and then the damage after weakening is converted into true damage. Outside five steps, multiple judgments weaken the enemy’s attack, and the damage received after weakening is converted into true defense. At the same time, the *Pifu* title is at the root level!

This means that this is his biggest and only trump card that can damage, or even kill, the root... the *Pifu* title!

He must strictly keep the five-step distance—either the defense outside five steps or the attack within five steps. This is his life-and-death line.

That is why Su Xing had this sigh, and why he was practicing sword techniques now. This was all preparation for the decisive battle with the root after entering the Warp. Other than that, all the "shaking-heaven human immortal," "sword splitting ten thousand miles," and "galaxy mysterious origin cannon" were all empty. He must, and can only, fight within or outside five steps, and he must condense these wide-area, long-range attacks to be performed within or outside five steps.

As he said, he has always been a *Pifu*, and has never changed!

Just then, a broadcast sounded on the battleship.

"The first material node is about to be reached. Internal time: 152 minutes. External time: 2 days and 8 hours... Expected to penetrate the folded phase space in 30 seconds."

"30-second countdown started. 29, 28..."

Su Xing sheathed his blade, turned, and walked toward the bridge. The ten Space Marine veterans followed immediately. Having maintained a cold, steel state, they finally showed human emotions in their eyes... that was excitement, that was anticipation.

Both excited to fight side-by-side with the Savior, and looking forward to dying in this glorious and holy war... They all knew that dying beside Su Xing could bring about a true, peaceful, and glorious death, so they were fearless and welcomed this ending they had been looking forward to for hundreds of years.

Imotekh the Stormlord naturally followed beside Su Xing. It had no objection to the commander participating in the war. This was the characteristic of the Warhammer dream world—a commander who couldn't fight... what kind of commander is that?

It was only curious about one thing: how Su Xing viewed the destruction of the human worlds at the nodes they chose?

Su Xing heard Imotekh the Stormlord’s question, was silent for a long time, and then said: "I am not a hero, nor am I a savior. These are just titles they self-righteously imposed on me, just as the Emperor is not a god, but they stubbornly believe He is..."

"I said it, if I can save them within my power, if I can avoid their death, then I would be very happy to do so, because they are all humans. But if I don't know, if I can't do it, or if I will die myself, then I can only say sorry to them."

"Because from beginning to end, I am actually just a *Pifu*, a *Pifu* struggling in this fucked-up world!"

Su Xing stepped into the Thunderhawk assault vehicle area of the bridge. He did not board any Thunderhawk, but walked toward the bridge exit. As he walked, substances like flesh and metal appeared on his body surface. In the blink of an eye, an exoskeleton power armor covered his entire body.

"...One. Penetrated the folded phase space, arrived at the satellite orbit of the Amida hive world. Collecting stellar gravity information at the node... Estimated time: 6 hours, 32 minutes, 8 seconds..."

Su Xing looked outside the bridge. He saw a planet with only one super-city. At this very moment, on this super-city that could be clearly seen from outer space, explosions were rising everywhere. Four colors were rendering from outside the city—blood red, cobalt blue, corrupt green, and bright pink—rapidly rendering the entire super-city in a spiral posture.

Su Xing reached out and slapped forward. The armor isolation layer at the bridge exit immediately opened a gap more than two meters wide. He stepped out directly into the space outside the battleship.

The next second, he held his broken blade high, blue-green flames spraying behind him, and he slashed down toward the planet’s surface with one strike.

The first battle of the eleven-node war...

Has begun!