Chapter 198: You Came from Terra. Return My Blood

Yu Ji's heart pounded violently; he crouched behind the line, gasping, fingers trembling as he gripped his laser rifle.

They had just repelled the first wave of the swarm; according to the angelic priests clad in black armor and skull masks, this was only the first wave.

This was only the first wave!!!! Just a probe!!!

The endless swarm, the flesh-bound firearms roaring like beasts, the rain of biological bullets—Yu Ji felt he would be drowned in terror the next instant.

But he dared not retreat; the angelic priests walked among the line.

Whoever dared take a single step back would have his chest shattered by the priests' scepters, dying in agony.

The followers of the Saint Dora cult performed similar duties, whipping everyone to stay on the battlefield, though more gently.

Yu Ji trembled, trying to replace the battery in his laser rifle. Damn it, he'd learned this during training just days ago!

But his mind went blank with fear, his body shook with terror—he couldn't install the battery properly.

"Fuck your mother, is your hand cramping from too much glue?" A harsh curse rang out.

The guy named Luo Ge snatched the battery and rifle from Yu Ji's hands, installed them in three swift motions, and shoved them back.

"In the hive city, you can bullshit about anything—but not your gun," Luo Ge sat down beside Yu Ji, a lho cigarette dangling from his lips. "It's your lifeline."

Yu Ji stared at Luo Ge. He noticed these men from the Underworld System seemed fearless—none retreated in battle, firing straight into the heaviest fire.

"Aren't you afraid?" Yu Ji asked, voice trembling.

"Afraid? I've been afraid for months. I got used to it."

Luo Ge held out his hand, like a dead tree branch, trembling uncontrollably.

"Every night I dream of the swarm scurrying through the streets of Asford—workers, thugs, children—they eat everything. I dream of Old One-Eye dying in his own tavern, of Sister Ren falling on the front line, of myself lying on gravel, clutching my belly, dying. I dream of Brother Zhou Yun standing alone before four shadows of different colors."

"Then I wake up in the middle of the night, curled into a ball, shivering all night, no matter how many blankets I pull over me—I'm still cold."

"You know, in our settlement, every single local bug called 'Baal' has been exterminated—because as survivors, we instinctively panic and grab weapons at the sound of any insect chirp."

"So you…" Yu Ji looked around at the Underworld survivors: "... t's hatred?"

"Maybe. Mostly, yes," Luo Ge leaned against the line. "Life in the hive city wasn't great—tiring, brutal, never knowing when you'd die in some alley. But the swarm came… and took even that from us."

"The people of the Underworld lost everything. All we have left is the chance for revenge—and that's the only breath keeping us standing."

"But me? I've got another reason," Luo Ge grinned. "My friends—Sister Ren, Brother Zhou Yun, Old One-Eye—they were all heroes. The kind who, even in death, return to the Golden Throne."

"But I'm not. I lived for decades as a lowlife. Ha—I figure I won't live much longer. This last chance? I want to do something worthy of them. Maybe then, when I die, my soul can join them at the Golden Throne, have a drink with them."

As he spoke, Luo Ge burst into laughter.

Just as Yu Ji opened his mouth to reply, the ground trembled violently.

In the distance, a rain of spore pods ignited the sky above Baal.

"Here it comes," Luo Ge leapt to his feet, raising his laser rifle, eyes locked on the purple tide surging across the horizon.

The Tyranid creatures emerging from dripping spore pods roared and bellowed, deafening.

Tyranid Hive Tyrants, Warriors, Broodmothers, Carnifexes—every kind of Tyranid creature burst forth.

The firepower of Angel's Keep unleashed; ordinary soldiers raised their laser rifles behind the line.

War began again.

In the heart of Baal, Zhou Yun and Morpheston leapt out of the warp rift, returning to the material universe.

From the warp rift, jagged as a monstrous wound, a bestial roar erupted—several Bloodletters, chasing Morpheston, leapt out.

These lesser demons from the Blood God's realm had no time to savor the sweetness of reality, to offer more blood and skulls to their god, when Morpheston flung his hand.

A brilliant blue psychic lightning roared through the Bloodletters' bodies, instantly destroying their material shells.

The Bloodletters shrieked piercingly, dissolving into dust within reality, effortlessly banished back by Morpheston.

Seeing Morpheston and Zhou Yun leave the warp, the circle of Librarians exhaled sharply, immediately severing the blasphemous ritual.

The warp rift, a jagged wound carved into reality, sealed shut. The Librarians began chanting another blasphemous incantation, guiding the rift's exit to the warp engine inside Zhou Yun's fourth-dimensional pocket.

【Item: Bloodletter】

【Origin: Warp—Brass Fortress】

【Evaluation: A Chaos Daemon of Khorne wielding a blade of hellfire, the most numerous of Khorne's demons, fanatically and savagely pursuing skulls—whether friend or foe. Hot nature, pungent taste, enters Heart and Spleen meridians. Warms the middle, disperses cold, stimulates appetite, aids digestion, enhances flavor. Treats cold stagnation, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, frostbite.】

【Production Time:???】

【Status: Fresh and Alive】

【Value: 8888 Yuan】

【Item: Steel Bull】

【Origin: Warp—Brass Fortress】

【Evaluation: A warp-born steed, hybrid of brass and flesh, part beast, part machine, often ridden by favored mortals or demons of Khorne. Hot nature, bitter taste. Induces madness, agitation, delirium, rashes, jaundice, hematemesis, hematochezia, abscesses, carbuncles.】

【Production Time:???】

【Status: Fresh and Alive】

【Value: 8888 Yuan】

Bloodletters, Steel Bulls, and countless lesser Khorne demons roared, swinging their hellblades, raising their brass horns, whipping with steel whips—pouring from the warp engine.

But what awaited them was not skulls to cleave, nor battle to rage—only a vast, cold, dark void, utterly empty.

"Selling! Selling! Selling!"

A terrifying whisper echoed in their ears. The Khorne demons stared in confusion as their companions vanished one by one into the darkness—until even they dissolved, swallowed whole by the fourth-dimensional pocket.

But Zhou Yun waited a moment—Kabandha still did not appear. This was no surprise.

Many believe Khorne and his demons are nothing but mindless berserkers—but that's a misconception.

Most of Khorne's demons and followers aren't stupid—they simply rarely use their brains.

The Blood God's domain is not merely rage, death, or slaughter—it is war itself: tactics and strategy are equally his domain. He and his demons know more than rage and killing—they understand war.

Kabandha clearly isn't the type driven only by bloodlust and fury. In the original timeline, Kabandha, under Morpheston's influence, was flung onto Baal I, where he slaughtered swarms and carved a colossal Khorne sigil across Baal I's surface using skulls.

Such a satellite-scale artwork could never be the work of a fool blinded by rage.

Zhou Yun never expected him to fall for it. Even the Great Unclean One didn't take the bait—how much less would Kabandha, master of tactics and strategy?

He reached into his fourth-dimensional pocket and slowly pulled out the Gate.

"What exactly were you two expecting?"

"That I'd lose my head to rage and step into your trap?"

Kabandha stood before the warp rift that should have led to reality, his dull eyes glinting, his simian mouth splitting into a mocking grin.

"Do you think Khorne's servants are fools?"

Kabandha was a Greater Daemon of Khorne—not a Daemon Primarch or a World Eater. He had no Daemon's Nail hammered into his skull. His mind was clear and sharp.

From Morpheston's and the mouthy man's inexplicable retreat, he easily saw the warp rift was a trap.

Khorne praises courage, honors rage. Kabandha followed Khorne's will: never retreat, always rage.

But Kabandha's rage was his own, born of Khorne's will and his own will—not some mechanical nail driven into his skull.

So his courage was not stupidity. His rage was not idiocy. Charging into a trap, knowing it was one, and still failing to offer Khorne more skulls—that's not courage. That's not rage. That's pure brain damage. Too many Daemon's Nails.

But Kabandha didn't mind if foolish mortals saw him as a mindless brute. He even enjoyed using that misconception as camouflage.

Cunning isn't only for blue-haired birds. Deception in tactics and strategy is part of war—part of Khorne's domain.

He laughed at Morpheston's lack of wit, at the mouthy man's recklessness!

Kabandha would use Morpheston's and the mouthy man's mistake to open a new warp rift into reality.

Click!

A crisp door-opening sound echoed behind Kabandha. He whirled around—only to see a pink-tinged wooden door opening right behind him. The mouthy man stood on the other side, whistling a tune, watching Kabandha.

"You came from Terra. Return my blood, won't you~"

"Wanna taste the Emperor's cuisine~"

Zhou Yun whistled as he reached toward Kabandha, pressing a button on his mechanical device. Scorching stellar light erupted from his body—the radiance of the star Adalia from the Holy Sun Vault.

"Kabandha," Zhou Yun whispered, "are you ready to repay the Emperor's grace?"

(End of Chapter)