Chapter 262: Blind Spot Star

"What need do we have for Xigole's blessing!"

Hilarandri. Weimuxingzhe looked at the black legion corpses on the ground and the reddish-brown star in her hand, unable to help but exclaim.

The "Death of Humanity," Zhou Yun, had given her this artifact named Blind Spot Star.

The artifact's effect was not physical invisibility; Hilarandri. Weimuxingzhe was certain that after using it, her body had undergone no change whatsoever.

Human vision and psychology both contain unperceivable "blind spots."

The artifact's function was to exploit this very point, ensuring that no matter how the user moved, they remained perpetually within others' perceptual "blind spots."

For one hour after activation, the user could not be seen by any means whatsoever, only indirectly perceived through sound or touch.

This effect far surpassed the holographic suits worn by the Clowns—those merely concealed the Clowns in gaps of light and shadow, simulating surrounding scenes with force fields to confuse the senses.

This left Hilarandri. Weimuxingzhe struggling to maintain composure.

Holographic suit technology was even a relic from the War in Heaven, developed by the Eldar to counter the Necrons' Gauss weapons.

The Necrons' weapons could pierce any form of armor, so the Eldar devised the holographic suit—a gear that replaced armor with evasion and concealment, capable of distorting light, points, and most forms of detection.

Since then, the Eldar's progress in this field had been merely patchwork, with no major advancements.

This was easy to understand: until Slaanesh's birth, the Eldar had faced no true crisis during the War in Heaven, and thus had no incentive to upgrade their gear.

Our technology handled the War in Heaven—what couldn't it handle?

This was the mindset of the vast majority of Eldar.

Yet the device Zhou Yun had created—the Blind Spot Star—had effortlessly surpassed the Eldar's proudest technology.

Hilarandri. Weimuxingzhe 's mind was slightly shattered precisely because of this.

We all thought everyone was in decline—how had humans come up with something new??

And this Blind Spot Star artifact seemed mass-producible and without limitations.

Hilarandri. Weimuxingzhe had even seen a human Astartes Dreadnought equipped with this thing.

She was now considering whether she should try to trick Zhou Yun into giving her a few more.

After all, if such an efficient artifact entered the Clowns'...

"Aaaahhh!!!" Hilarandri. Weimuxingzhe suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest.

The Lockheart Holy Beetle had clearly sensed her thoughts through her neurons and sent an electric shock warning.

"Why are you, a Necron construct, so loyal to humans?!"

Hilarandri. Weimuxingzhe clutched her chest and complained.

After the black legion was cleared, the combined human and Eldar force emerged from within.

Hilarandri. Weimuxingzhe watched Euphrine standing in the hot winds of the barren peaks, Kien Mien beside her, the hot wind sweeping over His red armor.

Most of the Eldar Death Specters had retreated into the Webway; this was Oltrema, the domain of the Space Marines' Ultramarines.

Large numbers of Eldar would only provoke conflict—only Euphrine, the Prophet of Inader, and her Chosen Warrior Kien Mien traveled alongside the humans.

Oh, and Hilarandri. Weimuxingzhe herself, the unlucky one.

She was now Zhou Yun's captive, waiting for Xigole to ransom her. But the Laughing God had been reading without replying—had he abandoned her? Surely not?

"Hot winds blow on Mount Ultramar, fate's armor rings as the Primarch returns." Zhou Yun stood beside the Grand Master Belisarius Cawl, muttering something under his breath.

Meanwhile, Grand Master Belisarius Cawl seemed to be calculating something.

"This is an error," the Grand Master said slowly, his mechanical voice dry as iron ringing: "According to my internal cartographic-gyroscope, we are currently approximately 250 million kilometers from Macragge."

"Clearly, we are within the Macragge system, yet have not directly reached the surface of Macragge."

Upon hearing this, Euphrine said nothing, sinking into a deathly silence; her entire body radiated tomb-like coldness, turning her head aside, lips slightly parted, as if communicating with some unseen entity in the void.

For a moment, the atmosphere grew awkward.

This was the moment for the Clowns to step forward.

Hilarandri. Weimuxingzhe thought this, then flipped a somersault and stepped closer:

"Even the Eldar cannot know where every Webway path leads."

"We may not have used this path in tens of thousands of years; we found the exit only thanks to Inader and Xigole's guidance."

"We cannot be certain where we have arrived—Lady Euphrine is likely seeking direction from Inader."

Hilarandri. Weimuxingzhe had also tried asking Xigole, but he still had not replied.

"Shrine World, Rafis."

Before Euphrine could respond, Zhou Yun spoke slowly:

"This is Shrine World Rafis. The Eldar have no direct Webway connection to Macragge."

Hilarandri. Weimuxingzhe 's gaze snapped toward Zhou Yun—and she jumped back in shock.

Zhou Yun's body was wrapped in an aura similar to Euphrine's.

Cold, silent, like a graveyard—but even more intense.

Euphrine seemed like a mortal touched by death; Zhou Yun looked like Death itself speaking.

Zhou Yun had swiftly identified this as Shrine World Rafis not only due to memories from his past life, but because this shrine world buried the remains of countless Imperial Cult faithful and saints, as well as many Ultramarines and Black Legion.

These corpses whispered in churches, graveyards, wilderness, and highlands—their deaths fueled his body with power and whispered to him the events unfolding on this planet.

The portion of the Death of Humanity's authority the Emperor had granted Zhou Yun was now active.

Death not only strengthened the power he had gained from his Self-Erosion Destruction domain, but also elevated the power of the Malicious Art and Greedy Dissolution domains.

He could perceive the millions of mechanical constructs on this planet—and they had become even more appetizing than before.

The whispers of the dead and machines informed Zhou Yun of the planet's condition.

The Black Legion was besieging this shrine world; the Ultramarines' Second Company, the Sanctum Guard, held the planet's great cathedral, using a void shield to resist the Black Legion's assault.

Euphrine regarded Zhou Yun with an unsettled expression, her gaze wary.

"We must reach an agreement with the Ultramarines here; we need their ships to proceed."

Zhou Yun did not oppose Euphrine.

The Gate of Passage could directly reach Macragge's surface, but without precise maps, they could not reach the Ultramarines' fortress-monastery, the Hera Fortress.

And Guilliman lay encased within the stasis field of the Hera Fortress.

Of course, Zhou Yun could bypass the ships.

If he could steal a relatively complete map from the Ultramarines on Rafis, he could directly use the Gate of Passage to reach Guilliman's Sanctum.

But the Hera Fortress and Guilliman's Sanctum would be heavily guarded—Zhou Yun and his group appearing without permission would inevitably provoke suspicion, distrust, and resistance from the Ultramarines.

Zhou Yun could force his way in with the thousand Blood Angels he carried, but that would inevitably cause casualties among either the Ultramarines or the Blood Angels.

The Black Legion was already in the Macragge system—there was no need for infighting and unnecessary complications.

It would be best to notify the current Ultramarines Chapter Master, Karla, through the Rafis Ultramarines in advance.

Moreover, after confirming the defenders here belonged to the Ultramarines' Second Company, Zhou Yun became interested.

In his memory, the Second Company was always the "cheat company" among the Ultramarines—none of its Marines would dare call themselves Second Company without some kind of advantage.

Just look at the two company captains at the end of the 41st millennium:

Cato Sicarius was the ruthless man who had single-handedly cut his way out of the Warp with one sword.

And his predecessor? Even more legendary—the infamous Titus, nicknamed the Chosen of both Khorne and the Emperor.

Unfortunately, by this timeline, Titus had likely already been taken away by an Inquisitor.

This was bizarre: the Second Company Captain of the Primaris Legion had been detained by an Inquisitor for over a century—and Chapter Master Karla had failed to rescue him.

That was the Ultramarines for you—reasonable, rule-bound.

If this had happened to the Wolves, the Cats, or even the Birds, the Inquisitor would be wise never to leave Terra in this lifetime.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yun glanced at Gravex.

After resurrecting Guilliman and heading to Terra, I'll bring Gravex to demand his return.

"I can come too," Sanguinius's voice echoed in Zhou Yun's mind.

Zhou Yun's lips curled slightly into a smile.

He nodded, then subtly adjusted his focus, attempting to listen to the whispers of the dead on this shrine world.

The whispers of the dead quickly guided Zhou Yun's direction.

He saw, on the other side of the ridge, a squad of Second Company Ultramarines holding a fortress built from a converted cathedral.

Second Company Ultramarine Sivatus Achela guarded the front line.

His power sword ignited, its azure light flashing as it cleaved through the Black Legion Astartes charging toward the line.

Captain Sicarius trusted Achela, assigning him to defend Shrine World Rafis.

This planet was the spiritual center of the Imperial Cult in Macragge; the Ultramarines did not worship the Emperor as a god, but every one of them knew what it meant if the Black Legion defiled Rafis.

Even if they did not worship the Emperor as a god, the Ultramarines could not allow His holy icons to be humiliated by the Black Legion.

The cathedral had been transformed into a series of fortresses, controlling every vital point across the highlands.

Anti-air cannons were spewing fire; hellfire dragons circled the clouds, vomiting venomous flames.

War machines burned the thin air's scarce oxygen; stone pillars draped in robes around the cathedral toppled under Black Legion fire.

"We will prevail," Achela told himself.

Macragge had endured countless disasters—whether traitors, Chaos, or xenos swarms from beyond the galaxy, none had broken this jewel of the human empire, the Ultramarines' home. The Black Legion of Abaddon would not either!

Achela raised his bolter and poured bullets into the endless waves of enemies surging across the highlands.

Joy—

A surge of joy suddenly flowed from Achela's bolter and power sword.

From the cathedral walls, infused with the ashes of saints and relics of martyrs, pale, semi-transparent mists seeped forth; the whispers of the dead echoed in everyone's ears.

Achela stared in astonishment as a line of Imperial Knights suddenly appeared on the horizon, standing tall.

At the same time, the movements of the Black Legion began to stutter, as if the power armor they wore were not armor but shackles.

On the ground, the demonic engines ceased firing; in the sky, the hellish dragons writhed in agony.

In an instant, the Black Legion froze in place like wooden figures.

(End of Chapter)