Chapter 263: The Master of Mankind

The battlefield, which had just been noisy, suddenly fell silent.

The traitors of the Black Legion seemed bound by their own power armor, each one freezing in place.

All armored vehicles and tanks halted instantly, as if invisible hands had reached into the air and drained their power.

Archela truly saw those hands—a pair of white, circular hands with blue arms, extending from beneath the veil of reality, shutting down all mechanical power on the battlefield.

Only the demon engines could still move under their control, yet even they were powerless to assault the Space Marines' fortress.

Archela stared at this scene, a chill running through him.

What was happening? A scheme of the Chaos Gods, or a random miracle?

How should he respond to this?!

The Codex didn't mention this!

But soon, what followed made Archela lean toward it being a miracle.

A burning golden meteor crashed from the sky into the heart of the Black Legion, its searing flames consuming the traitors' bodies.

The wings of the Living Saint Celestine unfolded across the earth, her twin holy maidens spiraling above, raising their silver blades.

Then came the Astra Militarum in Cadia's uniforms, chanting, "Cadia stands eternal!"

A scarred girl hovered midair, her eyes blazing with psychic fire; she thrust her hands upward, and the Shikong hell-drakes above exploded into bloody chunks, raining down.

Then the Knights entered, and the immobilized Black Legion became easy targets, crushed beneath their towering machines.

Commanding the Knights was a colossal Machine Priest clad in a deep crimson robe, his entire body fused with metal and machinery.

Archela knew that in the Adeptus Mechanicus, the less flesh one possessed, the higher one's rank—this one was surely at least an Archmagos.

This was reinforcement.

Archela quickly judged.

But what followed made him hesitate slightly.

Amid the "reinforcement" slaughtering the Black Legion, two nearly blasphemous figures appeared.

The Eldar.

A pale, death-laced Eldar woman in a long gown swung a strange bone blade, claiming the lives of the Black Legion.

Beside her stood an Eldar warrior clad in crimson armor.

How could these blasphemous aliens be allied with the Living Saint, the Cadia warriors, and the Adeptus Mechanicus?!

The Black Legion outside the cathedral had been wiped out by the Space Marines and this reinforcement.

Yet Silvatus Archela's inner tension did not lessen; he regarded these people with doubt.

From Cadia's fall, to the flight from Ice Moon Krasus, to that sacred cargo—

Silvatus Archela now understood their purpose.

The Archmagos Belisarius Cawl had made a pact with the Lord of Ultramar, transporting a sacred object to Macragge.

The Eldar sought an alliance with humanity and had aided Archmagos Belisarius Cawl along the way.

The Eldar—deceitful aliens, unworthy of trust.

Especially that witch, Yvrene, whose body was wrapped in blasphemous energies alien to this universe, pale as death itself.

The power that halted all machinery also troubled Archela, but Archmagos Belisarius Cawl claimed it was the power of the Machine God.

Had it not been for an Inquisitor and a Living Saint standing with them, Archela could never have trusted them.

Now, this suspicious group sought the Space Marines' aid—to transport them to Ultramar aboard a voidship.

Archela began to wonder whether he should trust them.

If his company captain, Sicarius, were here, he would have made his judgment with pride and certainty.

Kill the aliens. Imprison these dubious individuals.

But Archela had served under more than one captain.

He remembered his former second company captain, Titus— a more humble warrior.

Captain Titus seemed to believe that many things in this universe lay beyond the Codex's teachings, willing to defy even its doctrines—when necessary for the Emperor, the Imperium, and humanity.

If it were him, he would have temporarily trusted this expedition and escorted them to the Hera Fortress on Macragge.

Silvatus Archela asked himself: what judgment should he make?

Sicarius's? Or Titus's?

Archela fell silent for a long while, then slowly turned his gaze to the expeditionary force before him.

"The Blade of Glory is in orbit. I will assign guards to escort you to Macragge."

If he made a wrong decision, let the Emperor punish him.

Soon, a squad of Stormraven gunships descended from the sky, carrying the expeditionary force to the strike cruiser Blade of Glory in orbit.

But Stormravens had limited capacity; most of the force had to remain on Rafis.

The Knights of House Tarannus chose to stay behind, guarding this sacred temple world; the warriors of Cadia 184th Regiment, save a few elites, also remained here.

Yet the condition of those who boarded the Blade of Glory was far from good.

Under heavy guard, they were locked in a confinement zone.

It was a steel-walled chamber deep within the ship, lifeless and reeking of machine oil.

This displeased the Eldar; the one always guarding Yvrene, the Thousand Faces, began complaining immediately.

He muttered endlessly about "uncouth monkeys," but the guards merely stood silently around the room, watching the expedition's every move.

This worried Leina slightly.

She leaned against the transport vehicle carrying the sacred artifact, surrounded by dozens of elite warriors from Cadia 184th Regiment.

One warrior sat down silently beside her.

"The guards are strict," Leina sighed, then looked at the Cadia 184th warrior beside her—

Or rather, at Zhou Yun, whose face was disguised with body clay, infiltrating the 184th.

Zhou Yun's physique matched that of ordinary Asfordians; body clay made it easy to pass as a mortal.

"It's right not to trust Eldar things."

"You don't know how arrogant the Eldar are—they call themselves superior, yet they do nothing but base deeds."

Zhou Yun glanced at the guards and the two Eldar and said:

"No wonder their race gave birth to a foul dark god like the Prince of Lies."

Zhou Yun's voice was low; the guards might not hear, but the Eldar, with their superior hearing, certainly would.

The Thousand Faces instantly turned his gaze toward Zhou Yun.

Zhou Yun merely shrugged and continued speaking to Leina: "Look at that guy in red armor beside Yvrene."

"Thousand Faces Vysar—once the Avenger-Priest Larion Songstar of the Ybe-Tan Silent Blade Shrine. Yvrene's former teacher."

"As he taught Yvrene, he developed… other feelings. Perhaps he fell in love with his student."

"When Yvrene left the Silent Blade Shrine, his heart nearly broke. Then, when he heard she'd gone to the Comorragh Arena to fight gladiators, he abandoned everything, disguised himself as a Nightmare Warrior, and guarded her side."

"Of course, Yvrene felt nothing for him. Thousand Faces is just a pathetic admirer."

As Zhou Yun spoke, Thousand Faces gripped his blade, Ashur, the Howl of Silence, tightly.

Yvrene's face twitched; she looked at Thousand Faces, first embarrassed, then coldly indifferent.

Leina noticed this and murmured: "Eldar emotions are so intense."

"But because of these two Eldar, the Space Marines are extremely wary of us—can we slip away?" Leina whispered.

Zhou Yun shrugged—it was no challenge for him.

Though he had no intention of using the Gate of Return to resurrect Guilliman, he still needed the map.

That would make many things far easier.

His cat tail beneath his clothes twitched slightly; the cat eyes hidden under the body clay flickered faintly.

The "Cat Suit" artifact swiftly wove an illusion around Zhou Yun.

Through the illusion, a Cadia 184th warrior who looked exactly like Zhou Yun crawled out of his fourth-dimensional pocket.

Zhou Yun had disguised himself as that man; the instant he emerged, Zhou Yun swiftly pulled a Blindspot Star from his pocket and fastened it to his chest.

To others, Zhou Yun vanished on the spot.

To the guards deceived by the Cat Eyes' illusion, nothing had changed.

This trick Zhou Yun had learned from Mephistan.

Using the silent and concealed properties of the Thief DX Suit, combined with the Blindspot Star's near-perfect concealment, Zhou Yun slipped soundlessly to the wall of the confinement zone.

The walls were thick ceramite plates—normally impossible to penetrate.

But for Zhou Yun, pure physical barriers didn't exist.

He casually pulled a Gate Ring from his fourth-dimensional pocket and placed it against the wall, stepping through instantly.

When he emerged, he found himself standing in the corridor of the Blade of Glory.

Zhou Yun swiftly tucked the Gate Ring back into his fourth-dimensional pocket, then shook it.

Hilandri Veilwalker, wearing the Blindspot Star, hurried out of the pocket.

Hilandri Veilwalker had been silently watching events from within the pocket.

She looked at Zhou Yun and sighed:

"Boss, why do we even need Xigole?"

"You're not the Death of Mankind—you're the Master of Mankind's Many Forms!"

(End of Chapter)