Chapter 263: Blind Spot Star

"What need do we have for Gao Si's blessing!"

Hilaendri. Curtain Walker looked at the black legion's corpses on the ground and the reddish-brown star in her hand, and couldn't help exclaiming.

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

The artifact's effect was not physical invisibility; Hilaendri. Curtain Walker 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 the user remained perpetually within others' perceptual "blind spots," no matter how they moved.

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

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

This left Hilaendri. Curtain Walker struggling to maintain composure.

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

The Necrons' weapons could pierce any form of armor, so the Eldar devised holographic suits—equipment that replaced armor with evasion and concealment, capable of distorting light, points, and nearly all forms of detection.

Since then, Eldar technology in this area had merely been patched and repaired, 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 most Eldar.

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

Hilaendri. Curtain Walker's mindset 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.

Hilaendri. Curtain Walker had even seen a human Astartes Dreadnought equipped with this thing.

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

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

"Aaaahhh!!" Hilaendri. Curtain Walker's chest suddenly ached.

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

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

Hilaendri. Curtain Walker groaned, clutching her chest.

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

Hilaendri. Curtain Walker watched Efrini standing in the hot winds of the barren mountains, Kien Men beside her, the hot wind whipping across 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 spark conflict—only Efrini, the Prophet of Inad, and her Chosen Warrior Kien Men traveled alongside the humans.

Oh, and Hilaendri. Curtain Walker herself, the unlucky one.

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

"Hot winds blow on Ultramar Mountain, 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 appeared 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 Macragge's planetary surface."

Upon hearing this, Efrini said nothing, falling into a tomblike silence; her entire being radiated a grave-like coldness, her head turned 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.

Hilaendri. Curtain Walker thought this, then flipped a somersault and approached:

"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 the guidance of Inad and Gao Si."

"We cannot be certain where we've arrived—Lady Efrini is likely seeking guidance from Inad."

Hilaendri. Curtain Walker had also tried asking Gao Si, but he still had not replied.

"Shrine World, Rafis."

Before Efrini could respond, Zhou Yun spoke slowly:

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

Hilaendri. Curtain Walker's gaze snapped toward Zhou Yun—and she jumped in place, startled.

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

Cold, silent, like a graveyard—but even more intense than Efrini's.

Efrini 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 faithful and saints, as well as countless Ultramarines and Black Legionaries.

These corpses whispered in churches, graveyards, wilderness, and plateaus; their deaths had become power nourishing Zhou Yun's body, and they whispered to him the events unfolding on this planet.

The portion of the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang's Death of Humanity authority granted to Zhou Yun was now active.

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

He could perceive the planet's millions of mechanical constructs—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 Temple Guard, held firm within the planet's great cathedral, using void shields to resist the Black Legion's assault.

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

"We must reach an accord with the Ultramarines on this world; we need to borrow their ships to proceed further," she said.

Zhou Yun did not oppose Evraine.

The Anywhere Door could indeed arrive directly above Macragge, but without a precise map, there was no way to proceed directly to the Ultramarines' monastery, the Hera Fortress.

And Guilliman was being placed within a stasis field in the Hera Fortress.

Of course, Zhou Yun could also choose not to borrow a starship.

If he could steal a relatively complete map from Rafis's Ultramarines, Zhou Yun could also proceed directly to the Guilliman Temple via the Anywhere Door.

It was just that the Hera Fortress and the Guilliman Temple were surely under strict guard; if Zhou Yun and the others appeared there without permission, they would easily incur the Ultramarines' suspicion, distrust, and obstruction.

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

The Black Legion was right there in the Macragge system; there was truly no need for internal strife, creating unnecessary trouble for oneself.

It would be best to go through Rafis's Ultramarines and give advance notice to the current Ultramarines Chapter Master, Cato, that would be best.

Besides this, after confirming that the warriors guarding this place were from the Ultramarines Second Company, Zhou Yun also felt interest.

In his memory, the Second Company had always been the overpowered company among the Ultramarines; the Ultramarines within it wouldn't even dare call themselves Second Company members if they didn't have some kind of cheat.

Just look at the two company captains of the Second Company at the end of the forty-first millennium.

Cato Sicarius was a ruthless man who could fight his way out of the Warp alone with a single sword.

And his predecessor was even more famous, nicknamed the dual divine chosen of Khorne and the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang, Titus.

Unfortunately, judging by the timeline, Titus might already have been taken away by an Inquisitor.

This matter was also bizarre; a Second Company Captain of the Founding Chapter was detained by an Inquisitor for over a century, and yet Chapter Master Cato surprisingly couldn't even rescue him.

This was because the Ultramarines were relatively reasonable and followed the rules.

If this were changed to the Wolves, the Cats, or even the Birds, that Inquisitor had better never leave Terra for the rest of his life.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yun glanced at Ge Lei Fa.

After reviving Guilliman and heading to Terra, he would take Ge Lei Fa to the door and demand the person back.

"I can go together too." Sanguinius's voice sounded from within Zhou Yun's consciousness.

Hearing this, the corner of Zhou Yun's mouth curled up slightly into a smile.

He nodded, then slightly adjusted his spirit, trying to listen to the whispers of the dead on this Shrine World.

The whispers of the dead quickly guided Zhou Yun in a direction.

He saw on the other side of the ridge a squad of Second Company Ultramarines firmly holding a fortress converted from a church.

Cato Sicarius's successor, Sicarius Achela, of the Ultramarines Second Company, guarded before the battle line.

The power sword in his hand ignited, flashing with azure light as it cleaved through the bodies of Black Legion Astartes rushing to the front of the line.

Captain Sicarius trusted Achela, assigning him to be responsible for the defense of the Shrine World, Rafis.

This planet was the faith center of the Imperial Cult of Macragge; the Ultramarines did not worship the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang as a god, but everyone clearly understood what it would mean if Rafis were defiled by the Black Legion.

Even without worshipping the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang as a god, the Ultramarines could not allow the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang's statues to be humiliated by the Black Legion.

The churches were converted into individual fortresses, controlling every important stronghold in the highlands.

Anti-aircraft cannons were unleashing their fire; Hell Dragons circling in the clouds continuously spat out venomous flames.

War machines burned the already scarce oxygen in the thin air; the gloomy statues draped in robes on the stone pillars around the churches toppled under the Black Legion's firepower.

"We will achieve victory." Achela said this to himself.

Macragge had endured disaster after disaster, but neither traitors, Chaos, nor the Tyranid hive fleets from beyond the galaxy had been able to crush this jewel of the Human Empire, the Ultramarines' home; Abaddon's Black Legion would not do it either!

Achela raised the bolter in his hand, unleashing bullets at the enemies constantly surging up the highlands.

Joy—

A surge of joy suddenly welled up from the bolter and power sword in Achela's hands.

From the church walls around him, which were mixed with the ashes of saints and the bones of martyrs, streams of pale mist, seeming both illusory and real, suddenly seeped out; the whispers of the dead sounded in everyone's ears.

Achela looked in astonishment as Imperial Knight mechs suddenly appeared in the distance, standing tall on the horizon.

At the same time, the movements of the Black Legion began to stutter, as if the power armor they wore were shackles.

On the ground, the fire from Daemon Engines ceased its unleashing; in the sky, the Hell Dragons struggled in pain.

In an instant, the Black Legion seemed to stop in place like wooden puppets.

(End of this chapter)