Chapter 38: Who? Did My Man Run Away?

Abadon's flagship 'Revenge Soul' quietly docks in the orbit of Alert Star.

This warship is a Radiant Queen Class battleship, fully built by the Mechanical Church of Mars under the Emperor's personal directive during the Great Expedition.

It was also the former Imperial War General Helusu's mount.

At this moment, the Revenge Soul is surrounded by hundreds of Chaos warships of various sizes, while even more ships are scattered across the entire Alert Star, continuously supplying the ground forces with various orbital firepower.

In a remote corner of the Chaos fleet, a light cruiser broke away from the formation and turned away from the Alert Star.

At the same time, a question echoed on the Bridge of the Revenge Soul.

"What?!"

"Got something to go?"

The massive Bridge has a Chaos Eight-Point Star hanging high at its center, surrounded by piles of skulls and any other offerings that might please the gods.

The Mechanical Priest of the Dark Mechanical Church manipulates various instruments, while below, a multitude of mutated crew members are hard at work.

As one of the Four Gods without Divine Selection, Abadon's Bridge, though still terrifying with slain mortals and even loyal Astats hung everywhere, is at least far more normal than one that worships only a single side.

Abadon's voice echoed across the Bridge, accompanied only by the intermittent Electronic Voice of the instruments.

The mutated crew members kept to their work as if they hadn't heard, daring not to perform any actions beyond their duties on the Bridge.

Only before the Bridge throne, a company commander under Abadon answered again in a coarse voice:

"This is Heilu's exact words."

The reply was simple and direct, with no honorifics toward Abadon; the two were not in a superior‑subordinate relationship, but rather a cooperative partnership sharing a common goal.

Seated on the Bridge throne, Abadon was encased in heavy, finely crafted Terminator Power Armor; his left hand wielded the massive Horace's Claw, once Helusu's exclusive weapon.

His right hand held the demonic sword 'Delacanyn', forged from a demon form that had once battled the Emperor.

With the Four Gods' Blessing further augmenting his towering stature, even Kaerjia appeared somewhat short and frail before him.

Abadon ignored his subordinates' attitude and merely glanced toward the distant void beyond the Bridge, where a Subspace jump engine's activation caused a spatial ripple.

From the moment he received the news until now, seeing Heilu's departure executed so efficiently, even without the company commander mentioning it, Abadon knew it wasn't a matter of any real issue.

"My people…"

"…ran away?"

Squinting slightly, Abadon instantly understood deep down what Heilu was up to.

Abadon commands the massive Chaos army; even this battlefield alone hosts hundreds of warships, so a tiny Heilu would not concern him.

Yet Abadon's attention instantly shifted from the front‑line battlefield to this matter, because the ground unexpectedly harbored a force capable of making a Chaos warband flee outright, which alone warranted his notice.

Retracting his gaze from the direction Heilu leapt, Abadon paused briefly and looked directly at the Astat aide beside him:

"Retrieve all information related to Heilu."

The aide turned and carried out the order; after gathering all Heilu‑related data, he scanned quickly, and a faint 'smile' unexpectedly cracked Abadon's rigid, cold face.

"Heilu…"

"…was driven away by a bunch of mortals…"

Even as the smile lingered, it wasn't just mortals; even the not‑particularly respectful Chaos Astats felt a sudden tension rise within.

The Chaos company commander surveyed the scene, irritated by Heilu's 'incompetence', yet faced with Abadon's obvious emotion, he forced himself to speak in a more respectful tone:

"Shall we send more people?"

Though respectful, Abadon still disregarded the subordinates' attitude; he stared at the massive Alert Star projection below the Bridge, focusing on the solitary red dot beyond Heberia amid a field of green points, then withdrew his gaze and all attention.

Turning his head back to the scorching front he and Kaerjia held in Heberia, Abadon remained expressionless:

"That is not our objective."

"Exterminate it."

Abadon no longer paid attention to this battlefield's side story; after all, even if Xisi drove Heilu away, what difference would it make?

Now that all factions have entered the fray, even 150,000 mortals, each a Storm Soldier, would merely turn to dust under endless cycles of mutual annihilation.

The Chaos company commander nodded and left, and the Bridge once again echoed Abadon's orders for the siege of Heberia.

In a corner of the fleet, a Chaos light cruiser carrying small Whirlwind Torpedoes began to turn toward Xisi.

On the ground at this moment.

The endless waves of Chicken Thieves surged forward, colliding with the fierce fire of Regiment 101.

With the large ammunition supplies previously delivered, Xisi at this moment need not worry about running low on ammo.

One Explosive Gun round pierced four unarmored low‑level Chicken Thieves, then exploded, taking out another seven or eight nearby.

Watching the Chicken Thieves forced back by fire, Xisi once again lifted his gaze to the sky.

Seeing the Light Spears and mushroom clouds rising and falling over the nearby ground, Xisi felt a twinge of tension and turned his eyes upward.

In the not‑far sky, a Chaos warship was slowly approaching.

Staring at the warship, Xisi, without turning his head, raised his hand and fired.

He killed a charging mutant, and Xisi finally ran out of patience.

Drawing his Power Sword, Xisi, bearing the fresh scars from his blood‑soaked battle with the Chaos Astats, turned sharply:

"Stop worrying about the formation; let everyone charge at full force, and be sure to…"

He subconsciously tried to set a time, but Xisi hesitated, then blurted out:

"Tell everyone, if they don't want to die, break out of Nest City at the fastest speed!"

After speaking, Xisi ignored the stunned looks of Bunoke and others beside him, and charged straight into the crowded Chicken Thieves ahead.

The sounds of Power Sword and Explosive Gun rang again, accompanied by the orange‑yellow blaze from below; Xisi's Power Armor reflected a faint glow, like a deity bathed in golden light.

Seeing Xisi in that state, Bunoke and the other mortal soldiers behind him seemed invigorated, zealously following.

Though firepower waned, a group of soldiers brandishing sabers and engineer shovels struck the Chicken Thieves' soft 'flesh' like a hot iron.

The time was short; as an external passage of Upper Nest suddenly exploded, the towering elevated railway, twisted metal screaming, collapsed with a roar.

First, a large number of Chicken Thieves were pushed out, and they screeched, roaring toward the interior of Nest City.

But their newly opened ugly gapes were instantly shattered and scattered by a single bomb or laser blast.

The Chicken Thieves rolled to both sides, followed by a sudden surge of numerous mortal soldiers bursting out of the passage.

Without the wind and sunshine of the Tower Top, the world beneath Nest City was shrouded in darkness.

Above, clouds were constantly twisted by Subspace energy flashing strange lightning; below, the ground itself twisted and deformed, an endless expanse where rock layers and Green Skin interleaved.

When Xisi arrived outside Nest City with his soldiers, the cloud layer above was suddenly pierced, and a towering building fell straight down.

A building?

Xisi frowned, but as he focused more, he finally saw that it was not a building at all, but an extinction torpedo dropped from space!