Chapter 6: Is this reasonable?

Nest City, except for the Tower Top, never sees sunlight in its other areas throughout the year.

Thus, night and day inside Nest City are merely distinguished by the hour hand's position on the clock.

Faint lights flicker in the tangled passages and buildings; the once bustling factories have fallen into dead silence, and even the Emperor statues seen everywhere have been destroyed or carved with blasphemous patterns.

However, as Nest City is humanity's ultimate solution for accommodating its population, the billions of civilians within are not all turned over to the Rebel Forces.

As a faint clamor gradually came from the entrance, the civilians hiding in the darkness, accompanied by specks of light from the weak lamps, looked over with anticipation.

And as more and more Rebel Forces surged forward, roaring as they charged the entrance, the civilians' anticipation, growing ever more evident and bright in the distance of the passage, reached its peak.

Then, the expectation plummeted like falling into an ice cellar!

"Where the hell did this madman come from?!"

The civilians stared agape; when they finally made out the scene before them, only one thought remained in their hearts.

Because what came slaughtering from the entrance was certainly no heroic Star Realm Army, not even the Planetary Defense Force, but a bunch of wielding exaggerated blades and axes, bare-chested melee maniacs!

Even civilians saw with their own eyes a homemade Rebel bullet pierce the surging crowd and strike a burly man wielding double axes.

As a result, a faint red light flared up, and he seemed unharmed, continuing to brandish his exaggerated double axes, chopping the charging Rebel Forces into mince.

And such maniacs, as the civilians gazed far down the long passage, numbered over a thousand.

Even compared to them, these Rebel Forces seemed like the normal side.

The Rebel Forces surged forward, and the bloodiness grew ever richer as the death toll mounted.

Consequently, the Rebel Forces that had just rushed up from behind, before even seeing the enemy, were already overwhelmed by the pungent smell of blood, showing obvious fear.

What had originally been just a Rebel Force charging ahead recklessly gradually also began to have many figures fleeing for various excuses.

The most common reason among them was to return and report the news.

At this moment, beyond the long, winding passage, a small camp protected by a defensive wall saw several blood-soaked, panic-stricken Rebel Forces stumbling in.

The insignia once belonging to the Imperial Military Affairs Department was smashed and flung onto the ground, left for the Rebel Forces to trample at will.

The camp's defensive wall was lined with Rebel Forces on high alert, holding assorted weapons; many carried standard Star Realm Army laser rifles, but even more wielded various homemade firearms.

And as more and more panicked Rebel Forces fled back, a burst of fury emanated from deep within the camp.

Clang!

A metal alloy cup was violently thrown to the ground; a tall, broad-shouldered man whose arms bore obvious mutations rose to his feet, glaring fiercely at the subordinate who claimed to have returned to report.

Looking down at the crowd below, all trembling and pallid, the burly man could not contain his rage:

"You might as well say the Astartes have arrived; at least then I might be inclined to believe it a little."

The Rebel Forces below turned even paler; a few frightened ones wanted to explain, but upon recalling what they had just said, they also felt it really didn't make much sense.

And the burly man, furious at being deceived, gritted his teeth and retorted:

"What do you call a bunch of red‑glowing maniacs who slash their way through the whole passage?!"

The common folk don't even know the names of the Four Gods, and even if they join various cults, they often only get to encounter the Four Gods' existence much later.

Thus they have no idea what a Terror Blessing is; they only think that the subordinates who came back to report ahead have all gone insane.

The Rebel Forces knelt on the ground, wanting to cry but unable to shed tears; though the corners of their mouths twitched a few times, they ultimately swallowed it back helplessly.

Only the burly man, seeing his subordinates silent, finally kicked over the table in anger, scattering the imperial supplies piled atop it across the floor.

He grabbed an exaggerated great cleaver, then picked up a laser rifle, and the burly man kicked aside the nearby crowd and marched out.

The surrounding Rebel Forces, seeing this, hurried to follow, watching the burly man actually intend to personally meet the enemy; aside from the faces of those who had fled back, which turned panicked and pallid,

the remaining Rebel Forces left to guard the camp, who were fond of food and drink, followed out with faces flushed with zeal.

And when the burly man, with great effort, hauled his bulky frame onto the wall, the first sight that met his furious gaze was precisely the scene he had just refused to believe, no matter what.

In the depths of the passage before the camp, Rebel Forces surged forward incessantly from all four directions of Nest City.

But at the end of the crowd, the burly man was certain there was no light whatsoever; yet the DeepChannel, which should have been pitch black, was instead surging with a dim red glow.

Moreover, accompanied by incessant splashes of blood, that red light seemed to be growing even more tumultuous.

And the Rebel Forces, who ought to have been fearless of life and death, having been bewitched by various cults, also began to produce large numbers of terrified deserters scattering in all directions.

Furthermore, recalling his subordinates' earlier frightened report, the burly man, upon thinking that these maniacs might very well have hacked their way all the way from the entrance here, could not help but suck in a cold breath despite his previously fierce expression.

Instinctively glancing sideways, he sought a mysterious preacher to instruct him; after all, as a Rebel Forces minor leader capable of holding the Supply Station, he knew a few of the names of the deities he worshipped.

For merely taking a glance, the fact he least wanted to accept lay plain before him.

A gang of Imperial madmen, actually bearing a Terror Blessing, had hacked their way through the Rebel Forces all the way straight to him!

Although the fact was thus, the problem was...

Is this fucking reasonable?!

Who grants blessings to the enemy?!

The burly man, whose understanding was not deep, couldn't fathom it, but as he puzzled over it, Xisi, charging ahead at the forefront, saw his eyes suddenly brighten upon spotting the camp behind.

He hurled his sawtooth sword with all his might, the tremendous force directly cleaving through two frail Rebel Forces in front.

Then he reached out, choked the neck of the Rebel Forces before him, lifted him up, and used the man's own longsword to cleave his head from his body.

Afterwards, seeing the Rebel Forces before him retreat in frightened disarray, Xisi pointed straight at the camp:

"The Supply Station is right ahead!"

Xisi spoke, and the soldiers behind him intensified their slashing motions.

But it was merely fierce; their faces remained relatively calm, and they continued to efficiently slaughter the Rebel Forces surging ahead.

Although Terror's kin were quite pleased and had bestowed many blessings, Xisi and his soldiers did not fall into the desire for frenzied slaughter.

At first Xisi was a bit nervous, fearing his troops would turn into mindless killing maniacs, but now it seemed that he and his soldiers had even increased their resistance to subspace corruption a hundredfold.

This is taking only Terror's benefits, suffering none of its drawbacks.

Xisi led his men onward to assault the Supply Station, while the Rebel Forces atop the wall began to pour down fire from above.

Although the dense barrage shot down some soldiers, many more soldiers, relying on their blessings and using Rebel corpses as shields, actually charged straight through.

After advancing a certain distance, there was a dense barrage of various swords, spears, and axes being thrown.

The big man watched as the rebel troops beside him were instantly cut down in a swath; there was no trace of his former ferocity on his face. He merely stood on trembling legs, wobbling as he descended the wall, hoping to escape through the gate.

Just as he reached the gate, the gate was suddenly blasted open, and that group of red‑glowing demon gods charged straight at him.

Especially the demon god at the front, who looked like an officer, directly glanced at him.

The big man startled, his huge blade instantly dropping to the ground; his whole body, in Xisi's peripheral vision, moved with an agility far surpassing his bulky frame...

He knelt down!

"Long live the Emperor!"

The big man shouted in terror, but the imagined death did not come; all he saw was Xisi leading people in a continual charge into the camp.

"Ana, come with me to the warehouse; the rest of you immediately seize the wall and counter‑attack with the rebels' weapons!"

Xisi issued the order quickly, and the surrounding veterans carried it out efficiently.

For at this very moment, as Xisi pressed deeper, the entire Nest City seemed to awaken; endless rebel forces converged from all directions into a sea of people, surging toward this small camp.

Bunoke turned and, despite the constant hail of projectiles flying through the gate, roared as he struggled to shut the broken gate, then directed soldiers to block it completely with corpses and building materials.

Meanwhile, more soldiers ran onto the wall, continually firing back at the outside; the rebels' crisscrossing barrage formed bands of light that ceaselessly streaked over the veterans' heads.

Xisi had no time to worry about the outside; he took Ana and a handful of veterans, running to the core warehouse of the supply station.

When Ana used her Mechanical Church clearance to quickly open the door, a blinding light streamed from within, revealing before Xisi a vast stockpile sufficient to supply the entire Star Realm Army!