Emperor's Bane

Chapter 749 Cat

"Meow~"

"Hululu..."

On the fading decks and galleries of the Aurora, the Warmaster of Avalon patrolled his domain, steadfastly defending his rights as he had done ten thousand times before.

It's not easy.

Patrolling the territory, leaving marks, paying attention to new changes, and being wary of any potential competitors are not easy tasks: only a powerful superior like it can keep this prime hunting ground firmly in its claws.

Shake hands...for many, many years.

Is it one hundred? Or something else?

As it leisurely walked around the next corner, a parasite called "Thinking" was constantly rolling in the Warmaster's energetic beast mind: it didn't know when this thing appeared, maybe before it migrated here?
Or after?

Or was it when it was taking a nap on the lap of its owner or little master?
"Hululu..."

This new kind of worry squeezed out the original carefreeness, and in the broad beast chest of the Strong-Brain Cat, low growls symbolizing boredom roamed through the corridors.

Numbers, time, these invisible things and their invisible importance, I don't know when they started, like fruits that ripen one after another, taking root in its mind that was originally only concerned with survival and reproduction, and rudely brought it to a new world.

Unconsciously, it had gotten used to thinking about these trivial things that had nothing to do with survival in its mind: its former savagery was gradually fading away, and a soul that was more like its master had made its scalp feel itchy lately.

It began to open its eyes wide, observing things that it had never cared about before: those bipedal creatures that could neither be used as prey nor rarely provided it with food, those creatures that looked the same as its master but were actually very different inside. At this moment, they attracted it more than the rodents lurking in the shadows.

Gradually, it squatted in corners, hid in closets, and walked through the bustling downtown area, observing every face with an unprecedented attitude, realizing the connection between them that was more abstract than relatives, and feeling the inherent differences between those armored giants and those ordinary bipedal creatures.

First observe, then remember, and then summarize new experiences. After repeating this cycle for who knows how many years, it found that it could actually have a preliminary understanding of what the howls of these creatures meant, and realized that they were actually living in two completely different worlds from it.

They have been competing for things that seem meaningless: for example, strange stones or some [titles]. In the eyes of the Strong Brain Cat in the past, these were undoubtedly cheap and ridiculous behaviors, but now, it suddenly understands them a little.

Stones are like territories, and titles are like status in a group. These are the rules between these bipedal creatures: although their world and its world are divided into two, there is actually no difference between them.

There is no doubt that its keeper is the common master of these two worlds, and its little masters are second only to her: the masters noticed her changes very early, and when the pink-haired little master held him in her arms and proudly asked for credit to the big master, a word that must be related to it popped out of her mouth.

She said it was [enlightened].

What does enlightenment mean?
The Strong Brain Cat didn't understand, but it remembered that it was about seven or eight years ago. It leaned in the arms of the Great Master, listening to them chatting about things related to it. They attributed its enlightenment to the result of spending a long time with a powerful psyker Primarch.

Psionics, primarchs, and what they called it, the [Strong-Brain Cat]: Although it had heard these words countless times, it had never seriously thought about them. But this time, when it heard these words again, it instinctively understood what they meant, as if they had been stuffed into it.

It's really puzzling to the cat.

"Meow……"

[Warmaster] shook his light green fluffy fur and trotted over to another ancient territorial mark: the urine and pheromones left to mark the territory not long ago were cleared away by someone, but he had already gotten used to it.

But just as it was about to mark the territory once again, an unprecedented thought slowly floated through its mind, causing it to stop thinking about leaving urine: this action, which was the most common in the past, now seemed a little inappropriate to the Strong-Brain Cat.

Its heart is...burning?
The Strong-Brained Cat stayed where it was, with a purring sound in its chest: tortured by the new ideas in its mind, after turning around a few times in a hurry, it finally realized why it didn't want to do this.

Because it's: shameful?
But what is shame?
The Strong Brain Cat stopped thinking. It knew that it was not a good idea to continue to be in a stalemate, so it ran to the side, where there was a cork statue of the Warmaster raising his paw, warning potential invaders in another way that this was its territory.

After doing all this, the Strong Brain Cat left with sad steps. It did not [think] as usual and observe which new faces appeared in its territory. Instead, when passing by an open ventilation duct, it jumped into this safe space.

It wants to take a shortcut back to its nest: its owner's arms will dispel its current anxiety.

The gap in the ventilation duct is about ten meters above the ground. If it were the old cat, it would definitely not be able to jump up, but the current Strong Brain Cat is no longer the same: before its mind gradually changed, its body had already changed first.

About ten years ago, after its body functions had aged to the extreme, while the silver-armored bipedal giants were whispering among themselves about its destined funeral, the physical changes took place unnoticed: even its great master did not expect it at all.

One ordinary morning, when it woke up from its deep sleep, it found that its originally ginger-colored hair had begun to fade: in the next few months, as the hair all over its body became whiter and whiter, its aging had actually stopped, and vitality and health returned to it.

After a while, when the last trace of the original ginger color disappeared, Strong Brain Cat was no longer in danger of death: the original owner had personally conducted several examinations, and although she still didn't understand the principle behind it, her pet had indeed returned to normal and even seemed healthier.

The changes did not stop, their progress was slow but unmistakable: when the first hint of light green color grew out of the tips of the fluffy hair for no reason, the Warmaster actually began an incredible period of reverse growth.

Its body structure gradually returned to the vigor of its youth, even surpassing the years when it was most energetic. Its strength and speed reached unprecedented levels: and it stagnated at this step for a long time.

When the light green hair completely covered every piece of skin on its body, the claws of the Strong Brain Cat could already leave several eye-catching marks on the Astartes warrior's power armor: its exercise volume increased greatly, but its physical condition was always unaffected by the strenuous exercise.

It was from then on that a complex thinking that was detached from the beast dimension gradually took root in the mind of the Strong Brain Cat. About a year later, it had become enlightened, separated from its still wild compatriots, and became an unimaginable new type of life form.

Stronger. Smarter.

More... eternal?
This is simply evolution.

Although this evolutionary period is extremely short for evolution.

The Primarch had her doubts, and she even invited Trazyn the Infinite to study the matter with her: but even the knowledgeable Necron Overlord felt at a loss for what to do with the miracle of life before him.

For safety reasons, Trazyn had suggested that Morgan donate her pet to the Solenamus Museum, but the Primarch refused: Morgan had also tried to spy from a psychic perspective to see if this was the work of the Warp, but on her pet, from beginning to end, there was only a psychic aura that belonged to her alone.

The matter was eventually left unresolved, but from one day on, the original body installed a collar around the neck of the Strong Brain Cat that was invisible unless you looked carefully: in the Strong Brain Cat's increasingly intelligent brain, it could feel the breath of death from this collar.

But it was no ordinary death: it was a death that had little to do with flesh and blood.

Or: The death of psychic energy?

The Warmaster groped in the ventilation duct, looking for signs of invasion by foreign enemies in this shadowy country: it knew that its most powerful rival liked to stroll in this extremely narrow territory, invading its territory behind his long black hair. But many years ago, the black-haired invader rarely appeared in its territory: the Strong Brain Cat naturally regarded this as a victory, but it also did not forget the unique psychic aura carried by the black-haired invader.

That aura had a certain similarity to the aura of its great master: in the many years that followed, more bipedal giants visited its territory, and many of them also possessed this aura.

This seemed to indicate that its master was of the same family as them? These powerful giants left their territory and regularly visited its master's lair?
It’s weird.

In the world of cats, they will not step beyond the territory they have defined, and the reasons for visiting their neighbors are very few: either they have their eyes on the other party's territory, or it is because the mating season has arrived. It is not impossible for them to visit relatives and friends as usual, but definitely not as frequently as these bipedal giants.

So what are they doing here? Are they here to seize the territory of their master, or are they in their estrus period? Considering that the guys who visit seem to be all males, it seems that the latter possibility is more likely.

That's just ridiculous.

These largest giants came to visit their master, but they did not bring any prey to praise their abilities, nor did they prove that they were the ones with the right and ability by fighting each other: no wonder all the guys returned empty-handed.

They are all a bunch of idiots, meow~
The Warmaster moved forward happily, his thoughts of his master urging him to move forward: but before he turned the next corner, a psychic aura that he had never felt before made the Strong-Brain Cat stop moving forward unconsciously.

This is……

Like its owner?
Another one of the same kind?

But it has such a strong smell...

vomit……

It stinks too!
The Strong-Brain Cat rolled over in pain, but it still decided to find out what was going on: after forcing itself to move forward for a few minutes, it quickly came to the top of the head of the bipedal creature that emitted the psychic energy and looked down carefully.

Hmm... a female?
Hiss...wait...

Did she fail in her courtship?
Otherwise, how could this happen?

------

+Ole! +

+ My old friend: Are you really not going to consider my opinion anymore? +
"Shut up!"

＋But this time I really am……＋
"I told you to shut up!"

Orpersun's angry roar echoed through the corridors, and if the Emperor had not activated the silencing field before arriving, it would have attracted the night patrol team long ago: but this did not make the Eternals grateful.

On the contrary, the rage that had been suppressed for half an hour finally broke through Orpersun's calm threshold at this moment: after the Emperor once again chose to bring up old matters, the Eternal finally made up his mind to do something he should have done half an hour ago.

That is……

+Ole! +

The Emperor called out desperately, grabbing onto the door frame next to him.

The slender body was tense in mid-air: the left hand grasped the door frame, while the right hand was clenched in Olpersong's palm, pushing mercilessly towards the outside of the door.

In terms of strength, the Eternals are certainly no match for the Lord of Mankind: but now the Emperor can only try in vain to retain him with words.

＋We can talk more! ＋
"Talk about shit!"

The Eternal laughed.

"Are you qualified to talk?"

"Are you qualified to represent that old bastard who's hiding somewhere?"

"You are just a fragment... No... You are not even a fragment."

"You are just a fragment of his soul that he separated, and a bunch of memories from his worst times were stuffed into it: you are the symbol of the time that Neos least wanted to recall, the time when he wasted himself and everyone around him."

"I don't know how Neos separated you, but I'm sure he had no good intentions at the time. Considering his current career and ideas, your soul fragment may still be a threat to his original body that needs to be thrown away as far as possible."

"And then they dumped you in the Far East!"

"No...it's exile!"

+...+
The emperor fell silent.

＋But……＋
"No buts."

Olperson used all his strength to pull Lucy down from his door frame, and then he threw the delicate little girl gently into the corridor, followed by the sound of the door closing heavily.

The roar of the Immortal came from behind the iron gate.

"get out!"

"Go and torture your daughter!"

"I feel so sorry for her that her genetic father picked out the basest part of his soul to keep her company!"

"Like she's a garbage can!"

(End of this chapter)