Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 603 Ning Lu, aged a thousand years, felt weakness and pain for the first time.
879.M30.

At the heart of Craven's underground, under the Primarch's orders, the Third Chapter took over the front lines from the other three Chapters and took charge of the attack on the Archives.

The father of genetics hoped to obtain as complete information about the Hruds as possible.

Oleksand, a newly appointed "Requiem Master," walks through the tunnel.

In the darkness, the "Requiemr" transcends the perception of the Shadow of Order and the aid of his armor; he can see everything clearly and even capture the distorted and unreal Hrud.

Oleksand looked around; the tunnel walls were uneven, but the surface was as smooth as glass.

Even termite excavators can't dig tunnels like this.
As the thought of "the soul soother" flashed through his mind, he suddenly felt a suffocating heat surge up inside the tunnel.

He knew Hrud had arrived; time had moved ahead of them.

Their influence tears at the structure of spacetime itself, and the bizarre, accelerating motion surrounding them alters the composition of the atmosphere, making it thicker.

The speed of light exceeds the limits of nature, and the hue subtly shifts towards the blue end of the spectrum.

The "Requiem" had completely black eyes, and Hrud, who was raising his plasma flintlock pistol and wielding his two lightsabers, stopped in his tracks.

The honor guard members beside him raised their archaeological pistols, unleashing beams of energy harvested from the stars at each of the Hruds who were forcibly pulled into a dream.

The darkness in the eyes of the "Requiemr" faded, and Olexand continued forward, passing through one secret room and passageway after another.

The Hruds' buildings had no doors; each of their passageways and secret rooms was connected to the next one.

Oleksand walked along the raised road toward a large room.

A group of Hruds had just poured out of the room when they met their deaths in the dream he had created, without any chance to launch an attack.

Oleksand walked into a large room, his gaze sweeping over a hollow, honeycomb-shaped shelf made of some kind of resin.

Most of the shelves were piled with solidified mycelium, and there were also some mycelium rolls on the floor and in strange leaf-shaped containers.

Marlena Skala stared at the scene before her, as the Katachon vines tore open the layers of dead skin that enveloped the Hrud.

The bio-psychic placed his left hand on the Hrud's body, keeping the corpse frozen at the moment of death.

Malena witnessed a dead Hrud man rapidly dissolve into a foul-smelling liquid.

To conduct her research, she must use bio-energy to maintain the activity of every cell in the Hrud people.

The bio-psychic also completed the analysis of the Hrud's physical structure.

Her right hand flew across the paper, the vines acting like hands, supporting the data tablet for the "biologist":
An unknown silicone compound exists in the skeletal structure.

Hypothesis: Organic linkage with protein chains?
...]

The biologist had a sudden thought, tossed his hand, and a vine cascaded down, catching the falling pen.

The "biologist's" hand rested on Hrud's left eye, and a spiritual aura spread.

After a moment, she withdrew her hand, took the pen, and continued writing:
There are two visual organs, which are roughly similar in structure to the human eye, but much larger.

There were no obvious cone cells, but a large number of spiral-shaped unknown objects were accumulated on the retina.

Conclusion: The sensory organs of the Heruds supported their underground and nocturnal lifestyle.

At the same time that the "biologist" was studying Hrud, the third layer of space in the "disordered country" was also present.

Ninglu gripped the flagpole with his left hand and picked up the prophecy die with his right, a plan flashing through his mind.

Geometric shapes flashed through my mind: the black mist of the "Land of Chaos," the uniqueness of the "Red Priest," and the green teardrops of the Tears of Silence.

After the entire plan was presented step by step, he silently recited it to himself.

Methods for improving sacrificial rituals.

[…]
As he silently recited the prophecy, the prophecy die trembled slightly.

Nimrod noticed that the prophecy dice were different from those used in previous divinations. [The prophecy involved source matter, uniqueness, and fragments of the star god?]
He hesitated for a moment, but ultimately tossed the triangular cone into the air.

The triangular prism seemed to fly to its highest point in slow motion, trembling incessantly.

It paused for a minute, and just when Ninglu thought the divination had failed, the triangular pyramid spun rapidly like a windmill, so fast that even the Primarch of Gene could not keep up.

A vision flashes before the Genome's superhuman brain, which imprints the fleeting image into its memory.

Ning Lu opened his palm and caught the falling triangular cone.

He opened his palm and caught the dull, lusterless triangular pyramid.

The "Corrupted Baron" slung the flagpole behind his back, activated his spiritual vision, and gazed at the prophecy dice.

[Hmm... the spiritual light is dim, but it hasn't disappeared.]

If the worst-case scenario doesn't occur, divination should still be possible.

Recovery time increased? Prediction range decreased?
While Ninglu was pondering, he put down the prophecy dice.

Upon returning to the real world, he issued an order to land on the capital world of the Hruds—the planet Gugan.

Malena, along with Arsène Dunne and Diana Boleyn, spent ten days setting up the altar under the command of the Black Emperor.

The entire altar was filled with legion symbols and the Black Emperor's emblem.

The altar of the even-numbered black and gold building is an abstract crown, with pillars bent into spikes and wings covering its head.

Disordered black runes, forming arcs, were imprinted on every surface.

The biologist stared at the completed altar, as if he saw a huge shadow looming over it.

She glanced at the Black Emperor with awe, and the blasphemous thoughts in her mind vanished instantly.

Disordered black arcs, followed by wings, spikes, and an abstract crown above.

As night falls, the stasis device is activated.

Nimrod stood atop the crown, holding the "Red Priest" Path of Uniqueness, and chanted a new incantation in Dunn.

“In my name, I bestow upon the ‘Red Priest’ and the ‘Disordered Kingdom’ power, so that the static force field may not be perceived by the Hruds outside of Gugan.”

In the instant the "Corrupted Baron" was drained of his spirit, the altar briefly granted him the identity of the master of the "Disordered Kingdom".

The power of the source was activated, and rising black mist filled the entire altar.

An invisible and colorless flame rose from the flagpole, and the uniqueness of the "Red Priest" shone brightly.

In the night of Gugan, a light flashed. Hundreds of millions of Hrud surged about, frantically bumping into each other.

The tunnel rattled and the cave trembled incessantly.

Immediately, they stopped and surged toward the repulsive thing.

Among countless Hruds, deep underground, an individual four times the size of his kin flew like a streak of shadow, smashing away the Hruds blocking his way.

Behind him, Hruds, like ants, carried bizarre machine components and moved forward.

After the Primarch's perception range was filled with the vast expanse of Hrud, he waited a moment until the distorting force field compressed the stasis field by one-third before he began to chant the incantation.

"In my name, I silence Hrud!"

On the wings, one side had eleven silent runes, while the other side had thirty-three green teardrops that lit up first.

Then, on each of the thirty-three black spikes, eleven green teardrop runes shone.

Finally, the crown beneath his feet lit up simultaneously with the thirty-three outer rings and the eleven inner rings of silence runes.

Eight hundred and fourteen talismans shone brightly, and a green teardrop rapidly took shape, covering the entire planet.

All Hruds fell into a state of stasis, except for one.

King of Hrud.

He, along with the Shadow of Order and the Auxiliary Army, remained motionless for only a moment.

The next instant, he swung his limbs and flew forward at great speed.

Wherever he went, the still Hruds sprang to life and followed behind him.

Four minutes later, Ninglu, who was busy collecting potion ingredients, suddenly stopped.

The Primarch sensed a mass of Hrud rapidly approaching.

There was actually a special individual.

Hmm... In the billions of Hrud races, there is a possibility that a special individual could be born based on the probability of evolution.

The king of the Hruds?
Ninglu flapped his golden wings and flew towards Hrud.

As the distance closed, the Primarch's perception range expanded, and he discovered that a million-strong Hrud army had been awakened and was following behind their king.

His golden wings burst into flames, and his speed suddenly increased. Like a shooting star, he arrived in front of Hrud in an instant.

The Primarch instantly felt that he had aged a thousand years, and his body was heavy.

"The Corrupted Baron" channeled all his spirituality into the Hand of Order gauntlets and roared in Dunn's tongue.

"By law, time distortion is prohibited here!"

The Primarch's eyes flickered with light and shadow as he clenched and waved his right hand.

A massive rift has been torn open between the real universe and the subspace.

In the highest heavens, within the crystal spire of the Impossible Fortress, a gaze was cast toward Gugan.

He saw a dazzling flame.

In the real world, the "Vortex of Destruction" swept up tens of thousands of Hrud's kin.

The tens of thousands of Hrud distortion fields were shattered by the immense telekinetic power, and the limbs disintegrated, turning into a shower of light.

The "Corrupted Baron" channeled all his newly restored spirituality into the Hand of Order gauntlets, then raised his hand and pushed downwards.

The flowing liquid fell from the sky, enveloping King Hrud in layers.

In the highest heavens, the wicked and strange shook their staff.

The flames died down, and He saw Nimrod and the amber on the ground.

His gaze swept over Nimrod, who was flying away with Amber in tow, before turning his attention back to the most perfect Primarch—Magnus.

As Ninglu took to the air, he ordered four battle groups to launch an attack and wipe out the remaining Hruds.

Having aged a thousand years, he had exhausted his spiritual energy twice during the sacrificial ceremony and twice more during the battle just now, and had also released all his spiritual energy, leaving him feeling extremely weak and in pain.

Ning Lu's face was deathly pale, and his mind felt as if a thousand steel needles were churning inside him.

He didn't recover until ten minutes later.

Nimrod sent King Hrud to the "Land of Chaos," and then began collecting potion ingredients while also contemplating the matter.

[Yes, when I did the divination, I was unaware of the existence of the Hrud King and did not take that factor into consideration.]

The prophecy dice divination involves primordial matter, uniqueness, and fragments of astral gods; it lacks the ability to fill in the missing information.
Nimrod recalled the first Gorgis sacrifice, the Hruds breaking through the stasis field device created by Peturabo, and the aging of Alsena and others.

The second time at the Craven Ceremony, for unknown reasons, a large number of Hruds were late.

Now, the third accident has occurred.

Once is an accident, three times is inevitable.

Ninglu pondered for a moment and realized the reason: he had used power beyond his own rank.

As expected, power beyond one's own level is difficult to control.

Use the uniqueness of the "Red Priest" with caution to prevent unforeseen disasters.

Upon reaching promotion to Rank 4, I should experience a qualitative change, at which point I may be able to better wield the power of uniqueness.
Ninglu then examined himself again, waved his arm, and released his telekinetic power to sweep up Hrud.

Although he is a thousand years older, it has little impact.

When advancing to "Chaos Mentor", replacing a regular Hrud with Hrud King will result in a power boost that far outweighs the loss.

At least he didn't end up like Ryan ten thousand years later, with a full head of white hair and a noticeable decline in strength.
Ning Lu weighed the gains and losses and concluded:

He obtained better potion ingredients than expected, and his power temporarily decreased, but he will receive a greater boost when he advances to the next level.

To achieve our strategic objective and capture the Gugan Galaxy.

The Shadow of Order suffered far fewer deaths than the Iron Warriors, achieving a genuine victory rather than a false one like Peturabo's.

(End of this chapter)