I summoned the Fourth Scourge in Warhammer

Chapter 118 The Trial Chamber: Are we a very, very bad institution?
The group walked through the devastated streets and finally arrived at the once luxurious but now desolate Upper Nest District.

The moment he stepped out of the car, Cronan, the wolf lord, twitched his nostrils, which were even more sensitive than a dog's. He took a deep breath of the air, thick with the stench of blood, gunpowder, and death, and a knowing look appeared on his rugged face.

“In the entire Upper Nest, I only smelled the scent of sixty people,” he said in a deep voice, which echoed across the empty square. “And they all reeked of gunpowder… It seems that those nobles did indeed die quite cleanly.”

Ruan Wenbo, who was standing next to him, was suddenly startled.

Krona's figure was absolutely accurate! He can precisely sense the number of people within a radius of tens or hundreds of kilometers just by twitching his nose? Seriously, man... this is beyond the realm of biology!
Despite the turmoil within him, Ruan Wenbo maintained a calm expression. He explained, “Yes, Your Excellency. There were some survivors who had only undergone mild modifications and still retained consciousness; they might have had a chance to recover. But considering the potential for chaotic contamination, and in order to end the ongoing torment they had endured, we executed them all and then burned them.”

"Hahahaha! Mortal, you don't need to explain so carefully!" Upon hearing this, Crona let out a thunderous, hearty laugh. "I'm not here to interrogate you, much less the kind of 'villain' who likes to turn against allies! You did a great job, very well! I forgive you for not preparing barbecue for me."

When Croner said the word "scoundrel," he deliberately emphasized it and raised his voice. The wolf guards behind him also erupted in boisterous laughter, their undisguised mocking gazes fixed on Judge Herbert and his group, whom they had intentionally or unintentionally sidelined. Clearly, they weren't going to let go of any opportunity to discredit the Inquisition.

The protagonist, Herbert, who was being mocked... was used to it. The judge simply stood there expressionless, as if the surrounding commotion had nothing to do with him.

“In fact, even if you had given us time to prepare, we could only provide nutritional bars.” Ruan Wenbo thought for a moment and decided to be frank. He could sense that being straightforward might be more to the liking of these space wolves. “At most, we’ll add a few bottles of fine wine that we temporarily scavenged from the upper hive. We’ve prioritized supplying all resources to the front lines and transferred all the population of the lower hive to the factories in the middle hive, so that they can produce military equipment day and night.”

At this point, Nguyen Van Bo paused for a moment, then added, "However, if you all request, we can try making barbecue. After all, with your help, we will surely be able to end the war here quickly."

“Alright, alright,” Crona waved his enormous hand impatiently. “We don’t need your supplies. It’s not like I, a Space Marine, am here to bully you mortals.”

The group passed through the ruins of the former governor's mansion and arrived at a temporary morgue. Sixteen enormous bodies covered with white sheets lay there silently, and even through the sheets, one could feel the inhuman oppression they had exuded in life.

A wolf guard stepped forward, deftly lifting the white sheet to carefully examine each corpse. After a moment, he returned to Crona and reported, "Boss, five of these bodies are badly mangled, as if they were killed at close range by a powerful cannon; nine have penetrating wounds from sharp weapons in vital areas, but the main cause of their deaths should be falling objects; one was killed with a power sword, a single, swift blow; and the last one was riddled with thorns."

“Hmm.” Crona nodded, acknowledging his subordinate’s findings. He turned his head, his sharp eyes, like a winter wind, fixed on Nguyen Van Bo. “Tell me, how did you take them down?”

“Our operation was divided into three phases,” Nguyen Van Bo said in a deep voice, beginning to recount the fierce battle. “In the first phase, we used our infantry as the vanguard, sacrificing their lives to draw enemy fire and create opportunities for our Leman Russ Victors tanks to get close and fire; in the second phase, after confirming the killing of five Space Marines, we detonated the thermobaric bombs placed along the way at the structural support points of the Governor’s Mansion, causing a large-scale structural collapse; in the third phase, we dug out and cleared away any Fallen Space Marines who might have survived the collapse.”

Krona listened quietly, a barely perceptible hint of admiration flashing in his eyes.

“Very courageous, and you’re very honest.” He thought for a moment and gave his assessment. “Alright, we’ve seen it. Burn it.”

Those who had been waiting in the wings, armed with promethium flamethrowers, immediately stepped forward to carry out the order.

However, Judge Herbert, who had been intentionally or unintentionally kept at the perimeter by the wolf guards throughout, finally lost his temper. "Wait! Don't burn it! I haven't even seen it yet!" he shouted, trying to push through the human wall. "I warn you, you are obstructing the judge from performing his duties!"

"You're warning us?" Crona whirled around, his approval instantly replaced by rage. His voice was like the icy wind of the Fenris ice plains. "We've put up with you for so long, and you really think you're something special?"

"Shua-"

Almost simultaneously, the wolf guards placed their hands on their chainsaws and slingshots at their waists, while the guards behind Herbert also raised their guns without hesitation. The atmosphere instantly became tense, with both sides on the verge of exploding.

Of course, from a purely forceful standoff perspective, the outcome of this confrontation was a foregone conclusion—the judge and his guards would be hacked to pieces on the spot.

"Wait, Lord Krona!" At this critical moment, Nguyen Van Bo quickly stepped forward and stood between the two groups of people. "The front line is engaged in fierce fighting with the Ork. Every bit of the Empire's strength is crucial. We'd better not waste our internal resources!"

A shocking scene happened.

Upon hearing Ruan Wenbo's words, the enraged wolf lord actually released his hand from his weapon.

“Hmph, you have a point.” Crona glanced at Herbert, his tone full of disdain. “Let’s go, kids! I want to see what interesting tactics these mortals who have taken down a Chaos Warband will use to deal with the Greenskins.”

Having said that, the Space Wolves truly ignored the Inquisitor's Guard, who were still in a standoff, and swaggered away under Crona's leadership. This sudden turn of events left Herbert and his guards standing there, guns in hand, utterly embarrassed and in a precarious position.

Herbert quickly recovered from his shock, his face grim. He instantly understood the true intentions hidden behind Croner's seemingly reckless actions.

“This is supporting these mortals…” he muttered to himself, his voice laced with suppressed anger. “He’s warning me not to lay a hand on them…”

Herbert was absolutely right. To the Space Wolves, anyone who could kill a Space Marine with a mortal body, regardless of the means used, was a worthy warrior. Warriors could die gloriously on the battlefield, but they should never be executed by their own people for some inexplicable reason.

“What do they take the Inquisition for!” Herbert roared inwardly in fury. “Some kind of conspiracy to bury the heroes of the Empire!”

...Although, just now, he had indeed had the thought that "these guys might have been corrupted by hidden chaos," and had begun to seriously consider what means to use to confirm their loyalty.

(End of this chapter)