Kingdom Come: Deliverance, but Warhammer 40k

"I hate this world."

Henry sighed with genuine admiration.

His response was another dull thud, like a heavy hammer blow, from the outer shell.

The steel frame of the Osprey transport ship groaned under the strain.

The armor plate above was concave inward in an exaggerated arc, with fine cracks spreading like a spider web, and dust falling in a flurry.

Simon leaned against the edge of the control panel next to the driver's seat, his chest heaving violently.

Black lines ran up his neck and up to his ears.

Beneath his pale skin, it seemed as if something alive was slowly moving through the veins of his blood vessels, gradually spreading towards his head.

Henry turned his head to look over.

"Your situation is not good."

"Thanks for reminding me." Simon gave a slight smirk.

"I can feel it myself."

Another violent tremor ensued.

The external armor plating somewhere on the ship's hull was forcibly torn apart, and a leak occurred somewhere, causing the pipes to emit a sharp whistling sound.

In the distance, the faint sound of wet crawling could be heard.

  

Something from outside has already crawled in.

They were wandering around the ship's interior, like a persistent infection, searching for them inside the cabin.

Henry picked up a broken metal lever from his feet and weighed it in his hand.

"So what do we do now?"

"We can't kill it."

Henry paused for a moment.

"This doesn't sound like something you would say."

Simon struggled to his feet.

"Part of it isn't here."

"The ascension is partially complete; its true form still resides in the warp."

Henry frowned.

How did you know?

Simon did not answer, but simply looked down at his right arm.

After a long while, he reached out and slowly rolled up his sleeve.

The black lines had completely covered most of the arm.

Lines of twisted, writhing, bizarre characters constantly rearranged and changed beneath the skin, as if writing some blasphemous prayer.

Henry felt a chill run down his spine after just one glance.

"They are calling me," Simon said softly.

"Who?"

"Demons, evil gods, who knows what else, they've discovered me."

Simon's smile turned bitter.

"Now I finally understand why my father became the way he was."

"When they start making promises to you, when they start tempting you."

"It's hard not to listen."

As soon as he finished speaking, Simon's body froze without warning.

Then he raised his hand.

boom!

A heavy punch landed squarely on his face, and blood immediately gushed from his nose.

"Damn it." Henry was dumbfounded. "What's wrong with you?"

"Sorry," Simon said through gritted teeth, "my head's a bit noisy."

Both of them fell silent.

"What sins has your Carlos family committed that demons are lining up to sneak into your home?"

Simon thought about it seriously.

"Perhaps it's because our obsession runs too deep, and the devil will always find a loophole in people's hearts... Of course, it's also possible that we were just unlucky."

Henry nodded.

"Even the Divine Emperor couldn't protect you."

The two looked at each other and smiled.

But the atmosphere quickly plummeted to freezing point again.

The armor plates overhead made another sickening, creaking sound.

Something heavy was slowly crawling along the outer shell, getting closer and closer to the cockpit.

Henry was silent for a moment, then asked:

"Would you feel better if I could kill that monster?"

Simon didn't answer, he just looked at him.

The answer is self-evident.

Henry grabbed a handful of hair in frustration.

Don't look at me like that.

"I want to go back alive and marry the girl I love. We just got engaged a few days ago."

Simon didn't continue speaking. He turned around, got into the driver's seat, and reached out to push open the dust cover on the control panel.

Pop, pop, pop.

Several switches were turned on in sequence.

The once pitch-black cockpit was now dimly lit, and the electronic systems began to slowly recover.

A series of piercing system warnings sounded.

[Power core offline] [Main thruster failure] [Navigation array failure] [Backup power supply connected]

The red holographic projection flickered wildly in front of my eyes.

The transport ship named Osprey is like a severely ill patient with hemiplegia, being forcibly pulled out of the coffin to work.

Henry stared at the gibberish on the panel.

"You're not planning to drive it away, are you?"

"More or less."

"Where to?"

"In the sky."

Simon looked up and gazed out of the cabin.

"Take that monster out of the atmosphere."

boom--!

Another round of impacts caused the entire ship to shake violently, but Henry was no longer paying attention to the commotion outside.

"Are you crazy? You think this spaceship can even fly?"

"Barely." Simon's hands didn't stop moving.

"The Osprey has no subspace engine, no warp drive, and no interstellar travel capability."

"It can't fly out of this star system, or even too far from this planet, but as long as the spaceship leaves the gravity well and enters a high orbit..."

"It would be trapped in weightlessness, never to return, and even less likely to poison other worlds."

Henry finally understood.

"You want to exile it into space?"

"right."

"and then?"

Simon did not answer, and Henry stared at his back.

"The spaceship has been launched, what should the pilot do?"

Simon continued entering coordinate commands without ever turning back.

Henry raised his voice.

"Don't tell me you're planning to stay on board alone and sail the boat."

Still silent.

Outside the cabin, a sound came from deep within the ventilation ducts.

rustling—rustling—

It's like hundreds or thousands of venomous snakes slithering between the steel layers.

Simon slowly began to speak:

"It has already found my soul in the subspace."

"I can't escape, and I'm the only one who knows how to operate this ship."

Henry cursed.

"Hold."

Simon smiled.

Great minds think alike.

boom! ! !

The airtight isolation door behind the cockpit bulges inward with a large bulge.

A fist-sized hole was squeezed out of the center of the thick explosion-proof steel plate.

A bloodshot eyeball peeked through the hole, spun halfway around, and fixed its gaze on the two of them.

The air seemed to freeze.

"Looks like it's time for us to catch up."

The eyeball split open from the middle, revealing a ring of fine, sharp teeth that emitted a piercing screech.

What followed was an even more intense series of impacts, as if the ship's hull was being devoured and torn apart by countless mouths at the same time.

Simon pulled down the start lever for the main engine.

boom!!!

After hundreds of years of silence, the thrusters finally roared, and the entire spaceship began to tremble as if it had been electrified.

"How much longer?"

Henry stared intently at the hole in the isolation door.

"Three minutes."

"It's going to take this long?"

"Normally it only takes one minute."

"Did you feed the dog in the other two minutes?"

Simon looked at the screen full of refreshed error codes and said...

"It hasn't flown in a long time, please understand, and this is my first time flying too..."

Henry closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then turned to stand in the center of the cockpit entrance.

"I have good news for you."

"What?"

"I can hold on for a long time, much longer than you think."

boom--!!!

The airtight isolation door was finally completely destroyed and collapsed inwards with a loud crash.

The black tentacles surged into the cockpit like a burst dam, rushing through the passageway.

Henry gripped the steel rod in his hand and forced a smile.

"bring it on."

"Today it's either you die or I live."