Kingdom Come: Deliverance, but Warhammer 40k

As you leave the closed interrogation room, the metal hatch slides open to the sides.

What greets you is a vast, dazzling internal cavity.

Layer upon layer of steel platforms rise from the ground, extending all the way to the dome that is out of sight.

Thick industrial pipelines, like the roots of an ancient tree, cling to the bulkhead, while countless cargo elevators move up and down along the tracks.

The lower level spewed out scorching steam, shrouding most of the space in a hazy white mist.

It's less like an interstellar ship and more like a living city.

The market is located in the center.

The shops, a hodgepodge of abandoned shipping containers and broken ship walls, are scattered haphazardly along the street.

Vendors selling synthetic foods, artisans selling weapons, and scavengers trading in items of dubious origin mingled together.

Slave traders sell goods they've collected from different planets, and mercenaries sell their power.

Even a few mechanical priests dressed in scarlet robes brazenly displayed gears and bearings that were supposedly blessed on the street.

The edge of the market was densely packed with tin shacks.

They grew wildly along the hull of the ship, like fungi parasitizing the steel behemoth.

Colorful old clothes hang in mid-air, and children, oblivious to their own weight, run and play among the intricate pipes.

The gray smoke billowing from the bottom of the ship mingled with the smoke from the cheap tobacco being exhaled by idlers on the roadside.

They come together to form a bizarre and fantastical scene.

Many people noticed Henry being carried past.

Curious glances were cast my way.

But most people just glanced at it and then looked away.

  

Continue to busy yourself with what you're doing.

After all, they were on a merchant's ship.

New weirdos appear every day.

Dead, liars, slaves, fugitives.

And fools who dream of getting rich.

In contrast.

It's not uncommon for a human to be carried around.

"Is this your first time aboard a merchant ronin's ship?"

The bearded man next to him spoke up smugly.

"This place is nothing like those coffins in the Imperial Navy."

"I've already said, I'm not a knight," Henry reiterated helplessly.

"I know, I know."

The bearded man nodded perfunctorily.

"Knightly families always have many strange rules, such as not lying, not drinking alcohol, and not readily revealing their identities in public."

"I understand."

Henry gave up arguing completely, since the people in front of him simply wouldn't listen to reason.

He turned his attention back to his surroundings.

The system panel was quiet, with the "Desperate Measures" icon appearing as a dull gray.

This means that no one around him is hostile to him, and he is at least safe for now.

A figure completely shrouded in a black robe walked quickly past.

The large hood almost completely covered his face.

But in the instant he turned around...

Henry still saw those long, pointed ears.

Eldar?

Why are we hiding here?

He noticed Henry's gaze.

The man immediately quickened his pace and disappeared into the crowd.

A melodious singing voice drifted from afar.

Following the sound, on a makeshift tin platform, a tall, exotic singer was performing an unknown tune, her voice ethereal.

A large audience gathered below the stage.

Several drunken Oglin mercenaries squeezed into the front row.

Clumsily swaying to the beat.

Unfortunately, their sense of balance was really worrying. After a few wobbles, the three behemoths rolled together like collapsing siege towers.

It accidentally crushed half of a bench next to it, drawing a chorus of curses.

"I think they're about to start fighting."

There were people nearby watching the spectacle, not wanting it to get any worse.

"It would be better if they fought."

Another person rubbed their hands together to join in the fun.

"I'll bet fifty Throne Coins on the one with the bigger body to win."

Which one?

"Nonsense, the one with the most outrageous size."

Just as everyone was arguing about the bet, Henry stopped in his tracks.

On the metal bulkhead to the side, a patch of dark red, proliferating flesh had appeared out of nowhere.

The mass of tissue undulated and writhed as if breathing, and then a distorted human face squeezed out from deep within the flesh.

Thick liquid filled his cracked lips, and his yellowed teeth were uneven.

The face was turned directly toward Henry, and a strange call came out of his throat.

"Henry... I've finally found it—"

boom!

The strange talk came to an abrupt end.

A short-haired mercenary who happened to be passing by grabbed a broad-bladed shovel and delivered a relentless, heavy blow.

With a dull thud, the blasphemous face was smashed flat, and flying debris covered the bulkhead.

"What a fucking bad luck."

The mercenary spat and yelled at the top of his lungs towards the other end of the street.

"Who's in charge of this area?"

"Another growth has appeared on this bulkhead!"

"Is there a passing priest who would like to sprinkle some holy water?"

"If no one cleans it up soon, I'm going to chop it up and stew it!"

Few people around him paid him any attention.

They have clearly become accustomed to this.

"It's an old problem; the insulation layer on the three decks is always leaking."

Someone in the crowd casually chimed in.

"I heard it's something left over from when you traveled through the warp last time. You'd better burn it clean right away."

"I know."

The mercenary, wielding a shovel, responded impatiently and delivered two more heavy blows to the wreckage on the wall.

Seeing that the rotten flesh had completely turned into a puddle of mush, he finally picked up the shovel with satisfaction, whistling as he walked away.

Henry frowned as he watched.

There's no need to make a fuss.

The bearded man reached out and patted him on the back, speaking nonchalantly.

"On a ship, it's normal for talking creatures to occasionally grow out of the cracks in the walls."

"If you just pretend to be deaf and dumb and ignore it, you usually won't cause any trouble."

"generally?"

Most of the time.

The bearded man stroked his chin with an air of importance.

"Going missing is a very common thing."

"That's enough chatting, we've arrived."

They arrived at the entrance of a circular building.

Henry was pushed from behind by the crowd and stumbled as he stepped over the gate.

Before they could even stand firmly, a deafening roar erupted.

The alloy door slammed shut behind them with a loud crash.

The searchlight in front shone on his face.

Henry involuntarily squinted, but his hearing was already overwhelmed by the overwhelming sound.

Frenzied cheers, shrill whistles, and vulgar curses;

In addition, the gamblers screamed hysterically.

The noise reverberated repeatedly beneath the steel roof.

Once my eyesight had adjusted to the bright light, the scene before me finally became clear.

What you see is a gladiatorial arena illegally converted from a large, abandoned cargo hold.

The circular viewing platform rose layer by layer along the mottled bulkhead, and the makeshift welded stands were packed with people.

The onlookers waved their arms wildly, spitting as they went, like a pack of hyenas that had caught the scent of blood.

Henry himself stood alone in front of the arena below.

"ladies and gentlemen--!!!"

An electronic synthesized sound began.

A swaying broadcasting machine, dragging its tracks, entered the field.

That thing's jawbone, along with its vocal cords, had already been modified.

A superb loudspeaker made from the organs of living people, topped with a ring of cheap, flickering colored lights.

"Let's give a warm round of applause to today's challenger—!!!"

The roaring stands fell silent for a moment, followed by an even more frenzied roar.

The machine servant raised its two modified mechanical arms high.

"The legendary knight who survived the warp storm—!!!"

"The bloodline of a lost noble family—!!!"

"A great warrior, wandering alone in the boundless galaxy, fighting to restore his family's former glory—!!!"

"Hey you... Henry—!!!"

The atmosphere in the stands was ignited.

"Go up there and tear those bastards to shreds!!!"

Henry remained unmoved by the overwhelming cheers from the crowd.

He knew very well that he had been on the merchant ronin's ship for less than a day, and the fanatical guys in the stands probably couldn't even spell his full name correctly.

Those guys are nothing but madmen hoping to make a fortune through gambling.

The servant's announcements were far from over.

Its head turned toward the other side of the gate.

"And his opponent—!!!"

"Gorgroot—!!!"

"The legendary warrior who once single-handedly withstood a Tyranid swarm for a full fifteen minutes—!!!"

"Oeglin, possessing extraordinary wisdom—!!!"

"A great genius who can even remember his own full four-character name word for word—!!!"

The frenzied roar nearly blew off the metal roof of the cargo hold.

"Gorgroot!!!"

"Gorgroot!!!"

Accompanied by deafening shouts, the heavy gate on the opposite side slowly rose, accompanied by the grinding sound of gears.

All the spectators were shouting and eagerly awaiting the appearance of the legendary Oglin.

However, the one who stepped out of the shadows of the passage was a heavily modified, muscular man whose physique was vastly different from his own.

Balu strolled leisurely up the metal steps into the arena.

The boiling venue got stuck.

Immediately afterwards, a deafening barrage of insults erupted.

"Fuck your mother's money back!!!"