Warhammer 40k: Melee Warriors

The laser pistol, which had no energy left, emitted a beam of red light and instantly severed the traitor's arm. At that moment, I was overwhelmed with happiness and didn't come to my senses even after being rescued by reinforcements.

Once I was safe, I took out the laser pistol and called out the name of my first friend repeatedly, gently patting her cold exterior. Incense I had bought from the cyborg priest was burning in the house.

She responded! Though faint, I heard it! My laser pistol responded to me! Her machine spirit was awakened by me, and all the sacrifices were worthwhile! I excitedly hugged the laser pistol to my chest, kissing its shell with tears in my eyes. This was a treatment my wife and children had never received. I only stopped when the gun, now without power, became a little hot.

Heh... My laser pistol's machine spirit is actually getting shy because of my enthusiasm? Isn't that adorable?

As I carefully disassembled the pistol's casing and meticulously inspected the beautiful structure beneath for any damage, the machine's spirit shyly told me that my soul had been tainted...

After my initial shock, I chose to believe in the Machine Soul. In the dead of night, I ran to the state church and begged the nuns and priests there to conduct a purification test on me. I am not afraid of death, but if my impurity were to affect my Machine Soul, causing her lovely soul to be hated and erased, then I would truly be unable to forgive myself.

The nuns glared at me, and the priests rebuked me, but they didn't kill me or purify my body with fire. They made me wait in the cell. After what seemed like an eternity, there was a knock on the door. It was the sinful nuns who had taught us to sing.

The convicted nun was wearing armor, but my gaze lingered on her trembling ears. It took me a while to notice that she was holding something entirely black, like a black crystal ball.

She said it was a Machine Spirit Mapping Screen, a magical object created by the great Sage Otto to make it easier for people to communicate with Machine Spirits.

The guilty nun took my laser pistol away, and then pulled out several cables from the machine spirit projection screen and connected them to the laser pistol.

In an instant, the screen, as dark and deep as the night sky, was lit up. The mysterious binary code of the Myriad Machine God flowed within it, awakening countless sophisticated devices and emitting light. Their precise arrangement and combination allowed me to see the true face of the laser pistol's soul.

Ah... what a lovely, shy face it was! Although it was much simpler than a human expression, this simplicity only made me feel more affection for it.

Then the Guilty Sister and the Machine Soul communicated. Basically, she would ask a question, and the Machine Soul would make an expression. Finally, the Guilty Sister would nod, ending her interrogation.

“Ober, you are indeed tainted by impurity, and the forces of darkness have their eyes on you, but fortunately you haven’t fallen too deep. The soul you awakened with your sincerity pulled you back from the edge of the abyss, and you should thank her.”

“I will, Sister, I will definitely do it, I swear in the name of the Savior.”

"No, an oath is far from enough. Betrayal cannot be forgiven, even if you choose to repent. Now you are a sinner, burdened with guilt, destined to atone with your life under the merciful banner of Saint Otto. Now, drink this and accept your fate."

What am I seeing? Is that undiluted, genuine Beast Brew? Can one cleanse oneself of sins simply by drinking this uniquely flavored liquid?

I didn't understand, but I was deeply shocked. Under the watchful eye of the guilty nun, I accepted the Beast Brew and drank it all in one gulp...

And then... that was it. Kayan's surveillance ended there, and the wisp of soul written on the contract with its own soul completely disappeared.

What did I see?

Kayan fell into deep suspicion. In his view, everything that Ober had experienced had nothing to do with the loyalty promoted by the human empire. It was just the Chaos cult's way of recruiting followers.

To lower people's guard, a new title was given under the guise of the emperor's name—Savior.

By linking their wills together, the cult leader can better manipulate the singing and chanting of his followers—the interruption of his own monitoring must be because those songs have triggered energy in the subspace.

He believed he had fallen into depravity and sought redemption among the loyalists. After receiving help, he thought he would be safe and sound. In reality, the loyalists he sought were the mastermind behind the biggest traitor's scheme.

Ober drank Beast Beer, which was bright red in color, had a unique taste, and was very attractive, even addictive.

This stuff is definitely not wine! It's made with blood and witchcraft, a filthy substance used by Otto, a Slaanesh cultist, to corrupt the people of the empire!

What did Ober become in the end? Considering the sinful nun's appearance, Kayan thought pessimistically that he must have become a beastman, just not as disgusting as the beastmen on the lower decks of their ship.

That damned Otto! This isn't just any ordinary Slaanesh follower; even a Tzeentch archduke couldn't replicate what he's done! He became a saint of the Empire by utterly defeating Abaddon's army, gaining even more trust and power to do things that please Slaanesh...

This is terrifying... This is all so terrifying...

I have to tell Abaddon to hurry up and act, or all our efforts in the Gothic Sector will be taken away by this damn guy!

"Mephitari, I need to go see the War Commander." Kayan opened his eyes and grabbed Mephitari's slender wrist, telling her not to tickle him with her hair.

“But I’m so bored…” Mephitari complained, her voice languid yet tinged with a hint of bloodlust.

"I will send some new slaves to your den."

“I don’t want those slaves. Torturing them is pointless.” Mephitari scoffed, then put her arm around Kayan’s neck and said, “I want just one of the Space Marines you’ve captured.”

"Not even one. The War Commander needs them to support them until their second gene seed matures."

"You're so cruel. Without the nourishment of pain, I'll slowly wither away, sob sob..."

Kayan was somewhat helpless; he couldn't do anything about Mephitari's coquettishness. Then he said, "I'll give you two chapter servants. They're both Space Marines who failed to be modified. You'll have to make do with them."

Mephitari blinked, which meant she accepted Kayan's suggestion.

Kayan shook his head and immediately went to find Abaddon to tell him about his discovery.

Chapter 594: Close the door and climb out the window

Ten minutes later...

"What did you say? The infiltration of the Tarantis system failed? Because Otto had already corrupted the people of that world beforehand?" Abaddon asked through gritted teeth.

“Yes, Warlord. Before becoming our servants, the people of that world had already become followers of Slaanesh… I have ways to shake the ignorant people of the Empire, but I have no way to deal with other cultists whose minds have already been taken over, unless their masters want these people to become an incommunicable Chaos Egg.”

"That damned Otto... Without a ritual performed by cultists, how are we supposed to get around Mandeville Point and reach the Tarantis system? We can't just ram our warships through their defenses, can we?"

Kayan thought for a moment, then suggested to Abaddon, "Should we send Mephitari to ask the Eldar?"

"Well... it's not impossible."

"But she wants payment."

“Isn’t she your servant? What payment does she want! Can’t you act like a master and be a little tougher, and when she makes unreasonable demands, pin her down on your knees and spank her ass hard? If you can’t do that, then let Terremanon do it. He’s still obsessed with your servants.” Abaddon said, glancing unhappily at Cayan.

Kayan remained silent, but the psionic energy gathering around his massive axe indicated his displeasure. Abaddon knew he wasn't annoyed by Kayan's complaints about his strange relationship with Mephitari, but rather by his dislike for Terremanon. In earlier years, Terremanon had frequently harassed Mephitari, resulting in Kayan stripping him of his senses for a long time.

"Alright, alright..." Abaddon asked, pinching the bridge of his nose with a hint of helplessness, "What kind of reward does that Dark Eldar want?"

"A Space Marine whom she tortured."

"I can only give him one Chaos Space Marine."

"May I ask what this Chaos Space Marine you despise has done?"

"He tried to sketch my butt on the paper..."

"Oh...I see. Another hopeless case whose mind has been influenced by the Masked Dancer, huh? I'll send Mephitari to contact the Dark Eldar right now."

After Kayan's maneuvering, the Dark Eldar offered their help, but not for free. They demanded more slaves from Abaddon's inventory and also asked Abaddon to provide them with a Blackrock Fortress to play with.

Abaddon could barely agree to the first request while frowning, but the second request made him want to betray him. As the son of Horus who was more driven by his superiors than by calm thinking, Abaddon immediately flew into a rage after receiving the reply. He roared in front of Kayan that he would cut the blades of the Black Legion into the dark towers of Comoros.

However, Kayan then persuaded Abaddon with reason and emotion, finally convincing him to agree to make a worthless promise using a Blackrock Fortress that still belonged to the Empire of Man.

"If you can help our fleet warp directly into the Tarantis system, we can defeat the Human Empire and gain absolute advantage in the Gothic Sector. Then I can fulfill my promise and control a Blackrock Fortress to send to the Comoros."

Such a response naturally did not satisfy the Dark Eldar, so they prepared to concentrate their forces to launch a surprise attack on a Blackrock Fortress, and before Abaddon could react, they fled with the fortress.

They burst out of the network tunnels, their fast raiding ships rampaging through Blackrock Fortress, annihilating the mutants, beastmen, Chaos Cultists, and wave after wave of Chaos Space Marines stationed there.

The Dark Eldar paid a heavy price to break into the heart of Blackrock Fortress. They attempted to use ancient knowledge to gain control of the fortress, but they clearly underestimated the impact of the artifact in Abaddon's hands on Blackrock Fortress.

The Warlord activated the artifact, and Blackrock Fortress transformed into a stubborn rock independent of the ever-expanding universe, its position unchanging. The Dark Eldar raiding force was trapped inside and could only wait in despair for Abaddon's support fleet to arrive and kill them one by one.

After that battle, the Eldar became much more subdued. They realized that even if they abandoned Abaddon and attacked the remaining three Blackrock Fortresses, they couldn't bring them into the Comoror, unless the Warmaster took pity on them.

After some haggling, Abaddon and the Eldar, with Kayan as the intermediary, finally reached an agreement: the Eldar would lead Abaddon's fleet into the Webway, bypassing the Imperial fleet's deployment at Mandeville.

In return, Abaddon had to provide half of their fleet's slave reserves, and regardless of victory or defeat, they had to provide a Blackrock Fortress for the Dark Eldar to use.

To prevent each other from breaking the fragile contract, they each used their own methods to bind the other.

Abaddon had Kayan place a curse on the Dark Eldar, so that if these Blade-Eared Aliens tried to use the complexities within the Web of Depths to destroy his fleet, the Slaanesh would immediately capture their souls.

The Dark Eldar then subjected Abaddon to a dark ritual, ensuring his scent would remain forever in the Mandela Assassins' olfactory register...

After completing the final preparations, a massive rift opened up in front of the Dark Eldar's dagger-like, long and sharp warship. Abaddon had never seen such a large entrance to the net tunnel, which could even allow all three of his Blackrock Fortresses to enter simultaneously.

Just as he was about to go in, the Dark Eldar governor reminded Abaddon.

"Wait a minute, there are still some things I haven't told you. Expanding such a large network is not an easy task for us either. The slaves you handed over barely covered the cost price. We need you to do more to compensate for our losses, otherwise you can prepare to be eternally lost in the broken structure of the network."

What do you want?

“Our superiors want that saint named Otto. Some of the losses in Comoros need to be attributed to him. We want prisoners, prisoners who are not injured at all.”

Abaddon squinted. He himself wanted to capture Otto, or even the masked dancer who was harassing him, and tie up and torture those two damned Slaanesh servants. But for the sake of victory, Abaddon agreed to the consul's increased price.

He replied, "If you're going to torture that Otto, I'd like you to record it and send me a copy."

"Hehehe... That depends on what my husband decides, but I will pass on your opinion to him."

Abaddon gave the group of Dark Eldar ships a deep look, then ordered the Chaos army to enter the net tunnels and follow a small pirate-class escort ship to find the location of the Tarantis system.

Chapter 595: The Battle That Decides the Gothic Sector

The Chaos Fleet disappeared into the network, but this was not detected by the psionicists serving in the Gothic Fleet. After all, the disappearance of the Shit Mountain did not mean that the smell they emitted would also disappear. The psionicists still believed that the Chaos Fleet was stationed far away in the Tarantis system, waiting for an opportunity to launch a full-scale attack.

Before that, Luvansberg's fleet was still reinforcing the defenses of Mandeville point in the Tarantish system, with fortresses being assembled from modular components, and macro cannons and light spears aimed at the deep void.

Meanwhile, the people of Tarantis and the other two planets did not slacken their efforts. In just a few months, the number of soldiers there had increased fiftyfold. Almost every family had one or two people enlisting in the army, and the rest went to factories to prepare for the war.

Koken was perplexed, because in the past few days he had not only failed to detect any signs of the Chaos Cult emerging, but he had also dealt with the surrender of many traitors, General Ober being just one of them.

Did I go too far? Making this planet impregnable and invincible, what if it discourages Abaddon from attacking?

Or perhaps we could loosen the controls a bit, let the judges in the courtroom spread some corruption, and lure Abaddon into this trap.

Or we could call out a masked dancer, and I could dress up as Abaddon and sing "Father" for his deceased father.

While Gu Jian hesitated, a sudden change occurred.

The star at the center of the galaxy lost its temperature in just a few hours, and the light it emitted changed from pale blue to scarlet. Finally, huge black spots appeared on the surface of the star, and under the shocked gaze of the mechanical monk, three huge black stone fortresses suddenly sprang out from the star.

"Abaddon's Legion! The enemy is behind us!"

"This is impossible!"

Since these events all occurred within the same star system, Koji couldn't possibly ignore them. He immediately retrieved the images recorded by the warship's observation instruments and discovered the secret of Abaddon's fleet's voyage.

"Look!" Koken pointed to the remaining spatial fragments in the complex structure of Blackrock Fortress and deduced, "The enemy used the network tunnels. They hid their fleet in Blackrock Fortress to avoid the destruction of their warships by the star's high temperature!"

"Then what should we do? Doesn't that mean our defenses are useless?"

“Hehe…” Koji chuckled twice. He recalled the original Gothic War. At that time, the Imperial Navy was not qualified to build a defensive line. They could only fight their way to Blackrock Fortress with human lives.

Although Abaddon has now occupied a position around the star, he arrived hastily without deploying his fleet or fully charging the magnificent cannons of Blackrock Fortress. The advantage in the battle still lies with the Imperial Navy.

Komi made a decisive move, immediately leading the fleet that was stationed above the orbit of Tarantis to meet the enemy. Their goal was to block Abaddon's fleet at the entrance of Blackrock Fortress, preventing them from unleashing their full firepower for the time being.

Meanwhile, Admiral Luvansberg also learned of the turmoil at the star. He abandoned the defenses he had painstakingly built and led the Gothic fleet behind Komi. Based on the speed of their ships, it would only take four hours for Blackrock Fortress to enter weapon range.

Although they were closer, it still took them more than an hour and a half to travel. This was not because the plasma engines used for the sub-light-speed travel of the Imperial ships were inadequate, but because the distance between the stars and planets in the Tarantis system was simply too great. After all, it was once a scorching star with a temperature dozens of times higher than the sun.