This heretic cannot be burned, he must be hung up and whipped!

PS3: "Fontainebleau Stage, Come if You Are Destined"

Rising Flames: 1914: Chapter 25: The Warp Avenue is Obliterated

Cold, shaking.

This was Neos' first reaction after being sucked into the warp. The disordered psychic energy dissipated around him, enveloping him and dragging him through the rift between the warp and reality into the depths of the ether sea.

"Cough-cough-"

The sudden feeling of suffocation from lack of oxygen swept through his brain. Neos instinctively covered his mouth and nose, trying to leave some air, but there was no air.

"I—wu——I need—"

Suffocating and panicking, he could no longer see clearly. Every cell in his body was craving for oxygen. There were no gods, trenches, or barbed wire. He only had one thought:

"I need to breathe!!" "Bang!"

The blue light around him shook violently, and fresh air filled his lungs. Neos breathed in the precious air vigorously. After taking a few breaths, he began to observe what the subspace that Dominican mentioned looked like.

"Hu-hu-"

He was in a brilliant ocean, and the nebula emitting strange light dyed the world incomparably...

"Wonderful, so wonderful."

There were no strange creatures, nor any "emotional garbage" as Dominican called it. Nebulae shining with purple-red light floated past his arms, dotted with countless small bright spots in the endless night sky.

He knew that every little bright spot—at least most of them—represented a projection of the emotions and souls of real intelligent creatures. He could see it, and he could also—

Is this the essence of Dominica?

There is no fixed time and space in the subspace. In reality, Dominica's body is only a few steps away from Neos, but in this subspace, Neos sees that the subspace essence of Dominica below is emitting a dim light and is constantly dissipating.

He suddenly thought of the scene just now. He wanted oxygen to appear, and oxygen appeared around him. So if he——

"Give me the whole sword!"

He spoke loudly, concentrating his mind, his mind full of the huge sword covered with sacred runes that Dominic had carried earlier.

"call----"

Light blue dots of light gathered in front of him and transformed into the shape of the giant sword.

Wait, where is that light coming from?

Neos looked towards the source and discovered it was actually coming from his own body! He tried to see the source of the light, but his body became transparent, leaving only the cold light radiating from his chest...

太阳

Although it was only the size of a fist, he could clearly see every detail of the cold sun. The constantly rotating outer atmosphere rubbed against each other, and threads so thin that they were almost invisible connected it, continuously injecting fuel into it.

Some of the threads that injected fuel into the sun were thick, some were thin, and the colors were different. Most of them were the same color as the sun. Only the thickest thread that injected fuel was black, which gave him a familiar feeling.

"Uh!"

Neos stared closely at the thread that fed the sun with black fuel. Suddenly, his head felt a sharp pain. Unknown fragments were projected into his mind, and he vaguely saw the shadow of the future:

A vast black sphere seemed to rest upon the scorched earth, its size impossible to judge. It rested like a polished black moon upon the face of the world. White smoke burned upon its gleaming surface, and silent lightning reflected upon its smooth outer shell.

Though the sphere was a fluid black, it was the source of all light. It was blindingly black, so glaring that Neos could barely look directly at it. It hurt his eyes, and it left a lingering, blurry blind spot on his retina.

An incandescent light radiated from inside, and Neos's perspective gradually widened. Countless threads injected fuel into it, casting hard, faint shadows on it.

His instinct warned him that if he allowed more black threads to appear, the sun in his chest would also become like this.

"Wait... cold, blinding, impossible to look at, and there's lightning... Damn, that's the Emperor!"

He remembered that as a Warhammer editor he had once seen text describing the nature of the Emperor's Warp.

"That must be a revelation from the Emperor! Damn old man Huang, you've finally revealed your true form. When I'm done cleaning up this mess, I'm going to hang you up on the warp line and whip you!"

He waved his hand to disperse the scene, not caring about it, nor thinking about whether the scene was a picture conveyed to him by the Lord of Mankind, or...a certain future of his own.

"Since the Observer hasn't reached me yet, I need to practice my skills first. To be able to stab Dominica like that with a spear, he must be at least a Warp Demon!"

Neos stood at the shallow edge of the Aether Sea, gazing at the distorted and changing scene below.

"Come on fire!"

With a thought, the cold sun in his chest released some of its light, which turned into a blazing flame on the greatsword. The scorching light illuminated the entire space, making this "newbie psychic" who was completely defenseless and had no intention of hiding himself shine as brightly as a beacon.

"I need a suit of armor!"

What impressed him most was the light armor on Dominica. With a flash of light, he had a set of the same light armor on his body.

"Oh my god, the Warp is so fun! If I didn't know there were demons here, I would have thought it was heaven!"

He did what he pleased, whatever he wanted was given to him here. There were no fixed laws of physics; everything was constantly flowing and transforming. A vortex of multicolored energy swirled in the distance, and strange lights and shadows flickered in the void.

"I heard from Dominica that this is the shallow layer of the Aether Sea, and those evil creatures are wandering deeper. I have to go down—"

Let me see what's going on!"

He took a deep breath and tightened his grip on the hilt of the sword. This sword was part of his essence, imbued with powerful psychic energy.

"God..." Neos whispered to himself,

"I am coming."

He took a firm step, and with a thought, he stepped into the depths of the warp. Instantly, an unfamiliar feeling washed over him. Here, the concepts of time and space became blurred.

Neos felt as if he were both floating and falling. He swung his sword, trying to find balance in this chaos.

As we went deeper, the surrounding landscape grew increasingly bizarre. Twisted trees grew from nothingness, then vanished in an instant. Strange creatures swam in the distance, their forms constantly shifting, sometimes resembling fish, sometimes birds, and sometimes utterly beyond human imagination.

Neos observed his surroundings warily. Dominica had said the Warp was full of dangers. Suddenly, a dark shadow attacked from the side!

"call out--!"

Neos instinctively swung his sword, but his movements were a beat slower than usual. Sharp claws slashed across his chest, easily tearing through the armor and leaving a deep wound.

"Uh!"

Neos groaned and stumbled back. Blood gushed from the wound, and a wisp of golden aura dissipated with it. (PS: No typo, it's gold, not bluish-white.)

The black shadow circled in the air and gradually revealed its shape - a deformed creature with countless tentacles, each tentacle ending in a sharp claw.

"demon--!"

Neos gritted his teeth, enduring the pain. He realized that being in the Warp had affected his reaction speed and judgment. But now was not the time to think; more Warp creatures were approaching.

A gigantic, octopus-like creature swooped down from above, its countless tentacles snaking towards Neos! He raised his sword to block, unleashing a shockwave. A surge of blue-white energy surged out, repelling the octopus. But more monsters surged from all directions, some seemingly composed of pure energy, others possessing physical form but constantly transforming.

"Die, devil!!" "Roar——"

He swung his sword, each strike precisely splitting a monster in half. But here, the enemies hit by his sword would not truly die, but instead transformed into energy and reassembled into a smaller monster.

He had to deal with dozens of enemies at once and adapt to the strange laws of physics in the warp.

"Woo——" "Get out of here, you cold and cold man!"

A flying creature with countless eyes swooped down, and Neos dodged sideways, but another warp monster took the opportunity to entangle his legs. He quickly lowered his head and cut off the tentacles with a sword, but more monsters had already pounced on him.

"I say—enough!"

He roared, unleashing a powerful psychic shield. A blue-white ball of energy enveloped him, temporarily blocking the monsters' attacks. He took a moment to catch his breath and began to think about a countermeasure.

"No, it shouldn't be like this. My ability is definitely not used like this. I should influence them, not let them influence me."

Gradually, Neos began to adapt to the rhythm of the Warp. He discovered that he could influence his surroundings with his mind. As he focused, the greatsword, burning with blazing flames, grew sharper, each strike tearing through monsters with ease. His movements became increasingly fluid, as if he had become one with the Warp.

He began to strike back, transforming into a streak of blue-white lightning, weaving through the horde of monsters. Wherever the sword's light struck, the monsters dissipated into energy. A powerful psychic storm tore through the surrounding space, and those previously unpredictable creatures of the Warp became vulnerable before him.

The battle raged for an unknown amount of time, perhaps minutes, perhaps centuries. In the Warp, the concept of time became meaningless. When the last monster was defeated, Neos paused and looked around. The surrounding space was distorted by the fierce battle, and ripples of energy rippled through the void.

Neos took a deep breath, feeling the power flowing through his body.

"In the Warp, will and imagination are more important than the laws of physics."

He now finally understood the meaning of this sentence.

"Um--?"

"Who? Come out and die!"

Suddenly, Neos sensed something. Deep in the void of the Warp, a powerful will was watching him. It was a being far more powerful than any creature he had just encountered. He gripped his sword tightly, staring warily in that direction.

"Finally I meet you....The Cursed One."

A distorted figure emerged from the void. It was no longer in the shape of the observer, but looked like the monster that Dominic had seen before. The halo behind the monster exuded indescribable power.

"Are you the demon who stabbed my Warmaster?"

Neos teased as he leaned on his sword, taking the opportunity to recover some strength.

No matter how terrifying the faceless monster before him was, it couldn't have any real impact on him. Through previous battles, Neos had already understood that his power completely restrained these demons. Although they could still cause him harm, no demon, no one, dared to face his sword.

"Is that what you call these foods?"

Although the demon had no eyes, Neos could sense that the eyes looking at him were full of greed and hostility.

"Dominican... The Lord has reserved for it a very high position in the Kingdom of God. It could have become a capable assistant to the Supreme Being, but it chose to stand beside the food.

It could have taken the napkin, but it insisted on sitting on the plate. The Lord had previously withdrawn its power, greatly reducing its flavor. I had no choice but to enjoy these leftovers.

"Leftovers... As expected, having any hope for demons like you is the most foolish act—" Neos closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and when he opened them again, he had already raised his sword.

"Now, give Dominica the power you took away, or die. Choose one."

"Hahaha!" The devil roared arrogantly, as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.

“Even the Supreme Lord would not give His power for free. You—you cursed one, who are you?”

With that, the demon's winged humanoid body completely disintegrated, revealing its terrifying torso. Any mortal who caught even a glimpse of its true form would be turned into pillars of salt. Neos felt only disgust, nausea, and hatred from the bottom of his heart.

Neos knew the real challenge had just begun. He straightened his body, a light emanating from his body. No matter what lay ahead, he was ready.

"I'm not here just to avenge my Warmaster," Neos whispered. "Listen carefully, I'm not some cursed being, I'm Neos—"

I’m here to kill you.”

"boom!!"

Before he finished speaking, Neos charged toward the demon. The sound of metal clashing and the roar of exploding energy echoed from the depths of the Warp. Chaos' turbulent currents churned the aether sea, twisting the web woven by fate. The once clear future became blurred. At this moment, all observers communicating with God, all the young men on the Strategic Prophecy Committee listening to the divine word, without exception, let out a cry of pain.

A deafening roar exploded in the young men's minds, and blood gushed from their eyes, ears, mouths, and noses. They fell to their knees, their bodies trembling, and groans of pain echoed one after another. The physical torture was bearable, but the severance of that sacred connection plunged them into endless panic.

"Lord...why..."

A young man clenched his hands, tears mixed with blood rolled down his cheeks, and his face was filled with twisted despair.

"Our prayers...our devotion..."

The other boy muttered to himself, his voice trembling, his eyes empty, as if he had lost his soul.

"What will the future of the lambs be like... (choked up)... (choked up)..."

Their faith collapsed at that moment. Without the guidance of the Holy Word, they were like children lost in darkness, their hearts consumed by fear and helplessness.

When the teenagers cry, the Pope should start laughing.

----------

St. Peter's Basilica in Rome

"Pope, please tell us the truth. How many chapters are loyal to you?"

"...Let's skip this sensitive topic."

As a shepherd with a very close connection with God, Pope Benedict, like the young men of the Strategic Prophecy Committee, felt that his connection with the Supreme Being of the Ether Sea had disappeared.

The Pope's faith was not firm, or it could be said that all popes in history did not believe in that supreme being at all, so the shock he felt was not as strong as that felt by the young men.

Before the chaos broke out, Benedict was discussing the next strategic plan to resist the attack of the heretic legion with his staff and cardinals. The cardinals reported to him on the general mobilization status of their dioceses, and the staff was responsible for summarizing and formulating a plan.

But all the plans we come up with need to be implemented to see the results.