Chapter 33: The Forgefiend
Kanto, who had initially felt victory was within his grasp, discovered that his own soldiers were being cut down like vegetables by these strange warriors of the Mongorte Dynasty.
In a rage, he drew the power sword from his waist and cut off the head of a soldier who was reporting the battle situation to him.
Witnessing this scene, none of the officers on the bridge dared to utter another word, all lowering their heads in fear.
"No one is to spread these rumors! Why would Space Marines help a Rogue Trader! Those are just some look-alike trash! Destroy them! We absolutely cannot let these bastards' plans succeed!"
He roared, issuing orders to all remaining deployable soldiers.
"Flesh… is so fragile. Humanity is so pathetic. You should embrace the truth! Are the mechanical implants I provided for you not to your liking?"
Just when everyone dared not speak, a red-robed Tech-Priest slowly paced to Kanto's side.
The statement this Tech-Priest had just made was exceedingly heretical. The weakness of flesh was understandable, but humanity being pathetic?!
"Zestha? I allowed you to stay on my ship to conduct your heretical research, not for you to mock me!" Kanto retorted.
"I know. This is an equitable exchange. I provide you with a stronger physique, I provide you with weapons to arm your soldiers, and my tech-adepts have conquered one unknown world after another for you, earning you countless riches. Without me, could your Dynasty's strength truly have developed to this extent?"
As Zestha spoke, Kanto glanced at his own body. Beneath the opulent attire of a Rogue Trader, extensive mechanical modifications now covered him. Humanity in the Warhammer universe had a high tolerance for implants; it wasn't uncommon for individuals to have implants all over their bodies.
However, Kanto's current level of augmentation was still quite rare. Apart from the Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus, most people still viewed implants as a means of self-enhancement; the fleshly body remained more important to them, and the pleasures of the flesh were something most could not abandon.
Yet, Kanto found that after the modifications made by this heretical Tech-Priest before him, he had become increasingly addicted to the thrill of the resulting power increase.
And Zestha was right; the Dynasty's development to its current state was indeed inseparable from Zestha's contributions.
"I have detected incalculable variables. Those ineffective flesh-and-blood underlings of yours can no longer protect you. You should heed the call of truth, ignore those empty creeds," Zestha continued.
"Shut up, Zestha! My Dynasty's soldiers can definitely stop these intruders!"
The surrounding crewmen watched their Rogue Trader growing increasingly unhinged, their own thoughts a mystery. They only knew Kanto was becoming more and more extreme.
"Your primitive thinking is filled with too many misconceptions. However, I believe you will soon be corrected."
"But what if others find out… what if the Inquisition discovers this… the Dynasty will be utterly destroyed," Kanto hesitated.
Zestha leaned closer to Kanto's ear and whispered.
"Flesh is a consumable material. You can completely cleanse this ship of everyone after achieving victory. As long as they are all dead, no one will find out, and you will still be that high and mighty Rogue Trader."
Kanto still hesitated, but a violent tremor interrupted their conversation.
"Lord Kanto! The engine deck has been breached!"
Damon and his Raiders had charged all the way into the Tyrant's engine room. The enemy's counterattack had been determined, but when two companies of Raiders converged, the enemy's desperate, life-sacrificing resistance proved futile.
Damon, clad in his black-painted adamantium combat suit, would directly charge forward whenever enemy fire pinned down the advance, weathering their attacks to destroy the enemy strongpoints.
He even tanked direct hits from a Tech-Priest's plasma and melta weaponry without going down, with two Medics simultaneously repairing his flesh and armor.
After eliminating everyone on the engine deck, the Raiders concentrated fire on the plasma engines, completely crippling the warship's conventional drive system.
The enormous Tyrant ground to a halt, drifting lifelessly in the dark void.
"No!!! Zestha! Unleash those blasphemous things of yours! I want every single one of them dead!!"
"Congratulations, Kanto. You are drawing ever closer to the truth. These erroneous variables that have entered this warship will soon be thoroughly purged!"
Within the Tyrant's forge workshop, a sealed chamber forbidden to all other crew, the great doors slid open.
Hot steam, thick with the smell of sulfur, billowed out into the ship's corridors.
If one were to look inside from the outside, the scene within the workshop seemed to flicker constantly between reality and illusion.
One by one, fully armed tech-adepts marched out of the workshop.
Their equipment appeared exceptionally well-crafted, yet their bionic eyes glowed with the taint of Chaos. Zestha had, at some unknown point, corrupted the Tech-Priests on this warship.
And deeper within the workshop, two enormous mechanical constructs stirred to life.
Blood-red metal armor.
Mechanical abominations, shaped like beastly centaurs, had somehow gained life!
They shook their massive metal heads. Their sharp, metallic teeth actually began to devour nearby metal, effortlessly chewing and swallowing it. As this metal was consumed, the two massive Hades Pattern six-barrelled autocannons on their flanks began to spin.
The dimensional furnaces within their bodies, constantly emitting a sulfurous stench, fueled their profane forms with an unending supply of energy.
No wonder the lower-deck laborers on this ship had been disappearing; Zestha had brought them to this workshop, using a soul forge to consume their flesh and souls to create these mechanical abominations – Forgefiends.
And Kanto had covered up these atrocities.
The corrupted tech-adepts and Forgefiends marched out of the workshop. They made no distinction between friend or foe. The sailors on the Tyrant organizing a defense never expected Chaos corruption to emerge from within their own warship.
But their defenses were focused on the front; no one was prepared for a threat from behind.
The Forgefiends' arm-mounted autocannons began to fire. Searing phosphor shells not only shattered the bodies of these sailors upon contact but also burned their souls. The agonized screams of these souls seemed to further empower the Forgefiends.
Trampling over a carpet of severed limbs, they advanced towards the enemies who had breached the warship.
Meanwhile, Ghost Norris had also infiltrated the vessel.
He had not chosen to confront the enemy directly. Relying on the cloaking capabilities of his combat suit, he bypassed one enemy strongpoint after another. He kept Lucan's mission firmly in mind; his targets were not these ordinary enemies, but the enemy's bridge.
Norris moved without making a sound, but the internal structure of the warship was exceedingly complex. Finding the bridge from his point of entry was no simple task.
And at this moment, a lone crewman appeared before him.
Norris stared intently at the crewman before him, then activated his psychic powers. In the next second, the crewman's eyes glazed over.
This was one of the Ghost operative's psychic abilities: mental suggestion and control.
"Tell me! The location of the bridge!"
Following Norris's question, the crewman revealed the way in meticulous detail. After obtaining the answer he wanted, Norris eliminated him with his psionic blade.
However, just as he was about to proceed, a psychic fluctuation immediately caught his attention.
"This evil psychic energy… there's Chaos corruption on this warship?!"
(End of Chapter)