"Blue Cat!"
His voice was like a symphony of billions, and merely hearing it made one feel dizzy.
"If you don't have a speaker, don't speak!"
Alexander, clutching his aching head, retorted,
"You're the Blue Cat!"
"You are Blue Cat?" Sanguinius asked Alexander with surprise.
"You two, father and son—" Alexander endured the pain from the diseases wracking his body and slowly climbed up, leaning against the metal pillar.
Marquite watched Joan, who was walking towards it step by step, with a face full of terror.
As Joan moved, the Warp evil energy surrounding it evaporated little by little, like dew meeting the sun.
From the Warp gate behind it, Nurgle's demon army surged out, roaring.
Countless nurglings gathered into a green tide, rushing towards the boundary between reality and the Warp.
However, the moment they entered reality, they melted instantly like ice cubes dropped into a furnace.
The angry Rainfather shook the boxwood in his hand, and black rain seeped from the Warp Engine, competing with the flickering light around Joan for control of the real universe.
"No!!!"
Marquite felt as if its entire body was burning.
Every maggot that made up its body was wailing, every bacterium was dying, every virus was being expelled.
"No!!! Why?!"
"You are unwilling to save Ashford! Why can't we save ourselves?!"
Joan's steps did not falter, still moving forward.
"Ah ah ah ah ah!!!"
Marquite let out a fierce wail, and its entire body began to emit scorching white smoke, with hideous blisters forming all over it.
"No! I am saving Ashford!"
"You can't! You're not worthy!!!!"
Scorching white smoke billowed from Marquite's mouth.
The corrupted Screamer-Killer beside it suddenly lunged at Joan.
Joan merely raised her hand gently.
Instantly, golden flames ignited on the Screamer-Killer's body, scorching every piece, every strand of its flesh and blood.
The virus-infected flesh, the parasite-filled spine, the bacteria-occupied nerves all began to burn.
In the blink of an eye, this giant beast turned to ashes and dissipated into the air.
Marquite retreated several steps in horror.
"Death God!!!"
Marquite said in a sharp voice,
"The Death God on the Throne!!"
"What else have you brought us besides death!!"
"Are you even unwilling to let us pursue the hope of life ourselves?!"
Marquite noticed that slight burns had also begun to appear on Joan's skin.
It gasped, and in its eyes, which were almost beginning to burn, appeared disgust and hatred:
"You even want to kill this innocent child!"
"Leman Russ! Can't you see?! That on the Throne is not hope, it is the Death God!"
"He, the cursed one! Will only bring death!"
Marquite shouted in anger, pointing its finger at Joan:
"Child! Will you be a sacrifice to the Death God?!"
"Stop quickly! You will die too!!!"
Joan's steps still did not hesitate.
She was like a saint about to step onto the pyre, without hesitation.
"No one should die!!!"
Marquite shouted, raising its voice.
Behind it, Rainfather vigorously shook the boxwood branch in his hand.
More black rain seeped from the Warp Engine, flowing down past Marquite's feet.
These turbid, swamp-like waters, full of viruses, bacteria, and various microorganisms, collided with the flickering light around Joan.
Streams of foul, turbid steam filled the underground palace, drifting.
"What about him!"
Marquite suddenly pointed at Alexander, who was propping himself up and standing from under the metal pillar:
"He is almost like your father! Is he not worth your remembrance?!"
Joan's steps paused slightly.
Noticing this, Marquite showed a joyful expression.
"You can all live!"
"As long as you accept Nurgle's blessings, you can all live forever in his garden!"
"You can attain joy and happiness far beyond the mortal world!"
Marquite hurriedly took a step forward, and the black rain around it also surged forward.
A group of nurglings squeezed out from the Warp gate, bathing in the black rain and surging towards Joan and Alexander.
"Quick! Praise with me!"
"Seven Curses!! Seven Diseases!! Seven Blessings!!!"
"All things decay! All life is eternal!!!"
Marquite spread its arms and slowly walked towards Joan.
"Joan." Alexander's voice sounded behind Joan: "Actually..."
Joan heard Alexander's voice, and her body trembled slightly.
Then, the girl shook her head firmly and took a step towards the surging black rain.
Sizzle!!!
The sound of evaporation echoed throughout the underground palace, and the black rain receded inch by inch.
The nurglings, who had rushed out of the Warp in a hurry, let out wails and turned into ashes, dissipating completely.
"You will die!!!" Marquite shrieked.
More and more burn marks appeared on Joan's skin, and her hair began to burn.
She only felt as if a star was burning in her chest, about to gush out and ignite the entire world, scorching it to ashes.
Joan had long known her fate, ever since she first prayed devoutly to the Emperor in the depths of the garbage mountain.
The Emperor had shown her that future.
She was born to seal this Warp rift, and chosen to sacrifice herself at this moment.
Everyone was a tool of the Emperor.
Everyone had a different purpose.
And Joan's purpose was to burn to ashes here.
A few more steps forward, and her soul would inevitably return to the Golden Throne.
Only...
Joan still couldn't resist, and quietly looked back at Alexander...
Then, Joan froze.
Alexander scratched his hair, sighed as if nothing had happened.
He walked past Joan, patted her shoulder, and motioned for her to step back a little.
The scorching fire surrounding Joan seemed to have no effect on him.
The black rain surging on the ground also seemed not to touch him at all.
The Empyrean evil energy gushing from the Warp Engine also failed to affect him.
He seemed immune to everything in the mortal world and the Empyrean, standing horizontally between Joan and the Warp rift.
Alexander glanced at the horrified Marquite, then at the somewhat bewildered winged figure in the white light at the corner of his eye.
He then turned his head and cast a disdainful look at the corpse on the Golden Throne behind Joan.
The adaptive lamp, which Alexander had already used once, vanished with the wind.
He took a deep breath and asked, from the bottom of his heart, to everyone present or watching this scene:
"Who!"
"Who the hell said I screwed up? Step forward!"