Thanks to the Pebble Hat's presence-masking, not a single Dark Eldar noticed Datch's arrival.
Their full attention was on Spinoza.
The souls of the Dark Eldar had long been cursed by She Who Thirsts,
constantly drained by Her, unless they could feed on the pain of others.
The crueler their acts, the more satisfying to them.
Thus, as they hunted Spinoza, all they could think of was what twisted artistry of torture to inflict.
Only when one nightmare warrior was cleaved in two by Datch's chainsword did they realize another foe was present.
After killing the first, Datch tossed a Poké-ball, summoning a Changeling to fight.
The ball released a swirl of colored smoke,
from which the Changeling emerged—taking the form of the recently slain warrior.
"Kill every xenos here. Leave none alive."
The Changeling cackled, lunging at the nearest Dark Eldar,
decapitating and devouring their soul.
"Delicious soul." It charged to the next target.
The Dark Eldar howled, charging Datch and the Changeling with poisoned blades, barbed whips, and neurotoxin stingers.
"For the Emperor—die, all of you!"
Datch showed no fear, sword flashing.
Clashes of metal and steel rang out.
With his jetpack roaring, Datch in his Terminator Armor rampaged through,
smashing one Dark Eldar aside, then finishing them off with a sword blow.
He blocked a decapitating strike with his Captain America shield,
then ripped another apart with his chainsword.
A flurry of poisoned darts were deflected by the shield,
and Datch rocketed forward, punching a foe's head to pulp.
In seconds, he had scored a triple kill.
But the enemy were many, and numbers began to tell.
Suddenly, a poisoned dart pierced his helmet's right visor, drilling through his brain.
Datch's body froze, chainsword falling silent.
He toppled to the ground.
The Haemonculus cleaned a drop of blood from his sleeve and sneered over Datch's corpse.
"Foolish monkey, how dare you come here alone?
You should know—"
He never finished. Datch's corpse turned to ashes, vanishing.
The Haemonculus was confused—how had he turned to dust?
A moment later, the chainsword roared behind him.
The Haemonculus's eyes widened,
and before he could dodge, his head flew from his shoulders.
The remaining Dark Eldar paled in terror.
In Commorragh, resurrection was not uncommon among the upper echelons—especially Haemonculi.
But they had never seen a revival so sudden and bizarre—instant, complete, and inexplicable.
Datch had no interest in explaining the to xenos.
"Now, it's your turn."
He rushed the survivors, chainsword roaring.
The Changeling, too, slaughtered amidst the swirling mists,
changing forms and preying on the panic-stricken enemies.
With their ranks broken, the Dark Eldar could not stand against Datch and were soon massacred.
When the last foe fell, Datch approached the fallen NPC and opened her info panel.
[Luce Spinoza, Interrogator for the Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor Lord, Erasmus Crowl]
Datch removed his helmet, revealing a face in sunglasses.
"Inquisitor, do you have a quest for me?"
"I am of the Ordo Hereticus…" Spinoza struggled to sit up, trying to introduce herself.
"Skip." Datch cut her off. "Just tell me what you need done."
Spinoza was stunned, repeating, "I am…"
"Skip. Just tell me what you need help with."
After being interrupted twice, Spinoza was completely baffled. What was this?
He offered to help, but wouldn't let her introduce herself.
"Some of my companions were separated during the battle. Can you help me find them?" Spinoza ventured.
She had meant to ask him to return with intelligence on Commorragh, to warn the Inquisition.
But she worried he hid dark secrets—after all, Astartes might bend the rules, but not ignore them entirely.
A suit of power armor in five different colors, sunglasses,
and, most importantly, he fought alongside daemons.
His actions were not just heretical, but as if the Codex was toilet paper.
The quest interface popped up before Datch.
[Quest: Help Inquisitor Spinoza rescue her companions]
To stop the Dark Eldar's plot against the Emperor, the Mechanicus representative, Custodian, and High Inquisitor have all been ambushed—please rescue them.
[Reward: 1500 XP, 1500 credits, Weather Cube x1]
"Nice rewards."
Datch checked the Weather Cube:
[A magical artifact, it summoned a weather sprite to change the weather in a region.
With it, calling wind and rain was no longer a dream.]
At the same time, golden exclamation marks appeared on his minimap—
the locations of Fabricator-General Raskian, High Inquisitor Crowl, Custodian Navradaran, and other quest objectives.
[Rescue them from the Dark Eldar to finish the quest.]
Datch checked the map and saw the Fabricator-General was closest—he set him as his first target.
...
Bonus chapter at 300 PS:
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