Hello there, it's been a while.
I took more time in this chapter due to work and life, and also this chapter has over 12k words too.
Must warn you. There are parts here that may be too crude or brutal for some readers, I took a lot of work on describing details.
Now, for some answers. Well, I'd not expected to become some kind of figure or that. That about now having overlord fics where we see Ainz and co being stomped, thought not so seen too much in this site, I must admit there are some of which we can count. Also seems like I started some kind of a spark after making people realize that overlord is not that OP. yes, Ainz has a lot of tricks, but that doesn't put him in the level of a greater daemon.
Must admit this fic is not my best work. I have much more planed about my other stories than this one. I just want to keep going with this.
Power of both verses… you see, I know there are wankers in both sides, the problem here is that the wankers of one side are more annoying that the wankers of the other side. And unfortunately, overlord is the former side.
I know the capabilities of the guardians, I know the capabilities of Ainz. I have read the light novel three times, even the web novel where we see gazef defeating a death knight. Gazef, a mere mortal. Now just imagine what an Astartes would do to a death knight. I understand that one Astartes cannot be on par with a guardian, but yes, an Astartes has the equipment to put down a guardian, but I'm not saying it will be that easy. But a grey knight? Those are anathema to any of them, specially for the magic casters, demons and undead ones. One would be a pain in the ass, a squad would simple be overkill.
Talking about that, have not any of you tought about the Pleiades? The six stars formation. Why were in the las floor? Why in the last defensive line? I know sebas was there to protect the throne room, but that would be after the invaders had defeated the Pleiades. Isn't that because the Pleiades, in team, are as worth as a guardian?
I know what some hard fanboys may say. Ainz played with them in vol 13. But in vol 13 none of them was fighting seriously, it was just a game. Ainz made it so he could make the holy kingdom bamboozled. More over, Ainz KNOW EACH NPC of his guild, at least the most relevant ones. So that is why he has such knowledge about the disadvantages of them.
Enough of this, please enjoy the lecture and tell me what you think.
[X]
Both warhammer 40k and overlord are owned by their respective creators.
The Immolator moved through the streets of the destroyed city. The flames covered all while the bodies of theocracy guards were scattered around. Only six hours after the invasion had begun and only one hour ago one of the most important cities of the Slane theocracy, Marigold, had fallen under the force of the Imperium. With this, it was the third city that fell under the dominion of the Imperium.
One of those Imperium warriors, a Sororitas, looked around, searching for some survivor. Her lethal bolter rifle was aimed at the rubble of a building destroyed long ago.
Belina could barely avoid shivering when she felt the Sororita´s approach the place where she was hidden. Her staff was broken, she was holding what was left of it. Being an arcanist she could still use magic without needing it. But, nevertheless, she clung to the remains of the charred wood, which had been a gift from her comrades. Now dead trying to buy her time, thinking that she, being able to use fourth level magic could do something to defeat the enemy.
That's right, her comrades from her team of adamantite adventurers, killed by the very same weapons that Sororitas carried.
Her breath Only calmed when the Sororita retired in search of some other place to find heretics. The footsteps were lost in the streets, but she did not dare leave her hiding place until that beast that spits fire went away.
Once she made sure no one was left, she left. Her body bemoaning the wounds that splinters of bone and metal bolter fire had caused.
She remembered how Meller, their leader, had been killed by a sword with a terrible energy field in it. Her body split in two by the destructive weapon. Another of her companions burned alive by one of the flamethrowers. She dried her tears at the thought of them, there was no time to lament for now, she must find a way to escape from here.
She knew very well what happened with the magic casters that the Imperium captured. She had seen how several were burned alive in bonfires or being shot by the same armored warriors. She turned to see the temple of the god of the earth, feeling her heart shrink and lament when she saw the bodies of the priests and the nuns hanging from the towers with ropes tied to their necks. It was an apocalyptic and terrible sight, she felt nauseous, only trembled every time remembered the carnage .
They had come with a simple message: "Surrender, give up your pagan gods and accept the imperial creed... or accept death."
The Imperium had shown some of its power by having defeated and exterminated the beastmen who plagued the Draconic kingdom, had finished with an army of the sorcerer king and released Baharuth.
And, even so, the cardinals, fearful that their status would fall, had flatly refused this ultimatum.
The response of the theocracy government was to deploy all the armies in key cities and prepare the scriptures to carry out direct attacks against the enemy using the flank once they were too busy trying to take the cities.
But they never understood that this strategy was useless from the beginning.
It was like fighting a hurricane, there was no way to stop one, the only option was to hide and wait until the storm passed.
The scriptures were against the armies of the Sororitas who approached Celest, the nearest city to the border and which had been reinforced with half a million guards theocracy.
But neither had been enough.
Under the artillery fire of the exorcists those defenders had been pulverized immediately. The missiles were erasing them from the battlefield, in formations so compact that they were basically delivered on a silver platter to the enemy's artillery. By the time one of the scriptures had arrived, the flag of the Imperium was on the city.
This was how city after city fell into the hands of the empire. It was in Citania where three scriptures had met to try to stop the inexorable invaders, only to be exterminated by the Sororitas.
She had seen first-hand the power of only one of those warriors. Several times they had tried to damage her armor, but it did not suffer any damage, just a few scratches and minor blows. Her hands, able to bend steel with ease and speed that went beyond even Clementine, one of the strongest in the black scripture.
Surprisingly, the Imperium would try to avoid hurting civilians. But in return, the lives of soldiers, magic casters and priests would be taken. However, more than once she had seen the Sororitas kill civilians who did not abandon their faith in the six great gods.
She stopped in a semi collapsed house. The wounds still hurt, the last Potion she had used to heal herself. But, however, the damage was more than a simple low-level potion could do.
She thought about resting for a while. The dream tempted her and tiredness hit her still more. She had spent so much mana that she did not know if she could use even a single first tier spell.
She wondered what she would do now. This place would most likely be owned by the Imperium within a few days... she knew what would happen to her ... she had to escape, as far as possible from the Imperium. In her mind she thought that if she were beyond the continent then maybe, just maybe, would be safe.
It was then that she heard a sound, a very familiar one. Bolter shots rang out in the distance, she saw through the window, there was no one. The shots continued to resonate, from time to time, they came closer and closer. They were there, they came and she knew it.
She ran as hard as he could. She had to leave this city. To the south, she had to go south. Belina heard footsteps, heavy. She trembled, anxiety, did not know what was chasing her right now. Her heart was hammering at her from fatigue or fear. Because she knew that whatever it was that was chasing her, she would have no chance against that,
She try to escape through the alleys. These were narrow, but if some huge monster was following her, she could not pass by so easily. She did not know how long she ran, when she stopped she was on the outside wall, she just had to walk through the door and go to the valley where she would be safe. Even if there were monsters she trusted that she could deal with them.
Only a few steps, it was close. Just a few steps and she could be safe.
But fate was cruel.
It ripped from the walls. Breaking the rock walls like paper. A beast of screeching metal and fire. Frantic, crazy. That was the voice that came from the person tied, no, fused to such a machine. A naked woman cried and lamented asking forgiveness, praying for redemption. "Mercy!" She cried, "emperor have mercy!" She implored. Her heartrending screams overcame the destruction it caused.
But it was when she saw Belina that the screams ceased. Like a hungry and maddened beast, she rushed forward, making any obstacle to the side. The narrow walls demolished by the adamantium and plasteel.
Belina screamed, her body almost paralyzed as she could register the kind of torture that woman was going through.
Desperate she raised her hands [Lightning] fired, one, two, three times. She was terrified, her body trembled so much that her precision was erratic. [fireball] she summoned, but the fire crashed into her metal arms protecting the flesh.
Seeing that it was useless, she turned around and ran, the thing following close behind, her huge steps giving speed to her form. Belina ran with everything she had, she no longer cared about keeping magic, she had to escape, to escape from this monster that was looking for her.
One of her claws extended, trapping her by the waist. She tried to break free, hitting, biting, even scratching. Three of her nails came off in her desperation to escape.
Suddenly she heard a visceral, brutal sound. When she turned around she froze, paralyzed at the sight of the huge saw going for her. It came closer and closer, she lost control of her bladder, her clothes wet and ruined. But she kept kicking and struggling, "please ..." she said, her prayers ignored by the woman in the machine.
The teeth of the saw touched the soft flesh, Belina screamed, her screams tore at her throat and at the same time it filled with blood once the blade began to reach her internal organs. Then she reached her spine, that's where only babble was reached, their screams continued to echo in an empty city where no one would help. And even if there was someone, what could they do against this infernal monster?
Her body split in two was thrown on the sidewalk. Her torso was still spasming. She was conscious, leaving pain and shock, unable to cry.
She looked at her severed legs on the other side of the sidewalk.
The fire enveloped her, the burning promethium of the heavy flamethrower of the penitent engine. In seconds her body calcinated into a charred shell. A heavy leg crushed what was left of the body scattering the ashes through the air.
[X]
"N-no ... No, please ... have mercy ... are you not people of faith?"
Said the priestess. She trembled, shuddered and cried. If she could, she would have escaped long ago, but the number of her captors and the fact that she was gagged made it impossible. For a rope was being tied around her neck.
She was facing the gates of the temple of the water god, now being plundered by those fanatics who had come along with the Ecclesiarch. Men and women came and went carrying the items and treasures that had been collected by the theocracy in their wars against the demi-humans .
"Faith?" Said a voice. The voice of an elderly man whose age seemed to be too much to let him walk. "Certainly, we are people of faith. We praise the god emperor and honor his memory."
"Then let me go. I'll do whatever you ask! But please do not do this to me!"
"Why?" Said the Ecclesiarch . "Tell me why I should forgive a heretic."
"This is inhuman!" She shouted. "What kind of religion orders to kill your own kind?"
"There are many ... which would be blasphemous to pronounce." Said Benediel. "But the Ministorium prefers not to do so often. It's a waste of resources after all ... serving the emperor is more than enough. However, a heretic cannot be our kind, they are corrupted, lost."
"why?" she cried. "Why do you do this? We offered to surrender and leave you alone. Why resort to such evil?"
"We offered you salvation, we offered you a place under the light of the god emperor. And how did you pay us? You sent your armies against our missionaries, they attacked the servants of the imperial creed. That made us realize that you are a danger, not only for the Ministorium, but for the entire Imperium. A cult that does not belong to the emperor can become a nest of heretics worshipers of chaos."
"I have no idea what that is! I have no idea what chaos or imperial creed is. You could have just left us alone!"
"And leave chaos to feast on your souls? Do you believe us so cruel as to allow that to happen to you? "
"please! I will do whatever you ask of me, I will praise the emperor, I will praise him day and night for the rest of my life! But forgive me!"
Benediel looked at her for a while and after closing his eyes spoke.
"Faith is not something that can be obtained or imparted by fear. Devotion is not earned by trying to save yourself, but by sacrificing for the emperor... dear, your faith is just not the right one."
The priestess broke down in tears, despair filled her screams. Claimed pleadings to the god of water, even asked salvation to the very emperor.
Benediel walked away, going to one of the Adepta Sororitas who had accompanied him as his honor guard. They all wore red armor in the name of their order, the bloody rose.
A Battle Sister had been away from the group, having chosen to put her helmet probably, use it to seal the voices of his conversation with one of the prisoners.
"Take off your helmet." Benediel ordered. For a moment she was motionless, in a trance. The other battle sisters moved their bolters impatiently at seeing the rebellion of the initiate. But finally she obeyed and did what the bishop had ordered.
Lakyus looked, with tear-filled eyes, at the massacre that loomed before her. Part of this effected by herself. She watched all the time when the battle sisters destroyed the temple and murdered the priests and priestesses along with the faithful. The order of the bloody rose was not at all merciful, its fierceness in battle spoke for much of its own name, the bloodshed of the enemy.
"Why are you crying, girl?" Asked the bishop. "Are those tears for the heretics?"
"Merely." she answered under the eyes of the other Sororitas. "To think that salvation could have come to them if they had just decided to accept the Adeptus Ministorium."
"I understand you." The bishop spoke with a sad voice . "Such misfortune, blind, stubborn..."
"But it's time to retire..." continued the bishop while from among his clothes he drew a dagger to offer to Lakyus. "It is time to end this last heretic, let the emperor bring justice on her soul."
Lakyus hesitated to take the dagger, she knew what Benediel was referring to. She knew that she must end the life of the last water god priestess. However, her hand did not move, her fingers paralyzed by the inner voice telling her that this was all crazy.
One minute passed, and then Benediel sighed seeing that she was not able to complete this task, turned to see the pair of redeemers, a man and a woman recruited in Baharuth and who had prepared the rope around the priestess's neck. With a gesture they obeyed pulling the rope with the strength and weight of both.
This tensed the rope, and like a sack of potatoes it raise the priestess a foot above the ground. Her screaming, the screaming choked by the rope that prevented her from breathing, she kicked and struggled, trying to lift her body to avoid suffocation. Her bladder lost control staining her white dress and her eyes were injected with blood in desperation. Little by little her face changed color, a sign the oxygen was running out to the body that was screaming for it.
Lakyus wanted to get away from that place, wanted to run, where she could not reach the screams and fire. However, Benediel put his arms around her shoulders with one of her arms, making her approach the priestess who was now suffering a slow and horrible death.
"Look," said Benediel. "Observe how her suffering is longer and more painful. All this caused by you, Lakyus."
"Huh?"
"Look well, observe..." Benediel continued. "If only you had killed her with the dagger she would not be suffering in that way. Many times there will be worse things that will happen if you do not do what you have to do on time. Like an Exterminatus, like a purge. We sacrificed a few souls to save several. "
Lakyus tried to look away, but Benediel's hands made her look straight ahead. "Look well, girl!" Continued this. "Watch her suffer. Look at her pain, her despair. "
Lakyus trembled as she watched the priestess convulse because of the lack of air in her lungs, her face was already a dark purple and the foam poured out of her mouth. Lakyus cried at the sight, and realized. If she had done what he ordered, all this could have been avoided.
She threw herself to the ground on her knees, she raised her hands in a sign of forgiveness… And she screamed... A scream full of grief spread around even reaching the fanatics who looted the temple.
Lakyus released her bolt pistol that had been given to her on her initiation. She pointed to the priestess, crying, she moved her head from side to side. Seeing her suffering made her react. What kind of empire could do something like this? Was this what it was about being part of this?
But in her heretical thoughts she reminded demons, unclean and destructive beings. Beings that would definitely return an unbearable hell for all living beings.
The drowned babble of the priestess toke her back to reality, her bluish face from the lack of air convulsing, releasing foam from her mouth. She could not stand it anymore.
And she pulled the trigger.
Bones, flesh and entrails bathed her next to part of the ground. The body of the priestess split in two by the reactive round of the .75 that had been shot.
Now only half of her body hung from the rope, no doubt void from all life thanks to the damage by the bolt pistol.
Lakyus dropped the weapon, as if it were burning. The bishop picked it up and placed it on his lap. Her eyes were empty, as if the shock had paralyzed her. He did not react, in his mind, he tried to isolate himself from the world.
"You did well, girl." Said the bishop. "you did good. You gave clemency to a repentant. Only the pious can do that. You did well..." he said as he patted her back.
Later he ordered a pair of battle sisters to escort her back to the rhino, since she seemed in no condition to continue. After take her, one of the sisters of battle, a Elohim, she approached the bishop.
"Your holiness, is it okay to let her do that? Many of my sisters show discontent with the initiate."
"What do you mean Cataline?" Asked the bishop.
"She hesitated more than once. Her faith is weak, therefore, many consider her weak."
"It's true... but it's part of her training. I did not accept her because of her faith or her strength, I welcomed her because of her talent. Her talent can be useful on a larger scale. Think of it as a seed, probably the only seed of a tree that is about to become extinct. We must cultivate that talent and get the most out of it."
[X]
Every day more and more death knights were brought, as well as recyclable NPCs from Nazarick. An amalgamation of different species and races was gathering more and more in E-rantel.
For it had been under the orders of the sorcerer king to declare a state of emergency and gather all his strength. Not only were there common NPCs like skeletons or zombies. It had been ordered to deploy half of the NPCs whether recyclable or not. All in defense by the sorcerer kingdom of Ainz Ooal Gown.
The earth vibrated under the boots of more than four million fighters ready to march. And every day they joined more and more .
And of course, the administration of all that army was a titanic task. A legion of scribes, whether human or heteromorphic, tried to organize everything to maintain order in the country. Feeding, attending, training and equipping this army was no easy task. Whether it was the number of organizers and supervisors. In the end, everything would fall under one. And to the misfortune of Ainz. He was that last one.
He put aside the pen and ink he had been using for hours to sign the mountain of paperwork that was constantly brought to his office. He had been locked up in this place for almost half a day and had barely had time to relax. Although it was not like he was tired, but mental stress was charging him bills.
He was getting fed up with all this. Of the paperwork, of having to act, of being a ruler ... but above all he was fed up with that his servants held him in such high esteem.
'Maybe one of these days I will decide to face them and tell them the truth. I´m truly getting tired of their fanatism…' He thought to himself. With all the situation that was being lived now his servants were going to him still more looking for wisdom in his words.
And it was natural. After all, it had been six months since all this disaster with the Imperium of mankind and the daemons of chaos had occurred. Carne had been erased, the fake Nazarick destroyed, Baharuth and half a continent had been taken from them, including the kingdom of Re-Estize had been crystallized by an orbital attack by the Imperium.
There were even rumors of traitors among their citizens who thought of joining the Imperium.
Now the Slane theocracy was being conquered. In truth, they had surrounded the entire sorcerer kingdom. It was only a matter of time before they attacked.
And in spite of everything, he had not found a way to end them. He could stop time and go for them, use instant death magic, launch lightning attacks and even summon super level magic.
But simply, it did not matter what he used. If you were shot from space it was the end. Nor did he want to send any guardian, because they could end up like Demiurge.
That's why he had thought as a last resort to enter Nazarick and seal it completely. Even destroy the entrance and cover it with dirt. Seal each access to each floor and lock himself on the tenth floor along with the guardians. Even being so drastic as to consider locking everyone in the treasure room.
That was if the Demiurge plan failed.
If they managed to transport Nazarick to a safe place then there would be no more problems. However, it was the price of the Harlequins that discouraged him from closing the deal, after all, they were asking for all their world-class items. Those for whom he and his guildmates had fought so much. If they delivered their items, he felt they would have sold half of Nazarick with them.
However, if that guaranteed the safety of his servants, his children ... then he would pay the price.
[X]
The governing palace of the sorcerer kingdom had been largely remodeled thanks to the instigations and suggestions of his guardians. Structures changed by other stronger and reinforced with magic.
The garden, created and cared for by Mare had grown beautifully. A wall of grass surrounded a botanical complex of all kinds of plants and fruits. Trees and bushes filled the place with a beautiful freshness.
It was here that Ainz liked to spend his time when he wanted to relax and release some stress. This place calmed him down and allowed him to renew himself a little.
However, this day there was something strange. While Ainz walked he noticed some fruits rotting and some plants drying. "Maybe it's because Mare has not been able to get out of the tomb that has been neglected..." he thought.
Suddenly his passive ability shot up. He felt an undead, no, it was something else. It was death, it was the very essence of death.
Something caught his attention, a sound. After focusing a little more he noticed it was a melody, music created by a humming, of a girl, maybe.
And he saw the silhouette of one. At first he thought it was Aura who sometimes liked to visit the place.
But the closer he came he began to feel something disturbing. Dead birds, some decomposing under the shade of the trees. He struggled to endure the smell of rot that hovered over the place like a viscous, deep mist. Even if no poison could affect him, the stench could not ignore him.
It was when he advanced further he noticed the trees were dry, old, rotten. Like a swamp covering the ground. Everything died slowly but inexorably, and was reborn into something twisted and disgusting.
"... But if these trees are immortal Pines, only an ax made of dragon steel could be able to cut them..."
Suddenly he heard something, a melody coming from beyond. A humming of a child, as if she were playing. What kind of person could do that in a place like this? He Thought.
And it was under a tree he saw it.
And it was when he saw her the moment he wanted to leave from there.
A girl, about ten years old. She played as if it were the purest innocence that could be natural in a girl at her age.
And that was what made it so twisted.
Her skin, pale and similar to that of a dead man, full of sores and wounds covered in greenish pus. Worms writhed all over her skin, going from one hole to another. Her belly swollen, almost ready to burst, like a corrupted parody of a mother waiting for her baby. It moved as if thousands of worms stretched inside.
Out of pure impulse Ainz took a step back, rattling a branch as it was broken under his weight.
That's what made her turn to him. And it was that moment when Ainz recognized the familiar face.
Nemu Emott
And she smiled at him, with a twisted warmth that outlined a disgusting malice covered with innocence. In her hands was a creature that cultivated Ainz's restlessness, a discomfort that shouted at him that he must leave for some reason.
The creature was small, chubby. Its skin green and sick like its hypothetical playmate. But it was even worse to see, putrid wounds ran through its wrinkled and scaly body through which its insides leaked dripping dirty fluids, bile and pus coming out of its mouth full of rows of teeth yellowed and full of decay with pieces of meat and feathers, probably from some bird that had served as its food.
The little abomination was smiling and laughing loudly pointing to him. Jumping from one side to the other with extreme happiness. Ainz almost wanted to vomit at seeing the scene, even if it was only bones, the image in his brain asked him to do it.
"Ah... you have finally arrived" said Nemu who smiled as did the Nurgling at her feet. That thing also spoke. "The king has arrived, the king has arrived!" With great joy.
"I've been waiting for you." She continued. "Papa Nurgle told me that if I waited long enough you would show up."
"Nemu..." Ainz spoke. "...Tell me... What happened...? Where is your sister? What has the Imperium done to you? I've been looking for clues about them. Please tell me what is going on."
"It was a matter of time, after all. That's what Papa Nurgle said. Your kingdom falls apart and you already doubt yourself, is not it?" She showed a sad smile and lifted the Nurgling caressing it like a cat. "Onee-chan is no longer... after the emperor dogs took us prisoners in their battleships, that occurred. The Eldar corsairs attacked and teared the ship in which my sister and I were traveling..." A yellowish tear ran down her cheek. "Onee-chan was vaporized by a bolt of energy, atomized, there was nothing to save. But it was not the end. Papa Nurgle saved me, took me into his arms and offered me his warmth and love. In return I swear loyalty and eternal servitude."
"Serfdom, servitude." The Nurgling Said.
"Nemu ... I really feel sorry for Enri and Nphirea... if I had known it before I would have sent a force to protect you all." Told Ainz who had not forgotten his weakness for children. Seeing now a sweet girl like Nemu being reduced to a monster so filthy, filled him with regret. A regret that went back and forth every second suppressed by his undead nature.
"It's not your fault." she said. "The Imperials are merciless after all. Besides, isn't it the same for you? You're cornered right? Surrounded by those bastards and their lies and tyranny covered with liberation."
"I frankly do not understand how all this ended in this way." Ainz replied. "It's as if I had angered some god inadvertently and this god decided to punish me. From the beginning I would have sought peace with the Imperium, even by agreeing to their demands. But that was not what they were looking for. I must admit the Slane theocracy's xenophobia is like a cat's puppy compared to the Imperium. "
"And why not attack? I have seen your armies and they can certainly face them."
"If it were so easy... I could, and at the same time I couldn't. The armies of the Imperium now comes by the dozens. My sources told me about only four hundred troops deployed in the Theocracy and right now they are about to take their capital. Three regiments have been sent to the confederation of Agrand states, where beastmen abound, I have received reports of massacres against the latter. To the east, more than ten thousand soldiers of the empire march to liberate the sacred kingdom. And to the north, the Astartes, mobilize to take over the draconic kingdom and its relics. Nigredo has given me all that, although more than once someone tried to kill her while watching. Since then I have ordered security systems, but now it seems that the information captured by Nigredo has dropped drastically. A victory on my part would mean a massacre once they have targeted us with their orbital weapons."
"Your power is useless at this dire time," Nemu said. "But you know ... Papa Nurgle could help. Papa Nurgle is kind to all his children. As long as these are good children."
"I do not know who this Nurgle is. But I can not deny that with so many things that I have witnessed in recent months this Nurgle could end being a very dangerous foe."
"Papa Nurgle is very good," she said. "Papa Nurgle will protect you from the Imperium and will even grant you the victory. He returned me from death and gave me eternal life."
"Your life is false," Ainz said as he watched the rotting marsh bubbling incessantly. "You are undead. You will live forever but you will never be able to enjoy the living. Just like me…"
Nemu looked at him coldly. For some reason, Ainz could find in those eyes a form of disdain he did not understand, it was different and yet familiar. Like the one Albedo did when she thought they had insulted her lord.
A cloud of steam began to surround Nemu, it was generated by the Nurgling she carried in her hands. At first Ainz felt he had to move away by pure instinct, there was something strange in this fog.
And he realized this when his fingers, which, having touched this toxic haze, began to turn yellow, abandoning their pearl color and marble. However, Ainz did not feel pain, but a very unpleasant sensation was very persistent.
He looked at his hand, and his mental switch fired countless times at seeing how his fingers were cracked and then shattered splinter by splinter. How was this possible? He asked. What kind of power could affect him as much as to break his bones just by touching it.
"Entropy is part of everything ..." Nemu said. But this time his voice was different, sinister, unnatural. "Nothing escapes death, not even you. You're like a giant star, shine more strongly, but will consume more quickly and before the Imperium comes with full force, you may have become extinct."
"I have already taken action against that." Ainz replied.
"Have you already?" Nemu asked with a sarcastic smile. "Eldars? In the end you will only be stabbed in the back, you should see things wide and realize that you are acting exactly as the Harlequins want you to act. In the end you will lose everything. "
"What do you know ?" Ainz snapped. "The war has come to this world. A war I had never foreseen, nor any of my guardians had expected it. Now I must prepare myself, because there are things that I must fix."
Ainz turned, walking away thinking what he should do with this place. He had thought about burning it, using its most powerful fire spell and ending this. Even if it was Nemu, he knew there was no way of bring her back because 'that' was not Nemu.
"What if I told you an even worse enemy is about to attack you?" Said Nurgle's herald. "Attack you, attack you." The Nurgling also repeated.
Ainz turned to see her, unable to ignore what she had said. "Is that a threat?" Preparing to cast a spell.
"No." she spoke. "it is a warning. If Papa Nurgle wanted to attack you, he would not announce it in such a way." The Nurgling laughed. "What is coming is something Papa Nurgle hates, something opposite to him. That's why Papa Nurgle does not want that to be successful. He does not want the one who changes the ways to achieve his plans."
Nemu introduced her hand between the bowels of the Nurgling, the thing stirred and laughed, as if the abomination only felt tickle for such a disgusting game. After a few seconds she found what she was looking for, from among the pink intestines of the Nurgling she took out an object. It was dark, vile, strange. It emanated an unholy aura that could be smelled several meters away. A twisted cross with sides as dark as night, just seeing it was enough to know it was cursed in every way.
"Take this." Nemu said stretching her arm for Ainz to reach it.
He doubted, like an object delivered by a being capable of killing him, Ainz distrusted fully in what she gave him.
"With this you can call Papa Nurgle and he will respond graciously. You just have to plant it anywhere."
Slowly Ainz finally took it, at first just brushing it to make sure it would not disintegrate his bones. It was unreal, an item he had never seen before. It was heavy, as if holding a steel ball, disproportional to the size of the object.
It was then that he felt the space contract and a colossal cold that enveloped the environment. Thunder broke out and the air exploded .
By the time Ainz opened his eyes, Nemu had left. The whole garden and swamp had also gone with her.
He was perplexed. The palace had numerous anti-teleportation systems and had even placed more in the possibility that another event like that occurring in the throne room would be repeated. He was worried, this also meant that his defenses had no chance against this class of enemies.
He look at the artifact she had left him. It pulsed like living flesh and seemed to atrophy the environment itself, even touching it caused repulsion. However, his curiosity and collector's taste forced him to try to study this unique item.
[greater magical appraisal item] he casted his spell and studied what looked like an extremely rare item.
And he almost fell back on reading its information.
"This... this is capable of such a impossible thing...!" he shout it . "This is an instant [the goal of all life is death] with no downtime! Create incurable and impossible plagues! No, there's still more... this is... this could unleash a plague on the whole world in the form of a storm that would end all life regardless of its resistance... no, not even a world-class item, not even one of the twenty could do such a thing... unleash a horde of countless demons on ALL the world... What kind of force might be able to create such a thing?"
He shot out into his office. He had to study this item, he had to understand its power.
However, he was not able to take it to Nazarick Well, he knew that if they had managed to infiltrate this place, how could he be sure they had not already done so in the tomb? And this item could well also be a trap.
[X]
Lord Bane looked at the holographic map of the planet looking for key points and places where erecting emplacements while thinking what would be the most urgent case.
The Slane Theocracy had literally fallen overnight. In a matter of 23 hours a detachment of sisters of battle from the order of the blood rose had taken over the capital and murdered the senior cardinals of the heretical cult. There had been a relatively minor confrontation in which three battle sisters had lost their lives. He did not give much importance, the country was of the imperium now, soon he would begin the process of studying it and sanctify it in a few years to begin bringing settlers to this new world.
He turned to see Baharuth, now nothing more than a village in sight of the Imperium. New nobles had been raised thanks to the management of the now count governor Jirniv. Although the title was relative, they still did not control the entire planet. But it was a good way to keep him complacent and loyal to the Imperium.
To the northeast, two regiments of the imperial guard, as well as four battalions of the newly formed planetary defense forces recruited from Baharuth. These gained ground on the beastmen who plagued these lands, quickly purging and burning them. There were reports of conquests over cities and treasures that would be brought to Baharuth to be analyzed by him and the adepts of Mars.
To the east, four regiments of Maccabean Janissaries were marching towards the sacred kingdom if Roble. Peasants said there was a cult of the sorcerer king in that place.
That left the sorcerer king he had heard so much about as last.
The sorcerer kingdom. Dangerously next to Baharuth, his command center on the planet. Separated by a plain forty-eight kilometers wide and sixty kilometers long.
He had placed a gamma of artillery and six regiments of the imperial guard, as well as a battle group of the Adeptus Astartes of the chapter of the blood ravens. One hundred thousand troops in total scattered tactically to avoid area of effect attacks and improve the flexibility of the defense. There were also gray knights waiting for one of those 'guardians' of the sorcerer king to appear. Eartshaker cannons deployed one hundred meters next to each other with heavy mortars and bombards at the ready to fill the gapes.
Of course, he would have chosen to attack the country directly, but doing so, although possible, could end up causing unnecessary losses. He knew there were forces of chaos and Xenos hovering in this world, and still had to look for them and eliminate them. But his current forces of 150,000 troops allowed only one thing at a time. If he separated his forces too much, he would end up in a war where they could only be on the defensive until more reinforcements arrived. In fact, two knight spears from the Terryn house were on the way. The astropath had informed him they would arrive in five days if the currents of the Inmaterium allowed it.
There was also the issue of those 'world class items'. Which were said to contain an impressive power. He had searched and researched Baharuth, but there was no trace of anything remotely like it. The only clue he had of a world-class item was the poorly detailed reports of the thirteen heroes and the eight greed kings.
If those items were as powerful as it was said then he should investigate them. If they fell into the power of evil Xenos or worse yet, chaos, destruction would be worrying. That is Why now, two of his proteges and inquisitorial agents had been dispatched to find these items and collect them as soon as possible.
[X]
Ten hours earlier ... Theocracy Slane, capital.
"Die, heretic!" She shouted as she lowered the energy sword with strength by splitting the witch in half who had tried to use magic against her. The bolter fire spread along the wall while the cries and howls of the defenders mingled with the songs of faith and devotion of the adepta Sororitas.
The enemy's sorcerers had been using white creatures that blasphemed being angels. Beings of silver armor and wings of fire with swords of light. Vile lie and heresy, there was no way the emperor could allow such beings to exist. Just more lies from the ruinous powers.
She charged directly to a soldier in heavy armor who wore a morning star with a shield. The knight turned the morning star in a wide arc, pointed at the head of the Sororitas, discovered. Even if her armor protected her from everything thrown at her, she could not protect her skull without the helmet.
But the Elohim raised her bolt pistol and with a mass-reactive projectile sprayed the ball full of spikes that had banally tried to threaten her life. She moved the blade of her sword in a wide arc, the disruption field shattering the molecular bonds of the material from which the armor was made and the knight himself. As if cut through warm grease with a red-hot knife. She closed the heretic by setting aside his split body.
More knights went for her, armed with long spears. She did not worry about facing them seriously. The bishop had ordered them to defeat the enemy not only physically, they had to show them that all their efforts were useless. Three blades of each lance went to her belly connecting with the ceramite that covered it.
And the three of them broke like dry sticks.
Perplexed, the guards of the theocracy released their weapons and ran. They tried to get away from the Sororita as far as they could. But they did not advance more than a few meters, for the tongues of fire from a flamethrower enveloped them. They cooked inside their armor, it even melted the metal in the immense heat of the imperial flamer.
The exorcist fired its missiles pointing towards the entrance. Dozens of guards died when, not only the adamantite gate, but also the wall had fallen completely. Four hundred battle sisters had been deployed and were moving with unreal speed in search of destroying the enemy that had hidden behind the walls.
The first ones that arrived, Catalina among them, were received by hundreds of arrows that flew over them, but only a banal hope were once bounced off the ceramite of the armor. The archers were cut as the sickle harvests the wheat thanks to the bolter fire and flamethrower.
Suddenly, figures emerged from the smoke formed by fire and death. They were golems made of rock. Twelve of them in formation with a golem made of steel. Each of them armed with a hammer and a shield
Behind them there were two figures walking, this was a girl with brown hair and strange clothes and a somewhat shorter boy with his blonde hair and a small hat. The girl was carrying a schoolar suitcase, it seemed to writhe, as if something was contained inside. The boy was wearing a rapier, he was monochromatic in a spiral design as his only weapon.
"Wow ..." the boy spoke. "They dare to attack our country so indiscriminately. Only death will make them get my forgiveness." He said with bravado.
"I will not forgive them for what they did to the temples ..." the girl said with clear anger on her face that was just a pathetic grimace on her face.
Cataline judged the pair, protected by the thirteen golems they advanced. She raised her bolter pistol and fired, a reactive round of. 75 impacted at supersonic speed against the chest of one of the golems. However, this did not knock it down, but destroyed a good piece of the rock that formed its torso. The other golems raised their shields automatically upon seeing they were being attacked.
"It's useless." The boy spoke. "These golems were made by our best alchemists. You will not be able to destroy them so easily even with those weapons you possess."
Then another front opened as Xenos beasts appeared from the smoke. Giant wolves, man-eating lizards and six-headed reptiles moving from one side to the other. But there were three beasts that rose above all the others, three giant basilisks moved their necks from one side to another, where their saliva fell the corrosive material melted whatever it touched.
And behind all these beasts was a man, with blond hair and dressed like a nobleman. "It is not time for introductions, Time turbulence, we must finish with these invaders before they take the capital. We will not allow your boots to stain the sacred ground of this place ever again."
A shadow appeared from the corner of her eye, she stepped aside before something fell on her, when she turned to see what had fallen she found a man, made of pure muscle, in her hand he was carrying an enormous ax as big as the one with great ease. Although he was not as tall as an Astartes and lacked the muscle mass of one, she knew that a real Astartes would have killed her successfully with an attack like that.
The man turned the huge ax towards her, moving slowly, for her eyes, trained since she was a child, she could discern he was not a serious threat. However, she knew that if that ax could hit her it would be a problem. Cataline moved her power sword and a gash split the heavy ax blade, even so, the metal hit her with a roar and the man threw her several meters impacting with a building.
"Ara, I think you hit her too hard, I doubt she'll get up from that. Even though your ax split a bit." said Time Turbulence, who was approaching moving away from the wall of golems.
"Even so, we should make sure." said Beaumarchais, who had approached from the flank avoiding everyone's eyes.
"Well, it would not be fun if she dies so easily. If the others are as tough as this, it will not be difficult for us." Time Turbulence claimed with pride again.
"No..." This time spoke the 10th seat of the black scripture. "It was not enough," he said as he clung to his ax.
"But what do you mean? It was a blow with all your strength, she should be dead now..."
He did not finish speaking when something went flying, an enormous piece of rock impacted against Beaumarchais and throw it to the ground, unconscious.
She got up, her armor covered in dust, she had pieces of concrete in her hair. But she was unharmed.
She pointed them with her sword. Her gaze filled with anger, her eyes like the fire of fury. Something in her had changed, something was different, her blood-colored armor was now becoming more crimson.
"SISTERS!" She shouted. "CARRY THE EMPEROR'S DIVINE WRATH ON THESE HERETICS! LET THE FLAMES BURN HIS JUSTICE ON TO THE DAMNED! BOLTER, FLAMER AND MELTA! NO PITTY, NO MERCY, NO PRISONERS! "
"What's that about?" Time turbulence Said mockingly. "One last attempt of courage?"
It was then that a deafening sound was heard. When he turned he was able to see an enormous sword with whirling teeths into a hellish sound descended on him. He tried to block with his rapier, the teeth of the eviscerator scratched the monochromatic metal but it did not split it. However, the force behind the impact was too much to block and so Time Turbulence was thrown to the ground, narrowly evading the huge sword that had tried to kill him.
When he looked up, he could see who it was. A woman without armor, barely dressed with some leather plates. Her face was covered by rags. Marked on her skin were numerous scars and parchments with litanies of forgiveness and redemption.
With ease she carried that enormous sword bigger than her body. Her eyes were full of anger and roared like an uncontrollable animal. She lifted her huge sword again, however, this time it went for someone else, his companion, called the strongest human.
He reacted accordingly, years of combat toned by past dangers. He moved his ax from side to side, using every martial art and pushing aside each eviscerator who approached him. One more repentia had joined the fight, now both striking again and again meeting the heavy ax of their enemy which had been holding until now.
However, the ax began to break. Enormous teeth of adamantium and impossible edge sliced the metal and created cracks with each blow, it was a matter of time for the user to fall.
Time Turbulence joined the battle, as an arrow ran in one thrust towards one of the sudden repentias. His rapier pierced the flesh of his enemy who had been too entertained against his companion.
However, despite the onslaught, the woman contained the attack. The pain ignored by her fanaticism and the injuries forgotten by her anger. She held the rapier with her hand while raising the other to drop the eviscerator on Time turbulence.
Him, at seeing what was going for him, toke his hand to his back, releasing a dagger he raised it as quickly as he could and stuck it in the throat of the Repentia. The dagger weighed less, even if the eviscerator was more lethal, lifting it would toke time. She then fell to the ground drowning in her blood, Turbulence raised his rapier and pierced the heart of his enemy, she died, but her eyes full of fury were nailed at him, spitting oaths of hatred and death. He released his rapier, leaving behind the blood that had been stained.
"Damn crazy bitch..." he whispered. "What kind of hole have you come from...?"
But he could not say more. He felt a blow to the back that passed through his chest. When he looked, he saw how a huge hole the size of his open hand occupied his chest. Turning, he saw more Imperium warriors, all of them with the same crimson armor, all of them pointing at him with their weapons.
How stupid he had been. Get away from the protection of the golems, trying to gain glory.
More shots were heard, pulverizing his body in a shower of death.
The tenth seat of the theocracy, the strongest man. The one from which legends was called that no other human being could defeat him.
He was now being cornered by three snaps who had come together to make him fall.
His ax, full of cracks, now felt so heavy in his hands.
It was then that he felt something on his wrist. When he saw it a trickle of blood formed, he felt a sharp pain invade his arm and watched in horror as his hand fell to the ground. Bigger was his horror when three huge eviscerators went after him, destroying his body and turning him into a tug of flesh and blood.
A sororita, armed with neuro-whips, was advancing on the spot. With a shot of her bolter pistol silenced the heretic who was unconscious on the ground.
More and more battle sisters entered through the crack of the wall. All singing hymns for the emperor, all proclaiming litanies of faith and revenge. The guards of the theocracy fell like simple insects. Destroyed by mass-reactive rounds, incinerated by flamethrowers and reduced to vapor clouds by melta rifles.
A squad of retributor sisters formed, their heavy bolters aiming at the golems, their melta cannons ready to unleash hell.
In a row they fired, dropping a storm of fire on the golems. These were not able to withstand the damage. The enchanted rock they were made of was bursting into pieces, their shields were vaporized by the intense heat they released. In the end the girl behind them shouted, unable to bear the weight of the damage that was going for her. A mass-reactive round hit her, destroying the top of her body in a thousand pieces.
Quaiesse Hazia Quintia could not believe what he saw. Three of his companions defeated and killed in such a way. He was afraid, of course, but his training had allowed him to control him. He then called the beasts at his command and ordered his basilisks to attack. Claws and teeth went for the battle sisters, lethal beasts went to for what they believed were their prey.
Flamer fire surrounded them, torrents of promethium capable of melting the steel itself in seconds. it bathe the creatures together with the wrath of the Sororitas that, with disgust, looked at these unclean beings.
One of the basilisks had managed to capture one of them. Between its jaws it chewed, but the ceramite did nothing but break its teeth. Even so, the joints of the armor was being teared, blood running between its mouth as it tried to sink its fangs deeper and deeper into its prey.
But the battle sister did not mourned, her face was hate, her cries were oaths of death. She released one of her krak grenades and with the force of her power armor pierced one of the eyes of the basilisk. But this didn't let her go. She did not care, because in seconds the grenade exploded inside the brain of the basilisk, decapitating it and throwing the body of the Sororita as well.
She was still alive, but in a deplorable state now. Her armor shattered, more by the grenade than by the jaws of the beast. But there was something else, something holding her, when she tried to see she realized that her body was petrifying, the armor turned to stone and her body melting with it. She lamented, not for dying, but for falling before a beast as vile as that one.
Only the shot of a canoness passing close saved her from such a destination.
Felicia had been named canoness at thirty. And since then she had fought wars for dozens of worlds, vestiges of that were her artificial arms and legs given to her by the adepts of Mars.
With an order and pivoting of her sword, she called her celestian, the elite of his conclave. Armed with plasma rifles they reduced every beast they saw to ashes. The so-called 'one man's army' exploded in the remains of vaporized flesh while trying to escape.
"March for the emperor! March for his glory! Tremble before his majesty! Because we all walk in his immortal shadow! "Felicia said at the same time as she commanded her troops. "Retributors to the buildings, Burn this heretical garbage! Celestians to the enemy capitol without mercy against the heretics!"
They moved through the streets, leaving the square that divided them from the city. The burning promethium was rising consuming homes and their owners with these. The bolter fire tore apart the defenders who tried in vain to face them.
Suddenly something attacked from the sky. A being of silver color and armed with a sword of light. Wings of fire descended, angels invoked. Dozens of these descended, seeking to finish off the battle sisters who also, with irony, fought for the faith.
[X]
It was a cabin, no more than four rooms. Part of the village in which they had lived for so long.
A village of beastmen.
The young man took the piece of raw meat to his mouth, if it was disgusting and unhygienic, but for a beastman this was a delicacy.
Well, this was a special day. His mother had managed to buy a human from the slavers who used to hunt weak prey at the border.
It had been delicious, eaten until the last part, they had only left the head of a blonde girl of no more than twenty years, it was in its point.
"Thanks a lot for the food!" said the beast-man brood as he licked the fingers of the unfortunate victim's blood that had just been killed and eaten.
Their parents nodded happily, because this was the day they celebrated his birthday.
There was a knock on the door. Who would it be at this time? They were wondering. It was already late, even if some were nocturnal, to hang around at this time was not normal.
The father went to see, something had caught his nose. But when he opened just a crack in the door, a sound echoed. Dry, as when a branch breaks.
His father turned, but he trembled, his arms desperate to grope for something.
Only to discover that his face had disappeared. Vaporized by the firing of a las-gun at point-blank range.
The boy shouted, a scream that called his father now horribly dead. His mother stood up, claws and teeth ready to attack anyone who had dared to commit such an atrocity against his beloved.
Certainly, the strength of a beastman far exceeded that of a normal human. However, this case was relative. For there were human beings certainly capable of easily defeating a beastmen.
But none of these versions was what had brought death to this place.
What happened was a myriad of incandescent lights coming out of the door, rather, smashing the door and making pieces of burning coal.
The shower of death washed his mother, who was vaporized by the energy shots that simply turned her into nothing but pieces of charred flesh.
The boy could not scream, paralyzed by the shock of seeing his parents die so traumatically it made him unable to react.
It was then that what remained of the door opened revealing the person responsible for such madness. She realized she was a woman, young, her blond hair cut to the shoulders. In her hands was a strange weapon that released smoke from the tip. Her body, covered by a strange armor mostly olive.
"Is there anyone at home?" she called, like a cruel joke that mocked her victims. "Oh, what do we have here?" She said when she saw the boy trembling in a corner.
"I'm so sorry for interrupt your dinner, but I'm just doing my job. Nothing personal, well, maybe a little. That little blondy there could have become an adorable girl, we even shared the same haircut, it's a pity, a pity... "
The boy, when recognizing the murderer of his parents, made him wake up his instinct. Hatred invaded his heart and fury filled his body. As a savage rose and jumped to skin the woman who had killed his parents.
Just for a kick in the stomach to leave him on the ground again.
"How to say it, boy..." the woman spoke again. "You are Xeno, I am human, in addition to serving in the PDF, my obligation is to hate everything that is not human and kill it. That's basically the point of all this. You exist, I hunt you. Nothing more and nothing less. You can fight everything you want, even so, I'm going to kill you. "
She had a look of boredom when she shot. Two bolts of laser fire cut off the legs of the boy who writhed in pain when he felt such a wound. Another one took his right arm full. By this time the young beast man had curled up in a fetal position due to pain. His wounds were sealed due to the intense burns of laser fire. She unsheathed her bayonet and with this one she cut off the boy's ears, after cleaning the blood she keep it in a leather bag that seemed to be already full.
"You know, if the Commissar sees this he would send me to flagellate. It's not that it is entirely valid for a direct execution in the field. But hey ... I guess old habits die hard."
She brought her bayonet closer to her victim's face . "Now, what else should I cut? What if I take your eyes out? A bag to carry grenades would be good for me. Oh I know, I'll use your skin to make a good vest for the cold! ...Even though your skin may not be enough, well, I can also use your parents', or what's left..."
She pulled the bayonet closer and stretching the skin began to cut, blood gushed from the wounds while her victim cried and screamed.
"Clementine! Enough games! The commissar calls us." Said a man with the same uniform behind her. "And kill already that filthy Xeno scum before I do it."
Clementine nodded. "Yes, sir..." she said in a tone of boredom that his captain ignored. She turned the bayonet between her fingers and stabbed the beastmen straight in the heart. But he did not finish dying, Clementine let him bleed.
[X]
More land was thrown out and accumulated in one of the many mounds next to the ditches. Claws, hooves... these worked digging again and again. For they were the same owners of these, beastmen, who had been digging for thirty minutes already. A long line where hundreds of these were still digging ditches under the watchful eye of those who forced them to do so.
And ironically, humans were responsible for this.
"Keep digging, scum! Keep going and I will not order death on your filthy babies! Two meters! That will be the least you will have to dig." A man in the uniform of an Imperial Commissar screamed, his commissar cloak fluttering in this gloomy air. His big hat properly accommodated. His bolt pistol in his hand watched these Xenos with a hawk's eye.
"Dig! Dig for your lives! Time is short and the work of the emperor never ends. It's already too much to be spending it letting garbage as you breathe a little more just to dig these trenches."
One of the beastmen threw himself at him. This was taboo, the creature thought. How is it that the cattle were giving orders to them now? Claws open and ready to cut meat and split bones. He would show this weak human his place as sow.
But that idea vanished when he felt a thud in his chest. When he looked he realized that this was made a lot of shreds and torn flesh. He felt his muscles lose out and consciousness escaping from it, he finally fell without further, his organs scattered around him.
"Does anyone else want to face justice of the emperor?!" shouted the Lord commissioner as he returned the bolter to his pistol holster.
"Sir, I think you should see this." He was spoken by his assistant, a girl, a sergeant who had been recruited a couple of years ago. The commissar turned, not to punish the girl, but to hear what it was so important to require his presence.
"What is it, Leiren?" Asked the commissar.
"We have found what appears to be the place where several humans were held prisoner. They probably used them as food."
"Hmm ... okay. You will guide me there." Said the commissar who later gave instructions to another officer to watch the two hundred prisoners.
An armored car had already been waiting to take them, it took them fifteen minutes to get to that place, because there were too many buildings destroyed and obstacles in the way which forced them to make multiple detours. When they were finally arriving, the commissioner could not help feeling an unpleasant smell. It was similar to the smell of the dead on the battlefield, but it seemed to be mixed with feces and debris, as if going into an Ork camp.
"It's here." Leiren said, more as an indication than as a signal to the commissioner. The driver stopped and opened the door where the commissar was going. This left without paying attention, the duty was pressing at this time.
A squad of Imperial guards were there, belonging to the 443° regiment of Cadia. Everyone stood firm when they saw the commissar arrive. They surrounded what looked like a kind of farm, a barn was surrounded by a palisade crudely made. The smell was worse, as if the rot were washing the place, of course, for the imperial guard, this kind of discomfort was of little importance.
"Is it here?" The commissar asked his assistant again.
"Over here, sir. The exterior is just a front, is the stable that I speak. "She said it clearly referring to the large building, even for a farm, this was five times bigger.
Five guards had accompanied him, even if there were no signs of Xenos in the place could not rule out that it was no harm to be prepared. When they opened the metal doors an almost unbearable stench hit them, some tried to put aside the pest, but the commissar remained quiet, studying the interior in case of an enemy.
But what he found, did not make him hesitate or paralyze. What he saw only made his anger burn, a murderous rage began to boil inside him.
What was inside the barn were humans, however, it was a raw image that was reflected in the eyes of all.
Naked humans, women, men, even children, hung from the ceiling in what looked like hooks for butchers. Teared, cut off, severed, chopped. Some bodies bathed in salt for their preservation while others were simply full of worms.
Not only that, there were also living humans. Naked, miserable, broken. A woman breastfed a little boy who barely seemed capable of continuing to live. Women with clearly large bellies, in a very advanced state of pregnancy, chained with arms attached to the walls, mens with their limbs cut off eating spoiled food over the floor. Nobody cried, because the hearts and reasons of those present there had long since left.
One of the women noticed the commissar and approached him. Her look was strange, the one which a prostitute in the red district of a hive city would have. She brought her hand full of dirt, trying to reach the crotch of the commissar. He stepped aside as if trying to prevent heresy from contaminating him.
He bit his lip, letting blood flow. So much was his anger that tears began to come out of his eyes injected with blood. Not in his time in so many campaigns had he felt so much hatred for the alien besides the dark Eldar.
"Vile creatures..." he said as if a poison came out with every word. "There is no word that can describe such heresy, such sin, such blasphemy against humanity... there is no way that humanity can tolerate the existence of the Xenos, they will always be a threat to us, an evil existence that plagues the galaxy..."
"Sergeant!" He shouted for Leiren as she closed to him without delay a moment.
"Gather ALL the Xenos, gather those vile and filthy scum... I have to procure a judgment this day. Now!
Leiren went straight running to fulfill the order that his commissary had given her.
Two hundred and two beastmen had been trained. All chained with plasteel, carved into the rock several meters so they could not escape. The chains had been sharpened and had been forged with spikes and sharp points. Struggling alone would make them lose their limbs and bleed to death.
"This day I give my verdict!" Shouted the lord commissar. "By the Emperor's grace on this day his decision will be consummated. For this world is full of heresy." He pointed his sword at the chained beastmen. "You! You will be sentenced to the death of your entire species and will be doomed to extinction for there is no place for vile creatures like you on this planet. Every corner and every cave. Your race will be sought and purged from the earth. This is what I am declaring today in the name of imperial justice. But first…"
The commissar made a gesture and hundreds of Imperial guards approached, in front of them were baby beast brood, fate was awaiting for them.
They were thrown to the ground, beaten or kicked, it did not matter. The parents of these roared with anger as they assumed what was about to happen. They tried to escape, save their children and kill their captors. But there was no way they could break the chains
"This day will be the first in a crusade against the vile beastly creatures of this world," the lord commissar declared. "And it will begin with the purging of your miserable offspring."
One of the guards started, lifted her bayonet and stabbed masterfully to the child beastman. It was not a lethal wound, at least not for its species. But the guardswoman, a girl with blond hair, moved the knife aside, separating the flesh and veins, letting out gouts of blood. After slitting its throat from one side to the other, she spun the bayonet between her hands, with one blow split the vertebrae and separated the head from the body of the child.
Several guardsmen did the same, some trying to copy the way Clementine had done it. But others chose to use other methods, stab the heart, stab the brain, or simply cut off the carotid vein and throat to bleed them. But in the end the result was the same. Screams and howls of pain came from parents and children, despair in the eyes of both to see the fate of their loved ones. Several beastmen pulled with all their strength only to end up severing their limbs, some reaching as far as to crawl like worms to their children.
But the result, would remain the same.
After twenty minutes of agony and death, the last of the young died. Servitors took the bodies with their metallic claws and took them to a quagmire, where several wild boars, previously also captured by the beastmen as a source of food in case their humans were finished.
Wild boars, there were no domestic pigs there. When the starving wild boars saw the bodies of the victims fall to the mud, they rushed to devour them. They ate and ate, while the Imperials forced their parents to see such a scene.
Then the beastmen heard the roar of something they had never seen before and felt the earth tremble beneath their feet. One of the machines the Imperium had used to destroy their congeners.
The guardsmen and their Lord Commissar moved several feet away from the Bane Wolf. This aligned its chem cannon as it advanced through the ranks of the beastmen prisoners.
And that way they fired the chem cannon.
The sacrosanct formula created by the Adeptus Mechanicum bathed them. Impossible toxic gas clouds pounced on the defenseless victims .
The damage was more than horrible. Blood escaped from their bodies, blood reduced to a dark green color, pure poison, this is what their blood had become. The flesh fell from the bones, separating the skin and the organs liquefying inside.
Shouting? There could not be screams there, because their vocal cords had melted thanks to the powerful toxic cloud that covered them. Within seconds their bodies were reduced to puddles of poisonous material, nor even the bones were left behind. Everything decomposing at the cellular level.
In the distance the imperial guard celebrated. They sang praises to the emperor, shouting cries of victory over the unclean Xenos. The Lord Commissioner let them do it, there was nothing wrong with hating the Xeno, it was a just reason in the name of the imperium of mankind.
"Yuck. That must smell terrible." Said a person in a low voice to prevent anyone else from hearing her. She watched as those beastmen died so horribly, it was a funny sight.
She took her rifle to her shoulder and went back to the camp, along with other guards who were also going. She wondered how much Amasec could get from the Ratlings if she exchanged with them for the new gold coins in her bag that had been paid her. Maybe she could get a stiletto from some blacksmith from the serfs who followed the regiment.
[X]
Albedo walked through the ranks of warriors. Death knights, Death cavaliers, death warriors, demons, skeletal warriors, elder liches, auxiliaries... and more. Much more. One million troops ready to march to war, ready to march for her.
For Ainz had conferred power on her along with Demiurge as his two generals, and each one had assigned him a part of the troops of the entire sorcerer kingdom. These seven hundred thousand were his own army.
Demiurge had warned her, almost censored of attacking the Imperium. He told her nonsense about fire from the sky capable of destroying continents, of powerful beings that could break her like a stick. Pure nonsense, hallucinations of a weakling. Humans were weak after all, they were easy to master and they had to bow to the power of the supreme being.
Besides, she was pretty sure that Ainz could be just as capable, no, much stronger than that rain of fire. In her fanaticism for her beloved, she thought there was nothing the Imperium could throw at them that could be effective.
After all, it was her obligation to protect him. Demiurge was a coward who could never understand the glory of Ainz-sama. Resorting to those space clowns. It was crazy. He had even asked for the world-class item that his own creator had given him.
She came forward on her mount, a high-level slepnir whose force was only considered more powerful than pets of aura. In her hands was the world-class item that her creator, Tabula Smaragdina, had conferred on her.
"Servants!" She exclaimed in front of her army. "Our lord has suffered a terrible insult. Shame has befallen our kingdom. A kingdom that was created under the hard work of our almighty king."
The beasts roared with fury, the demons cursed incessantly. Only the undead were silent because of their nature. Albedo saw all this and rejoiced in the vanity of the glory of a commander who was about to fight a war which was already won.
"My army!" She shouted. "You will be bathed in glory! Glory from the blood of our enemies! "She received more ovations from her army . "Humans dare to believe they have the right to rule this world! Show them how wrong they are! Go, For Nazarick and for Ainz Ooal Gown-sama!"
Her warriors moved, all advancing in different companies deployed and retracted to cover greater distances. This was to avoid the artillery of the enemy which had proved to be very effective against their army formations.
However, she stayed behind. And casting a spell of [Message] she spoke.
"Start with the deployment of Rubedo..."
[X]
It was a beautiful vision. He thought to himself, the Lord of Change.
A vision that he himself had woven and he himself had built the roads so that this result was possible.
The theocracy had been simple. Distorting the messages of the Imperium to make them look like conquerors without mercy had unleashed everything. A prehistoric, weak, without understanding civilization more than what their own eyes told them. The anarchy would soon reign and, knowing the Imperium, they had not been slow to begin claiming the lands in the name of their emperor, banishing their former inhabitants and slaughtering beast and demi-humans without mercy.
The Harlequins. Blind in their own hunts. Now deployed around the world looking for those items when they were just fake trinkets that he had planted to buy time. Now with them away from this, and too late to respond, his plan would go much more quickly.
Finally, Ainz Ooal Gown.
It had been problematic, and even that despicable Nurgle had gone ahead. But not all was lost.
Since even the biggest castle, had a loose stone.
The lord of change watched the daemoness ride with her army. And he laughed, he knew it was useless, and he longed to see how her ego would shattered by a force she could not contain, at least not with the strength she carried with her.
However, it would serve its purpose. He had seen in the future through the threads of fate. And once she was reduced to nothing, he would make his victory in a fast and decisive movement.
And so Nazarick, and all his treasures, would be his.
"Oh, I cannot wait..." She spoke next to him in a familiar voice. Deceiving, seductive and anxious.
Renner stroked her body trembling at the premonition. Just thinking about what she would do with her led her to ecstasy again and again.
Renner longed to get this new toy. How she longed to break that arrogance and reduce that doll to nothing more than an empty shell of all virtue. "With her soul corrupted and totally devoted to me..."
