"A Chaos Incursion?" I repeated, my brows furrowed as I asked. The three of us assumed a triangular formation, with Mira to the right and I to the left; Olly walked at the center. While Mira and I could comfortably hold a proper lasgun, Olly, with only a single arm, could only use a Laspistol, which was significantly less effective. However, Olly was also the VIP, which meant Mira and I had to ensure he stayed alive, even if we had to sacrifice ourselves to do that. I had to make sure it didn't come to that, of course, since it'd be difficult to explain why I was alive and Mira wasn't. "What is that?"

We rounded a corner, checking for bogies. There weren't any. We made our way to the southern edge of the HQ, where Olly said the armored vehicles were parked. According to him, there were a few that went unused when they were sent out – something about there being more tanks than there were people to crew them, which was something I've never heard of before. Hopefully, they'd still be there. We only needed a single one, after all. Though, I must admit I'd love to hop into a Leman Russ tank if possible.

"Do you remember the briefing," Olly said. "Before your regiment was sent out? They told you we'd be dealing with an army of heretics, yes? But they gave no other information beyond that."

I nodded. I remembered well enough. We'd been told that an army of heretics had gathered and our mission was to destroy them, grind them to dust and ensure nothing remained of them. It should've been easy. After all, we had numbers and equipment on our side. No one spoke of Daemons or Traitor Astartes and no one prepared for them. And then, before we knew it, entire legions were slaughtered. I died then, my first true death. I wasn't sure if I should be thankful for it.

"What High Command failed to tell everyone was the fact that, by the time we mobilized, the heretics had already won." Olly said. The idea of heretics enjoying any sort of victory did not sit right with me. No, I decided. They haven't one. Their victory was not secured, because I was still here. Whatever plans they had for this planet, I was going to thwart them in the Emperor's name. But, I could understand why Olly and the others lost hope. I would show them the light. More than mere vengeance was a genuine chance to turn the tide of war. We just had to be smart about it and, above all, trust in the God Emperor. "Or, at the very least, they'd already finished what they set out to do."

"And what was that goal?" I asked him. Knowing the answer should result in me succeeding one of my earliest quests, which was to figure out what happened to this world. Knowing that was the first step to defeating the Heretics. Olly briefly glanced at me from behind his shoulder as we crept forward. Mira, all the while, only chose to listen and stay quiet. There were still no enemies thus far – not that I was expecting any. The Heretics had likely concentrated their efforts on the hive city of Kuresh, which meant they'd leave only scattered pockets behind.

"Warp Portals," Olly answered, looking ahead. A cold wind blew over us, carrying with it the sickening stench of death, marred by something sweet. "The Heretics paved the way for the Great Enemy to take a foothold upon Praxtor. By themselves, we would've defeated them easily. With the aid of Daemons and Traitor Astartes, however..."

My eyes widened briefly and I nodded. Well, I already figured that much, at least. I was there during the first charge. And I'd glimpsed upon the Chaos Astartes, however briefly, as they marched out of the shimmering tears upon reality. I also might've destroyed one of those portals, but I wasn't too sure about that one. Olly continued. "We were caught unaware and unprepared, and now the whole planet's under siege."

Quest Completed!
[Find Out What Happened to Praxtor!]
Rewards Received!

A single Health Potion appeared in my inventory, alongside a split increase of 250 units in both my [Raw Material] and [Warp Energy], since [Biomass] was full. I couldn't fill up either of those storage stats by absorbing more people, unfortunately, since this only occurred because the 500kg biomass reward was exactly that – a reward from the System itself. The Health Potion itself was... not that useful to me. I had two of them. However, I could use them on my fellow guardsmen and that made them valuable.

I still wasn't sure how best to go about using them, however, as doing so could quickly get me branded as a heretic of some kind.

"So," I said, frowning. "You believe they've won simply because they managed to call on reinforcements?"

Olly stopped and gave me an incredulous look. "You might not be aware, Perry, but the dark powers cannot be countered or defeated; our best hope would've been striking before the heretics opened the portals. But this world is lost, overrun by Daemons. At best, we can strike and hurt them – vengeance – but all hope of any meaningful victory is... slim."

My eyes lit up. "So, there is a chance."

Olly sighed and smiled ruefully, shaking his head. "There's always a small chance, yes. If we can somehow kill all the heretics and then close all the portals, then it is possible to clean out the Corruption – in time."

I could absorb and purify the corruption, I thought. The only problem was scale. I was but one man. It'd take me years to close every portal and absorb every bit of corruption on the entire planet. Not that I wasn't willing to spend that much time to secure a victory against the Great Enemy, but something told me that option just wasn't feasible. For one thing, for every portal I close, the heretics could simply open two more – one step forward, two steps back. I couldn't win by myself. However, if the guard were to rally and strike at every enemy stronghold, while I work on closing the portals, then it might just be possible. It'd be even better if we received reinforcements to bolster our forces and push the enemy back. Because the portals themselves weren't the problem; I'd destroyed one with an improvised bomb, after all. The problem was the corruption that seeped from them. The task of cleansing the taint of chaos fell to me.

I would be the Emperor's hand, his burning fist that would crush all the enemies of the Imperium and cleanse its worlds free of the taint of the Great Enemy.

"Then," I said, a shadow of a grin upon my lips. "Let's hope we have time."

We made our way further southward, passing through ruins upon ruins upon ruins – and corpses, everywhere I turned I saw corpses. Still, we pressed onward until, eventually, we found the hangar, a massive structure that housed the remaining armored vehicles; I hoped that one of them, at least, was working. The quest seemed to indicate that, indeed, there was at least a single functioning vehicle; our task would be finding and operating it. Mira and I went first. The main opening seemed to have been ripped open by... something that left massive gashes upon metal and stone. I glanced around and noted the massive cratered indents left on the ground, like something very large had been standing here and forcefully pried open the facility. I frowned. Whatever it was, however, it surely was gone now; otherwise, we would've noticed its presence.

Fortunately, the lights still functioned as we stepped inside, though it flickered every now and again, illuminating the ruined forms of the armored vehicles, each one seemingly ripped apart with wild and reckless abandon, the work of a wild animal. Olly glances up as well, right before we entered; the old man's eyes narrowed as he frowned. "Something came in here and trashed the place; I can't imagine why they didn't just take the vehicles."

I found myself agreeing. Heretic or otherwise, vehicles were vehicles; destroying them, instead of simply stealing them, seemed like a total waste. We walked inside and Mira and I turned on the flashlights on our Lasguns. The interior wasn't dim or dark by any means, but the flickering lights meant that there were far too many shadows than what we'd otherwise be comfortable with. If I'd been alone, then I simply would've taken on the form of an Astartes, alongside a suit of power armor; the shear durability, alongside the enhanced senses, would've made this assignment laughably easy.

Still, I was... glad to not be alone. Olly and Mira might slow me down, but the long term goal, which was the cleansing and securing of this planet, would require me to work with others anyway. I knew I was powerful and I knew that I would become even more powerful, in time, but that did not mean I could accomplish great feats all alone; even the Astartes, the Emperor's Angel's of Death, operated in squads. I suppose that I could, perhaps, do well enough on my own, especially with my abilities, but I wouldn't get far.

We glanced around as we moved further inward. Mira and I, once more, searched for bogies, but found none. The armored vehicles themselves were arranged in a grid pattern, making it easy for us to flash our lights in the gaps between each one to see if there were enemies. And, once more, we found none, which – this time – was downright strange. Despite that, Mira and I simply announced, "Clear!"

"You're good to go, old man," I said, turning to Olly. The old man nodded as I lowered my Lasgun and stood at rest. There were no enemies or immediate threats; so, I saw no need to stand at constant attention. Mira did the same. With a nod, Olly began scanning and investigating the armored vehicles. I knew that I could very easily find one that still worked or, better yet, fix the ones that are broken, but I didn't know how I could do that without arousing suspicion. Mira stood too close and it was tactically stupid to break away from the main group; after all, Olly was still the VIP. We had to stick close to the old man.

"This one's dead," Olly frowned as he stepped away from the nearest armored vehicle, which I noted was just an APC of some kind. I didn't recognize the individual models, but I knew which one had big turrets attached to the top and which ones didn't. The ones that didn't have turrets, for instance, usually had more space to carry guardsmen into battle. I knew them as APCs. The rest I knew as tanks. I did recognize, however, the Leman Russ variants, but only because everyone knew about them and what they generally looked like.

I nodded at Olly as he walked over to the next vehicle and began testing it. Mira turned towards me, almost scowling. "I don't like this. Something's not adding up. It's too quiet – too easy. Last I heard, this base was completely overrun; we can't possibly be alone here. My gut tells me we're being watched."

"I agree," I said. My eyes kept darting to and fro. There was something here we were missing. The difficulty of finding a functioning armored vehicle aside, it couldn't possibly be as easy as simply waiting for Olly to find and activate one. There had to be something else at play. After all, my Quest mentioned hidden parameters, which included a hidden reward. And that meant, more than anything, that we were in for a surprise. Mira and I both knew this, which was precisely why neither of us were particularly relaxed in that moment.

I sighed. If only I could begin splicing the different genetic and physical traits between the templates I had, then I'd give myself the enhanced senses of an Astartes. Such an ability wasn't outside of my capabilities, I knew, but it was locked out for now; I needed to level up [Self-Shaping] some more, before I could even begin to do something of that magnitude. For now, I had to make do with what little changes I could do to my body, alongside the senses I already had.

And so, the only thing I could do was wait.

It was... boring – honestly.

About an hour or so later, Olly called out attention. The old man was looking at what I assumed was another Leman Russ variant, one with a thick and wide turret that was angled upwards – a siege cannon of some kind, meant to attack from great distances. It would serve us well, I figured, surprising the enemy with artillery shells from behind. They wouldn't expect it. There appeared to be a secondary cannon attached to the turret, one that was not angled upwards. "Hey, you two; I found one that's not too broken! It's a Leman Russ Demolisher – good for shelling the enemy from two kilometers away."

I nodded. "So, it's a siege weapon."

Olly confirmed. "Aye, this one has a Lascannon attachment; so, that's good enough if the enemy gets a little too close for comfort. Demolisher cannons can break open fortifications and even other tanks if it hits right."

"What about Traitor Astartes?" I asked. Of all the enemies we'd be facing, I was worried about them the most. Daemons weren't too much of a threat to me now, I mused, considering all I had to do was eat them.

Olly shook his head. "Unless they were somehow caught off-guard, which is unlikely, or otherwise prevented from just running away? Then, no, this wouldn't be of much use against Traitor Astartes; the bastards are too fast. It'd better serve us in destroying enemy encampments and fortifications, baggage trains and other little things that wouldn't run away if we bombarded it."

I wasn't surprised by that answer, unfortunately. In Astartes form, I felt fast enough to dodge bolter rounds; I probably could if I tried hard enough. Fully trained Astartes could very easily retreat from certain death well before it arrived.

"That's a good plan," Mira chimed. "Even the Great Enemy has to rely on some form of logistics – we strike where it stings."

Olly smiled. "Now, we just need to find where they're keeping the ammunition. The fuel canister's full; so, that's good. The artillery shells should be in-"

The ground shook and a portion of the nearby wall collapsed as something massively tall and hideous burst through, roaring. It was somewhat humanoid and wore something that might've been, at once, Power Armor, though it was now covered in pulsating flesh and chunks of jagged metal and guns and spikes and all sorts of weapons all across its body. Its hideous face seemed as thought it was fused into the armor itself. I had no idea what it was – a mutated spawn, perhaps? It certainly didn't look like a Traitor Astartes, but what else could it have been?

My eyes widened as it raised a gnarly, gargantuan arm our way and unleashed a concentrated plume of fire from a flamer that spawned from the folds of its flesh.

"Hostile!"

"No shit!"

No command was given. All three of us crouched behind the battle tank, the flames harmlessly washing over it.

Quest Updated!

Find a Functional Armored Vehicle!
Defeat the Obliterator

Reward/s:

Common Gacha Token
Skill [Basic Driving]
500 kg Raw Material
Random STC

My eyes widened. An STC – any STC, actually - could drive mankind forward. This reward was not for me. No, it was for the Imperium. It was for mankind. It was for the Emperor. And I'd kill myself before I allowed such an opportunity to slip my grasp. That Obliterator... whatever it was, would die by my hand.

"It's a damn Obliterator! Those things can make up new weapons and ammo from their body!" Olly roared. That brief description, strangely enough, reminded me of myself. I could do the same. "We have to retreat! We don't have the equipment to take that thing down!"

I shook my head. I wasn't about to run away from a traitorous, heretical spawn that'd turned its back from mankind and the Emperor. There was no retreat for me – only forward. Besides, I'd already killed a Daemon; how strong could this thing possibly be? "You stay here old man. Mira, give me some covering fire. I'm going to kill it."

Mira did not question or doubt. She simply turned to me and nodded. I waited. Olly sent me an incredulous look. "Are you daft, boy?! There's no way we can kill that creature! We must retreat."

I ignored him. I understood, at the very least, why Olly was afraid. He only had a single arm left, after all; so, in his perspective, the ten-foot tall creature on the other end of the hangar must've appeared insurmountable. But, despite its apparent ability to generate weapons, I'd dealt with worse before. All I had to do was keep my head in place, which was made easier by the presence of numerous armored vehicles. There was no reason to be afraid.

The flames receded and the creature let out a roar that seemed somewhere between amused and angry.

I rolled to the side and ran forward. Mira burst out of cover and shot at the Obliterator, crimson lights bursting again and again. The Obliterator didn't seem to mind as it laughed, the laser beams merely leaving small, blackened spots on its armor. It raised an arm and what seemed to be a bolter barrel of some kind emerged from its flesh. Roaring, it charged forward, knocking aside any armored vehicle in its path as though they weighed nothing. It ignored me, though I knew that it knew that I was here, likely not seeing me as an immediate threat. Big mistake. I willed forth a Plasma Grenade from my Inventory and hurled it right towards the Obliterator.

The massive, hideously mutated thing had a brief moment of shock, its eyes widening, before the Plasma Grenade detonated. A flash of blue and purple exploded, followed by a cascade of even greater and more powerful explosions as the fuel of the ruined armored vehicles caught fire and detonated the vehicles themselves. The Obliterator let out a roar of pain and agony as its body was burnt and mangled and blown through several burning tanks and a wall. I knew it wasn't dead. Astartes were too resilient for that and I assumed that resilience extended even towards their more mutated brethren.

The fire, fortunately, did not spread and so only a portion of the facility burned. I turned to where Olly and Mira were and screamed, "Find somewhere to hide, old man! You're on guard duty, Mira! I'm killing this thing myself!"

Dust and smoke and ash arose from the wreckage, blotting out much of the facility. They couldn't see me. I could unleash my full power.

I did not bother waiting for a response as I strode into the flames. The fire singed my skin, but burns were easily mended by a constant application of [Self-Shaping]. An angry roar echoed, followed by a cackling ball of plasma bursting through the hole on the wall. And suddenly, everything was falling.

"Ah, my torso's gone."

I will readily admit that I might've underestimated my foe.

With a frown, I quickly reconstituted my body, donned a new suit of flak armor and rolled aside, just in time for another ball of cackling plasma to pass by me. I didn't move fast enough, unfortunately, and the plasma vaporized both of my legs into red mist. I recreated my legs and donned a fresh pair of pants as I moved behind a ruined tank. I glanced behind me. The smoke and ash and fire made it impossible to see anything beyond five feet, which meant neither Mira nor Olly could see me. I knew that already, of course, but I just needed to make sure.

And so, with a single thought, I took on the form of an Astartes, donned a full suit of Power Armor, and willed forth a cackling Power Sword into my grasp. The world slowed down. And I knew I now moved a hundred times faster than before. I could not help but grin underneath the helmet. "Let's try this again."

I rushed out and easily sidestepped a ball of plasma. From the smoke and shadow came the Obliterator's gargantuan figure as it charged right towards me as well. The both of us roared. It raised its right arm and unleashed what must've been a thousand bullets right at me. My armor wouldn't survive that and I wasn't too certain if my brain could, either. So, I pivoted and rolled away. The Obliterator's bulk made it slower, but it was only then that I noted that, even if it was slow by Astartes standards, that creature was still far faster than any human, which meant it was a miracle that Plasma Grenade trick even worked. Still, it was slow.

I also idly noted that its left arm was just... gone, reduced to atoms.

In fact, the entire left side of its body, including its left leg, was so horribly burned and mangled that an entire portion of its armor had cracked apart, revealing... flesh and cables and other bloody things underneath. It was heavily injured. Its mouth was also broken, but it was probably already like that if I was being honest. "I KILL YOU!"

It began firing wildly, the firearms across its body all unleashing their payload with reckless abandon. It was afraid. It'd been too overconfident and now it was paying the price.

I surged forward before it could turn to defend itself. I was faster than it, but not by much. Still, the window was wide enough. I brought the power sword down and sliced off the only arm it still had. Before it could react, I bent down and sliced off both of its legs. Roaring, I cleaved upwards and carved into its groin, before pushing the power sword further up and slicing open its groin all the way up to its face.