Satoru raised a brow. "Drukhari huh? Didn't think they'd be that bad, after Caoimhe told me about them. But no. They're attacking their own cousins, just after their cousins were attacked by humans. They're even worse than I thought, actually."
Smiling, he turned to the crowd of gathered warriors. Caoimhe told him quite a lot about the Drukhari. See, the Aeldari didn't reallyhate the other races. True, they held quite a bit of disdain for humanity, contempt for the Orks, and more than a little hostility towards the Necrontyr. Chaos, a faction that apparently worshiped the Four Gods, was something that disgusted them. However, the only ones they truly and utterly hated were the Drukhari, simply because their more depraved cousins were the very reason for the fall of the ancient Aeldari Empire and were arguably the whole reason for why the whole Milky Way Galaxy currently sucked a lot of balls.
They weren't technically hostile all the time and Caoimhe even once cited a bunch of times when the Drukhari actively helped them somehow someway. But, this time, they received no transmissions, no communications. Nothing. If they were here in peace, the Drukhari already would've said something. And that meant they weren't here in peace. And that meant Satoru was free to fuck em up. Honestly, he'd been curious about fighting the Drukhari the first time Caoimhe mentioned them. They seemed like a rather interesting bunch, hedonistic to the extreme, but without the influence of the Thirsty Bitch.
They were just that much into the sex, drugs, and rock and roll thing that the Thirsty Bitch didn't have to do its weird temptation thing to get them to do the weird shit they were already doing.
Smiling, Satoru addressed the crowd. "Show no mercy, boys and girls and those in between. Cousins or no, these edgelords are here to hurt and harm. We kill them all and hope for a brighter tomorrow."
The Aeldari warriors roared and cheered. And, soon enough, they were all ready for war – again. It didn't take much coaxing too. Everyone here already knew just what exactly the Drukhari were capable of, what they wanted, and what they were. If nothing else, Satoru agreed with their assessment of their cousins. If even a fraction of what he'd heard about the Drukhari was even true, then the galaxy would probably be better off if the emo elves were eradicated entirely.
The Aeldari would agree with him on that one, considering it was Caoimhe herself who said that the Drukhari have contributed nothing but pain and suffering to the galaxy, so much pain and suffering, in fact, that she was pretty sure they were outright responsible for most of it, which was quite the achievement, all things considered, especially considering the fact that the Drukhari had a very low population compared to all the other races.
The Aeldari warriors organized themselves however they saw fit, Satoru didn't really care enough to micromanage them, seeing as they knew what they were doing after thousands of years of practice. It'd be the same as when they fought the Imperium. He'd let them do their own thing and he'd support them wherever they needed extra firepower. So, grav-tanks and all sorts of weapons and armaments were brought out, ready to meet the enemy. Anti-stealth wards were erected, a few of which Satoru placed himself, using his knowledge of Aeldari Warding and Rituals. Though, admittedly, his wards weren't nearly as effective as he'd like, having only ten percent greater effectiveness over the average Aeldari ward.
Once again, the non-combatants were hidden away, somewhere the Drukhari would never find them, in underground vaults that contained only one entrance and one exit – a single tunnel, which was guarded by no other than Nobara, because Satoru honestly couldn't think of a proper way to make use of his pet Daemon, other than as a security guard – at least, for now.
Unlike the Imperium, the Drukhari moved quietly, stealthily, such that only Satoru, with his Six-Eyes, was able to spot most of their fleet, marking out their really spiky vessels as they drifted across the void, kind of like the edgy anime designs kids often drew at the back of their mathematics notebooks, which was something Satoru also did whenever the Jujutsu higher ups sent him missives and documents, doodling cool swords and spiky things on them. Then again, the whole Aeldari Aesthetic, including the Drukhari, were kind of similar – one was just stereotypically evil and dark and emo, while the other one was... not quite stereotypically good, just the typical weird elf.
Ugh, right... what was he thinking about?
Oh yeah, there was supposed to be invasion... about an hour ago or something.
"They're not doing anything," Satoru noted after a while. Actually, the best time for the Drukhari to send their troops was half an hour ago, before the Craftworld had time to prepare for them, before the wards and turrets were erected and the tanks and wraith-knights were brought to bear. But, the Drukhari did nothing. They merely circled the Craftworld, doing flybys, but not attacking or threatening. By his count, there were at least a hundred Drukhari vessels right outside the Craftworld's main shield. And, considering the pummeling it'd taken from the Imperium's forces, the Drukhari could very easily break through said shield if they absolutely wanted to. However, they weren't doing anything. Shrugging, Satoru turned to the nearest Aeldari warrior. "Oi, did we receive any transmission from them? Nothing?"
Of course, it was entirely possible that the Drukhari were waiting for something... a moment, perhaps, the right moment for them to strike. Though, to be certain, Satoru wasn't entirely certain just what that moment was or when it was going to happen. Again, if their goal was to attack and deal as much damage as possible, then the Drukhari would've launched their raid half an hour ago.
The warrior bowed. And, when he spoke, the confusion in his tone was unmistakable. "I do not know, Lord Britheim, but I shall find out on your behalf."
He then turned and sprinted off. Caoimhe and the Farseer Council was rather far from where they were at the moment. The Craftworld itself, of course, was freaking huge, having different biomes across a land area that was close in size to a moon. It was large enough to support the massive population of Aeldari, while still having enough space for them to live comfortable lives. But that was also its biggest weakness, because shit was just spaced too far from each other. And having multiple cities meant that their forces were stretched thinly. And, as strong as he was, Satoru couldn't be everywhere at once. Meanwhile, if they did decide to attack them now, the Drukhari would still hold a significant advantage in that they could engage in hit and run tactics all over the Craftworld; of course, they'd have zero access to the populace, which meant they wouldn't win no matter how much they tried anyway, but that was besides the point.
"Have they done something like this before?" Satoru asked a nearby Swooping Crane Aspect Warrior. It was hard to tell the Aeldari apart when they were in their full gear. Heck, it was even hard to tell apart which one was male or female, since their armors were gendered, like the Howling Banshees, who wore female armor regardless of whether or not the wearer was male or female.
"Not to my knowledge, Lord Britheim," The Swooping Crane replied. "The Drukhari favor swift attacks; they arrive, deal as much damage as possible, take what they can get, and leave immediately before a proper counter attack can be mounted. They never just stick around and wait for their enemies to prepare, unless its some form of sadistic trickery that's meant to fool us into a false sense of security, but..."
"But you don't see how they could benefit from doing this, right?" Satoru smiled, but otherwise wondered. The Drukhari liked to take captives, because they literally fed on pain and suffering to keep themselves going. Their weapons and equipment were literally designed for that one purpose. But that chance had gone by and now, Satoru had to wonder just what the edgy elves wanted. It'd become clear, then, that they weren't there to attack – or, at least, not yet. Strange. Very strange. He also didn't care enough to wait for the known marauders to attack first.
"Ah, fuck it," Satoru shrugged as he addressed the warriors around him, including the officers and commanders who followed him around for some reason. "Start firing at them. Open fire all weapons. We're not waiting for these guys to shoot first. If this is a trap, then we might as well start shooting before they can spring anything. Use everything we've got. The faster we wipe out their damn fleet, the better."
One of the officers bowed and nodded. Satoru wasn't sure who the dude was, but his helmet was certainly different. "By your command, Lord Britheim!"
"WAIT!" Some other guy yelled, catching everyone's attention. Satoru frowned; he really should start memorizing people's names, but that felt like too much work. Whatever the case, an Aspect Warrior strode forth. The crowd turned to him. "A Harlequin Vessel is on its way to the Craftworld. We've also, just now, received a transmission from the Drukhari; they're led by Archon Malekar of the Kabal of the Blessed Dread, and Lelith Hesperax of the Wytch Cult of Strife. They wish to parlay with us in the presence and with the blessing of the Harlequins. We must not engage in violence, Lord Britheim."
"Harlequins?" Satoru raised a brow. Huh... Caoimhe never mentioned those guys. Well, she did, but she never made them out to be important or anything like that; she just mentioned something about elaborate performances and... and something about a laughing god? Okay, maybe he just hadn't been paying much attention to what she said back then. And so, Satoru shrugged. "Okay. Sure. I'm officially appointing Caoimhe as the one in charge of whatever the hell is happening, okay?"
Yeah, nah; he wasn't about to deal with this diplomatic shit.
The Trishula of Sukuna, the personal vessel of Lord Inquisitor Arima Kishou, drifted through a graveyard of ships, ruined and ravaged by weapons that tore through them as though their shields did not exist at all. Arima recognized the vessels as those that belonged to the Mechanicus. But, then again, even without seeing their symbols on the ruined, derelicts, he would've known anyway. The Adeptus Mechanicus was well-known for their reverence and fanaticism towards ancient technologies and so attacking an Aeldari Craftworld based entirely on a rumor was not exactly beyond them. Rather, it was expected of them, really. What was unexpected, however, was for a member of the Devourers Legion to be among the attackers.
And for that Devourer Legionnaire to upload a video-recording of everything he perceived during said attack directly into the Cursed Network, which was accessible only to Sorcerers. And, in doing so, gave Arima Kishou the biggest headache he'd ever felt in his entire life. Because now, the Jujutsu Clans were made aware of the threat, alongside the Devourers themselves, that murderous band of hedonists, killers, and butchers and... well... some of them were cool, but most of them were definitely not. Then again, perhaps it was for the best. Because if the video feed was to be belived, then Arima Kishou was in way over his head.
For within the Primarch Sukuna's book, which listed down every single Innate Technique he knew of and his thoughts on them and their possible mutations iterations, depending on various factors, was a list that, in the Primarch's own words, were Innate Techniques that were "quite difficult" to deal with, which was ranked in accordance to difficulty. And at the very top of this list was something he himself admitted to never having faced before, but have only heard of from fellow sorcerers. Who these other Jujutsu Sorcerers were, no one knew. But at the very top of the list was something called Limitless, the ability to manipulate space-time on a scale hitherto undreamed of, with the Primarch himself noting that facing such an enemy would require the usage of... unsavory methods.
Limitless... the power to bend time and space, a power that had never been seen before... until now.
AN: Chapter 44 is out on (Pat)reon!