"These are the Orks?" Satoru raised a brow as he lazily walked forward, arms held behind his head and whistling a jolly tune from some Japanese idol whose name he'd forgotten already. About a million fucking bullets came at him. Most of them missed, but the ones that didn't miss their mark couldn't touch him. That said, the Orks didn't seem to care. They were content to just keep firing and firing and firing, laughing all the while, even when they were wasting their bullets. Actually, Satoru noted, the mere act of firing their weapons brought them no small amount of joy. And their joy was so infectious that, despite everything, Satoru found himself laughing with them. It was so enjoyable, in fact, that he almost didn't want to blow up the entirety of the Ork Settlement he was walking into – their first target, supposedly hoarding about a hundred thousand tons of fuel and ammunition or whatever.
Satoru sighed and shook his head. "Huh, they look... exactly how I expected them to and that's kind of bothering me."
Why was this place their first target? Well, because, Lelith Hesperax had the bright idea that blowing it up should force the Orks into engaging the Vlka Fenryka – somehow. He wasn't entirely sure how that was supposed to work, but Satoru didn't care, either way. Lelith's entire hope was to draw the Orks and the Astartes into an all out brawl, distracting both sides. Because, as of now, despite the carnage, their war was falling into something of a stalemate. The Space Wolves were, oddly enough, struggling to deal any sort of significant damage against the Orks, while the Orks themselves were incapable of doing the same thing to the Space Wolves for what Satoru figured was an entirely different reason...
They were enjoying the stalemate, because it prolonged the war; and so they wanted to keep it that way.
And, somehow, destroying this place should tip the favor towards the Space Wolves just enough for an all out war to resume.
It didn't make sense, no matter how much Satoru thought about it. But, to be perfectly honest, he'd never been much of a planner. He didn't like intricate webs of plans and secrets; he preferred to just do things and improvise, which... to be honest... was probably how he lost against Sukuna and died in the first place. That was it. He was stronger, faster, and his Innate Technique was far better, but Sukuna was craftier than he was, engineering a series of events that eventually led to his defeat.
Hm, for someone who'd already suffered through the consequence of death once, Satoru would be the first to recognize that he'd not learned much from it.
Okay, if he was gonna have that rematch, then would have to change really soon.
Satoru eyed the Orks and the wall of bullets that'd gathered inches away from his face. Many of them were exploding all over the place as the newer bullets struck the old ones and caused a cascade of destruction that affected all the other nearby bullets. He wondered, briefly, how odd this may have been for the Orks or if they cared at all. Probably not.
Lelith and her Wytches wouldn't be joining him on the front lines, of course. They had no armor and, as hot as they might've been, bikini wasn't going to save them from bullets. But they were out there somewhere, waiting for the right time to strike. Lelith did say she'd come when he least expected it- and, ah, she was flirting with him at the time!
Hm. Then again-
Ah, business first, pleasure later.
With but a thought, Satoru increased the output of Infinity about a thousandfold for just the barest of moments, flinging all the bullets back faster than they were sent towards him. Most of them went flying in random directions, but a few made it back to the Orks themselves, blasting holes through their green forms and killing more than just a few. He then began stretching his arms and legs. Satoru grinned, "Alright, I'm going to show off just a bit for the new hot goth chicks, okay?"
The Ork Settlement before him was supposedly one of the largest and most powerful across the breadth of the entire planet – thick, high walls that were covered to the brim with defensive structures and installations, guns and guns and even more guns as far as the eye could see. The ground around him was littered with the corpses of both Orks and Astartes, and the tiny bodies of tiny humans in between, shredded and torn apart, slowly consumed by carrion creatures, rotting and filthy. The corpses of armored vehicles and ruined planes were also in great abundance. It looked like something you'd see right out of a World War One or Two film.
Satoru grinned. "Hollow Technique: Purple..."
The imaginary mass grew to a size larger than any Purple he'd ever created before as Satoru pumped more and more Cursed Energy into its entirety – more Cursed Energy than he'd ever had before. It was freeing. Satoru spent enough Cursed Energy in a single Purple Mass to rival the total Cursed Energy Reserves of the version of Sukuna he'd fought.
He aimed the mass at the central portion of the wall, where the defenses were at their thickest and where a great majority of the defenders were gathered. The dark light of Hollow Purple flashed and, suddenly, that section of the wall was gone, reduced to nothing. The Orks couldn't scream. They didn't even have a single moment to scream. One moment they were there, laughing and laughing even as a few of their allies died around them due to the bullets Satoru sent back and, then, suddenly, they weren't there anymore. They didn't exist anymore – not their bodies and certainly not even their souls. Satoru smiled at the sudden, but otherwise brief, moment of silence that usually followed the emission of Hollow Technique: Purple. That absence of sound, one of his ancestors posited, was the result of the idea of sound itself disappearing for just a moment, its very existence nullified by the dark flash of purple.
Satoru wasn't sure if that was even remotely close to being true, but he did enjoy that silence, however brief it lasted.
The Hollow Technique: Purple surged through the center of the Ork Settlement, deleting every single thing that stood before it, before its power fizzled out and withered after traveling a hundred or so kilometers.
The silence disappeared and Satoru was reminded of the simple fact that, despite the many hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of Orks he'd slain with that one technique, there were simply so many of them that it hardly mattered. And that was precisely the best part, because it meant he could let loose as much as he could and the only things that would die were human-hating Orks and Ork-hating Space Wolves, who really weren't humans to begin with. And so, still grinning as the Orks finally got over the sudden disappearance of... well, their allies, their buildings, their vehicles, and whatever else was caught and started firing their weapons even more intensely at him, Satoru unleashed yet another Hollow Technique: Purple.
And then another and then another.
And when his Cursed Energy Reserves dipped, all he had to do was open a small portal into Tzeentch's realm, slur up some Cursed Juice and fill up. Easy. Simple.
He must've unleashed about five Hollow Purples in the span of fifteen seconds before the sound of gunfire disappeared completely. No more screams. No more explosions. Nothing but silence. When he was done, the Ork Settlement had ceased to exist entirely. Hmm... maybe he shouldn't be doing that all the time. It made battles boring, otherwise. But... then again, he wasn't here to have fun, was he? He was here to wreak havoc and fuck up both the Orks and the Space Wolves, while Lelith and her people searched for the artifact that was supposed to be on this planet.
He trusted her, weirdly enough, because – unlike every other Drukhari – Lelith was honest in what she wanted, which was to just fight and kill interesting enemies in the arenas of Commorragh. That was it.
Lelith Hesperax appeared at his side, head low and on her knees. Behind her, the Wytches of the Cult of Strife did the same. Goddamn sexy freaks. "Lord Britheim, that display of power was impressive. I've heard whispers of your power, but to see it for myself is something else entirely."
He looked down at Lelith and found her looking up at him with a very inappropriate look, especially since they were on a battlefield and he wasn't particularly feeling the itch at the moment. Satoru sighed and swallowed the small lump in his throat. Goddamn she was hot and she knew it. Caoimhe was hotter, but Lelith flaunted her assets like there was no tomorrow and that made... quite a lot of difference. Calling her a Succubus, which was also her official rank among the Wytches of the Cult of Strife, would've been an understatement. "Thanks. Are you guys any closer to finding the artifact or do I get to have even more fun?"
"We know its location, Lord Britheim," Lelith answered, smiling as she held her gaze. "But the Monkeigh Barbarians guard its location still, unaware of what lies beneath them. Until such time as they leave to confront the Green Skins, you can have as much fun as you'd like, my lord. In fact, we have plenty of time; if you want to, we can even have a little fun of our own and-"
"OOKAY, let me stop you right there," Satoru chuckled. "First of all, definitely yes, but not here and not now, because – weirdly enough – I'm honestly not in the mood. Secondly, well... no, there's no secondly; that's pretty much it. You guys just go and do whatever, until the Space Wolves move out... unless you'd rather join me? Because that should also be fun, but probably dangerous for you lot, because I'm letting loose – for the first time in a very, very, very long time I'm letting loose. And it's not going to be pretty."
"Heh, my Wytches and I will be taking our fun elsewhere, Lord Britheim," Lelith said coolly. "There are certain targets we could strike to try and lure the Monkeigh Barbarians away from their strongholds as it'll take some time before the Orks commit to a full scale attack in retaliation. We'll make sure not to get in your way."
Satoru shrugged. "Sure, whatever. I'm hitting the Space Dogs next. Not a big fan of those guys and I feel like fucking up their day."
Lelith nodded. "Be careful, Lord Britheim. The Space Wolves have brought with them elements of the... Devourers Legion; you know of these ones, yes? They are the children of Ryomen Sukuna, the King of Curses. The Devourers are an entirely different breed of Astartes, such that not even I would be too thrilled to fight one."
Ah, the Jujutsu Space Marines. Satoru didn't have any strong opinions about them, but he hated them on principle, simply because they were borne of Sukuna's blood.
"Yeah, I know who those guys are – Jujutsu Sorcerers of this era, right? Already met one of them." Satoru's eyes narrowed. Even now, the mere mention of Sukuna's name sent a whole host of ugly emotions running through him. Fuck that guy. "I'm killing them too, because fuck Sukuna and everything he stands for. And also fuck his kids- that came out wrong, but you get the idea."
Lelith grinned and nodded, a bit of red on her pale cheeks. Goddamnit. She and her Wytches then scattered and disappeared, off to do whatever it was they were going to do. Aeldari, both Drukhari and Asuryani, all seemed to share one defining trait and that was the fact that they were all so fucking vague.
Oh well, time to massacre some Space Dogs.
But, for that, maybe it'd be more fun if he had some help. "Nobara, come out."
AN: Chapter 51 is out on (Pat)reon!