The daemon screamed in fear. I knew that sort of fear quite well.

It was a very human fear, oddly enough; I saw it in the eyes of many of my brothers and sisters in the guard – existential fear. Not quite the same as the fear of dying. No, they weren't the same. This was the sort of fear where all that you were and are flashed before your eyes in an instant, the sort of fear where you wonder if everything you did mattered at all – the deep breath before the plunge into the abyss.

The difference was that a loyal and faithful guardsman would feel the fear but for a moment, before they came to the realization that, indeed, all that they've done that was in service to the God Emperor and the Imperium did matter and that their death, no matter how small a cog they might be, served a purpose.

That was why a single human life, the life of a loyal servant of the God Emperor, would always be higher than the banal existence of a Daemon.

There was no doubt, only faith and certainty in the God Emperor. Nothing else mattered.

I couldn't help but grin as the daemon struggled desperately. Its end was coming.

This foul creature did not possess what my brothers and sisters in the guard did. It had no conviction and it believed in nothing, save for itself and its corruption. It lacked the certainty of faith.

For all its power, the creature before me now was... pathetic, honestly.

"What are you doing, creature?! Unhand me! Unhand meeeeee!" The panic in its voice was palpable as soon as I began absorbing its essence. The foul creature was surprisingly dense. The amount of warp energy it had in the entirety of its being was nearly a thousand times more than the stuff I'd devoured from the corrupted manufactorum and the mutated vehicles and armors. I had been drinking the fires of candles and now before me was a blazing star.

And I was gonna suck that star till it dried up and withered away.

"Stay still," I said. The daemon could do little even as it struggled with all its might. The dozens of ruined Leman Russ Tanks I'd dropped over the both of us made sure that neither it nor I were walking out of this place. Not even a daemon could move that much mass with its bare hands alone. "I can't eat you properly if you keep moving around."

In hindsight, I could've phrased that a little better.

"My perfection will not be defeated by the likes of you, creature!" The daemon roared as it sliced my hand off with a sorcerous glare, whistling pink discs blasting from its eyes.

My hand fell, burnt black. The stump where it used to be spilled and streamed blood.

I sneered and simply remade it.

In fact, I did more than just that.

I willed forth a full suit of Power Armor over my form, covering every inch of me as I once again held out my hands and began immediately reabsorbing the daemon's essence. It struggled even harder, this time. Roaring, kicking, and screaming in an attempt to dislodge me.

It failed again and again.

Whatever it destroyed, I'd recreate. Whatever it damaged, I rebuilt anew.

I did not let go. The ruined Leman Russ tanks groaned and buckled and howled around us, nearly a thousand tons of metal all around us. And, by then, I simply tuned out the daemon's screams and profanities.

Each time it struck me down, I remade myself. And, with every passing moment, I absorbed more and more of its essence till my Warp Reserves slowly, but surely began filling up. I felt the skill level up, but I willed away the announcement; I'd check later. Though, I did note, however, the sudden ease with which I devoured the daemon's essence, purifying it before taking it into myself as untainted warp energy.

And it was during the daemon's fifteenth or so attempt at slicing off both of my arms did I notice a change in its being. It was... noticeably weaker. The entirety of its being, the blazing star that it once was, had dimmed considerably; the roaring fires of its essence had flickered away into a small, weak candlelight – and it was weakening further and further with every passing moment. It grew so weak, in fact, that it fell down, now unable to hold up the tanks I'd willed forth right over its head. Its screams died away. And its body became emaciated, nearly skeletal. Most of all, however, was the fact that it no longer struggled. What little remained of its essence was so minuscule that it simply couldn't.

I devoured and devoured and devoured until...

There was nothing left of it.

Everything that was the Daemon, was gone; what remained of it was the energy that gave it life, the warp – pure and untainted. I didn't even realize that the whole being was gone until I noticed the fact that there was no longer anything in front of me – not even a faint silhouette of a Daemon, an imprint of it, or a vague presence. There was nothing. For all intents and purposes, I was alone underneath the ruined tanks.

Blinking, I reached up and – one by one – sent the tanks back into my Inventory, till I found myself on the ground, on my back, eyeing the blood-red sky above. I breathed in and out, and closed my eyes. Idly, I turned my attention to the declarations that I had ignored since the battle began.

[Warp-Shaping] Level Up x2!

[Warp-Shaping] is now at level 3!

A rush of power and knowledge flooded through me. And I knew, then, that I could do more than just absorb the essence of souls. I could now give it shape, but not purpose; I hadn't attained that level of power just yet. Honestly, what I understood from the System was vague; I could manipulate Warp Energy in the same way a series of tubes could manipulate water. I could give it direction, drawing it in and out of myself as easily as I could manipulate my own flesh. Curious, I then drew forth a chunk of Warp Energy from the well I had within me. It appeared as a stream of golden-hued, translucent wave of gas. I directed it forward and it flowed out of me as water flowed from a pipe; the notable difference, of course, was that the scream of golden energies did not fall or curve. Instead, it kept on moving in a single direction, piercing into the wall of a ruined building dozens of feet in front of me, during which it scattered and dispersed into a dazzling corona of golden lights.

Frowning, I stopped the stream and reabsorbed as much Warp Energy as I could. Nothing happened to the wall. Aside from being a fancy light-show, the energies I manipulated didn't do anything, which was unfortunate, but I was certain now that I would eventually reach a level where I could begin to implant purpose into the stream. My innate understanding of the skill and how to use it told me that it would a long time until I could actually do that. However, the more I used it, the more I gained experience, which – in turn – would give me more levels.

That could wait until later, however. I had other things to view, namely...

Hidden Objective Completed: Annihilate Your First Daemon!
Reward/s:
1 Epic Gacha Token
1 Rare Gacha Token

And that, more than anything, confirmed the fact that I, a humble guardsman, in service to the God Emperor of the Imperium, had just destroyed a Daemon, the greatest enemy of mankind – greater than even Xenos and Mutants. The rewards were amazing as well. Another Gacha token of the Epic category was bound to give me something more useful than a spoon that was made of glass. The rare Gacha token was higher than an uncommon one, but my hopes weren't too high.

First and foremost, however, I glanced around my immediate surroundings. If there were other Daemons here, waiting for me to lower my guard, then now was the perfect moment for them to strike. There weren't any, but I decided against staying in the open; so, I didn't. I ran into the nearest building, which just so happened to be the ruined HQ, where I'd combed through broken cogitators, hoping I'd find more information about what was going on and found none.

Once inside, I found a seat and sat down, after which I immediately took out the Rare Gacha Token and crushed it between my fingers.

Rare Skill Gained!

Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist (Basic) – The ultimate martial art for redirecting force. Before it, the heaviest fists are as tree leaves in a raging river.

My head snapped back at the sudden influx of information – footwork, breathing, and exercises. And, suddenly, I knew the basics of Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist. At my current level, I could now reliably defend myself against larger and heavier foes by shifting and redirecting the force of their attacks. It reminded me a bit of the martial arts that was practiced by the Sisters of Battle, strangely enough, a mode of combat that did not rely on brute force. It was interesting and definitely useful, especially since it leveled up on its own, with me gaining more and more insights into its usage each time I actually used it in battle.

I grinned.

This was a good one. Just this skill alone, if elevated to its highest form, would allow even a human being to defeat an Astartes – at least, in hand to hand combat.

Praise the God Emperor for his guidance in the hand of fate.

I then took out the Epic Gacha Token and crushed it, uttering a prayer to the God Emperor for his guidance once more.

Epic Item Received!
Mask of Death (Darksiders) – Wearing this item will automatically transform you into Death's Reaper Form. The effect lasts as long as you have Warp Energy reserves. Be warned, the Reaper Form is powerful, but it consumes Warp Energy hungrily; use with caution.

Fascinating.

As far as I understood, wearing the mask would turn me into something called the Reaper Form, which was incredibly powerful and likely destructive. I pondered the description and the item for a moment and wondered if it was, in fact, Daemonic or Corrupted in nature, but there seemed to be no indication of either of those things. It certainly didn't seem heretical either. The item itself was a simple mask that was carved from something that felt like smooth bone, which was a good fit, I mused, since it was shaped like a skull – very fitting for an item that was called the Mask of Death.

Well, this wasn't what I expected, but it certainly was a good addition.

I sent the mask to my Inventory and prepared to move out when, all of a sudden, I felt the ground shake beneath my feet. My eyes widened. I recognized the source of the shaking and booming of the engine. It was an armored vehicle, a Chimera.

Could it be?

I turned back into my mundane self and equipped all the standard guardsman gear, before I went out, suddenly feeling much weaker. It is... difficult to describe the sensation of suddenly losing perception of all the tiny things I'd noticed before with the enhanced senses of an Astartes. To suddenly lose all of that in human form – seeing as my Self-Shaping still hasn't reached a level where I could begin combining physical traits – was jarring. Still, I made do and adapted, just as a good guardsman was supposed to.

As I reached outside, I glanced around and almost immediately found the Chimera. It wasn't exactly a small vehicle and neither was it particularly conspicuous as it drove about. And there was definitely something wrong with the engine as it almost seemed tocough every so often, something that I otherwise would not associate with functioning vehicles. I did not approach immediately, however; instead, I kept to the shadows and observed. It was entirely possible, after all, that the vehicle was under the control of the enemy. There were plenty of Heretics about, after all, and – if my understanding of the situation was accurate in any way – then this portion of Praxtor, at least, was already under their occupation.

The Chimera drove towards the nearby barracks, where its engine sputtered out and died.

Was it out of fuel?

The Chimera went quiet. And then, its hatch groaned open and men and women in battered flak armor disembarked. There were only six of them, I counted, and each one of them sported some form of injury or another. They rushed into the barracks – as fast as they possibly could, at least. They didn't appear to be Heretics. They lacked the brands and symbols that would've otherwise outed them as such. And I have never once seen a Heretic in standard gear. No, these were my brothers and sisters. And they needed my help.