"I am not satisfied with that answer."
The power of biomantic psychic abilities warped every cell in the Drukhari warrior captain's body. At the same time, countless thick, serpent-like nerves burst from him and plunged into the skull that had long since been drilled open.
This was torture that no living creature could endure. Neural signals that shredded every cell in one's body would travel through the proliferating nerves and converge in the brain.
With his mind forcibly kept awake, the victim's soul would savor this pain, magnified countless times over.
"Your strategic deployment, your purpose, and who sent you here?"
A glint shone in the Inquisitor's eyes. At the very moment when the other's body should have been on the verge of collapse, she skillfully maintained that critical threshold and asked her question.
"Ah... ngh—"
The pained wails lasted only a short while before turning into low, muffled cries, carrying what seemed to be the pleasure of release.
"Little monkey, I have endured far more pain than this. Ah—this pain, your methods are far inferior to a Haemonculus's, though they are at least fresh. By the standards of your monkey world, I can barely rate them as good. Heh heh..."
The warrior captain tilted his head. His bloated neck, swollen with forcibly grown masses of nerves, immediately split apart. An indescribable agony once more drew a comfortable moan from the Xenos, whose face had already become too grotesque to behold.
This made the Silver Rose Sisters who had just entered the room reveal looks of disgust as they slightly raised the muzzles of their Volkite Chargers.
"..."
Faced with this Xenos, who seemed impervious to every approach, the young Inquisitor fell into a dilemma. Then she simply increased her psychic output.
"Ah—yes, just like that. Let me feel pain. Ah—I think I understand those cowards who play with Necrons now. So pain without blood can be this pleasurable..."
Though his entire body screamed under unbearable strain, the warrior captain's soul seemed completely unaffected. He even continued provoking the Inquisitor who was torturing him.
"..."
The Inquisitor silently raised the threshold again, causing the warrior captain's body to swell even further.
Tissue fluid spilled from his ruptured skin and ran along the armor decorated with ornate skulls, before the proliferating flesh was pierced by sharp edges and sprayed out in great quantities.
Squelch~
That lump of flesh, difficult to even describe as humanoid, began convulsing violently.
The Inquisitor withdrew her psychic power once more.
"...I have something to say. Come closer... I have something to say."
He suddenly muttered in a low voice. His weakened body could no longer support his wild shouting.
The Inquisitor and the Marshal exchanged a cautious glance before stepping forward.
"Answer my previous question!"
She gave the order coldly, but the instant the question left her lips, the senses monitoring the changes in his body sent her a warning that made her dodge at once.
She tilted her head slightly. A bone sharpened into a blade shot from the warrior captain's throat, shaving away several strands of hair.
"I will come for you, little monkey."
His twisted, bloated body writhed, pressing against the golden strands that had fallen to the ground. The warrior captain stared fixedly at the Inquisitor, as though he wished to carve her face into his soul.
Stab!
At that moment, a blade thrust out from behind him and pierced his skull.
And in the Inquisitor's eyes, the disdain that had filled his gaze finally gave way to the despair she had wanted to see all along.
"Wait!"
"?"
Arthur looked doubtfully at the Inquisitor, who had stopped sustaining her spell. His blade remained steadily lodged in the Xenos's skull.
But the proliferating body structure began collapsing the instant it lost psychic support. Fragments of corpse piled into a small mound before being scooped away by a sweeping Servitor that had long been waiting nearby.
"Another Xenos has outlived its usefulness."
After glancing at the Blade Guard who had struck, the Inquisitor wore a troubled expression.
She could not understand why, even after she had pushed these Xenos's nerves to their limits, they still refused to speak. They could even derive pleasure from it, only becoming afraid when true death finally arrived.
"This is the last one."
At her side, the Black Templars Marshal, who had been staring at the Xenos, reminded her coldly. The burning candles piled atop his shoulder guards cast a warm, bright glow, while the three golden nails gleamed brilliantly on his forehead.
In fact, another Drukhari, completely deprived of all five senses, was imprisoned in the sealed iron box behind them.
But everyone understood that this method of interrogation would not produce results quickly.
"Can the Drukhari we kill be resurrected?"
Arthur tilted his head and looked at the three people beside him, who were equally shocked.
They had entered the Mechanicus Ark alongside the Carcharodons squad, led by Tyberos.
Archmagos Cawl had designated this plaza as the meeting place, but before he arrived, the group that had just stepped off the shuttle witnessed an M41-style interrogation of a Drukhari Xenos.
And the Drukhari truly deserved their reputation as the race that had spawned the Chaos God Slaanesh. Their madness was completely off the charts.
The group exchanged looks. The world had casually revealed an incredibly bizarre side of itself.
Their stereotypes had deepened.
"Think of the Demon that could create duplicates but was still killed by us."
Ramesses was among the first to recover.
"The part we kill will perish. The part that never came into contact with us will not retain any memory of that death."
"Mm."
Arthur nodded and flicked the tissue fluid from his blade.
"Was that supposed to be a show of force?"
Karna was having a hard time processing it.
"That would be far too childish."
Romulus looked around and caught sight of the Flayed Skull Kabal's symbol among the fragments of armor.
Heh, so it was a wealthy Kabal. No wonder even a warrior captain was so unafraid of death.
"My apologies."
The Inquisitor addressed the group, whose expressions varied. The Inquisition emblem hung straight down as she bowed, and Romulus could clearly see the reddish-brown stains on her lapels.
"Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Aglaia Hesychode, an Inquisitor of the Imperium, from the Order of Origin."
She gestured toward the iron box behind her.
"As you can see, I am assisting the Black Templars in interrogating Xenos. Unfortunately, I do not specialize in knowledge of this type of Xenos and have been unable to obtain any useful leads."
Arthur held his sword and stood at the rear of the group with an aloof expression.
"Then the timing of our meeting is truly fortunate."
Romulus immediately stepped forward to smooth things over.
"I believe our arrival can help you resolve this predicament. I am Romulus, captain of a Deathwatch Kill Team."
"Thank you for your generous assistance."
Aglaia breathed a sigh of relief.
The Deathwatch really were easier to deal with. At the very least, they treated her, an Inquisitor, as someone worthy of regard.
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