Death of the Mad King

"This is the combat footage captured by the surveillance cameras; please take a look."

Murawski operated the data pad, displaying the surveillance feed to the Mad King.

Puhach's prosthetic eye swiveled, fixing upon the enemy forces that had slaughtered their way through the upper hive and were now heading straight for the Hive Spire.

Upon seeing the giant in the footage, his prosthetic eye flickered with a crimson light.

Seconds later, Puhach stood up abruptly.

"Good! Excellent!"

Puhach's scarlet prosthetic eye scanned the crowd, and he said with disdain:

"You fools, look closely. Now is the time for you to understand how fragile flesh truly is."

"This fool thinks himself powerful, but compared to me, who possesses a truly perfect body, he is nothing more than a toy."

"Turn on the surveillance feed from beneath the Hive Spire. You wastes of space, keep your eyes wide open and watch."

With that, Puhach strode out of the palace.

Everyone present couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, the same thought crossing most of their minds.

[Omnissiah above, please bless that giant with victory and slay the Mad King!]

The moment the elevator reached the ground, Puhach impatiently smashed open the iron doors and charged out of the Hive Spire.

As he ran, the scene of the battlefield came into his view.

Puhach discovered that his meticulously crafted Iron Legion, despite outnumbering the enemy several times over, held no advantage whatsoever and was instead being beaten into a steady retreat.

[This is illogical.]

His prosthetic eye flashed with light, and he immediately activated the dynamic scanner installed in his left eye to capture the situation of both sides on the battlefield.

Puhach first locked onto two targets, Thierry Vieira and another unknown burly man; they were charging through his Iron Legion, unstoppable.

Seeing that the analytical conclusion for both men was "medium threat," Puhach lost interest in them.

He drove his scanner to its full capacity, finally capturing the giant's movements.

In the next instant, the scanner suddenly crackled, and Puhach lost vision in his left eye.

"Impossible! This is impossible!"

Puhach's single eye stared at the giant; someone had actually exceeded the scanner's analytical range—this was completely beyond his scope of understanding.

His body trembled as he stepped forward, charging straight toward the giant.

Puhach would never allow any existence that defied the truth; the blasphemous giant had to be purged.

Nimrod noticed the machine-man the moment he stepped out of the Hive Spire and associated him with the identity of the Mad King of Lukpo.

He swung his heavy halberd, sweeping away a swathe of enemy troops, and was just preparing to execute the enemy leader when he was surprised to see Puhach charging directly at him.

"Heretic, die!"

A buzzing sound, mixed with the hiss of electricity, emanated from Puhach's sound synthesizer.

He raised his left arm high, and a three-meter-two-long folding blade, resembling a Mantis Blade, struck directly at the top of Nimrod's head.

Nimrod swung his halberd to meet it; with a clang, the tip of the blade sliced across the shaft of the weapon.

The sharp Mantis Blade, forged through countless refinements and at great expense, held the upper hand in the clash of weapons.

The mechanical arm's advantage caused the crackling static in Puhach's mind to vanish for a brief moment.

"The machine is indestructible..."

His voice cut off abruptly as a massive force suddenly surged from the Mantis Blade.

With a loud bang, the Mantis Blade shattered, and the flying shards shot toward several Iron Warriors rushing forward.

A blade fragment pierced through one man's alloy armor, burst his flesh-and-blood heart, and protruded from his back.

The rotating joint at the connection spun rapidly, slamming into another man's throat, and blood gushed out like a fountain.

"Error, all of it is an error..."

Puhach heard the mechanical wail and swung his mechanical arm, booming toward Nimrod.

Nimrod lifted his left hand and clamped it onto the Mad King's fist.

He swung his arm with force, and Puhach, unable to control his body, was flung into the air.

Nimrod used the Mad King as a mechanical flail, swinging him toward the front left to smash several Iron Warriors into pulp, then sweeping him toward the rear to send a wave of enemies flying.

Feeling that the "weapon" in his hand was unexpectedly useful, he immediately charged into the densest part of the crowd, his left arm whirling like a windmill; the enemies fell in swathes, like harvested Maze.

The Iron Warriors charged madly at Nimrod, desperate to rescue their king, the guide of their mechanical ascension.

The tide of men surged, throwing themselves at the giant.

The tide crashed against a reef harder than steel and was scattered to the winds.

Nimrod swung Puhach violently until a loud explosion rang out—the steel body could no longer withstand the Primarch's berserk strength and shattered—forcing him to stop.

At the same time, Nimrod, having performed an act consistent with a "Barbarian" and broken the rules of Lukpo, clearly felt the potion being largely digested.

"King Puhach is dead!"

The Iron Warriors widened their eyes, their faith shattered as they collapsed to their knees in despair.

"The Mad King is dead!"

The palace of the Hive Spire erupted in fervent cheers, with most of the nobles raising their arms to celebrate the end of the dark age.

They turned their gaze toward the retreating xenos, shouting, "Don't let the Mad King's lackeys escape!"

While the nobles vented their rage, Thierry excitedly ran to Puhach's corpse. After confirming the Mad King was truly dead, he immediately approached Nimrod and knelt on one knee.

"My King, I, Thierry Vieira, pledge my loyalty to you with my family honor and my soul, never to waver for all eternity!"

"I accept your allegiance!"

Nimrod said in a deep voice, "Take your men and ascend the spire with me."

"Rawlslev, you are to lead your troops to take prisoners and secure them."

"Establish a defensive line and prepare for attacks."

"As you command, my Lord!"

Rawlslev acknowledged the order and immediately moved into action.

With Thierry leading the way, Nimrod arrived at the palace.

The moment he stepped inside, he saw the golden hall stained with blood and corpses lying in pools of gore.

Nimrod cast his gaze toward the nobles dressed in fine robes. Before he could speak, he was surprised to see them all drop to one knee.

"We offer our loyalty to the liberator of Lukpo!"

Nimrod remained silent for a moment, activating his spirit vision to observe them. Finding that the primary colors of their auras were yellow for happiness and extroversion, and white for light, he suddenly understood.

"I accept your allegiance!"

"My King, the entire Hive City will welcome your arrival, save for Magos Kivior-15 at Altar 3."

Nimrod already had a plan. He looked at the Lukpo nobles and asked in a deep voice.

"Has there been a significant drop in production during this time?"

The nobles looked at the giant in astonishment. How did this new king know? Could Thierry have told him?

"My King, I am Count Murawski. As wise as you are, that is indeed the case."

Nimrod nodded slightly. His judgment had been correct; obsessed with heavy machinery and disdainful of flesh, the near-demented Puhach clearly would not have cared about the food crisis caused by the alien pirates.

Even the remote Tezwork had been affected, so Lukpo, with its larger population and central location, must have suffered even more. Yet, no one dared report it to the Mad King, and Puhach would never have cared about those fragile flesh-and-blood lives anyway.

"I need a representative to tell that Magos that I will restore Lukpo and further increase its production capacity."

The nobles looked at one another, finally casting their gazes toward Murawski, who had spoken earlier.

"My King, I am willing to go. I believe the Magos would not want the flames of war to continue in Lukpo."

"My King, I shall accompany Count Murawski."

Thierry volunteered, and Nimrod agreed immediately.

"Good."

"Tell Kivior-15 that if he does not believe you, he may verify it with Magos Kaminski."