Nimrod looked up and fixed his gaze on the highest point at the battlecruiser's stern, where the Flau strategic command room was located.
From this deck, they only needed to climb three more levels.
"Follow me."
As he spoke, Nimrod swung his arm and swept his heavy halberd through them. Like wheat before a scythe, six Flau were severed at the waist in a single strike.
Their upper bodies slowly slid down as dark purple blood sprayed outward. Yellow fibers stretched between the two halves like threads, while white secretions tried to fuse their bodies back together.
Their death throes lasted only an instant. The Flau's evolved healing abilities were useless against the destructive power of a gene-Primarch.
Nimrod then stepped onto a spiral staircase paved in purple metal and headed upward.
Countless Flau rushed in from all directions. Agile and swift, they launched attacks against the four of them.
Having witnessed Nimrod's terrifying combat power, Maria understood that no matter how many Flau came, they could only be slaughtered mercilessly by the giant. They merely needed to hold the rear and keep him from being held back.
"Tsvetana, Dementyeva, hold the rear with me."
Dementyeva, whose body was covered in muscles as robust as a man's, pulled out an injection and jabbed it into her left wrist.
Her body immediately swelled in size. "Roar!"
Dementyeva gripped a shield in her left hand and charged down the stairs.
More than a dozen Flau pouring toward the staircase were sent flying by her charge. Her Chainaxe roared as it split open the head of an alien rushing in from the right.
At that moment, a Flau wielding twin daggers rushed out from the side, the eyes on either side of his head fixed upon the prey in the middle.
The next moment, a searing beam pierced through the alien's right eye and emerged from his left.
The three Assassins worked together flawlessly, driving back the Flau.
Nimrod was even more like a Reaper. Every casual swing of his heavy halberd claimed the lives of more than a dozen aliens.
The Flau stared at the giant in terror. They had pillaged dozens of star systems, yet they had never encountered such a horrifying war machine.
For a moment, they did not dare step forward to stop him and instead retreated in panic.
Nimrod easily slaughtered his way through one full turn of the staircase. Just as he was about to continue climbing, the gate rumbled open, and a Flau commander in dark purple armor rushed out from the deck with his subordinates.
Seeing his shrinking kinsmen, he shouted an angry rebuke.
The defeated troops regained their courage and were about to turn back and charge the giant when they suddenly felt as though a mountain were pressing down on them from behind.
The Flau commander was greatly shocked. Dozens of his kin had been slaughtered by a single enemy charge.
They were not elites, but every Flau was a qualified void Warrior. There were no weaklings aboard a capital ship, yet they had been butchered like livestock.
His eyes widened, and he could scarcely believe what he was seeing. Only after standing stunned for a second did he come back to his senses.
The Flau commander gripped his twin blades tightly and rolled repeatedly, searching for the giant's weakness.
At the same time, he activated the communicator at his throat and urgently reported to the bridge in the alien tongue.
As Nimrod fought his way forward, he picked up fragments of the aliens' language from their shouts and actions. From the enemy commander's cries, he distinguished words such as "terror" and "reinforcements."
With a flick of his wrist, he launched the tip of his heavy halberd like an arrow, instantly piercing the throats of twenty-seven of the commander's guards.
Maria drove her serrated dagger into the top of a Flau's head, then kicked him away with her right leg, sending him crashing into two aliens charging forward.
She happened to see Nimrod use the sixteenth form of "Osberkh-Vaya," a series of continuous thrusts. Having trained under a fencing instructor since childhood, she was naturally skilled in this Vostonian sword art as well.
The sixteenth form was also one of her specialties, but even with a saber, or after injecting combat stimulants, she could not unleash more than twenty strikes in an instant. Her limit was thirteen. Yet Nimrod had completed more than twenty with a heavy halberd in a single instant, every strike piercing an enemy's throat.
This is the perfect union of strength, speed, and swordsmanship. His attacks are truly unparalleled!
Maria's eyes shimmered as Nimrod's figure filled her mind.
In a flash of inspiration, she pushed off with both legs, leaped into the air, and charged the aliens, swinging her saber with the sixteenth form and cutting throats with every strike.
One, two, three...
Maria aligned her saber with the heavy halberd and thrust. In an instant, she completed five thrusts, surpassing the limit of one-handed attacks without stimulants.
She flipped aside to evade an attack, severed an alien's arm, and seized its dagger. As she did so, she thought silently.
The gap is enormous.
As Maria landed, she looked toward Nimrod and saw him face a rapid flurry of alien twin-dagger strikes. He swung his heavy halberd and brought it down in a simple, direct chop against the alien's chest.
The twenty-third form! He found the only opening amid the alien's swift thrusts and delivered a precision strike at its weak point!
Maria asked herself whether she could complete such a precise strike in that split second.
Possibly, but I would have no absolute confidence. Nor could I do it as effortlessly as he did.
What phrase would the Magadanians use to describe it?
"Lifting heavy weights as though they were light."
The commander's death caused the Flau's morale to collapse once more. This time, it was not just ordinary crewmen, but Warriors as well.
Nimrod was unstoppable as he advanced another deck level.
The gate opened, and a group of Flau in purple-and-gold robes flew out in single file. Each held a staff, with Warp energy swirling around them.
At the same time, more than a thousand Flau Warriors surged out from the deck below, charging upward from behind.
Nimrod knew that the Flau had mastered a series of terrifying Psionic secrets. In his memories, when they encountered Astartes from different Legions during the Great Crusade, they had inflicted considerable casualties upon the Astartes.
When the Salamanders and Word Bearers fought the Flau during the compliance action on Serapis, the Word Bearers Warrior Edical was gravely wounded and entombed within a Contemptor Dreadnought.
The infamous Alpha Legion saboteur and Terra veteran Nihairen was also interred in a Contemptor Dreadnought after fighting the Flau.
Nimrod took a deep breath. Air flooded into his lungs, spun through them several times, and then he opened his mouth and unleashed a Roar of Fury.
More than a dozen Flau clutched their heads in agony. The howl bored into their brains as ultrasonic vibrations echoed through them. They all vomited blood, were stunned unconscious, and tumbled down the stairs.
Nimrod swung his heavy halberd and cut down the unconscious alien Psykers, then looked into the air.
Several powerful Psykers among the Flau had used Psionic Energy to shield themselves just before the Wild Howl sounded.
The Flau are best at foresight.
Hm, the Wild Howl is ultimately only a Sequence 8 Beyonder ability. Although my body, as a gene-Primarch, far surpasses a Sequence 8 Beyonder's, I have not undergone any specialized enhancement of my lungs, so the Wild Howl has not undergone a qualitative transformation.
They clearly possess telekinetic spells as well, capable of defending against sound waves.
As the thought flashed through Nimrod's mind, he bent his legs and sprang upward.
He instantly appeared before a Flau. His right arm swung the heavy halberd, smashing two other Psykers to death.
At the same time, he extended his left arm and grabbed for the Flau's head.
The Psychic Shield was like paper and failed to stop the gene-Primarch for even a second.
Nimrod's huge hand closed around the Flau's head. With a slight squeeze, the shark-shaped head burst apart, scattering a mist of dark purple blood.
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