Promotion to "Shepherd", Sudden Change

A black Stormbird slowly descended onto the Blood Red earth of Purgatory Star, and Michal, captain of the First Chapter's Third Company, led his Honor Guard down from the deck.

Michal wore the Saturnine Terminator Prototype. He moved briskly, the armor's clatter steady and not at all grating.

The "Punisher Knight" felt that the armor encasing his powerful body weighed even less than the Mark II Power Armor he had worn as an "Arbites."

Michal's brow tightened as he looked out across the Blood Red grassland.

The veteran "Law Officer" had only just set foot here when the stench of blood, foul and pungent, rushed into his face, and a filthy, viscous fog spread all around.

He stamped hard onto the grassland, sending scraps of Blood Red weeds drifting up.

The veteran "Law Officer's" eyes suddenly twitched, and he looked toward ten o'clock.

Three-meter-tall Blood Red Scarecrows charged over at a run, their straw bodies rippling layer after layer.

"Tranquilizer rounds!" Michal remembered the Black Emperor's decree and immediately gave the order to capture them.

Two squads in Mark III Power Armor raised their tranquilizer guns, and Nucerian syringes shot out with sharp whistles.

Thk, thk, thk...

The syringes shot into the Blood Red bodies, then were caught between the stalks of straw.

The "Punisher Knight's" gaze sharpened. Golden light rose in his eyes as he stared fixedly at one of the Blood Red Scarecrows.

At the barbed tips of two syringes, illusory gray-white shadows flowed like liquid.

[The Blood Red Scarecrows possess supernatural abilities.]

As Michal thought, he raised his left arm and aimed it at one Blood Red Scarecrow.

The Pyre Serpent Cannon fired with a bang, spitting out a bright beam that slammed into the Blood Red Scarecrow.

Hiss!

The blazing beam pierced straight through the Blood