Lyleth gradually choked on fear.
As she kept her eyes fixed on the Space Marine before her, she saw visions of her past.
The joy of victory, the satisfaction of battle—one emotion after another surfaced.
As those feelings piled up, Lyleth managed a strained smile, even as she felt a fear and chill that reached to her bones.
Slaanesh was watching her.
A rift suddenly opened nearby.
Two monsters charged out of the black vortex.
The Bound Warriors immediately raised their guns, ready to engage. But one of the two monsters was a step too slow. A Battle Axe reached out of the black vortex and struck its head. The blade caught in its skull, and with a sudden wrench from the wielder, the monster was dragged back into the vortex.
The sound of a blade tearing through flesh came from within.
Then the Battle Axe spun out of the vortex and felled the faster monster.
A man in black-and-red armor stepped out of the vortex, aiming a shotgun ahead as he scrutinized everyone in sight.
The monster felled by the Battle Axe tried to get up, but the man closed in and shoved his shotgun barrel into its mouth. The sharp click of the trigger and the blast rang out together, and the monster's head exploded.
The Bound Warriors and Lyleth watched the intruder approach. He stopped twenty-two meters away.
He removed his helmet and looked at Lyleth in confusion, then at the Bound Warriors. "What's wrong with you people?!"
"This xenos still deserves to die," one of the Bound Warriors said.
"I know." Lu Jin lowered his shotgun. "But some people can make amends if they're willing. If they've saved more lives, directly or indirectly, than they've taken, they deserve to live and fight for all life until