Submission

The slaughter continued.

Lu Jin lost count of how many demons he had killed.

He grew numb, little by little.

He swung both weapons, cutting and slashing.

A Bloodletter leaped from nowhere and stabbed clean through him; he spun around and hacked it dead.

On and on it went, cycle after cycle.

Until Lu Jin carved through one phalanx after another. Lifting his head mid-slaughter, he saw a towering Bronze Throne ahead, and seated upon it was a crimson figure.

"Submit to me! Accept my blessing!"

The figure's voice slammed every Bloodletter to the ground.

The shock and pressure also pinned Lu Jin flat.

Bracing against the weight, Lu Jin propped himself up on both weapons and forced himself to his feet: "Fight me! Either kill me, or make me your Chosen One!"

A battle axe fell from the sky. Demons sprayed outward like raindrops, and Lu Jin's corpse was just one of those drops.

When he woke, Lu Jin realized that Khorne could indeed kill him—because Khorne's power was, at its root, still Psionic Power from the warp.

But it deliberately held back the killing blow.

"Submit!"

The roar shook the Skull Plains.

"You will be my Chosen!"

Lu Jin roared back.

The slaughter continued.

Suddenly, Lu Jin heard a voice.

"Slaughter Demon Legion, engage the Blood God."

That voice had spoken before.

"Submit!"

Khorne's roar thundered again.

"You will be my Chosen!"

"Submit!"

"You will—"

Khorne swung another axe down, rose from the Bronze Throne, and pointed at Lu Jin: "Submit!"

Lu Jin climbed to his feet, raised his Chainaxe toward Khorne, and aimed it straight at the Blood God.

"Make me submit? You're not worthy!"

"Be your Chosen? Like those lackeys of yours who chop off the heads of the old, the weak, and the women to pad their kill count?"

"Butchery and brutality are not true courage!"

"I'd rather die than become a mindless killing machine!"

As he roared his reply, Lu Jin raised both weapons high.

He could roughly imagine what a version of himself that submitted to Khorne would do:

Before he was even as strong as a Space Marine, he'd hunt the weak. Like those mortal followers of Khorne who couldn't take a Space Marine's skull, so they settled for whatever they could get...

Just thinking about it made Lu Jin sick.

Khorne sank back onto the Bronze Throne.

The Bloodletters surrounded him again.

After another bout of slaughter, Khorne suddenly spoke: "If you do not submit, I will slaughter everyone you fight for."

"Raise your blade against the weak? All you know is threats?"

Lu Jin cleaved a Bloodletter in two and pointed his battle axe at Khorne.

"Coward of cowards!"

"You—"

A battle axe hacked the rest of Lu Jin's words back down his throat.

The entire continental plate cracked apart.

The Bloodletters wailed under the Blood God's wrathful strike.

Those screams twisted into a single echo: "You will not be allowed to die!"

Everything warped before Lu Jin's eyes.

And he was sent flying, hurtling between the stars.

Two warships emerged from a tear in the warp.

After slowing to a halt, a gunship launched from one vessel's hangar deck, weaving through the asteroid belt.

Radar swept the asteroid field.

When a red dot appeared on the screen, the pilot steered the gunship toward it.

The pilot rose from his seat and looked around.

The void held nothing but asteroids—nothing else.

Just as he sat back down, he spotted a frozen corpse drifting past the cockpit window.

"That's him!"

The three-eyed Navigator burst into the cabin and barked at the pilot: "Retrieve him!"

A gravity beam shot from the gunship, snared the corpse, and hauled it into the hold.

The Red Corsair Apothecary crouched inside, rushing forward as the hatch sealed to check for vital signs.

The Navigator stumbled in, holding his breath, but his breathing only grew heavier.

"Lu Jin isn't dead." The Apothecary glanced up at the Navigator.

The latter collapsed to the floor.

The gunship returned, entering the cruiser's hangar deck.

The deck was packed with people.

As the Apothecary carried Lu Jin out of the cabin, he shouted: "Everyone, clear the way! He needs the Medicae!"

The crowd had already parted.

The Red Corsair Apothecary sprinted with Lu Jin on his back, spotting the Fierce Angels at the far end of the crowd. They immediately closed in but didn't block the path, following at a run toward the Medicae.

Huron was already inside the Medicae, watching the Apothecary lay Lu Jin on the bed next to Aels.

"I need to study him quickly." The Apothecary scrambled for medicine and instruments.

"Save him first!" The Fierce Angels burst into the Medicae.

One of them saw the Apothecary pull out a scalpel and clenched his fist, roaring: "Try dissecting my battle-brother and see what happens!"

At that moment, Lu Jin jolted awake, gasping as he sat up, his hands flailing instinctively.

Once he took in his surroundings, he gradually calmed down.

"What did you go through?" Huron stepped forward. "We found you twenty-nine light-years from your original system. If the Navigator couldn't pinpoint you, you'd be void trash."

Lu Jin recalled Khorne's final axe strike and realized he'd been cleaved away.

And flown a very long distance.

Like Constantine XI blasted dozens of light-years by an Urban Cannon—except the difference was that the people who wanted him back had FTL capability and could fish him out.

Lu Jin didn't answer. He looked at Huron: "How is Ninos?"

Huron was momentarily speechless.

Lu Jin turned to the Fierce Angels. All of them lowered their heads.

Lu Jin understood that Ninos was likely dead. He bowed his head and fell silent for a long time.

Suddenly, eight mortals entered the Medicae, carrying a Warhammer and a Battle Axe.

Lu Jin looked up at the two weapons. He heard screams from within, saw aimless wandering souls inside the Warhammer...

Among the souls, one raised its head, standing atop a pile of skulls, gazing up at Lu Jin.

It was Ninos...

But in an instant, everything Lu Jin saw vanished, and the weapons looked no different from before.

"These are the weapons we recovered," the mortals said.

Lu Jin hesitated, then took both weapons.

Though they were already corrupted by Khorne, he couldn't discard them—because the souls of those connected to him were still trapped inside.

"Chapter Master Ninos..." Lu Jin stepped down from the medical bed.

Accompanied by sixteen Fierce Angels, Lu Jin arrived at a cabin aboard Huron's flagship.

Here lay Ninos's body, along with the Fierce Angels' Legion Relic Sceptre.

Lu Jin walked over in silence.

He said: "It's only been a few days since you were all captured. Him teaching me to shoot, hand over hand, feels like yesterday."

The Fierce Angels were all silent.

"Did he leave any last words?" Lu Jin turned to ask.

"He spoke of how he would find rest," one stepped forward to say. "He said half his soul had been sacrificed to the enemy, so it could not be preserved—his death was certain. The Chapter would choose a new Chapter Master, but only if you were unwilling to lead us."

Another added: "The Sceptre will belong to you. The Chapter Master said it was thanks for everything you've done."

"Also, he said he was sorry to you. Because he thought he could handle your augmentation surgery, but it failed... He asked us to apologize on his behalf."

Lu Jin stepped forward, picked up the Sceptre, and examined it closely.

In his mind, the image of Ninos standing beside him, leaning on the Sceptre, surfaced.

"The Chapter Master also said he sealed a part of his soul into the Sceptre. That part of his soul can only release psychic powers."

Lu Jin fell silent again.

A full ten minutes passed before Lu Jin spoke: "You choose the Chapter Master."

"But—"

"I'm not leaving right away!" Lu Jin suddenly flared up. "I know, I know... Just stop wasting words and go choose the Chapter Master... I won't abandon you."

The Fierce Angels saluted, turned, and left, closing the cabin door behind them.

Lu Jin took a deep breath and sat down on the floor.

"Fuck."

He cursed, set down the Warhammer and Battle Axe, and pressed his hand to his forehead.

The past surfaced in his mind.

From serving as an Ammunition Slave for two Solar Months, to life aboard the Fierce Angels' Cruiser, to coming here to Huron, and everything that had happened over the past two days...

His thoughts were too chaotic.

Lu Jin shook his head and picked up the Warhammer.

Now, in his hand, the Warhammer had returned to its form covered in skulls and lava-like lines. He saw the souls within, including Ninos, wandering aimlessly, moving from beneath the hammerhead to the center of the haft.

At least the half of Ninos's soul that Ahriman had sacrificed hadn't fallen into Tzeentch's hands.

Lu Jin picked up the Battle Axe, weighing both weapons.

These two weapons had once been extremely heavy to him, but now they felt as light as a pair of chopsticks.

Lu Jin sensed his own condition.

After forcibly conceptualizing his physical changes, he believed his strength had reached "31."

Over three times the base strength of a Space Marine.

He had killed more Bloodletters than Greenskins, but each Bloodletter only provided an enhancement of about 0.02—barely more than an ordinary human.

Lu Jin figured this was because Bloodletters weren't truly physical entities...

Also, when killing Bloodletters, his wound recovery speed wasn't even as fast as when he had killed ordinary human soldiers before.

For things related to the Warp, this power of his wasn't as "sensitive."

Thinking back to when he was being transported by Inquisitor Bena, even under the influence of the Blanks, he hadn't regressed and could still hear that strange voice—proving that this power of his truly didn't come from the blessings of Chaos.

With that thought, Lu Jin set down his weapons, emptied his mind, and rested on the floor, recovering from the exhaustion of his spirit.