Assault on Vengar

After a brief instant traveling through the Warp.

Lu Jin regained consciousness. He felt the ground beneath his feet and looked around. The first thing he saw was a compartment piled with miscellaneous junk, with ten Fierce Angels led by Kao surrounding him.

Looking down, he saw a pattern beneath his feet that looked somewhat like a hexagram.

This was the anchor point the teleportation device had established aboard Vengar's ship.

After learning from Huron how to use people, Lu Jin had left and returned to the Ragefang. He had also gone to the teleportation device, one of the three Legion Relics, and then it had transported him to this ship belonging to Vengar.

Only when he saw the Chapter Master arrive did Kao feel reassured.

Whatever else, this was an operation aboard Vengar's ship. No one knew the place well, and at most, Onaas could use the Navigator's third eye to scout the area. But even if they weren't at much of a disadvantage in terms of information, they were outnumbered by Vengar's people dozens of times over.

"Command is transferred to Kao. The objective of the covert operation remains unchanged."

The Fierce Angels saw that Lu Jin was still dressed in his classic fashion.

He wore Power Armor custom-made by the Forge Master of the Red Corsairs. He held a two-handed Warhammer in one hand and a two-handed Battle Axe in the other, while the Mechanical Arm on his shoulder gripped the Legion Relic Sceptre.

Lu Jin knew full well that he had little combat experience, so he had to let Kao take command. "I'll be responsible for breaking through—or, if we're discovered, leading you all back out by force."

"Yes, brother." Kao looked at Jenos. "Leave two people to guard this place. This teleportation circle is the key to whether we can get back. Don't let anyone near it."

"Brother Kao, I suggest leaving brothers Argus and Selyne to guard this place."

At Jenos's suggestion, Kao acted as if he hadn't heard and looked at the others.

In the end, he chose two people other than Argus and Selyne to guard the place.

In Kao's eyes, "Jenos's Law" was undoubtedly even stricter: so strict that when they weren't in combat, he couldn't listen to any suggestions from Jenos.

The law could also be applied in reverse. As long as they did the opposite of whatever Jenos suggested, things wouldn't go wrong.

With two men left behind, the rest left the compartment and made their way through the corridors of Vengar's ship.

"Brother Jenos's advice is like a kind of fate, a matter of cause and effect..."

Kao told Lu Jin about Jenos over the communications channel.

But Lu Jin wasn't listening, because Onaas was talking to him.

"I've spotted the Terminator Armor you're looking for, but it isn't in the armory. It's on someone."

"You may have to take that person down before you can get the armor."

Kao had heard those words too. He nodded at Lu Jin, who was just about to speak to him. "Then we'll go take down the man wearing the Terminator Armor."

Now Kao understood that this operation was a way to frame someone.

After it ended, they would find someone to wear the Terminator Armor and kill Aels. That would clear them of suspicion and pin the blame on Vengar.

The time bomb that was Aels would be defused.

The operation continued.

Far away in the Navigator's Sanctuary aboard the Ragefang, Onaas used her third eye to peer through the ship.

Her words were conveyed by psychic power, guiding the Fierce Angels forward or telling them to stop, to run straight ahead or take a detour.

The usefulness of psychic power was once again on full display. The Fierce Angels traveled for more than ten minutes without a single Mortal crew member seeing them.

At last, Lu Jin and the Fierce Angels reached a warehouse. They took cover on either side of the entrance, behind the blast door.

"What's it like inside the warehouse?" Lu Jin asked.

Onaas sent what she saw directly into everyone's field of vision.

There were about twenty Space Marines, their armor a riot of different colors.

There were also some Mortal slaves.

Fresh water and synthetic food were piled on the warehouse floor.

A Space Marine wearing Terminator Armor was directing the others as they worked.

The owner's name was engraved directly on the Terminator Armor, with the names of its previous owners crossed out by gouges. The armor was also covered in decorations that displayed its wearer's faith and achievements.

"We raided the docks for these supplies. Huron isn't going to use this as an excuse to kill us for taking something again, is he?"

"We didn't steal them. We're just holding on to them temporarily. Get it?"

"Exactly. These supplies were supposed to go to those Fierce Angels from Huron. We took them while they were sitting at the docks, waiting to be transported. That's true, but we don't intend to keep them. We just want to add a little something and get our revenge."

"Revenge by poisoning them? These heretics are laughable... He, our temporary leader, doesn't dare say anything to Huron and can't beat that berserk, dual-wielding maniac, so he's resorted to poison... Next time we choose a leader, you'd better support me!"

"..."

The people inside the warehouse hadn't noticed anything amiss outside the entrance.

The Mortal slaves opened the cargo containers and pumped a green gas inside.

The source of the gas was a Space Marine covered in pustules, unmistakably a follower of Nurgle. Dozens of tubes were connected to his armor, and the Mortal slaves were holding them and spraying the gas into the containers.

"We thought Huron was deliberately withholding the food," Kao said over the communications channel.

When the supplies Huron had sent to the Fierce Angels were transported onto the Ragefang, they discovered that there were weapons but no food or drink. Kao had thought it was a way to control the Fierce Angels.

"That Terminator is a Psyker." Onaas suddenly sensed psychic energy, her voice tense. "You... you need to be careful... He's a Psyker wearing Terminator Armor!"

Lu Jin nodded, first looking at Kao, then at Jenos.

The two were closest to the entrance, and both were ready to fight. They nodded.

Lu Jin went to the entrance, and the Mechanical Arm aimed the Sceptre at the blast door.

After Jenos took a heavy anti-materiel Bolter sniper rifle from his back and dropped to one knee, a shock wave burst from the tip of the Sceptre.

The blast door shattered with a roar.

Lu Jin led the way, charging into the warehouse first.

The Space Marines inside were veterans of countless battles. The instant they heard the roar, they reacted, raising Bolters or Chainswords to fight.

Before the first man to aim his Bolter at Lu Jin could pull the trigger, Jenos had already fired a forty-millimeter shell.

Just as Lu Jin raised his right hand, gripping the Warhammer and preparing to swing, the shell passed beneath his arm and skewered the two Space Marines at the far end.

Jenos was undoubtedly a genius at combat. Not only had he aimed and fired in an instant, he'd also used his knowledge of Lu Jin's fighting habits to predict a perfect trajectory for the shell.

Thud—

In the corner of his eye, Lu Jin saw the headless bodies of the two Space Marines at the far end drop to their knees at the same time.

The Warhammer he'd swung also smashed into its target.

The Chainsword Axe of the Space Marine in front of him shattered, then his armor and upper body shattered with it.

With his brute strength, the heavy two-handed weapon, and the speed of his charge, the blow even produced a cloud of blood mist. As Lu Jin burst through it and raised his Chainaxe at the next man, fragments of the previous victim's armor and flesh pelted Kao's helmet like raindrops.

Kao excelled more at tactics.

His eyes shifted to an enemy standing atop a cargo container, with the best possible view for shooting and a Bolter already raised.

Before he could say anything, a forty-millimeter shell scraped Kao's shoulder plate. The man who fired the oversized shell had used Kao's armor to deflect it, saving the split second he would have wasted looking for the best firing angle and moving into position.

Jenos fired again and again, picking off four men with precision. Once he'd emptied the rifle's magazine, he tossed the sniper rifle aside, drew a one-use rocket launcher from his back, and fired—all in the time he would have wasted reloading.

The rocket flew over Kao's head and hit an empty patch of floor nearby. It didn't kill anyone, but the shock wave from the explosion threw off the aim of at least six enemies.

The Fierce Angels moved through a storm of Bolter fire, shooting or hacking at their foes with Chainsword weapons.

After reloading his sniper rifle, Jenos picked off three more with precision.

In the end, the Fierce Angels surrounded the sole surviving Psyker in Terminator Armor.

From the moment Lu Jin blew open the door with the Sceptre to the moment they surrounded the Psyker, the entire sequence of killing and being killed had taken less than a minute.

"Onaas, try using the Legion Relic Sceptre to unleash your psychic power and break him!"

Lu Jin gave the order to Onaas in his mind.

The others took aim with their weapons. Jenos shot the weapon out of the man's hand, but no one opened fire, since they needed to secure the Terminator Armor.

If Onaas could use the Sceptre to unleash her psychic power and incapacitate him, as she had when she killed a crewman and fought Lu Jin hand to hand aboard Aels's ship, that would undoubtedly be the best outcome.

"I... I can't... There's something on him..."

Before Onaas could finish speaking, the Fierce Angels who'd heard her had already slung their Bolters onto their backs and drawn their combat knives in unison, ready to pry off the armor by force.

"For a Psyker, even a novice, losing his weapon doesn't mean losing his power."

The Psyker had no weapon in his hands, and the Terminator Armor made him especially clumsy. With the helmet's limited range of motion, he could only see the Fierce Angels within a forty-five-degree field of view.

But his voice held not the slightest hint of nervousness. He sounded utterly confident.

Lu Jin charged first.

As the other Fierce Angels moved in unison, the Psyker suddenly raised both hands.

Flames and a shock wave erupted from him, spreading in every direction.

The entire warehouse was engulfed in flames, and the Mortal slaves were reduced to ash.

The flames swept over Lu Jin and the Fierce Angels as they charged. Their Power Armor kept them from being burned to ash, but the shock wave that followed sent them all flying. They landed dozens of meters away from the Psyker.

"Hahahahahaha!!!"

"Psychic power... Psychic power!"

The Psyker clumsily began to walk toward Lu Jin.

A Fierce Angel got up and tried to attack from behind, but the Psyker casually flicked a hand and sent him flying. He slammed into the wall of the compartment, leaving a dent.

The Psyker was clearly delighted and proud of the power he wielded. He claimed to be a novice, but judging by how freely he used his psychic abilities, his talent made him far more powerful than Onaas—at least ten times as powerful.

"Everyone, get back." Lu Jin climbed to his feet and gave the order, aiming the Sceptre on his shoulder at the Psyker.

He made a sensible decision: forget about taking the armor. He'd use the Chapter's Sceptre to blast the man to death.

But when the Legion Relic Sceptre released a shock wave, then flames, then a torrent of lightning, the Psyker easily withstood every psychic attack.

A white talisman was set into his chest. Every time a psychic attack hit, the talisman flashed... That was why Onaas couldn't use her psychic power against him.

"Can any of you get away?"

The Psyker had even used his psychic power to hear the message carried by the signals passed between their helmets.

He raised a hand slightly, and the force of gravity pinned everyone in place, leaving them unable to move.

Lu Jin instinctively held his Chainaxe across his chest, then realized the psychic power couldn't pin him to the ground.

Perhaps it was because the two weapons in his hands had come from the Blood God.

"Without psychic power, I was like an ant. People could even take my armor away from me."

"But now, I'm the master of your lives. I can crush you with a mere gesture."

The Psyker was talkative by nature. The feeling of crushing enemies many times his number with psychic power excited him immensely.

When Lu Jin approached, he merely glanced at him, then used his psychic power to lift five Fierce Angels off the ground and slam them back down.

"You'll be the last one."

"Because..."

Before he could finish, a dull thump suddenly reached everyone's ears.

Lu Jin, who was about to charge and swing his Chainaxe, froze. The others did too.

Then, as they stood there stunned, they saw the Psyker's body suddenly stiffen. He dropped to his knees, then toppled over.

He was dead!

The Fierce Angels thought Onaas had done it... It was perfectly normal for a Psyker to have some way of killing from a distance, such as crushing someone's head.

But Onaas was just as surprised by the Psyker's death. "His... his... his head exploded inside his helmet!"

Lu Jin sighed helplessly. "He overused his psychic power and blew his own head off. It happens."

Psychic power was an extremely dangerous force. The stronger a Psyker's talent, the more dangerous it was.

Every use of psychic power amounted to a "test," like a gamble. The Psyker had been using his powers recklessly, and he was still a novice. He must have lost his last gamble and blown his own head apart.

This kind of psychic backlash was fairly common. Fortunately, he'd only blown his head apart, rather than turning himself into a fleshy gateway that would let Daemons enter reality.

"Take the body!" Kao got up and rushed toward the corpse.

Some of the Fierce Angels had broken bones, and some had been stunned by the explosions. Fortunately, no one had been lost. They all joined in carrying the body.

Then, under Onaas's guidance, they left the warehouse before the people who'd heard the gunfire arrived and returned to the compartment with the teleportation circle.

After the teleportation device took them back, the operation was over.