The Time for Cleansing

Outside the audience hall.

A hundred Space Marines were sealing off all entrances and exits.

These were the elite of the company.

The Chapter Master, clad in Terminator armor, personally led the team on the mission.

"We understand your intentions clearly, and we are willing to comply, but you must give us some time to prepare, rather than expecting us to charge out immediately like a pack of lunatics with no hundred percent certainty."

The Chapter Master was communicating with the Inquisitor on the communication channel.

A slave was brought beside him.

He was the Governor's personal attendant, raised by the Governor's family from a young age, absolutely loyal.

The slave attendant could not hear what the Angel of the Emperor beside him was saying, only knowing the duty he had been assigned.

When the Chapter Master stopped and pointed towards the entrance to the audience hall, the slave bowed respectfully in the Sky Eagle salute and walked out.

The slave saw Lu Jin and the Fierce Angels who had already risen from their seats.

Lu Jin held his weapon, staring at the slave.

"The armor you seek has been found. The Governor asked me to lead you there," the slave said.

Lu Jin's gaze at the slave was filled with disdain and mockery.

He now knew that Manros was a giant slave kingdom. Everyone except the nobles were slaves... In fact, the common people here shouldn't even be called slaves, because they were different from the slaves Lu Jin knew. The slaves here were not just laborers, but also toys, prey, and consumables for satisfying all sorts of desires.

This slave could suffer any indescribable torture at any moment, just like others, yet she chose to honestly follow her master's orders.

"But I suggest you don't go."

The slave suddenly said again.

She raised her head and examined Lu Jin's face.

It was exactly like the portrait, just not as ferocious.

"Because there are running dogs who want to kill you."

As soon as she finished speaking, the slave's upper body was shattered by a bolter round.

The Fierce Angels had already found cover when the slave emerged.

Only Lu Jin stood his ground. After a moment's pause, he stepped over the slave's corpse, charged towards the wall, and smashed through the marble with his warhammer.

Amidst the rubble, Lu Jin saw the Chapter Master.

Before the other Space Marines could react, Lu Jin killed the blockers with consecutive hammer strikes and axe chops. As he charged towards the Chapter Master, he roared and unleashed his attack.

The Chapter Master also wielded a warhammer and attacked in kind.

The Power Hammer shattered Lu Jin's chest plate, destroying the core device connecting the various components, causing some armor pieces to scatter on the ground.

At the same moment, Lu Jin's warhammer struck the Chapter Master.

Both hit each other simultaneously, were sent flying simultaneously, and crashed through two walls simultaneously.

After smashing through the wall, the Chapter Master landed in the garden outside the rear door of the audience hall. As he tried to get up, he saw his spine protruding from his chest.

Bolter fire roared incessantly.

Then, from the smoke and dust of the wall breach, Lu Jin emerged, raising his warhammer.

The Chapter Master's experience allowed him to quickly assess the situation.

After they had both been knocked flying and crashed through walls, one into the garden and the other into the hall, the warriors on both sides had begun to exchange fire.

But for some reason, Lu Jin seemed unharmed after taking a hammer blow. He ignored the other enemies and charged straight out of the wall breach towards the "ringleader."

The Chapter Master saw that Lu Jin's upper body armor was shattered, leaving only his left arm guard, with his powerful muscles exposed. Only his leg armor and codpiece remained intact.

But he could only think and watch.

Lu Jin charged forward, then swiftly turned. As his chain axe roared, the Chapter Master's head flew off and landed on the ground.

Within the battle axe, the soul of the Mercy Angels Chapter Master coalesced. Chains bound him, and lava scorched his soul, which was held captive by Khorne's divine power, emitting heart-wrenching screams.

"Ahhh!!!!"

Lu Jin roared and hurled his weapon, then threw the Chapter Master's corpse aside.

Among the Space Marines exchanging fire with the Fierce Angels within the breach, some were crushed by the warhammer and battle axe that had smashed through the wall, while others were pinned down by their own Chapter Master's corpse.

The one directly facing the rear door breach was about to raise his weapon to retaliate when he saw Lu Jin charge in along the trajectory of the two weapons cutting through the dust, only to have his helmet and skull crushed by Lu Jin's swinging fist.

As the Space Marine's corpse fell in front of him, Lu Jin rolled on the ground, casually picking up the warhammer and battle axe from beside the two corpses, and began to move and kill throughout the corridor.

"Loyalty is honor!"

The Mercy Emissaries roared.

"No Honor!"

The Fierce Angels let out war cries.

The Space Marines, who were exchanging fire with the Fierce Angels instead of facing Lu Jin directly, saw the less than twenty individuals suddenly throw smoke bombs, then discard their bolters and draw close combat weapons like chain axes and chainswords, charging forward with unbelievable, outrageous speed.

One by one, Fierce Angels crashed through walls or stormed through doors, engaging in bloody combat with the Mercy Emissaries.

No matter what, no one could eliminate a Fierce Angel in a one-on-one close combat situation.

Chain axes roared.

The sounds of armor being shattered and flesh being torn by chainswords were incessant.

Nestling commoner soldiers surrounded the entire audience hall at this time, listening to the various horrifying sounds from within, anxiously awaiting the emergence of the victor of the slaughter.

The sounds quickly subsided.

The Fierce Angels scoured the corpses in the corridors for ammunition and ordnance.

Lu Jin faced the last Mercy Emissary.

"You're a new face," the Space Marine gripped his power hammer tightly. "When my Legion cooperated with an Inquisitor to lure and kill hundreds of Fierce Angels before, I never saw anyone like you."

"Well, now you do."

Lu Jin charged at the Space Marine, splitting the opponent's shoulder pauldrons with his axe in his left hand before releasing the haft. He gripped his power hammer with both hands and crushed the opponent's knees. The moment the enemy knelt, Lu Jin's left fist shot out with a powerful punch.

Xenos, who was picking up a grenade, heard the sound of shattering and looked up. The enemy, kneeling with his back to him, had his head spun 180 degrees by the Chapter Master's punch, facing Xenos.

All one hundred Mercy Emissaries perished on the spot.

And the Fierce Angels suffered no casualties.

This was because Lu Jin was incredibly fierce, weaving back and forth as if in an empty realm, forcing the enemy to either swarm him to be slaughtered and hammered, or be easily defeated by the Fierce Angels in close combat.

Including Lu Jin, there were only sixteen Fierce Angels.

But not only had the non-elites died, the elites had died, and the elites among the elites had died. Those remaining were all ruthless individuals who could not be defeated in one-on-one combat and could easily fight multiple opponents. Furthermore, like Xenos, they all possessed their own unique skills.

A moment later.

Thousands of mortal guards held their breath, staring at the exit of the audience hall.

A burly Space Marine, covered in blood and wielding a battle axe and a power hammer, emerged from the exit, followed by fifteen red-armored Space Marines on his left and right.

Lu Jin stopped.

On his shoulder, a mechanical arm, once designed for him by a young subordinate, held a scepter. The psionic barrier released by the scepter enveloped everyone.

"He really is the person from that portrait..."

"The prophecy is true... it's true..."

The guards who hadn't seen Lu Jin before whispered amongst themselves.

A second later, an officer approached from behind the human wall formed by the guards, carrying a holographic projector. The device projected an image.

An Inquisitor appeared, along with the images of about a hundred kneeling crew members.

Seeing the Inquisitor's appearance, Kao and the others gritted their teeth.

He was the mastermind behind the previous luring and killing of the Fierce Angels, which resulted in the Imperium killing ninety-nine percent of the Fierce Angels.

"You freaks," the man said, holding a bolter usable by mortals and aiming it at the crew members. "Why can't I kill you?!"

Lu Jin was thinking.

At this point, he could guess what was happening.

The Inquisitor had pursued the Fierce Angels Legion and then discovered his portrait on Manros. Believing Lu Jin had a connection to this world and would return, he had set up an ambush.

The Space Marines of the Mercy Emissaries were brought by the Inquisitor.

And then... a rebellion was brewing on the planet.

This was why the Manros people had plastered his portrait everywhere.

"Surrender, and then sit down and talk with me, otherwise I'll..." The Inquisitor trailed off mid-sentence and shot a crew member.

All the crew members who had gone out to do business had been captured by him.

Lu Jin once again faced the predicament from the Little Damian incident.

Only this time, there wouldn't be an Inquisitor named Bena to step in; the only Inquisitor was an enemy.

"Believe me, I will bring you vengeance," Lu Jin said to the hologram. "I will hunt them to the ends of the universe until this Inquisitor and the Legion he brought are completely slaughtered."

With that, Lu Jin raised his weapon and charged at the guards in front of him.

In front of the audience hall stood a statue of the Emperor, also with its eyes closed.

And beneath the Emperor's statue, another battle began.

The lower levels of the Manros hive, the underhive.

Every Imperial world has a church.

People stayed in their homes with tightly shut doors and windows.

Unknown to Lu Jin, the planetary defense force stationed in the lower and lowest levels had placed all residential areas under martial law and were patrolling the streets.

It seemed like nothing would happen in the lower and lowest levels, but an undercurrent was surging beneath this forcibly maintained calm.

In every dilapidated house, a family would kneel before a portrait, heads bowed in prayer.

The Lu Jin in the portrait had a fierce expression, his eyes shut tight.

The people knew about the Fierce Angels Legion's arrival on Manros, but they were unaware of what was happening or had happened at the spire, nor did they understand the Inquisitors' schemes.

They only knew that according to prophecy, Lu Jin would arrive, and then a reckoning would begin.

In a humble hovel.

A couple with their four children knelt before a portrait.

"When will those... re...bel...s make their move?" the woman asked.

"I don't know," the man shook his head, staring intently at the portrait. "But according to the prophecy, when the time comes, there will be..."

An anomaly cut off the man's remaining words.

Under the family's gaze, the Lu Jin in the portrait slowly opened his eyes.

The family's daughter hadn't been paying attention to the portrait earlier, but now, as she looked up, she saw the Lu Jin in the portrait open his eyes.

Not only did his eyes open, but she also saw the Lu Jin in the portrait with his foot crushing a terrified guard, the guard's expression of terror twisted and pained, truly horrifying.

"The guard captain who killed Uncle's family!" the daughter pointed at the corpse in the portrait and shouted. "He's been killed!"

Such supernatural phenomena were not uncommon on Manros, especially closer to the Maelstrom.

It wasn't just this one family.

The entire hive, everyone who was looking at a portrait at that moment, noticed the anomaly.

The Lu Jin in the portrait opened his eyes, a corpse appeared beneath his feet, and the dead were guards who had killed their loved ones.

Everyone had different blood feuds, so what they saw was different.

Meanwhile, at the spire, Lu Jin and his companions had already cut through the guard's defenses and were preparing to search for the Inquisitors. And on their way, they would naturally do as they pleased.

BOOM--

The sound of an explosion suddenly reached the hovel.

The couple looked out the window and saw explosions at the garrison barracks in the residential area.

This was a sign that the resistance had begun to act.

Before Lu Jin's arrival, those who had been united by the symbol of the portrait, after a period of silence, began to act when the events described in the prophecy occurred.

Lu Jin had no idea these people existed, nor that Carly had given his portrait to the locals of Manros.

But most of the locals had always regarded Lu Jin as a spiritual symbol.

The family in the hovel waited anxiously.

The guards on the street quickly retreated. Rebel soldiers, wearing rough weapons and red cloth strips around their bodies, appeared in the family's line of sight, and they began distributing weapons.

Along with the weapons, a widely circulated psionic prophecy entered every home.

[The Emperor closes his eyes and does not save the world, Lu Jin opens his eyes to kill the beasts]