Twin Heroes Battle Lu Jin

The situation beneath Fortress One, the farthest from the hive city, was slightly better than that beneath Fortress Twelve.

After the Empire's two Chapters breached the entrance defenses, they immediately began slaughtering without a word. No one was deceived by the false hope of survival, and Lu Jin had arrived in time. Aside from those who had been terrified into collapse, no one retreated.

Yet facing both the Minotaurs Chapter and the Carcharodons Chapter, the Mortals' circumstances were much the same.

"Intelligence from both fronts has been gathered at the command center."

"As the footage sent to the front lines has shown, neither the Empire nor the Red Corsairs will permit our survival."

Lu Jin fought the enemy alone amid a cluster of buildings.

He relied on instinct to seek out nearby enemies.

The enemies were seeking him as well.

A few minutes earlier, Mortals had still fought alongside Lu Jin, but they soon all died.

When the Mortals were forced through practice into desperate methods of resistance, explosions echoed throughout the buildings. Occasionally, one or two of the fastest Mortals rushed toward Lu Jin, leaving a flash of fire at the edge of his vision.

"The time for cleansing old grievances has ended. We have finally completed a struggle that has lasted over ten thousand years."

The forceful voice of an officer from the command center came through the surviving broadcasts in the building complex.

Information from both fronts had already reached the rear, then been widely broadcast back to the front lines.

"The Imperial Army stationed beneath Fortress Twelve is no longer collapsing. After learning what happened at the front, they turned back and began fighting with the intent to die together with the enemy."

"And before the routs began returning in large numbers, our Lord of Retribution inspired tens of thousands to reach the war zone, giving those fleeing soldiers who realized that we Manrosans must survive through death a chance to choose."

"Praise the Lord of Retribution!"

Lu Jin smashed through a wall, charged into the midst of ten Carcharodons Space Marines, and swung his Chainaxe.

Seconds later, Lu Jin stood amid the corpses, looking down at the symbols on their shoulder guards.

Carcharodons.

Every time he saw that emblem, Lu Jin worried for the Manrosans.

Having the Carcharodons and Minotaurs Chapters attack the Manrosans at the same time was quite the strategy, though he had no idea who had devised it.

The Minotaurs served the High Lords. The entire Chapter was as ruthless as its Chapter Master, Asterion Moloc, and specialized in dirty work.

The Carcharodons were somewhat different, though not all that different. Unlike the Minotaurs, a Chapter that turned its blades inward, they had always fought external enemies. Yet perhaps because of their Gene-seed or Chapter culture, they too were savage to the extreme.

The Minotaurs were ruthless and vicious.

The Carcharodons were vicious and ruthless.

And these two brutal Chapters happened to be exceptionally well equipped.

Three squads of Minotaurs Space Marines surrounded the building.

Lu Jin could now hear extraordinarily faint sounds. He judged the enemies' positions from sound alone, then raced through the building, charged up to the second floor, and leaped down behind a squad of Minotaurs, swinging his weapons.

"Manros will arm its entire population. We will fight the invaders until the final moment."

"This time, we are not fighting for a struggle that has lasted ten thousand years. We are fighting for Manros, alongside the Lord of Retribution and the Fierce Angels."

"..."

The broadcast abruptly stopped.

Lu Jin glanced overhead and realized that the enemies, who had ignored the broadcasts before, must have had a purpose in suddenly doing this.

Enemies in several nearby streets moved rapidly, but merely surrounded Lu Jin's position instead of approaching as they had before.

The roar of a gunship in flight came from above.

A Thunderhawk bearing the Carcharodons' shark emblem descended to a height of ten meters above the ground. When its hatch opened, two Space Marines in Terminator Armor crashed down one after another.

Both men's Terminator Armor was highly distinctive, and each was broader and taller than the last—far larger than ordinary Space Marines.

One wore bronze armor and held a spear and a great shield. He was Asterion Moloc, Chapter Master of the Minotaurs.

The other wielded a pair of claws. He was Tiberius, Chapter Master of the Carcharodons.

After landing, Moloc and Tiberius paced left and right respectively.

Facing both men, Lu Jin's eyes darted between them, watching every movement and stance they made.

"A duel." Tiberius's voice sounded as though it came from beneath a ten-thousand-meter glacier, freezing cold, yet like the precursor to a volcanic eruption, filled with furious rage.

"As he says." Moloc's voice, in contrast, carried steady calm.

"A duel with conditions. Fine," Lu Jin said. "Until a victor is decided, your men stay nearby and watch obediently."

Neither man responded, because that was precisely how they had arranged it.

Though neither of them cared much for fair combat, attacking a group of Mortals guaranteed victory. Without Lu Jin holding them back, every minute wasted now would bring the battle's end forward by an equivalent amount of solar time afterward.

Tiberius stopped pacing and watched silently.

He and Moloc were not friends and did not see eye to eye, but the order of their duel had been determined by a bet they had just made: whoever's men killed more people would go first.

The Minotaurs had actually won.

Lu Jin was now able to face Moloc alone. Like gladiators in the Arena fighting to the death, the two paced in opposite directions around one another.

It was not restlessness. They were observing each other's stances and searching for openings.

Lu Jin recalled Moloc's record.

Even the Adeptus Custodes were wary of him. He was incredibly powerful.

Tiberius at the side would not be easy to handle either.

Truthfully, Lu Jin felt that fighting either one alone would be difficult, let alone now, when he was not even wearing armor.

"Are you thinking you can rely on your ability to resurrect?" Moloc suddenly asked. "Then I think you should remain alert during this duel. Do not entertain that thought."

A Carcharodons Librarian teleported to his Chapter Master's side.

"If you are killed once, your flesh will be annihilated. You may as well test whether you can still resurrect afterward," the Librarian said.

"You should give it everything you have!" Moloc stopped, braced his great shield before him, and pointed his spear directly at Lu Jin.

A psychic attack.

Lu Jin had to admit that this was his weakness, but the Legion Relic Sceptre could break psychic attacks. Kao had not taken it away; Lu Jin had placed it...

"I saw you place the Sceptre nearby with psychic sight before." The Librarian interrupted Lu Jin's thoughts. "I know where it is. Though I cannot take it away, you can try and see whether you can still use it."

Lu Jin stopped as well, glanced at the Librarian, and thought that the Carcharodons truly were full of talent.

"Afraid?" Moloc asked.

"I want to slaughter you even more!"

Lu Jin lunged forward.

Moloc had already rested his spear against his great shield. He had also predicted that Lu Jin would attack first, and his response was to kill him with a thrust.

But Lu Jin's speed was shockingly fast. Just as Moloc's right arm prepared to exert force, Lu Jin had already rushed before him, swinging his Warhammer at his head.

Driven by instinct, the great shield rose and received the blow.

The Minotaurs Chapter Master's great shield was certainly no cheap roadside scrap, while the Warhammer in Lu Jin's hand looked like precisely that. No one believed the strike could cause any damage.

Yet when the hammerhead struck the shield solidly, Moloc, armor and all, was sent flying three meters. He blasted through a building wall and crashed into a corridor.

Even while flying backward, Moloc adjusted his posture. The instant he hit the ground, he rolled away, dodging the Chainaxe Lu Jin swung at him in the next instant.

A half-meter-deep trench was carved into the ground.

After rolling away, Moloc raised his right hand.

Only a palm-sized piece of the great shield remained. It looked like a knuckleduster, a gauntlet...

Thinking back to the previous strike... the Power Hammer's effect upon impact had nothing to do with power weaponry. It was simply overwhelming force.

After staring at the "shield" in thought for a moment, Moloc discarded the shield's handguard and gripped his spear with both hands, facing the charging Lu Jin.

The Chainaxe chopped and the Power Hammer smashed.

Every strike carried immense force, but Lu Jin attacked so quickly and wielded both heavy weapons with such ease that they howled through the air, giving Moloc no chance to catch his breath.

As he retreated again and again, Moloc gradually adapted to the fight.

He did not use his spear to parry the attacks. Instead, he relied on force techniques and angles to deflect them.

As the Chainaxe scraped diagonally against the spear amid a spray of sparks, Lu Jin's Power Hammer was about to fall. Moloc raised the shaft of his spear, struck Lu Jin's wrist, then followed with a shoulder charge. Lu Jin staggered back several steps from the impact, only for Moloc to seize his collar and yank him back for a headbutt.

Lu Jin's skull collided head-on with the Terminator helmet, and blood immediately streamed from his head.

But the dizziness lasted only an instant. Lu Jin instead grabbed Moloc by the neck, jumped up, and returned the headbutt.

Moloc felt as though his helmet had been struck by a hammer. He took a step back before steadying himself, then immediately pulled away to assess his opponent.

Lu Jin's head was split and bleeding, but it seemed to have no effect on his mind. He appeared to be in peak condition.

"It can be confirmed as Chaos corruption," the Carcharodons Librarian judged. "How could an ordinary... man who cannot even wear a Black Carapace possess such ability?"

"Bring the Blank here," Tiberius ordered.

A thin man was thrown down from the gunship.

The moment he landed, every Space Marine present felt instinctive disgust and hatred toward him, while the Carcharodons Librarian trembled all over from discomfort.

There was no doubt that he was an exceptionally powerful Blank.

A Minotaurs Space Marine immediately stepped forward to make use of allied resources. With one hand, he grabbed the Blank by the head, lifted him up, and carried him to within five meters of Lu Jin.

Lu Jin felt nothing. He flung his Chainaxe backward.

The Blank cried out in alarm and turned around in panic. A Chainaxe was embedded in the Space Marine's face, and the corpse abruptly dropped to its knees.

Lu Jin did not slow down at all. The instant the corpse knelt, he had already rushed to it, recovered the Chainaxe, spun around, and slashed at the pursuing Moloc, followed by another relentless barrage of attacks.

The Blank collapsed to the ground in terror, too frightened to move. He could only watch helplessly as two superhumans fought around him.

Moloc became increasingly proficient at deflecting Lu Jin's attacks, but after Lu Jin deliberately exposed an opening and allowed the spear to stab into his abdomen, Lu Jin seized the opportunity despite not losing his ability to move.

The Chainaxe rose high and fell. The spear split in two.

The crisp sound of the spear shaft hitting the ground and the slicing sound of the Chainaxe cutting into shoulder armor rang out at the same time.

But Moloc was vastly experienced. Only his shoulder armor had been cut. The moment Lu Jin exposed an opening, he had already dodged backward, avoiding injury. He merely glanced at the sharp gash in his shoulder guard.

At that moment, Tiberius stepped forward and stood beside Moloc.

Neither side rushed to attack again.

Moloc reviewed the lessons from the exchange.

First, he had not properly understood those two weapons, which looked as if every member of any Chapter could be issued one.

Their appearances might have been utterly ordinary, but their power was astonishingly great.

That power did not show when Lu Jin fought other Space Marines, because whether it was armor, Chainswords, or other weapons, blocking or parrying the Power Hammer usually meant death in one blow. An ordinary Power Hammer might also achieve the same result.

Only when Moloc had blocked the attack with his great shield had the weapon's power truly been measured.

He had effectively stepped into the trap for Tiberius first.

Tiberius reviewed the lessons Moloc had reviewed.

Lu Jin, meanwhile, was sensing himself.

After discovering his special ability, he had devised a system to forcibly quantify it.

In that system, a Mortal's strength—or combat power—was 1.

A Space Marine's was 10.

This referred purely to physical ability.

It meant that without any equipment or weapons, a Space Marine could fight and kill ten Mortals.

Lu Jin believed that his current strength was 45—after eliminating many Space Marines and killing Orks whenever he had time aboard the Ragefang, he had grown to that level.

He had also confirmed something else: the reason his reactions and speed had been slow before was simply that killing Orks absorbed brute strength. Comparing then and now, he found that the trace of strength he extracted from destroying Space Marines placed greater emphasis on agility.

Of course, this was merely a system he had invented to better understand the growth of his strength. In truth, Lu Jin was certain that his special ability had no actual quantification.

Even Lu Jin himself now felt that this numerical standard was not quite appropriate.

For example, killing Greenskins increased brute strength.

Killing Space Marines increased brute strength and agility.

How could those be calculated directly together and condensed into a single number?

As for shattering the Minotaurs Chapter Master's great shield with one blow...

The Warhammer and Battle Axe had both been thrown out by the Blood God before he fought Khorne's daemon armies.

Both sides contemplated briefly.

A new round of battle began.

This time, Lu Jin charged directly at Moloc, his posture savage and vicious, as though he intended to kill Moloc first before considering Tiberius, completely disregarding his defense from behind.

Moloc dodged with ease. When Tiberius approached behind Lu Jin, Moloc realized through experience what his ally intended. While evading, he adjusted his stance and reached out.

When Lu Jin turned and slashed, Tiberius suddenly dodged. Moloc seized the swinging Chainaxe from behind, pulled it inward, and pressed it tightly against Lu Jin's neck.

Suffocation was useless against Lu Jin now. Only his left hand and Chainaxe were restrained. He let the Warhammer slide down in his right hand, gripped it with only two centimeters between his thumb web and the hammerhead, and struck forward—only for Tiberius to kick and break his arm, sending the Warhammer to the ground.

The battle then became savage and brutal.

Moloc used both hands to restrain the Chainaxe, still pressing it tightly against Lu Jin's neck. He was not trying to suffocate him, but to crush his cervical vertebrae.

He wanted to give Tiberius more help, but merely restraining the Chainaxe was already difficult. The transmission mechanisms in his armored arms buzzed, and with Lu Jin struggling so violently, he had no way to do anything else.

Tiberius stepped forward and raked Lu Jin's chest with his claws repeatedly, creating a horrifying sight that made the Blank faint from terror.

Lu Jin wore a pained, ferocious expression. Unable to break free, he could only kick at Tiberius.

Yet Tiberius gave even this weak move sufficient respect, sidestepping to evade it as a token of courtesy.

But as Tiberius sidestepped, preparing to follow with a turning thrust, he suddenly saw all the savage pain vanish from Lu Jin's face, leaving only a smile...

Bzzzz—

The Chainaxe suddenly roared, drowning out the sounds of armor shattering and flesh tearing that followed.

The Space Marines nearby saw only Lu Jin break free from Moloc's restraint in an instant and spin three hundred and sixty degrees at a speed too fast to follow. At the same time, the Chainaxe cut through both Moloc's and Tiberius's gorgets.

Their bodies were dragged into rotation by the momentum of Lu Jin's sweeping cut, and before they hit the ground, two jets of blood sprayed out.

Lu Jin clutched the wound in his abdomen with his right hand and panted heavily, his Chainaxe and entire left arm hanging naturally at his side.

Tiberius's attacks had all torn at vital points. Lu Jin was undoubtedly in pain, but victory brought a smile to his face.

The next second, he hurled the Chainaxe at the Librarian.

In that instant, time froze in the Librarian's eyes.

He gathered psychic power, intending to unleash it at Lu Jin while teleporting his Chapter Master and ally away.

But when that thought arose, when he targeted Lu Jin...

His bloodshot eyes flew wide!

The Librarian felt a terrifying presence fix its gaze upon his soul projection in the Warp. At the same time, his powerful precognitive ability showed him the consequences of acting on that fleeting thought...

Everyone in the Carcharodons Chapter, including the Librarian—even the Mortals—had their heads roll from their necks at the exact same moment, no matter where they were.

An image of an Inquisitor closing his investigation notes appeared in the Librarian's mind.

The title on the notebook's cover read:

<Khorne Guillotine Incident—The Beginning and End of the Carcharodons Chapter's Extermination>

The Librarian instantly dismissed his original idea. He merely teleported the Chapter Master and the allied Chapter Master away, then teleported away himself before the Chainaxe could reach him.

The Space Marines opened fire on Lu Jin.

The psychic barrier blocked every bolt.

Sheltered by the barrier, Lu Jin waited for his wounds to heal while he thought.

My original method of quantitative assessment really needs to change. For example, my brute strength has grown far faster than my other attributes because of killing Greenskins and Khorne's daemon armies. It would be more appropriate to separate it from the quantitative data for my other aspects.