A Debt Repaid, A Grudge Avenged

The entire ship was overrun with Greenskins.

Greenskins had spores in their blood. Whenever one died and its blood spilled, spore-sacs that would hatch more Greenskins would sprout all over the place.

So compared to animals, Greenskins were more like plants.

Now that the damaged quarantine zone had been breached, Greenskins were everywhere, and their numbers would only keep growing. Without the Chapter Master's psychic suppression, they would grow stronger as well.

This strike cruiser was beyond saving.

But there wasn't even a planet outside. If they left the cruiser, everyone would die.

Lu Jin could only kill Greenskins to keep the ship running, at least long enough to get somewhere instead of sitting alone in the void, waiting for some passing warband to loot them a second time.

At least ten Greenskins appeared every hundred meters.

Lu Jin could only kill them, then use the flames released by his Sceptre to burn away their blood.

Besides flames, the Sceptre could also unleash shock waves.

With the Chapter Master no longer around, he had imbued the Sceptre with those two psychic powers.

As he fought, Lu Jin noticed something.

Even when killed by the Sceptre's psychic powers, Greenskins still replenished his stamina, letting him draw a trace of the dead creature's strength. The amount was small, but it was efficient.

"Before you underwent the transformation, you took up a hammer against me."

"You really wanted to kill me?"

The Chapter Master had started talking for no apparent reason.

"I didn't want to kill you. If you'd just let me go, I wouldn't have attacked. Besides, I couldn't possibly kill you. Being transformed into a Space Marine and then forced to join Chaos is even less acceptable to me than death. I'd rather die!"

"Rather die? All right."

The Mechanical Arm on Lu Jin's shoulder aimed the Sceptre ahead, unleashing flames that cleansed the entire corridor.

The Greenskins knew where he was and were swarming toward him.

With every step he took, he encountered more and more of them.

When hundreds of Greenskins charged at him, Lu Jin had intended to clear them out with psychic powers. But then he remembered the nature of their species and suddenly came up with another idea.

The Mechanical Arm didn't raise the Sceptre.

Lu Jin lifted his Battle Axe and Warhammer high, then strode toward the densely packed Greenskins in the narrow corridor.

"Come and fight!"

With a roar, Lu Jin charged at them.

After smashing through one Greenskin's chest with his shoulder, he swung his Warhammer and Battle Axe, slaughtering them in a frenzy.

The heavy two-handed hammer and axe were as light in Lu Jin's hands as daggers, even lighter, and he attacked so quickly that the Greenskins couldn't react.

After he killed dozens of them in succession, the rest lost their nerve and fled. But they hadn't gone far before the flames from the Sceptre caught up with them and burned them to ashes.

Lu Jin continued onward, reaching the armory.

He found that the warband had emptied it. They hadn't even left behind a single Laser Rifle for the ordinary crew.

It was like a robber stealing not only the victim's clothes but even the elastic from their underwear.

But the Chaos warband was so desperately short of supplies that it would take anything it could get.

Lu Jin pressed on.

The journey passed without a word, save for fighting and killing.

Only after he had fought his way to the engine room did Lu Jin stop to look around as the Greenskins fled in every direction.

The engine room had barely been damaged.

That was good news.

Lu Jin turned back.

When he returned to the shelter, he found that everyone had organized themselves and begun clearing the corridors he hadn't entered.

Lu Jin called them back and gave them an order. "Take everyone to the engine room and make sure the ship can still sail."

"We need someone to go to the command deck and start the navigation procedures," someone said, stepping forward.

"After we regroup in the engine room, I'll take some people to the command deck myself," Lu Jin said. "The engine room is safer than the shelter. Even its floors are made of adamantium."

Everyone sprang into action.

Lu Jin led the way, with the others following behind and the armed personnel bringing up the rear.

They didn't run into any Greenskins blocking their path.

A few stragglers were hiding in the shadows, quietly watching Lu Jin.

Once everyone had moved into the engine room, set up defensive positions, and shut the doors, Lu Jin set out to do the most important thing at hand.

Rescue the Navigator.

The Fierce Angels Legion's strike cruiser was twelve kilometers long.

The engine room and the Navigator's Sanctuary were at opposite ends of the ship.

The twelve-kilometer journey wouldn't take long if he kept walking and fighting. The problem was that the Navigator's Sanctuary was on the top deck.

With all the ship's transportation systems out of commission, simply walking to the Navigator's Sanctuary would take an estimated half a solar month.

But there was no other way. Lu Jin had to grit his teeth and fight his way there.

An entire solar month passed.

Lu Jin's armor was covered in scratches and had fallen to pieces.

His helmet had disappeared long ago.

The armor on his right arm had been smashed apart, leaving his muscular arm exposed.

The armor on his left leg had shattered half a month ago, leaving that leg bare too.

Fortunately, his Warhammer and Battle Axe were still usable. The Warhammer was a blunt weapon, so it wouldn't lose its edge, while the Battle Axe could only serve as a half-blunt weapon after its edge had dulled. Lu Jin had to rely on brute strength to hack it into Greenskins' heads.

Over the course of that solar month, the Greenskins had gradually evolved.

The Degenerate Orks, altered by the previous Apothecary and suppressed by the Chapter Master, had gradually developed into ordinary Greenskins. They were taller, stronger, and no longer so easily routed.

As he traveled along his usual route, Lu Jin spotted a Greenskin corpse lying in the corridor ahead.

He had just stopped walking. He hadn't even touched it.

"You're walking in circles."

"You were here a day ago."

The Chapter Master spoke through the Sceptre.

"I'm so done with this." Only now did Lu Jin feel tired. He leaned against the wall and panted. "This place is like a maze."

"Keep it together," the Chapter Master encouraged him. "I'm sorry. I can't teleport you or guide you. There's nothing I can do except talk to you..."

Lu Jin didn't reply. He kept walking.

When he reached a compartment a hundred meters away, he knocked on the door.

The hatch opened, and dozens of terrified crew members crowded around him.

Along the way, Lu Jin had found many people scattered throughout the ship, hiding in various shelters.

The ship was enormous, and there were a lot of crew members. That was a good thing.

"My lord..." One of the crew stepped forward. "Why have you come back?"

"I got lost," Lu Jin said. "I need someone to guide me. I promise I'll bring them back safe and sound."

A human soldier stepped forward. "I'll go with you."

When Lu Jin started to say that these people still needed protection, the soldier spoke again. "Since you left, no Greenskins have tried to break in."

Then the soldier walked outside the compartment and pointed to a spot beside the hatch, one Lu Jin had just overlooked.

Lu Jin looked and saw a painting hanging there.

It showed him crouched low, his Warhammer and Battle Axe crossed in front of him. His expression was vicious and brutal... just as it had been when the people in the compartment saw him come to their rescue.

"So it really works."

Lu Jin remembered what he had done a month earlier.

He knew that Greenskins were psychic creatures, worshiped violence, and were social by nature. Stories and legends could spread among them.

That was why he had done his best to look terrifying in battle: he wanted the Greenskins to think of him as something to fear.

Now these people were using him as a door god, proving it really worked.

"Weak Greenskins will be scared off, but the strong ones will still break in." Lu Jin gestured for the soldier to return. "Send someone else."

One of the crew raised a hand. "My lord... I... I know the ship well... but I... I'm scared..."

"Trust me. You'll be just as safe with me as you are in the shelter," Lu Jin said.

The crew member thought it over, then nodded hard. "Yes, angel."

Lu Jin set off with the crew member.

"Why did the Fierce Angels run into the Maelstrom in the first place?"

As they walked, Lu Jin questioned the Chapter Master.

"Which warband captured you?"

He began to think about what he would do after finding the Navigator.

"We once fought for the Imperium..."

The Chapter Master slowly recounted the past.

"Most of the Chapters born from the Cursed Founding suffered genetic mutations. The Imperium believed this was proof that we were cursed."

"The Fierce Angels once numbered a thousand."

"After we were lured there by the Imperial Inquisition, we were slaughtered until only a hundred remained."

"We escaped and chose to leave the Imperium. By the time we'd made our way through the wilderness, only twenty-one of us remained."

"Bena. The Inquisitor who brought you here. She's a good person. She sheltered us for a time and worked with us. We found an ancient relic for her, and in return, she sent you, along with a large supply of provisions and weapons."

After hearing the whole story, Lu Jin felt that there were people in the Imperium who deserved to die too.

"Whatever the case,"

Lu Jin said,

"the Fierce Angels sheltered me and gave me a good life for a while. You also opened up to me."

"At most, I won't join you, but I owe you."

"I have to get you out of there... Tell me who captured you."

Nearly a minute passed before the Sceptre finally spoke.

"Once every solar week, the warband sacrifices one of us and turns him into a mindless puppet warrior."

"Four of us have been sacrificed already."

"..."

Lu Jin stopped, then roared, "Then tell me the name of the warband that captured you! Even if every one of you is sacrificed, I'll avenge you! I'll wipe that warband out!"

"Go rescue the Navigator first, then get the ship working..."

"Tell me! Hurry! You can't all just die without anyone knowing..."

"Shut your mouth!!!"

The Chapter Master's furious roar cut Lu Jin off.

Then his voice returned to its calm, steady tone.

"You don't owe us anything."

"All the so-called debts of gratitude from when we helped and taught you after your transformation failed are settled."

"You can't take on this warband. You should focus on keeping the others alive, then leave."

"If you really want to do something for the Fierce Angels, go find Bena and ask her to clear our name."

"The Fierce Angels must be exonerated. Bena is the only one willing to do it. Go tell her everything, and she'll clear us of every accusation."

"That is, if you're willing."

Lu Jin stopped walking.

The crew member beside him had been listening to Lu Jin talk to himself. When Lu Jin stopped, he stopped too, looking around warily for Greenskins that might charge out at any moment.

Lu Jin thought for a moment.

The Chapter Master was right.

He didn't actually owe them anything.

The Chapter had forcibly transformed him, and the procedure had even killed him once.

But sometimes, you couldn't judge things by cold, detached rules.

Lu Jin thought back to his brief time with the Chapter.

He remembered the Apothecary Carly had told him about—the one who had roared, "Don't disturb my battle-brother!" before charging at the Chaos Space Marines.

It was impossible for Lu Jin to distill the rights and wrongs of it all into a simple question: Should I help the Fierce Angels, or hate them?

"Can you guarantee that you'll take the others and get out of here?"

The Chapter Master asked.

He hadn't even asked whether Lu Jin was willing to clear the Chapter's name.

"My lord... xenos..." The crew member slapped Lu Jin's shoulder hard.

Lu Jin sprang into action, carrying his anger and tangled emotions as he charged at the Greenskins across from him. His Warhammer and Battle Axe blurred as he swung them, and the corridor echoed with the Greenskins' screams and the sound of flesh being smashed open.

"Promise me!" the Chapter Master shouted. "It's my turn to be sacrificed this solar week. They're coming! Promise me before they turn me into a puppet!"

"I promise."

Lu Jin said.

A Greenskin was split in two.

"I promise I'll find out who captured you, and I promise I'll wipe them out completely."

"I promise I'll find out who framed you, and I promise I'll kill them all too."

Lu Jin followed his heart.

He sympathized with and respected this Chapter. Regardless of who owed whom, he wanted to step in and do these things.

He would kill those in the Imperium who deserved to die, and he would kill those in the Chaos warbands who deserved to die.

Lu Jin remembered the nickname he'd had before crossing over: "Kill Them All."

It meant "kill everyone in the world who deserves to die"!

The Fierce Angels didn't deserve to die.

The Chapter Master heard what Lu Jin said afterward.

Or perhaps he didn't.

In any case, the Sceptre, this Legion Relic, no longer spoke or echoed with any sound.

All that remained was the psychic spell it released when Lu Jin deliberately cleared the corridor.