The Show Was About to Begin!

Time rewound a little.

Aboard the Lunar-class Cruiser.

"I'm ready."

Sibyl glanced around before speaking to the Adeptus Custodes.

To better unleash the Divine Emperor's wrath upon those Traitors, she had tested a great many psychic spells and confirmed that she was in excellent condition.

Leonardo held the new weapon he had just received—a freshly forged Guardian Spear of the Adeptus Custodes—and gently ran his hand over it. A sense of nostalgia welled up inside him.

"So am I."

Just before, Rowan had also turned him into a Reality Warper.

As a Reality Warper, he couldn't tap into the Warp to wield limitless power the way Sibyl and Lucia could. But Leonardo could use his ability to strengthen the Machine Spirit in his Alarius Terminator armor and Guardian Spear.

"By the way, where's Lord Rowan? Why isn't he here?"

"I'm here."

Rowan's voice came from a distance.

His figure appeared farther down the corridor, and he walked over, with Lucia close at his side, guarding him every step of the way.

"Wait, what's that?"

Sibyl seemed to notice something and paused in surprise.

Following Rowan was a strange-looking... cannon? It was moving along on its own.

"Oh, I suddenly had an idea," Rowan explained casually. "Our team is more than strong enough to board a Chaos Astartes ship, but if the enemy brings out heavy vehicles to stop us, things could get tricky."

"So I went to the ship's armory, where they store Astra Militarum weapons. And, by the Emperor's grace, I actually found a Leman Russ Executioner!"

He gave the self-propelled cannon beside him a hearty slap, looking utterly confident.

Sibyl and Leonardo exchanged glances.

They seemed to realize what had happened. After staring at the strange-looking cannon for a moment, they asked in unison, "Did you... take the main gun off that tank?"

"That's right," Rowan said with a nod. "I removed the Ryza-made Plasma cannon and welded it onto the Thunderfire Cannon's tracked chassis. Then I used my Reality Warping Ability to bring it along. I Think this thing will pack one hell of a punch."

"Right..."

Even Leonardo, who had seen plenty in his time, had never witnessed anything like this. He clicked his tongue. "If the Omnissiah's followers saw this... well, let's just say that kind of extremely bold modification would make them emit a piercing binary screech."

"Heh. Who cares?" Rowan said casually. "We're all set. Let's teleport."

"As you command."

At the order, Sibyl immediately drew her Force Sword. Vast psychic power gathered around her.

With a forceful sweep, she opened a massive Warp Rift before them. Deep blue light shimmered within it, as if waves were surging beneath the surface.

"Let's go. The show's about to begin!"

Without a moment's hesitation, all four entered the rift in single file.

Once they were in the Warp, Rowan shut his eyes and quickly reined in all his senses, lest he trigger his Reality Warping Ability by accident and disrupt the teleportation.

The journey through the Warp was brief. Almost at once, the white light of teleportation faded away.

Back in the Real Universe, Rowan's brain seemed to wobble, leaving him slightly disoriented.

He had barely steadied himself when Lucia and Leonardo surged past him like twin hurricanes, tearing through the space around them without restraint.

The wind cutting through the air as weapons swung, heavy impacts, bodies hitting the ground, blood spraying, and screams all blended together in an instant, filling the space without pause.

By the time Rowan had fully recovered, he looked around to find the Teleportation Chamber in ruins. Shattered fragments lay scattered everywhere, creating a grisly scene like a mountain of corpses drenched in blood.

Every enemy who had been in the room moments before—Space Marines and mortal cultists alike—had met the same fate. At the hands of the Living Saint and the Custodian, they had quickly become decorations on the floor.

"Let's see."

Sibyl, who hadn't had a chance to fight, casually flicked her hand. A Chaos Astartes head that was still rolling across the floor floated into the air.

Strands of Psy-lightning shot from her fingertips, piercing the surface. The brain inside was burned to a crisp by the savage psychic energy.

About two seconds later, Sibyl withdrew her psychic power and spoke. "I've obtained a general layout of this Strike Cruiser. We have two choices: first, head straight to the Bridge and decapitate the leader of this Chaos War Band;

"Second, go to the Warp Engine and destroy the ship. Either route will accomplish our goal."

"...The first. Let's go to the Bridge."

Rowan decided at once. "With our strength, taking out the leader of a Chaos War Band should be a piece of cake. If we go after the Warp Engine, we'll have to hold back in a fight. We'll have to worry about causing so much damage that an explosion takes us with it, while also watching out for the enemy getting desperate and taking us down with them. That would just make things more complicated."

The others had no objections and agreed with his decision.

Once they had settled on a plan, the four of them formed up with the self-propelled cannon and headed out of the Teleportation Chamber.

As they moved, Sibyl rapidly relayed the information she had taken from the Chaos Astartes's brain. She did so with remarkable efficiency.

From it, the others gained a general understanding of the Chaos War Band.

"So that Chaos Lord was a Dark Apostle, too?" Leonardo frowned and immediately suggested, "We'd better be careful. These Chaos heretics are experts in all kinds of Warp rituals. We need to stay alert."

"Understood. These wicked tricks will break beneath our blades, for the Divine Emperor guides our path," Lucia said calmly.

Walking through the corridors of a ship almost wholly corrupted by Chaos was hardly a pleasant experience.

Blood coated the floor like paint, staining the corridor a vivid red. The air carried a strange, sweet fragrance and a moist warmth that somehow brought to mind the gentle touch of a young maiden's hand.

Strange artworks and sculptures stood in great numbers along both sides of the corridor. Their "paint" was mixed with blood, and their empty eye sockets seemed even more uncanny. They looked almost alive, as if they were secretly watching Rowan and the others as they passed.

This Chaos Strike Cruiser seemed far more "lively" than any ordinary ship. But to Rowan, it looked like a bloated corpse drifting through the sea of stars, long dead. The sculptures were nothing more than living maggots rotting inside it.

After walking through the corridor for several minutes, the group's superhuman senses let them make out the sound of countless overlapping footsteps in the distance. They were rushing toward the team at high speed!