Fierce Battle

When Miriael adjusted from her imbalance and looked up.

What appeared in her field of vision was this scene.

Behind the Living Saint Lucia were a pair of white wings reminiscent of angels, yet her face was twisted in a ferocious snarl, her entire body wreathed in holy flames that would wound any Warp Demon merely by gazing upon them.

And beside Lucia, slightly slower by a hair, was another Adeptus Custodes warrior completely encased in luxurious golden Alarius Terminator Armor, the Power Armor covered in intricate honor markings, his charging momentum carrying an unbelievable sharpness.

"Good... good..."

Miriael murmured, almost entranced by the sight.

To be crossed by such rare opponents—this experience, this "ecstasy"... it made her delirious with joy!

The shockwave from the charge spread, whipping up a gale inside the Bridge.

The next instant, Lucia reached the attack position first, her Power Armor-clad foot colliding violently with the Ceramite floor. Amidst the piercing metallic screech, her relic Storm Shield rose high, wrapped in the momentum of crashing thunder and wind.

This strike was extremely fast—even an ordinary Space Marine would have no time to react. But for a Daemon Prince, a Chaos Champion who had once offered the head of a Khorne Greater Daemon to the Lord of Pleasure, it was far from enough.

Boom!

A massive wave of sound spread, powerful enough to easily shatter an ordinary person's eardrums. The relic Storm Shield was firmly blocked before Miriael by her Blade of Agony, unable to advance an inch.

Without a moment's hesitation, Lucia exerted her full strength. Even the transmission systems of her Power Armor groaned under the unbearable load, and then she lunged forward with a powerful shove!

Even if a Leman Russ Tank stood before her, it would undoubtedly be pushed aside—or even sent flying!

No!

Without any sensation of pushing something solid, Lucia's body suddenly lost balance.

Dodged!

Miriael's figure seemed to vanish in place, her steps light as she danced an elegant arc, circling around to evade the collision.

Her eyes gleamed with excitement as she swung the Blade of Agony in a heavy chop toward Lucia's pure, flawless cheek.

At the last possible moment, Lucia reacted, twisting her body at an almost impossible angle while flapping her wings. Using the rotational momentum, she raised her Storm Shield and firmly blocked the blow.

Miriael seemed lost in thought, as if she had noticed something. But before she could dwell on it, the Custodes wielding the Guardian Spear had already arrived.

The long blade, shimmering with an Azure Disintegration Field, swung without hesitation, precisely targeting the joints of her arm.

On the other side, the roar of a Chainsword was rapidly closing in. The two struck together, dragging Miriael into a perilous situation.

Under the combined assault of a Living Saint and a Custodes Blade Champion, few in the entire galaxy could withstand it.

But unfortunately, Miriael was one of them.

The Slaaneshi Daemon Prince danced with light steps, moving at a terrifying speed beyond mortal imagination. Weaving through the storm of Chainsword and Guardian Spear, she spun a dense web of sword light around herself, launching counterattacks from time to time.

The three figures immediately clashed into a melee. The clatter of footsteps, the clash of blades, the crack of air, and the roar of bolter fire interwove into an unending cacophony.

Finally, after a battle that seemed extremely brief to ordinary eyes but was already lengthy by the standards of the strong, the three figures instantly separated, standing on opposite sides.

Miriael maintained her graceful posture. Aside from the wound left by the plasma blast earlier, her Ecstasy Armor bore no new scars.

In contrast, Lucia and Leonardo, who held the numerical advantage, had accumulated several fresh wounds. They panted heavily, their condition far from optimistic.

A shallow red mark had appeared on Lucia's cheek, her Storm Shield was covered in dense scratches, and the hand gripping the shield trembled slightly.

Leonardo on the other side looked even more battered. His Alarius Terminator Armor was riddled with wounds large and small, and even his thick left pauldron bore a horrifying crack, on the verge of shattering.

"Heh, doesn't seem as troublesome as I imagined."

Miriael giggled, her voice brimming with unstoppable delight.

She first turned to Lucia and spoke: "As for this 'former sister' of mine, it seems you were only recently elevated to Living Saint by the Corpse Emperor, weren't you? Though The Accursed clearly favors you, your combat technique and physical fitness are far too mismatched. You're still using your old fighting habits entirely—full of holes."

"As for this Custodes, your technique is barely passable, but your physical strength is insufficient. Several times you couldn't keep up with my dance steps, surviving only by luck and some predictions."

"Opponents with such glaring flaws as you two are practically a sure win for me."

Miriael brandished the Blade of Agony in her hand, her tone dripping with laughter: "To defeat a Living Saint and slay a Custodes—it seems I'll be able to please the Lord of Pleasure well this time."

As her words fell, Miriael wore a look of intoxication, tapping into the ability common to all Slaaneshi Daemons to begin sensing the inner emotions of her opponents.

"Hate, fear, rage..."

To a Slaaneshi Daemon, these extreme emotions were the finest nourishment and delicacy, allowing her to feel ecstasy.

"Oh? How can this be?"

Miriael suddenly sensed something wrong.

Why were the minds of these two enemies before her still so calm?

"Heh, how irritating."

She muttered, a note of irritation creeping into her voice.

At this very moment, within the squad's psychic link.

Leonardo: "Lord Rowan, how is it?"

Rowan: "The original plan seems to have failed, but it doesn't matter. This is also part of the plan. Keep stalling her."

At this moment, he still stood before the gate, having chosen not to charge forward and fight alongside Lucia.

Rowan knew his own limits well. A reality warper who was already afraid of close combat and whose physical fitness was no different from an ordinary person would only become a burden to others if he recklessly joined a battle at this level of speed.

Earlier, while Miriael was being held up, he had been using his reality warping ability from a distance, trying to directly interfere with the Slaaneshi Daemon Prince's body.

For instance, using reality warping to shatter her body, or creating some powerful explosives inside her.

Even if the effect was minimal, he had to force this fallen sister to reveal a flaw that couldn't be ignored in battle.

But the results were far from satisfactory.

The Daemon Prince's body radiated a massive amount of Akiva Radiation. If this creature were described using Foundation terminology, it would likely be classified as "Black Type."

Black Type refers to entities related to the Apex Multifaceted Entity—in Foundation terms, something that can be simply understood as a god.

And as the favored child of Slaanesh, feared by all sentient beings across the galaxy, and worshipped by every cult devoted to the Lord of Pleasure, Miriael's blessings directly tied to Slaanesh, along with the layered power of faith upon her, were more than enough to render Rowan, still just a small Level 2 Reality Warper, completely ineffective.

"Still, it's a good thing I expected this."

Rowan turned his head to look beside him.

The Inquisitor Sibyl, who had been standing at his side, was now gone without a trace, her whereabouts unknown.