At that moment, inside the emergency escape passage,
a disorderly flurry of footsteps rang out.
Malven, the Chaos Lord clad in master-crafted Power Armor, strode quickly through the passage.
He was not alone. Six Chaos Astartes bodyguards in Terminator Armor still followed close at his side, protecting him.
Having struggled his way through the Galaxy for hundreds of years, Malven wasn't foolish enough to stay behind and watch the battle.
Even if he stayed to help, he could indeed be of considerable use to Miriael. The two of them fighting together would make them much more dangerous, and they might well defeat their enemy and win.
It sounded wonderful.
But there was one small problem.
That was... it would bring him no benefit at all. Instead, it would be extremely dangerous, the sort of thing where one careless mistake could get him killed.
Malven would never do something that stupid.
Surely no one really thought reliable bonds of friendship existed among the forces of Chaos?
Besides, his relationship with Miriael was merely a simple contract. Malven had even withheld some information earlier, deliberately luring her here.
What if Miriael took her anger out on him afterward?
It was better to hide somewhere safe and wait for the battle to end.
If the Lord of Pleasure blessed him, and the False Emperor's followers and Miriael ended up both badly wounded—or even killed each other—that would be ideal.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as smoothly as Malven had imagined.
Suddenly, the Chaos Lord stopped in his tracks.
The six Terminator bodyguards halted at once as well, turning their eyes toward him and waiting for his orders.
"Warp disturbance?"
As a Psyker himself, Malven furrowed his brow. Purple light glimmered in his eyes as he focused all his senses.
Soon, he sensed a Warp Rift slowly opening behind them in the passage.
"Hah!"
The Chaos Lord couldn't help sneering to himself.
Trying to use Warp teleportation in front of a master Psyker?
How had such a stupid Psyker survived this long?
Without hesitation, Malven raised the psy-staff in his hand and slammed it into the ground. An invisible psychic wave surged forth, forming a massive unseen hand that crashed toward the rift.
Under this kind of psychic interference, the enemy's destination would be thrown wildly off course. They'd teleport straight into the Ceramite wall beside them.
Wait. What was going on?
Malven stared in confusion.
The psychic rift seemed completely unaffected by the interference. It continued to open slowly, and a flash of teleportation lightning lit up the entire dim passage.
When the light faded, a young woman in a military greatcoat stood where the rift had been, a Force Sword in her hand.
It was Inquisitor Sibyl!
The instant she appeared, the six Chaos Terminators raised their weapons without hesitation.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!!"
Heavy Bolters and Assault Cannons roared, spitting fire as a violent hail of bullets swept toward her and engulfed her completely.
But all that devastating firepower came to nothing.
A solid psychic barrier formed in front of Sibyl, shielding her completely.
Countless bolts lodged deep in the shield, while Sibyl herself remained unharmed and composed, without the slightest hint of fatigue.
"Enough!"
Malven stopped the clearly futile attack and looked at Sibyl with a grave expression.
Facing this unwelcome visitor, whose intentions were clearly hostile and whose psychic power was unfathomable, Malven knew there was little chance of avoiding a fight. Even so, he wanted to make one last attempt.
"...Can we come to an agreement?"
The Chaos Lord had none of his former arrogance left. He chose his words carefully. "In my view, there's certainly plenty of animosity between our two sides. But your pursuit of me now is pointless."
Malven continued, his tone soft but firm. "Your companions are in the middle of a hard fight. It's true I'm no match for you in psychic power, but if you're hoping to finish me off quickly and then rush to their aid, that's simply unrealistic."
"Why not let me go, then go help your companions and face the real enemy together? That's the right choice, don't you think?"
Ignoring the Chaos Lord's deceitful words, Sibyl simply raised her Force Sword in silence.
By all logic, the Heretic wasn't wrong.
As an Inquisitor of the Imperium, Sibyl had originally thought the same.
If the four of them joined forces, they might be able to banish that Slaaneshi Daemon Prince, even if it cost them some lives.
After all, sacrifice was the foundation on which the Imperium was built, and lives were the Emperor's currency. As long as the mission could be completed, the lives of their people would never enter the mind of an Imperial commander.
Even in the worst-case scenario, if they could banish a Slaaneshi Greater Daemon of that caliber, then even if she, the Inquisitor, died in the attempt, it would still be a worthwhile bargain for the Imperium.
But just before the battle began, when she had made that decision, Rowan stopped her and gave her a very strange order.
Rowan ordered her to kill the fleeing Chaos Lord Malven as quickly as possible, and promised that once she completed the task, victory would surely follow.
So, even though she had some doubts, Sibyl would obey his orders without question.
"Thoughts lead to evil, and evil leads to punishment."
Sibyl calmly recited a famous line from the Lectitio Divinitatus. Brilliant blue light flared in her eyes, and Psy-lightning surged around her.
The sight made it clear to the Chaos Lord that there was no hope of peace.
"Fine! I hope you won't regret this!"
Veins bulged across Malven's face as he unleashed his psychic power. A magical gale from the Empyrean whipped through the narrow passage, powerful enough to strip flesh from bone.
At the same time, all the Chaos Terminators drew the Power Swords from their belts and charged toward Sibyl in great strides!
Faced with such a perilous situation, Sibyl simply steadied herself and drew a deep breath.
Every sanctioned Psyker in the Imperium had to undergo extremely rigorous training. No matter how powerful the psychic abilities they wielded, they could never use more than a small fraction of their full potential, in order to minimize the risk of losing control.
Since becoming an acolyte of the Inquisition, Sibyl had never again unleashed her psychic power to its full extent without any restraint—not until now.
What had once been tantamount to suicide had become entirely possible after she became an ally of Rowan, the Reality Warper.
Casting aside every habit and technique ingrained in her over the years, Sibyl became a true Alpha-level Psyker. Her long hair whipped wildly as layers of dazzling psychic energy began to radiate from her body.
She opened her mouth and shouted:
"Slay! Slay! Slay!"
Her voice carried an immense psychic force, surging through the air like a world-ending flood. In an instant, it crushed the six charging Terminators like insects, turning them into a mess of twisted steel and flesh.
"Impossible!"
As Malven watched in horror, the spell he had once prided himself on vanished without a trace in the psychic surge, as though it were a joke.
He himself was only slowed for the briefest instant before the torrent turned him into the same kind of mangled mass as the Terminator veterans.
The blue psychic shockwave continued unabated, swept through the entire passage, and effortlessly shattered the door at its far end—a door capable of withstanding the impact of a Venomblade tank.
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