Promotion

The perspective shifts to the other side.

On the bridge.

Miriael danced lightly, wielding the Blade of Agony, once again breaking apart the combined attack of Lucia and Leonardo with what she considered perfect elegance.

The Blade of Agony swept aside their weapons like parting grass, then thrust out like a viper's shadow, only to shift mid-strike into a series of twisted, insidious sword forms.

If the two hadn't dodged in time, they would have suffered a heavy loss.

Miriael giggled, about to press the attack, when her steps suddenly halted.

She tilted her head slightly, a flicker of confusion crossing her face.

Over there... such a powerful psyker fluctuation!

What's happening?

But soon, the Slaaneshi Daemon Prince understood what had occurred.

The Warp Contract Link with the Chaos Lord Malven had just been severed.

"How unfortunate, that Chaos Lord is dead?"

Combining this with the psyker fluctuation from earlier, she realized what had happened and laughed lightly. "It was that psyker who just teleported away via the Warp, wasn't it?"

"That must have been another of your former companions? A truly powerful psyker... but unfortunately, her mind isn't quite sharp."

Miriael shook her head, letting out a sharp, gleeful laugh, mocking them.

"If she had joined you in besieging me, she might have posed some threat. But now, it's different."

Her gaze roamed maliciously over the Living Saint and the Custodes before her. "In the fight just now, you've both been poisoned by the Blade of Agony. Your bodies are already broken, your strength far from what it was at the start. Even if that psyker used Warp teleportation to return now, she couldn't threaten me anymore."

"What a foolish choice."

After finishing her taunts, Miriael once again activated the emotion-sensing ability granted by Slaanesh's Blessing.

To her great satisfaction, this time, the enemies' emotions were no longer as calm as before.

The Living Saint Lucia remained composed, taking Miriael's mockery as nothing but wind in her ears, her heart unruffled, her holy will as steadfast as a rock.

But in the heart of the Custodes Leonardo, those provocative words stirred a fleeting trace of doubt.

Though that doubt was immediately extinguished, not consumed by negative emotions, this discovery was enough to delight Miriael.

However, the only flaw was that the Living Saint bore the False Emperor's Protection, and the Emperor's Custodes had never once been recorded as falling to corruption, making them hard to sway.

If they were ordinary Imperial warriors, like Astartes or Battle Sisters, the negative emotions sprouting in their hearts would surely be influenced and amplified by the Slaaneshi Daemon Prince's ability, accumulating to the point of corruption and utterly shaking their resolve.

"What a pity it's not enough. Let's continue the revelry!"

Miriael raised the Blade of Agony once more, striking an exceedingly seductive sword stance, ready to unleash another storm of relentless strikes.

But her massive daemonic body suddenly froze for no reason.

Not just her—Lucia and Leonardo, who should have seized this rare opening to counterattack, also halted mid-motion.

All three present clearly felt, from the other side, an entirely "anomalous" presence rapidly intensifying.

The Slaaneshi Daemon Prince slowly turned her head, shifting her gaze.

Her eyes finally landed on that mortal who had been silently standing by the door, watching the battle.

That "mortal's" appearance hadn't changed at all; he simply stood there, but the aura around him was no longer as ignorable as before—instead, it had become glaringly conspicuous.

Something was rippling violently within him, carrying a sensation utterly alien to the current reality of the universe.

It was as if... in a world that should only contain liquid, a solid object had been forcibly crammed in—incongruous, yet undeniably real, completely anomalous.

What... was that?

And at this moment, Rowan's sensation was utterly strange.

Since boarding this corrupted strike cruiser, they had killed over a hundred Chaos Space Marines and countless Chaos Cultists in total.

And among those elite units, along with the Chaos Sorcerers slain alongside them, the soul strength of each far surpassed that of an ordinary Astartes.

Add to that the Chaos Lord, who possessed no small psyker power, killed by Sibyl at the end—this finally fulfilled the last condition for advancement.

The souls of a hundred thousand had now been successfully satisfied.

"Hah, I thought I'd never be able to advance to this rank in my lifetime."

Rowan murmured.

The Hume Index of his personal Reality Strength, bolstered by all kinds of soul power, surged upward like kindling feeding a blazing fire, crossing a chasm he had once dared not imagine.

Personal Reality Strength: 200 Hume --> 300 Hume

Area Reality Strength: 60 Hume --> 40 Hume (Note 1)

"...So this is the power of a Tier 3 Reality Warper?"

Rowan extended his hand; a searing plasma sphere formed in his palm, then he slowly closed his fist, extinguishing it into nothingness. "This feeling is completely different from before."

From his current perspective, he could clearly sense the surrounding world radiating a kind of "malleability"—like putty.

Unlike the weak Level 2 Reality Warpers, Tier 3 Reality Warpers experience a qualitative leap in both their range of influence and the intensity of their abilities.

Rowan's mind flashed through numerous records on this subject:

For instance, the Tier 3 Reality Warper codenamed "Supersonic Girl" casually broke the sound barrier just because she "wanted to run faster," and simply thinking "that Foundation Researcher is a good person" unconsciously twisted him into the personality she imagined;

Another example was someone who twisted their own body into a micro-wormhole, whose single roar could drive humans within a kilometer insane, yet merely because they firmly believed in materialism, they could temporarily nullify all nearby anomalies, and the moment they had a thought of harming someone, that person would instantly die from the collapse of reality... (Note 2)

These were all things Tier 3 Reality Warpers could accomplish!

"You... what exactly are you? No, what god are you?"

A voice broke Rowan's contemplation.

He looked up to see Miriael, who had been so arrogantly aggressive moments ago, had completely shed her earlier flamboyant attitude. She was now slightly hunched, assuming an extremely tense combat stance, utterly disregarding the two powerful enemies she had been fighting just moments ago, who were still right beside her.

A mischievous impulse stirred in Rowan's heart as he recalled how he had been dragged over by that Big Gold One.

He smiled faintly and replied calmly:

"I am not a god. I am merely an ordinary human from Terra."