Sonic Movement

Absurd.

That was Miriael's first reaction after hearing Rowan's answer.

Though she was a relatively young Slaaneshi Daemon Prince among the Greater Daemons and Daemon Princes, that was no excuse for shallow experience.

Once, in the bedchamber of Slaanesh's Six Rings, she had a fleeting encounter with the Daemon Primarch Fulgrim.

It was after a bout of intense pleasure.

Learning that she had been a Battle Sister before her ascension, Fulgrim was delighted. In high spirits, he personally shared some secrets from ten thousand years ago with her.

Among them, he mentioned that the Accursed bound to the Throne—the Emperor she had once believed in before embracing pleasure—had personally denied being a god during the Great Crusade, insisting he was merely one of humanity.

Now, ten thousand years later, He was bound to the Golden Throne, neither alive nor dead, like a rotting corpse. And a group even more absurd, calling themselves the Ecclesiarchy, had deified that existence, spread its doctrine, and dragged the entire Imperium of Man into ignorance and darkness. It was utterly laughable.

If that wasn't reaping what you sowed, what was?

When she heard that secret, had she laughed?

Miriael couldn't remember.

But at this moment, she couldn't laugh at all.

An inexplicable emotion surged within her, stirring a strange empathy for the Xenos races the Emperor had casually crushed during the Great Crusade.

What a Poet's Grasp this was!

"Fine then. An ordinary human."

Miriael lowered her stance, all trace of her earlier frivolity gone. Her expression was unprecedentedly serious. The Blade of Agony in her hand pointed straight at Rowan, and she cast everything else aside.

Never mind what lay beneath this mortal shell, or the principle behind that strange feeling. Was it a Lesser God of the Warp, or something else?

Regardless, if she could capture or kill him by luck and offer him to the Lord of Pleasure, it would surely please Him greatly!

And so, the next moment.

Boom!

Miriael's hoof-like foot slammed heavily into the ground.

A chaotic, disorderly surge of violent energy erupted forth. The impact was so immense that the entire Bridge shuddered.

Shattered ceramite fragments scattered like a circular rain of shrapnel. Amidst these sounds, what stood out even more was Miriael's massive demonic form, casting a terrifying shadow.

In the blink of an eye, her body shot forward like a cannonball, a purple-red blur trailing sonic booms as she charged straight toward Rowan.

On her way, Miriael naturally passed the two enemies she had been fighting earlier. But she neither dodged nor avoided their fierce strikes meant to stop her. She simply ignored them entirely.

The Chainsword and Guardian Spear struck her body with force, but their wielders were already spent. The weapons only embedded themselves deep into her flesh, dealing no fatal damage.

Closer. Even closer.

At such a short distance, with the speed of a Slaaneshi Daemon Prince, if her target was truly as frail as he appeared, he should have been utterly incapable of defending himself.

Yet even so, Miriael's mind remained eerily calm—a stark contrast to her usual state.

Suddenly, as if spotting something, her thoughts snapped together. She reacted swiftly.

In her field of vision, a "wall" rose instantly between her and her target.

It was this very wall that forced her to halt her charge, her momentum grinding to a stop.

By all logic, with the terrifying speed of a Slaaneshi Daemon Prince, no wall of any material should have been able to slow her down in the slightest.

But this wall was an exception.

The wall was about three meters high and seven or eight meters wide. It glowed with a harsh, searing red-white-blue light, radiating heat intense enough to distort the air. Even the ceramite floor beneath it had melted into liquid from the sheer temperature.

It was a wall made entirely of plasma!

What?

Miriael froze. Even with her vast experience, she felt a jolt of shock.

How had this thing appeared?

Behind the Plasma Wall, safely protected, Rowan simply smiled.

Didn't see that coming, did you!

In the vast majority of cases, the ability related to matter manipulation was the first conscious power a Reality Warper manifested.

This included telekinesis (manipulating objects without physical contact), transmutation (converting one type of matter into another), and violation of conservation of mass (breaking laws or introducing new problems). (Note)

Now, having successfully advanced to a Tier 3 Reality Warper, Rowan's matter manipulation had taken a leap forward.

This kind of high-intensity reality warping, previously impossible for him, was now effortless!

But Miriael quickly demonstrated the reaction speed expected of a Slaaneshi Daemon Prince.

In an instant, she twisted her body without hesitation.

What damage she could take and what she couldn't—Miriael understood that better than most. If she slammed headlong into that plasma wall, even a Khorne Greater Daemon, famed for its thick hide, would likely melt on the spot.

Her massive demonic form seemed to have no inertia. With a subtle pivot of her step, she swerved around, forcibly avoiding the Plasma Wall.

What gave Miriael some relief was that the speed at which her opponent created the wall wasn't utterly insane. There was no bizarre situation where the wall extended faster than she could run.

Finally, Rowan's face appeared in her vision once more.

Got you!

Miriael's twisted face overflowed with ecstasy. Her right arm elongated grotesquely, the sharp sword tip aimed straight at his throat!

No—she swung at nothing!

Her vertical pupils dilated.

Faced with this peak strike in both speed and technique, Rowan's response was simple.

He merely stepped back, evading the blade.

But with Rowan's retreat, the air began to shatter with explosive cracks, and a sensation like being submerged in the deep sea gradually enveloped his entire body.

This wasn't a sign of slowness—quite the opposite. Rowan's current speed had already surpassed the speed of sound, to the point where even the air itself had become an obstacle.

How could he be this fast!

Miriael couldn't believe it.

Moreover, with her eyesight, she detected no sign of exertion in Rowan's body whatsoever, as if he had always been naturally this fast!

Yet Rowan frowned slightly, dissatisfied.

"Is this my limit?"

A pity.

Different Reality Warpers had different focuses in their abilities.

He clearly remembered that the Reality Warper codenamed "Supersonic Girl" had, according to Foundation records, once achieved an outrageous speed of 50,000 m/s. (Note 2)

But he couldn't manage that at all. Barely reaching about twice the speed of sound was likely his limit.

Still, it was enough.

Without hesitation, Rowan calmly reached out his hand toward the plasma wall he had just created.

His flesh-and-blood palm passed straight through the plasma, which should have possessed extreme temperatures, and then he grabbed hold of it solidly.

He twisted his body, exerted force, and then hurled it with a violent swing!

Like a tsunami, the surging Plasma Torrent instantly covered a vast area, rushing straight toward Miriael!