Your Name

Valyrian Steel... Valyrian Steel... what is Valyrian Steel...

Fu Qinghai, kneeling on the ground, pondered this term in his mind.

The woman opposite him wore a look of slight confusion.

The posturing was done, the last words were spoken, and the questions before death were answered.

Why hadn't he kicked the bucket yet?

"Crack!"

A pair of massive iron gauntlets suddenly clamped onto her slender, snow-white neck.

"Ugh..." The woman's eyes widened in disbelief as she gripped Fu Qinghai's arm, struggling incessantly.

However, the hand of an Astartes was like a hydraulic iron vice; she couldn't budge it a fraction, no matter how hard she tried.

Fu Qinghai, one hand still locked around the woman's throat, slowly rose from his kneeling position.

His other hand gripped the black longsword protruding from his chest, pulling it out bit by bit.

The woman was hoisted into the air by Fu Qinghai's single hand. She stared at the scene in disbelief, her long legs, encased in tight leather pants, kicking frantically in the air.

She had seen zombies that could walk with half their heads missing, but she had never seen a living man who could stand up with his entire heart shattered.

The longsword, half of which had been buried in Fu Qinghai's chest cavity, was finally pulled out slowly by his left hand.

Thick, dark red blood flowed continuously from the wound as the blade was withdrawn.

Fu Qinghai held the woman by the neck in mid-air with one hand, looking down at the weapon that had pierced him, idly turning the archaic-looking longsword over in his other hand.

Valyrian Steel, he finally remembered.

From Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire.

Unlike Adamantium, Vibranium, or Beskar, which were known for the durability and sharpness of their materials, Valyrian Steel was not the result of any special alloy smelting technique.

According to the hints from characters in the original work, Valyrian Steel was imbued with sharpness far exceeding ordinary weapons through cruel blood magic rituals, such as blood sacrifices, performed during its forging.

If the Reincarnation World were truly like a game, one would calculate armor when defending against Adamantium or Vibranium, but one would calculate magic resistance when defending against a Valyrian Steel weapon.

Strictly speaking, this was a magical weapon.

Fu Qinghai spat out the residual blood in his mouth, looked up at the woman in his hand, and smiled, revealing a mouthful of blood-stained white teeth as he asked:

"Did no one ever tell you that an Astartes has two hearts?"

"Heartbreaker... Alicia?"

When he smiled, the undried blood hanging from the corners of his mouth and chin made his expression look exceptionally ferocious.

What?

The woman let out a muffled sound in her shock, but Fu Qinghai's ruthless iron hand tightened, making it increasingly difficult for her to breathe or make a sound.

Finally, the woman held aloft by Fu Qinghai's single grip rolled her eyes back, stopped struggling, and let her hands hang limply as her long legs ceased their kicking.

Fu Qinghai tossed the corpse of Alicia the Heartbreaker onto the ground.

He then used the black longsword in his hand to stab once into Alicia's chest.

Using a heartbreaker to break the heart of the Heartbreaker.

Fu Qinghai always had a good habit of delivering the finishing blow, especially against Reincarnators with tricky and unpredictable methods.

The Reincarnation World prompted him with the Assimilation Points reward for killing a Reincarnator from a hostile faction.

Fu Qinghai pulled out the sword, stumbled forward two steps, one hand holding the blade and the other clutching the wound on his chest.

Pain, excruciating pain.

Although his second heart had already rapidly taken over the function of the first and increased its output to pump blood throughout his body, the first heart had truly been shattered.

Young couples on Earth in his past life often talked about having their hearts broken after a breakup.

Fu Qinghai felt exactly what a broken heart felt like this time.

A broken heart in the physical sense.

The worst part was that he hadn't died after his heart was broken; the other heart sustained his life, allowing him to continuously feel the intense pain of his heart being pulverized.

A pain so severe that even painkillers couldn't fully suppress it.

Fu Qinghai looked back now, carefully reviewing and analyzing the situation.

He felt more and more that this Reincarnator named Alicia the Heartbreaker was bold, meticulous, and very clever.

By now, Fu Qinghai had roughly figured out her entire strategy.

Because he was using a communication device stripped from the armor of an enemy Word Bearer, Fu Qinghai could only use the public channel when discussing tactics with the Aeldari girl Salamandruslan.

Normally, when Space Marines were in action, they would only use internal channels, but Alicia the Heartbreaker might have happened to open the public channel on the communication device of a dead Space Marine.

Then she heard the exchange between Fu Qinghai and the Howling Banshee and guessed Fu Qinghai's plan.

That was why she had quietly followed Fu Qinghai all the way to the outside of the No. 3 engine control room of the Bloody Worm.

Or perhaps she had been hiding nearby all along.

Then, taking advantage of the moment Fu Qinghai had finished off the Helbrute and his guard was at its lowest, his nerves most relaxed.

She thrust a sword straight through Fu Qinghai's heart.

It was truly a case of great skill leading to great audacity.

This woman, Alicia the Heartbreaker, based on the Assimilation Points rewarded, belonged to the same category of "high-level players" that Asano Jinan had mentioned, just like the Kotohira-gumi boss, Takakura Yuki.

Looking at it now, these so-called "high-level players" were not much stronger than himself.

But they were Reincarnators who had unlocked more functions.

Fu Qinghai still did not know the conditions required to unlock these functions.

Fu Qinghai staggered toward the hatch, the painkillers built into his Power Armor spreading through his body, making him feel slightly better.

Alicia's assessment of the damage caused by that Valyrian Steel sword was incomplete.

In truth, the blade had not only pierced the Power Armor on Fu Qinghai's chest, but had also punctured the Black Carapace beneath his skin and the fused bone plates of his ribcage.

The Black Carapace had no defensive function, but the bones of an Astartes were not the hydroxyapatite bones of an ordinary human; they were fused with metal and ceramic materials by the Ossmodula, possessing a hardness far exceeding that of mortal bones.

Conversely, the layer of Plasteel armor on Fu Qinghai's chest had already been mostly depleted in previous battles, leaving it in a precarious state.

Fu Qinghai wiped the blood from the corners of his mouth and chin as he stepped out of the hatch.

That strike just now had not only pierced a heart but had also severed Fu Qinghai's third lung, causing blood mixed with air to continuously surge from his trachea.

So, when Fu Qinghai spat blood, he was truly spitting blood, not acting.

Fu Qinghai walked slowly into the corridor near the transport ship's porthole.

Through the porthole, he could see that there was still sporadic fighting outside.

Individual Ultramarines squads had just broken through to this area, and there were still some straggling Word Bearers putting up a desperate resistance.

Even now, the battle had not ended.

Fu Qinghai sighed.

Suddenly, he saw a fresh force join the battlefield.

Three uniquely designed anti-gravity Jetbikes sped over from the horizon.

At the front of the Jetbikes were iconic, wedge-shaped, ship-bow-style ramming prows, bone-white Power Armor with red trim, and the stylish, wind-whipped crests atop their helmets.

The White Scars had arrived!

They had also landed on this planet.

Although they were a bit late to the party.

But Fu Qinghai was still happy in his heart.

The overall situation was settled and clear, but heaven only knew what strange conspiracies and tricks the Word Bearers and the Reincarnators from the Horus faction hiding here might still have up their sleeves.

Enduring the pain, Fu Qinghai hurried toward the hatch exit.

He did not want to tangle with the enemies here any longer; he just wanted to return to orbit as quickly as possible and level this place with saturation bombing.

Outside the Bloody Worm transport ship.

The Jetbikes wove through the complex caves and tunnels at high speed, the White Scars' masterful piloting skills on full display.

The three Jetbikes streaked past just above the heads of the Ultramarines.

One warrior focused on piloting and firing, the large-caliber Bolters mounted on the front of the Jetbike spitting out a string of Mass-reactive Bolter Shells, suppressing the counterattack of the remaining Word Bearers.

Meanwhile, the warrior riding on the back raised his Power Glaive high.

In the instant the Jetbike streaked past the loose formation of Word Bearers.

"Clang!"

A flash of white light flickered.

A helmeted head, along with a great spray of blood, flew high into the air.

Leaving only a bare, bloody neck as the tall body holding the Bolter slowly toppled over.

Fu Qinghai, who had just crawled out of the hatch, witnessed this scene.

It was as if he had caught a glimpse of ancient cavalry in the era of space warfare.

With the support of the White Scars, the remaining Word Bearers were quickly slaughtered to the last man.

Fu Qinghai waved frantically at the three Jetbikes.

The White Scars warriors saw him, turned in unison, carved an arc through the air, and sped toward Fu Qinghai.

The three Jetbikes came to a halt right in front of Fu Qinghai. Before the bikes had even steadied, a tall warrior leaped off.

"Great, Qingshan, you're still alive!"

Fu Qinghai, who had been opening his arms to give his comrade a big hug, felt his face darken immediately upon hearing this.

This sentence sounded a bit familiar.

Why couldn't you people say something nice for once?

Fu Qingshan grumbled inwardly.

Talal removed his helmet and carefully looked Fu Qingshan up and down.

He said, "You are in a bad state, Qingshan. What on earth did you encounter?"

Fu Qingshan shook his head and said, "I'll tell you the details when we get back. By the way, who sent you down here?"

Fu Qingshan remembered that Set Vlahos had initially declined Ogedei's offer of coordinated combat.

"It was the Sotharan," Talal explained. "After the teleportation was interrupted, the Sotharan kept trying to establish contact with the surface. When they received no response for a period of time, Vlahos's adjutant finally initiated a call to us, requesting that we descend to the surface to provide support."

Fu Qingshan nodded. Evidently, faced with the sudden loss of contact with ground forces, the Lunar-class cruiser in orbit had not sat idly by.

They were also actively contacting the accompanying Dagger frigate, seeking assistance.

It was just a bit late in arriving.

"Qingshan!"

At that moment, Fu Qingshan heard Gult shouting from not far away.

Fu Qingshan turned to look; Vlahos, held in Gult's arms, had already regained consciousness. The self-repair capabilities of an Astartes had saved his life.

"Static... Qingshan, communication with the Sotharan has been restored. We are taking the commander back to the warship via teleport now. For those whose teleport homers are damaged, the Sotharan will dispatch Stormbirds to pick them up," Gult's voice sounded over the comms channel.

"Received," Fu Qingshan replied.

Gult's words reminded him of something.

The method the enemy used to jam the teleportation!

To this day, they still did not know what method the Word Bearers had used to prevent the various Ultramarines squads from teleporting back to the cruiser.

Fu Qingshan posed his question to Talal.

Talal said, "The essence of teleportation is also using the Warp for short-distance jumps. Strictly speaking, teleportation is magic, just magic that is utilized on a massive scale by Tech-priests. As far as I know, many psykers and Legion Librarians can interfere with the teleportation process."

"But I have truly never seen teleportation interference on such a large scale," he added after a pause.

Fu Qingshan rubbed his chin and fell into deep thought.

It could be ancient human technology or some other form of xenos anti-magic device, but as analyzed before, such precious strategic equipment should not be carried by three transport ships without a warship escort.

And for a psychic field of such a large range, according to the Imperium of Man's positive psychic grading scale, it would be at least a Gamma-level psychic unit.

If the enemy was a psyker of at least Gamma level, why didn't he just come out and fight the Ultramarines directly?

There were many possible explanations...

Specialized in a different psychic discipline? Exhausted psychic energy? Cowardly?

And the most likely possibility was... the opponent was a Reincarnator!

If it were a Reincarnator, everything would be very easy to explain.

Reincarnators possessed all sorts of strange and bizarre abilities that could not be measured by the traditional power systems within Warhammer 40K.

Reincarnators had no loyalty to Horus or the Chaos Gods; they only wanted to earn Assimilation Points.

Being cowardly was also understandable.

Fu Qingshan cast a deep gaze toward the gray, hull-plating of the Bloody Worm transport ship, which was covered in blasphemous symbols.

Aside from this Black Valyrian Steel Sword in his hand.

There were many secrets hidden within these three transport ships.

A suspected Reincarnator who had never shown their face and could use an anti-magic field.

Xenomorphs that appeared out of nowhere.

Fu Qingshan was convinced that deep within the cramped and dark pipes of the transport ships, there must still be a xenos nest hidden away.

And that strange old woman who called herself the prophet Agu...

But there was no opportunity left. The Ultramarines commander was severely wounded, the various squads were not at full strength, and Fu Qingshan himself was suffering from unhealed, grave injuries.

The White Scars squad that had come to support them certainly would not want to invite more trouble; their primary mission remained escorting Master Kunto to Mars.

Fu Qingshan had no chance to go back inside the transport ships to explore and search.

Let all these secrets be buried by the fire of the Lunar-class cruiser's cannons.

The orbital bombardment would bury it all.

Fu Qingshan guessed that Vlahos thought the same.

Three Stormbird landing craft slowly descended under the cover of the remaining Ultramarines.

"Let's go, Qingshan. The Ultramarines' wounded have already boarded the Stormbirds. We will take our own jetbikes back to the Dagger."

Fu Qingshan looked around and whispered, "Talal, I will return to the Dagger with you. I need to go to Master Kunto to receive treatment."

Ogedei had instructed that Master Kunto's existence must not be revealed to anyone outside the Dagger.

After saying this, Fu Qingshan pointed to the black, congealed blood scab on his chest plate and said:

"One of my hearts is shattered."

Talal furrowed his brows, his expression grave; he knew this counted as a very serious injury.

He looked at the antique-looking black melee weapon in Fu Qinghai's hand, which was neither a power weapon nor a chain weapon, and asked in a deep voice:

"Is it because of this sword?"

"That's right." Fu Qinghai nodded. "My armory finally has a decent collectible."

After brushing off the magical weapon with the excuse of it being a collectible, Fu Qinghai said to Talal:

"I still have other matters to attend to, wait for me for a moment."

Talal nodded, watching as Fu Qinghai walked behind the transport ship.

Fu Qinghai walked behind the engine nozzles, his gaze scanning the surroundings.

A massive, carbonized black sculpture still stood there.

It was the remains of the Helbrute after being carbonized by the ultra-high-temperature plasma stream of the engine nozzles.

"I am here."

A cold, clear voice rang out.

Fu Qinghai looked up to see a slender figure in bone-white form-fitting armor sitting atop the highest set of engine nozzles.

The Howling Banshee leaped down, landing lightly in front of Fu Qinghai.

The fiery red mane behind her mask slowly settled.

Fu Qinghai stared at the ferocious banshee mask, trying to see the expression and eyes of the person behind the visor.

He gained nothing.

Fu Qinghai cleared his throat and said in a low voice:

"We are returning to the warship. We have already destroyed the transport ship's engines, so it cannot fly out of the atmosphere. Afterward, we will conduct one or even several rounds of orbital bombardment here until this place is razed to the ground."

"What do you intend to do?"

The Aeldari girl nodded and said calmly:

"I understand. You don't need to worry about me; I have my own ways."

Fu Qinghai nodded. He guessed that this Aeldari woman might still have some means of contacting her kin and the Craftworld Fleet.

But that was not something that could be discussed or explicitly stated given their current relationship.

One human, one Aeldari.

Even though they had been through life and death together and established trust on the battlefield.

They were merely temporary comrades-in-arms.

Seeing that the Aeldari girl had nothing else to say, Fu Qinghai nodded and turned to walk toward the other side of the transport ship.

"Wait."

The Aeldari girl's voice suddenly rang out from behind him.

Fu Qinghai turned around, looking at the tall figure before him.

This Aeldari girl, who was so decisive in battle, was now hesitating, her hands seemingly not knowing where to rest, moving from in front of her to her waist and back again.

She mumbled, but finally spoke:

"I still don't know... what your name is?"

Fu Qinghai smiled and said:

"Qingshan, my name is Qingshan."

Some readers have said my update speed is lackluster. I admit it; updates have indeed been slow these past few days. It's not that I haven't been writing, but my application for a contract was rejected last week. As a new author, I felt a bit discouraged for a while, struggling with whether or not to submit to another site, which delayed my updates. I will make up for them immediately.