The Beginning

A warship sailed through the warp.

This Lunar-class cruiser, roughly five kilometers in length, would normally cause gravitational anomalies when approaching a planet due to its sheer mass, but here in the warp, it looked like nothing more than a leaf drifting in a violent storm.

This "leaf" drifted on, passing through a giant eye formed by gathering stars, passing through a nebula shaped like a daemon's claw, surrounded by countless indescribable and terrifying entities within the warp.

Weak and helpless.

Inside this Lunar-class cruiser, which visually isolated its occupants from the horrors outside, the people within were far more helpless than the ship itself.

The sounds of countless light and heavy weapons mixed with the howls of some horrific creatures, composing a symphony that filled the listeners with dread and despair.

The resurrected dead wandered the halls, once-diligent slaves fought against loyal soldiers, and creatures known as daemons could emerge from anywhere to slaughter every living thing they saw.

At this moment of life and death, the command deck was filled with panic.

Everyone, including the captain, whether they were garrison soldiers, lucky sailors who had fled to the command deck, or those usually arrogant officers... they discussed fighting for the God-Emperor until the very last moment, discussed the order in which they would die, and discussed how to ensure the corpses of the captain and the nobility would not be seized by traitors or warp entities...

But the one thing they did not discuss was how to retake the areas that had already fallen, or how to reclaim the ship that everyone had relied upon for generations from the hands of the enemy.

Fear and despair were spreading; this fear and despair did not stem solely from the humans themselves, but also from some power or something that was influencing their minds.

This atmosphere persisted for nearly half an hour, until a heavy sound of footsteps reached the command deck, and everyone exhaled in unison, immediately falling into formation.

Under the gaze of the mortals, two warriors, far taller and more robust than normal humans, walked in.

The two warriors wore silver power armor, one wielding a great shield and a massive sword, the other holding a power halberd.

Few people could identify them from their attire and color scheme—Grey Knights.

Most people did not yet know the identity of these warriors, and even though the existence of the Grey Knights was no longer a secret after the return of the Thirteenth Primarch, they remained unaware due to the lag in information.

But it did not matter; the "Angels of the God-Emperor" had come among the mortals, and that was enough to reignite their fighting spirit.

"The Grand Master was right, we shouldn't have risked crossing the storm," the Grey Knight holding the halberd said over the comms channel. "A Navigator who can guide a ship through the warp with one hundred percent safety? What a joke."

"Perhaps this Navigator who can guide the ship with one hundred percent safety is a trap in itself," the other Grey Knight responded in a deep voice.

Amidst the mortals kneeling on the ground, the two Grey Knights walked toward the very center of the command deck.

They ignored the most noble people on the ship as if they were air, walking straight to a cultivation tank placed in the corner.

The silver angels stared at the robust man soaking in the liquid behind the glass.

"How much longer until this guy wakes up?"

"Don't know. Hold this position until we leave the warp and can take him to his destination."

"Throne. A man who has just finished his augmentation surgery and is still sleeping... whether he is awake or not, sending him to the battlefield is inappropriate."

The Grey Knight with the shield and sword expressed his dissatisfaction with the situation, but he still turned around to obey orders, walking to the only entrance of the command deck.

The mortals immediately gathered behind that Grey Knight, forming a volley formation and raising the lasguns in their hands.

As for the Grey Knight remaining near the cultivation tank, he placed his halberd aside and extended his hands, using his psychic powers to sense the man who had yet to wake.

He seemed to merge with the person in the tank, able to probe everything beneath the surface of his coma.

"Psychic power is an ability that can warp reality; it can force our thoughts onto reality. Although our thoughts might not be scientific or rational, it doesn't matter—psychic power can simply do it."

The Grey Knight saw Qin Xa standing in the fortress of the White Scars, and heard someone say to Qin Xa.

Young Qin Xa stood before a Librarian of the White Scars, listening to the teachings.

"Unleashing lightning, fire, strengthening the body, prophecy... it can do many things, but do not forget, it is a power from the warp. Just like the warp itself, it is elusive and unpredictable, so it will also bring all kinds of evils we could never dream of."

"..."

"Qin Xa, this name was the name of an honorable warrior ten thousand years ago. You have inherited this name. If that traitorous loudmouth who killed him back then is still alive, you have an obligation to avenge him."

"..."

"Jubal Khan. My Chapter Master."

"Why must we let these grey-armored men take whatever they want just because they arrived here? They leave behind some weapons, and then we are expected to hand over this child who is about to undergo augmentation to become a Librarian?"

"..."

The Grey Knight focused all his attention on probing Qin Xa's mind with his psychic power.

He discovered that Qin Xa, soaking in the cultivation tank, was already in a semi-conscious state, merely immersed in the memories of the past.

Qin Xa wandered through every important moment of his life.

From the beginning, when he did not know why he appeared on a desolate world, and why an older soul was contained within a young body.

To the time when the desolate world he was on was invaded by enemies, and the White Scars who arrived to rescue him found him, and after testing, discovered he possessed stable emotions and psychic talent.

And then, being discovered by the Grey Knights, being taken away by them, undergoing the augmentation surgery under their care, and while soaking in the cultivation tank as the surgery was nearly finished, hearing others say he was to be deployed to a certain world to learn how to fight while fighting.

There was no time for him to slowly linger on Titan; the great enemy of humanity was closing in step by step.

This man should have become a Librarian of the White Scars, but the Grey Knights had taken him.

Even though the kind Librarian who always appeared in Qin Xa's memories had tried to obstruct it in every way, through the Grey Knights' soft and hard tactics, Qin Xa had still become a Grey Knight... such was this man's fate.

After detecting that Qin Xa was wandering in his memories, the Grey Knight did not forcibly wake him into reality. In the current situation, being immersed in memories rather than being affected by the environment and causing a psychic backlash was a good thing.

Besides, even if he were dragged out, this warrior who had just left the tank would be unable to fight.

"The situation seems to be going well enough." The Grey Knight lowered his head in thought.

Everything seemed salvageable.

There were still significant forces remaining on the ship; although only two Grey Knights were left, there were other Space Marines fighting elsewhere, even if they were not under the command of the Grey Knights.

If they planned and maneuvered properly, supplemented by those methods specifically designed to deal with daemons and corruption, it seemed that the ship reaching its destination safely was not...

A roar interrupted the Grey Knight's thoughts.

As he turned to look at the entrance to the command deck, an axe hacked through the bulkhead, and immediately after, a terrifying crimson figure appeared in everyone's line of sight.

Blood-dripping crimson wings unfurled, and an angry roar erupted from the daemon's fang-filled maw, shaking the spirit and will of everyone present.

The Grey Knight wielding a great shield and a greatsword was the first to react to the roar, immediately engaging in battle.

Blue psychic lightning erupted from the Grey Knight's hands, the shield blocked the axe strikes, and weapons blessed by rituals with special lethality against daemons roared as they shot down one daemon after another.

Mortal soldiers screamed as they detonated melta bombs to perish with the enemy, while naval noble officers fought desperately alongside the servants.

Everyone roared, "For the God-Emperor."

The Grey Knights and the mortals resisted the daemons' charges on the command deck time and time again.

Until the final "For the God-Emperor" became weak, painful, and powerless.

Until the entire command deck was submerged by the daemons pouring in like a flood.