Interlude 184: The Belated Promotion

Bluffing is an art; some people never learn it in their entire lives, and their skills are immediately exposed when they try to use it, while others master it completely and become thoroughly proficient in it.

Yes, Jago Sevatarion is the latter, but he's not really keen on using it right now.

"Perhaps we should—" he shouted as he plunged his chainsaw into the head of a Daemon, "--retreat with them first!"

"Don't even think about it," Xianni replied coldly. "Stop talking, reserve. Instead of squeezing out a few words between breaths to bother my ears, you'd be better off focusing on the killing."

Sevatar sighed and began to spin his chainsaw, unleashing a storm of blood. Mollez swept past him, casually tossing a Boltgun into his hand.

Sevatar pulled the trigger to cover his adjutant as he rushed toward the enormous Daemon that was spewing out more and more monsters from its Great Maw.

He wasn't worried about Mollez; he knew he could complete the task, but—

"You talk more than I do, don't you?" he finally asked, his voice tinged with displeasure. "Impressive, Xianni from Terra! To talk so much and still breathe so calmly!"

Xianni grinned maliciously, but did not answer for the time being.

He unleashed both fists, cruelly cleaving open a massive tentacle with his two Lightning Claw, from which countless melting human corpses instantly poured out.

At the same time, a Chainsword unexpectedly slashed at Xianni's face, which was not yet covered by a helmet.

The attacker wore heavy Terminator Armour, with the Eye of Horus replacing the Imperial Aquila on his chest. However, Xianni didn't even glance at it, and continued charging.

Sevatar's chainsaw, though striking later, blocked the attack for him.

The First Reserve officer squinted at the man, casually tossing Mollez's Boltgun to the ground. He slowly raised his chainsaw, assuming an inviting stance.

In response, the Sons of Horus simply raised his left hand, and his twin- Boltgun spewed forth a fierce barrage of fire. Sevatar chuckled lightly, unsurprised, and suddenly vanished from his spot.

The next second, the Sons of Horus's chest was pierced by two Lightning Claw, the immense force even lifting him up. But this was not the end; the attackers followed up with their claw blades, cruelly dismembering him into eight pieces.

Blood splattered out, and Xianni, soaking wet and reeking of blood, casually withdrew his claws, then picked out a piece of the head still attached to the spine from the corpse and threw it away.

Astartes's hard bones and his strength combined to transform the skull, still attached to the spine, into a somewhat unusual short spear. It pierced straight through the abdomen of a savage Cultists, pinning him firmly to the ground.

A sharp sword flashed past, severing his head. Garviel Loken, breathing silently, turned and ran towards the next group of enemies.

Discipline had vanished from the battlefield; chaos reigned beneath everyone's feet. They were all acting on their primal instincts, unleashing their bloodlust for killing and violence.

Aside from the Night Lords.

"We really should retreat."

Sevatar made the suggestion again, this time with a much more sincere tone. For a renowned first reserve player, this was already a significant concession.

But Xianni glanced at him and suddenly kicked a blood-stained Boltgun from the ground. Sevatar caught it firmly and hung it back on his belt, but Xianni didn't expect him to utter a curse.

"You bastard, you deserve to be locked in a cage by the Techmarine and beaten to death by ten Combat Servitor."

"Ten is too few, they can't kill me," Sevatar said. "At least twenty."

"Made of Adamantium."

"No difference."

"You are not allowed to use weapons," Xianni said coldly. "You are only allowed to use your fists, just like me."

"Come on, my dear unarmed combat champion," Sevatar scoffed. "Everyone knows you only fought eighteen—and you were wearing Adamantium gloves."

"Shut up," Xianni retorted with the same sneer. "As if you could take on twenty of them."

Suddenly, they both fell silent, and at the same moment, they began to run wildly, transforming into two flashing, dark blue Shadow. The reason was simple: Mollez and the other elite soldiers of the First Company were engaged in a fierce battle.

This was unusual. Most of the veterans in the First Company had changed to varying degrees, not to mention that the leader was Mollez. The combat dagger that belonged to Van Cleef in his hand had been burning fiercely ever since they landed on Terra.

But what if the enemy is everywhere and outnumbers them many times over?

They may possess a talent and ability to kill that far surpasses any other legion; however, this comes at a price. Moreover, the power gained by paying that price can never reach the point where certain objective conditions can be ignored.

They received an extraordinary boost on Terra; the Xianni could easily tear apart the Sons of Horus's lines, but so could the Daemon.

Moreover, there are far more Daemon than they do.

The sheer number of Night Lords is always their Achilles' heel.

Xianni charged into the demonic tide first. A swarm of putrid bees descended from the sky, but were easily shattered by two casual swings of his Lightning Claw. He charged straight ahead without any intention of stopping, cutting through hordes of zombies and mutated giant plants along the way, before finally reaching Mollez, who was trapped in a dense encirclement. The dim yellow miasma that filled the area had no effect on him at all.

At this moment, Mollez was fighting a giant Daemon with antlers on its head. Facing the Daemon's heavy wooden staff with two short swords was obviously not a good choice. The lieutenant was fighting hard, but dark flames of rage were already burning in his eyes.

Xianni immediately roared, attracting the attention of the Daemon and his lieutenant.

"You'd better not do that!" the Terra roared. "This thing doesn't need your elaborate scheme!"

Mollez remained silent, but suddenly retreated.

The enormous and obese antlered Daemon displayed a terrifying agility far exceeding its size, spewing out bursts of plump white maggots from the tip of its rotten wooden staff.

Before they even landed, they had already transformed into a terrifying number of flies, buzzing and chasing after the adjutant. The adjutant was once again entangled and unable to break free for a moment. However, he quickly turned around and used the long staff in his hand to accurately block Xianni's Lightning Claw.

The two sharp weapons, which could easily cut through even Adamantium, encountered resistance for the first time. The Daemon smiled smugly. Xianni narrowed his eyes and looked closely, discovering that its staff was covered with countless hairy molds, which together had blocked the attack of the Lightning Claw.

A clear look of disgust flashed across Xianni's face.

"Another lackey sent to his death," the Daemon spat out a satisfied stench, which landed on Xianni's face. "You never learn. What's the point of this battle for you? You should have stood with us."

"Shut up, you ugly thing," Xianni hissed in fluent Nostraman. "You big idiot with a fat pig's head."

The antler- Daemon shook its head dismissively, then pressed down with its backhand, forcing Xianni to retreat repeatedly. It casually tapped its head with its long staff, the antlers and staff colliding and producing a dull thud.

"Even if you insist on saying so, I still have antlers," the Daemon said. "Your biology is clearly not ideal; you should go—"

"--Go kill your whole family!" Sevatar roared, swinging his chainsaw and slashing a horrifying wound from behind.

A sickly, pale yellow substance of fat and pus gushed out like a broken drain, landing on the ground and even wisps of smoke rising from it. If Sevatar hadn't dodged quickly, he probably would have been splattered all over.

The Daemon glanced at him dismissively, then struck the ground with its staff. The ground, where the liquid that had splashed into its body had been, instantly changed, and a thick carpet of fungus spread across the ground in a way that transcended time.

"You're so rude," the Daemon said. "I'm just—"

"--I'll kill your whole family!" Xianni roared as he charged forward, a flash of fury in his eyes before black flames instantly coiled around his claws.

He began to swing his fists in his most proficient way—thrusting, slashing, and downward slashing. The Daemon's next words, however, remained unspoken, swallowed back down. Moreover, he had lost the will to speak.

The rage seeped deep into its body like a malignant tumor, instantly shrinking its obese form by more than half. It howled in agony, its calm demeanor and arrogant arrogance immediately extinguished.

Sevatar lunged forward, kicking the staff out of its hand, and began wildly swinging his chainsaw, joining forces with Xianni to hack the no-longer-fat Daemon into mincemeat.

"Stop, it's dead." Mollez slowly approached from behind them, his adjutant's expression grim. "And who was it that was shouting 'retreat' just now?"

"It's me," Xianni said.

"Don't give me that, Terra." The adjutant gave him an annoyed look. "What kind of time is this? You still want to play these tricks? Come here, First Reserve, I know you called him."

Sevatar leaned closer, remaining silent. He expected to be reprimanded, but the adjutant's next words contained no accusation whatsoever; in fact, his voice was completely calm.

As the creep was being engulfed by the black flames, and the decaying corpses were finally consuming themselves, Mollez slung a combat dagger back on and took out a yellowed parchment scroll from a small storage compartment in his belt.

"In the name of First Company Van Cleef," he said slowly, "Jago Sevatarion of the First Company is hereby promoted to First Company Commander."

"I refuse." Sevatar answered Mollez with a rapidly changing expression, a mixture of confusion and shock. "Van Cleef is still here—"

"--He's gone, and he never will be again. You've refused too many promotion orders, and this is your punishment, First Reserve—no, Sevatarion Commander Sevillaon."

Mollez took a step back and bowed slightly. "Now, you can issue the order to retreat. We will obey."

Sevatar stood there, lost in thought, speechless. Xianni patted him on the shoulder and suddenly said, "You know what, Sevita?"

The first reserve officer looked at him blankly.

"From now on, no one will call you First Reserve Officer anymore," Xianni said with a half-smile, his eyes blazing with unquenchable anger. "Give the order, Company Commander?"

Update complete, 8KB in total. Also, yes, the chapter numbers are wrong again.

I can't hold it in anymore! Why doesn't the author assistant have a chapter numbering system? I'm really prone to making mistakes with this.

Also: Final Death 3 is really well written, everyone should go read it, haha.

(End of this chapter)

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