Vissi's Thoughts

Even though those arrogant Space Wolves, with no sense of rules whatsoever, had exhausted every means to conceal the details of the battle at the lower-deck rift, I still learned quite a bit through my own methods.

First, a fully cast alloy wall near a corner of C0 Gate had been violently breached. From my experience and observations, this damage could not have been caused by any weapon or explosive. Rather, someone like Kais the Bull had directly smashed through the several-meter-thick wall, then continued to use brute force to tear apart all the pipes and cables running through it. A great quantity of metal fragments and powder remained on the ground. Tests confirmed that they had once been part of the ship itself. It was difficult to imagine that *** could use his own body to tear apart this solid alloy, which even shells struggled to penetrate, as easily as ripping open a soft cake. Was this another manifestation of The Emperor's might? The trail of destruction ended at a pipe entrance. Based on an analysis of the ship's overall structure, this pipe led directly down into the rift area. Through the Servo-skull's observations, we found ten scratch marks along both sides of the pipe, twelve hundred meters below its entrance. Looking at those marks, I could already imagine the scene. *** had leapt straight down, then used his hands to control his descent until he reached the depth he needed.

After locating where he had emerged from the pipe, I found quite a bit of powder resembling "bone ash" on the ground nearby. While carefully sorting through it, I extracted a skull with two twisted, curved horns. After sealing it away, I searched and compared it against classified materials provided by the Inquisition. The only thing whose general shape matched this skull was a Great Unclean One. God-Emperor above, please forgive me for recording such a filthy, blasphemous name in this report.

I gained a deeper understanding of ***'s combat abilities, but even more questions had surfaced.

I had every reason to believe that *** had single-handedly destroyed a Great Unclean One. But the problem was that when daemons were killed or banished, they only burst into sparks of various colors before being swallowed by a rift and vanishing. Never had any daemon left behind even the slightest remnant after being "killed." Furthermore, after analysis and sensing, this suspected Great Unclean One skull contained not the faintest trace of that disgusting Warp power. It was as clean as the skull of some ignorant beast, bearing the same traits one could find only in the gentle herbivores of those picturesque worlds.

The slave workers' residential district on the lower decks had still been reduced by the battle to a mass of enormous metal tombs, piled atop and crushing one another. The melted-looking circular holes left by plasma weapon fire and the huge marks carved into the ground by power weapons all showed that an extraordinarily brutal battle had taken place here.

The chamber where the rift had opened had become a garbage dump under the blast of melta bombs and the corrosion of Warp energy. Everywhere lay deeply rusted, hard and brittle metal corpses, along with lumps of melted and resolidified metal. To the Flame, this chamber was like a piece of rotten flesh.

The Space Wolves had cleaned the battlefield too thoroughly. I could not find even the slightest trace of blood on the ground, much less use blood types to determine how many Space Wolves had been lost in this battle or how much *** had contributed.

However, the Space Wolves had developed a new interest in *** and sent him to a special medical ward on the upper decks reserved for Space Marines.

For more information, I could only choose to ask *** or the Space Wolves in person.

Having written the final stroke, Vissi sealed away the classified report. Resting her face in her hands, she began considering her next move. This was a habit Vissi had developed after becoming an Inquisitor. After using psychic power to judge heretics, she would write a detailed report at the end of every operation, seal it away, and erase her own memories to ensure that her soul would not be corrupted by the mad thoughts of heretics. Though the Emperor's aura on Lin Fan had purified her, Vissi still found it difficult to change a habit cultivated over decades. After a long investigation of the lower decks and extensive research through the records, she had finally completed this report.

The news that Lin Fan had been taken away by the Space Marines could not be concealed from the Inquisition, nor from the commanders of the Astra Militarum. They simply lacked Vissi's many methods of investigation, methods that could gradually unravel the hidden truth. All they could do was learn from their conversations with the Space Wolves that Lin Fan had made outstanding contributions during the operation alongside the Wolves.

Although General Westad had also discovered those strange holes and marks, he attributed all signs of destruction either to daemons or to other bizarre things living aboard the ship. Through the efforts of General Westad and his subordinates, propaganda that looked like lies in Vissi's eyes spread throughout the Kasare Legion.

"Captain Soap of the 37th Regiment displayed boundless courage and devout faith in his service to The Emperor. He advanced through a sea of daemons, fought shoulder to shoulder with the noble angels of The Emperor, and earned their recognition. Soldiers, learn from Soap! Strengthen your faith in The Emperor, and take supreme pride in being able to serve The Emperor!"

Then came an overwhelming flood of promotional illustrations and posters featuring Lin Fan. To Vissi, those propaganda images, filled with heroic flair, were quite good. They balanced artistry and propaganda, making anyone who passed by a poster unable to resist stopping for a few seconds to admire it.

The Space Wolves showed no dissatisfaction with this, as though they did not care that this honor was being shared with an ordinary line soldier.

They were hiding something, just like me. They must have seen his sacred nature during the operation to seal the rift.

A chime sounded from the doorway. Through the screen on her desk, Vissi saw the figure outside. It was Gevisiting, the captain of the Battle Sisters under her command, standing at the door in her ivory-white power armor.

After opening the door, Sister Superior Gevisiting walked in slowly and stopped roughly five meters before Inquisitor Vissi's desk. Like Vissi, she had pure white hair. A black I-shaped tattoo marked her face, identifying her as a Sister of the Adepta Sororitas under the Inquisition. Framed by her short white hair, her face looked resolute and stubborn. A scar running across her entire cheek gave her features an even fiercer, battle-hardened air. Yet her slightly furrowed brows and clenched jaw revealed that her mood was heavy and low.

Still, Vissi could understand Gevisiting's grief. C0 Gate was not the only route to the middle and upper decks. The Battle Sisters and Skitarii affiliated with the Adeptus Mechanicus had served as elite reserves behind the front lines, rushing about to put out fires wherever they appeared.

Under the daemons' frenzied, death-defying assaults, many battle lines had wavered, and shameful routs had occurred. The Battle Sisters executed the cowards who abandoned their sacred duties on the roads of their flight, then joined the battle with their boundless love for The Emperor and endless hatred for the enemy, driving back wave after wave of foes with the weapons in their hands.

But the result of that steadfast and loyal counterattack was that more than half of the Battle Sisters of the Order of the Devout Rose had offered their humble, devout lives to The Emperor. Now, the order was left with only large numbers of support personnel, such as scribes and medical Sisters.

"My lady, Captain Soap has returned to his regiment from the Space Wolves."

"Excellent, Sister Superior Gevisiting. I have a sacred mission to entrust to you..."

Sister Superior concept art—Gevisiting's design was being drawn.