Chapter 157
And in the next moment.
The Human Imperium's flagship has officially landed!
A deafening rumble shook the earth.
The main ship ultimately could not escape its fate of crashing.
It crashed with destructive force onto the vast, rust-red northern plains of Mars.
At the moment of impact, the earth let out a mournful cry, as if it could not bear the weight.
Trillions of tons of sand and rock were violently hurled into the air, forming a terrifying shockwave that blotted out the sky, a mixture of flames and dust.
The bow, like a giant plow, was deeply wedged into the Mars crust, and the terrifying resistance instantly squeezed, folded, and crushed the forward structure into a pile of metal slag.
However, the enormous inertia did not dissipate as a result.
This colossal ship, propelled by the terrifying kinetic energy of its descent, continued to glide wildly forward.
Rumble!
This colossal metal object left nothing but destruction in its wake.
The landed warship resembled a burning, surging metal mountain moving across a plain.
Wherever it passed, the earth was completely cleaved open, leaving a terrifying scar several kilometers wide, bottomless, and emitting scorching blue smoke.
The once flat wasteland was completely reshaped. Huge rock layers were plowed and overturned, rolling and pushing to both sides like waves, forming two ruined ridges that extend with cracks and reach heights of hundreds of meters.
Finally, after advancing aggressively for dozens of kilometers, tearing the plain in two, its kinetic energy was exhausted.
The moving mountains stopped, lying quietly at the end of the enormous scar they had created.
The ship was severely deformed and riddled with holes. Most of the flames gradually went out because there was nothing left to burn, leaving only thick smoke rising from the numerous breaches.
A deathly silence temporarily enveloped this ravaged land.
All activity came to a standstill.
Once the ship had stabilized somewhat, Vulkan emerged from the steel ruins thanks to its unique characteristics.
Looking at the land before him, he knew he had landed on Mars.
But looking at his fallen comrades around him, he felt a pang of sorrow. He placed his hand on his chest and said, "May you return to the glory of the Emperor."
"You mean, that false emperor?" A mocking voice came from behind Vulkan.
He turned around in horror to see Fulgrim coiled around his snake body, staring at him with a sinister smile.
"You..."
Upon hearing the voice, Vulkan instantly turned around, his eyes fixed on the other person, and snarled, "Traitor!"
"That's a really harsh insult... Working under that false emperor, didn't you ever feel uncomfortable, my brother?" Fulgrim said, looking at Vulkan with a hint of mockery.
"You have no right to call me brother." Vulkan charged forward with his hammer, without the slightest hesitation.
"It's okay, we'll be soon. Even though you can't develop a sense of beauty right now, you can cultivate it gradually, right?"
Although Vulkan launched the attack first, it was Fulgrim moved first, wielding the blasphemous blade with all four arms to strike Vulkan.
Vulkan's roar drowned out the crackling sound of the burning wreckage in the distance.
His massive body unleashed a speed disproportionate to its size, and his giant hammer, burning with the flames of vengeance, sliced through the dust, striking directly at Fulgrim's face, a face etched with blasphemy and arrogance.
However, what struck first was a storm of blades, woven into a deadly web, unleashed by Fulgrim's four arms.
The Primarchs's speed defied the laws of physics; the blasphemous blade, accompanied by a piercing shriek and a corrupting glow, simultaneously slashed at Vulkan's neck, abdomen, and legs from four distinct angles.
That was a vicious offensive that neither the Astartes nor the Adeptus Custodes could match or defend against.
Vulkan did not attempt to block all of them.
He knew that was impossible.
He chose the most barbaric and direct method: to exchange injury for life!
When!
He slightly turned his body, using the thick adamantite and terracotta armor on his shoulder armor to withstand the two swords aimed at his neck and abdomen. Sparks and corrupting energy violently erupted, leaving deep, bone-revealing burn marks.
At the same time, his massive body continued to charge forward, the trajectory of his burning Warhammer unchanged, ignoring the other two evil blades that had carved deep grooves into his leg armor, pouring all his power and all his anger into this heavy blow of vengeance!
Fulgrim's wicked smile froze instantly.
The hammerhead, burning with pure flames, slammed down on his ornately decorated but now Distortion and deformed breastplate as his serpentine eyes narrowed sharply.
Thump!!!
A deafening roar, so deep it seemed to shatter the soul, exploded out.
Pure flames and blasphemous ghostly light intertwined and annihilated each other, erupting into blinding energy turbulence.
"Aaaaaah!"
Fulgrim let out a piercing scream that was neither human nor his usual lazy, mocking one.
The voice was filled with unbelievable pain and rage.
His viper-like body was violently thrown backward, his magnificent breastplate visibly dented, instantly covered with spiderweb-like cracks, and countless tiny, fel-infused jewels and ornaments exploded and flew everywhere.
The eternally unchanging, cynical mask on his face shattered completely, leaving only extreme pain and ferocity.
Seeing this, Vulkan pressed his advantage, continuing to swing his hammer at Fulgrim.
As a result, he was ridiculed by Fulgrim.
"Brother, so much time has passed, and you still haven't made any progress."
"?!"
Vulkan stared wide-eyed as he watched Fulgrim slip away from him at an alarming speed.
The extreme pain and ferocity on Fulgrim's face receded like the tide, as if it had never existed.
Instead, there is a deeper, more unsettling pleasure, a kind of intoxication immersed in masochistic ecstasy.
He stuck out his long, forked tongue and licked a non-existent trace of blood from the corner of his lips, letting out a satisfied, almost pleasurable sigh.
"Ah...that's the feeling, brother." His voice became languid and sweet, "Skullshatterer, searing flesh...what a nostalgic sensation. You satisfied me, my dear Vulkan, you made me...feel pleasure."
Vulkan's heart sank.
He saw it; Fulgrim's breastplate, which should have been shattered and dented from being struck by the Warhammer, was now shrouded in a foul, flowing ghostly light.
The dent writhed and repaired itself as if alive, the shattered jewelry and ornaments covered by new, more profane flesh and keratin.
What is clear is that the heart-wrenching screams and extreme pain just now were all an act!
The pervert in front of me is just enjoying the thrill of being hit hard!
Chapter 18: I'm Not Human Anymore! [2 Updates]
"You..." Vulkan felt a chilling anger, far more intense than the previous burning rage.
"Me? Brother, you're too weak, that's the problem." Fulgrim chuckled, raising the four demonic swords once more. The eerie light emanating from them grew even more blinding and malevolent, the blades hissing as if they had transformed into living venomous snakes.
"Do you know the difference between a reaction time of 10 milliseconds and 1 millisecond? That means a 1-millisecond reaction is ten times faster than a 10-millisecond reaction. The gap between you and me is even greater than that," Fulgrim said.
The moment the last syllable fell, Fulgrim moved.
It was no longer the predictable attack of before, but a truly terrifying slash that surpassed Vulkan's visual perception capabilities!
Vulkan couldn't even see the other person's movement trajectory; he only felt an extremely dangerous, chilling premonition pierce his spine.
The next moment!
Two dark, perfectly intertwined arcs of light appeared without warning on either side of Vulkan's body.
The light was so fast and sharp that it didn't even cause a ripple in the air.
The instinct to Vulkan had barely begun to travel through his nerves when destruction struck.
Pfft!
Two faint, almost inaudible sounds, like a hot knife cutting through grease.
Vulkan's massive body jolted violently, its forward momentum abruptly halted.
His burning Warhammer was still raised high, but he could no longer swing it down.
His chest was instantly stained with blood.
He looked down in disbelief and saw his two forearms, which had separated from his body, spinning and flying in the air before finally landing.
The cut was smooth as a mirror, and no blood gushed out immediately.
After a brief delay, unimaginable pain crashed down on Vulkan's nerves like a tsunami, almost overwhelming his will.
He staggered back a step, and blood finally gushed out from the huge wound, splashing onto the rust-red sand of Mars with a sizzling sound.
The situation was completely reversed in a fraction of a second.
Fulgrim's figure materialized again in front of Vulkan like a ghost, his four arms outstretched.
He stared at Vulkan, who stood frozen in agony and shock, a wicked smile of utter mockery and satisfaction spreading across his face.
"What's wrong, brother? You can't handle this? I know you're not that fragile, are you? You are a monster." Fulgrim's face split open, his grinning expression Distortion to its limit, his snake eyes glowing purple as he looked down at the kneeling Vulkan with a terrifying gaze.
Sweat streamed down Vulkan's forehead. Both his arms were severed, and blasphemous forces from the Warp were binding them, preventing their regeneration.
"Although I really want to continue our game of cutting off your hands and feet, I have more important things to do. You'd better stay put for now."
Fulgrim raised his sword, ready to behead the kneeling Vulkan before him.
Although both were Primarchs, the difference in their combat power was so obvious that Vulkan was defeated in just a few rounds.
After being ascended to the Primarch, Fulgrim reached the Primarchs' speed limits.
Right at this critical moment.
A beam of light, fired instantly and giving almost no time to react, blasted towards them.
"Arkana - Lightbreaker Slash?!"
Boom!
Just as the blasphemous blade was about to touch Vulkan's neck, a sudden change occurred!
A dazzling pink beam of light, yet containing destructive power, tore through the billowing smoke and dust without warning.
With an absolutely illogical speed and precision, it struck Fulgrim's chest in an instant!
This beam of light is neither a physical weapon nor a known laser or plasma; it is composed purely of photons, which cannot be explained even in the Warhammer Universe, and is neither Psychic Power nor a physical weapon.
Its edges shimmered with star-shaped and heart-shaped flashes, and it came hurtling towards us in an instant.
"What?!"
The sneer on Fulgrim's face instantly turned into astonishment and a hint of barely perceptible horror.
He couldn't even sense the attacker's presence; the attack seemed to have appeared out of thin air, completely exceeding the limits of his perception after ascending to demonic power!
Boom!!!
The beam of light unleashed a terrifying roar upon impact, a sound completely at odds with its cute appearance.
The pink magical energy exploded like a supernova.
"Ugh--!"
Fulgrim let out a shriek mixed with pain and rage. His massive, viper-like body was completely unable to resist the force and was blasted away from the ground in front of Vulkan.
He was sent flying backward, crashing through several Distortion metal wreckage walls behind him before disappearing into the thick smoke and dust, leaving behind only a series of teeth-grinding impacts and a distant, angry roar.
The oppressive feeling of blasphemy vanished instantly.
Vulkan remained kneeling, the excruciating pain from his severed arm still tearing at his nerves, but his eyes were filled with shock and disbelief.
He struggled to lift his head and look in the direction from which the beam of light was coming.
As the smoke and dust slowly dissipated, a figure incongruous with this hellish battlefield stood quietly atop a section of tilted ship wreckage.
It was a young girl.
She wore an extremely gorgeous dress, predominantly pink and white, with a fluffy and light skirt, completely out of place in this cruel world.
"Magical girl, Reni, reporting for duty!" Reni said, sticking out her little tongue. Despite being American, she acted like a real magical girl at that moment.