Nail? Nail, Nail!

Numb... He passed out?

In Macragge's triangular chamber, Zhou Yun stared wide-eyed at the scene before him.

He—the Emperor of Mankind, lord of humanity, the corpse-emperor burning upon the Golden Throne, that old salted meat who dabbled in sorcery—a psyker with the psychic power of three bodies, the psychic arts of the Inquisition and Prospero, a biomancer capable of regulating the cells within his own body to purge most toxins—had actually been knocked unconscious by a mere anesthetic.

Within the Inquisition, biomantic arts were divided into six tiers: Avatar Adept, Blood Adept, Bloodline Adept, Benediction Adept, Soul Adept, and Holy Extinction Adept.

Zhou Yun was roughly at the third tier, a Bloodline Adept... But when he considered that this cursed place might be Nuceria, the homeworld of the Primarch Angron, and that even Angron, a masterpiece of the Emperor's biological alchemy, had been repeatedly knocked unconscious by Nucerian anesthetics, Zhou Yun felt a little more at ease.

But why?

Why was Nuceria within Roboute Guilliman's blue-and-gold storm?

Wasn't that Angron's homeworld?

Wait... If that blue-and-gold storm represented Ultramar itself, then...

Zhou Yun lightly tapped his head and used Telepathy School psychic power to dig a detail from the memories of his previous life.

He remembered. Later, not long after Angron's rebellion ended, the High-Riders who had enslaved Angron and ruled Nuceria quickly reached a reconciliation with Robert Guilliman and joined the "Ultramar Imperium" without hesitation.

Nuceria would later become part of Ultramar. Those High-Riders who enslaved Angron, slaughtered Angron's brothers, and nailed the Nails into Angron's skull were all Robert Guilliman's subordinates.

Come on, man...

The subtlety of the situation left Zhou Yun at a loss for words.

Ambitious... Truly ambitious... That was all Zhou Yun could think to himself.

Nuceria, deep within the underground cells beneath Dacia City's gladiatorial arena.

Zhou Yun slowly opened his eyes. Electric lamps cast dim, flickering light over pillars built from rough stone. The air reeked of sweat. People were packed tightly together, while the clinking of chains rang without end...

"Hey, kid. You're awake." A hoarse, heavy voice, like that of a bear, sounded beside Zhou Yun's ear.

Zhou Yun rubbed his head and climbed up from the floor. The anesthetic was still taking effect, and this body's head throbbed faintly.

"They used anesthetic on you. Looks like you made quite a scene." A rough, broad hand patted his back.

Zhou Yun saw the old man who had fought beside him on the battlefield sitting at his side.

The old man handed Zhou Yun a grayish-brown rag, gesturing for him to wipe the sweat and blood from his face.

Zhou Yun lowered his head, wiping his face with the rag while silently observing the surroundings.

The Veil was thick... Its thickness had returned to normal, nothing like that seemingly fragile sensation Zhou Yun had felt in the arena.

How could the Veil's thickness differ so drastically between locations on the same planet?

There was definitely something wrong with this cursed place, Nuceria...

"He's awake? Doesn't look badly hurt. Lucky kid." A woman's voice sounded beside Zhou Yun.

Zhou Yun raised his head slightly. She was an elegant woman with a slender, tall figure, clad only in leather armor that offered almost no protection. Her lean, muscular body was fully exposed before Zhou Yun. What drew his attention most were her legs—no, this woman had no legs at all. Her legs had been severed and replaced with two sharp lances.

Faint traces of mechanical structures could be seen upon the lances, which seemed to emit some sort of force field that kept the woman balanced.

"Do you know that staring at someone's legs is very rude?" The woman grinned, walked over to Zhou Yun, and shoved the ceramic bowl in her hand into his.

The bowl contained slightly cloudy water. "Have some water," she said to Zhou Yun. "It'll help ease the effects of that damned anesthetic—if a newcomer can make those maggots use anesthetic on him, you've got some skill."

"Kleister, don't underestimate him." The old man grinned. "This kid performed terribly at first. He probably hadn't snapped out of it yet. But after getting knocked down once, he found his rhythm. He was so fast even I could barely see him, and in the blink of an eye, the Beastman's throat was cut."

"Impressive. You're the first person to earn praise from Old Bear Onomammus on your first time in the arena since our champion." The woman called Kleister smiled and patted Zhou Yun's shoulder. "If we meet in the arena, I'd really like to see which of us is faster."

"But when he first entered, he truly gave me a fright." Onomammus, known as Old Bear, shook his head and gestured for Kleister to look at the helmet beside Zhou Yun. A savage gash ran across it.

"The Beastman made it with an axe. I nearly thought he was dead, yet he still got back up... without even a scratch. That's astonishing luck."

"Such a deep cut..." Kleister stroked the gash in the helmet and exclaimed repeatedly. "Not a scratch? I'd believe you if you said he came back from the dead!"

Then she looked at Zhou Yun, who had remained silent.

"Feeling better, brother?" Kleister lowered her head to look at Zhou Yun. "What's your name?"

"Zhou Yun." Zhou Yun gave a somewhat bitter smile, as though he were still suffering under the effects of the anesthetic.

His head really did still hurt, but that pain was nothing to him. His main focus was on studying Nuceria's Veil and its connection to Macragge.

The Veil within this underground cell was far too heavy. It would be difficult for him to cross the Realm here and truly awaken this body's psychic gifts.

And besides... From the Golden Throne, Zhou Yun could now clearly sense the relative positions of Nuceria and Macragge.

Perhaps he could serve as a navigator between the two places... If they could recreate a Warp engine, perhaps they could bring Macragge's celestial host to Nuceria.

Nuceria's technology was indeed bizarrely advanced, but they had no spacefaring technology, no starships, and no means of orbital bombardment.

Macragge's technology might appear ordinary, but the reason it could firmly hold its position as the leader of more than a dozen nearby worlds was that although Macragge had not retained a Warp engine... its starships still possessed ancient God-Blade Pattern Lascannons.

He admitted that Nuceria's wonderful anesthetics were very good at numbing people, but they could argue with Macragge's mountain-burning, sea-boiling orbital lascannon bombardments.

"Zhou Yun." Kleister nodded with a smile, then rose to her feet and shouted to the other gladiators, "Brothers and sisters, welcome the newest member of our family: Zhou Yun, returned from the dead!"

Cheers immediately erupted among the gladiators. Many shackled warriors struggled to raise their hands and applaud.

Just then, a tall figure slowly walked through the gladiators and came before Zhou Yun.

He was a warrior so powerfully built that it seemed almost unnatural. Scars like crimson lines covered his body—Zhou Yun knew this was an arena custom. After every battle, gladiators had to retain scars called Triumph Cords. Defeat meant mixing soil into the wound, creating a Black Line; victory meant leaving behind a pure Red Line.

Only Red Lines marked the man's body, showing that he had never been defeated.

Yet his expression was not fierce. Instead, it carried a gentleness, a light almost like compassion. He knelt on one knee and placed a helmet from his hands into Zhou Yun's.

"Zhou Yun, returned from the dead." He addressed Zhou Yun as Kleister had. "This was the helmet Old Kuniglas wore before he died, and the helmet I wore the first time I entered the arena. I give it to you. I hope you never follow Old Kuniglas's path and can always return from the dead."

"My name is Angron. From today onward, blood shall be our cord, binding us tightly together. We shall regard each other as family."

As he spoke, he grasped Zhou Yun's hand... Then Angron froze.

"...Brother?" He looked at Zhou Yun, and concern suddenly appeared on his face. "Why are you filled with pain, as though blazing fire is burning through your body?"

Zhou Yun raised his head, his gaze meeting Angron's. His precognitive ability was triggered beyond all restraint.

Angron looked at Zhou Yun and saw golden flames that scorched the heavens reflected in Zhou Yun's eyes.

Zhou Yun looked at Angron and saw a future stained in blood.

He saw them fighting shoulder to shoulder like brothers. He saw Angron's broad body shielding him from sharp blades. He saw them laughing freely amid the wild winds of the plains. He saw Angron using his own blood as their food in snowy mountains. He saw countless liberated slaves cheering alongside them... He saw... He saw... Blood...

He saw it...

In Angron's future, there was only blood, rage, and Nails piercing his skull.