"Ha ha ha ha..."
Festus burst into laughter at Vulkan's words.
At first, his laughter was soft, like an old man chuckling knowingly at an amusing story, but it soon grew louder and shriller, until it became an almost crazed cackle.
The laughter echoed through the bridge, pierced the metal walls, and reverberated in everyone's mind, carrying a chilling delight.
"You think you have the right to choose? You think your pathetic refusal can change anything?" Festus's voice held a mocking pity.
"Let me tell you what your refusal means."
The next moment, Festus placed his hand on a nearby control console.
The instant his skeletal fingers touched its surface, the metal and plastic began to decay and discolor, as though a thousand years had worn them away.
The console's screen flickered a few times, then abruptly changed to display the image of a planet.
It was Nocturne, homeworld of the Salamanders Legion, Vulkan's home.
Vulkan's pupils contracted sharply, and his breath stopped.
Horrific changes were unfolding on Nocturne.
The Space Marines stationed on Nocturne, the Salamanders left to guard their home, began to twist, deform, and collapse in an instant.
Their armor shattered like paper, their skin melted like wax, and their bones snapped like dead branches. Their flesh became puddles of dark red sludge that flowed from their ruined armor.
As though alive, the sludge writhed across the ground, spreading and devouring everything around it...
Grass, trees, buildings, roads—everything that touched the sludge was instantly corroded, dissolved, and assimilated, becoming part of that ever-expanding carpet of flesh.
The people of Nocturne did not escape either.
Men, women, the elderly, and children ran through the streets, screaming and weeping, trying to flee the spreading flesh. But the sludge was too fast.
It surged over them like a tide, engulfing