Mork's Chosen

Cheng Mingrui wasn't sure whether his panic was playing tricks on him, but the Commissar wielding the Chainsword grew fiercer as the fight went on. He was getting faster and stronger.

You bloody gits! Keep finkin' like that and you'll fink me to death! Cheng Mingrui cursed viciously in his head, but didn't dare say it aloud. If he broke their morale, he'd die even faster.

To the Orks, the boss had to be the biggest, toughest, and strongest. Any show of fear earned their contempt, and any cowardly boss would grow weaker and weaker until his own Boyz took him down.

They clashed again, then sprang apart. The Chainsword had carved a deep gash across Cheng Mingrui's chest, tearing away a great deal of muscle. A long, bloody cut also marked the Commissar's belly.

Cheng Mingrui had chosen to trade wounds. He trusted that he could take far more punishment than a human. A sword strike would only wound him at worst, while any human touched by his huge Choppa would end up dead or crippled.

Yet thanks to the power of Ork belief, the Commissar had suffered only a shallow cut. Judging by the feel of the blow, Cheng Mingrui might as well have dragged his blade across a steel plate.

That's bloody cheating! These Ork Boyz are nothing but a bunch of useless gits! Cheng Mingrui swept his gaze over the surrounding green monsters, furious at their failure to live up to his expectations.

Then he spotted a distinctive figure among the watching Orks, performing a strange dance. It was Kuka the Weirdboy. Mork be praised! Cheng Mingrui had found a way out.

"Kuka, you said Mork was watchin' me, that he'd blessed me. I'm startin' to fink you were right!" Cheng Mingrui spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"Huh? I never..." A puzzled Kuka stopped his awkward dance. He was about to protest that he'd never said anything of the sort, but Cheng Mingrui cut him off at once.

"Look, my guns shoot dead straight and hit dead hard, and my Choppa always catches the nimble Humies from tricky angles. Ain't that Mork's blessin'?"

The Orks looked at the wound on the Commissar's chest and decided Cheng Mingrui had a point.

Kuka was a Weirdboy, and his mind certainly worked strangely, but he was also extremely stubborn. He didn't believe Mork was truly watching Cheng Mingrui, so he tried to object again.

"Yeah, yeah! Boss Slick must've been blessed by Mork! I saw it all clear as day from his shoulder. I've never seen an Ork shoot a Slugga or Big Dakka that straight!"

This time, it was Clever Git the Gretchin who interrupted Kuka.

After hearing the Gretchin's words, the Ork Boyz began chattering among themselves.

"That makes sense. I've been followin' Boss Slick, and I've never seen an Ork shoot as straight or hit as hard as him."

"And Boss Slick is dead cunnin'. He led us all the way around and tore the Humies' backsides open."

"Yeah, yeah! Cleverhead Boss even said Boss Slick was cunnin' and clever."

"Yeah, yeah! If even Cleverhead Boss, who's that clever, praised Boss Slick, it must be true. Mork must've blessed him!"

"That's gotta be it, that's gotta be it. Only Mork's blessin' could make an Ork this strong."

Amid the Boyz's clamorous discussion, Cheng Mingrui's status as Mork's chosen seemed to become an established fact. Even Kuka began wondering whether he'd been mistaken, and Mork really was watching Cheng Mingrui.

"Watch this! Mork says this chop'll split the Humie in front of me in two. He can't dodge it!" Once most of the Boyz were watching him, Cheng Mingrui suddenly threw all his strength into raising his huge Choppa with both hands and bringing it down at the Commissar's head.

The fighting had greatly bolstered the Commissar's confidence, too. An Ork Warboss wasn't so terrifying after all. With the Emperor's protection, victory would surely be his.

He squeezed the trigger on the sword's grip, and the Chainsword's teeth roared. The Commissar prepared to block the Ork Warboss's strike, then cut off his head the instant he lost his balance.

For a moment, the Commissar thought the scene before him looked strange. The world seemed to have split in two. Then all he could see was blood and darkness.

Cheng Mingrui had struck so hard that his huge Choppa not only split the Commissar in half, but also buried its blade deep in the deck. Gushing blood coated the blade and half his body.

"Waaagh!" Clever Git was the first to roar, followed by the Ork Boyz, then the Gretchin. Every green monster joined in the Waaagh!

Waving their weapons, they charged past Cheng Mingrui toward the humans' final position and slaughtered them to the last.

Once the Orks, carried away by their bloodlust, had killed every soldier, they turned their blades on the human slave laborers still working in the loading bay.

Those slaves seemed devoid of souls. Even as Choppas split them in half and Shootas blasted them to pieces, they didn't utter a single cry. They merely kept their heads lowered in silence, pulling chains and levers, concerned only with the work before them.

The Imperium of Man was dark and cruel. It stripped ordinary people of their emotions and used them as expendable supplies. They lived without knowing why, and no one cared when they died.

After cleaving the Commissar apart, Cheng Mingrui let out a breath. He'd been deeply worried about whether he could kill the Commissar in one blow. If the Boyz's belief hadn't been strong enough and the Chainsword had blocked his Choppa, it would all have been over.

Having cleaved through the Chainsword, Cheng Mingrui felt his body brimming with strength. The green light that had appeared around the Commissar streamed into his body, making him taller, bigger, and stronger.

It wasn't just him. The Boyz under his command had grown bigger and stronger as well.

There were fewer of them now, though, and not many Gretchin or Squigs remained either. The battles one after another had made the Boyz very happy, but had also cost them plenty.

If only I could get some more Boyz, Cheng Mingrui couldn't help thinking.

Orks were a combination of plant and animal, reproducing through spores. Given soil, sunlight, and water, they could be grown in vast numbers.

A space warship clearly wasn't a suitable place to grow Orks. Every fighter lost meant one fewer left.

Just as he was worrying over the number of his followers, an outer wall of the loading bay exploded. An enormous, cylindrical object resembling a missile bored its way inside.

While everyone stared in bewilderment, both sides of the missile suddenly blew open. Over a thousand Ork Boyz carrying all manner of weapons leaped out.

They began firing wildly as soon as they landed, their cries of "Waaagh!" shaking the air. They had expected fierce human resistance.

Instead, all they found was a devastated battlefield. The humans had already been wiped out. This unexpected turn left the energetic Ork Boyz at a loss.

Cheng Mingrui pulled his Choppa free and grinned. Here were the Boyz he'd wanted. At five meters tall, he could easily look down on every one of them.

Some of the Boyz still refused to submit. Cheng Mingrui used his old method, smacking one bald head after another and persuading them through reason-physical reason. He soon brought this new batch of Boyz under his command.