In a daze, Luna found herself standing amidst burning ruins.
All around are the ruins of the underground palace of St. Garus.
Flames shot skyward, and thick smoke billowed.
Countless corpses lay scattered on the ground.
She had her maids, her guards, and the nobles who had once supported her.
" Luna, you traitor!"
A familiar voice rang out.
Luna turned to look at the source of the sound.
Leo, dressed in a magnificent Power Armour, stood on the high platform, holding Chainsword at himself.
She recognized the armor; it was something only the Supreme Kings of St. Garus were entitled to wear.
The last time Luna saw this armor was when she was very young.
At that time, Caladogon was full of vigor and was Brevis's strongest support.
But how... how did it end up on Leo?
Standing next to Leo were Lynn and Dominic.
"You colluded with Chaos and betrayed the Imperium; your crimes are heinous!" Leo's voice was cold and furious.
"Today, on behalf of the Holy Emperor, on behalf of Brevis, on behalf of St. Garus, I sentence you to death!"
"No, that's not how it is!" Luna shook her head frantically and shouted.
"I did not collude with Chaos! It was Lynn, Lynn, who colluded with the Tyranids. He is the heretic, you must believe me!"
"Hahaha!" Lynn burst into laughter. "Where's the evidence? Luna, who would believe you?"
He waved.
Several priests from the Adeptus Mechanicus came out, carrying thick stacks of documents.
"We can testify," the leading priest said coldly.
" Luna St. Garus has long colluded with the Tzeentch cult, engaging in activities that harm the Imperium."
"No! It can't be!" Luna cried out in despair, "You promised me! You promised you would support me!"
"We only support the victor," the priest said expressionlessly.
"Furthermore, your memory seems to be quite poor. Protocol B-T41 clearly states that the Adeptus Mechanicus severed all contact with you after discovering your collusion."
Dominic nodded, his tone icy:
"I testify in the name of the Imperial Navy, Luna St. Garus, the evidence is irrefutable, execute her at the stake immediately."
The soldiers rushed up and pinned Luna down.
They dragged her to the stake and bound her with chains.
Nine soldiers simultaneously activated their phosphorus-fired projectiles.
The raging flames instantly engulfed her body.
Intense pain spread throughout her body.
She could feel her skin being burned and her flesh being melted.
"Ahhhh!!"
Luna let out a piercing scream.
Even more desperately, as the flames burned her, she saw Leo being treacherously attacked from behind by Lynn.
The Sword of Valenia pierced Leo's chest, and then a swarm of insects descended, blotting out the sky.
She could only watch helplessly as Saint Garus Castle was ravaged into ruins by the Tyranids.
The once-glorious knights fell one by one to the claws of the galaxy's most terrifying predators.
She knew it; she knew that only she could protect this family.
But there's nothing she can do now.
Luna struggled frantically in the flames, pleading for help.
" Lord of Change! Save me! I beg you! Save me! I am your most loyal servant!"
But all she received in response was the crackling of the flames and the angry shouts of the surrounding crowd.
"What right do you, a traitor, have to be the savior of St. Garus?"
The despair of losing everything, the pain of being burned by flames, was terrifyingly real.
Luna felt as if her soul was about to be burned to ashes.
She was unwilling to accept it!
She was truly unwilling to accept it!
She prayed again and again to the Lord who controls all changes and destiny, hoping for salvation.
Just as she was about to completely lose consciousness after praying to the Lord of Change nine times...
All the sounds suddenly disappeared.
The flames disappeared.
Luna found herself lying on her bed in her bedroom.
She was panting heavily, her whole body drenched in cold sweat.
It turned out to be just a nightmare.
Luna let out a long sigh of relief and raised her hand to wipe the cold sweat from her face.
My heart was still pounding wildly, as if it were about to leap out of my chest.
That nightmare felt so real.
It was so real that she can still feel the burning pain of the flames.
But when she touched her face, she found that the flames on her body had not gone out, only they were no longer so hot.
Just then, she suddenly felt that the temperature in the room had become unusually low.
A faint, pleasant fragrance filled the air.
Luna froze instantly.
She struggled to lift her head.
In the center of the bedroom, a hazy purple mist had appeared at some unknown time.
Through the mist, a bird-headed, human-bodied figure could be vaguely seen.
He held a staff inlaid with countless eyes, and had a pair of enormous wings on his back.
Even through the fog, Luna could feel the suffocating, chaotic, and powerful aura emanating from Him.
It is Him.
Luna's heart leaped into her throat.
She collapsed to her knees with a thud, trembling all over.
"Master, Master..."
Her voice trembled incessantly with fear.
Tzeentch looked at Luna, who was kneeling on the ground trembling, and let out a gleeful laugh.
His laughter was like tens of thousands of ants crawling into Luna's brain, giving her a splitting headache.
"Heh heh heh, poor little thing." Tzeentch's voice was sharp and eerie. "Are you satisfied with everything that just happened?"
"Was that a nightmare?" Luna asked weakly.
"That wasn't a dream." Tzeentch's tone carried a hint of mockery.
"That is the future. If you do nothing, that is your fate, and the fate of St. Garus."
Luna's body trembled even more violently.
She kept kowtowing until her forehead bled.
"Please, Lord of Change, I know I was wrong, I shouldn't have failed!"
"Please, give me another chance. I will definitely defeat Lynn and get the shard back for you."
"Oh?" Tzeentch looked at her with interest. "You really want to defeat him?"
"I want it! I dream about it!" Luna raised her head, her eyes filled with resentment and madness.
"I'll ruin his reputation, make him taste all the pain I've suffered, and send him and his bastards to hell together!"
"Very good." Tzeentch nodded. "I admire your persistence."
As soon as he finished speaking, a wisp of black mist flew out from his fingertips.
The mist swirled in the air once, then flew swiftly towards Luna.
Before Luna could react, the mist seeped into her seven orifices.
"Ah!!!"
A heart-wrenching scream came from Luna's mouth.
Intense pain swept through her body once again.
It is a hundred times more painful than the burning flames in a nightmare.
She felt as if her brain was being churned by countless red-hot knives.
Countless, chaotic, and distorted pieces of information flooded into her narrow mind like a burst dam.
Knowledge of witchcraft, intrigues, fragments of the future...
She rolled on the ground in agony, screaming, her body convulsing uncontrollably.
Her eyes rolled back, she foamed at the mouth, and the blood vessels under her skin turned an eerie blue.
This process lasted a full ten minutes.
When it was finally all over.
Luna lay motionless on the ground.
Her whole body was soaked in sweat, as if she had just been pulled out of the water.
Her eyes became empty and vacant, and she kept foaming at the mouth.
It took Luna two whole days to finally recover.
She slowly got up from the ground.
I walked up to the mirror and looked at myself in the mirror—pale-faced, disheveled, with a crazed look in my eyes.
A strange yet radiant smile slowly crept onto his lips.
" Lynn, hehehehe~~~"
She murmured the name softly, her voice as gentle as a lover's whisper, but the laughter at the end carried a chilling undertone.
Do you think you've won?
"Do you think you can rest easy just because you have the Imperial Fleet helping you?"
"The game has only just begun."
She reached out, looked in the mirror, and gently touched her face.
That handsome face, which had been deliberately left unmodified with cybernetic implants, was now charred by the fires of nightmares, resembling a hideous demon.
But her eyes were filled with a reckless madness.
She knew this was the Lord of Change ' punishment, an eternal lash.
"This time, I will show them what true despair is."
Outside the window, a purple Lightning ripped through the dim sky.
Thunder rumbled, as if mocking the Lord of Change.