Rena hovered in midair above the ruins of the human position.
Her exposed brain-like organ pulsed slowly, trying to recover the energy depleted by her psychic scream.
Suddenly, a rare trace of terror appeared in her eyes, normally as cold as precision machinery.
Her body tensed slightly, adopting a defensive posture.
Since her last evolution, her ability to sense danger had far surpassed what it had been.
Just now, through her Warp sight, she had suddenly sensed an utterly terrifying gaze briefly sweep across this place.
It was neither the aftermath of a psychic storm nor an aura any mortal creature could possess.
It was a presence as cold as the cosmic abyss, so vast that it inspired despair.
Like a cold black sun suspended in the Warp.
Just that fleeting glance had made her genetic instincts sound a warning of imminent death.
Although that gaze had lingered for only an instant before vanishing completely, something bizarre still happened.
That bald Space Marine who should have been utterly dead, that human her psychic scream had wounded to the brink of death.
At that moment, he slowly stood up.
Rena's brain-like organ worked rapidly, scanning the condition of Cassius's body.
His unusual two hearts and three lungs were almost entirely necrotic, and the traces of dissolved organs were clearly discernible.
He had long since lost most of his blood, and the powered systems of his heavy Cataphractii Terminator Armour were completely destroyed, leaving him to support it with his body's strength alone.
Physiologically speaking, he already qualified as a "corpse."
Yet he still stood up.
His damaged armour swayed slightly as his body supported it, golden light flowing along its cracks and forming a faint golden film around him.
That aura was stronger and more imposing than ever before.
He had returned from hell bearing the purest fury of vengeance of a faithful devotee of the Emperor.
Rena could not comprehend anything happening before her.
As she understood it, a creature's movements depended entirely on its bodily functions.
Once bodily damage reached a critical threshold, life would inevitably end.
Why could this human still stand when his bodily functions had collapsed to such an extent?
Why could such powerful energy erupt from within him, even suppressing her remaining psychic fluctuations?
But she had no spare time to ponder these questions.
As far as Rena was concerned, he had stood up? Then she would simply kill him again.
Lynn had long since instructed her not to let any living human escape, especially these Astartes clad in Power Armour.
Rena let out a piercing shriek, her exposed brain-like organ pulsing frantically.
Dark purple psychic energy gathered around her like boiling water, instantly coalescing into a thick psychic beam.
With a reverberating sound that tore through the air, it blasted straight toward Cassius.
This beam was even more powerful than the psychic blast of the Neurothrope Cassius and the others had encountered earlier.
It was enough to easily pierce the Cataphractii Terminator Armour Cassius wore.
But at that moment, the already damaged Iron Halo behind Cassius suddenly blazed, like a true sun.
The dark purple psychic beam did not erase Cassius completely as expected.
Instead, like ice and snow beneath a blazing sun, it rapidly melted and dissipated before him.
Cassius did not pause, his glowing eye sockets firmly "locked" on Rena in midair.
His steps carried him slowly but steadily toward Rena.
Each step was exceptionally heavy, crushing the charred fungal carpet beneath his feet and leaving deep footprints.
As he moved, the golden light left a long afterimage through the spawning pool.
Rena's unease grew ever stronger; she could clearly sense his aura growing more powerful with every step.
She hesitated no longer and extended the bio-ion cannon on her left hand, ominous green light gathering at its muzzle.
Boom!
A searing plasma beam blasted toward Cassius with an aura of destruction, scorching and warping the fungal carpet along its path.
Faced with a plasma cannon attack capable of easily destroying Terminator Armour, Cassius's evasive movement could only be called "bizarre."
The golden light around him abruptly flared, and his body shifted several metres sideways as though teleporting.
The plasma beam howled past, grazing his armour before striking the fungal carpet behind him and triggering a violent explosion.
The next second, Cassius had already appeared before Rena.
Rena hastily deployed a psychic shield, its dark purple barrier enveloping her body.
But Cassius simply passed through the psychic shield as though it were nothing, and Rena could feel the golden light on him burning her.
Rena paled with fright and instinctively swung her Rending Claws, trying to tear apart the human before her.
But Cassius moved faster, his fist wreathed in golden flames smashing into Rena's chest with tremendous force.
Not only did the punch carry astonishing force, it also inflicted a psychic burn born of the Emperor's blessing.
Golden flames instantly spread across Rena's entire body, burning her carapace and flesh.
The armour on Rena's body was tough enough to withstand attacks from melta weapons, yet before these golden flames, it was as flammable and fragile as paper.
Her carapace was instantly scorched black and cracked, and the intense pain made her let out an agonized shriek.
This was not merely physical pain.
Her massive body flew backward like a kite with its string cut, slamming into a spore sac on the wall of the spawning pool.
But before she could struggle to rise through the pain, Cassius had already appeared before her again.
Without the slightest pause, another punch slammed into her abdomen.
Golden psychic flames invaded her body along his fist, burning her internal organs and genetic tissue.
Rena's body was sent flying again, smashing through several thick support pillars before crashing heavily onto the fungal carpet and kicking up a cloud of scorching dust.
Before she could land and steady herself, Cassius's figure flashed, and he appeared behind her.
His right hand held the Thunder Hammer that had long since been damaged in the psychic storm.
Cassius tightened his grip on the Thunder Hammer and, exerting both arms, smashed Rena's enormous body away like a baseball.
With a tremendous bang, Rena's body smashed through layer upon layer of spore matter.
She slammed into a distant metal support frame, which instantly buckled and collapsed, burying her beneath the wreckage.
Rena let out a shrill, agonized shriek, her body already battered beyond recognition and the carapace on her head cracked open.
Her brain-like organ had been concussed, leaving her dark purple psychic fluctuations in utter disarray.
What caused her even greater pain was that the golden flames clung like maggots to bone, constantly eating away at her nerves and genes,
causing even the energy she needed to gather psychic power to drain rapidly away, while despair engulfed her consciousness like a rising tide.
She crawled out of the wreckage with difficulty, her ravaged body trembling incessantly.
Her clouded eyes stared fixedly at Cassius as he strode toward her, with nothing but fear showing in them.