Leo couldn't wait to climb up the maintenance ladder on the mech's leg.
The metal ladder frame was rusty, yet it remained sturdy.
He quickly climbed to the entrance to the cockpit.
A thin layer of dust covered the gene recognition lock next to the hatch. Leo reached out, brushed away the dust, and placed his palm on it.
"Beep! Gene match successful. Direct bloodline of St. Garus. Authority level: Direct descendant of the Supreme King."
A cold, mechanical synthesized voice sounded, and the identification lock lit up with a pale blue light.
The cockpit hatch hissed as it released pressure, and the heavy, Adamantium door slid open to the side.
Leo's smile froze completely the moment he saw the scene inside the cabin.
An old man sat quietly in the cockpit seat.
He wore a worn-out family-issue armor, covered in scratches and scorch marks, and the Supreme Royal Emblem on his chest was dull and lifeless.
His gray hair was scattered messily across his forehead, his back was slightly hunched, and his head was drooping, as if he were asleep.
Leo knew that face all too well.
Caladogon St. Garus.
His grandfather, who had been missing for several months, was the previous High King of the St. Garus Family.
"Grandfather?!"
Leo's voice cracked slightly.
He instinctively took a step forward, then suddenly stopped, unable to believe his eyes.
What's Grandpa doing here?
He had been missing for four months, and everyone assumed he had met with some misfortune or been abducted by the Chaos Cultist.
But he actually stayed in the cockpit of the Wrath of Holy Judgement the whole time?
As if hearing his voice, the old man in the chair slowly raised his head.
His eyes were cloudy and bloodshot, the once sharp gaze gone, leaving only the decay of old age.
When his gaze fell on Leo's face, his cloudy pupils suddenly contracted, and the corners of his mouth twitched violently.
He seemed to want to say something, but only a hoarse sound came from his throat; he couldn't utter a single word.
He shook his head frantically, his eyes filled with terror and urgency, as if using his last bit of strength to urge Leo to leave quickly.
"Grandpa, what's wrong? How did you get here?"
Leo's heart tightened, and he was about to step forward to check on his condition when a sudden change occurred.
"Pfft~!"
Countless dark red, fleshy tentacles suddenly emerged from the gaps in the seats.
Like living blood vessels, they wriggled and expanded, seeping into the gaps in Caladogon's armor and spreading rapidly along his limbs and torso.
Those fleshy tentacles gleamed with an oily sheen, their surfaces covered with pustules that burst, oozing a thick, dark red fluid that emitted a putrid odor.
In the blink of an eye, the tumor covered Caladogon's entire body.
His face was encased in flesh and blood, reshaped, and the bones beneath his skin creaked and groaned, their contours gradually changing.
Finally, an old, aged face emerged from the flesh.
His features bore a six or seven-point resemblance to Caladogon, but he was much older and more gloomy, with a deathly gray complexion, sunken eye sockets, and no pupils, only a Chaos gray-white.
"!"
A chill ran down Leo's spine, and the hairs on his body stood on end.
Chaos!
It is the corrupting power of Chaos!
Grandpa... was corrupted by Chaos?!
Anger instantly overwhelmed fear.
Leo let out a low growl, clenched his right fist, and slammed it down hard towards the eerie old man's face.
When the fist slammed into the tumor, there was no sound of flesh breaking as expected; instead, it felt like hitting a lump of sticky clay.
The soft, cold touch crept up his fist, the flesh churning and clinging, trying to spread up his wrist and drag him along with it.
Damn it!
Leo's heart skipped a beat, and his left hand immediately reached for the Laspistol at his waist, aiming at the most densely packed part of the tumor and pulling the trigger.
"Sizzle!"
The scorching laser beam struck the flesh, burning charred pits and emitting foul-smelling black smoke.
The tumor contracted suddenly as if it were in pain, Leo seized the opportunity to pull his right fist back sharply.
My fist was covered in a dark red, slightly corrosive slime, and my skin felt a stinging, needle-like pain.
He shook his hand, took a half step back, stared warily at the monster in the cockpit, and shouted sharply:
"What are you?!"
The old man's face slowly turned, his empty eye sockets "looking" at Leo.
The next second, a whistling sound escaped its throat, like the straining of an old bellows, hoarse and grating.
" Caladogon... is this the child you speak of who can uphold the glory of St. Garus?"
It laughed as it slowly "stood up" from its seat.
It didn't stand on its legs, but rather its body was supported by the fleshy tentacles beneath it, allowing it to stand upright from the cockpit seat.
More flesh and blood spread along the bulkhead, like a poisonous fungus unfurling.
"Not bad, not bad, youthful blood, vigorous vitality." Its gaze greedily swept over Leo's entire body.
"Much more useful than your old bones."
A foul, Chaos aura assaulted Leo's senses, causing his stomach to churn.
Seeing this monster with his grandfather's face, commenting on him in a tone of an elder, the anger in his chest almost burned through his skull.
"Shut up! You dare to point fingers at the St. Garus Family?!"
Leo roared, raised the Laspistol again, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Shot after shot, the blazing laser beams relentlessly pierced the old man's face.
The blows struck its flesh and blood, burning out charred holes.
But those holes writhed and healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, with dark red granulation tissue surging and growing, returning to normal in just a few seconds without leaving a single scar.
Leo didn't stop, his finger gripping the trigger tightly until the pistol made a soft "click," the energy magazine was completely empty, and a wisp of white smoke rose from the muzzle.
The monster in the cockpit still stood there intact, even tilting its head slightly, as if looking at a fussy child.
"Young people are always so impatient," it said slowly, its voice carrying an undisguised mockery.
"Just like your grandfather when he was young, all bravado but no brains."
It paused, its greyish-white eyes sweeping over Leo's tense body, its tone carrying a strange, seductive quality:
Aren't you curious about who I am? Aren't you curious about why Caladogon is here?
"Aren't you curious... what secret has the St. Garus Family been guarding for generations?"
Leo discarded his empty pistol and drew his tactical dagger from his waist.
The moment the start button was pressed, the dagger instantly heated up to a bright red.
He hunched over, adopting a standard fighting stance, his eyes sharp as knives.
"I don't care who you are," Leo's voice was as cold as ice. " Chaos traitor impersonating my grandfather, you only have one path: death."
"Die?"
The monster chuckled, and the flesh and blood throughout the cockpit trembled slightly.
"Child, death is merely another beginning."
"Just like your grandfather, he thought he could change everything, but in the end, didn't he end up on the same path as me?"
It leaned down, its face, which bore a striking resemblance to Caladogon's, close to Leo's, murky mucus seeping from its empty eye sockets.
"Do you know?" Its voice was low, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue in your ear.
"He received the Lord's gift ten years ago."