Yulia collapsed onto the metal armor plating like a broken ragdoll.
Seth Knight lit a cigarette and watched her.
He was weighing his options.
Tonight, he would unleash a slaughter in the Count’s complex estate.
Going in alone and flattening everything would certainly be satisfying.
But the estate was too vast; the core heretic leaders might easily slip away.
Keeping a “high-level guide” who knew the internal layout and defensive outposts was clearly far more valuable than snapping her neck right now.
At this thought, Seth Knight focused his mind.
He withdrew a card glowing with a faint blue aura.
[Rare Blue Card—Omni-Medical Kit (Stark Industries Product)]
A seamless, silver-and-gray metal briefcase materialized out of thin air, oozing Marvel-esque sci-fi aesthetic.
With a heavy *clang*, it slammed down right in front of Yulia.
Looking at the mysterious, cold metal chest, Yulia’s pupils shrank, and she shivered violently in terror.
What kind of hellhole was the Hive’s Underhive?
It was a living hell filled with radiation, mutation, and brutal lynchings.
There were far too many sadistic torture devices and implements.
Yulia instinctively assumed this harsh, cold metal box was some terrifying execution device used in the Underhive to put down prisoners!
“Please don’t, I can’t take any more…”
“No… please…”
“I told you! I told you everything! Please don’t torture me!”
Yulia wept and shrieked as she cringed backward, scrambling on all fours in a desperate attempt to get away from the case.
Seth Knight didn’t bother to acknowledge her breakdown.
He unfastened the latches of the metal case.
The medical kit instantly disassembled.
There were no bloody chainsaws, barbed deboning knives, or sinister toys of the kind Yulia had envisioned.
The moment the case opened, it released hundreds of thousands of micron-scale medical nanobots.
This microscopic swarm of nanobots swirled in the air, coalescing into a soft, glowing blue scanning beam.
It instantly washed over Yulia’s entire body.
A miracle occurred within two seconds.
*Click.*
The ankle bones Yulia had fractured during her violent struggles were automatically realigned and perfectly set by an invisible force.
Her swollen, disfigured cheeks depuffed at a rate visible to the naked eye.
The bloody welts on her skin instantly scabbed over and fell away, revealing smooth, newborn flesh beneath.
Even her body—severely deteriorated from years of abusing various Spire hallucinogens—rebounded with astonishing vitality under the infusion of the nano-restoration.
Dazed, Yulia raised her hand and touched her pristine face.
She felt no pain at all, only an exquisite, deep comfort flowing through her limbs.
Such a resurrection-like healing speed!
Even the top-tier biological psychic elixirs enjoyed only by the high-and-mighty Cardinals of the Imperial Ministorum couldn’t possibly achieve anything close to this!
Her mind went completely blank.
However, just as Yulia thought she had escaped her doom, a sudden change occurred.
As the glowing blue scanning beam swept across Yulia’s left collarbone, the Khorne eight-pointed star brand, woven from twisted, dark-red veins, was completely exposed under the light.
*Beep!
Beep!
Beep!*
The medical kit suddenly erupted into a shrill, crimson alarm!
[Warning! High-risk unknown mutant virus/parasite residue detected!]
The nanobot swarm instantly switched modes.
The blue light enveloping Yulia transformed into a high-frequency red glow representing destruction.
Without mercy, the system initiated the “physical excision and forced eradication” protocol!
“Aaaaaah!”
A bone-deep, agonizing pain erupted from her collarbone, and Yulia threw her head back in a gut-wrenching scream.
The mark of Khorne’s blessing seemed to possess a sentient consciousness of its own, sensing an unprecedented threat of destruction.
The dark-red, sinister veins writhed frantically.
They actually bulged from Yulia’s fair skin, forming a hideous, twisted demonic face.
Inside the compartment, the piercing void-howls of a Warp daemon echoed out of thin air!
This Chaos energy began to lash back wildly, attempting to devour the surrounding nanobots, intending to drain Yulia’s life force completely to drag her down with it.
“Cheap parlor tricks,” Seth Knight sneered.
He stepped forward, thrusting out his right hand!
A blinding, golden psychic fire erupted from his palm.
The Captain America bloodline, overlaid with the “Emperor’s Blessing” overwritten by the system, bore down with absolute divine authority as he slammed his palm onto Yulia’s collarbone!
The golden light and the red nano-beams formed an inescapable, double-layered web of destruction.
The corrupt flesh trying to resist was like remnant snow doused in boiling acid under a blazing sun.
It hissed violently, emitting a wretched, sizzling sound, as it was forcefully and brutally stripped from her flesh piece by piece, vaporizing into nothingness!
Yulia stared unblinkingly at this unbelievable scene, her heart nearly stopping!
In this brutal Warhammer universe, for ten thousand years, there had been one absolute, unquestioned law.
Once a mortal soul was corrupted by Chaos and branded by a Dark God, it meant falling completely into the abyss, never to rise again!
Even the invincible Astartes, or the legendary Imperial Inquisitors, faced with a Chaos-tainted heretic, had only one method of purification: blow their head off with a boltgun and burn what remained into a pile of ash with high-temperature promethium!
Chaos corruption was absolutely irreversible!
Yet now, the man before her, who had posed as her useless husband, had used nothing but a metal box of unknown origin and a hand radiating divine might to physically erase the brand of the Blood God Khorne from her body?!
In this moment, Yulia’s entire worldview was utterly shattered.
What kind of entity was he?
A Living Saint walking among mortals?
Or a supreme sovereign rivaling the Gods—rivaling the Emperor Himself?!
As the final trace of dark-red bloody mist dissolved completely into the golden light, the crimson alarm fell silent.
The nanobot beams retracted rapidly, reassembling into the silver-gray metal briefcase before vanishing.
The tactical straps binding Yulia’s limbs also unclasped.
She had regained complete freedom.
For she felt, with absolute clarity, that the “Whispers of Khorne”—which had lurked in the depths of her soul, torturing her for years and forcing her into a bloodthirsty madness every midnight—had completely vanished!
Cleanly eradicated, leaving not a single trace behind!
Yulia raised her head once more.
The way she looked at Seth Knight had undergone a cataclysmic transformation.
All fear and arrogance had evaporated.
In their place was the absolute fanaticism and obsession of one gazing upon some unspeakable, “supreme truth” that surpassed even the Four Gods of the Warp!
This man was grander than the Emperor Himself.
*Thud.*
Yulia dropped to her knees.
Casting aside all the dignity and pride of a Count’s eldest daughter, she crawled forward like the humblest, most loyal hound, dragging herself on her knees straight to Seth Knight’s feet.
Without the slightest hesitation, she pressed a deep kiss onto his combat boots!
“Master…”
“Your power reigns supreme, even over the Emperor!”
“The core defensive line of the banquet is in the west corridor of the main building!”
“The two heavy-firepower blind spots there were personally arranged by my father!”
“Only I can guide you past the surveillance!”
“Let me lead the way!”
“I will be your wildest bitch, personally leading you to tear those suicidal heretics inside into bloody shreds!”
She was even itching to slaughter her own father with her own hands, just to present a loyalty offering to this supreme being!
The high-born noble daughter had transformed into a fanatically loyal zealot.
Hearing this, Seth Knight lifted Yulia’s chin in satisfaction.
“Very well.”
“Remember this dog-like state of yours.”
Seth Knight released her and strode toward the back of the transport.
With a flick of his right wrist, a Vibranium shield gleaming with dark gold materialized, locking securely onto his forearm armor.
*Bam!*
Seth Knight raised his right leg and brutally kicked open the heavy armored rear hatch.
The instant the doors flew open, *whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!* over a dozen blinding, high-intensity searchlight beams pierced the dim compartment like swords, illuminating Seth Knight’s tall, imposing figure as bright as day!
Outside, the manor plaza, which had been a scene of glittering lights and elegant guests, was now thick with murderous intent.
Over a hundred heavily armed private elite soldiers of the Count, wielding high-explosive melta guns and heavy bolt rifles, formed a tight semi-circle, surrounding the solitary Chimera Armored Transport.
On either side of the formation, two four-meter-tall heavy Sentinel Walkers roared, their oil pumps growling.
The charging indicators of the massive twin-linked lascannons on their shoulders flashed with a lethal crimson glow, locking dead onto the compartment hatch!
The killing intent had reached its boiling point!
Hiding behind an armored shield, the captain of the Count’s guard raised a megaphone, his voice cruel and cold:
“Steve!”
“Release the eldest daughter immediately! Get on your knees and surrender!”
“Otherwise, the next second we will blow you and this piece-of-shit transport into bloody chunks!”