The Sister lay on the cold metal table.
Her dark-silver power armor had long been removed, leaving her slender, toned body exposed to the beams of light.
And there, in that mysterious, hidden place, a dark purple mark of corruption was visibly coiled.
The vile mark of Chaos was making its final, desperate death-throe counterattack.
Seth Knight showed no mercy, thrusting his right hand forward!
His incredibly dominant golden psychic energy surged forth in full force.
What pure, holy Emperor’s psychic energy!
“Ah… ah… ah… ah… ah…”
During the purging of the Chaos corruption, the Sister looked as if she were about to meet her ancestors.
With a faint sizzling sound, the last wisp of purple-black bloody mist was completely vaporized by the nanite swarms and the golden light, vanishing into nothingness.
The Sister gasped heavily.
Her exquisitely beautiful face was covered in sweat and a deep flush.
She made no move to cover her exposed body.
Instead…
With a soft thud, she knelt down, cradled Seth Knight’s feet in both hands, bowed her head, and kissed them deeply.
“From this day forth, I shall follow you.”
“My soul, my flesh—all belong to you, Living Saint.”
Seth Knight flicked away his cigarette butt and said coldly, “Put on your armor. We’re going out to collect a debt.”
At the same time, in the core administrative district of the Mid-hive, the PDF Military Affairs Hall.
All around, well-dressed high-ranking officers and hereditary nobles held their wine glasses, undisguisedly scanning the group of mud-splattered grunts with the same contempt they would show to Underhive mutant rats.
On the high platform sat the PDF Minister of Military Affairs, his body as bloated as a mountain.
The rolls of fat on his face squeezed together.
Glancing at the report submitted by the bald soldier, a flash of greed crossed his eyes, which instantly morphed into utter arrogance.
The Minister of Military Affairs lifted a short, stubby leg and kicked the cryo-container hard.
“Clang!”
The box tumbled onto the floor, its latch springing open.
A demonic head covered in fangs and bone spurs rolled out, emitting a pungent, nauseating stench.
Dark red, filthy blood stained the carpet.
The nobles gasped in disgust, some dry-heaving.
“What is this garbage?”
The Minister of Military Affairs pulled out a silk handkerchief, covered his nose and mouth, and cursed in his shrill, grating voice:
The bald soldier’s eyes widened, the veins on his neck bulging.
“This was slain by Commander Steve himself! We have the combat logs!”
“Bullshit!”
The Minister of Military Affairs slammed the handkerchief onto the bald soldier’s face and roared:
“That lowly, live-in son-in-law Steve, who lives off women, can kill a demon?”
“You Underhive deserters fleeing from the front lines dare to forge battle reports just to swindle the Imperium out of military merits!”
At his command, fifty heavily armed PDF soldiers instantly surged out from behind the surrounding marble pillars.
“Clack!”
The synchronized sound of bolts being racked echoed through the room.
Fifty large-caliber lasguns were pointed squarely at the foreheads of the bald soldier and his eight companions.
Blinding red laser sight dots danced densely across their faces.
The nobles erupted into unbridled laughter.
Watching this group of overconfident, low-class cannon fodder get crushed in public was their best entertainment for the evening.
The bald lieutenant clenched his jaw so hard his molars nearly shattered, his finger resting tightly on his gun’s grip.
But he didn’t dare draw his weapon.
The moment they opened fire, they would be blasted into shredded meat.
Just as these soldiers reached the absolute peak of their humiliation and prepared to close their eyes and await death,
“Boom—!!!”
The pair of five-meter-tall walnut doors, inlaid with solid gold relief carvings, violently exploded inward!
The thick wooden door panels, weighing hundreds of pounds, flew backward close to the ground like cannonballs.
They directly sent seven or eight heavily armored military police standing guard at the entrance flying.
Amidst the flying wood splinters and glass shards filling the air, Seth Knight had both hands tucked in his tactical pants pockets.
Taking measured, unhurried steps, he emerged from the smoke.
The entire hall fell into dead silence.
The breath caught in the throats of the nobles in the hall.
The military police panickingly turned their weapons to point them at Seth Knight.
The fat on the Minister of Military Affairs’ face trembled wildly as he screamed, trying to mask his fear with bluster, “Steve! You dare force your way into the PDF Military Headquarters! Execute him on the spot! Open fi—”
“Then I’ll just have to tell you the honest truth. This is a high-level demon of Khorne from the Warp.”
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the hall felt their scalps tingle with dread!
Seth Knight sneered, scanning the shivering high officials below.
“The grand core defensive line of the Mid-hive actually let a Khorne demon slip through. Once reported, this will be ironclad proof of the complete corruption of the entire planetary defense system.”
Seth Knight’s grip tightened, choking the Minister until his eyes rolled back.
“Tell me. When the Inquisition and the Ministorum’s inquisitors descend… will they listen closely to your explanations, or will they simply use orbital lances to burn you cowardly fat pigs, along with this entire hive city, to ashes?” Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
Allowing a demon into the hive city was a world-ending crime of extermination, one that would see families executed for nine generations and their bones ground to dust!
No one could bear such a consequence.
The high officials below turned pale as death; some were even so terrified they fell straight onto their rears.
The Minister of Military Affairs sneered weakly, “You… you don’t represent the Ministorum! Kill him! Fire!”
At that critical juncture,
“Thud.”
“Thud.”
Heavy, cold metallic footsteps, marching to a rhythmic beat, echoed from outside the shattered doorway.
Accompanied by the blinding, crackling pop of high-frequency electric arcs, a Sister of Battle stepped into the hall.
Across the surface of her dark-silver heavy power armor, a pure, holy pressure flowed, so intense that none dared look directly at it.
Everyone’s gaze was instantly transfixed by the emblem on her left shoulder guard.
It was a scarlet insignia representing the Inquisition of the Imperial Ministorum.
It represented the Imperium’s most extreme military might and unquestionable, absolute dogma.
“Drop your weapons,” the Sister’s voice said, filtered through her power armor’s vocal synthesizer into a flat, mechanical drone.
“Who dares show disrespect to the Living Saint, beloved of the Emperor?”
The air in the hall froze completely.
In the next second,
“Clatter!”
The nearest military policeman let go as if struck by lightning, his lasgun clattering to the floor.
His face was deathly pale as his knees slammed into the ground with a thud, and he pressed his forehead hard against the floorboards.
Fear spread faster than a plague.
“Clatter! Clatter! Clatter!”
The sounds of weapons dropping echoed in rapid succession.
All the military police, the insufferably arrogant hereditary nobles, and the high-and-mighty military brass all felt their legs turn to jelly and fell to their knees in unison.
Not a single person dared to raise their head and look directly at the emblem on the Sister’s shoulder.
Before the immovable mountain of the Ministorum, the power they so proudly held was not worth a single damn.
Seth Knight released his right hand, dropping the Minister of Military Affairs like a sack of garbage.
The Minister slammed hard onto the ground, his rolls of fat trembling violently.
Ignoring the searing pain in his throat, he scrambled to his feet on all fours and crawled right to Seth Knight’s feet, bowing low.
“I accept it! I accept it!” Tears and snot streamed down the Minister’s face as he kowtowed frantically.
“Major Steve fought heroically to save the hive city! He is the greatest hero of the entire defense sector!”