Loki didn't slow as she walked, her steps steady and unbothered by what she had just left behind. Finn caught up beside her, his expression slightly tense.
"Was that necessary?" he asked. "You may have just made things worse with the Guild."
Loki gave a small shrug. "Wouldn't matter," she said, her tone casual. "There are only a few gods who can actually affect the city. Two are already with Luthar, one won't act, and that leaves Ganesha and me."
Finn frowned slightly but didn't interrupt.
"Which means," she continued, "nothing I said will cause any trouble for us."
She stretched lightly as she walked, as if the conversation had already lost its importance. "Come on. We've got something more interesting to deal with tonight."
Finn's brows drew together. "What meeting?"
Loki didn't look back. "It's a meeting with Luthar," she said. "And we need to figure out how to join his little club before it's too late."
She continued forward without slowing, already treating it as a settled decision.
—
Far below the surface, Luthar remained in the lab.
The chamber released with a low hiss as the fluid drained away, leaving the interior clear.
Luthar stepped out without hesitation.
Two servitors moved in immediately, their motions precise as they secured the areas of strain along his body, applying layered bandages where needed.
The previous damage to his face wasn't severe, but it wasn't negligible.
For the first time, he had pushed his body beyond its natural limits.
The fluid had stabilised what it could.
The rest would take time.
Luthar didn't react as the servitors completed their work.
The process had been completed as intended.
That was enough.
Without pausing, he moved past the chamber, drying the remaining traces of fluid as he reached for a fresh set of clothing. The motion was brief and efficient.
He stopped only once, as a reflective panel along the wall caught his attention.
For a moment, he looked at it.
Most of his face was covered in layered bandages, leaving only small sections visible beneath. The skin underneath had already begun to heal.
Knowing it would take time to recover fully, he turned away and left the medical room.
He did not stop to rest. Instead, he moved directly into the workshop, ignoring the unit where Apollo was contained. His attention shifted toward designing a new setup—one capable of extracting divine energy without killing the source.
He prepared to begin working immediately.
The system opened at his command, shifting directly into the store. The list appeared without delay as he filtered out everything unnecessary.
Only a handful of options remained.
He selected the most suitable for his situation.
A brief confirmation followed, and the required points were deducted without delay.
The blueprint appeared instantly.
Extraction Matrix.
Luthar's gaze moved across it once, taking in the full structure without hesitation. The design was complete, precise in a way that left little room for error—clearly reflecting the superiority of Necron technology when dealing with divine-level entities.
He closed the store and brought the blueprint forward, aligning it with his existing setup.
The difference was immediate.
His earlier design had been functional but unstable if pushed further. The blueprint, however, operated on an entirely different level. Every section followed a defined structure, eliminating the inconsistencies he had previously worked around.
He adjusted his layout accordingly, refining the framework step by step until the design aligned properly.
He worked without pause.
There was no need to question the blueprint, only to ensure that its integration would remain stable under actual conditions.
Time passed in steady motion as the framework settled into place under continuous refinement.
By the time he stopped, the design had reached a stable and usable state.
That was sufficient.
He left the workshop without delay.
The path through the lab remained unchanged, systems operating in quiet cycles as he moved past them. There were no interruptions and no inefficiencies in their operation.
When he stepped into the main hall, he finally noticed the change.
The entire space had been cleared.
The dense arrangement of servo-arms and cogitators was gone, replaced by sofas and new lighting. The environment had become more functional and comfortable, something he did not appreciate but would tolerate, as he was no longer the only one living there.
—
Author's Note: Ever since Chapter 275, I've been trying to increase my word count. The good news is that the situation has improved, and I no longer stop at just 1,000 words. Of course, this has also created a new problem: sometimes it takes more than a day to finish a chapter, which is throwing off the schedule for my other books.
If you head over to Patreon, you can find more Warhammer 40K content, including a new story that hasn't been released publicly. Because the protagonist is a villain and the story has the potential to cross into R-18 territory at any time, I prefer to keep it off public platforms. As for my original works, I currently have four stories planned and 2 is actively being written.
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