In truth, by the time Duanmu Huai and the others followed the tunnel into the Beastmen lair, the rest of the Starborne Legion had already arrived and launched a ferocious assault. The Beastmen stood no chance. Under the Legion's onslaught, they collapsed completely—when Duanmu Huai reached the battlefield, what he saw was blood, fire, and corpses.
"Mm, this is what I imagined they should look like."
Watching a Starborne soldier roar and raise his chainsword, splitting a five-meter-tall beast with a mechanized cannon on its back clean in half, Duanmu Huai nodded with satisfaction. The Starborne Legion were the Inquisition's blade. Their duty was to mercilessly annihilate every enemy of the Inquisition—heretics, xenos, and demons alike.
No mercy. No pity. No prisoners.
The only thing they carried to their enemies was death and destruction.
That was Duanmu Huai's order, and it was the Inquisition's creed. On one hand, as the God of Destruction, "destruction" needed a target.
On the other hand—well, Duanmu Huai didn't have any Mechanicus tech-priests to help him anyway.
Otherwise, he might've grabbed a few xenos and converted them into cyborg servitors… then again, that sounded like the kind of thing that raises a big boss death flag.
Generally speaking, the Inquisition's doctrine across every world under Duanmu Huai's reach was this:
All faithful of the Inquisition must dedicate their lives to humanity—fighting for its protection and against all who dare threaten it. If their faith is unwavering and their courage absolute, then after death, their souls will come to the Inquisition's Oblivion Realm. There, they may choose eternal rest—or to join Duanmu Huai's endless crusade among the stars, waging a never-ending war to safeguard mankind.
Strictly speaking, Duanmu Huai's Starborne Legion did not recruit the living, nor the unproven—only warriors whose faith and conviction were unbreakable could join their ranks.
Indeed, the minimum requirement was the courage to face an enemy dozens of times larger without flinching. After all, in the Warp, most foes of the gods were exactly that sort of grotesque monstrosity.
Duanmu Huai had even thought about fitting each suit of Starborne armor with a Predator-style self-destruct bomb strong enough to wipe out a whole city upon death—but since the troops weren't yet accustomed to such tactics, he'd shelved the idea. Still… it could be a fun research project for Kurala and her engineers later.
After all, the Starborne feared no death; even if they died several times over, as long as their faith remained firm, their souls would return to the Inquisition.
Seeing Duanmu Huai arrive, a Nightwarden quickly jogged over and saluted.
"Report, my lord. We have begun our full assault on the Beastmen lair. Progress seventy-five percent. Operation proceeding smoothly with minimal casualties."
"Reason?"
Duanmu Huai frowned. It was impossible for these armored soldiers to be killed by simple gunfire—their armor, while not as strong as an Inquisitor's power armor, was still formidable. Were they all hit by focused fire?
Impossible.
"Some squads fell into bottomless chasms due to terrain collapse and lost communication."
"Oh…"
Gravity. Nothing to be done about that.
"And this, my lord, is a recovered weapon."
The Nightwarden handed Duanmu Huai a gun.
"Oh?"
Duanmu Huai's eyes lit up. The weapon looked a bit thinner than a boltgun, its caliber and power smaller—but that wasn't what caught his attention. Under the barrel, mounted beneath the muzzle… was a chainsaw blade.
And on the side, engraved in the metal, was a skull set within a cog emblem.
Anything with skulls and chainsaws was a mark of civilized design!
"This is Beastmen-made?"
"No, my lord. According to intelligence from the rescued prisoners, this firearm is actually military equipment from the COG—the Vyan Government Alliance."
"Hm… not bad."
Duanmu Huai examined it closely. As a man whose weapon of choice was a giant warhammer, he didn't personally need guns—but for his Starborne troops, such a hybrid weapon would be perfect. They could fire at range, then immediately engage the chainsaw in melee—no weapon swapping required. Ingenious.
"This world's humans have some clever ideas after all."
Just for that gun alone, Duanmu Huai thought, this world had been worth the trip.
"Good. Continue the assault."
He holstered the weapon and nodded. The Nightwarden snapped to attention.
"Yes, my lord!"
Meanwhile, in the depths of the Beastmen lair, the surviving Beastmen soldiers had nowhere left to run.
Damn it, how could this be happening?!
General Raam slammed his fist into the table, trembling with fury. Never had he imagined that the fragile humans would dare to invade the underground and attack the Beastmen head-on—and with such ferocity! According to the reports, the black-armored soldiers were nearly invincible, impervious to gunfire, and unbelievably strong. Even the monstrous subterranean creatures the Beastmen had bred and enslaved were shredded to pieces by those black giants' chainswords—armor thick enough to resist cannon shells was carved apart like clay.
The black-armored warriors were so cold, so ruthless, so pitiless, that even the savage Beastmen felt terror and despair before them.
They must be COG's new elite army!
Raam was certain of it. The humans' last surviving government must have developed these new soldiers—each armed with those rotating chainsaw swords, a weapon only COG forces would use!
Snarling, Raam grabbed a Beastman soldier by the collar and glared into his eyes.
"You! Use the escape tunnel! Go to the Queen's Fortress and tell the Queen and High Priest Dakor everything! The humans have unleashed a new breed of warriors—we cannot fight them head-on! We must find a countermeasure! Now go!"
"B-but, General, you—"
"I will stay and hold them here. If no one of rank remains, they'll pursue at once. Go! For the Queen! For the future of the Beastmen!"
"BOOM!!"
As if to punctuate his words, a violent explosion rocked the corridor, followed by the heavy thunk-thunk-thunk of the humans' guns. Raam knew that sound well—it was the roar of those terrifying black-armored soldiers.
"Yes, sir!!"
The soldiers fled into the secret passage. Raam clenched his fists and turned toward the gate, eyes burning with hatred. He did not regret his campaign against humanity. As a warrior, dying in battle was the fate he had long accepted. As long as the Beastmen triumphed, his death would mean nothing. And besides… it wasn't over yet.
Raising his hand, he called forth his ultimate weapon. From the surrounding tunnels erupted a swarm of enormous black bats that circled around him in a whirling cloud. This was his trump card—the ability to control Nightbats, savage subterranean creatures feared even by Beastmen.
The Nightbats were numerous and bloodthirsty, their power greatest in darkness. They could blot out the sky and devour everything in sight. Raam had unleashed them before, wiping out entire human armies.
And now, he would do it again.
"BOOM!!!"
The sealed door burst open. Several towering Starborne soldiers stormed in, weapons raised. Raam spread his arms wide, roaring as hundreds of Nightbats screamed and surged forward, forming a black tide that engulfed the advancing giants.
"Die, humans!!"
He raised his gun and fired furiously, bellowing. He would prove his might. He was Raam—the strongest of the Beastmen! Even in death, he would show these humans the terror of his race!
But then… from within the swarm came a voice. Cold. Steady. Unmoved.
"Open fire."
Thunder roared. The torrent of bullets tore through the Nightbat swarm, shredding them to ribbons. Blazing muzzle flashes pierced through the black tide—and reached Raam.
Time seemed to slow. He could only watch as those burning trails shattered his weapon, ripped through his body, and punched holes through his limbs and skull.
The mightiest general of the Beastmen fell silent, collapsing in a mangled heap of blood and flesh.
The battle was over.
"Report, my lord. Combat concluded. We detected an enemy deserter. Shall we pursue?"
Duanmu Huai was silent for a moment, then shook his head.
"No. Let them run. I want more xenos to learn to fear the Inquisition—and they'll be our perfect messengers."
"Understood."
"Begin cleanup. Retrieve every captured prisoner, then activate the Geofire System. I want this whole nest wiped off the map."
The "Geofire System" was the same subterranean bomb system he had once used against the Skaven—a drilling warhead that could pierce the crust, channel magma from the planet's core, and flood entire underground complexes with molten fire.
Let's see you dig tunnels after that. Try swimming in lava.
"All right."
After giving his orders, Duanmu Huai lifted his gaze to the smoldering ruins of the Beastmen stronghold.
"The message has been sent. Time to go home."
He turned and walked away.
(End of Chapter)