Chapter 248 248: You Haven't Denied It, So That Means A Tacit Admission.AHumanMadeMOFO
Chapter 248 248: You Haven't Denied It, So That Means A Tacit Admission.AHumanMadeMOFO
On the surface, Leman Russ looked like a reckless brute, but he possessed remarkable intelligence. He lowered his eyelids, concealing the thoughts in his mind.
Every single word Zeke had spoken while disguised as Icefang had fallen into Leman Russ's ears. Voices could be mimicked, but speech patterns and mannerisms could not. Leman Russ was absolutely certain that the person before him was definitely not Icefang.
His mind was made up in an instant: capture this creature first and interrogate him thoroughly. If he caught the wrong guy, the worst that would happen was he'd owe Icefang a cask of mead. The Sons of Fenris didn't hold grudges over such trivial matters.
Leman Russ threw a punch at Zeke, his fist shifting into a grappling claw mid-air.
Zeke sighed. This was exactly why he wanted to find the Emperor first. With the Emperor's god-like perspective, Zeke wouldn't need to explain much.
But when facing a Primarch, before he could even ask for an answer, he'd have to explain his own origins first. And even then, the Primarch might not believe him. It was simply too much trouble.
Zeke had no intention of fighting Leman Russ. He was worried he might not be able to hold back his strength and accidentally kill the Primarch in one blow—which would be very bad.
Zeke pulled out a magic tome.
Electroblob's Wizardry: The "Speak the Law" Mod.
Electroblob's Wizardry had countless add-on mods that introduced an enormous variety of fascinating spells. But an abundance of spells brought about another annoyance: quickly finding the right spell for the battlefield became difficult.
The Speak the Law add-on was created specifically to solve this problem. As long as the user spoke the name of the spell, the magic tome would analyze the voice, locate the most matching spell, and cast it automatically.
Coupled with the fact that Zeke's Creative Mode granted him access to almost every type of magic in existence, the spellbook evolved from a mere search function into true reality-altering verbal commands.
This mod also possessed a very devious method of play: players would record the names of their ultimate killing moves as deceptive phrases like "Wait!", "Stop!", "Have mercy!", or "Spare my life!" This allowed them to deliver a surprise fatal blow exactly when the enemy lowered their guard.
"Time for a bath! Who's building the Water Release Dam?!" Zeke shouted in heavily accented, non-standard pronunciation.
The magic tome remained silent for a few seconds. It was the first time it had heard such a bizarrely named spell. It could only find the closest possible match.
Water erupted from behind Zeke. A monstrous, ceiling-reaching flood violently expanded in all directions with overwhelming, destructive force.
The long table was flipped by the tidal wave. Mead casks careened wildly through the water like cannonballs. The Space Wolves who hadn't fully sobered up yet were hit squarely in the face by the wave and sent tumbling uncontrollably.
The velocity of the water generated by this spell was immense. The walls of the room groaned in agony under the water pressure, splitting open with numerous cracks, until they finally couldn't hold on any longer and completely burst apart.
"Don't run!" Leman Russ fought against the current, trying to grab Zeke, but Zeke had already rowed away in a little wooden boat.
"Polymorph." Looking at Leman Russ relentlessly pursuing him behind the boat, Zeke turned his head and spoke another command.
Leman Russ felt abhorrent sorcerous energies coil around his body. In the next moment, his body lost its buoyancy in the water as he transformed into a plump, adorably round sheep.
Amidst the violent, churning waves, the sheep's wool soaked up water, causing its body to become incredibly heavy.
Seeing this, Leman Russ's sons were scared out of their wits. They frantically dove into the water, forming a tight human wall to completely encircle the sheep in the center. With a flurry of hands and feet, they desperately hoisted their father up from the surface of the water.
"Baa, baa, baa." No expression could be seen on Leman Russ's sheep face, but Zeke dared guarantee that the emotions churning within those eyes right now were absolutely thirty percent more turbulent than the flood itself.
"I mean no harm. Also, your speed is still too slow. If you want to catch me, better call the Khan," Zeke laughed as he rowed away. Along the way, he found the Icefang he had knocked out earlier and tossed him down to prevent him from drowning.
The surrounding Imperial Auxilia had noticed the commotion and were already beginning to converge on the area. Several powerful auras were also on their way.
Zeke did not linger to entangle himself further with Leman Russ. He teleported & began going toward the Rangdan Empire.
His route heavily overlapped with the advancing trajectory of the Imperium's Great Crusade.
Along the way, the flames of war burned endlessly, and the smoke of battle lingered without dissipating. Some planets had even been subjected to Exterminatus—their surfaces shattered under repeated orbital bombardments, magma oozing from the fissures, roasting the entire planet into a floating cinder of charcoal in the void.
Yet even so, battles continued upon those broken lands. The clash of blades against flesh and blood had never ceased.
And battle was always the Blood God's most favored sacrifice.
Upon a shattered planet, the Herald of the Blood God, the Greater Daemon Skarbrand, seemed to have been specifically waiting for Zeke. Carrying an invitation from Khorne, he sought Zeke out.
Zeke sized him up for a moment.
This guy possessed terrifying combat prowess and an illustrious reputation, boasting a wealth of battle experience that would make countless veteran generals sweat with shame. However, his brain... truly wasn't worthy of his physique.
In the future, incited by a mere few words from Tzeentch, he would dare to raise his axe against his own master, Khorne.
His all-out, full-strength strike would do nothing more than leave a tiny scratch on the Blood God's eternal brass breastplate.
Then, the furious Blood God would strangle whatever sanity and willpower he had left, casting him into exile.
And it was this exact guy who currently stood with his arms crossed, scrutinizing Zeke.
Zeke hadn't expected that out of the four gods, the very first to pay a visit would be Khorne.
But immediately after, an even more headache-inducing thought surfaced.
If Khorne already knows of my arrival, how could the Emperor be completely unaware?
He knew, yet He chose this exact critical juncture to go through the massive trouble of traveling to the far-flung Rangdan Empire.
Zeke's face immediately fell. This clearly shows He's planning to use me as a toolman again.
He could even predict the Emperor's very first sentence upon meeting:
"Please help me, Zeke. Eradicate the Rangdan Empire."
No matter which timeline it is, the Emperor's personality is exactly the same. Seriously, can't there be fewer mind games and more sincerity between people? He should really learn from Khorne, Zeke sighed inwardly. Perhaps out of all four Chaos Gods, He is the only one who doesn't speak in riddles.
While Zeke was lost in thought, Skarbrand looked down at the human before him with a condescending gaze.
Lacking in the brain department, he had never been good at hiding his emotions. At this moment, his face was practically plastered with disdain, with only a few faint traces of curiosity squeezed into the gaps.
He didn't understand why his Master would take an interest in such a human.
Seeing Zeke still unhurriedly weighing his options, Skarbrand lost his patience. His fingers tightened around the handles of his twin brass axes.
If this human didn't appreciate the favor, he would just chop his head off and bring it back to report his mission. A command from the Blood God never cared about the specific method used to complete it.
A moment later, Zeke reigned in his wandering thoughts and reached a conclusion.
It doesn't hurt to go take a look first. Anyway, I plan to visit the domains of all four gods; it's just a matter of order. Khorne was a rare, straightforward god. If he could get the method to return home from Him, it would save a lot of effort.
"I accept."
Zeke spoke, his gaze falling calmly upon Skarbrand's standard Western-daemon appearance: twin horns, massive wings, and brass armor.
"However, before we depart, there is one thing I would like to confirm."
Zeke tilted his head up slightly. "Have you... ever killed a human?"
Skarbrand's remaining meager brain cells instantly crashed.
What Khornate daemon hasn't killed a human?! Are you trying to pick a fight?!
Silence.
"Alright. You haven't denied it, so that means a tacit admission." Zeke nodded.
Seeing Zeke's actions, Skarbrand flew into an absolute rage. Even as stupid as he was, he could see that this human was mocking him.
"I am Skarbrand! The Wrathful Reaper! Khorne's most powerful Greater Daemon! Who gave you the gall—"
"Sorry, there's not enough room for so many people here."
The Sword of the Cosmos was lifted single-handedly by Zeke.
Gleaming with the starlight, it carved out a miniature galaxy, sweeping directly toward Skarbrand's head.
Skarbrand truly lived up to his title as the most powerful Greater Daemon. With incredibly rich combat experience, he watched Zeke's seemingly plain strike and instantly generated 100 different methods to evade it in his mind.
But Skarbrand disdained to evade. True followers of Khorne should always trade blow for blow, blade against blade!
As if I'd ever avoid your edge!
The moment this thought surfaced, Skarbrand felt his body burn with intense heat. The Blood God was watching him.
The Blood God had always considered battle as glory. Any pure, blazing combat, any slaughter where the weak defied the strong, could earn His passing glance.
And the power currently surging into Skarbrand was deeper and more profound than any blessing he had ever received in his life.
If he had even half a brain, he should have read a clear warning from this overwhelmingly abundant blessing:
The only kind of opponent that could make the Blood God bestow such an all-out blessing... was an opponent powerful enough to absolutely crush him.
Unfortunately, Skarbrand didn't even have half a brain.
Skarbrand met the Sword of the Cosmos head-on with his thick chest, then raised his own brass axes, crossing them as he chopped toward Zeke.
The twin axes hit Zeke first. The combined force of the crossed blades slammed into the Infinity Armor, producing a soft, insignificant clink.
He didn't even have time to see his two axes—weapons capable of cleaving planets in half—silently and neatly snap into two pieces from the middle.
Because simultaneously suffering the exact same fate... was his own body.
The Sword of the Cosmos swept cleanly from one side of Skarbrand's neck to the other.
A one-hit instant kill.
The Wrathful Reaper, Khorne's most deeply favored Greater Daemon, didn't even manage to leave behind a final roar before he turned into dust scattering in the wind, returning to the void in absolute silence.
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