Upon receiving the prophetic intelligence, 32 and Gutierrez immediately initiated a cleansing operation. 32 commanded the modified Bloodfinger Gang members via control chips, coordinating with the Marshal Squad to raid the cult's stronghold.
The gang members, transformed into semi-mechanical warriors, their eyes glowing red, armed with welding torches and cutting saws, silently surged towards their first target—the cult stronghold located beneath an abandoned water purification plant.
The Department of Justice Marshal Squad followed closely behind.
As the vanguard crashed through the rusted metal door, they were met with a barrage of frantic Lasgun fire—five cultists, their chests branded with the mark of a bloody hand, stubbornly resisted from behind piles of pipes.
"Purification Protocol initiated," 32's mechanical voice echoed coldly through the comms channel.
The modified warriors immediately raised their left arms, and flamethrowers mounted on their wrists spewed out scorching promehthium flames.
Amidst screams, two cultists, engulfed in flames, stumbled out of cover, only to be precisely headshotted by the Marshals' Bolters.
The air was instantly filled with the smell of charred flesh and the pungent odor characteristic of burning promehthium.
Suddenly, an unnatural tremor came from the ground.
Almost simultaneously, the sewage pool in the center of the purification plant exploded, and a three-meter-tall, crimson-skinned Mutant roared as it leaped out.
Its deformed right arm ended not in a hand, but in a massive axe grown from bone.
"It's a Mutant!" the Marshal Captain roared, ordering a retreat.
But it was too late; with a single charge, the monster sent three modified warriors flying, their metal bodies twisting and deforming upon impact, electrical sparks and hydraulic fluid spewing from their ruptured joints.
Just as the Mutant raised its bone axe, preparing to strike, the ceiling suddenly burst open.
The Astartes Squad led by Gutierrez descended like a divine punishment, his great forging axe gleaming with a cold metallic luster in the dim light, its blade shimmering with electricity, as he slammed it down onto the Mutant.
Ten Bolters fired simultaneously, and dense explosions erupted countless blood blossoms on the monster's body.
The Mutant let out a painful howl, turning to swing its axe at the nearest warrior.
Gutierrez braced himself, and the servo systems of his Power Armor hummed lowly.
He gripped the great forging axe with both hands, delivering a powerful horizontal slash at the Mutant's waist.
The axe blade collided with the monster's exoskeleton, instantly erupting in blinding sparks, and the heavy axe body forced the Mutant to stumble backward.
"For the Emperor!" Gutierrez stood his ground, the muscles in his arms bulging under the Power Armor's assistance.
The great forging axe traced a deadly arc from bottom to top, colliding with the bone axe in mid-air.
With a deafening explosion, the Mutant's weapon was snapped in two.
Gutierrez seized the opportunity, lunged forward, and the great axe, carrying immense force, slashed diagonally downward, directly cleaving the abominable creature in two from shoulder to waist.
Filthy black blood gushed from the wound, staining the accumulated water a bizarre purplish-black.
Gutierrez shook the foul blood from his great forging axe, the electricity on its blade flashing briefly.
32 assessed the battle situation through images transmitted by the Servitor, her mechanical eye constantly flickering as it analyzed data.
"Continue advancing!" she commanded all units. "According to intelligence, the main altar is on the lower level."
At her command, the cleansing force reassembled, stepping over the corpses of cultists and Mutants, pressing deeper into the darker reaches of the Bottom Nest.
—
Meanwhile, Mai Mai and Twilight, guided by the prophecy, began to investigate the power behind the Hand of Redemption. The two men sat opposite each other in an archive room piled with data-slates, the blue light of holographic projections illuminating their grave faces.
"These archives have been tampered with," Twilight said, tapping the table with his knuckles, his metallic eye flickering. "Key information has been cleverly dispersed across different dossiers."
Mai Mai looked up from a pile of holographic recorders, projecting several documents side by side: "But all clues point in the same direction—the Von Kleist Family of the Upperhive."
The investigation revealed that this ancient noble family, outwardly engaged in the medical industry, had in fact long funded the Blood Oath Society's 'mutation reversal' research. Twilight pulled up a fund flow chart, a complex network interwoven in the air.
Twilight accessed the financial database and displayed a holographic projection of the Von Kleist Family's financial movements over the past five years. A complex network of companies shimmered in the air, like a meticulously woven spiderweb.
"Look here," Twilight zoomed in on one node, "'New Dawn Biotechnology'—ostensibly a company developing new medical prosthetics, but in reality, its funds ultimately flowed to the Blood Oath Society's 'Genetic Restructuring' project."
Mai Mai frowned: "But the funding suddenly stopped three months ago?"
"No, it didn't stop, it redirected," Twilight quickly manipulated the interface, pulling up a new data chain: "The funds were re-shuffled and injected into the Hand of Redemption's account through another shell company, Holy Scar Medical."
Mai Mai narrowed his eyes: "'Holy Scar Medical'... that name sounds familiar."
He pulled up recent news: "Wait, this company was just exposed last month for an 'experimental accident' where three researchers died, but the investigation report was vague."
"Coincidence? I don't believe it," Twilight sneered.
Mai Mai pulled up all 'accidental death' cases related to the Hand of Redemption and began cross-referencing them.
"All the deceased have one thing in common—they all received'special treatment' from the Von Kleist Medical Group," he pointed to the holographic archives: "Some were 'genetic optimization treatments,' some were 'neural enhancement surgeries,' and a few even underwent 'psychological evaluations.'"
Twilight flipped through one of the autopsy reports: "The causes of death vary—cardiac arrest, cerebral hemorrhage, organ failure... but the autopsies all mentioned one detail: trace amounts of an unknown compound remained in the deceased's bodies."
"Like some kind of biological marker?" Mai Mai speculated.
"Or some kind of 'trigger,'" Twilight pulled up records of surveillance interference: "Before each death, the surveillance would show static, as if some energy field interfered with electronic devices."
"These clues aren't difficult to find, why has the Inquisition done nothing?" Mai Mai questioned.
Twilight sneered: "Two possibilities—either they were misled, or someone internal deliberately suppressed the investigation."
"If it's the latter, then contacting the Inquisition directly would be walking into a trap," Mai Mai pondered for a moment: "Let's not tip them off yet, we'll investigate ourselves. The Von Kleist Family must have a breakthrough point."
Twilight nodded: "Start with their medical center?"
"No, too obvious," Mai Mai pulled up a file: "Check this first—the surviving researcher from Holy Scar Medical; it's said he had a mental breakdown after leaving and has been in a sanatorium in the Lower Hive."
Twilight grinned: "Looks like we'll have to 'visit' this informant."
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