"Mr. Yuki, are you alright?"
"Since you're seeing me in this state, you shouldn't need to ask."
Yuki lay on the bed. Neither Raziel nor Iron Face blamed him for his bluntness. After all, when facing a patient covered in bandages with only one functional eye, being a bit rude was expected.
"May we take the liberty of asking what happened?"
"I was ambushed by some bastards, but fortunately, I'm hard to kill."
"I hadn't heard from you for several days and thought you were dead. It's a pity; I was hoping to take the opportunity to 'protect' Miss Yuno myself."
Iron Face never hid her desires. Yuki didn't bother arguing with her. If she actually managed to make Yuno interested in her, she'd be one step away from a very messy death anyway.
"We have business to discuss..."
As Raziel spoke, Yuno pushed the door open and entered, carrying a plate of snacks—a rarity in the Underhive, though not surprising for the leader of a major gang.
"Yuki?"
Raziel gestured for Yuki to let Yuno leave the room.
"It's fine, she's trustworthy."
As he spoke, Yuno had already brought a snack to his lips. Yuki struggled to take a bite, looking somewhat embarrassed in front of the others.
"Please, show us some respect, Yuki."
"Look behind you."
Unnoticed, Elia had appeared at the doorway holding a heavy sword. The brother on her back also held a weapon. In close-quarters combat, she was capable of defeating almost any ordinary human.
"You bastard."
"Alright, alright. It's a good thing the young couple is so fond of each other." Raziel noted the dynamic and then moved on to serious matters. "A few days ago, you demolished a fortress. That's common enough, but the corpses inside... they were terrifying."
The bodies of the Battle Sisters had been collected by Steff, so the terrifying remains Raziel referred to were likely those of the Chaos cultists.
"Don't try to hide things from us, Yuki. We know what you're dealing with, and we know who is backing you. Some of the remaining hostiles fled into a nearby Cult of the God-Emperor community. You need to find a way to deal with them."
"A Cult of the God-Emperor community?"
"It's a minor offshoot of the Ecclesiarchy that spread through the Underhive. The community is extremely xenophobic and tightly knit, much like a large gang. We usually avoid any association with them."
Yuki felt something was off. An organization like that can exist in the Underhive?
"Logically, shouldn't you have planted spies there? Just like you tried to do with me."
Naturally, these two sent agents to gather intelligence. It just hadn't worked on Yuki's gang because the high-level leadership consisted only of two people: Yuki himself, and Yuno, who couldn't communicate with outsiders.
Raziel didn't deny sending spies. He continued, "We tried. Over the past ten years, I've sent dozens of people. Every single one of them defected."
Yuki felt a persistent itch in his left forearm—it was likely regenerating slowly. He looked at Yuno and requested, "Help me scratch it, Mommy."
His psychic organs had been destroyed and couldn't regenerate yet, so the words reached Raziel and Iron Face's ears directly. Raziel didn't hide his disgust, while Iron Face's eyes behind her mask shone with longing.
She asked Yuno expectantly, "Can I call you Mommy too?"
"Don't start, Iron Face. That's a lover's privilege."
Raziel had enough. He took a heavy snort of medicinal powder, using the rush of stimulation to calm his irritation. In this room, between the three humans and one "insect," he couldn't find a single normal person.
Then again, this was the norm in the Warhammer world. As a universe designed by GW to extract money, if there were normal people in it, how would they make any profit?
"I'll handle it. Don't worry."
"Additionally, there's the matter of territory distribution..."
By the time all issues were settled, over ten hours had passed. Raziel and Iron Face declined Yuki's invitation to stay for dinner and left with their hired thugs.
"Things seem to be going well?" Yuno leaned against Yuki, listening to his heartbeat.
Yuki spoke listlessly, "From a career perspective, yes, there's progress. But from a personal perspective, my body still won't move. Yuno, did I offend you somehow? Why did you do this to me?"
"Hehe, sorry. I just wanted to make you stronger." Yuno's fingers slid across Yuki's skin. She was starting to enjoy this feeling—Yuki being right here, unable to do anything, left entirely to her whims.
"Lictors are actually that strong... Titus must be way too overpowered then. Dammit, I wonder if we'll run into them in the future."
"Who knows? If you want, I can send you over to test yourself against him."
"Wait, where are you touching?" Yuki saw a predatory, lecherous expression on a girl's face for the first time.
"Touching where I should be touching."
"Whoa! Don't squeeze that!"
...
Ten days later.
Yuki's injuries were finally healed. His strength had also grown rapidly; he could now hold his own against the Lictor for over ten minutes. The purge of Chaos cultists was progressing steadily. Yuki never worried about heavy losses among his subordinates—out with the old, in with the new. There were countless people desperate to work for him.
At this rate, taking over the Underhive and marching toward the Mid-spire and Hive City was only a matter of time. Of course, the prerequisite was that Imperial military forces didn't intervene. He couldn't expose himself until his strength was sufficiently developed.
"Steff? You look like you've recovered well."
Steff's condition had finally stabilized. She looked at Yuki and offered a rare joke: "You didn't get a scratch facing those enemies before, yet you were ambushed and mangled by mere Chaos cultists? It seems the God-Emperor isn't protecting you after all."
"Don't start. That was just an accident." Yuki was actually quite worried; if Yuno had developed some strange new hobby because of that incident, his future days would be difficult.
"I'm going to the Cult of the God-Emperor community to clear out the remnants. Do you want to come along?"
At the mention of that name, Steff's gaze turned sharp. "Yuki, I won't hide it from you. One of my sisters wasn't found on the battlefield. If she's still alive, she might be in that community."
Yuki didn't pry further. "Are you going?"
"I still need to comfort my sisters. We didn't expect our first encounter with the Great Enemy of the God-Emperor to be here. Besides, this is a classified mission; everyone's psychological state needs addressing."
Steff looked at Yuki. She was holding her white masked helmet and, unusually, wasn't carrying a gun. After everything that had happened, she asked this question for the first time.
"I can trust you, right?"
Yuki felt a sense of helplessness. He looked into Steff's eyes and spoke with absolute sincerity. "Yes. You can trust me completely."