"Hmm?"
Angel finally woke up.
The moment she opened her eyes, a towering, conjoined figure appeared before her. She recoiled in horror. Nearby, a blind girl remarked, "You're scaring her, Elia."
"Where... where is this?"
"Didn't you ask the Boss to bring you to the Underhive yourself? I am Eleven, and this is Elia. The Boss is dealing with some trouble right now; you'll have to wait a while."
"Trouble?" Angel perked up. Wasn't witnessing the Underhive ecology exactly what she wanted? "What kind of trouble!"
Eleven frowned. "Well, it's likely your father. After all, he's the only one in the Underhive who counts as trouble for the Boss."
Just as Eleven said, Yuki was currently confronting Borlais. The meeting took place in a secluded corner of the Underhive. Borlais's expression was dark, while Yuki wore a playful smile. Yuki hadn't expected to regain the upper hand under these circumstances.
"Borlais, I really didn't expect you to value this daughter so much... By the way, can Inquisitors actually father children?"
"That is none of your concern, Yuki. Watch your tongue."
Yuki subtly extended his psychic senses and detected numerous eyes watching him and the Inquisitor. There were even assassins from the Officio Assassinorum among them. Yuki had to remain cautious, prepared for the Inquisitor to lash out at any moment.
"Yes, yes, distinguished Lord Inquisitor. I have always respected the Emperor's messengers. Being connected to you is truly an honor." Yuki sat down on a stool. "However, that little surprise you gave me the other day was quite memorable."
"The fact that a Vindicare couldn't take your life gives me reasonable cause to doubt your purity."
"In that case, is your daughter—who followed me—also impure?"
"For the realization of the Emperor's will, the death of one woman is inconsequential."
Yuki's expression stiffened slightly. If this man didn't care about his daughter, he wouldn't have come to the Underhive in person. Yet, the way he spoke didn't sound like a joke. Where is this guy's limit?
"Borlais, there's no need for us to be at each other's throats. You are the executor of the Emperor's will, and I am a devout believer. We can work together."
Borlais made no effort to hide his contempt. "Yuki, Underhive gangs are a cancer upon the Imperium. You prey upon the Emperor's true subjects, making their lives unsustainable and leading them into the arms of Chaos. As an Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus, I must correct this error."
"Humorous, Borlais. By your logic, billions of administrative staff across every imperial institution should be purged. The Ordo Malleus gets possessed by daemons, the Ordo Xenos uses xenos tech, and the Ordo Hereticus sides with heretics. When it comes to being parasites, the people of Terra and the Spires are far more ruthless than us. As for harming the Imperium, we in the Underhive couldn't match what you've done in centuries if we had ten thousand years."
Borlais was furious, but faced with Yuki's unyielding aura, he instead grew calm. Yuki's eyes were filled with anger and passion—emotions hidden beneath his indifferent facade. Yuki was dissatisfied with the current state of the Imperium; in truth, anyone who clearly understood the Imperium would be dissatisfied.
Borlais began to wonder if Yuki was one of those rare individuals who, despite the wretched environment of the Underhive, maintained a sincere heart. According to his investigation, the areas under Yuki's rule were indeed far better than any Underhive districts he had seen before.
"Borlais, whatever you want to do or investigate, I can't stop you, but I can certainly cause small problems. If you truly suspect me, produce actual evidence. Do you have any?"
Dammit. Borlais rarely had concrete evidence when executing people. Almost all Inquisitors operated this way—suspicion was guilt. Once suspected, the burden of proof fell on the accused.
"You are definitely a problem, Yuki. To survive a Vindicare, you must be judged."
"Sigh. Don't you understand priorities? Since your daughter is currently being well-fed and housed by me, shouldn't you stabilize me first, deal with other enemies, and handle me last? I just want to live a few more years."
Borlais remained silent. His subordinates were searching everywhere for his daughter, but they had found nothing, despite the many sanctioned psykers he had assigned to the search.
"Fine. Goodbye, Inquisitor. Think carefully about whether you want to go down with me. I can only promise you it won't be a situation you want to see."
"Yuki, you will inevitably pay the price for today."
Yuki was tired of such warnings. He walked out of the meeting area, where Yuno was waiting.
"How was it?"
"That guy values his daughter quite a bit, which I didn't expect. Maybe we can use this to stall."
"Humans are truly boring, making decisions that affect the big picture just for their offspring."
"Will we ever have children?" Yuki suddenly asked. Even with her vast knowledge, Yuno was momentarily speechless.
Children. Yes, children.
To the average observer, every Tyranid individual is like a child to the Great Devourer. But the truth is, these individuals are merely cells. The entire Tyranid race constitutes the Great Devourer itself. Those synapse consciousnesses and seemingly autonomous individuals are just the life reactions of the cells making up the Great Devourer.
But children in the human sense are different—another life born from a life. This touched upon a blind spot in Yuno's knowledge.
"Children..."
Seeing Yuno looking like she had crashed, Yuki realized the question was perhaps too advanced for now. "Forget it, Yuno. Don't worry about it. I'm still on this planet; we can talk about it later."
"If I use a simulated egg cell... no, simulating a human body is simple. The key is the human soul. But how to transfer a soul to a newborn..."
Seeing Yuno seriously researching whether she could create a child, Yuki felt a flash of fear. He grabbed her wrist and looked into her eyes. "Don't stress over it. It's not important, is it?"
"My love, don't you think it's interesting?"