"Station yourselves here and remain vigilant against those gang members. If any accident occurs, strike immediately."
For the past half year, Borlais had not sent any more assassins to eliminate Yuki. He told himself this was to prevent the sudden death of the gang leader from causing unnecessary chaos in the Underhive, but in his heart, he knew he was simply worried about his daughter.
God-Emperor, forgive my weakness.
He had requested aid from the Sisters of Battle, and the Adeptus Arbites and Astra Militarum had also arrived to assist. Once he found a way to ensure Angel's safety, he would launch a direct assault on the gang territories and blast every one of those enemies to oblivion.
"My Lord, we obey your wisdom."
Borlais still needed to position the warships he had brought to effectively suppress the entire planet. His own subordinates also needed to move into ambush positions.
After wasting so much time on this planet, Borlais felt nothing but irritation. This world wasn't worth so much effort; normally, any planet that caused the death of an Inquisitor would simply be subjected to Exterminatus.
Dammit, my parenting has truly been a failure.
He arrived at the estate where Inquisitor Justice had lived before his death. He had a premonition that Justice's death was linked to these gang members. Relying on the unique resonance between Inquisitors, he successfully located a hidden compartment after a search.
Inside were some of Justice's investigative records.
Logically, an Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos would record findings related to aliens, and as an Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus, Borlais's duties did not overlap. Borlais initially had no interest in these files, but the Underhive of this world was unexpected. He had killed many gang members only to find that the level of Chaos corruption here was far lower than on other planets.
There was only one answer: the xenos taint in the Hive was far more severe.
He flipped through Justice's records, finding confirmation for his hypothesis.
"Genestealers have appeared in the Underhive. Scale unknown."
The words "scale unknown" implied a massive number. Borlais felt he should overstep his boundaries slightly.
"Immediately notify the Planetary Governor to prepare the Astropaths. I am sending a request for reinforcements to the Inquisition."
Governor Sino did not dare delay and quickly prepared the Astropathic Choir. Borlais readied the command to request support.
He said to Sino, "Planetary Governor, you are in serious trouble. An Inquisitor died here, and now even I, of the Ordo Malleus, have discovered a severe xenos infestation. I will request aid from the Deathwatch. You would be wise to commit suicide to atone for your crimes before they arrive."
This statement essentially pronounced the Governor's death sentence. Even so, Sino could only manage a forced smile and agree. To kill only him and not purge his entire lineage was already an act of extreme mercy.
Warp fluctuations began to emanate from the Astropaths. The Inquisitor and the Governor stepped back. As they retreated, several Astropaths exploded without warning, splattering blood and flesh across the floor.
"What is this... how can this be? Such a large-scale Warp disturbance for the first time!"
An Astropath who had not participated in the transmission made a judgment: this was likely a rare Warp fluctuation. However, the survivors shattered that hope.
"A massive... black hole... is approaching. No, no, I can't see it! The Light of the God-Emperor!"
Bang!
Borlais shot the Astropath who uttered those blasphemous words without hesitation.
"What nonsense! The Light of the God-Emperor reaches every corner of the galaxy. What is your purpose in saying such things?"
Borlais wanted to check if the remaining Astropaths' sanity was compromised, but when he turned, he saw their pupils had turned entirely black.
"Aaaaaah!"
With piercing screams, the Astropaths gouged out their own eyes.
"It is coming! It is coming!"
"What is happening? Was my message sent?"
"Nothing gets out. We are an island. Help, please... kill me, I..."
Another gunshot rang out. Borlais knew many methods to disrupt Warp communication, most of which involved Warp daemons. Was this planet being targeted by the forces of Chaos?
"Continue trying to send messages! Find out exactly what is happening!"
Borlais knew he had to seek other means. He summoned one of his psychic diviners. This diviner was highly skilled in using the Emperor's Tarot. Borlais ordered him to perform a psychic divination immediately.
"The future shown on the cards is not optimistic."
"Tell me what you see."
"Infinite enemies surround us. We will fight, but it will be futile. We shall all return to the Golden Throne."
"What is the enemy?"
The diviner tried to catch a glimpse of the future, but he failed. "I see only darkness. What lies within, I cannot know."
Was this crisis truly so terrifying? Borlais felt a sense of dread. He couldn't even confirm what the threat was?
"Immediately send word to the units in the Underhive. Tell them they must be even more cautious. Any possible taint must be reported!"
Borlais's command post relayed the order. The units of the Adeptus Arbites and Astra Militarum soon replied: "Understood!"
Everything on their end seemed normal. Order in the Underhive remained stable; it seemed it would be just another unremarkable day.
In one of the Arbites communication rooms, a cultist with pale purple skin put down the transmitter. He believed the voice he had just mimicked was identical to the corpse lying before him.
Outside, the remaining soldiers of the camp were still resisting, but against the fierce assault of the Genestealers, their resistance was futile. He turned to the crude radio he had brought—a communication line internal to the Genestealer Cult.
"Reporting to the Envoy: the plan to seize the Arbites outpost in District West-17 has been completed perfectly."
Yuki received the message and marked the outpost in red on his map. The map before him was now a dense sea of red, though many blue points remained.
Yuki was in no hurry. Most of the passages connecting the Underhive and Mid-hive to the Spire were under control. To those in the Spire, everything elsewhere appeared peaceful and fine.
Those besieged soldiers who had no idea what was happening would be the first victims before the Swarm arrived.
Yuno had fallen asleep; she was personally micro-managing the Hive Fleet as it approached the sector.