Blood traced a dazzling arc through the air as Gaia tore the profane battle axe, coated in overgrown bone and masses of flesh, straight out of her chest with her bare hands.
Under a wound that severe, Gaia felt the chill of approaching death.
Her life was fading together with the blood gushing from her chest.
Just as her life flickered like a candle in the wind, the familiar system screen popped up.
[No problem. Just a minor injury. Achievement completed: {Doing Sit-Ups on the Edge of Death}]
[Obtained Talent {Injury Endurance King}: You can flexibly adjust the severity of your injuries within physiological limits.]
[Talent {Cold Endurance King}, Talent {Fall Endurance King}, and Talent {Injury Endurance King} have fused.]
[Obtained Talent {Epstein's Basketball Athlete}: Your physical fitness and wound-healing ability are greatly increased. Extra effective against minors. More likely to have accidents while riding aircraft.]
Seeing that utterly bizarre talent, Gaia did not even have the strength to complain.
As if sensing her weakness, the sinister whispers rose once more from the axe in her hands:
"Grip me tightly, and I will give you strength."
"You will become an immortal warrior and enjoy supreme honor."
"Mortals across countless worlds will chant your name in fear."
"You will possess war without end."
"You may revel in battle as much as you wish, without fear of passing away, because you will become an eternal champion."
Its words were full of temptation, carrying enough allure to shake even the strongest will.
Gaia's blood-loss-blurred eyes fixed on it.
Feeling her gaze, the flesh-axe squirmed excitedly.
Just as it believed this mortal had accepted its promise and decided to throw herself into the embrace of the great Blood God, Gaia raised it high with both hands.
The next instant, its fragile haft crashed against Gaia's hard knee.
Under the force of the towering fury inside her, the evil axe shattered instantly into pieces and scattered below the arena.
"No!!!"
A horrifying roar rang out from some unseen place.
But with the flesh-axe destroyed, the evil god's beacon vanished.
Although that golden light was already fading, It could no longer project Its power into that location in the material universe again any time soon...
As the axe shattered, the madmen gathered below the arena, who had been cheering a moment ago, first froze in place.
Then, under the strengthening of some unknown power, they all underwent a horrifying mutation. Great masses of bone and flesh burst from their limbs, turning those things that had still vaguely resembled humans into utterly twisted monsters of slaughter.
The weapons in their hands fused into them during that dreadful transformation.
Waving blades that were no longer clearly weapon or limb, they roared and charged toward the arena.
At that moment, there was only one thought in their minds.
Tear apart the one still standing, and soothe their master's fury.
Under the death charge of that pack of warped monsters, several fatal wounds instantly opened on Myles, who had been desperately holding the line at the bone stairs.
He fought with everything he had, yet still could not stop their advance.
Bathed in blood, under the hurricane-like assault of countless blades around him, he finally could not hold on any longer.
Boom.
His mountain-like body crashed heavily onto the ground.
The monsters roared, stepped over the fallen Myles, and rushed toward Gaia, who was trapped in a dazed state on the edge of death.
Even with blades already before her eyes, even with savage howls echoing in her ears, she could not make any effective response.
Because at that moment, standing upright alone already consumed all the strength she had left.
The first monster reached Gaia.
Just as the blade in its hand was about to rip apart her defenseless body, it suddenly exploded into pieces with a deafening blast.
Not far away, white smoke curled from the muzzle of Raven's boltgun.
He no longer needed to hold back.
Because the observation was complete.
The Librarian who had been watching Gaia through Raven had already given the order.
A thunderous roar echoed across the sky.
The monsters looked up in confusion, only to see that the gray sky, still faintly stained with red, now burned with blazing clouds of fire.
Within that dazzling inferno, giant stars fell from the heavens.
They were metal drop-pods, their surfaces burning with brilliant light from the friction of atmospheric entry.
An iron rain fell from the sky. Some landed within the nearby hive city, some crashed into places beyond sight, and some fell right beside the bone arena.
After the hissing scream of pressure release came the heavy thud of massive objects striking the ground.
The heavy metal hatches opened.
Within the thick clouds of dust, footsteps like war drums began to sound.
As pebbles on the ground trembled, several towering figures emerged from the haze.
Bang!
Brilliant bolt-fire flashed. Before those profane monsters could even react, they were smashed into scattered chunks of gore by huge blurred figures wrapped in hurricane-force momentum.
As Gaia's consciousness slowly drifted away, she vaguely saw those enormous figures arrive before her.
Angels... came to my side?
That was her final thought.
...
On the ground, one fragment of the battle axe trembled slightly.
It avoided the notice of those demigods and slowly shifted bit by bit until it reached Myles, who lay collapsed upon the bone stairs.
It hesitated for a moment.
Then it suddenly stabbed itself into his body...
...
The rebellion on Oteanta was quelled.
That report was gathered together with countless other reports of attacks and uprisings from its sector. Then it was bundled again with tens of thousands of similar messages from across the wider region, and in the end it was delivered to the very center of the Imperium of Man.
Holy Terra.
But at this moment, the officials on Terra had no mind to care about such a routine report.
Because a public trial was underway.
In recent years, the Ecclesiarchy had expanded its power, and the bishop who had successfully seized the greatest voice among them was now openly accusing another High Lord:
"You deliberately sheltered an evil plan that sought to use cursed power to complete a so-called military founding."
"And you also intended to violate the Codex Astartes, permitting the one thing that must never be allowed to happen."
"Therefore, I propose that the position of Lord Inquisitor be transferred at once, and that this man be judged as a traitor!"
The Lord Inquisitor looked mockingly at the High Lords, who either nodded or silently acquiesced.
They had long since forgotten the original purpose of the Council of Twelve and had sunk into the game called power.
Just as he had always believed, mortals had no right to rule this Imperium.
Only demigods could save humanity, even if both the Emperor and the Codex opposed it.
But sadly, under the accusation of the bishop whose authority was now at its peak, that radical Lord Inquisitor was publicly sentenced to a brutal death.
To warn certain officials who harbored different ideas, the bishop deliberately demanded that all officials witness the burning of this "traitor."
Although some people knew that the Lord Inquisitor was merely a sacrifice in a political struggle, none dared to speak.
Because the Ecclesiarchy was truth.
That lesson was carved deeply into the heart of a young Terran official at that moment.
His name was:
Goge Vandire.
(End of Chapter)
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