The Night Lords Legion needed a full-scale purge. It was the only path that could lead the Legion toward rebirth and future glory.
It was a dangerous gamble, no question about that, but Bruce knew better than anyone how little time he had and how overwhelming the task was. He had no choice but to do it.
Otherwise, once the Great Heresy arrived, a Legion with this little cohesion would shatter on contact.
And to make matters worse, their Primarch was already considered "missing" in name.
The entire Legion was completely scattered at heart now…
What made it even more painful was that with Sevatar also "missing," Bruce's status as nominal acting commander had become even more of a joke.
At this point, Bruce was practically a commander in name only. His orders could not even leave Nostramo, much less direct the Legion as a whole.
To put it bluntly, what Bruce had inherited was not a proper Night Lords Legion at all, but something more like an oversized 40K-era Chapter.
What a mess. Was this the Night Lords' unique kind of "advanced development"? They had jumped ahead by ten thousand years and outpaced several editions of Guilliman's Codex Astartes.
"So you're using the Dark Angels to solve your internal Legion problems? You really do have nerve."
After learning the full scope of Bruce's plan, Sevatar offered her opinion in a cool, unreadable tone.
"I don't have much choice. I don't have enough troops, and most people are deeply wary of civil war. If I'm not careful, the whole Legion explodes."
Bruce gave a helpless laugh as he flipped through administrative reports.
"Sigh. I finally understand just how miserable it is to be the person actually running a Legion."
"This is only a few sectors' worth of administration. Hah. You still need to learn a great deal, recruit."
Sevatar sounded utterly unconcerned.
"Be grateful. Only half the Night Haunter Council is contemplating rebellion, not all of them."
"Yes…"
Bruce answered obediently.
Compared with the Legion's endless problems, Sevatar herself had discovered a kind of joy she had never experienced before.
Ever since becoming a woman, she had become happier than she had ever been.
No more Legion headaches. No more colonies causing trouble. In a sense, the whole of her had brightened considerably.
Even though Shen had repeatedly begged her to step in, take over, and save the Night Lords, Sevatar had still chosen to lie flat. She was never spending the rest of her life running councils again.
Let it all end here.
There would be no more Prince of Crows.
Now there were only three things she needed to do.
First, brew black tea for Lady Curze, while quietly trying to learn Bruce's tea-making skills.
Second, wipe pastry crumbs from milady's mouth after she ate, so her dignity remained spotless at all times.
And third—and most important of all—maintain the Scarlet Devil Mansion properly. The Night Lords' prestige absolutely could not be damaged in the slightest.
It could be said that the fully feminized Sevatar was genuinely enjoying herself now. She no longer thought about how, in the past, she had once been the true master of an entire Legion.
"Damn it… the Second Imperium hasn't even shown up yet, and Nostramo is already about to get a second senate. What a nightmare…"
Looking at several reports submitted by members of the Night Haunter Council, Bruce immediately felt a headache coming on.
Though Sevatar herself had vanished, the council she left behind was still functioning normally.
The problem was that some among them were already beginning to make moves in secret, while others, noticing the danger, had decided to strike first.
Some had even started skimming the tithe—or outright resisting taxation altogether.
That was not ordinary disloyalty anymore. That called for a heavy hand.
"This is your trial, recruit."
Perched elegantly on Bruce's shoulder, Curze sipped fragrant black tea and rendered her verdict.
"If you can't even handle something this minor, how do you expect to become my sharpest blade and cut down all of my brothers?"
"Yes…"
Bruce almost said several things in response, more than once, but forced himself to swallow every one of them.
In his heart, the Night Lords Legion had almost no value at all. In strategy-game terms, it was a complete trash faction—something only a dedicated specialist or a full-blown masochist would ever pick.
And me?
A complete beginner.
Dropped straight into nightmare difficulty.
So what—he was supposed to turn a Legion made mostly of criminals and bandits into a disciplined, well-drilled fighting force in less than ten years?
That was absurd.
Work continued anyway.
Then a dispatch from the Warmaster's command entered Bruce's view.
The moment he saw the word "Warmaster," he began thinking about how to get into contact with Horus—preferably figure out where he was and whether it was still possible to stop him from getting railroaded into corruption by the plot.
Then—
Bang!
With a huge crash, Shen kicked the door open in a pair of old cloth shoes and strode inside.
"Acting Commander! The recording is done! I captured the Dark Angels Primarch's disgrace!"
She bounced excitedly toward the Night King's Throne.
"Meiling, next time could you knock before barging in?" Sevatar said irritably, clenching a fist.
How had this woman become this reckless after turning into a girl?
"Sorry, sorry, I forgot… should I go back out and knock first?"
Only then did Shen realize all three senior figures were present.
What she still couldn't understand, though, was why the Acting Commander was seated on the Night King's Throne, while the Primarch sat on Bruce's shoulder and Sevatar stood nearby.
Was this bizarre arrangement really fine?
"No need."
Curze set down her teacup, braced herself against Bruce's head, and stood upright on his shoulder. Then she gave her command in ringing tones:
"Play the recording immediately! I want to see my brother's disgrace! Hahahaha!"
Bruce quietly set down the bloodstained feather quill in his hand. Then he interlaced his fingers and rested them beneath his chin.
Was it finally here?
His favorite yuri film segment?
Even back in his original world, a small movie like this—this kind of all-girls material—would have been a rare prize.
Bruce time was about to begin.
"Right away!"
Shen set the DV camera down on the steps below the throne, sat cross-legged beside it, scratched idly at her foot, and finished adjusting the controls.
"Ah~ hff… hff… mm… ngh… ah—"
A holographic projection sprang up, and the sound of heated female gasps filled the room, mixed with wet, sucking noises like flesh being licked.
On the projection, Lion's face was flushed deep red as she gritted her teeth and endured the overwhelming stimulation racing through her body. Even so, strong as she was, there were still moments when she couldn't help parting her lips and letting out trembling breaths.
"…"
Bruce watched in silence, then shoved the table in front of him aside because it was starting to get in the way.
But almost immediately, he realized something was wrong.
Why was it all close-up shots of Lion's face?
Where was the rest?
Where were the shots of the four gorgeous women going to work on her from every angle?
"What a disgraceful spectacle," Sevatar commented seriously.
"Hahahaha! I'm going to share this recording with all humanity!" Curze threw up both hands in glee.
"No. That's not the problem."
Bruce, however, shook his head with utmost seriousness.
Looking at the three girls who had all turned toward him, he declared:
"This footage is trash."
"It's just a close-up of a face panting! What's the point of that?!"
Who would want to watch something like this? Honestly!
"But… the Primarch's order was to record the prisoner's disgrace. I got as close as possible. Did I do it wrong?"
Shen scratched her head, utterly baffled.
From her perspective, she had executed the task flawlessly. Twelve full hours, face-only close-ups, not a single distracting element.
"Aaaaargh…"
Bruce clutched his head in despair.
If you had just pulled the camera back a little and shown everyone how the Lion was being broken down, it would have been perfect! Instead you glued it to her face the entire time! Did you learn cinematography from the straightest man in existence?
At that moment, Bruce honestly wanted to pin Shen to the floor and strangle her. This was a crime against magnificent source material. Such incredible footage, and this was what she turned it into?
If Trazyn ever found out, he would kill you over and over again.
"So… should I go shoot another version?"
Shen scratched her head awkwardly.
"It's my first time doing a task like this—something unrelated to battle. Sorry about that, Acting Commander. Ehehe~"
"No… forget it."
Bruce shook his head, picked up the phone beside him, and spun the rotary dial. A moment later, Blue Fatty's voice came through the receiver.
"Old Wang? You were looking for me?"
"Has Lion submitted yet?"
"No. She still can't accept the future shown in the prophecy. But she has her own answer now. At this point she just needs a few key pieces of evidence. See if you can get them."
"What kind of evidence?"
Bruce frowned at once, already thinking about how he was supposed to acquire proof solid enough to make Lion accept the truth.
Getting Lion onto their side—or at the very least keeping her neutral—was the most important part of the plan.
Otherwise the Thramas campaign would still break out, and all of this would have been for nothing.
"Try starting with Horus," Blue Fatty suggested. "He's the core of the whole Heresy."
"Horus…?"
Hearing the name of the single most important pivot point in the entire Warhammer story, Bruce thought of many things at once—but had a much harder time seeing how any of them could actually be done.
"Here's what we do. Keep stuffing more plot and future scenes into Lion's mental world. Delay her as long as you can. I'll find a way to get her concrete evidence she can't refute."
Bruce immediately found a path forward.
But first came securing the Night Lords' rear and keeping the home front stable.
Only after that could he go after Horus—either to witness his fall firsthand, or prevent the Warmaster from being corrupted in the first place.
If either of those happened, then this entire timeline would be thrown into chaos.
"Uh… are you sure? What if that causes some irreversible consequence…"
"She's already like this, and she's a Primarch on top of that. What's the worst you think you can do—corrupt her too?" Bruce shot back mercilessly.
"…Fine. I'll see what material I can find."
"I'll kill every last one of you! Bruce Wayne! Just you wait! Just wait!"
As Lion's furious scream echoed faintly through the line, Bruce dug at his ear and ended the call on his own.
Then he shoved aside all thoughts of that matter for the moment and unfolded a portable star map across the desk.
"So you're going to stop Horus from being corrupted?" Curze asked with considerable interest as she sat back down again.
Bruce's view was partly blocked, so he reached up, flipped Curze's skirt behind his head, and shifted the star map over to the Word Bearers' territory with a grim expression.
Then he answered in a cold voice:
"I'm going to kill Erebus."
If someone asked for the fastest, simplest way to clear Warhammer 40K—
the answer was obvious.
Kill Erebus.
Without him, everything gets better.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 150)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 110)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter69)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter100)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 60
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 60
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 50
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 50
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 50
The Way the Umamusume Look at 31
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 26
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin