As the metropolis that housed World Serpent's headquarters, it had once been one of the world's foremost international cities, receiving far greater attention than most regions.
But now, the once-prosperous jungle of steel and concrete had been reduced to smoking, shattered ruins. The dazzling neon lights no longer shone. In their place rose blazing fireballs and crackling arcs of electricity.
The temperature continued to climb. Within the low-visibility atmosphere, faint glimmers of firelight flickered. Roaring detonations tore through one building after another. Severed high-voltage cables spat neon-like electrical arcs from their broken ends.
Across the city, the crisscrossing asphalt roads were riddled with devastation. Foul sewage surged up from underground drainage channels, forming stagnant pools. Collapses in the subway system had left sinkholes and fractured depressions everywhere.
Whirling sand and gravel were lifted by hurricane-force winds stirred by explosions, spiraling upward. With an unending thunder of impacts, broken bricks and rubble tumbled down.
Without a doubt, aside from the clash of great figures above, the Imperial Army's extermination of World Serpent members and biological weapons within the collapsed steel forest had never ceased.
Ordinary Imperial soldiers had already been ordered to stay far from the convergence point of the twin firestorms. Under the divine "radiance" of such might, common humans had no chance of survival.
In one corner of the metropolis—
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Valves connecting to underground laboratories opened. Amid gushing steam, a mass of dark figures burst forth.
Boom!
They smashed through thick reinforced concrete walls. Their spider-like metallic lower bodies supported black blades that stabbed into nearby structures as they moved without looking back.
In the next moment, a mocking voice rang out.
"Found some sewer trash. Let's see... oh? So you're the World Serpent scum Lord Russ specifically ordered us to wipe out."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Explosions erupted instantly, destroying their footholds. Buildings collapsed. Their route of movement was obstructed, their steps delayed.
As bolt shells thundered like a torrential storm across the ruined cityscape, they were forced—under the orders of their controllers—to land heavily on the ground.
Only after halting from high-speed movement did their forms become clear.
They were inhuman weapons synthesized from flesh and machinery.
Half-visors covered their faces. Their upper bodies resembled those of young human girls, their skin pallid and sickly. Judging from their physiques, they were not yet of great age—youthful bodies exposed to the air in broad swathes.
If that were all, many sentimental gentlemen might even feel pity for them.
But their lower halves were no longer human legs. Instead, cold mechanical constructs formed four massive metal claws gripping the ground. Four-legged, human-torsoed—terrifying as spiders.
There was no trace of living warmth about them. Compared to human skin, their outer layers resembled a fusion of ceramic and synthetic fiber.
Through the bodies torn open by bolt shells, it was evident that beneath their skin lay not simple flesh, but a composite of pale muscle and metallic circuitry.
Viscous nutrient fluid oozed from their wounds, sliding over the junction where flesh met mechanical spider legs. With a steady drip, it pooled onto the ground.
They were World Serpent's artificially created hunting weapons, codenamed Death Web—synthetic monstrosities born from research into the structures of Honkai Beasts and the undead.
Arc City, home to Heliopolis Life Sciences under the control of Jackal, had deployed large numbers of Death Web. As the location of World Serpent's headquarters, it was only natural that mass-production lines existed here as well.
Human experimentation, in their view, was merely a necessary price on the path to victory.
In that regard, World Serpent and Schicksal were two of a kind.
But there was one point—World Serpent could sacrifice an entire major city, using all its civilians as experimental fodder, without the slightest psychological burden. In that sense, they surpassed even Schicksal's moral bottom line and more clearly revealed the extremity of their ideology.
After all, World Serpent's near-deranged creed was simple: to save the world, to fight Honkai—at any cost!
Of course, Selene and her Empire had no qualifications to condemn them.
"Flank them. Cut off their retreat."
Through the visor of his power armor helmet, a warrior of the Astartes Sixth Legion—the Space Wolves—stared coldly at these neither-human-nor-ghost creatures.
"Don't let them escape! Exterminate them!" an officer commanded.
Once the order was given, they descended like wolves from the mountains. Clad in gray-white armor adorned with beast bones and fangs, they charged in with frenzied cheers, tearing through metal flesh with bolt shells, chainblades, and power weapons.
"For Selene—!"
"Roooaaar—!"
"Little ladies, your wolf grandpas are here!"
"Damn it! Your tastes are that heavy? You'd charge at this?!"
"Wolves—rip these bastards apart!"
They did not rely on helmet comms. Instead, they howled crudely, bloodthirsty fervor etched across their faces. Their language was vulgar. Their movements, brutal.
Under the leadership of their respective Legion Commanders, each Astartes Legion developed its own distinct temperament.
As for the Astartes Sixth Legion, the Space Wolves... how to put it? The tactful description would be that they were down-to-earth—full of rough, living fire.
"Damn it!"
Among the artificial hunting weapons, several World Serpent members in black robes shouted in panic. "All of you, attack!"
In the underground research facility, every monitoring device had gone offline. Communications were severed. The surface thundered endlessly. Realizing the situation had turned dire, they activated these vat-grown weapons and fled the city center.
They had not intended to engage head-on. But now that these gray-armored giants had blocked their path, there was no escaping it.
With the creators' command, the heads of the Death Web jerked upward. Behind their visors, red lights seemed to glow. Faint electrical buzzing followed.
Then they moved.
Bang bang bang!
Sharp detonations rang out as bolt shells tore through the air, their explosive payloads bursting apart.
Boom—!
At once, the most aggressive Space Wolf warrior collided head-on with a Death Web. The explosion boomed like a great bell struck in a cathedral.
The blast echoed through the narrow passage, the shockwave hurling several black-robed figures to the ground.
"Now this is fun!"
Locked in close combat, sharp limbs scraped across his shoulder armor, sending showers of sparks flying. The Space Wolf laughed loudly as his chainaxe hacked down viciously at the junction between the Death Web's flesh and mechanical waist.
Seizing the momentum, his other hand freed itself. Without the slightest intention of assuming a defensive stance, purplish-red Honkai energy particles coiled around his fist as he swung it mercilessly into the Death Web's head.
Crack.
Its neck bent ninety degrees on impact. The Death Web's face caved inward, a large section collapsing. Brain matter? Nutrient fluid? Or Honkai energy? A viscous mixture of all three spilled out from within.
The chainaxe swept across. Amid the high-pitched scream of its rotating teeth, it severed the creature cleanly at the waist. The stench of heated metal bones and synthetic muscle filled the air, assaulting the senses of the surrounding warriors.
The difference was clear—the Space Wolves only seemed to grow more frenzied, while the World Serpent members who had fled from the underground laboratory looked increasingly shaken.
A final stomp crushed the still-struggling Death Web's head, ending it completely.
Vrrr—!
Pew!
"Wolves! Indulge yourselves!"
The leading officer drew a finely crafted plasma pistol from the magnetic clasp at his waist, decorated with wolf fangs. Raising it, he pulled the trigger. A surge of blue plasma beams melted straight through the upper body of a Death Web.
With a backhand slash, pale-blue arcs of a Honkai energy disintegration field flashed as his power longsword sheared the head from another Death Web.
Within the Astartes Legions, there was no distinction of birth or pedigree. Advancement depended solely on military merit and personal strength. He was almost the embodiment of a perfect killing machine.
With every step, a blond head flew through the air.
With every step, metal flesh was torn apart in gruesome succession.
At a visible pace, the inhuman forms of the Death Web dwindled beneath the gray-white tide of the wolf pack.
"Stop him! Stop them! Hold them back!"
Even as they fled at full speed toward the ruins of a building across the street, several World Serpent black-robes continued shouting commands to the weapons they had brought out.
Clutching tablet-like personal terminals, they operated them frantically.
"A bunch of cowards. Shut up."
Grabbing the black blade thrust toward his eye with one hand, the Space Wolf officer cast a disdainful glance at the black-robed figures already hundreds of meters away.
"Tactical fire support team—melt them for me!"
Thud thud thud thud—!
"Understood!"
With manic laughter, two Space Wolves wielding multi-barreled heavy bolter rifles unleashed a thunderous barrage. Ammunition belts fed from boxes mounted on the backs of their heavy power armor. Massive shell casings ejected continuously.
Though their helmets concealed their expressions, one could easily imagine the wild grins twisting beneath as such exaggerated, frenzied howls echoed across the battlefield.
Boom boom boom—!
A relentless chain of dense explosions erupted, blasting building debris into the air. Within the blood mist, fragile human bodies were pulverized into powder. Shells the size of a man chewed through walls until nothing remained.
When the thunder finally ceased, there was no trace left of the fleeing black-robes—only splashes of crimson "paint" scattered across broken stone and rubble.
"Dispose of the rest."
Sheathing his power longsword, the Space Wolf officer turned his gaze toward the collapsed structure from which the World Serpent members had emerged. Within it, the gaping darkness pried open by metal valves was conspicuous.
...
"Lord Russ, this is the Third Great Company reporting from the northern sector..."
"Legion Commander Leman Russ, beneath the city we have discovered a large-scale biological weapons factory."
"Retributors 17th Great Company reporting—western sector, xxx Street—World Serpent laboratory located. Large numbers of human modification cultivation vats detected..." Attachment → This is the captured footage.jpg
"..."
Leman Russ was in a foul mood. Watching Roboute fight so freely made his hands itch.
When had there ever been a time—when another Imperial general of equal rank was present—that he, Leman Russ, became the supreme cross-legion commander of an entire war zone, even if only temporarily?
Never before.
Budo the Great General was one thing, but Roboute—renowned for his administrative expertise—had charged into battle as well. Meanwhile, he, a man born solely for war, was bogged down by trivial affairs, forced to glare from the sidelines.
It was not as though he could not personally descend to the battlefield and slaughter a few weaklings to ease the itch. But that would be beneath him.
Leman Russ still had his pride. As a Legion Commander, to compete with ordinary soldiers for such meager scraps of merit? Forget it.
"And you—clearly a World Serpent cadre—how are you weaker than a goblin... what a letdown."
Picking up an oversized glass from the table, Leman Russ gulped down the wine within, exhaled deeply, and wiped the foam from his lips. With a flick of his hand, a figure kneeling amid the ruins was tossed forward.
A black hooded jacket trimmed with green lines was caked in dust. The right hem was torn open in a large hole. From the remaining lettering, one could vaguely make out the character for "martial."
It was none other than World Serpent cadre—Gray Serpent.
But he was in a miserable state. The white mask covering only his right eye had shattered, revealing the implanted prosthetic devices beneath. His left arm had been severed at the shoulder. The remaining three limbs twisted unnaturally.
Earlier, Kevin had chosen Roboute as his opponent, and Budo had chosen Raiden Mei. Leman Russ had not been able to snatch either away, leaving him momentarily at a loss.
Looking around, all he saw were synthetic beasts, mechs, and ordinary soldiers—none of which stirred his interest. Finally, he had spotted a cadre noted in intelligence reports.
Then Leman Russ had leapt out, bringing his axe down with excitement.
Pff.
And it broke?
That had only been a greeting strike—how had the man failed to withstand even that?
"Gray Serpent? World Serpent cadre. I'm not wrong, am I?"
Setting down the glass, Leman Russ fiddled with the military terminal in his hand. Displayed upon it was Gray Serpent's information, pulled in real time from Schicksal and Anti-Entropy databases.
"You didn't climb your way up by selling your body, did you...?" he mused, stroking his chin. "Doesn't look like it."
"That sort of hobby doesn't usually involve replacing your entire body with metal prosthetics. What is this... does World Serpent play this wild?"
His limbs and eyes were prosthetic. Even his torso had undergone extensive modification. How much of his original body remained—Leman Russ could not tell.
"Who are the other World Serpent cadres? Where are they?"
"..."
A trace of ferocity flashed through Leman Russ's icy-blue vertical pupils. He had rambled on for so long, yet Gray Serpent lay motionless like a corpse. Instantly, Leman Russ lost any desire to continue the conversation.
"Playing mute, are we? Boring."
With a glance of his eyes, he signaled.
The Space Wolves Honor Guard at his side immediately obeyed.
Vrrm! Clang! Splurt! Slice!
In the span of a single breath, Gray Serpent was reduced to a pile of fragments.
Looking at the scant traces of blood among the wreckage, Leman Russ shook his head.
"The degree of modification..."
As the body before Leman Russ was rendered useless, deep within the underground laboratory beneath the metropolis, in a shadowed corner, a crimson prosthetic eye lit up beneath a black hood.
"Those warriors are apostles of Finality," Gray Serpent murmured in a metallic, hoarse voice.
"Our Lord's preparations are not yet complete... Finality—her premature descent..."
"Should we abandon it... or strike?"
"The Serpent exists to eradicate Honkai. But our Lord is the pioneer of humanity's future—the one destined to lead humanity into a brand-new era..."
"For humanity's future... should I awaken them...?"