Chapter 278: Declaration of War on Every Screen in the Hive, Part 2
From the Spire down through Mid-Hive to the Underhive, every personal screen, every vox-caster, every public address speaker and broadcast panel carried Kian's voice and image simultaneously.
The people of Hive Tenebris watched the footage of radiation victims and listened to Kian speak. The anger came quickly. Imperial citizens were raised from birth to hate xenos, conditioned to treat that hatred as a civic virtue. Seeing the damage the Aeldari warrior had caused brought that conditioning roaring to the surface.
Across every level of the Hive, people were shouting for xenos blood. The fury spread through the streets like a current.
The screen cut back to Kian. His expression was hard.
"Xenos. You tore through our home and left twenty million people dying of radiation sickness. Are you proud of yourself? Do you think you've won something? Do you think you're our master now?"
He drove his fist into the wooden table in front of him. The table split visibly down the middle.
His eyes burned.
"We are humanity. We are the masters of this galaxy. Since the Emperor and His angels launched the Great Crusade, humanity's flame has burned on every world we've touched. And you, you filthy, contemptible, treacherous xenos, in the face of the Emperor and the iron fist of trillions of human souls, you are nothing but ash waiting to happen. Humanity was, is, and always will be the dominant force in this universe. Every xenos that does not share our values, every xenos that threatens our people, will be destroyed. Exterminated. Every last one."
He rose slightly in his chair.
"For the Emperor. For humanity. Mankind forever. Mankind ascendant."
The Hive erupted.
Ten billion voices took up the call. The collective fury, the species-level solidarity, the hatred of everything that had caused this suffering — it all crested at once, and the roar of it echoed through every corridor and shaft in the city.
Kian let it build for a moment, then his expression closed down.
"Xenos. You detonated a fusion reactor in our home. You think no one can make you answer for that?"
He reached off-camera and accepted something from a production assistant. He held it up in front of the lens.
Across the Hive, the crowd erupted in cheers.
In the maintenance conduit, the Aeldari warrior made a sound that was not a cheer.
Kian was holding four improvised yo-yos, each one weighted with an Aeldari head, swinging gently from their long hair.
He smiled. It was not a kind smile.
"Your four companions. I made these myself. The Aeldari do favour long hair, which I found very convenient. And this is perhaps one ten-millionth of the contempt I have for your kind."
He set the yo-yos aside and held up four gem-set necklaces instead, letting them catch the light.
"Now. Before you start grieving. Look at these."
The Imperial citizens watching were puzzled. The Aeldari warrior's stomach dropped.
"Citizens of the Imperium, you may not know what these are. Allow me to explain. These are soul stones. Aeldari soul-capture gems. I killed those four xenos, but their souls still exist, bound inside these four stones. If the stones are destroyed, the souls are destroyed with them. Permanently. Irrevocably."
He set one soul stone on the table in front of him, picked up a heavy crystal ashtray, and brought it down hard.
"No!"
The Aeldari warrior screamed and watched the stone shatter.
Kian blew the powder off the table.
"That one is gone."
His smile faded completely. He looked into the camera with cold, flat eyes.
"Xenos. I know you're watching. I have three soul stones left. Three of your companions' souls in my hand. And I'm going to use them to make you an offer. You and me. One location, no interference."
The feed cut to a rotating three-dimensional map. A mountain valley roughly three hundred kilometres south of the Hive, complex terrain, high walls on every side.
Kian's voice continued over the image.
"This is where we settle it. Just the two of us. The terrain makes it impossible to stage a large force, so you don't need to worry about an ambush. Any small unit that tries to enter, you can handle yourself. And for the record: I only need myself. I don't require ambushes to take your head."
The feed jumped to a schematic of an Aquila-pattern shuttlecraft.
"This shuttle will be at the location. Kill me, board it, and you can take your companions' soul stones and leave this planet. I swear this on the Emperor's name. No explosives, full fuel, fully operational. No tricks."
Back to Kian's face, close on the lens.
"I'll arrive at the location in three days. I expect you to be there. Come and settle this with me, and with humanity, once and for all. In the interest of fairness: I chose the location. You choose the time. But from the moment I arrive, every day you don't show up, I crush another soul stone."
He drew his power sword and levelled it at the camera.
"I, Kian Voss, Baron of Whitepaper City, Lord of House Chastener, Pious Crusader of the Ecclesiarchy, hereby issue a formal challenge of single combat to the Aeldari warrior. One of us walks away. I will take your head with this blade."
The feed cut to black.
The Hive went out of its mind.
"Kill the xenos!"
"Mankind forever! Mankind ascendant!"
"Baron Voss! We love you!"
The praise was coming from every level, every district. A minor baron had just become the focal point for ten billion people's rage and hope simultaneously. The Aeldari warrior had made herself the Hive's greatest enemy. And now a noble had stood up on live broadcast to challenge her to a duel. The crowd wanted blood, and Kian had just told them exactly where it was going to be spilled.
In the maintenance conduit, the Aeldari warrior said nothing.
She was still absorbing the death of her companion's soul. She was completely alone now.
Barking echoed through the dark passage. Then shouting.
"She's over there! Move!"
The Aeldari warrior stood up and walked toward the bounty hunters in the dark.
Several seconds of gunfire, screaming, and the sound of bodies hitting the floor.
Then silence.
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