The Emperor’s Angel of Death

After the fall of her nation and the destruction of her home, Lana's life became one of constant hiding. Although her cousin had advised her to seek refuge in the Sautekh Dynasty temporarily, Lana firmly refused. She would never forgive those oath-breaking deceivers and the coward who never showed his face.

The result was that she and her cousin were arrested and brought before a massive transformation furnace. Countless people were lined up, bound by ropes, waiting to be turned into soulless machines.

Before her, two men were particularly loud, constantly cursing and swearing, using every possible word and phrase to curse the Silent King and insult all the women in his family, never repeating a single word, displaying their superb literary skills, yet they were still thrown into the sea of fire. Lana vaguely heard them called Orikan and Trazyn.

Finally, it was her turn.

Just as she was about to be crushed and scattered in the wind, she found herself suddenly pulled away from the sea of fire and placed in a bizarre palace.

The palace's style was reminiscent of the Necrons' old style. At the end of the palace, a black stone gate, engraved with countless symbols and figures, stood tall, leading to it by a wide staircase. Double rows of braziers on both sides appeared empty and eerie, guiding the staircase upwards.

As Lana brushed past the first row of braziers, emerald green flames flickered and rose in a distorted manner. The spiraling flames even illuminated the far end of the ceiling's corbels, then gradually extended upwards, forming a row of burning pillars.

It was then that she noticed blood congealing into beads from the ceiling between the rotting doorways, dripping onto the stone slabs on the ground.

Where did the blood come from?

She pondered as she climbed, finally reaching the gate, then gently placing her hand on it.

The seemingly heavy gate opened like a broken wooden door.

The gate groaned as it scraped against the ground, debris falling. Light shone on Lana, the energy so dense that it formed a misty substance flowing down the steps. The ground behind the gate was as smooth as a mirror. Lana looked down at her reflection: a face she had almost forgotten, the young and innocent face, the carefree little princess of the Mupeket Dynasty.

After a moment of indulgence, Lana raised her eyes, passed the tapestries woven from golden fabric, and looked towards the source of the sacred light.

The light emanated from a platform at the end of the hall. Huge candlesticks burned with pure flames. A god in golden armor was surrounded by a halo, its face hidden in the darkness of the helmet. Countless wings of light gathered behind it, even the huge throne and magnificent sanctuary could not contain its divinity. Countless Necron-like priests gathered on the steps around it, kneeling and worshiping. Even Lana couldn't help but want to cry under its invisible gaze, wanting to kneel and confess her disrespect.

But suddenly, the other's gaze reminded her of something.

At the moment she was thrown into the transformation furnace, there was also a pair of strange eyes watching her, filled only with hunger, greed, and cruelty.

In just an instant, she forced herself to wake up. Then the surrounding space changed. The once radiant temple was now filled with darkness. The tapestries around were blood-stained pieces of meat. The huge candlesticks were made of piles of bones and corpses. Viscera and blood covered the broken stone slabs. Those kneeling priests had become monsters covered in human skin, with huge claws and deformed bodies. And that so-called god…

The golden armor had become a fabric of dirty skin and bones, the dazzling halo had become countless screaming souls. Any trace of holiness was displayed in a chillingly distorted form on that filthy body. The dirty claws were long and evil, and manic energy emanated from its body, causing countless faces sewn on the cloak to groan.

Under the hood made of minced meat and rags, a pair of scarlet eyes were staring at Lana. Fear instantly gripped her consciousness—

Lana's vision was instantly narrowed, excluding those pieces of flesh and corpses, excluding those metallic bodies, erasing that darkness, leaving only those eyes.

She seemed to have lost control of her self-awareness, and then—

Madness, depravity, or oblivion?

She suddenly wanted to howl and curse her misfortune, crying out for destruction? Destruction? To welcome liberation?

But there was always a ticking sound in her ear, like a timer, forcing her to maintain her sanity. Just as she turned to flee, she discovered that the gate she had come through was already closed, and it had changed.

It had become a deformed wall of flesh and blood, bones, countless eyes and mouths.

No, not just the door, the entire palace's walls, ceiling, and even the floor had turned into flesh and blood.

Lana seemed to have fallen into "its" belly, and countless vicious gazes composed of different types of eyes were cast upon Lana, emitting endless hunger, as if to engulf all the souls it craved into the depths to fill its endless desires.

Finally, Lana tremblingly spoke that name—

Randugol.

“Ah—”

Accompanied by a piercing scream, the moment Lana's visual apparatus revived, a pair of scarlet eyes appeared before her, causing her to subconsciously reach out and slap them away.

With a clatter of metal, a metal skull fell to the ground. Lana reacted and immediately reached out to grab it.

“Careless.”

Picking up the metal skull again, now mottled and unrecognizable, Lana patted her chest in a very human-like manner, then touched her face, still the cold mask.

The aftertaste of the dream gradually faded, giving way to cold memory circuits. She was no longer the princess she once was. She was now a Technomancer, a memory wraith hidden in a living metal body—is only memory enough to be an independent personality, she had once asked her cousin. The other's answer was, we are all dead.

But what was all that just now? A dream? A brief glitch in the circuits? Phantom pain from memories? Or…

Her secondary auxiliary logic told her that this was definitely not normal, but she couldn't think of any reason.

“Cousin said not to look directly into its eyes, why was I curious to look?”

Then she took out two red gems and inserted them into the skull's eye sockets. After she finished, she suddenly noticed that her pet "Rose"—a special Canoptek Spider—was maintaining the highest state of alert, which meant—

Lana scanned her surroundings and immediately became vigilant. This originally empty underground natural cave had somehow gained some twisted and deformed bodies. They surrounded Rose and Lana from all directions. Because the Canoptek Spider was in a passive defense state, unable to attack without authorization, it could only wave its metal chelicerae, making warning gestures, and always protecting Lana under or behind it.

But these Flayers did not attack either. Instead, they stopped in place. Lana noticed one particularly conspicuous one, because from its appearance, although somewhat deformed, one could still discern its past identity—a Deathmark.

This special Flayer was squatting on a rock, tilting its head like a scavenger, its huge red single eye on its mottled face staring at Lana, while its skeletal body was covered with strips of rotten skin that were almost dried out.

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