How can a retired savior be considered retired if he drops to 40,000?

When the astropath's telepathic spell was basically stable, Debit, who was actually of little use in this regard, left there, and got some nutritional paste from somewhere as energy supply. These were nutritional supplements that the Iron Hands Chapter reserved for mortal servants. They only contained protein, starch, vitamins required by the human body and a few trace elements, and there were no strange additives that were beneficial to combat. For ancient people like them who were relatively weak, there would be no problem eating them, but the taste and texture were really not good.

Debitt returned to the command room with the stuff and gave half to Fujimaru Ritsuka, saying, "It is also important to replenish nutrition at the right time." The latter, who had just woken up, agreed with him, and after confirming the words on the package, he stuffed the sticky paste into his mouth without thinking much - and then his whole face wrinkled.

Ten seconds later, she swallowed everything. During this process, she didn't say a word, but it seemed like she said everything. Looking to the side, Debbie, who was also eating in pain, had the same expression as if they were cast from the same mold. The two people were put together like this, and the subtle similarities between them made people feel for no reason that they were indeed "from the same school".

Fujimaru Ritsuka, who struggled out of the strange taste of the nutritional cream, completely woke up.After briefly confirming the current work progress and being told that "all preparations have been arranged, all we have to do at this stage is wait to jump out of the subspace." She thought for a moment and suggested to Feros: "We should Why don’t we go to the hangar in question now and get to know Tezcatlipoca?”

As the Iron Father and an Astartes, Ferros naturally had ten thousand reasons to refuse to talk to the Warp entity. But considering the series of events that happened before, his brain with extraordinary computing power was at a loss for words at this moment.

"I don't mean anything else. I'm just thinking about the current situation. The thing in the upper area of ​​the ship has not come down. I think this is probably because Tezcatlipoca did something." Fujimaru Ritsuka explained, "In his current state, he should be unable to interfere with the physical universe. After the ship jumps out of the subspace, in what order will the space folding phenomenon at the connection between the upper and middle layers disappear? This is very important information from a strategic point of view."

Hearing about this for the first time, Ferros turned around and looked at his adjutant, who said awkwardly: "...I thought it was something Debbie did, so it wasn't reflected in the battle report."

The Iron Hands on this ship had already formed a set of unspoken rules to cover up those things that were not right with Debbie. All of the above were tacitly approved by the Iron Father, so Ferros could not say anything. He could only turn back in dismay and ask Fujimaru Ritsuka, "Are there any important precautions?"

-

hunger.

There is always energy coming, but I can't feel full.

pain.

There is no pleasure, just pure pain.

The anger of failure.

The shame of falling short.

Want souls, living, psychic souls.

It has been eaten up completely, even the flesh has been eaten up completely.

Devouring blood, sipping brains, knocking bones and sucking marrow.

There is nothing left.

The emblems on the walls are annoying.

Still not enough. Want more.

Nothing at all.

There is nothing here (upper area).

Hunger, weird pain, pure torture.

Punishment for losers.

who am I?

There was laughter coming from the sky.

Humiliation, frustration, anger.

Not reconciled

Not perfect.

The ether weaves the form, weak but solid.

Pray to the paradise. Pray even if you are rejected.

Pain and wailing should be offered, blood and bliss should be offered.

Perfect art should be presented.

Need material, but have nothing.

The material is on the outside (under the ship) and you should go and plunder it.

Unable to reach, the space is locked.

It shouldn't be like this, but there is no power to go through it.

I should have such power.

who am I?

Where am I? Why am I here?

Strength. More strength is needed.

It requires the power to reach the extreme and achieve perfection.

The power required to destroy the emblem on the wall.

A cold energy came over me. Bland and tasteless.

Hungry. Thirsty.

Boring energy cannot extinguish these flames.

The ether weaves the form, weak but solid.

Pearly white skin, light purple scales.

Not shiny enough, not luxurious enough.

These are far from enough.

There should be jewels, there should be weapons, there should be offerings.

Nothing at all.

Why is something that should be there not there?

who am I?

I remembered.

Highland Year System, Iron Hands.

I am the Sapphire King.

I have failed.

I can't fail again.

——I must take back everything I originally had.

As everyone can guess, the King of Sapphires is happy to get the moon pollution! (?)

And six o'clock.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 65 Tezcatlipoca Spoke

After following Debbie and Fujimaru Ritsuka into the "problematic" hangar, Ferros finally recognized the existence of "Tezcatlipoca" from the inexplicable mist floating around:

A huge skeleton lies prone in the center of the hangar, and the air exudes a cold silence. The presence of these entities and the sense of intangible presence are so strong that it is hard to imagine that anyone who appears nearby could ignore them.

But in fact, the psychics who were temporarily living nearby were not specifically aware of these problems. They just felt that something was "wrong" in the environment nearby, which was not normal. Ferros had also come to check this hangar a few months ago. He didn't know whether the subspace entity named "Tezcatlipoca" had already been entrenched in it at that time. He could only say that at that time, he really didn't realize these abnormalities.

"Tezcatlipoca is also the god of probability." Fujimaru Ritsuka explained, "If he doesn't want to be seen, then he will manipulate and amplify the probability that everyone has 'missed' - no matter how small the possibility is, as long as it exists, his power can amplify it to 100%.

"If we use an instrument to detect it, we should be able to realize that something is wrong, because Tezcatlipoca's power can only adjust the probability of 'natural' events. Although it is not completely unable to affect 'man-made objects', the effect will be greatly reduced. So for him, it is more difficult to deceive the instrument than to deceive the human brain.

"But we have to be careful with this method, because Tezcatlipoca, who wants to hide, might get cornered and destroy all the monitoring equipment in a rage."

"You make me sound so tasteless when you say that." The huge skeleton not far away complained rumblingly, "Although I really can't say that I can't do it, is it necessary to say it so bluntly?"

The one who made the additional attack at this time was the taciturn Debbie: "This is indeed very likely to happen."

"Debit, you are my priest (Tlamacazqui), why are you speaking for others?"

"I just agree with an objective prediction of something that has not happened yet and has a high probability of happening."

"..." Tezcatlipoca was silent for a moment, then sighed, "Forget it. Anyway, the priests of Chaldea are considered 'old customers', and part of the reason why I often stay in this hangar is indeed to look forward to starting a 'new business'. I have no objection to you bringing the owner of this ship before I want to show up. But I must point out in advance that I am still a god from another world after all. Although this world itself does not resist my visit, it does not welcome me very much. The power I can exert here is very limited."

"...'Limited'?" As the "master of this ship" who was "brought here", Ferros had ample reason to be curious about this. "But you - you (this sharp turn in the person's name was because Fujimaru poked him behind the knee with the tail of the Skyhawk Staff on the side), you can move freely on the ship when the Geller Stand is activated, and you can easily make everyone ignore your existence. Now you have even closed the space on the upper deck of the ship in the form of space folding -"

"Tezcatlipoca is the almighty god who symbolizes chaos," Debbie concluded. "It's no surprise that he can do anything."

"The title of 'omnipotent' sounds impressive, but it's not 'all-powerful'." The god in question was quite frank about his own shortcomings. "If I were really 'all-powerful', I would have already 'established a foothold' in this universe, crossed the barrier of the veil and explored everywhere with Debit - his side seems much more interesting than the sub-space."

"Is that so in your opinion?" Fujimaru Ritsuka changed the subject out of pure curiosity. "There are always wars going on in the subspace. As the God of War, you shouldn't be bored, right?"

"Of course I found it interesting at first, but those second-hand wars that are similar in nature are just empty forms. I get tired of watching them after a while." Tezcatlipoca commented boredly, "The subspace is a reflection of the real universe, so there will be no things in it that 'have never existed in reality'. Moreover, even if there are losses in the war between demons, they will not just return to the original etheric form. This kind of stupid war with no sacrifice at all has no meaning in my opinion. It's just a territory coloring strategy game between a few guys who are bored."

"...This 'territory coloring strategy game' is really hard to play. And it's not fun at all." Fujimaru Ritsuka couldn't help but add, "Honestly, this thing doesn't even allow for a period of peaceful development. What kind of shit is this!"

"Oh? Sounds like you have some ideas?"

"Not really. I just worked as a logistics technician for the Emperor's psychic forces under the throne for a while, so I've seen battlefields like that. The Webway War that has been going on since the Heresy is such a suffering..." Fujimaru Ritsuka showed a lingering fear on his face, "Especially the commander-in-chief of the Cursed Army who has been working non-stop for 10,000 years - even the Primarch can't stand such torture. When we first met, I thought his self-awareness was about to become a Sikaran tank."

These wonderful keywords together greatly attracted Ferros' attention. A terrible suspicion and trembling surprise wandered through his nerves at the same time, but his reason told him that this had nothing to do with the topic they were supposed to discuss, so he tried hard to remain silent and did not ask any further questions.

However, Tezcatlipoca clearly didn't care about the topic they "should have discussed": "Ah, 'Primarch'. I've heard of this concept as well. At least the technology of 'creating a body strong enough to carry the essence of divinity' and 'being able to circumvent the veil' itself is worthy of recognition. Hey, Debit, as my priest, when can you get me something similar?"

"I have seen the design drawings of the Primarch, after all, I am the chief engineer in the matter of 'recasting Konrad Curze's body that can walk in the real universe'." Fujimaru Ritsuka slowly shifted his gaze, "But it is really difficult, right? Without the Emperor's help, even collecting materials is impossible, right? And you have to compress the Primarch's subspace essence to a size that can fit into the body and then seal it up, right?"

She didn't mention the word "oppose," but every word she said was "impossible." Debito certainly heard the implication, so he turned to Tezcatlipoca and confidently stated his attitude in one short sentence: "Aren't you Almighty God?"

Tezcatlipoca was speechless for a moment. Ferros, however, managed to break free from another round of information bombardment and tried to get the topic back to where it should be: "Just a reminder, this isn't what we're here to talk about."

"Hmm? Isn't it?" Tezcatlipoca asked lazily. "Aren't you here to ask about 'what to do with the demon in the upper area' or something like that?"

"..."

Feiros quickly searched the previous chat records and found that no one had mentioned the relevant sentence.

"...Although it's not surprising that Almighty God already knew it before we said it." Fujimaru Ritsuka quickly recovered from the shock, "But the topic we just talked about has nothing to do with this matter, right?"

"It is related. Those are the words 'said only to you', Chaldean priest." Tezcatlipoca said, "Others cannot understand what I am saying, but you are a Chaldean priest, you are a visitor from another world, you have used the technology of another world to maintain the spiritual foundation of the Cursed Army, you have recast a Primarch to walk in the flesh in reality. You understand what I am saying."

These words did seem irrelevant to Ferros, and had nothing to do with the issue they wanted to discuss, but judging from his expression, Fujimaru Ritsuka himself did have corresponding associations.

She was silent for a few seconds, then raised her head with a pale face, and spoke as if asking or confirming: "According to the rules of this world, the creations of 'true ether' will be blocked by the curtain, but if 'ether' is used to carefully make a shell that can obscure the curtain, then subspace entities can also walk in the physical universe."

Tezcatlipoca smiled. “That’s what happened.”

Debbie still had that expressionless look on his face, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. Ferros felt that he had not missed a word, but he still couldn't figure out what these people were talking about.

"What?" he couldn't help but ask.

"I know why. Tezcatlipoca also thought that the main power room was more important." Fujimaru Ritsuka said, "I also know where the energy that disappeared from the reactor went--"

"——The upper, middle and lower levels of the ship are a food chain pyramid made by demons."

End of today, Mimi (lie down peacefully).

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 66: Real Name Revealed

"First, the lowest level ritual. In terms of cause and effect, it is obvious that the ritual at the lower level was successfully initiated and something was summoned to the main power room, causing changes in the middle area. But - this is clearly the subspace. If Geller's position is invalid, why does the demon need a ritual to appear here?

"Why did the worst Chaos contamination start from the plasma reactor? If they really wanted to seize control of the ship, why didn't they start from the main control console and turn it into a demon engine? Where did the missing energy go? Why are the Chaos invasion routes divided into three routes: upper, middle and lower? The Emperor's Children leading the corresponding Chaos forces to attack the Iron Hands can be explained as a bad fate, but what do the Tzeentch demons wandering on the edge want to gain from it?

"—the answer is that everything that is currently happening on this ship is part of a larger ritual."

As Fujimaru Ritsuka trotted back to the command room, he quickly explained to Ferros:

"Tzeentch provided the core structure of this new ritual, which was given to the Dark Prince and his minions to use in their attacks on the Iron Hands. For these debauched Chaos warbands and daemons, the act of invading an Iron Hands ship was a reward in itself, and Tzeentch would test the efficacy of this new ritual."

"I thought... the Lord of Change was the source of all kinds of witchcraft." Feros paused for a moment, but he didn't dare to call a certain powerful person in the subspace by his name like Fujimaru Ritsuka did. "Even if he is a great demon, he should have a clear idea of ​​the effect of the spells he uses, right?"

"Because this is... too complicated to explain. Just think of it as something new." Fujimaru Ritsuka said quickly, "The ritual on the lower level did not 'summon' the 'gatekeeper' in the main power room on the middle level, but 'created' it specifically for the larger ritual as a whole, allowing it to swallow the plasma reactor, so that no one would wonder where the energy in it went. However, the reactor itself is not a demon engine, and the 'gatekeeper' can naturally absorb energy from the waves of the subspace, without showing any signs of being different from ordinary demon entities - so the disappeared energy can only have gone to the upper level through the link of the ritual."

"But there's only one demon on the upper level? What does the demon need the electricity output from the plasma reactor for?"

"This is the 'very new thing': the 'ether' converted from electricity, when a sufficiently fine shell is constructed, can allow the Warp entity to circumvent the rejection of the 'veil' and remain in the physical universe. Even before the energy is exhausted, it can exert almost the same strength as in the Warp."

This is Chaldean technology, that is, technology that does not originally exist in this universe. Even if Tzeentch's claim that he is the "source of all magic in the universe" is true, he cannot immediately control this technique imported from another world - not to mention, the "ether" mentioned by Fujimaru Ritsuka is also a brand new concept for this universe.

Although in this universe, the energy of the subspace, the basis of the devil, and even the phenomena caused by psychic energy all rely on the concept of "ether", in the magic education that Fujimaru Ritsuka received, if we strictly divide it, all the "ether" in this world belongs to "true ether" (the fifth element of truth) - and the energy she uses when performing all magic in her own world is the "ether" (the fifth element of fiction) that can be converted from Chaldea's electricity and that she is more familiar with.

In the history that Fujimaru Ritsuka knows, the prosperity of mankind squeezed out the living space of "mystery", the Age of Gods faded, and the "True Ether" that originally filled the planet and the earth also disappeared. After that, "Ether" appeared as an alternative energy source for "True Ether", barely maintaining the survival of the magic path during the period of the disappearance of mystery. In other words, from a causal relationship, the "Era of Gods" is the prerequisite for the emergence of "Ether" (the fifth fictional element), and in this universe where the gods arbitrarily interfere with reality, the fifth fictional element has no soil for its emergence. Since the thing itself does not exist, the corresponding concept naturally does not exist: there is only one kind of energy called "Ether" in this world.