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

I'm sorry, the voice said again.

Ferros could not tell whether the sound came from his throat or just echoed in his mind. He only knew that his body jumped up from the spot without control, and charged towards the Sapphire King smoothly and naturally, even picking up a finely crafted power hammer left on the ground by a fallen comrade along the way, as if he was fine - even showing more superb skills than Malkan Ferros himself should have.

The Sapphire King, who was also aware of what was happening because he was essentially a Warp creature, roared and raised his sword to meet the enemy. The Slaanesh Daemon was fast, but at this moment it was hindered by its unfamiliar and weak body, and now Ferros was faster than it. When the finely crafted power hammer came down on its head, it realized that it could not dodge in time, and could only hastily raise its sword-holding arms and cross its weapons for basic defense.

At the moment when the weapons collided, the decomposition field not only flashed with bluish-white lightning, but also with golden lightning. The Sapphire King screamed in pain and slid back - its two arms used for defense had completely disappeared. The weak body made of pure ether without any additional concepts could not withstand the huge power of the decomposition field, and its essence of the evil creature in the subspace was easily burned by the great power from the throne.

The demon screamed and cursed in pain, but Ferros did not immediately pursue the victory: even for the Primaris Space Marines, it was too far-fetched to bear and restore the power of a Primarch. He only swung a blow, which overloaded his left prosthesis and ruptured the tendons of his right hand reinforced by mechanical cables. In addition, the pain that almost burned him did not ease at all, and even intensified.

“How can you—you can’t—” The Sapphire King screamed in pain at Ferros, who had begun to bleed from the orifices on his face that still contained biological tissue. “The barrier here is almost intact! How can you project your will and existence onto your offspring!”

Ferros - Ferrus Manus, Primarch of the Iron Hands, had no answer for this question.

"Ten thousand years." He just said this, quietly feeling the activation and operation of the Belisarius furnace in Ferros' body, and the combat response hormones quickly repairing the damaged tissues, muscles and bones in this body. After two breaths, he once again raised the power hammer with his right hand.

"I have allowed you to be so free and so rampant for ten thousand years." He walked forward slowly again. Behind Ferros, intact mechanical arms extended from the power backpack that had been almost completely destroyed by Koz a few hours ago and had not yet been repaired. At the ends of them were connected many kinds of weapons and tools that Ferros had never seen before and whose functions were not even clear.

"You can't defeat me!" The Sapphire King raised his only two remaining arms in a cowardly manner, and ominous venom dripped from the ends of his claws and spikes. "I am a concept born from your failure! It is the echo of your complete death in the warp! Ferrus Manus, you can't defeat me, because you can't defeat your own failure and death!"

"Perhaps so. The causality and ritual of the warp... humph." Ferrus Manus said with disdain, "Then remember, the one who exterminated and exiled you from reality at this moment is called Malkan Ferros."

All the mechanical arms behind him opened fire almost simultaneously. Explosive bombs, energy, sound waves, and several lethal "projectiles" that Ferros couldn't even name were undoubtedly able to sweep away all obstacles in front of him. The Sapphire King still wanted to dance that strange dance in such a terrifying torrent, but the instincts given to it by its master were dragged down by this weak body, and the upper limit of its performance had determined that it could not protect itself from such fierce artillery fire.

But perhaps the law of the warp's mutual generation and mutual restraint is still in effect, these artillery fires that can undoubtedly destroy an entire building cannot really kill the Sapphire King. Its body was indeed destroyed, but it can still scream and linger in the real universe-until the body of Malkan Ferros once again raised the fine power hammer in his right hand.

A flash of blue, white and gold lightning flashed by with a roar, and then everything was silent.

As his battle-brothers, who had finally regained their senses, watched in awe, the intense pain finally subsided as the Sapphire King's physical form disappeared. Something had finally left him, but at this point, Malkan Ferros's shattered body could no longer hold on.

The suspended animation meninges organ began to function on its own under such severe injuries, and the Iron Father fell to the ground with a bang.

Mi (spread out).

I wanted to say something when I first started writing, but I forgot everything after I finished writing (peaceful).

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 70: Strange Servant Added

When Ferros fell, he actually had no regrets.

Any Imperial Astartes would probably die with no regrets if such a life happened to him: he joined the army at a young age, fought his way out of the siege, rose to management level in the chapter, and had a unique and beneficial understanding of the chapter's creed, served the Empire conscientiously for centuries, and finally, when facing the destined enemy of the chapter, gained the recognition of the distant will of the Gene-Father, and ended his life as a vessel for the descent of his spirit from heaven.

Even if we only look at the ending, it was a life full of color and richness. No one could find fault with such a life, so when Firoz fell down without any regrets, he never thought that he could wake up again.

But in fact, he did wake up. This fact even confused him for five seconds, and at the same time he felt a little regretful. This was a long time for an Astartes' reaction, and even longer for an Iron Father.

Then he realized that he was not buried in the Dreadnought, but was lying almost naked in an environment that was obviously a medical room, wrapped in the most basic covering; then he even realized that his limbs were intact and his physiological system was functioning well, except for a slight stiffness, as if he had never been injured.

This made him even more confused.

But confusion itself did not help the current situation, so he began to observe the surrounding scene in more detail: there was no doubt that this was a medical room, but the equipment in it either looked very simple to him or had no function at all, and the sizes of all facilities were obviously only considered for mortal use, including the bed itself. The space seemed extremely cramped for him - even the fact that he could lie down here was because someone moved three mortal-sized beds and pieced them together in a peculiar way so that he could be "suspended" in mid-air.

This strange arrangement forced him to do some calculations in his head before he could figure out how to quietly stand up from the "bed" while keeping everything in its current state of balance. While he was thinking, he finally noticed that someone was talking in the space next to him, which was separated by a curtain and was roughly the "detection area."

The little judge's pitiful voice came from behind the completely soundproof curtain: "...But it's really too much. I don't want to be almost full just by taking medicine before every meal..."

"Don't come on, there's no room for negotiation." Another man's voice, which he had never heard of, said impatiently, "Cosmic rays, pathogens never seen before, messy chaos energy pollution, and - the damage and deviation caused by your abuse of the Ortnaus spirit-based exoskeleton! The fact that you can survive until now is something you have to thank the Emperor for using his psychic power to help you. The rest of the problem can be solved by just taking medicine, you should be thankful!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the snow-white curtain that served as a partition was pulled open with a "swish", and Fujimaru Ritsuka, with a sad face, was pushed out while holding a box with seventeen different medicine bottles in his hands and making meaningless protests.

The man behind her who was doing this was a man in a black robe, with long hair, a hood and a bird-beak mask covering most of his face, leaving only a pair of turquoise eyes to prove that he was still human. He used his obviously too long sleeves to push against Fujimaru Ritsuka's back, and just like that, he pushed her out of the small space. His other hand was also hidden in his sleeves, and he somehow managed to hold a brass cane with a mechanical snake coiled around it, a sharp bottom, and a center of gravity that seemed completely impossible to support it standing on the ground normally.

Then, this man who didn't look like a medical officer, but seemed to be performing the duties of a medical officer, raised his eyes and met Ferros's gaze. At this moment, the latter suddenly noticed that under the other's seemingly green eyes, there was a faint golden light that was not human.

——Besides, he seemed to be in a bad mood.

"If you wake up, leave the infirmary (my territory) immediately." There was no greeting, no further examination, and even no concern. The man in black just said this to him the moment he saw that he was conscious. "Recovered patients cannot provide medical records, which means that you are useless from the moment you return to normal. Useless people should not take up so much space here."

As he spoke, the mechanical snake coiled on the staff floated up out of thin air, circled behind Ferros, and almost physically poked his spine, driving him and Fujimaru Ritsuka out of the infirmary. The silver-white metal plates smoothly bit behind the two people, and Ferros, who hadn't fully reacted to what happened, was still thinking: Where on that snake was the anti-gravity engine installed?

"Uh, Mr. Ferros, don't take it personally." Ritsuka Fujimaru, who was holding a large medicine box, muttered nervously, "Asclepius is just like that...personality. Plus, he's pretty obsessed with things like 'the original form of humans', and it's hard for him to change his mindset and look at any kind of enhancement transformation normally..."

In fact, at this moment, Feroce finally felt that his brain began to function normally.

"Nothing. I don't care." The Iron Father finally realized that he should be concerned about other current situations. "How is the main power room of the Claw of Destruction?"

"I don't know." Fujimaru Ritsuka answered confidently, "After the battle, I brought you back to our ship, and then I was busy with a lot of things... Anyway, it's been three days now, and I just found time for a physical examination."

"..." Feiros was silent for a moment. "I mean, how was the battle in the main power room resolved in the end?"

"?" Fujimaru Ritsuka looked very confused. "Do you want to hear about the Iron Hands soldiers repairing the energy pipeline?"

——In her opinion, there was really nothing to say about that battle. After speculating that the "gatekeeper" was actually a creation of some kind of ritual magic, the only thing left was to borrow Medea's spiritual power, a "Rule Breaker". The "anti-magic treasure" handed down from the Age of Gods can break the magic effects of any object stabbed, including magic contracts and life forms born from magic; the chaos ritual runes inside the power room are naturally the same, and they are meaningless in front of this dagger with almost no actual combat performance.

The biggest obstacle of the whole thing was that, first of all, after the spell effect of the Chaos Ritual was lifted, the main power room that had been forcibly twisted into six passageways returned to its original state, causing some confusion in the transportation of personnel deployment; secondly, the energy generated by the reactor had nowhere to go, which might cause a leakage accident, forcing Fujimaru Ritsuka to start only after the members of the Iron Hands had made thorough preparations for repairs.

To Ferros, who did not have the above knowledge, the whole matter was still a mystery. But considering that the person in front of him was a judge, he automatically interpreted this answer, which he thought was very evasive, as "don't ask questions that you shouldn't ask", and changed the topic smoothly: "Where are we now?"

His original intention was to ask where in the galaxy they had arrived after jumping out of the warp. When calculating the Mandeville Point with Lieutenant Fish and Debbie, they had already realized that the Doom Claw had somehow been caught in a warp undercurrent - the Iron Hands jumped into the warp from the Tricon System in the Nebulous Sector, and then after the accident, they were encountered by the Lion's Mane entering the warp from the Ghoul Stars. In the warp, the navigator can roughly determine the appropriate jump location, but cannot be 100% sure where this location corresponds to in the physical universe, so after leaving the warp, the ship often still needs to further calibrate the current position.

But Fujimaru Ritsuka's thoughts were obviously not on the same line as Fross's. She did answer the question "Where are we now?", but the answer she gave was not the one Fross expected.

"We're on the Storm's Edge, my little ship." She turned around in the corridor naturally, found the right direction, and started moving. "Come with me, find your power armor. I can't ask you to walk around like this - ah, right."

As if she suddenly remembered something, she turned back and pointed to Ferros' left hand, which had been replaced with a mechanical prosthesis during the ritual of separation when he joined the regiment. "I suggest that you go to a place like the training room to adapt for a while before using that hand to pick up things."

Ferros looked at his prosthetic limb in confusion. He had a vague impression that it was broken in the last battle, but it was also normal for him that the prosthetic limb was repaired by the pharmacist after he went to the infirmary.

"What's wrong?" He asked cautiously, and then found that Fujimaru Ritsuka's face showed a little embarrassment:

"It's like this... Asclepius doesn't really, uh, approve of this kind of mechanical modification. Your prosthetic limbs were certainly not repaired by him."

But from the perspective of a Forge Master, it seems to be fine.

Ferros tried to move the prosthetic fingers, then tried to make a fist, then tested the flexibility of the wrist joint, confirming that all the transmission mechanisms were sensitive and appropriate. Then, he said in confusion: "I don't think there is anything wrong."

In fact, its performance in processing details may be better than the original version debugged by Ferros himself. The Iron Father began to feel curious about this technical priest (probably) whom he had not yet met.

"I don't understand it, but I just intuitively think that there might be a problem with its output..." Fujimaru Ritsuka looked away with a guilty conscience, "Because when Mr. Ferrus was repairing it, his whole aura seemed to say 'I want to make a great one', like this..."

"What if—wait, who?"

"Hmm? Mr. Ferrus Manus?" Fujimaru Ritsuka mentioned the deceased in a matter-of-fact manner. "Others might be surprised, but why are you so surprised? You should have seen him earlier than me during this period of time."

Malkan Ferros, the Iron Father, was once again confused at that moment, and even wondered whether he should add a few more mind-enhancing components to himself.

——Thinking on the bright side, at least now, he won’t regret that he didn’t die before.

Migu (crawling)

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 71 It’s water in broad daylight!

Actually, this is a long story.

Fujimaru Ritsuka herself did not see the beginning of the whole incident - after she heard about the incident with Ferros, when she rushed to the scene, the pharmacists of the Iron Hands had already made the judgment that "even if his life could be saved, Brother Ferros would not be able to return to the battle sequence", and they had already begun to consider which kind of Dreadnought to bury him in for worship.

——It is the kind that is really "worshipped", with special decorations and religious rituals, and it will really be worshipped by the brothers in the regiment.

Ritsuka Fujimaru was mentally prepared for the overly religious imperial atmosphere, but when faced with this situation, she couldn't help but be shocked by what was actually happening before her eyes.

Although she was shocked, she knew that she had not come here for this purpose. She struggled to get through the crowd, and took out a spiritual base repair and stabilization injection that Da Vinci had prepared for her own use after she had adapted the Ortenaus spiritual base exoskeleton, and injected it into Ferros' body as a last resort - his entire body was now melted into a mess by the violent spiritual energy, so it didn't matter whether it was injected intramuscularly or intravenously.

Ferrus Manus had controlled his power when he descended, and Fujimaru Ritsuka could see that, but Malkan Ferrus's soul was still torn apart because it carried too much power. Two minutes later, after confirming that the client's spiritual base had only been slowed down by the potion and the amount of medicine was obviously not enough, she gave Ferrus another shot, then called Enkidu and asked him to help carry the seriously injured back to the Storm's Edge's infirmary.

It wasn't that she didn't have more emergency medicines on her. If the medication was purely based on weight, she could even inject all six injections she had in stock into Ferros at once, but when it came to spiritual foundations, the amount of medicine wasn't calculated that way.

Not to mention the chaos of the ship docking in the middle, after finally settling Ferros in the infirmary of his own ship, Fujimaru Ritsuka turned into the summoning room and began to prepare for the directional summoning - and just like that, Asclepius came.

The most difficult part of the whole thing is not finding a suitable attending physician, but convincing this suitable attending physician to treat the patient, which in turn involves topics such as "human beings", "mechanically modified humans", "genetically modified humans"... In short, it is a very headache-inducing topic.

But the result is always good. After Fujimaru Ritsuka explained the pros and cons, Asclepius finally agreed to treat Ferros based on the template of "Primaris Space Marine" instead of gradually turning him back into an ordinary human being during the treatment process.

"I don't recognize this 'transformation technology' as medical skills." The attending physician commented on the Space Marine transformation technology (including Primaris surgery) of the Emperor and the Great Sage Belisarius Cawl, "But if it is just a technical exchange to broaden my horizons, I would like to talk to them."

Fujimaru Ritsuka keenly sensed that there was something more to say after this sentence; similarly, she also keenly sensed that it would be best if this unfinished sentence was never said.

After finding a solution to Ferrus' problem, the Master of Chaldea had to return to the summoning room once again to solve another problem: Ferrus Manus, who had been hovering behind the curtain nearby since the directional summoning just now.

"…I know you're in a hurry, but do you really need to be so anxious?"

After completing the summoning process, Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at the Primarch who was almost turned into a ball in the middle of the room, and said helplessly:

"You saw me and the Emperor build a body for Konrad Curze that could walk normally in the real universe. You know how much time and resources it took. Even if you force yourself to manifest now, you will only be a shell in a place with normal thickness of the veil. Is it necessary?

"——Also, let me make one thing clear first. Tanks cannot be driven in the corridors of the Storm's Edge, so you are not allowed to use your essential form to pretend to be Sikaran in front of your offspring!"

"I'm not pretending to be Xikaran!" Ferrus gritted his teeth and his voice had a distant echo. "I'm just, not very, stable-"

Then, Fujimaru Ritsuka had to almost empty her inventory to fill the spirit base of a Primarch, but it only barely solved the "not very stable" problem, so that his appearance could be clearly fixed on the image of "Ferrus Manus" and not be regarded as some kind of warp changeling. With her current inventory, it was basically wishful thinking to want a Primarch to gain substantial combat power.

——Chaldea’s warehouse has been looted by Conrad Curze and the Emperor’s Vision respectively, and there is really nothing left.

By the way, during this period, Konrad Curze himself returned to the ship with ten Night Lords Terminators who had boarded the ship. On the way back, the group met Ferrus Manus, who was in a stable state, and everyone, including the Primarch, showed an emotional expression of the world falling:

Fujimaru Ritsuka's skills in spiritual rebirth are still trustworthy. At least from the appearance alone, one would never tell that the current combat capability of the Primarch of the Iron Hands is evaluated by a mortal girl less than 1.6 meters tall as "I can beat him with the cushion on the sofa."

...There is some exaggeration in this evaluation. There is some exaggeration. However, the current Ferrus Manus is indeed equivalent to the state of "only memory, thinking and technology have successfully manifested". Compared with the "complete form" of Curze, he is obviously a "semi-finished product".

But a half-finished Primarch is still a Primarch, and there are many things he can do - such as repairing the prosthetic limbs and power armor for his offspring who almost died because of his sudden arrival, or showing up in front of other gene sons and making decisions on the route.

After staring at him for a while and making sure there was nothing wrong, Fujimaru Ritsuka turned around to do his own things: talk to Curze again to help this Primarch, whose mental age was definitely no more than five years old, establish a correct outlook on life, communicate with guardian Sevatar about the patient's condition, warn the Midnight Lords who had become more active during the time she was away from the ship, contact the Dark Angels on the Lion's Mane, introduce Lanmalok and Adjutant Fish to each other on the communication link, hug Jeanne Alter to charge her battery, pick up the scriptures she had copied on ordinary printing paper in her spare time, run to the Claw of Destruction to purify the chaos pollution, and discuss with Debbie how this kind of purification magic can continue the foundation of the state religion to maximize efficiency...

Three days passed in a flurry of activity. Three days later, when Fujimaru Ritsuka was undergoing a physical examination at Asclepius' place, Ferros woke up from his bed by himself. This made her wonder whether the former had figured out the mechanism of the Primaris Space Marine transformation through a series of examinations and diagnoses of the latter, which was why he was able to awaken an Astartes in suspended animation. However, she had great trust in Asclepius' character as a doctor, so she did not raise any doubts about this, but took Ferros to a warehouse that was specially planned before leaving the Astronomican, and retrieved his basically repaired power armor.

"We've only done basic maintenance on it, patching up the broken parts. It should be basically operational, but you might want to adjust it to your own preferences." Fujimaru Ritsuka pointed to the only set of Iron Hands' gray-black power armor in the warehouse that stood out among the dark blue of the Midnight Lords, and said, "An empty mechanical arm has also been reinstalled on the power backpack. It's up to you to decide what to mount on it."

After the incident with the prosthetic limbs, she wisely did not mention who did all this work. But when Ferros put on his armor again with the help of the fully automatic armor-donning assistive machine, he seemed to have found the corresponding answer for himself - the evidence was that he seemed to have some interest in "wanting to study" this auxiliary device that did not rely on wet parts, but after putting on the power armor, he forgot all about it.

"Also, we are currently in the Ultramarine." Fujimaru Ritsuka gritted his teeth and continued to talk business with the Iron Father, whose mind had already drifted away in ecstasy. "The Claw of Destruction needs a major overhaul anyway, and the Lion's Mane also needs serious maintenance and supplies, so the current destination is the Forge World Connor. If we count from now on, there are about six days of sailing...Mr. Ferros, are you listening?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka really doubted this.

Meow (flattened)

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 72 What is the Destiny Chaldean Succubus?

This is something that happened in the highest heaven.

It is meaningless to discuss when and where this incident happened. The nature of the subspace itself determines that the concepts of time and space are very ambiguous, and the two subjects who are about to be described, that is, the two who caused this incident to happen, are willing to make this factor even more vague.

Therefore, this event can happen at "now" or "then"; it can happen at "here" or "there"; it does not happen at any specific time or place, so it can happen all the time; it itself can be observed, but it never appears in the field of vision of any third party.

Apart from the two parties involved, perhaps only the torrent of the vast ocean itself can tell the story.

One of the parties that has appeared, has appeared, and will appear in this matter is undoubtedly great and magnificent, but it is difficult to describe in detail. He can make a hundred changes in an instant, and his essence has a thousand faces and a thousand names to describe him. However, these are far from being able to accurately define him.

He could be a crawling white snake, rising and falling in place but never moving forward; He could also be a human figure wearing an old gray suit, with a green face that was tightly fitted and empty; He preferred to make his appearance larger so that He could use the thousands of mouths on his blue skin to disrupt the minds, wills and thoughts of others; but now, He had come to this place and time that could not be defined, and looked like just a bright, colorful mist without any specific shape.

He is amorphous and ever-changing. Therefore, although He has many names, the one that is most widely known and most indicative of Him is called “the Lord of Change.”

The one who could make such a powerful Warp rise from the Crystal Labyrinth and come to such a place that existed and did not exist to meet him was another equally majestic, grand and fickle being. This was something that was impossible, unreasonable, and did not exist in any prediction of the future. It was for this reason that the Lord of Change had a strong interest in this and even took the time to come in person.

The Comer also has many faces, many changes, and many names. His manifestation in the subspace can be an old man, a woman, a child, or a spider, a hummingbird, or a butterfly; it can be thunder, hurricanes, rainstorms, or the sun, land, and crops; He can be a ostentatious, fully armed warrior, or a king on a high platform, looking down on all living things; He can be a hero who sacrifices his left leg to create a peaceful land, or a monster that devours everything equally with death. In addition to this, He has many other changes that cannot be described in detail, but He manifests here using the most widely circulated and most indicative of Him change:

An obsidian mirror bubbling with smoke, with a tiny crack on the mirror surface - that was the price He paid for defeating the sea monster Tlaloc. Even the Almighty God could not heal it. Once such a wound appears on a god, it will always be there, and it can be covered up but not eliminated. No matter what form He manifests in, this price will always stubbornly show on His appearance.

——The "Smoke Mirror" from another world appeared in the subspace openly, facing the "Lord of Change".

The silent confrontation may have lasted only a moment, or it may have lasted for eternity. In the warp, in front of the might of these two, talking about this matter is useless. It is also impossible to determine who spoke first in this meeting. In the warp, in front of the might of these two, it is a futile effort to find out the truth. But in short, this conversation with a blurred beginning and an ambiguous end took place.

"Welcome, guest from afar." The Lord of All Changes once said this, says this again, and will say this in the future.

These words were voiceless yet deafening, formless yet filled the heaven and earth. No mortal being could bear the power that naturally flowed from these words of the Lord of All Changes, let alone interpret the deeper meaning - but Smoke Mirror, who was not a mortal being, simply regarded them as normal.

"Are such pleasantries really necessary?" Smoke Mirror once said this, is saying this again, and will continue to say this.

He communicates with the Lord of Change in equally magnificent and incomprehensible ways.

"Everything in this universe is under my control, but people from other worlds are another matter." The Lord of Change boasted without any scruples, "A mortal from another world who jumped out of the Well of Eternity is already surprising enough for me, but I never thought that there would be a god from another world who drifted here. I wonder if I can ask you to teach me this method of drifting?"

Smoke Mirror said calmly, "There's nothing I can't tell you - because I don't know what's going on. As the Lord of Mysteries, you should also understand that even for gods, it's difficult to cross the barriers between 'parallel worlds' that have the same origin as your own world. I just wanted to do that, but who knows what happened, I was called and pulled by the unknown, and ended up in this 'multiverse' that is completely different from my origin."