Chapter 66: The Xenos’ Lapdogs! |
The meat-grinder of a battle lasted for nearly thirty minutes. As the final xeno collapsed, the welcome ceremony forged by that purple tide finally came to an end—after leaving behind over a hundred thousand corpses.
The elevated vantage point chosen to deal with emergencies was now level with the ground, filled in by the mountain of alien corpses.
"Count the casualties, clear the battlefield. Remember, leave no survivors."
Stepping out of the position, Romulus stared at the carpet of blood and flesh before him. The skull of a Genestealer was facing directly at him.
Those eyes locked tightly onto Romulus, as if trying to carve his appearance into its memory.
Pa!
An iron boot stomped the skull into pulp, deep purple fluid splattering everywhere.
"My lord, what kind of xeno is this?"
Orlando asked while withdrawing his gaze from the torn storm shield, dutifully finishing off any twitching enemies.
"A vanguard force sent by a far more terrifying type of xeno. They spread by corrupting biological genes, multiplying their numbers that way."
Romulus answered.
The current state of this planet was likely far more complicated—Genestealers could even freely infiltrate the top hive.
Those so-called Imperial nobles were probably…
At that thought, the Transmigrators exchanged glances.
It was questionable how many beings on this planet could even be called human anymore.
Then Romulus pointed toward the corpses of those dead Genestealers.
"Take these xenos for example. A significant portion of them—or their parents or grandparents—used to be human."
The moment those words left his mouth, nearly every Imperial human present showed visible shock, followed by boundless fury.
"My lord!"
The Black Templars Chaplain caught the core of Romulus’ words instantly, fury blazing from his eyes.
"You're saying these creatures corrupt the sacred genes gifted to us by the Emperor?!"
Xenos that could contaminate human genetics.
That single sentence made every Imperial officer present lose it.
For the Imperium’s leadership—fanatically obsessed with genetic purity, to the point that even their equipment had to be gene-bound—this was utterly unacceptable.
Ka-dunk—
The elevator cables of the Mechanicus sanctum creaked strangely, prompting every weapon to immediately target the swaying chains.
But as the chains rose, it turned out the newcomers were not enemies.
The Imperial nobles who had been in contact with Kaul finally arrived—extremely late.
"Thank the Emperor, reinforcements have finally arrived."
The speaker was a well-dressed Imperial noblewoman. Her voice was soft and warm, almost magical, as she walked forward completely unguarded, exposing herself and her followers to all the raised weapons.
‘By the Emperor, those d*mned xenos and our poor fellow humans enslaved by their wicked faith… they've slaughtered so many of our kind. Our flowers were crushed before they could even bloom.’
As she stepped onto the bloody remains of her unfortunate countrymen, the noblewoman’s heart shed metaphorical tears.
"Please forgive me, my lords. Bound by the cruelty of reality, I could not organize a welcoming ceremony worthy of your esteemed status."
She hurried forward, her beautiful face bearing a nearly flawless smile, trailed by a large group of cultists.
They rolled out a red carpet embroidered with golden thread, laid down flowers, and even politely distributed fruit to every member of the Astra Militarum.
Everything seemed... normal?
Yet everyone felt something was off. Still, the identification code of that Imperial noble couldn’t be faked.
"Please allow us to offer you a proper welcome. A sacred meal has already been prepared for you at the governor’s palace."
The group tightened their formation, cautiously observing the cultists.
These people were completely wrapped in long robes of black and purple, revealing only eyes filled with strange emotions.
Embroidered on their robes were bizarre religious patterns, which from afar looked like four arms embracing the galaxy’s shadow.
"Sister Arabella, what faith is this?"
The Chaplain frowned, instinctively uneasy.
"It appears to be some branch of the Ecclesiarchy?"
Arabella hesitated slightly, finally giving an answer after inspecting the symbols.
"But I recall the main world, Pierde, has a shrine belonging to the Order of the Bloody Rose. Those Sisters—always passionate—don’t recognize any fringe offshoots with unclear origins."
As a Canoness, Arabella would never fail to recognize a legitimate and ancient Ecclesiarchal branch.
Seeing the scene unfold, the Transmigrators—who had already anticipated trouble—raised their weapons without hesitation.
"Kill them all."
Ka-cha—
Moving faster than the eye could track, Arthur swung his sword and cleanly decapitated the Imperial noblewoman.
Her gentle smile froze on her face, her head tumbled to the floor amidst torn bodies, golden wig flipping through the air.
The follow-up bombardment engulfed the entire welcome party in an instant.
"Filthy xeno—tell me everything you know."
The Inquisitor grabbed one cultist by the head.
Beneath the robes, the cultist's face was pink-skinned and bald.
"Xenos’ lapdogs! You’ll all be cursed! You heretics that seduce mankind—"
The cultist was torn apart by a bolter round, his torso nearly halved. He endured the pain, looked up, and spat curses at the group, locking eyes with the nearby Astartes.
"The Emperor’s wrath will descend upon your heads."
His high-pitched scream faded as the neurotoxin kicked in, leaving behind a group of people frozen in all kinds of stunned expressions.
Unbelievable!
Absolutely unbelievable!
The Sisters and Black Templars were trembling with rage.
All these years of war, all these years of preaching—and now, for the first time, on an Imperial planet, they’d been called xeno heretics to their faces.
By a xeno, no less!
"They’ve infected the Imperial leadership of this world."
Orlando’s voice was low, barely containing his fury.
To cause contamination on this level—this wasn’t any ordinary xeno threat.
"Great Sage, has the surface detection system been set up?"
Romulus asked in a grave tone.
"Signal calibration still needs time."
Kaul had also realized how serious the problem was.
This planet—besides Chaos—seemed to have something even more troublesome lurking.
"We need to move fast. At the very least, find a secure stronghold. Also, Great Sage, please craft a gene scanner that can differentiate xenos from humans."
Romulus added cautiously, "We must implement triple daily scans for all landing parties."
"Understood."
The militant force collected some intact xeno corpses, placed them into sealed pods, sterilized them at high temperature, and loaded them onto a Stormbird.
As more shadows surged upward from beneath the sanctum, Romulus ordered the team to reform their defensive line.
"Send half the Stormbirds back to resupply. Get ready for the second wave."