"Why is it that every time you join a battle, you end up wrecking a suit of power armor, and always in a way that leaves it shattered beyond repair?" Kasha looked at the bare-chested Axis, sounding helpless.
Small skirmishes weren't so bad, but during large-scale battles, the moment Axis powered up, his armor would just vaporise.
Even though Axis was only wearing a standard-issue gear these days, treating power armor like disposable gear was still wildly extravagant.
"That's what makes me a real man! And it looks cool as hell!" Axis laughed as he pulled on the jacket Kasha had handed him.
Kasha continued, "The Lion explicitly told you to stand down. So why did you go ahead and attack anyway?"
"Hehe! Once the arrow is notched, you have to let it fly!
"It's like that thing between the two of us, how can you expect me to hold back once we're at the critical moment? Would you seriously expect me to hold back?" Axis asked back, wiggling his eyebrows and stepping closer.
Madar, who was standing to the side, turned sideways, finding bare wall of the battleship quite interesting.
"How is that the same thing? Here, take this. You can explain yourself to the Lion." Kasha handed him the ship's comm unit as she pushed him away.
"Bah, what would he be mad for? Didn't I wipe out all the enemies?" Axis chuckled, taking the communicator from her.
Honestly, he'd already been playing it safe, hadn't he?
If it had been any other Saiyan in this situation.
The would've shown the world what it meant to be reckless.
But he, Axis, had completely annihilated the Rangda Xenos' fleet, not leaving a single one alive.
"So, Lion, what do you think? Wasn't that a hell of a show?" Axis said into the ship's comms channel.
Dead silence answered him.
All Axis could hear was heavy breathing on the other end, clearly, the man was furious.
At last, Lion El'Jonson's deep voice rumbled through: "... You bastard!"
"... what are you so mad about? Didn't I take care of all the enemies already?
"That warp storm out there isn't going to affect us anyway.
"I just made the storm a little more intense to make sure none of those Rangda Xenomorphs escaped, that's all," Axis replied.
"This is a war, Axis, not your personal playground.
"I could tell from your fighting just now, you were just enjoying yourself.
"That wasn't battle for you, it was just a game," the Lion growled.
This attitude toward war which directly or indirectly affected who knew how many lifeforms was simply unacceptable.
This was a battle between two species for survival. The Emperor might have proclaimed the Imperial Truth, declaring humanity the noblest race in the galaxy, but that was to instill confidence in all mankind.
Axis, though, clearly didn't even see the Rangda as people.
It was as if he were just exterminating ants.
This cavalier attitude toward war left the Lion dissatisfied.
"I'm just following the Imperial Truth," Axis retorted, "If I didn't slaughter them, would they suddenly agree to a truce with humanity?"
"I don't feel sorry for them," he went on, "From the moment the Rangda Xenomorphs picked a fight with our Imperium, the decision was made to wipe them out!"
"Don't try to downplay it Axis, I'm talking about your attitude toward war!
"I want you to take your battles more seriously from now on. At the very least, show your enemies a little respect. Arrogance and pride aren't virtues, they only lead to the downfall of even the most powerful," the Lion admonished.
He wanted to make it clear: you should never underestimate your enemies. In war, looking down on your opponent was a fatal mistake.
All too often, defeat came from underestimating the enemy.
"You can rest easy about that. I absolutely respect powerful opponents, it's just that these guys didn't qualify to be on my respected list," Axis replied.
Truthfully, the Lion was right.
Underestimating your enemy was never wise.
But asking a Saiyan not to be reckless was just asking a Saiyan not to be a Saiyan. It was a problem of identity.
Even then, Axis had already held back as much as he could.
Pride was in a Saiyan's bones, and when it came to swaggering, even the most narcissist devil couldn't compare..
"Sigh. Let's talk about the actual war situation here, Axis. First of all, yes, you destroyed this fleet.
"But it was only this fleet. Don't assume that means we've won against the Rangda, they were just a vanguard force at most.
"The Rangda coalition are powerful, and we don't know much about them.
"And that monstrous warp storm you created has stranded our ships in this region as well.
"We won't be able to enter the warp and leave this system until the storm subsides.
"If a battle breaks out in another star system, we won't be able to respond in time.
"And you should have at least left us some prisoners so we could get intel on the Rangda Xenomorphs," the Lion said sternly.
Now, not even scraps of the Xenos remained, let alone any captives.
And there was a bigger issue the Lion hadn't even mentioned.
Axis's final attack had destroyed half a star system.
If he hadn't given the order for the Imperial ships to retreat quickly, plenty of human vessels would have been caught in the blast as well.
Even so, the incident had cast a massive psychological shadow over the entire fleet.
Forget the ordinary humans, even the Space Marines were left shaken. All the mortal crew would need serious time to recover and undergo psychological counseling.
The mere thought of it infuriated Lion El'Jonson.
Those zealots from the Monarchia had alredy seized the opportunity to spread the word all across the ship, proclaiming Axis as the God-Emperor's chosen emissary.
Normally, the Lion would have shut down this kind of thing on the spot and punished the ringleaders harshly.
But this time, he found himself unable to stop it.
The mortal soldiers and sailors had been truly terrified.
They needed some kind of spiritual comfort, and so religion had become their crutch.
The only way to keep the mortal crew from breaking down was to let them believe that Axis truly was the Emperor's messenger, and that this battle was the wrath of the God-Emperor, a divine judgment upon the xenos.
Otherwise, more than half the human crew would have ended up mentally broken, unable to recover their fighting spirit for a long time.
And without these mortals, the fleet's overall combat effectiveness would have plummeted by over ninety percent.
Space Marines weren't all-powerful; more often than not, Astartes acted as strike teams or spearhead units.
On space stations, they were usually deployed as boarding troops, but the real backbone of any fleet was still the mortal crew.
The Lion now had a major headache dealing with these zealots from the Monarchia, who spent all day preaching and muttering prayers everywhere!
They declared the Emperor was mankind's true God-King, and had even begun spreading the idea that Axis was the Emperor's own emissary!
"The effects of my destruction will subside in two or three days at most, and by then, the warp storm will die down.
"The mortals could use a few days of rest anyway. As for intel, I'll be sure to capture some Rangda the next time they show up," Axis said.
His mind was perfectly clear.
Axis had only unleashed that attack which wiped out half a star system after seeing the human fleet had gotten clear.
Otherwise, he would have kept the blast radius smaller.
As for the warp storm his attack triggered, come on! He wasn't a daemon prince.
At worst, the storm he triggered would only blow for a few days.
It wasn't like it would last for decades!
"You little bastard!" The Lion cut the comms in a fit of anger.
"You know, Axis, Lion is still our big brother…your uncl–whatever.
"You should show him a little more respect. But I have to say, that was a spectacular extermaination." Russ's voice came through the comms, and Axis even saw Russ give him a big thumbs-up over the vid-screen.
This battle hadn't scared the Fenrisians in the least as they were used to it.
Axis had fought the same way when conquering planets before, though he'd never faced such a massive fleet until now.
"Hahaha! I've always said my personality fits best with the Space Wolves," Axis laughed.
It was lucky, he thought, that after his transmigration, he hadn't been found by any of the other Primarchs.
Their personalities just wouldn't mesh with his.
"Take a good rest for the next few days. We'll go teach these xenos another lesson after that," Russ said, ending the call.
It felt incredible!
The Rangda would definitely come back with reinforcements, and Axis looked forward to going wild again.
He remembered reading before his transmigration that the Rangda also fielded War-Moons.
Unlike the Orks' Battle Moons, which were just hollowed-out asteroids, the war moons were more like Death Stars straight out of Star Wars, manned by millions of which were controlled by nural collars.
In the Third Rangda Campaign, the Xenos had deployed more than a dozen of these superweapons, inflicting countless losses on Imperium.
In the end, the Emperor had no choice.
When the Imperium was at its lowest, and they stil had battles to wage. He couldn't exhaust all Humanity had on Rangda alone.
He returned to Holy Terra and broke open the Labyrinth of the Night.
With that, humanity finally managed to defeat the Rangda.
But because it was used, all records of the Xenocide was completely sealed away.
The Rangda were truly a race that could go toe-to-toe with the Imperium, they were no pushovers.
This defeat would only make their next assault fiercer, and Axis was looking forward to charging straight into one of their battle stations and tearing the place apart with his own hands.
A few days later, the warp storm Axis had created gradually subsided.
Its effects had been limited to just this star system and hadn't caused too much of a stir in the Immaterium.
At this moment, Axis was in his quarters, receiving a group of special guests.
"Oh Great Divine Messenger of the Emperor! Praise you, praise your deeds, we sing of your virtue!" A mortal, dressed in the robes of a priest, was kneeling before Axis, his face alight with fanatic devotion.
Axis, eager to play along, activated a portion of his Super Saiyan power, making his whole body glow with golden light.
This only made the preacher even more excited.
The man began chanting his praises even more fervently.
Axis was thoroughly enjoying these missionaries antics.
It was just perfect indeed. Now, he cold look into cultivating God Ki.
Clearly, he needed to find a way to protect his good brother, Logar, too!
Kasha looked on from the side, her face dark. Clearly, her man was up to no good!
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Guys! we need powerstones! we should be able to get one more bonus chapter before webnovel resets!
have a great day/night!