Within the dark clouds above, the Night Raven Blackstar gunship glided silently. Like a shadowy ghost, it appeared and vanished repeatedly beneath the veil of darkness.
"Hehehe~♪…"
Mia sat in the cockpit, humming cheerfully as she piloted the gunship swiftly toward the target location. As an artificial angel, controlling a craft like this was no challenge for her. In fact, she could operate and calibrate the onboard weapons with greater precision than the mechanized servitors designed for the job.
"Target acquired… locked on…"
As Mia spoke, the display screen in front of her showed a panoramic view of Mordheim below. Very soon, several zones were highlighted and locked in.
"Fire~~!"
The next moment, several [Hellstrike Missiles] streaked through the sky, howling as they launched.
Aside from Duanmu Huai, no one had any idea what was happening. Many didn't even see the streaking trails in the sky that heralded destruction—for them, simply holding off the tide of Skaven before them had already consumed their full focus.
So when violent explosions and flames erupted from the ground without warning, everyone was left dumbfounded.
[Hellstrike Missiles] were air-to-ground missiles equipped with solid-fuel cores and high-explosive warheads, typically used against armored targets. On paper, they weren't designed for fighting Skaven—after all, the ratmen relied more on overwhelming numbers than individual strength, and their meager armor didn't warrant weapons capable of piercing starship hulls.
But Duanmu Huai had never intended to simply "kill" the Skaven.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!
A chain of explosions erupted around the temple. Crumbling buildings were blown apart, and the ground split open into deep craters. Under the relentless bombardment, the craters linked together, forming a U-shaped trench encircling the temple. But what flowed through this trench wasn't water—
It was fire.
That's right—this was Duanmu Huai's real goal. Killing Skaven was meaningless—they could dig, they could tunnel. The only way to truly stop their advance was to deny them any access at all. And nothing would stop tunneling rats better than a ten-meter-wide flaming moat carved into the earth.
Granted, city-wide bombardments were usually considered a terrible idea… but this city was already wrecked beyond recognition. Duanmu Huai certainly wasn't concerned about "collateral damage" or any so-called innocent bystanders.
Of course, others didn't know that. When they saw pillars of flame erupting from the ground and the earth trembling like doomsday had arrived, they trembled with fear. But then, as they watched the Skaven get blown to bits and retreat in panic, they erupted in cheers—
"Praise Sigmar!!"
They truly believed it was divine intervention that had saved them…
Fine. Whatever works.
Regardless of the reason, the bombing forced the Skaven into a panicked retreat. Other factions, too, stayed eerily quiet—whether out of fear or scheming, no one knew. But for now, everyone finally had a brief moment to rest.
"Phew…"
Duanmu Huai walked up to the rooftop and plopped down, gazing out at the ruins of Mordheim. Beside him sat Olgis, who had returned to her usual calm demeanor and was reading a book under the lamplight. Even Fia had calmed down—for now. After recklessly diving into the Skaven horde and getting skewered like a pincushion, she'd finally died once and respawned. That seemed to have satisfied her… at least a little.
Melody had already asked Duanmu Huai to open a gate for her to return to the Holy City. She said her current weapons were inadequate and wanted Kukulu to upgrade them. Lorena had gone off to help treat the wounded—many had been injured during the Skaven assault, and as a priestess of the Holy Church, she couldn't just ignore them.
Anyway, with the [Doll of Slaughter] secretly watching over her, Duanmu Huai wasn't worried about Lorena getting into trouble.
That said… after killing so many damn rats, he hadn't earned much experience at all...
Staring at his experience bar, Duanmu Huai sighed. The design of Starsea Online discouraged grinding, so killing enemies at or below your level gave little reward. Only fighting stronger opponents yielded real gains. It was meant to prevent players from abusing the system—after all, if you could just sit in low orbit and bombard enemy zones with your warship for free XP, the game would be completely broken.
At his current level, the only worthwhile enemies left on this planet were elite units, faction leaders, or greater daemons—none of whom he wanted to solo.
Thud thud thud thud!!
Suddenly, urgent footsteps approached. Duanmu Huai turned to see Lorena rushing up to the rooftop. When she saw him, her eyes lit up.
"Thank goodness, Sir Knight, you're here! Something's happened! Reinforcements have arrived!"
"Reinforcements? Isn't that a good thing?"
He had noticed them too—but he couldn't understand why Lorena looked so distressed.
"No, it's not that! Among the reinforcements are members of the Sigmar Church! They say they're here to arrest those three Battle-Sisters and execute them!"
"Oh?"
Duanmu Huai raised an eyebrow. He was well aware of the tension between the Sigmar Church and the Sisterhood. As previously mentioned, the twin-tailed comet destroyed Mordheim, but the Monastery of Stone was left mostly unscathed. The Church had used this as an excuse to label the nuns as heretics. They had even argued with General Pasteur over it and refused to participate in the temple assault—which, technically, should've been their job to begin with.
And now they showed up just to stir trouble?
Though Duanmu Huai wasn't particularly close to the Battle-Sisters, they had fought side by side. He'd seen them purify the temple himself. They clearly weren't heretics. The Church had probably come just to steal the credit.
Seriously, we're only just getting started and already there's this much bullshit?
"Let's go take a look."
With that, Duanmu Huai stood up and headed back into the temple.
When he arrived in the temple hall, he saw the three Battle-Sisters bound and kneeling on the floor. Before them stood an elderly man in bishop's robes, puffed up with self-importance behind the sermon pulpit.
"You have defiled this sacred temple! Violated doctrine! Fallen to heresy! I now declare, in the name of Sigmar, you are to be executed!"
"Hold it."
Just as the bishop announced the sentence, Duanmu Huai stepped out of the crowd. The bishop froze when he saw him.
"You—what do you think you're doing? This is a church tribunal! No one may interfere!"
"No, I just want to ask you a few questions."
"Questions?"
"That's right."
Duanmu Huai stared at the bishop.
"If I understood you correctly, you're saying these Battle-Sisters are heretics corrupted by Chaos?"
"Yes, that's exactly right! When the disaster comet struck, only they suffered minimal damage. That gives us every reason to believe they may have colluded with some evil god and fallen into heresy!"
"I see."
Duanmu Huai nodded.
"In that case, is there any problem with the purification of this Sigmar Temple?"
"Uh…"
"You claim they're heretics, so they couldn't have received Sigmar's blessing. Which means they couldn't have purified the temple. So by your logic, this whole purification must be fake. Therefore…"
He gestured.
"I expect you to dispel the heretical curse and purify the temple again."
"Insolent fool!"
The bishop roared in anger.
"Of course we'll purify the temple again! Just not now! The priority is executing the heretics! The purification can wait until tomorrow!"
"No."
Duanmu Huai stepped forward, glaring at the bishop.
"The priority is purifying the temple. If these Battle-Sisters are heretics, then their so-called purification was a sham. That means this temple could still be cursed. Do you expect us to sleep in a heretic-infested temple overnight? Who'll take responsibility if something happens?"
This caused a stir among the nearby soldiers. If the bishop's claims were true, and the Sisters were heretics, then the temple was still cursed—and purging that curse should take top priority.
Besides, if they could dispel the curse, then that would prove the Sisters were heretics, wouldn't it?
"Ugh…"
The bishop clearly sensed the shift in mood and turned pale. But quickly, he scowled and glared at Duanmu Huai.
"This has nothing to do with you! This is a church matter! To question the Church is to question the gods themselves! Do you want to be branded a heretic too?!"
"...!"
The others gasped. But Duanmu Huai remained calm.
"To question the Church is to question the gods?"
He silently drew his warhammer and stared the bishop down.
"The Church is merely a servant of the divine. And you—how dare you equate the Church to the gods themselves?"
"You…!"
"You lack faith…"
Under Duanmu Huai's gaze, the bishop turned ghostly white. And then—suddenly, something changed.
The statues flanking the temple walls burst into radiant golden light, which shone directly onto Duanmu Huai. His warhammer began to glow with a brilliant golden aura, and behind him, a towering apparition emerged—
The divine form of Sigmar himself, the first Emperor of the Empire!
Everyone instinctively dropped to their knees. Duanmu Huai just stood there, dumbfounded. He glanced at his glowing warhammer as a system prompt appeared before his eyes.
[Thunder Warhammer (Melee, Two-Handed, Heavy Strike)]
[+15% chance for enemies to explode on death, dealing AoE damage equal to 50% of their HP (stacks)]
[+6.9% chance per attack to knock back the enemy]
[Blessing of Sigmar: Each attack adds a stack of holy damage]
Sigmar manifested? Why? I'm not even his follower! What's he doing blessing me!?
Duanmu Huai was stunned. But when he looked at the bishop, who was now pale as a corpse, he seemed to realize something—and his heart sank.
Gods don't show up just to show off… there's only one explanation!
Without hesitation, he lunged forward, grabbed the bishop, and yanked him off the podium. With his other hand, he tore open the man's robes—
Rip!!
The bishop's tattered robes fell away, revealing his shriveled, frail body. If he had been a beautiful woman, perhaps it would've drawn interest—but this old, withered man was nothing to look at.
Except—his body was covered in sigils and markings. And most prominent of all, on his chest—
An open eye etched above a hand.
Duanmu Huai's eyes narrowed.
"The Eye of Decay… You're a follower of the God of Trickery!"
(End of Chapter)