Gazing at Inazuma City, which looked as if a pause button had been pressed—citizens, samurai, and even small animals lay sprawled unconscious on the streets, shop doors were wide open, food in the pots still emitted faint steam, and the entire city was engulfed in silence, broken only by the whimpering wind—
the quartet, who had just carefully settled Lumine and Paimon, as well as Raiden Makoto, Raiden Ei, and Yae Miko, exchanged glances, their faces all expressing the same word: helplessness.
Bai Luo's Erhu Attack, which transcended the dimensional wall, was truly absurdly powerful.
According to the Wolf King's comprehensive biological signal scan results, every single organism within Inazuma, without exception, had fallen into a deep coma.
The earliest estimated time of awakening would require a full seventy-two hours!
"We're finished..."
Jesse covered his face in despair.
"Three days! Three whole days with nobody working! Shops closed, government suspended, farmlands abandoned, plus the most severe issue: unmanned docks... By the time they wake up, Inazuma might regress straight back to the era of the Sakoku Decree!"
"There is only one way now,"
Zane sighed, as if having made a difficult decision.
He silently pulled a delicate wooden box from his "four-dimensional pocket."
When opened, it revealed dozens of chess pieces of various shapes, neatly lined up, emitting faint energy fluctuations.
He carefully retrieved the Guilliman chess piece he had previously lent to Raiden Makoto.
With a flash of white light, Roboute Guilliman, clad in blue Power Armor, imposing in stature, and with his usual serious expression, appeared once again on the soil of Inazuma.
His sharp gaze quickly swept over the bizarre scene—the unconscious crowds, the paralyzed city—and his brow furrowed slightly.
Jesse steeled himself and used the most concise language to explain everything that had just happened to the Primarch from the Dark Millennium: a "greeting" from another world, a Conceptual-level Erhu Attack, and the current predicament of Inazuma's entire population being comatose for three days.
Guilliman: "..."
Even the Lord of Ultramar, who was widely experienced and had weathered countless storms, fell into a brief silence.
He was quiet for a few seconds, seemingly processing the overly bizarre information.
However, contrary to the quartet's expectations, Guilliman's serious face showed no expression of blame or absurdity.
Instead... his blue eyes suddenly burst forth with a light that was almost admiration!
A sonic weapon capable of ignoring individual strength, achieving large-scale, highly efficient, non-lethal crowd suppression?!
This... this was the ideal weapon for suppressing rebellions, controlling rioters, and executing special purge missions!
If the principle could be analyzed, even if only a weakened replica could be produced...
"Snap!"
the quartet simultaneously slapped their foreheads in perfect unison.
"We're done for, we forgot about that!"
Elliot wailed.
"This guy comes from that 'Pure F***ing Nonsense' 40K Universe! In his eyes, Bai Luo's erhu is probably comparable to the Holy Word of The Emperor!"
Zane quickly interrupted Guilliman's clearly derailed train of thought: "Hold it! Lord Primarch! Don't even think about that thing! The source is uncontrollable, you've seen the side effects, and it's extremely inhumane! The urgent matter now is to trouble you to use your 'highly efficient' methods to help us maintain the basic functioning of Inazuma City over these three days, so it doesn't truly descend into chaos!"
Hearing this, the researcher's light in Guilliman's eyes subsided slightly, and he regained his usual composure.
He nodded.
Although he still felt reluctant about the "highly efficient weapon," he knew his primary duty.
"Understood. Maintaining order and efficiency is the principle of Ultramar."
He immediately issued instructions via his internal communicator, using his Primarch authority.
Due to the "special nature" of this incident (involving rules-based attacks from another world and massive non-combat casualties), Guilliman did not mobilize a massive legion but specifically selected an elite Mixed Battle-Group for support.
Soon, several small Drop Pods streaked across the Inazuma sky like meteors, accurately landing in the open areas outside the city.
The hatches opened, and those who emerged were not uniformly blue Ultramarines.
Behold:
• The disciplined Ultramarines, clad in blue Power Armor, quickly gathered.
Under the command of a Company Captain, they began taking over Inazuma City's suspended government system with the precision of fine instruments.
They scanned various documents with Data-slates and analyzed Inazuma's taxation, security, and resource allocation using logically rigorous High Gothic (translated in real-time by the Wolf King).
• The Imperial Fists, wearing ochre armor and specializing in defense and construction, along with the Iron Warriors, famous for their iron will and siegecraft (temporarily cooperating under Guilliman's mediation), immediately began emergency repairs of the infrastructure and the construction of temporary shelters.
While they mocked each other's technical details in accented High Gothic ("Dorn's sons only know how to stack bricks!" "Perturabo's brats can't even draw a straight line!"), they rapidly erected rows of solid, practical, but extremely hardcore-style temporary residences and fortifications (angular, lacking any decoration).
• The kind-hearted Salamanders, skilled in forging and craftsmanship, carefully used their strength, moving the unconscious Inazuma citizens, samurai, and Miko as if transporting precious porcelain.
They systematically transferred them into the "Standardized Temporary Containment Units" just built by the Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors, ensuring ventilation and basic survival conditions.
• The noble-tempered Blood Angels, burdened by the curses of The Thirst and The Black Rage, were responsible for clearing potential threats in the city outskirts and guarding the centralized groups of equally unconscious Monsters, such as Hilichurls and Slimes.
However, just as everything seemed to be proceeding in good order, an accident occurred.
A young Blood Angel warrior, while inspecting a temporary detention area, saw several unconscious, reddish-furred Blazing Axe Mitachurls.
His handsome face suddenly showed extreme confusion and a hint of... distortion.
He stared intently at the Blazing Axe Mitachurl, as if trying to discern something profound from its ugly face, muttering unconsciously:
"That fur... that color... Horus...? Is that you... brother... why have you become like this...?"
His voice was initially confused, but quickly filled with uncontrollable rage and sorrow.
His eyes began to glow with an ominous red light, and his Power Armor servo system emitted an unstable whine!
"Holy crap! He's succumbed to The Black Rage!"
An experienced Blood Angel veteran nearby immediately noticed his comrade's abnormality and sounded the alarm!
"Chaplain! Quick, get the Chaplain! Carcassus has succumbed to The Black Rage!"
"Holy shit! There are no enemies here! No traitors! Only a bunch of unconscious Xenos (referring to the Hilichurls)! How did he succumb to The Black Rage?!"
"Hold him down quickly! Don't let him tear down the temporary shelter!"
Several Blood Angels rushed forward, attempting to restrain their comrade who had fallen into inexplicable fury.
The scene instantly became chaotic, filled with the sounds of Power Armor colliding, shouts of dissuasion, and the deep roar emitted by The Black Rage warrior.
Guilliman, who was directing the Ultramarines in processing documents, heard the commotion and reluctantly put down his Data-slate, rubbing his temples.
He could sense that while these warriors, "molded" by the four "Creators" based on the Blood Angels template, inherited the original's great strength and most characteristics, they seemed... to have also picked up some unstable "traits" from the Creators, such as this version of The Black Rage, which was extremely easy to trigger under nonsensical conditions, yet was curable.
Perhaps, before considering Bai Luo's Erhu as a new weapon, I should first suggest that the Magos Biologis of the Adeptus Mechanicus study how to stabilize the mental state of these Astartes Monks...
Meanwhile, the quartet, the culprits, hid far away, watching the chaotic and incongruous scene—Space Marines pouring concrete in Inazuma City, handling government affairs, and even triggering The Black Rage because of Hilichurls...
Jesse wiped away cold sweat: "I somehow feel... calling them here might not be the most reliable idea?"
Elliot nodded in deep agreement: "At least... the efficiency is quite high."
Zane looked at the area rapidly covered by concrete and steel by the Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors, and said faintly: "I just hope that when the Inazumans wake up, they won't think their homes have been plowed over by some new natural disaster..."
These three days in Inazuma City were destined to pass "peacefully" in an extremely bizarre manner, amidst various commotions, high efficiency, hardcore construction, and the occasional outbreak of inexplicable fury.