Chapter 181: The Mechanism Audit
BOOM!!!
Another fragmentation grenade flew from Kian's hand, detonating directly beneath the regenerating pile of meat and wood. The blast scattered the Antler-Fiend into a dozen steaming chunks.
As the flesh began its wet, rhythmic crawl to merge again, Kian reached for his canteen. He wanted to douse the slurry in Sanctified Spirits and end the cycle. But the "Aggro" had peaked—a sea of Poxwalkers was closing in from every corner of the staging bay.
"Piss off, you giggling freaks!" Kian roared.
He swung his Lasgun around. With his Ballistics Proficiency at 161, he was playing with an "Aimbot" logic. He worked the trigger in a rapid-fire cadence, popping the heads of every zombie within twenty meters. Each ruby beam found an eye-socket or a temple, turning the front row of the horde into a barricade of charred corpses.
The Antler-Fiend used the distraction to merge. Before it could fully stand, Kian lobbed another grenade.
BOOM.
The monster was reduced to pulp for the third time. Kian finally cleared enough breathing room to move. He slung his rifle over his back and unclipped the heavy brass canteen from his belt.
He pushed his bird-mask up just far enough to expose his mouth, took a massive swig of the Sanctified Spirits, and held the liquid fire in his cheeks. He sprinted forward, stood over the writhing chunks of the monster, and sprayed.
PFFFFFT!
The holy alcohol coated the rotted meat. The Emperor's resonance slammed into the Plaguefather's corruption. A brilliant, golden-white spiritual flame ignited, consuming the slurry.
The chunks of meat didn't merge; they thrashed in the fire, their movements frantic and erratic. From the center of the flames, the two heads let out a coordinated, soul-shredding shriek.
"AAAAAGH!! THE POWER OF THE ANATHEMA!!!"
Imperial resonance was the hard-counter to the Warp. It didn't just damage the flesh; it burned the essence. Even if a daemon regenerated its physical form, the "Soul-Burn" would remain, a permanent scar of agony on its spirit-origin.
The attack enraged the beast. The Warp-rime on the floor thickened, turning the metal into a skating rink of black ice. The Antler-Fiend forced its body to reform through the fire, its grey-green skin now covered in permanent, smoking black marks that refused to heal.
Kian threw another grenade, but the monster was done playing games. It flicked its wooden Kris, the blade moving with preternatural speed, cleaving the grenade in mid-air.
The explosive was sliced in two, its internal components rusting and dissolving into grey dust before the fuse could even spark. The decay-field was back.
The Fiend lunged at Kian.
Kian fired a volley from his Lasgun. The ruby beams punched holes in the monster's belly, spilling its black bile, but the "Birth" cycle was still active. The wounds closed as fast as Kian could open them.
The wooden Kris swung in a vertical arc. Kian parried with his Heavy Las-rifle.
SNAP.
The reinforced plasteel barrel was sheared clean through by the rotted wood. Kian dove back as the second swing missed his throat by an inch. He tossed the ruined rifle aside and gripped his canteen of Holy Spirits.
He splashed a handful of the liquid toward the beast. The Fiend shrieked as the gold-flecked alcohol touched its chest, the holy fire erupting across its tuxedo.
"YOU... YOU BASTARD!!" the Antler-head roared. Even the most "Patient" of Nurgle's children had a limit to their humility.
The monster raised its bell and its sword. It struck the iron with the wood.
DING.
Kian's brain felt like it was being put through a centrifuge. The overlapping cries of ten thousand newborns echoed in his skull, paralyzing his motor functions.
The Fiend stalked forward, raising its wooden blade above Kian's head. "Death... is a new beginning..."
Kian grit his teeth. I'm cooked, he thought. Mental Clarity is red-lining. I can't move. He closed his eyes, bracing for the "Respawn" screen.
But the strike didn't come.
The human head on the monster's chest let out a distorted, weeping howl. "DEATH IS DEATH! THERE IS NO REBIRTH! THERE IS ONLY THE COLD DARK! END IT!!"
The wooden blade shook, hovering inches from Kian's visor. The host and the daemon were locked in a psychic civil war for control of the arm.
"YOU SPOILED CHILD!" the Antler-head hissed, its face twisting with fury. "DO NOT INTERFERE!!"
The human mind was being suppressed, but the delay was enough. Kian's head cleared. He didn't wait. He grabbed the canteen and dumped another Swig's worth of Holy Spirits directly onto the monster's lower half.
The Fiend screamed and rolled across the floor, trying to extinguish the soul-fire.
Kian drew his backup PDF Sub-stubber and raked the approaching Pox-horde with lead. "Throne's blood! They just keep coming!!"
He emptied a magazine, then threw his last two grenades to clear a ten-meter radius. He turned back to the boss.
The Fiend had extinguished the flames, but it was a ruin of charred meat. Its eyes were glowing with a violent, blood-red light. The pain was permanent now. The "Silence" it had sought was a distant dream. It wanted Kian Voss dead more than it wanted the garden.
The monster raised the bell again.
DING!!
Kian staggered, blood leaking from beneath his bird-mask. His vision turned grey. He was at 10% health, his nervous system on the verge of a complete shutdown.
DING!!
The second ring hit like a physical weight. Kian fell to his knees, his hands trembling. The sound of the "Newborn's Cry" was vibrating his very atoms.
The Antler-Fiend offered a jagged, hateful smile. It raised the wooden sword one last time, preparing to deliver the third and final toll.
Kian watched the sword descend toward the bell. He knew his "Stamina" and "Spirit" bars were empty. He couldn't dodge. He couldn't block. He looked at the human head on the monster's chest, hoping for one more "Internal Audit."
But the noble was silent, his consciousness crushed by the daemon's pain.
The wooden blade hit the iron bell.
But instead of the psychic shockwave, there was only a loud CRACK.
The bell didn't ring. It shattered. The rusted iron disintegrated into a cloud of black shards and dissolved into a pool of foul-smelling pus on the floor.
Kian blinked, his vision slowly returning.
[HUD NOTIFICATION: ANCHOR DESTROYED]
Target 'Birth' has been neutralized by Squad Alpha.
Far across the bay, Kian saw the distant silhouette of Egghead, standing over the remains of a smashed circular rune on the central pillar, a smoking grenade launcher in his hand.
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