Compared to the arduous struggle Raynor and Sarah faced when conquering Cassius back in Necromunda, their current strength had grown exponentially.
Raynor had not only undergone physical enhancement but could even faintly perceive his own Warp essence. However, he had no intention of fully embracing it; he had Sarah, and he harbored no desperate thirst for psionic power. Sarah's Hive Mind consciousness had also grown significantly more formidable, causing the system's "conquest intensity" to rise sharply. Dealing with Solene was now a simple matter of effortless manipulation.
After an unknown amount of time, Solene's chaotic consciousness gradually cleared. She was panting heavily, her muscles aching intensely. The purple psionic chains remained coiled around her, firmly restricting her movements. Raynor's purple eyes, glittering with a playful smile, watched her in silence.
"What do you want, you damned heretic?!"
Solene's voice was hoarse. She felt that during the recent chaos in her mind, her thoughts had undergone a subtle, disturbing shift. It felt as though something private had been completely pried open by Raynor; the sensation of being seen through made her skin crawl. Anger and humiliation intertwined in her heart, making her gaze exceptionally terrifying.
Raynor didn't answer. Instead, he reached out and gently removed her standard PDF helmet.
Her silver hair cascaded down instantly, draping over her shoulders with a dusting of fine frost. An exquisite face was revealed beneath the dim light: high brow bones, a straight nose, and rose-red eyes burning with fury. Her lips were pressed tight, showing a trace of stubbornness. Even in a desperate situation, this Inquisitor retained her pride, like a thorny rose refusing to bow its head.
Raynor's fingertips gently ran through her hair, brushing away the frost. The smile in his purple eyes deepened. After a long silence, he finally spoke, his low voice carrying a teasing lilt:
"You... are secretly in love with your mentor, aren't you?"
Solene's fierce expression—one that looked as if she wanted to tear Raynor to shreds—instantly turned a deep, thorough red, from her cheeks to the tips of her ears. Her rose-red pupils dilated, and her eyes filled with shock and panic, as if all her armor had been stripped away.
"Sec... secretly in love?"
"What... what are you talking about?! How could such a thing be possible?!!!"
Her voice suddenly pitched higher, lanced with uncontrolled panic as she desperately tried to refute him. But those flushed cheeks betrayed her true thoughts. Her speech became stuttering, losing all its usual coldness and logic.
Watching her panicked state, Raynor let out a wicked chuckle. He focused his consciousness on the virtual system interface and lightly tapped the [Compulsory Answer] button.
With his current mental strength, he could afford to consume energy recklessly against Solene without fearing backlash. A powerful wave of mental force erupted from his purple eyes, flowing through the psionic chains and into Solene's mind, forcibly seizing control of her speech centers.
She felt her mouth being manipulated by an invisible force, entirely beyond her control. The words in her throat rushed out unimpeded:
"Yes... Yes, I love my mentor!"
As the words fell, Solene's eyes instantly turned red with tears. She tried desperately to shut her mouth, but it was futile. Realizing she couldn't stop it, she simply ceased resisting and roared again, her voice filled with extreme humiliation and long-suppressed grievance:
"I love him!!!"
"I've loved him from the very beginning!!!"
This was a secret she had kept buried for years, an affection she had never revealed to anyone. Even she herself didn't dare to face this emotion directly. Since becoming Abel Varro's student, this feeling had taken root and sprouted, evolving from initial admiration into a hidden love.
But she was merely an ordinary Inquisitor, while Abel was a Grand Inquisitor. The distance between them was like a vast chasm. Furthermore, Abel was a staunch Puritan who utterly loathed everything related to heresy and Xenos. Meanwhile, she had unknowingly become the very thing she once detested most.
This love could only be hidden in the deepest corner of her heart, never dared to be exposed. Yet now, it had been forcibly unearthed by a stranger—a heretic—who even forced her to shout it out with her own lips.
The long-suppressed emotions erupted completely at this moment, and tears flowed uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes.
"Ugh... hng... sob..."
Raynor and the mini Ripper on his shoulder simultaneously let out a meaningful, drawn-out "Oh~".
The look of total understanding on his face made Solene wish she could find a crack in the floor to crawl into. Raynor even gave Sarah a look that seemed to say, "See? I told you so." Sarah blinked her compound eyes and gently rubbed against Raynor's cheek; she, too, was beginning to appreciate the "beauty" of hearing juicy gossip.
While Solene was immersed in her shame and grief, Raynor's voice rang out again.
"But your mentor, Abel Varro, is the most steadfast Puritan in the Inquisition. He loathes everything associated with the Xenos, correct?"
Solene answered through her humiliation: "Yes."
He took a step forward, leaning close to her, the light in his purple eyes becoming increasingly eerie.
"Yet, to prove yourself and gain his recognition, you didn't hesitate to use Xenos technology and psionic methods. While you use your status as an Inquisitor to sanction heretics, you are simultaneously doing exactly what they do, aren't you?"
Solene's body gave a violent shudder. Her tears stopped as she answered once more: "Yes."
The fierce fire reignited in her rose-red eyes. She stared death at Raynor, her teeth gritting with a grinding sound. Even bound by psionic chains, she still carried the ruthlessness of an Inquisitor:
"No matter what you do to me—whether you kill me or pollute my genes—you will never escape the Inquisition's judgment! Heretic! The moment I die, my mentor will realize it immediately. He will turn you and your Tyranids into ash and dust!"
Perhaps Raynor would try to use her secret to blackmail her, forcing her to betray the Inquisition and aid his evil cause. But he was wrong. As an Inquisitor, her pride would not allow her to bow to a heretic, even if all her secrets were exposed. Even in death, she would make this heretic pay the price.
"Am I a heretic? Hahahahahaha!"
Seeing her "death-before-dishonor" attitude, Raynor suddenly burst into laughter, the sound echoing within the cramped compartment. After laughing for a long while, he stopped, reached into his coat, and pulled out a data-slate, bringing up a specific video.
Under Solene's fire-filled gaze, he pressed the play button right in front of her.