This sequence of maneuvers, designed to back an opponent into a corner step by step, was even more impressive than his psychic foot. It was a clean kill without a drop of blood on his own hands.
Siss burst into laughter, his previous restlessness swept away. His gaze toward Tooth-Rich was full of approval.
"Good! 'Rightfully justified' indeed!"
"Tooth-Rich, you haven't let me down. Proceed exactly as you've said. I give you full authority to handle this matter!"
Upon leaving the Overseer's Hall, Tooth-Rich immediately took action according to Raynor's instructions. Within half a day, rumors that "Boss Siss was in a towering rage because the Bad Moons Clan didn't know the rules and failed to pay their protection tribute" spread like wildfire to every corner of Karl-2.
The ninja Boyz of the Hokage Clan embedded themselves in the camps, taverns, and workshops of various clans. They spread these rumors with vivid embellishments, describing Siss's fury so convincingly that it seemed the fleets of the three major clans would descend upon the Bad Moons' camp at any second.
The Big Bosses of the Bad Moons Clan sensed the danger immediately. As veteran opportunists who had survived by playing different factions against each other, how could they not hear the threat behind these words?
Though others often called them "nouveau riche" because their teeth grew faster and they seemingly stumbled into wealth, only they knew the hardship behind it. Without understanding social dynamics, how could they have protected such riches?
In the past, Chandler was the sole Boss of Karl-2; they only needed to pay him tribute on time. But now, Siss had emerged with the three major clans, wielding a power that could rival Chandler's. They could not afford to offend this Overseer who held military command.
The high-ranking members of the Bad Moons held an emergency meeting overnight and reached a unanimous decision. To endure a moment of humiliation was to ensure peace. If it was tribute he wanted, they would give it! They decided to give him exactly as much as they gave Chandler. By offending neither side, they hoped to stay out of trouble.
Early the next morning, messengers from the Bad Moons arrived stealthily at the Overseer's palace. They delivered a spaceship filled with premium Big Teeth, rare ores, and various top-tier Greenskin luxury goods. The quantity and specifications matched their monthly tribute to Chandler to the letter.
To their surprise, however, Siss accepted the tribute but acted as if nothing had happened. The ninja Boyz of the Hokage Clan continued to spread rumors in every camp, even escalating their claims. They claimed the Bad Moons had only given Siss some "scraps," not even a tenth of what they gave Chandler, openly disrespecting the Overseer.
Furthermore, Hokage Boyz began flying assault boats to the edges of the Bad Moons' camp. They shouted threats at the Greenskin Boyz inside, claiming Boss Siss had already ordered a "lesson" for those who ignored the rules.
The Big Bosses of the Bad Moons were utterly bewildered. After much deliberation, they concluded they had still given too little—Siss's appetite was larger than they had imagined. Though their hearts bled at the cost, they decided to endure further in the face of Siss's overwhelming power.
A few days later, they scraped together a second batch of tribute, doubling the amount of the first. This nearly drained the clan's savings from the past week. Again, they sent it secretly to the Overseer's palace.
But the rumors did not stop; instead, they grew more vicious. Word spread across Karl-2 that while the Bad Moons paid tribute to Siss on the surface, they were secretly giving their best goods to Chandler. They were accused of not respecting Siss's authority and even colluding with the Deathskulls, waiting for Chandler to finish his meditation so they could take down Siss together.
This finally pushed the Bad Moons—who valued their wealth above all else—to the breaking point. They had sent astronomical amounts of tribute twice, only to be met with escalating slander and threats. Even a mud man has three parts of fire in him, let alone a short-tempered Greenskin.
The seven Big Bosses of the Bad Moons, accompanied by dozens of bodyguards, stormed the entrance of the Overseer's Hall, demanding an explanation from Siss. But they didn't even make it through the gates. They were intercepted by Tooth-Rich and his Hokage guards.
"Tooth-Rich! Stop playing dumb!" The leading Bad Moon Big Boss was so angry his face turned green. He pointed a finger at Tooth-Rich's nose and roared, "We sent Boss Siss massive amounts of tribute twice! It was more than what we gave Chandler!"
"How dare you still spread rumors everywhere saying we don't respect Boss Siss?!"
Tooth-Rich crossed his arms, looking at them with disdain. He spoke slowly. "Oh? You say you gave it, but do you have proof? Besides, given the pittance you sent, you have the nerve to say it was the same as Chandler's?"
"Everyone knows the Bad Moons send the best alloys and the rarest ores into Chandler's workshops. You bring some broken teeth to fool Boss Siss—do you think we're blind?"
"You're full of it!" The Bad Moon Boss trembled with rage. "The tribute was sent privately! Where would the proof come from? You're clearly taking our stuff and refusing to work, looking for a fight on purpose!"
"So what if we are?" The smile vanished from Tooth-Rich's face, replaced by a cold tone. "Either produce three times the tribute you give to Chandler, or get lost and wait for the Overseer's reckoning. Stop wasting my time."
This sentence completely ignited the fury of the Bad Moon Bosses.
"You're just bullying an honest Ork!"
They were already backed into a corner, and being publicly humiliated by Tooth-Rich was the final straw. The leading Big Boss roared, drawing the power axe at his waist and swinging it toward Tooth-Rich.
"You damned Grot! I'll split you open first!"
His Bad Moon guards also drew their weapons, charging toward the Hokage guards. Just as the power axe was about to strike Tooth-Rich's head, a dark green psychic barrier appeared in front of the Grot. Then, a voice filled with monstrous rage echoed at the palace gates.
"How dare you attack at the gates of the Overseer's Hall and attempt to assassinate my confidant? The Bad Moons Clan has grown quite bold!"
Siss's figure flickered like a single frame of film, appearing instantly in front of the Bad Moon Bosses. Terrifying psychic fluctuations swirled in his eyes; the pressure of an Alpha-level psyker weighed down on the area like the sky was collapsing.
The Bad Moon guards who had charged forward didn't even have time to scream before they were crushed into meat paste by invisible psychic force. The leading Bad Moon Boss froze, his power axe suspended in mid-air. The anger on his face instantly turned into extreme terror. He wanted to explain, he wanted to stop, but it was too late.
Siss looked at them, and a muddy green light erupted from his eyes.
Waaagh! Spell: Mork's Gaze!
In an instant, a fan-shaped beam of green psychic light burst from Siss's eyes. Accompanied by the roars of ten thousand Greenskins, it enveloped the Bad Moon Orks. There was no world-shaking explosion—only shrill screams and the ear-grating sound of melting.
The three-meter-tall Greenskin Bosses, along with their heavy armor and weapons, melted away in that gaze like wax meeting a roaring fire. They turned into a puddle of green, steaming slime in an instant, with not even a bone fragment remaining.
The palace entrance fell into a deathly silence. Siss retracted his gaze, and his psychic energy settled.
"Tooth-Rich."
"Present!" Tooth-Rich immediately knelt.
"Spread the word: The Bad Moons Clan plotted to assassinate the Overseer and betrayed Boss Ragnar. Their crime is unforgivable!"
"As of today, initiate a total liquidation of the Bad Moons Clan!"
The fleets of the Hokage, Blood Axe, and Evil Sunz—already prepared and waiting at the docks—ignited their engines the moment the order was received. Five hundred purple Hokage assault boats were the first to scream out of the port, with the Evil Sunz speed fleet close behind. The Blood Axe assault fleet circled to the rear of the Bad Moon camp, sealing off all paths of retreat.
The light of cannon fire instantly illuminated the sky above the Bad Moon territory.
The roar of cannons made the entire space station tremble.
The liquidation war against the Bad Moons Clan had raged for seven full days and nights. No one expected this ambush, which seemingly held every advantage, to devolve into such a dark, grinding war of attrition. As the second-largest force on Karl-2, trailing only the Deathskulls, the Bad Moons possessed reserves that far exceeded everyone's imagination.
The wealthy Bad Moons' core territory was situated in the heart of Karl-2's middle defense ring. The area was reinforced with permanent "Big Boom" turret emplacements and shield generators. Their fleet boasted two capital ships: the "Gold-Swarner," a battleship uniquely modified by the Bad Moons, and the "Gilded Tusk," a cruiser. Both capital ships reflected the clan's signature style, with a level of firepower that turned every other Greenskin on the station green with envy.
Siss had successfully decapitated a group of Bad Moon Big Bosses early on. The three-clan coalition fleet had seized the initiative, blowing apart a third of the Bad Moons' docked ships in the opening minutes of the conflict. Yet, they still couldn't swallow this behemoth in one gulp.
The Bad Moons lacked neither teeth nor equipment. They used countless premium Big Teeth to employ the highest concentration of wandering Big Meks on Karl-2. Their warehouses overflowed with endless supplies of weapons, armor, and ammunition. Even when their fleet was crippled, they could refit ship wreckage into mobile battery platforms within hours. When their camp walls were blasted down, they welded new fortifications into place immediately.
The battlefield became a meat grinder.
Groups of purple Hokage assault boats dove toward the Bad Moon docks like flocks of crows, only to be swatted back time and again by dense anti-air fire. Countless boats disintegrated into clouds of metal shrapnel mid-air. The Red Boyz of the Evil Sunz rode high-speed space bikes, charging recklessly along the ground to sabotage the Bad Moon turrets, only to be mowed down in rows by relentless heavy "Dakka" fire. Blood Axe commandos attempted to infiltrate for assassinations, but they were counter-ambushed by Blood Axe mercenaries hired with Bad Moon gold. Both sides engaged in bloody close-quarters combat within narrow subterranean tunnels.
To maximize the damage to the Bad Moon fleet during the initial air raid, the Hokage bombers had dropped massive quantities of incendiary bombs. These devices, cobbled together through the power of "I fink so," burned with an intensity more terrifying than the Imperium's promethium. Once ignited, the flames could melt through adamantium plating and were nearly impossible to extinguish.
The incendiaries did more than destroy the Bad Moon shipyards; the fires spread out of control through the conduits of the middle defense ring. Anti-air turrets, supply depots, and shield generators were reduced to charred ruins. Nearly a fifth of Karl-2's middle defense ring, designed to face external threats from the sector, was destroyed in this civil war.
Inside the Overseer's Hall, Siss looked down at the burning battlefield, his fingers twitching uncontrollably. He could feel that the damage to the middle defense ring had made Karl-2's barrier against external threats fragile. A flicker of regret rose in his heart. He had only intended to remove a fence-sitter, not to tear the planet's defenses to pieces.
However, the ever-strengthening Waaagh! field was funneling power into his body. The more intense the slaughter on the battlefield became, and the more fanatical the Boyz' roars grew, the more power surged into him. He could clearly feel his psychic intensity jumping significantly over these seven days. The pleasure of rising power was as addictive as a drug, quickly drowning out the insignificant regret in his soul.
He slowly closed his eyes, letting the Waaagh! field swirl around him, a suppressed smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. There was no going back. From the moment he first tasted the sweetness of power and strength, he was lost to it.
Even with the civil war raging, the Greenskins of Karl-2 did not forget their favorite pastime. On the sixth day of the liquidation war, the Second Elf-Gork Rally opened as scheduled in the rear areas of Karl-2. Countless Boyz who couldn't make it to the front lines packed the stands along the track. Some Boyz who hadn't yet reached a murderous frenzy even arranged informal ceasefires just to finish watching the race before resuming the fight.
Sasuke rode a brand-new Squig, once again competing for the Hokage Clan. The cheers of the Boyz reached the heavens, and the Waaagh! field swelled once more. As the most prominent Greenskin on Karl-2, Siss caught this massive surge of energy. His combat strength continued to climb.
He stood by the observation window, intoxicated by the psychic energy surging through his veins, which felt as if it might burst his very body. He began to fantasize about the future: after swallowing the Bad Moons and dealing with Chandler, he would become the "Waaagh-iest" Greenskin on Karl-2. Then, he would lead the Boyz in an unprecedented Great Waaagh! to tear through the entire sector. He would present the sector to Boss Ragnar, showing him how right he had been to scout him in the first place.
While immersed in the pleasure of power, he suddenly turned his head toward a specific direction. A cold Waaagh! field, carrying the roar of machinery, had appeared there. The field was violent and domineering, carrying the metallic scent unique to a Big Mek. It was a presence he knew all too well—and one he feared deeply.
Iron-Claw Chandler had returned.
Deep within the core workshop of the Deathskulls Clan, the alloy gates that had been sealed for over a month were torn to shreds from the inside. Chandler emerged from the swirling dust. He stood nearly five meters tall, his body covered in circuitry. His armor was welded with countless weapon hardpoints and psychic dampeners, and he carried a three-meter-long plasma Great Cannon on his back.
His face was hidden behind a tactical visor, leaving only a mouth full of jagged teeth visible. He was gnashing those teeth now, his internal rage nearly igniting the air around him. There was only one reason he had ended his meditation early.
He could feel that his power was shrinking at a frantic pace.