This is bad. We've walked right into a trap.
Looking at the mass of giant men in robes and power armor, Bruce's scalp prickled.
Psychers and Astartes at the same time—these people were a nightmare to deal with.
In 40K, these guys would basically be the famous Grey Knights. A force that could wield psychic powers fluidly while also sending enemies flying with melee weapons—an outfit like this could even banish a corrupted primarch.
Right now, though…
Two and a half fighters against ninety-eight of them.
There's really no problem here, right?
"Magnus, get out here!" Horus swept her gaze across the chamber, finding only Thousand Sons Astartes and no sign of Magnus himself, and immediately threw down a threat.
"Don't force me to slaughter every last one of your sons!"
"You know as well as I do that these people are no threat to me at all."
She was not bluffing.
If she really started killing, no one here would be able to stop her. They would die as fast as they came.
Psychic power might matter in battles between equals—or against those slightly weaker—but before absolute strength, what could it really do?
The only thing that could defeat a primarch… was another primarch.
"Horus, from the moment you stepped into this sanctum, your soul and your Warp-nature have already been restricted!"
"Soon, you will understand what it means to lose your power!"
"What we all carry within us is a fragment of the Warp! This is the might of psychic power!"
Magnus's hollow voice echoed on.
Have we now?
After hearing that, Horus genuinely felt like Magnus had either lost his mind or gone completely off the rails. So far, neither she nor Curze nor Bruce felt anything particularly wrong.
Wait…
Little Horus—?!
"What did you do to my son, Magnus?! Get out here!" Horus roared the moment she noticed her dear boy had fully collapsed to the ground and stopped moving.
"Heh. Don't be impatient, my brother. Soon enough, you'll be just like him." Magnus sounded very pleased with himself.
Finally, a proper reaction.
Unlike that other impostor, who hadn't reacted at all.
However—
"Oh, for the love of… Horus, something's wrong. There's a Blank here." Curze stepped forward, spear in hand. Every step she took forced the Thousand Sons before her back by one.
The pressure radiating from a primarch made even these psychic warriors instinctively recoil. Though the little girl before them only came up to about their midsections, the aura rolling off her was that of a savage beast.
Just getting close made their souls tremble. Retreating was instinctive.
"A Blank? You're serious?!" Horus's expression changed at once as she held her sword at the ready, keeping the Thousand Sons from advancing.
Psychers, she could understand. This was the nest of psykers, after all, and in the whole Imperium, Magnus was probably the only one openly championing them.
But a Blank?
A natural enemy of psykers, one of the Emperor's greatest weapons, and one of the key tools at his disposal.
How had Magnus gotten his hands on one of those?
"Are you stupid? If it weren't a Blank, would your son have gone down that fast?" Curze gave her analysis coolly. "He's probably using some strange technology to direct a Blank's null effect at specific targets."
"I'd guess it's linked to the psychic resonance from when we entered this room."
"I never expected you to notice that much. You surprise me, brother." Magnus's tone practically dripped approval as he confirmed her guess.
"However…"
He shifted immediately into smug explanation mode.
"Unfortunately, my research into Blanks remains only superficial. I cannot suppress specific people directly. But I can amplify her influence enough to make all of you collapse faster."
If a Blank was a natural predator of psykers, then all Magnus needed to do was reduce the psychic expenditure of his own side while increasing that of his enemies.
And this chamber, conveniently enough, could provide him with a constant supply of power.
By any calculation, the ones to fall in the end would be Bruce and the others.
"Damn you!" Horus nearly erupted after hearing that Magnus had gone this far with yet another forbidden line of research.
So you really don't do a single proper thing, do you?!
At that moment, she felt like she finally understood it all.
"My lord, how much longer can you hold out?" Curze asked. It was obvious she no longer felt like waiting. "If you can't, then just lie down and take a nap."
"Sleep for a bit. The fight will be over when you wake up."
"I will fight beside you, Father." Bruce activated both of his lightning claws and made his stance crystal clear.
A Blank?
Honestly, it had done absolutely nothing to him. If Curze hadn't said it aloud, he wouldn't even have known one was present.
Magnus really was something. He knew perfectly well that this thing was a born counter to psykers, and yet he still dared to weaponize it.
Impressive.
"Good."
Curze nodded, thoroughly satisfied.
"Then let us begin our hunt, child. No need to be shy."
This was not the first time they had fought side by side, but Curze genuinely liked the feeling of hunting with her son—well, specifically with Bruce.
If it had been Sevatar or Meiling instead, she would have found it hopelessly dull.
I wonder how my favorite son will tear through them.
"Understood!"
Bruce did not waste a word. He stamped the crystal floor to splinters and launched himself straight into the Thousand Sons' formation.
"Stop him!"
"He's only one man!"
"AAAAAAAHHH—!"
"He's so fast!"
"What the hell is that?! Why is he so savage?!"
"Watch his lightning claws! Those things are bad news!"
"Leave him to me! You damned Eighth Legion cur—urk!"
"Hold the line! Quickly! Stop him! He's alone!"
Bruce tore into the crowd like an eel slipping through a net.
He was too slippery to pin down. Every opponent got one claw strike—never more. He didn't overcommit.
With brutal weapons and absurd mobility, he managed to send quite a few Thousand Sons flying.
The Thousand Sons, for their part, did something unexpected: they did not immediately swarm him.
Instead, they instinctively formed a ring and sent combatants up one by one.
Despite having overwhelming numbers, their first instinct was still one of dignity.
Letting too many of us dogpile one man would be crude.
Of course, that restraint only applied to Bruce. On the primarch side, the Thousand Sons captains were another story entirely. Several masters from different fellowships attacked in coordinated waves.
The results, however, were not nearly so elegant.
Bruce at least understood the concept of showing some restraint. Curze and Horus did not.
They did not merely beat their challengers.
They crippled them.
"Why don't you all come at once? I'm in a hurry." Bruce ripped open two Thousand Sons chestplates, but deliberately stopped short of killing them, flinging them back into the crowd instead.
Then he crooked a finger at three more warriors who looked eager to try.
The Thousand Sons were instantly furious.
How dare he humiliate them like this?
This time, they did the only natural thing.
They rushed him three at a time.
The Raptora fellowship—every one of them a master of kine shields and force manipulation. Their powers could crush, restrain, protect, or distort an enemy's body, and their members were also exceptional close-quarters fighters.
The Corvidae fellowship—telepaths and prognosticators, specialists in foresight and misinformation. They could feed false data directly into an opponent's senses and thought patterns.
The Pyrae fellowship—masters of psychic flame. Immune to fire themselves, they wielded flames that could burn both flesh and soul. And if necessary, they could even act as puppet-masters.
In some cases, Pyrae sorcerers could even remotely control god-machines—Titans.
"So you really are doing this?!" Bruce rolled to evade the tongue of fire that came shrieking toward him.
Then he spun and drove his shoulder into the Corvidae sorcerer who had lunged in, sending him staggering back. A follow-up upward claw strike shredded through a kine shield with brute-force disruption. Finally, he snapped off a burst from his bolter, forcing the approaching Raptora warrior to retreat.
Not simple.
Just the opening exchange, and Bruce had already neutralized all three.
The most shaken were the Corvidae.
They discovered, to their amazement, that they could not predict a single one of Bruce's next movements. Every possible future they saw was a blur.
How is he doing that?
The three Thousand Sons exchanged glances.
At last, they reached a conclusion.
Forget dignity.
Jump him.
"WTF?" Bruce stared as the Thousand Sons all tightened their grip on their staves and started charging him together.
For a split second he was stunned by how calmly they had all decided on this.
Then he turned and ran.
These bookworms are shameless!
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 147)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter185)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter105)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter215)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 185
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 170
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/1
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 206
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 190
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/23
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 106
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 125
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 105
I Can Copy Unique Skills 90
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 90
My Harem Is Indescribable 80
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 86
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 81
Still playing traditional Honk 65
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 65
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 57
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 45
Transmigrated as Sukuna 59
Checking In in Demon Slayer 59
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 73
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 45
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 36
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 40
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 60
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 30
Why did they assign me to Uma 35
MYGO Beauties 43
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 30
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 31
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