Eternal Night

Chapter 585 The Line Between Life and Death and Awakening
Sitting on the commander's chair, Wu Pifu appeared incredibly petite.

It should be noted that after undergoing the physical refinement of Chinese martial arts and the Immortal Martial Arts, Wu Pifu is now over two meters tall, with his whole body covered in muscles. From his appearance, he is already a burly man.

But in Warhammer Dreamworld, strength is really determined by a person's height... at least that's what Wu Pifu thinks.

Take a look. Any Space Marine is around 2.3 to 2.5 meters tall, and some are close to 3 meters. The Custodians are a little over 3 meters tall, and according to the data, Primarchs are generally around 3.5 meters tall. Although no height information was left for the legendary Emperor, we can see from the ancient images of him standing with Primarchs that he was at least 4.5 to 5 meters tall.

A five-meter-tall human?
Wu Pifu stood in front of him, but he didn't even reach his waist!

This commander's chair was designed to be the same size as the emperor's chair used during the expeditions, with only a slight reduction in size to avoid any issues of blasphemy.

So when Wu Pifu sat in this chair, from a distance, it looked almost like a toddler sitting on a dragon throne.

This made him feel very uncomfortable sitting there.

As the battleship, Oath of Victory, entered the path of the matter-folding warp engine filled with bizarre light, he rose from his command chair, and immediately more than ten guards stepped forward.

Wu Pifu didn't stop him, but just went towards the arena of the warship on his own.

The battleship was enormous, and the arena built inside it had a three-dimensional structure that could seat tens of thousands of people at the same time.

Wu Pifu then went to the arena, took out the Heroic Spirit Shattered Blade, and silently practiced his swordsmanship meticulously.

"Do you think this kind of training will be useful for the war we are about to face?" A voice rang out behind Wu Pifu, followed by the sound of power armor moving and colliding.

At the arena entrance behind Wu Pifu stood Imotek Stormlord, with ten Space Marine veterans, three hundred years old, blocking his way.

As Wu Pifu turned around and waved, the ten Space Marine veterans stepped aside and then stood around like silent steel.

Imotek Stormlord didn't seem to care, and simply stepped into the arena, asking, "You haven't answered me yet."

Wu Pifu turned around and continued to practice his swordsmanship meticulously. As he practiced, he said, "In a normal cosmic-level war, what I'm doing now is just relieving my pre-battle anxiety. Besides, I'm not a qualified commander... not even a qualified commander. I don't understand the allied forces I'm following now, let alone how to march and fight, logistics, and troop coordination... I don't understand any of these things."

Imotek Stormlord remained silent. It knew that what Wu Pifu said was true, because after these days of contact, it had learned that Wu Pifu was completely ignorant of these things. Not to mention comparing with it, any commander from any race present was stronger than him... even those super-evolved green-skinned giants were stronger than him.

Before it could speak again, Wu Pifu continued, "But I am the crucial core of this war, because our enemy is the subspace. It is not a simple war between cosmic civilizations, but a war between materialism and idealism. The laws of cosmic space are useless in the subspace. Machinery malfunctions, weapons malfunction, and people are all corrupted. What do you have to fight with?"

Imotek Stormlord said, "I know all of this. The Necromancers knew about the horrors of the Warp hundreds of millions of years before humans. As a result, we created many technological creations specifically to defend against the Warp, but that is only to defend against it and isolate the Warp from the material universe. We cannot launch a counterattack against the Warp."

Wu Pifu nodded and said, "That's why I said I'm the core of this war... For some reason, I can isolate the influence of the subspace. Note that I'm not isolating the subspace itself, not the dead zone created by your undead race, but isolating the influence of the subspace while still being able to enter it normally. This allows the absurd and idealistic effects of the subspace around me to become material. At the same time, I'm very strong and particularly suited to combat in subspace mode. That's why I'm the core."

Imotek Stormlord's thought process was operating rapidly. In particular, the undead had a large database of information about the warp. Through simulation of the ample information in the database, it quickly understood Wu Pifu's meaning.

Wu Pifu may not be a commander and may be completely ignorant of cosmic warfare, but once he enters the subspace, all common sense about cosmic warfare will become insignificant. The subspace is a bizarre and chaotic ideal world. Once a spaceship enters it, it may be immediately washed away by time, or all of its crew may be corrupted, turning the spaceship into a grotesque life form, or a demonic frenzy may ensue. All of these are possible.

But with Wu Pifu's arrival, the situation immediately changed. If he could truly isolate the influence of the subspace and possess the authority to die, bringing absolute death to all life, including demons, then he might actually lead an army into the subspace and have a real chance to kill the four terrifying evil gods.

But this opportunity is only so-so...

Imotek Stormlord thought for a moment and said, "So you think that once we enter the warp, all our battles will be close-quarters combat, and ranged weapons will be useless?"

"Do not."

Wu Pifu continued swinging his broken sword, saying, "It's only against myself... As my strength has increased, I've begun to possess wide-area and long-range attack techniques. But in reality, both wide-area and long-range attacks contradict my core combat principles. These techniques are only effective against a large number of enemies much weaker than me. Against enemies stronger than me, or those of similar strength, the effects of wide-area and long-range attacks actually weaken my own power." He sighed, "Indeed, the title wasn't wrong... 'A commoner, a commoner,' truly embodies the saying, 'A commoner's anger can spill blood five steps away.' This title best suits me, and it's also an abbreviation of my personality and nature. Originally, I was thinking of learning some cool techniques, or becoming a sword immortal, and then easily defeating enemies without taking any damage. But in the end, I found that I still need to be like a commoner, covered in blood—either my own blood, the enemy's blood, or both..."

"Indeed, this is the one that suits me best... a commoner, from beginning to end, I am a commoner."

Imotek Stormlord naturally didn't understand what Wu Pifu was talking about, but based on Wu Pifu's special nature and the existence of the "essence of death" that it had personally verified, it had developed a blind confidence in Wu Pifu.

It naturally didn't understand that what Wu Pifu was referring to was actually the title of "commoner".

No matter how many power multipliers he adds, his essence is still that of a mortal. He has not yet reached the level of an ascended being. Therefore, theoretically speaking, he cannot even cause any damage to the Root, except for... the title of "commoner"!
This is the core of all his combat modes: within five steps, multiple judgments weaken the enemy's defense, and then the damage after the defense is weakened is converted into true damage; outside five steps, multiple judgments weaken the enemy's attack, and similarly, the damage after the weakening is converted into true defense. At the same time, the title of "commoner" is at the root level!

This means that this is his only trump card, the only one that can harm or even kill the source of all evil... the title of "commoner"!
He must maintain a distance of five steps, either defending from five steps away or attacking from five steps away; this is his lifeline.

That's why Wu Pifu had these sighs and why he was practicing his swordsmanship now. All of this was preparation for the final battle with the Root after entering the subspace. Apart from that, all the other things like the Heaven-Shaking Immortal, the Sword Slicing Ten Thousand Miles, and the Star River Profound Origin Cannon are just illusions. He must fight within five steps, and he must also concentrate these wide-area, long-range attacks within five steps to unleash them.

As he said, he has always been a commoner, and that has never changed!

Just then, an announcement came over the loudspeaker on the warship.

"The first matter node is about to arrive. It will take 152 minutes inside and 2 days and 8 hours outside... It is expected to penetrate the folded phase space in 30 seconds."

"Thirty-second countdown begins, twenty-nine, twenty-eight..."

Wu Pifu sheathed his sword, turned and walked toward the bridge, and the ten Space Marine veterans immediately followed. The men who had always maintained a cold, steely demeanor finally revealed human emotions in their eyes... excitement and anticipation.

Excited to fight alongside the savior, and looking forward to dying in this glorious and sacred war... They all knew that dying beside Wu Pifu would bring true, peaceful, and glorious death, so they were fearless and eager to welcome this ending they had longed for for hundreds of years.

Imotek Stormlord naturally followed Wu Pifu. It had no objection to the commander-in-chief participating in the battle. This was a characteristic of the Warhammer Dream World. What kind of commander-in-chief is one who can't fight?
It was only curious about one thing: how did Wu Pifu view the path nodes they chose, and the subsequent destruction of the human world at those nodes?

Upon hearing Imotek Stormlord's question, Wu Pifu remained silent for a long while before saying, "I am neither a hero nor a savior. These are merely titles they have presumptuously imposed upon me, just as an emperor is not a god, yet they stubbornly believe he is..."

“I said that if I can save them and prevent their deaths, I would be happy to do so because they are human beings. But if I don’t know, I can’t do it, or I myself will die, then I can only apologize to them.”

"Because from beginning to end, I'm just an ordinary man, an ordinary man struggling in this messed-up world!"

Wu Pifu stepped into the Thunder Assault Boat vehicle area on the bridge. He did not board any Thunder Assault Boats, but walked towards the bridge exit. As he walked, a substance that looked like flesh and blood, and also like metal, appeared on his body. In the blink of an eye, an exoskeleton power armor covered his entire body.

"...First, penetrating the folded phase space, arriving at the satellite orbit of the Amida Nest City world, collecting stellar gravity information at the node...Estimated time: 6 hours, 32 minutes, and 8 seconds..."

Wu Pifu looked out of the bridge and saw a planet with only one super city. At this moment, on this super city that could be clearly seen from outer space, explosions were rising everywhere. Four colors were spreading from all around the city: blood red, cobalt blue, rotten green, and bright pink, rapidly spreading across the entire super city in a spiral pattern.

Wu Pifu reached out and slapped forward, and the armored isolation layer at the bridge exit immediately opened a gap more than two meters wide. He stepped out and walked into space outside the battleship.

The next second, he raised his broken sword high, blue-green flames spewing from behind him, and slashed down at the planet's surface with the sword.

The first battle of the eleven node wars...

it has started!

(End of this chapter)