Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 752 Promotion to "Shepherd", Unexpected Changes
The black stormbird slowly descended onto the blood-red land of Purgatory Star, and Miha, the company commander of the 3rd Company of the 1st Battle Group, led his honor guard down the deck.

Mihaly Clay, dressed in the prototype Saturn-shaped Terminator armor, moved with incredible speed, the creaking of his armor rhythmic yet not jarring.

The "Punishment Knight" felt that the armor encasing his strong body was lighter than the Mark II power armor he wore as the "Arbitrator".

Miha'u frowned and looked out over the blood-red grassland.

The seasoned "sheriff" was immediately hit by a pungent, bloody stench as soon as he set foot in the area, and a thick, filthy fog filled the air.

He stomped hard on the grassland, sending blood-red bits of grass flying everywhere.

The seasoned "sheriff" suddenly widened his eyes and looked toward the ten o'clock position.

A three-meter-tall, blood-red scarecrow rushes forward, its straw body swaying in layers.

"Anesthetic injection!" Miha Wu recalled the Black Emperor's decree and issued the hunting order.

Two squads clad in Mark III power armor raised their tranquilizer guns, and Nukelia's syringes whizzed out.

Spit sizzle sizzle...

The syringe shot into the blood-red body, only to be immediately trapped between the straw stalks.

The "Punishment Knight" narrowed his eyes, golden light emanating from them as he stared intently at one of the blood-red scarecrows.

At the tips of the two injections, illusory gray-white shadows flowed like liquid.

[The blood-red scarecrow possesses supernatural abilities.] As Mihalyu pondered this, he raised his left arm and aimed it at a blood-red scarecrow.

With a bang, the Explosive Serpent Cannon spat out a bright beam of light, slamming into the blood-red scarecrow.

Noisy!
The blazing beam of light pierced straight through the blood-red scarecrow, shooting onto the blood-red grassland and blasting out a scorched crater.

The "Punishment Knight" stared at the blood-red scarecrow and found that it was unharmed. The beam of light passed through the rippling gray shadows as if the body had no substance.

The "Punishment Knight" raised his right arm, held his palm up to the blood-red scarecrow, and shouted loudly in Dunn's language.

"The target of punishment is the blood-red scarecrow!"

The "Punishment Knight's" body surface suddenly shone with a radiant light like the morning sun, and the power gauntlets, which did not activate the disintegration force field, shimmered with a clear luster.

crunch...

The blood-red scarecrow, which had been running at high speed, slowed down more and more, its steps becoming sluggish, as if it were bound by invisible shackles.

The "Punishment Knight" strode forward and shouted in a deep voice, "Shadows are forbidden here!"

Grayish-white shadows rose up with a whoosh, like wisps of smoke.

Mihalyu solemnly gave the order to the "judges": "Imprison them!"

The figure of the "Punishment Knight" was even taller and more imposing than his own body. Without thinking, the members of the Honor Guard stepped forward, turned sideways in unison, raised their right palms, and aimed them at the blood-red scarecrow.

The extremely viscous, transparent liquid layered upon layer, enveloping each blood-red scarecrow.

At the same moment, the "Hermits" of the Tenth Battle Group, hidden in the shadows of the gray-white sheep, walked among the tens of thousands of sheep, approaching the monkey-shaped figures one by one.

When they stop, they stop "hiding in the shadows".

The Mark II armor's added stealth field will conceal their movements and conserve spiritual energy.

Technology derived from the "Terra" stealth warriors helps the hermits get closer to their targets.

Once they reached their respective ambush positions, they immediately raised their tranquilizer guns.

Whoosh...

The syringes shot out, flying towards the monkey-like creature riding on the sheep and wielding a whip.

bang bang bang...

Hundreds of herdsmen, caught off guard, slipped off the gray-white sheep.

Squeak!

A herdsman with unusually pale skin let out a shrill cry as he swung his whip with his right arm, lifting up a sheep.

boom!
The gray-white sheep melted like a candle before him, turning into pure, viscous flesh and blood that wrapped around his body in layers.

Two jets of injection flew over, piercing the viscous flesh and immediately sinking into the swamp.

The herdsman crouched down and embraced the gray-white sheep.

His body was like a gaping maw, stuffing the greyish-white sheep inside.

The herdsman leaped up, his belly bulging.

bang bang bang...

Crimson blood-covered chunks of grayish-white flesh splattered, shooting towards the hazy shadows.

A look of surprise flashed in the eyes of the "hermits," as the monkey-like creature's abilities reminded them of their lord, Ramsay.

Whoosh...

Around the herdsman, the bodies of enormous gray-white sheep melted away in an instant.

A crimson waterfall rose up, enveloping the flesh-and-blood bombs.

"Rose Bishop" Ramsay emerged from the shadows, revealing the same smile as Nimrod, and pulled hard with both hands.

Streams of blood cascaded down, layer upon layer, entwining the ashen body of the herdsman.

Five sidereal hours later, Ramsey arrived at the Black Emperor's temporary base of operations with the first batch of monkey-like creatures he had hunted.

He carried a monkey-like creature surrounded by layers of flesh and blood to the gate.

The biochemical psychic suddenly felt an itching sensation in his skin, as if maggots were wriggling under his skin.

Ramsey glanced at Eitsack on the left side of the gate, then shifted his gaze to the Honor Guard members on the other side.

The honor guard members bowed and said, "Lord Ramsey, your father is waiting for you inside."

He raised his hand and pressed the button, a buzzing sound accompanied by a cloud of cold mist. Ramsey nodded to the members of the Honor Guard, then walked through the gate and stood before the Black Emperor.

“My Lord, the shepherds and watchmen you desire.”

The Gene Primarch raised his hand, and a giant hand of telekinesis reached out.

The monkey-shaped body fell into his palm, and as the black mist rose, the herdsman vanished into thin air.

With a thought, Ninglu immediately mobilized the space apes in the first layer of space within the "Land of Chaos".

He spoke in a deep voice and called out to the door, "Aitsak, go outside and patrol a ten-kilometer area. Come back in an hour."

The ascension ceremony for "Shepherd" is very easy for psionicists like Ramsay, but there cannot be any untouchables around.

"Yes, sir." Etsak glanced into the gate, a hint of curiosity flashing in his eyes, then slung his massive spear over his shoulder and strode out.

A moment later, Ning Lu flicked his wrist, and a bottle of grayish-white medicine appeared out of thin air in his palm.

He ordered in a deep voice: "Enter the third level of Magnus's Mind. After the body of light leaves your body, take control of your body and drink the potion."

The "Shepherd's" ascension ceremony was the same as he remembered: he had to find a way to extract his soul from his body, influence his body under these circumstances, take a magic potion, and finally return to his body.

“Thank you for your gift.” Ramsay happily took the potion from Nimrod’s palm and glanced at the potion, which was constantly flashing with illusory, swollen faces.

The bio-psychic skillfully ascended to the third level of Magnus's mental state, closed his eyes, and freed his body of light from his physical body.

Amidst the surging waves of flesh and blood, his connection with the material world gradually faded, and intangible colors, nameless emotions, and boundless dimensions converged into a vortex.

His body of light soared into the air, surveying the entire operations base from above:
His honor guard members, their red fighting spirit lingering in the aftermath of battle, gazed up at the Legion's battle banner—the banner of Vostonia—with its admiring white light.

The golden pride of the honor guard members.

The standard-bearer, Gülgül, holding high the banner of Vostonia, his ever-vigilant blue-purple hue, and his proud, defiant golden yellow.

……

After a moment's hesitation, Ramsey obeyed the Black Emperor's command and drank the potion in his hand.

The moment the grayish-white liquid entered his mouth, illusory faces suddenly rose up, tearing apart Ramsey's soul like sharp blades.

The bio-psychic let out a piercing scream of pain.

The howling echoed within the base, and the psionicists and "listeners" all turned pale, their temples throbbing with pain.

The shadows of order warily scanned their surroundings, searching for any murmurs.

"Thermal Mind!" A thunderous voice echoed through Ramsey's shattered soul.

"Reclaim your thoughts, return to your body!"

Ramsay instinctively followed the voice of “majesty” as he laboriously and awkwardly ascended to the first level of Thelma’s state of mind.

The speed is even slower than when I first mastered it.

The intense, purplish-black pain rippled outwards, but was kept at bay by the shimmering wall of will.

Ramsey gathered his scattered thoughts and controlled the body of light to slowly descend towards his own body.

A thick darkness suddenly rose up, engulfing the glittering light.

A hand shrouded in thick shadow appeared out of thin air and reached for the body of light.

"what!"

Ning Lu's eyes flashed, and a sudden black shadow rose up, engulfing the light.

Within the obsidian eyes of the "Chaos Mentor," countless red and black lines of rules were visible.

[Ramsey followed my command, and his soul had begun to return to his body. Why did things suddenly change?]
This has never happened before.
"Advance to the third level of the Thelma realm!" the "Chaos Mentor" commanded in a deep voice, his expression grave as his mind raced, analyzing the situation.
[The biggest difference between Purgatory Star and the past is that this planet has a dark hand!]
A thought flashed through his mind:
On Purgatory Star, there are the main materials for "Shepherd"—Crimson Scarecrow and Herd Guardian—and Ramsay is currently advancing to the Shepherd level.

Could the Dark Hand be a high-sequence characteristic, or even a unique characteristic, of the "Hanged Man" pathway?

It's possible!
The Hand of Darkness possesses corrupting power.
Nimrod recalled that during the "Plague Wars" ten thousand years later, Abaddon handed the Hand of Darkness to Mortarion.

After Mortarion replicated a large number of devices using the Dark Hand, he released them into the five hundred worlds of Alteramar.

He then used the dark hand to manipulate the replica device, unleashing a plague and natural disaster.

The depraved and corrupt power possessed by the "Hanged Man" is similar to corruption.

His dark authority is also different from "darkness".

The darkness of "The Hanged Man" is a darkness that encompasses and devours everything, a darkness that corrupts the human heart.

[The moment of promotion is when the extraordinary are most closely connected with uniqueness.]

Ramsay is on Purgatory Star and is a Sequence 5 "Shepherd". The "Hanged Man" is a highly inspired and easily influenced path.

Crucially, the Hand of Darkness is an alien artifact with corrosive properties, suggesting that it uniquely influences the Twilight Moon, like the "Twilight Giant," naturally releasing its power.
While Ning Lu was pondering, he immediately raised his left arm, and black mist appeared in his palm.

The spiritual energy of the "Chaos Mentor" surged forth and flowed into the gauntlets of the Hand of Order.

"Forbidden! Depravity, filth, darkness, corruption!"

"The laws and regulations are weakening in their mystique and strengthening in their practicality!"

Golden light shot into the sky, piercing through the roof.

The beam of light was 500 meters high, and its radiance enveloped the entire base.

The claws that tore apart the body of light exploded with a bang.

Ramsay, freed from his restraints, returned his body of light to his own.

The scattered fragments of the soul were pieced together and merged into the body.

The newly minted "shepherd," having survived the ordeal, knelt on the ground and said, "Praise be to the Lord, for you have saved my soul."

(End of this chapter)