Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 847 Ryan was suppressed and captured after encountering only three Originators, while I actually encountered fifty-one.

The moment the Shadow of Kings leaped into the primordial space, the warning lights on the bridge blared wildly, and red warning runes pulsed erratically in the simulated sanctuary.

Captain Diana Pauline spun her chair toward the command throne and reported to the Primarch.

"My lord, the ship is under attack by fifty-one ships. Lady Hera's ethereal weapon has caused the ape force field shield to drop rapidly."

"Please dispatch space monkeys for maintenance immediately."

"I understand." Ning Lu nodded slightly.

The Primogen's eyes flickered with light and shadow as its consciousness unfolded.

In an instant, his consciousness expanded into each maintenance well, and with a thought, the thousands of space apes he "connected" to began to move.

They lightly tapped the buttons on the dedicated maintenance elevator, and with a series of muffled starting sounds, it accelerated upwards.

The Primarch did not retract his consciousness. As he ascended to the third level of the Thelma Mind, his consciousness, through the hull of the Glory Queen-class battleship and across the ape force field barrier, surveyed his surroundings.

Fifty-one ships, slightly smaller than the Shadow of the Throne, but still twenty kilometers long, were scattered around.

The Heraf ship fired beams of ethereal light, bombarding the elliptical force field barrier.

Blinding beams of light rose in layers of psionic smoke.

The Primarch's eyes narrowed as it surveyed its surroundings, following the materialized mental network within the Origin Space—the Nest Network—to find the Shadow Throne suspended at the center of the hub.

The creature on the throne was emaciated, its body covered in cracks, resembling a mummy from ancient Terran history.

His cracked skin oozed terrifying warp energy, enough to rob tens of thousands of souls, crackling around his withered carapace.

The Herav Source's enormous head has backward-sloping horns on its sides, deep above its eye sockets, and shining psionic energy supports a triangular crown engraved with unknown hieroglyphs.

His withered body suddenly rose from the throne, and terrifying electromagnetic clouds erupted around him.

"Ninglu!"

"How could you be so foolish as to trespass into our territory?"

"Just like every empire I have devoured in the past, I will feast on your corpse."

Ninglu glanced at the lost tendrils of the Originator and felt a familiar psionic imprint.

The originator of Musepel.

[A defeated opponent, brimming with confidence!]
Ninglu continued to expand his consciousness thoughtfully, trying to discern the Shadow Throne and the Origin One seated upon it from within the web of the lair.

One, two...

Fifty!
Ninglu's gaze sharpened; there were actually fifty-one Heraf Originators.

The quantity far exceeded his expectations.

[I thought I'd only encounter a few Originators, but there are so many!]
Ninglu couldn't help but recall the two other Source Beings that suddenly appeared on either side of Ryan when he faced the Source Beings of Muspel during the final battle in the Ghoul Starfield. They had black crystal swirling horns growing from the upper edge of their chests.

The two Source Beings each grabbed one of Ryan's arms, completely subduing him.

[Lyan was suppressed and captured after encountering three Originators, and only managed to kill them thanks to the Extinction Relic given to him by Old Man Huang. I actually encountered fifty-one.]
"We will devour you..." the fifty-one Heraf Originators declared in unison, causing turbulent ripples to spread through the Origin Space.

"Your offspring! Everything you have!"

Ning Lu curled his lips into a mocking smile as he looked at the fifty-one Originators. His eyes flashed with light as he released a thought pulse that pierced through the ape's force field.

"I'm waiting for you!"

After speaking, he focused part of his consciousness on the movements of the original being of Hlav, while his main consciousness returned to its original form.

Ninglu's gaze swept over the forty-eight "schemers" who had already digested the potion and were waiting to complete their ascension ceremony:
Thibault, Company Commander of the 1st Company of the 7th Regiment... Stevens, Company Commander of the 5th Company... Porti, Company Commander of the 7th Company...

His gaze finally fell on Hasiknayan Khan, who had a "white scar," and he asked a question.

"Fifty-one Originators are about to step into the trap. Are you still confident in your plan?"

Togon Khan, the "white-scarred" brother of the Moon Brotherhood, who was standing to the side, took a deep breath.

An invisible pressure made him catch his breath.

Fifty-one Xenomorph leaders. Hraf is already so terrifying; how can victory be achieved against fifty-one Primarchs?

Hasik frowned, and after thinking for several seconds, he finally spoke.

"With appropriate adjustments to the plan to lure and divide the enemy, I can still capture the Originator alive..."

He gazed at the Black Emperor on the throne and said nothing more.

The biggest variable brought about by the unexpected number of Originators is that the Black Emperor, who attracted the bait, will face even greater pressure.

“Whether it’s one or a hundred, it makes no difference to me,” Ninglu, the “Chaos Mentor,” said calmly.

[I should not have doubted the power of my Lord!] Hasik bowed his head and repented in his heart.

Ninglu looked at the forty-six Shadow of Order "conspirators" and said, "Your conspiracies now have the opportunity to be carried out."

He had originally anticipated encountering several, or at most a dozen, Originators, allowing Hasik and Thibault, among other powerful "conspirators," to complete their advancement.

Unexpectedly, the number of Originators far exceeded his expectations, but this also presented an opportunity, as more "scheming individuals" had the chance to advance.

Ninglu rose from his throne and gave the following instructions:
"You all get ready. I'll go to the lower deck first and activate the decoy."

Togon gazed at Lord Ninglu's imposing figure, his eyes filled with worry.

[Lord Ninglu, can you really defeat fifty-one Originators?]
He clenched his fists, his heart filled with a thirst for power.

His memory flashed back to the Imando training center in Terra, a painful memory belonging to Harun Swincellen.

Ninglu strode towards the elevator. With a thought, the space apes outside the lower deck, whose long fingers were clinging to the hull and repairing the ape force field shield, sped away.

Bearing the War Crown, which has been mostly restored, he was the originator who once fought against Angron.

He had lost most of his tendrils, and the remaining ten or so swayed in unison, emitting a wave of doubtful thoughts.

"Has he gone mad?"

"Were you scared off?"

"Is he courting death?"

The Originator who had appeared in Mistell had a cold consciousness: "Foolish pride!"

“Nimrod once defeated the parasitic body that did not possess its full power at Mspel, and he thought he could kill us all by himself.”

"That's all, yes, that's what he thinks."

“Foolish!” spoke the third Origin Being, whose upper chest was adorned with black crystal swirls. “No one can defeat us.”

“Five, at most five.” The fourth Origin Being, whose upper chest also had black crystal swirling horns, was “enough to suppress him.”

“That’s right, but we won’t give him any chance,” the source of Muspel said coldly.

"Teleport!"

Fifty Originators, following their strongest, simultaneously released psionic shockwaves, concentrating them on Ninglu alone.

boom!
At the same moment that the eggshell-like ape force field shattered at its bottom edge, in the central area of ​​the lower deck of the Shadow of Reign.

The physical dimensions of the entire deck seemed to be suddenly condensed into a single point at the center of the vortex.

Countless tendrils spread out, flowing towards the center from all directions.

Amidst the dazzling ethereal light, pairs of clawed feet touched the ground.

Fifty-one Originators, each wearing a crown of war, either hovered in mid-air or surrounded the area.

Then came thousands of the remaining Hlav champions, who leaped out of the etheric veil and surrounded Nimrod.

"Ninglu, you and your legion have reached the end."

The Origin One who once appeared in Mistpell, the most powerful King of Herav, his mummy-like body emitting a piercing clicking sound.

"We will devour everything you have."

(End of this chapter)