Marcan Ferros awoke from his chaotic visions, thoughts, and emotions, and the Iron Father's intricate transformation and enhanced senses and thinking abilities made him realize many things in an instant.

The first is the time he was in a state of confusion and unconscious. After the ship was out of subspace, the clock built into the power armor finally returned to normal operation, so he could clearly know that he had missed up to 175 seconds in the real universe.

In the next three microseconds, he detected through the runes displayed in front of his eyes how the 175 seconds had changed around him:

Nearly three minutes is a short time in normal times, but in a fierce melee battle, it has been so long that it is almost eternal - under the influence of that psionic scream, the brothers who rushed towards the Sapphire King before are no longer left, and even the two dreadnought mechs that have been bullied forward have been silenced forever under the claws of the Slaanesh Archdemon.

The rest of the brothers, who had been at the back of the line and were in charge of long-range support, also fell into frenzy and delirium, some roaring with rage and hatred in the direction of the emptiness, and even firing at their own comrades, while others trembling and falling into complete dead silence, frozen in place, almost completely unable to react to the outside world.

Whether it was a veteran with a higher degree of mechanization or a new recruit who had just undergone the ritual of renunciation, as long as they were the sons of Gorgon, they didn't seem to escape the effects of the scream of psionic energy that ran through their blood. Only the last two dreadnought mechs of the line, carrying heavy firepower, barely managed to keep the line alive with unbridled firepower, pouring down on the Sapphire King - but that might only last until they ran out of ammo.

In the next microsecond, it dawned on Ferros why his genetic father had apologized to him in that elongated, chaotic and blurred consciousness, with only a few fragments left.

He was in excruciating pain all over his body.

It's not that he's been hurt in the previous period, it's not the pain that people naturally feel when they're hurt, it's a pure torture that's a thousand times stronger than that. Ferros only felt as if his power armor had become a complete set of torture instruments of the same origin as the Fist of Pain, and the fiery, magma-like pain flowed freely through his limbs, almost tearing him to pieces.

When an Iron Hand states that he is "in severe pain all over his body", it means that his pain is indeed "all over his body".

Ferros was the master of the forge and had only the most basic knowledge of medicine, but it was enough for him to realize that the pain that was tormenting him now did not have a specific origin. Every vessel, every nerve, even the lymphatic system and muscle cells are like the fuel of this pain, and it will not stop until it is gone.

His throttle valve and perceptual regulation system were functioning normally, but they didn't work. Even for the Astarte veterans of the Iron Hand, this level of pain was enough to hinder movement and even drive people insane. He could still grit his teeth and endure it, and—

- Not out of his own volition or control, he smoothly rose from his prone position.

"What are you guys doing?! Stand up! Immediately realize that you are still on the battlefield! There is still an enemy in front of him, and he has not swallowed his breath! ”

Markan Ferros' voice echoed through the ship's steel-forged walls. That's indeed his voice, at least that's what it shows on the audio spectrum recognized by the instrument; But it was clearly not his, and his voice would not have sounded so full, loud, as powerful as a bell—it sounded like an instrument that could not detect the overlapping echo of the voice, as if it could be the voice of Marcan Ferros, or the voice of Castimir Fish, or even the voice of any Iron Hand.

Of course, it can also be the voice of Ferus Manus.

In the midst of this lightning and fire, Markan Ferros, who was tormented by seemingly endless pain, realized what was happening. He gritted his teeth and swallowed all the pain. It was hard for him to think too much in his torment, but at least, he was able to do it.

I'm sorry. The voice said again.

Ferros couldn't tell if the voice was coming from his throat or if it was only echoing in his own head. All he knew was that his body leapt uncontrollably from the spot, charging smoothly and naturally in the direction of the Sapphire King, and even picking up a Seiko Power Hammer left on the ground by his fallen comrades along the way, as if he were in good health - even showing more skill than Markan Ferros himself.

The Sapphire King, who was also aware of what was happening because he was a subspace creature by nature, roared and raised his sword to meet his enemy. The Slaanesh was fast, but now it was engulfed by a fragile shell that it was not familiar with, and now Phyllos was faster than it. It realized that it couldn't dodge when the Seiko Power Hammer slammed its head down, so it could only hastily raise its sword-wielding arms and cross its weapons for basic defense.

At the moment when the weapons struck, the disintegration force field not only flashed with blue and white thunder, but also faintly appeared with golden lightning. The Sapphire King screamed in pain and glided backwards—the two arms it had used for defense were completely gone. The weak shell composed of pure aether and no additional concept could resist the massive force of the disintegrating force field, and its subspace evil nature was easily burned by the power from above the throne.

The demon screamed and cursed in pain, but Ferros didn't immediately chase after it: even the primordial Space Marines would be too far to carry and restore the power of a primordial body. He threw a single blow that overloaded his left prosthetic leg and cracked the tendons of his right hand reinforced by mechanical cables. In addition, the pain that almost burned out his whole body did not lessen at all, and even intensified.

"How do you—you can't—" The Sapphire King screamed in pain as he began to bleed from the orifices in his face, which still contained physiological tissue, "the barrier here is almost intact! Why can you project your will and existence onto your heirs! ”

Philos - Ferus Manus, the Iron Hand Genotype, did not answer this question about it.

"It's been 10,000 years." He just said this, silently feeling the activation and operation of the Belisarius Furnace in Ferros's body, the combat response hormone quickly repairing the damaged tissues, muscles, and bones in the body. After two breaths, he lifted the hammer with his right hand again.

"I've let you go so free and so rampant for 10,000 years." He walked slowly forward again, and behind Ferus, from the power pack that had been almost completely destroyed by Coetz hours earlier, and which had not yet been refurbished, stretched out intact mechanical arms, and their ends were connected to many weapons and tools that Ferus had never seen before, and whose functions were not even known.

"You can't bring me down!" The Sapphire King raised his two remaining arms with a fierce look, ominous venom dripping from the ends of the crab claws and spikes, "I am the concept born of your failure!" It's the reverberation of your utter death formed in subspace! Ferus Manus, you can't defeat me, because you can't defeat your own defeat and death! ”

"Perhaps. Causality and Ritualistic ...... of Subspace Hum. Ferus Manus shrugged off, "Then remember that the one who exterminated you from reality at this moment is called Markan Ferros." ”

All of the mechanical arms behind him fired almost simultaneously, blasting bullets, energy, sound waves, and several lethal "projectiles" that Phyllos couldn't even name, no doubt able to tear away any obstacle in his path. The Sapphire King still wanted to dance the strange dance in the midst of such a terrifying torrent, but the instinct assigned to it by its master was dragged down by this weak shell, and the upper limit of its performance had determined that it could not protect itself from such fierce fire.

But perhaps the law of subspace is still at work, and these cannons that can undoubtedly destroy an entire building can't really kill the sapphire king. Its shell was indeed destroyed, but it was still able to scream and survive in the real universe - until, once again, Markan Ferros's shell raised the Seiko Power Hammer in his right hand.

The blue-white-gold thunder flashed with a roar, and then everything fell silent.

Under the silent gaze of the battle brothers, who had easily regained their senses, the sharp pain finally diminished as the Sapphire King's physical form faded. Something had finally left him, but by this time, the broken shell of Markan Ferros could no longer hold it.

The feigned meningeal organ began to function on its own under such a heavy injury, and the Iron Father fell to the ground with a thud.

Mi (flattened).

When I first started writing, I wanted to say something, but when I finished writing, I forgot about it (peacefully).

(End of chapter)