Warhammer 40: My Fiancée Fulgrim.

Chapter 16 The Poison of Hope (Part 1)

He was struck by psionic lightning.

Kasgar was unable to dodge or defend against it.

The beam of light slammed squarely into his chest.

More precisely, it hit the Corleone he was wearing on his chest.

But at that moment, whether it was because the psionicist was unable to withstand the pressure or some mysterious subspace factor, the heavy weight on Casca was instantly released, and the motorcycle sped away at lightning speed.

"Prophet, has your witchcraft gone to waste?!"

Inside the armored vehicle, the leader of the Surfa people roared loudly.

"I lost so many brothers because of your prophecy, and you don't even—"

The leader's cursing gradually subsided.

The prophet is moving his limbs in a strange manner.

It's like dancing, but there's never been such a dance technique in the world.

In an instant, laughter and whispers, as if coming from afar or like words in one's ear, tickled the heart of the person.

".prophet?"

He sensed something was wrong, but it was too late.

Her body rapidly changed and expanded like an inflating balloon, and her limbs became firm, healthy, and full of vitality again.

Two new arms grew from under the ribs and merged with the dance of the hands. The movements instantly transformed from the original strange and obscure to a smooth and gorgeous dance.

nice.

So beautiful.

The leader exclaimed from the bottom of his heart.

Just as he was about to see the other party's movements clearly, several, perhaps dozens, of gusts of wind arrived in an instant.

As if struck by an invisible blade, crimson blood instantly covered him, the prophet, and the entire cabin of the vehicle.

Elegant and beautiful.

Any swordsman would be captivated by this endlessly magnificent sword dance.

So does he.

"Cough cough."

Life was slipping away from him at an alarming rate.

He is going to die.

He felt a sense of joy.

The sandstorm outside was getting worse.

"Here again."

Looking at the metal walls around him, covered in mottled rust, Casca sighed as he held Corleone in his arms.

He returned to the abandoned underground factory, the place he had visited and explored with Fugrim five years ago.

Faced with the sudden sandstorm, unable to return to Carax, he had no choice but to seek refuge in this familiar place.

It felt like coming home.

Kaska thought helplessly as he sensed the smell of rust in the wind.

I should have decorated this place into a more luxurious shelter.

"Can you keep up?"

Of the two children, Corleone was struck by the wizard's psionic lightning and was currently unconscious in Casca's arms, trembling from time to time.

Body temperature fluctuates wildly, sometimes hot and sometimes cold.

Casca had no choice but to hold her in his arms, with a pistol in his other hand, and let the boy follow behind him.

However, the complex, old, and dark environment made him somewhat worried about the taciturn boy behind him.

“It’s alright, sir. I’ve made a living by scavenging since I was a child, so I have experience with this kind of situation.”

As he spoke, he skillfully leaped down the rusty ladder.

They went deeper and deeper into the water.

Seeing that no one else was making a sound from above, Kasgar breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the sandstorm blocked his way home, it also kept all the pursuers at bay.

In fact, this sudden storm was very likely the work of that wizard.

"Damn psionicists. They know a little bit of witchcraft and start abusing it."

"When the children are born with crooked mouths and slanted eyes, and each has eight pairs of wings and nine legs, they will behave themselves."

what?
And there are foolish wizards who won't even behave when their offspring mutate.

That's okay.

The person who respects Magnus the most in the entire universe still respects Magnus today.

However, since this psionicist can create such a massive sandstorm, their psionic talent must be quite strong.

Casca fell into deep thought.

How did he manage to break free from the other party's oppression?

After all, all they did at the time was rack their brains and think hard.

This...this must be the power of an emperor!
After much contemplation, he came to his final conclusion.

Don't overthink things you can't understand.

Whether it's true or not is another matter, but he thinks he is.

This is enough.

"Coming."

Logically speaking, there's no point in going any further down in Casca.

Shortly after completing the exploration and restarting the power plant, Fugrim led a team of engineers to transport the few remaining intact generators back to Karax.

Deep underground, only one abandoned "Thinker" remained, lying there quietly.

"Little friend, I'll leave your sister here for now. Please keep an eye on her while she's here, and contact me via communicator if anything happens."

"I need to go in and take care of some things."

As he spoke, Casca dusted off the ammunition box and placed the unconscious Corleone on it.

"Yes, my lord."

The boy nodded very obediently. But then, as if still worried about something, he hesitated for a moment before asking, "Sir, my sister... what happened to her?"

“She has been attacked by witchcraft,” Casca said gravely, looking at Corleone’s trembling, pale face. “I’m trying to find a way to lift the curse from her.”

"Wait here for a moment, don't come in."

"Also, just call me Brother Casca."

"OK."

The boy nodded slowly, as if he had finally begun to trust him a little.

“Brother Nagaska.”

"If I manage to get out of here alive, may I ask you to teach me swordsmanship?"

Although Kasgar had always told them to close their eyes, he never kept that promise when Kasgar was fighting the Surfa people.

He saw how easily Casgar chopped those vile pursuers into pieces.

What glorious and proud swordsmanship that was!

He also wanted to use his swordsmanship to protect his sister, just like that.

"You want to learn swordsmanship, right? Okay."

Casca's laughter was full of delight.

"But why do you want to learn swordsmanship?"

"Was it to protect his younger sister, or was it simply a desire for the honor and praise of victory?"

Kasga lowered himself and looked at the other person with a calm expression.

"I want to protect my sister."

"well."

"Then please promise me."

"We must remember this day."

"Remember what you promised me: the real reason for learning swordsmanship."

"Ok!"

Meeting Casca's eyes, the boy nodded firmly.

After explaining the situation, Casca stepped through the door to the deepest part of the basement.

He carefully closed the soundproof doors and windows, then looked at the silent main control computer in the center of the room.

It was the only thing left in the entire room.

What use is a power plant that has been completely stripped of its facilities?
[Starting up.1%]

As Casca clicked, the words "Starting up" popped up on the screen.

They're really good at holding it in.

Casca laughed and slapped his dusty computer case.

An ancient way of greeting the soul of the machine, inherited from the 2K era.

"Stop pretending, it's artificial intelligence [Deep Processor No. 1]."

"say."

How did you know my ID and real identity?

The feigned "starting up" facade vanished instantly, leaving behind a line of small, human-like text on the screen.

He seemed shocked that his identity had been exposed.

"That's not important, I need you to answer my questions."

No, this is important.

This will determine how I continue to survive.

"Just a guess, is it done now?"

"I have psychic abilities, I know your name, and I also know that you are an abhorrent artificial intelligence."

It is said to be a psychic prophecy, but it is actually a high-dimensional narrative.

As for humanity's hatred of artificial intelligence, it stems from the great war between humans and machines thousands of years ago.

Although humanity ultimately triumphed, it also lost trust in all intelligent machines, renaming them "Abomination Intelligence."

As for the Deep Processor One on Chemos, it is one of the few remnants from the dark age of technology.

The feasibility of this answer is extremely low, but the database lacks a more reasonable and effective explanation.

[Choose to accept this statement]

"Since you believe me, can you tell me how humanity back then managed to repel the invasion of warp evil?"

As he spoke, Casca's tone became increasingly anxious.

The direction he was pointing was right at Corleone, who was lying unconscious outside the door.

"You can sense that she is being corrupted by a demon."

[Lack of materials, loss of technology.]

[I am merely a power plant management AI and do not possess the capability to produce STCs (Standard Construction Templates) for expelling subspace biological weapons.]

Although it is indeed artificial intelligence, it has powerful technological support from humanity's dark ages.

But that doesn't mean it can solve all problems.

Based on the database data updated today, there is currently no better way to handle the situation for humans.

"Really not?"

Casca's heart sank.

"Friend, do you know what the outside world's attitude is towards artificial intelligence right now?"

"By concealing your existence back then, I was indirectly saving you."

"The situation is urgent. I promise that if your method works, I will keep your secret and not tell anyone else."

"So please tell me, is there any way to save her?"

The words on the screen paused for a moment, as if they were thinking.

【Have】

That's how it answered.

(End of this chapter)