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Chapter 305: The Overlord's Fall and the Disassociation Phenomenon
🕑 Added 2025-09-18 12:00:55 +0000 UTCChapter 305: The Overlord's Fall and the Disassociation Phenomenon
Knowing that Norris had succeeded, Lucan halted his advance. The Brutalisk, which had burrowed back underground, re-emerged, standing before Lucan like an obedient hound. It opened its massive jaws and spat out the heavily wounded Vect.
Looking at the Brutalisk, far more terrifying than its in-game counterpart, Lucan turned his attention to the creature at his feet. Vect, stripped of all his wargear, had not had a pleasant time in the Brutalisk's mouth. If not for the body enhanced by the Haemonculi, the blood loss alone would have been enough to kill him. The Brutalisk's teeth had also left deep lacerations all over his flesh.
The man was now covered in the creature's thick saliva. The Overlord of Commorragh was in a pathetic state. Like a limbless torso, Vect lay before Lucan, all traces of his former high-and-mighty demeanor gone. Vect stared up at Lucan, who was looking down on him, and felt an incomparable sense of humiliation. Having clawed his way up from the very bottom, Vect despised this feeling more than anything. He had thought that after becoming the Overlord, he would never have to experience this feeling again. Yet now, he was right back in the position of a slave.
"Human... who are you?"
"Who am I? Weren't you the one who issued a bounty for me? Archons, slaves, fleets, and untold wealth. Looking at the reward, even I was a little tempted."
"You are Lucan Mongorte?! That Rogue Trader?!"
"That's me, Vect. You have spent your entire life slaughtering others. I assume you, too, have prepared yourself to be killed?"
"Human, do you have any idea what you are doing?" Vect hissed, trying to bargain. "By attacking Commorragh like this, you will surely face the retaliation of every Dark Eldar. Are you certain that you and your Dynasty can withstand it? Perhaps there is still room for negotiation. Commorragh is a place for the ambitious. We are not opposed to cooperating with humans. I can cooperate with the Harlequins, and I can cooperate with you.
"Bounty hunters, pioneers, and even some of the Planetary Governors in your Imperium have connections with Commorragh. You have already proven your strength. In Commorragh, strength is everything. I do not mind what you have done to Commorragh or to me. Those who died were just weaklings. Commorragh has no need for the weak.
"I can even help you appease the anger of the other Kabals and factions. Population, technology, resources—anything you can think of, I can provide. The wealth of Commorragh is beyond your imagination. We can empower each other. You use your power in the human empire, and I will use the power of the Eldar. We can complement one another!"
Vect laid out his terms to Lucan. But Lucan showed no expression of interest. Cooperate with Vect? Only an idiot would believe that. Cooperating with Vect was like making a deal with a tiger. The short-term benefits he offered were not worth the risk.
No matter what, Vect had to die. That was the outcome that best served Lucan's interests. As for the benefits Vect spoke of, he could just come back and take them later when he had the strength and time. By that time, it wouldn't just be his own forces coming; he was sure Guilliman would also be very interested in this place.
"Your terms are very generous," Lucan said. "But I'm afraid that for the sake of humanity, and for the interests of my Dynasty, you must die."
"Lucan! You cannot kill me!" Vect shrieked. "I have died many times! But I have come back every single time! Are you sure you want to do this?!"
"Can't kill you? You're talking about those Haemonculi, right? Their techniques are indeed baffling. But that's only for others. For me, they're irrelevant."
As he spoke, Lucan took a power sword from Damon's hand. He had no more time to waste. The fleet battle was becoming more intense. He had to hurry.
Activating the blade's disruption field, he thrust it directly through Vect's heart.
Feeling his life fade, Vect stared fixedly at Lucan, as if trying to burn his face into his memory for all eternity. His pact with the Haemonculi would ensure that they would find a way to resurrect him. He would disappear for a time, but he would ultimately return.
"Human... I will remember you!"
"Then take a good look. This is the last thing you will ever see. As for resurrection... I'm afraid that's probably not going to happen."
In the next second, Vect realized what Lucan meant. His soul did not go to the protective custody of the Haemonculi, nor was it taken by Slaanesh. Instead, he saw Lucan's Warp Projection. Vect's reaction was identical to that of Vashtorr, just before he was completely devoured: terror, dread, and the fear of true and final death. The psychic power he had accumulated over more than ten thousand years was now nothing more than fuel for the Xel'naga.
Feeling Vect's soul being torn apart and absorbed by the projection, Lucan let out a sigh of relief. Vect's soul alone had contributed a massive amount of resources for the production of Dark Templar.
The two main goals for coming to Commorragh had finally been completed.
Lucan immediately recalled Ferrus and all his forces who were still in battle. As his troops successfully returned to their warships, the battle in the skies above had reached its most ferocious pitch.
The Spear of Adun had diverted all its energy to its shields and had charged into the most concentrated position of the Eldar fleet. It had become the target of all their fire. A massive number of SCVs were desperately repairing the arkship. Otherwise, even a vessel of the Spear of Adun's size could not have withstood such a concentrated assault.
Artanis and all the Protoss were now gathered in the War Council chamber. Pylons stood around them, and every Protoss was channeling their psychic energy with all their might. Artanis himself was pushing his power to the absolute limit, his entire body enveloped in psionic energy. The Protoss war machines had all shut down, their psionic energy supplies temporarily siphoned away.
Karax and his team of Phase-smiths were the only ones not participating in the channeling. Their psychic talents were low, but their role at this moment was critical. They were manipulating the Protoss psionic matrix, doing their best to gather the psionic energy of their brethren. The total amount of psionic energy within the Spear of Adun had now surpassed the limits of conventional detection.
A terrifying psychic power radiated outward from within the arkship. In the eyes of the Dark Eldar, the Spear of Adun was now as dazzling as a lighthouse in the darkness. They, of course, knew what consequences a psychic signature of this level would bring upon Commorragh. To prevent this disaster, almost every commander in every warship gave the same order: destroy the Spear of Adun at all costs.
The Dark Eldar no longer cared about their losses. They ignored the damage from the Zerg flyers and even attempted to ram the arkship directly. Countless lances and torpedoes tore through the Spear of Adun's shields and struck its hull. Parts of the hundred-kilometer-long arkship were beginning to break apart and disintegrate.
But it was too late.
In an instant, the psionic energy began to have a catastrophic reaction with the space of this dimension. The space around the Spear of Adun began to collapse. The already unstable dimension was torn apart by this power. Warp energy began to pour in through the weak points in reality, continuously widening the breaches.
This massive influx of warp energy began to manifest as physical catastrophes within Commorragh.
Flame tornadoes formed of pure psychic energy, seemingly intent on destroying everything, appeared out of thin air. Their immense suction and destructive power instantly tore any warship they touched into a rain of fragments. A sudden gale began to howl, bringing an extremely painful experience to the Dark Eldar survivors on the ground. The hurricane winds were, literally, like blades. Wherever they passed, countless buildings toppled, and the skin of living creatures was torn from their bones. Hailstones the size of boulders rained down.
And besides the cascade of phenomena, the instability and discontinuity of this space also allowed some... uninvited visitors... to successfully arrive in Commorragh.
"WAAAAAGH~!"
An Ork warband, which had been happily lost in the Webway, suddenly found itself near one of the breaches. With nothing better to do, the Orks had finally found a good fight. In an instant, a rain of Greenskins began to fall from the sky of Commorragh. The influx of warp energy also began to cause small-scale daemonic incursions to erupt throughout the Dark City.
