The girl had not yet recovered from the shock of her blade snapping when Ignis's large hand closed around her.
The Salamander controlled his strength—enough to restrain her completely, without harming her. He did not know who she was, but at the very least, she was not an enemy at this moment.
The girl, however, was stubborn, twisting hard, even striking Ignis's fingers with the hilt of her broken blade. It was meaningless: power gauntlets fully enclosed the hands, and while the knuckles looked like weak points, they were servo-driven actuators. Power gauntlets were mounted over armor, not bare hands.
Seeing her continue to thrash was simply irritating, and Ignis decided to calm her down.
"Stop wasting effort. If I intended to kill you, you'd already be dead. Calm yourself and listen." Ignis reached with his free hand, grabbed a sack of narcotic raw material piled nearby, and crushed it until it burst.
"Damn it!" The girl immediately covered her mouth and nose.
"Good. Now listen. I don't know who you are, but judging from you, you clearly don't belong with the people running this place." Ignis walked a few steps and smashed a new opening in the warehouse wall, lifting the girl to the hole to keep her away from the toxic fumes.
Two fuel canisters were strapped to her back, with a slot for storing her flame-blade. The heat of the facility carried a familiar scent—she used the same fuel he did.
Markus had said this fuel was issued to special units within the Defense Forces… so—
Ignis suspected she was Defense Forces. If someone else had access to specially issued fuel, Markus would have warned him of another team. That meant the girl standing before him was likely the source of Ignis's fuel—his supplier's supplier.
"As long as you don't interfere with me and my comrades, I'll let you go once the job's done. But until then, behave."
The girl inhaled fresh air greedily. "You just burned those civilians alive—how does that not make you a villain?"
"They were beyond saving." Even Ignis felt how cold his own voice sounded. "They were no longer the living people they once were. You saw it yourself—burning alive didn't even stop them. What besides a machine can ignore pain entirely? And they weren't performing some noble act. They were carrying ingredients for a mind-destroying narcotic."
The girl went silent, lips tightly pressed together, her eyes behind the goggles fixed on Ignis's helmet.
"Then what are you people here for?" she demanded. "Well-equipped, coordinated, and you cut the comms deliberately."
"That's not your concern." Ignis had no intention of revealing Jaxcalibur Squad's mission. "I'm a mercenary. Paid to solve problems. And to erase a drug factory I find offensive."
"So you're another vigilante who watched too many movies?" Her gaze sharpened. "Should I give you a codename? How about 'The Green Knight'? Ridiculous. This sort of thing is the Security Bureau's job."
The codename disgusted him—it made him imagine someone preparing foot-washing water for him—but he ignored it. She was physically in his grasp and could cause no trouble. Once Jax-05 finished acquiring the data, he'd hand her off to Jaxcalibur and burn the facility to ash. Job done.
"Data transfer complete. Prepare to withdraw," Jax-05 reported. "Beginning drone retrieval."
Jaxcalibur-01 and Jax-06 were aware Ignis had encountered an attacker, and they saw him subdue her instantly. But Jaxcalibur-01 was more concerned about something else: she could not possibly have come alone. Where were her teammates?
"All done? Let me burn this place," Ignis said as he set the girl down. To prevent her from trying something foolish, he lit his flamestorm gauntlet again, pointing the flames toward her in warning.
Jaxcalibur-01 was equally cautious, pressing his pistol to her back while Jax-06 took out a thumb-cuff and locked her thumbs together.
"So it is revenge for stealing business," the girl said, looking at the fully armed Jaxcalibur members before turning to Ignis. "You really weren't lying—mercenaries. For a factory this dangerous, destroying it privately is enough? Why not contact the Public Security Bureau or the Defense Forces?"
"That's not your concern," Ignis said as he began his purification. "The Public Security Bureau has its reasons. The Defense Forces—I don't know. My job is simple. These materials cannot remain. None of it can."
"You're destroying evidence!" The girl panicked. She could tell he meant every word—he didn't care about the authorities, only about erasing this place.
Ignis sighed. Of course he knew he was destroying evidence. But the materials could not be allowed to exist. He could not risk anyone reverse-engineering the ritual sorcery behind the drug. If someone reconstructed it elsewhere, countless people would die—both in production and in consumption.
She was related to the Defense Forces. Letting them know the truth would help future resistance against the Chaos Gods.
So she needed to see the real ingredients.
The silent giant turned. The girl prepared to argue, but he spoke first.
"Then witness with your own eyes what these things are made from." Ignis seized her again.
A few long strides brought him to the pile of corpses. These hollowed-out husks lay stacked together. Because the air was toxic, no rats or insects had fed on them. Except for the most decayed ones, the girl could clearly see caved-in chests, emptied abdominal cavities, and hollow skulls.
"See? This is part of the ingredients." Ignis ignited his gauntlet, lighting the area so she could see clearly. The gray, desiccated bodies took on eerie hues in the fire—enough to awaken primal terror in any human.
To protect her from residual warp corruption, Ignis called upon the Emperor's blessing, sheathing her in a thin golden barrier. She did not notice—it was impossible to look away from the corpses. She knew narcotics used chemical reagents, not… this. Even if laborers died, organs were not removed like this. It made no sense.
She shivered, remembering the workers Ignis had set ablaze—still working even as their flesh charred. They worked beside this corpse pile with no revulsion. Could such things even be considered human? Drug control? Hypnosis? Mind-control?
She recalled every rumor and urban legend she had ever heard—none explained how a person became an emotionless, thoughtless, mechanically obedient tool.
Ignis saw the shock on her face. Good. But not enough—there was still more warp sorcery she needed to understand.
He walked to the plastic drums filled with blood and extracted organs and kicked them over. They clattered across the ground, some spilling open. The stench of blood and rotting viscera almost knocked her unconscious. She covered her mouth and nose, but once she saw the congealed slurry and soaked organs, her expression twisted further.
Emotionless workers walked over, picking up the spilled organs mechanically, then dumped them into the raw-material vat. Some barrels were not heavy enough, so they rolled full ones over to pour in more.
The blood and organs rolled into the vat, rising and sinking as workers stirred them. The girl felt her entire worldview collapsing. No narcotic she had ever heard of used human organs and blood.
Then she remembered the news—the artists who took this drug. Did they know it was made from people?
Or worse—did they know, and take it anyway?
Seeing her thoroughly shaken, Ignis spoke:
"Now you understand. I must destroy this place. This method cannot spread. I fear that if official records exist, someone might reverse-engineer the formula. Even attempting to reproduce it would cause deaths long before a finished product."
The girl's expression shifted repeatedly. She knew corruption existed within the authorities—but what was this giant?
"You… fine… fine." She accepted his logic. These materials could not be allowed to exist.
"But what about the ones behind this? Will they go unpunished?"
Killing these lackeys meant nothing if the true orchestrator lived.
"They will be punished. I will deliver judgment—and execution—myself." Ignis raised his fist, flames erupting. "The enemies of mankind will be destroyed."
"Wait… the fuel you use?" The girl smelled it clearly. "Looks like the warehouse rats need cleaning."
"So you are Defense Forces?" Ignis asked the question he had been waiting to confirm.
"Defense Forces, Obsidian Division, Obol Squad, Soldier-11." She identified herself.
"Obsidian Division? I know Lieutenant Roland," Ignis said, recalling the officer at Scott Outpost. "Didn't expect to meet Defense Forces here. What's your mission?"
Jaxcalibur's members were far enough not to overhear. Soldier-11 gestured for him to cut comms. Ignis complied.
"Orders from above. Infiltration and investigation. This drug appeared in the military as well," Soldier-11 said. "Have your friends hand the data to me. The Defense Forces will handle the supply chain."
"That's not my decision," Ignis replied. "I need the data to find the higher-ups responsible. I said I would make the ones behind this pay."
"Then you may not have a choice." Soldier-11 suddenly smiled. "Your two teammates are already in my squad's custody. Your only option now is to trade the data for their lives."
Ignis turned toward Jaxcalibur-01. Though masked, his rapidly rising body temperature showed he was alarmed. Ignis immediately re-enabled comms.
"Hey, guys?" Jax-03 spoke over the channel. "Answer me. Jax-04 and I got grabbed. Anyone coming to help?"
Jaxcalibur-01 rushed forward and shouted to Soldier-11, "Hostage exchange! We release you, you release our people!"
"You have two hostages. Hand over the data as well—that completes the deal." Soldier-11 said calmly. "And tell your men not to leave the truck. Trigger's aim is excellent."
"Captain, sniper outside. Cannot support." Jax-02's strained voice sounded. He had tried stepping out of the container but a bullet grazed his neck instantly. He retreated, applying pressure to stop the bleeding.
A warning—and a demonstration. Any further move would blow his skull apart.
"Captain… if it's one-for-one… exchange for Jax-04…" Jax-03's voice cut off mid-sentence. Comms severed.
"Take her," Ignis said as he lowered Soldier-11. Jaxcalibur-01 grabbed her by the collar and dragged her toward the breach Ignis made, forcing her to walk herself toward the exit. Both men kept their weapons trained on her.
Ignis, however, had no time for this. He began the purification. In the blackout caused by the facility's power failure, the burning ether-fuel became two radiant serpents of flame, carrying Ignis's fury and hatred as they consumed this blasphemous, torment-filled place.
Every sin committed here would be remembered. On the ledger of that unknown Slaaneshi warband, another mark of hatred and blood was now written. Ignis swore to the Emperor: this vile warpspawn would be destroyed. Every wound inflicted upon the people of New Eridu would be repaid tenfold. He would burn them down with the fires of vengeance.
Ether-fuel ignited the hollow corpses. Their souls were likely already fed to the Dark Prince; the only gift Ignis could give them was a blazing funeral. As for the pool and the stacked human materials—they boiled under the flames. Ignis quietly recited the Emperor's name, committing every detail to memory.
Every victim's debt would be collected.
And Ignis himself would be the collector.