At the hall entrance, Adam swept his gaze back and forth, taking in the horrific scene before him.
It was clear that an extremely fierce battle had just taken place in this space; the dome, floor, surrounding walls, and support pillars were riddled with bullet holes and blast marks, and the bodies of white‑haired sisters in force‑feedback armor lay scattered, mixed with the corpses of Chaos warriors in power armor.
From Adam's quick glance, only a few bodies remained relatively intact.
He felt a sudden headache.
"Looks like the delay on the road cost us a step, we're a little late..."
Fortunately, at least a loyal‑faction sister was rescued, and she had even single‑handedly slain a heavily‑armored Chaos Astartes, so it wasn't entirely too late.
"...Just a mortal?"
The Chaos Space Marines didn't remain as calm; their tactical visors scanned the suddenly appearing enemy repeatedly, yet they still detected nothing unusual, not even a weapon.
However, the invisible force‑field shield surrounding the Canoness was clearly connected to the opponent.
Facing an unknown danger, all Astartes—whether Imperial or Chaos—had essentially one reaction!
Like a swarm of precision machines, the Chaos Astartes instantly raised their bolters in unison!
The next moment, gunfire roared!
The Bolters used by Space Marines are so massive they could be described as hand‑cannons, and their power is far beyond any mortal weapon.
Unfortunately, from Adam's perspective as a Reality Warper, this volley posed little threat to him.
The Global Occult Coalition's field manual outlines three requirements for successfully executing a Reality Warper.
[Speed], [Suddenness], and [Violence].
[Speed] means the entire execution must not exceed one second from start to finish; Reality Warpers react extremely quickly, and a slower attack will be anticipated.
[Suddenness] is required because Reality Warpers can adapt to any known threat, so the team must strike at an unexpected moment or use a feint to mask a real assault.
[Violence] is straightforward: the greater the force, the better—overload the Warper's limits and kill them outright to stop further scheming.
Clearly, the Chaos Astartes' volley failed to satisfy any of those criteria.
All the bolters deviated in an extremely bizarre manner mid‑flight, as if an unknown force altered their vectors.
Around Adam, the dome, floor, and walls were instantly peppered with fist‑sized craters, yet he himself emerged completely unscathed.
'Ranged attacks ineffective?'
As a bio‑weapon created by the Emperor, the super‑human after nineteen surgical modifications still retains the Chaos Astartes' rapid combat instincts and reaction speed, even if they have turned away from the Imperium.
Half of them continued fire suppression, while the other half instantly drew melee weapons and charged straight at the target.
Blessed by Slaanesh, the Chaos Astartes moved with even lighter, swifter grace, like a gale across the ground; a distance of dozens of meters was traversed in an instant.
The only problem was that the faces reflected in their pupils seemed to be... smiling?
"Heh, coming this far, I'm not completely unprepared."
On his way here, Adam discovered that machine spirits are indeed useful; he had collected numerous high‑power weapons and, using his Reality Warping Ability, soothed them into a state of great joy.
With a thought, the optical camouflage field around him was deactivated, exposing a series of dark gun muzzles.
Thirteen weapons floated like drifting cannons beside Adam—plasma pistols, melta guns, auto‑cannons, heavy Bolters, hellguns—all whirring with murderous intent toward the charging foes.
'What?'
Before the Chaos Astartes could react, every weapon's machine spirit roared, firing at a rate that defied logic, venting their fury at humanity's enemies.
The next moment, amid the torrent of dense fire, the charging Chaos Astartes melted away like dew under the sun, physically disintegrating.
Perhaps a Khorne‑blessed Astartes could have charged through with ranged damage mitigation, or a Tzeentch‑led Astartes might have used a special psyker spell to escape the barrage… but the Slaanesh‑enhanced Space Marines had no room to dodge.
Maybe the chosen of Slaanesh, the Immortal Lucius, could have woven a dazzling sword technique to form an impenetrable net and intercept the rain of fire, but such a champion was absent among these Chaos Astartes.
Thanks to the sacrifice of the front‑line battle brothers, the absurd barrage was briefly slowed, allowing the remaining Astartes to find cover with their astonishing reflexes.
What followed seemed endless; the relentless hail of fire pressed everyone against cover, plasma, melt, and shells raining from above, leaving no one able to raise a head and return fire.
Continuing like this would only mean a slow death!
From an Astartes' combat experience, that thought instantly sprang into everyone's mind.
Under the direction of a Chaos Sorcerer who had become the next battle commander, two Warp Talons bearing Warp marks opened a portal and began a Warp jump.
"Oh?"
Adam immediately sensed a strange energy erupt behind him; the Warp and reality veils tore open, a crack forming… He turned, grabbed the nascent fissure with his bare hands, and swung it toward the ground.
The two Warp Talons that had just teleported merged uniformly with the ceramic‑steel floor beneath them, dying on the spot.
Huh?
The Chaos Sorcerer who witnessed the scene with his psyker spell was left dumbfounded.
How did the opponent interfere with the psyker transmission?
Grab the Warp fissure with bare hands?
How was that possible?
If Adam had heard the opponent's thoughts, he would surely have said:
"Just doing some reality warping, nothing serious!"
Reality warpers obey a simple rule: if they believe it's possible, then it is.
Plain and simple.