r18novel Chapter 52: The duel in Astartes is not like this at all!
Chapter 52: The duel in Astartes is not like this at all!
They're as stupid as pigs.
Even though he was punched hard into the wall, in Lucius's eyes, the Astartes in front of him was already dead.
When it rushed over just now, it was indeed very fast, but its steps were unsteady and haphazard, and it seemed to be just a burst of speed;
The punch was indeed very heavy. Perhaps the electronic muscle fiber bundles in the right arm have been strengthened, but the movement was too wide and wide, making it full of loopholes.
During the attack, their gaze was fixed on my face, and they didn't pay attention to my waist and leg movements, so they probably didn't even notice that I deliberately retreated to reduce the force.
And most importantly, emotions.
To be so easily provoked by oneself, that's practically a zero in a duel.
Let alone comparing him to top masters like Loken and Liu Xuande, he's mediocre even among ordinary Astartes.
As a renowned dueling master in the Legion of the Emperor's Sons, and indeed among all Space Marines, Lucius had already discerned the intelligence that would secure victory within fractions of a second.
He never intended to pay attention to the other side's ceasefire proposal from the beginning.
In Lucius's mind, his only thought was to follow the voice in his head and challenge and kill "that guy".
In return, he will receive unprecedented honor and pleasure.
Before we get to that, let's warm up with this kid who seems to know that bastard Liu Bei!
All of the above is Lucius's analysis at supersonic speed, measured in nanoseconds. In fact, as soon as Sun Qian finished speaking his boast of "solving it within ten seconds," the sword master rose up like a tiger pouncing on a rabbit and rushed towards his opponent with ghostly light steps.
Ten seconds? Naive.
The outcome can be decided in just three seconds!
Sun Qian did not use any weapon, nor did he have time to draw it. He could only clench his right fist and swing it at Lucius again.
Such a fast punch, such powerful punch.
Lucius could feel the power of the punch just from the sound barrier breaking and the extent of air compression.
But it doesn't matter; it's meaningless if you can't hit the target.
At the critical moment, Lucius suddenly stopped his forward movement, causing Sun Qian's fist to miss its target.
Meanwhile, just as Lucius had predicted, his opponent's movements were far too clumsy. He briefly lost his balance after missing a punch, leaving his vulnerable neck completely exposed to Lucius's attack.
Too easy. An opponent of this caliber doesn't even deserve to be etched on my face as a memento.
Just as Lucius's blade was precisely thrust out, about to pierce Sun Qian's throat—
Boom! ! !
Lucius, his body flying backward like a cannonball, crashed into the wall again. It took him a full second to come to his senses and realize what had happened.
Sun Qian's fist did miss, but his elbow strike landed on Lucius's breastplate.
Is this correct?
Didn't he lose his balance?
How could this posture possibly unleash such power!
Lucius stared incredulously at the dent in the terracotta breastplate, while Sun Qian, for some reason, also froze, as if surprised by the power of his own attack, and did not immediately press his advantage.
I see, I understand now!
The battle-hardened Lucius immediately thought of a possibility.
A normal Astartes could not possibly possess such power; it must be that his power armor contains a modified servo motor, or that his power armor contains mechanical prosthetics!
I underestimated you; you're quite the cunning lad.
But once you see through this, there's nothing to be afraid of.
Lucius immediately launched another attack, this time choosing to circle around to Sun Qian's left flank.
As expected, Sun Qian's movements were noticeably slower, and he could only throw out his left fist haphazardly.
Hmph, since the power armor's energy is allocated to the right arm that is the user's preferred arm, then the left side is the weak point—huh?
When Lucius realized that even in his superhuman dynamic vision, the punch had become an afterimage, he had no choice but to change his move and block it, not wanting to die together with his opponent.
Good news, the angle of the punch wasn't tricky, and Lucius blocked it with his power sword held horizontally in front of him.
Ding--
Bad news, blocking it won't help.
Lucius was sent flying backward, sword and all, crashing into the wall. As he endured the excruciating pain and looked at the master-crafted power sword broken in two in his hand, he felt his sanity snap instantly.
The duels in Astartes are definitely not like that!
You should first test the waters with me to understand my fighting style and tactics. Then, by exchanging moves with each other and using verbal provocation to launch a psychological offensive, you should wait until one of you makes a mistake and creates an opening. Then, seize the opportunity to end the fight with a fatal blow.
How could you throw two powerful and fast punches like that? I couldn't react in time, and even if I did, I couldn't block them!
Are you an Astartes or a Primarch?!
Astartes' duels are not like that at all!
I don't accept this!!
What Lucius didn't know was that the person who was actually more shocked than him at that moment was Sun Qian himself, who had just thrown those two punches.
This [Demon Lu Bu] is way too overpowered!!
Yes, when Lucius admitted that he was the one who seriously injured Liu Bei, Sun Qian chose to activate the newly acquired [Demon Lu Bu] card.
Now that we've determined the opponent is an enemy we must defeat, there's no need to hold back. It's a good opportunity to test the effect of this card.
But Sun Qian wasn't sure if he had achieved this goal.
First of all, this card should have three skills with rather abstract descriptions:
However, this does not mean that the character card has no effect.
Just as he had just witnessed, after activating the skill, Sun Qian first felt that his right arm, which had once transformed into a demon's claw, was now surging with inexhaustible power, as if it contained a third heart.
Then, a few seconds later, the power surged up the arm into the two hearts, and then through the blood vessels and nerves, it was supplied to all parts of the body.
At this point, Sun Qian finally began to realize the power of the card [Demon Lu Bu].
The details of
The effect of this card is...
The right hand has high attack power, and the left hand has high attack power.
Swinging with both hands simultaneously results in a fast and high attack.
What kind of mechanism do we need now?!
When the value reaches a certain level, it becomes a mechanism in itself!
"Ahem, I understand. You're the same... You've gained power that wasn't originally yours, haven't you... In that case, I won't hold back!"
Lucius staggered to his feet, and it was clear that Sun Qian had punched a hole in his power armor.
The swordsman, who had received the blessing of chaos, looked as if he had just realized something, and then took a syringe from his waist.
"I originally intended to save it for 'him'... but I'll use you to test its effectiveness first!"
Lucius plunged the needle into his heart through the opening in his power armor. The next second, his eyes widened in shock, and purple nerve patterns immediately appeared on his exposed skin.
"This feeling...is amazing...it's so great!"
This is a potion that Lucius found in the Chaos Apostle's laboratory in the Tower of Hell over the past few days. Just a little bit is enough to enhance Astartes' senses, and this dose can amplify Lucius's nerve sensitivity by five times.
Of course, this also includes the sense of pain. If it were an ordinary person or even an ordinary Astartes, they might faint from just a tap on their toe after being injected with the drug.
However, even though Lucius was enduring the amplified pain, it felt like a supreme pleasure to him.
He even picked up the other half of the power sword with his bare hands; although it didn't have a disintegrating force field, the sharp blade could still pierce his palm.
But the pain only fueled his excitement, causing him to charge at Sun Qian.
Five times the pain, five times the reflexes, and five times the dynamic vision!
Even if he were to face Sun Qian's attack again, Lucius was confident he could dodge it all.
Boom! !
But the attack that hit his chin actually cleared his mind amidst the severe concussion.
How is that possible...?
Can it be even faster than before?
His feeling was right; Sun Qian could sense that his power was still increasing.
Along with his power, his inner destructive desires also swelled.
His iron fists pounded on Lucius again and again, and the sound of mortar shattering and bones breaking was so pleasant to hear.
This ability is amazing! If this continues, I'll be unparalleled! Who can stop me!
I am the true champion of chaos, and all that Slaanesh's chosen one will surely fall to me—
Ok?
Slaanesh's chosen one?
Sun Qian's bloodshot eyes suddenly regained some clarity, but he felt as if his body was no longer under his control.
"Stop right there!"
Sun Qian forcibly canceled the activation of [Demon Lu Bu] in his mind, and his fist stopped a centimeter before it was about to hit Lucius's face.
"I have not......"
However, in those few short seconds, Lucius's entire body was almost completely tattered, with only the faint whispers from his dislocated jaw proving that he was still alive.
Great, I didn't kill this guy.
Sun Qian looked at the [Demon Lu Bu] card in the system with lingering fear, and immediately noticed the details of the changes on the card.
Although the skill descriptions of those cards are still abstract, there is something more to the description of one of the skills.
-
Skill 2: Berserker (LV1)
Effect: You have fallen into demonic possession — {88/100}
-
Sun Qian frowned slightly. Although he didn't understand the meaning of this value, judging from the experience of almost losing control just now, this was definitely not the Emperor's favorability rating.
In any case, he had finally gained a new trump card.
Sun Qian breathed a sigh of relief, then threw Lucius directly to the ground.
It wasn't that he suddenly had a change of heart and wanted to spare Lucius's life at the last minute; it was just that he remembered that Lucius had a special skill.
In the original timeline, when Lucius, who had received Slaanesh's blessing, was killed by an enemy, Lucius could possess that enemy's body and be reborn as long as the enemy felt even the slightest satisfaction.
Although he didn't know if he had become Slaanesh's chosen one, Sun Qian didn't want to be possessed by him by accident.
Well, let's just leave him here. I wonder what the killer would be if he and Istvan III were destroyed together—
boom!!!
Just then, a loud bang came from above, and a bright red chainsaw axe smashed through the ceiling and emerged.
Sun Qian was startled. Could it be that Anglong had already caught up?
But he quickly dismissed the possibility, because the ceiling was made of ventilation ducts, which were narrow even for Astartes, and it would be impossible for a Primarch like Angron to pass through them.
"Tsk, Lucius's been taken down, huh? Oh well, even if I'm the only one left..."
Just as Sun Qian had predicted, judging from the shadow in the dust, the one who had crashed to the ground was merely a World Devourer warrior wielding a massive chainsaw axe.
?
Sun Qian's right pupil suddenly contracted, because even in the swirling dust, his demonic eye could feel the piercing crimson aura.
This was even stronger than the Slaanesh aura emanating from Lucius earlier, and it even resembled the Angron I had seen through the wall earlier...
wrong.
Was what I just saw really Angron?
But Sun Qian didn't have a chance to think it over, because the next second, a blood-red whirlwind swept away the dust, and at the same time, a warrior wearing blue and white power armor wielded a giant axe and slashed at Sun Qian.
"You have the same aura as that bastard... Liu Bei! Die!!"
Sun Qian frowned, just as he was preparing to trigger the [Demon Lu Bu] card again to fight—
Bang! !
Another giant axe suddenly appeared, steadily blocking the attack of the mysterious world-devourer.
Moreover, Sun Qian immediately noticed that the two chainsaw axes were very similar in size and shape, and seemed to be a pair.
"Enough, Erlen, do you intend to continue submitting to the power of Khorne?"
Hearing the voice from behind him, Sun Qian was stunned once again.
Erlen?
The last loyal World Eater on the Istvan III—the Warhound Legion Commander Erlen, who retreated here with Liu Bei.
But he immediately realized that this wasn't the most pressing issue at the moment...
"This is the end, my offspring. Return to my side."
Sun Qian turned his head stiffly, and what came into his view was a towering figure behind him that, even by Astartes standards, was on par with a giant.
Impossible, how could he possibly...?
Sun Qian realized that he had made a mistake from the very beginning.
He also realized what Loken had been trying to tell him.
"Having been reborn under Liu Bei's benevolence, I will, as the legion commander, bring you peace from the torment of the Butcher's Nails."