NOVEL WEB Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Ah! I Have an Idea Again!
"Stop right there!!!!!!"
The beguiling voice poured from Rena's mouth.
She unleashed all of her psychic might upon Nama Kar. For a brief instant, Nama Kar froze. The notebook in her hand failed to emit even a shred of power. The "master" she'd pursued for decades had abandoned her. In that moment of clarity, Nama Kar realized: she was now useless to her master.
Around her ears, only mocking laughter remained:
"Just as planned… everything is as planned!"
"Gahahahaha hahahaha!!"
The master's cruel mockery echoed in her mind.
Then flame, lightning, and psychic hammers smashed into her body. Nama Kar could only let out a few pitiful cries before she was reduced to a charred corpse.
"Where's your master now?!" Rena spat through gritted teeth. "I have the Emperor's blessing — and you?!"
She viciously kicked the blackened corpse, then turned to Zhou Yun.
"Zhou Yun, you—"
Rena froze. She thought killing Nama Kar would cut off the corruption, but Zhou Yun still clutched his head in agony, leaning against the wall, spirals of numbers reflected in his eyes. He was still being gnawed at by the blasphemous entities of the warp. Yet she could faintly sense he hadn't fully succumbed. His will, his inner strength, something inside him still fought back.
Rena pressed her hand to his forehead, throwing her own consciousness into his.
"Zhou Yun!!!" Her voice pierced through layers of swirling numbers as she tried to reach him, to drag him out of that spiral.
But the moment her psychic power touched those numbers, they wrapped around it, tearing her power apart. Rena could only watch helplessly as Zhou Yun's soul continued to battle.
She vaguely glimpsed his form sheathed in a strange white light, and in the warp's reflection, a plump, blue figure.
Then she heard the sound of pages turning.
She turned — and saw the black-covered notebook silently opening.
It had survived all her psychic strikes without a scratch. Rena instantly realized: this book was the true source of corruption.
On the pages, the numbers writhed like tiny black-and-blue insects, crawling into the air, spiraling into a distorted vortex. From the other side of that vortex came a mocking, birdlike laughter. Something was trying to squeeze through into realspace.
"The distance is too great. My power cannot fully reach you here. Were you in a church, or with a squad of Blood Angels, I could drive back this corruption."
The winged figure in white light said, his voice low, his wings spread into a shield over Zhou Yun, but his image swayed, like a rootless leaf on water.
"Where am I supposed to find a squad of Blood Angels?!" Zhou Yun snarled.
"Wait… that book must be the source. Destroy it—"
Zhou Yun, fighting the dizziness and pain, lifted his head. He saw the notebook opening its vortex of numbers, something squirming behind it.
Rena raised her hands, chanting praises to the Emperor, blasting it with psychic energy — but the book remained unscathed, the vortex only growing.
"You cannot destroy it," the winged figure said. "The book is tied to the corrupted. Everyone who has deciphered its numbers sustains its existence. Unless all are cleansed, it cannot be destroyed."
A perfect little trap — a cage made of logic.
The winged figure's eyes turned to Zhou Yun, who was now half-consumed. In the warp, his form alternated between layers of blue feathers and a rotund, metallic shell. His very nature was being contested by the corruption.
But Zhou Yun did not yet understand himself. And in the warp, power only existed if you believed in it.
He could not resist much longer.
"Go to the church!"
The winged figure shouted. "Go to the nearest church — with my image — my power can reach you better there!"
".It's three streets away," Zhou Yun ground out. "And even that church… is tainted."
This had been Tzeentch's plan all along. From decades ago, when Nama Kar donated to build the church, her corruption began. Year after year she taught children numbers, sowing seeds of corruption. Every ninth day she prayed — not to the Emperor, but to the Changer of Ways. Tonight, using the prayers of countless corrupted children, she opened a warp vortex.
Behind that vortex… what waited? A Lord of Change? A daemon prince?
But to destroy the book required killing all the corrupted — even Zhou Yun himself. Or… razing the entire district.
"No."
Zhou Yun looked at Rena, still desperately blasting psychic power at the vortex. His mind whirred. Perhaps it was the corruption itself sharpening his thoughts.
An idea struck him.
"I… I…"
He gritted his teeth, shouting: "Rena!"
She turned, startled. "What?!"
"I… have an idea!"
"…Huh?" Rena looked at him blankly.
"Give me that damn book!!!" Zhou Yun roared.
Rena nodded at once. She chose to trust him. Destroying the book seemed impossible, but moving it was not. She flung it toward him, and he caught it. He stared at the vortex of numbers whirling on its cover. From beyond came the birdlike giggles.
"Laugh? Laugh at this, you blue-feathered freak!"
"Let's see if you planned for this!"
Zhou Yun chose to gamble — to trust his own strange power.
He shoved the book into the dimensional pocket at his stomach.
[Item: Tome of Infinite Change]
[Origin: Asford System – Asford Star – Vedia City District 9]
[Description: A notebook corrupted by a Lord of Change, filled with numbers…]
(End of Chapter)
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