Chapter 24
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Her faith was apparent, and so the Astartes did not immediately fill her with bolts as they would normally. Ditching the Longlas - it was a basic thing after all - and stepping out from her makeshift fortifications, she gave a gentle nod. Emia’s presence was invigorating and inspiring for most, but the Astartes...well, they were a different breed entirely. They were men and women blessed to be given a link to The Emperor himself. Their biology was his biology, a few steps removed. And to showcase their capabilities to take any situation in their stride, it took them mere moments to adapt to a small Lupine-strain Felinid having killed the heretical governor. With precision and grace, the two giants gestured for her to follow, and moved back through the station. Emia looked back to the servants once, though the Inquisitor would decide what to do with them. Then, turning off her aura so it would not burn through her resource, she followed.

 

The sound of battle and Bolters were everywhere, though the Astartes did not seem to see a need to hurry, maintaining a measured pace that was a jog to Emia, but casual to them. Eventually they got to a foothold, held by a group of Stormtroopers and heavy weapon emplacements. Just because it wasn’t a military installation, didn’t mean they were taking any chances. The people that stood out were the Commissar, and a Felinid dressed like some sort of servant. Emia would have thought she was someone they had picked up from the station, if her uniform’s colour and cut weren’t different. There was a conversation, but they only caught the last bits of it.

“-Pat my head~” the Felinid exclaimed. The Commissar at her for a moment as if trying to weigh the pros and cons of just shooting the woman, and then reached out his hand and patted her head. It got a delighted squeal of joy.

“Call the Inquisitor” one of the Astartes ordered, moving past the barricades and getting into the redoubt proper. The Commissar and the cat looked over, and had differing reactions. The Commissar, stared with surprise and confusion at Emia, a usual reaction from mortals who saw her. The Felinid, ignored Emia completely and moved up to one of the Astartes, leaping up like a cat and landed surprisingly gently on the shoulders of the Astartes.

“Onwards, Noble Steed!” she exclaimed, pointing in some random direction.

 

“Acquainted with Felinids then, I see” Emia commented. It snapped the Commissar out of his stunned look, and shook his head, a grim look on his face and a grim tone on his tongue.

“That is no Felinid. That is just a beast wearing skin” The Commissar replied. The Felinid seemed to take offense, and pouted cutely.

“How rude! Punch him, Noble Steed!” she ordered.

“No” the Astartes replied. Simple, and to the point.

“Tsk, what kind of Noble Steed are you? You sleep in the stables tonight!” she shouted, crossing her arms.

“Can I cut into this madness for a moment and ask...what do you mean?” Emia stepped in, standing between the Felinid and the Commissar.

“She is a Daemonhost. Ostensibly under the command of Inquisitor Blackfox '' The Commissar explained. Emia had a presence that made it hard to question why she was asking about such classified information.

“Blacky is our friend, yes” The Felinid confirmed, hmming to herself as she rolled to some unseen song.

 

Emia, however, was staring at her. The cat woman had a light glow of Faith, and was so….human. Admittedly it was very much like herself, and Egwene had said there were unconfirmed reports of a woman like her.

“But...where's all the...Daemon stuff? Are they normally like this?” Emia asked. She had, admittedly, little understanding of Daemonhosts. The information about them was cripplingly restricted when they were acknowledged at all. Most people were just killed if they found out about it.

“Nope~ But they have given up trying to capture me. I guess after the third time they just didn’t wanna drop anymore into me. Makes a girl feel unloved when her suitor doesn’t pursue her anymore, but I understand you have other girls” The Felinid explained, looking over Emia. “Lupine-strain. Always liked the wolf tails. Not so hot about the Slaaneshi Daemon in you though. I li-” The Felinid was cut off by the Astartes raising their Bolters at Emia, the Commissar a second later and the scrambling of the Stormtroopers after that.

 

But, before anything could happen, flames blossomed from the hand of the Felinid. It took less than a second, and the walls were splattered with blood. The crash of bodies around her was echoed by the beautifully ornate blade being flicked, and blood splattering off it. Emia reacted on instinct, pulling Bolt Pistols out of her inventory and leaping backwards. Emperor’s Touch was combined with Cleansing Flame as she shot a pair of bolts at the Felinid. The recoil was evil, but she was able to handle it, once. The idea that the woman had just butchered a pair of Astartes in an eyeblink was not an idea she allowed herself to think. She needed to focus. The bolts, however, crashed off some sort of invisible wall and exploded into flames. Though the flames left the woman untouched.

 

“Well, those are certainly good reflexes” The Felinid said. Though whatever she was going to say next was cut off when Emia ordered her Sniper to shoot at the woman. Punching through the wall, the round cracked against the Felinid’s forehead and bounced off. “Ow. Where did you get an Exitus Rifle? Who even fired it?” she asked, shaking her head. Emia was more shocked than anything. She had seen that rifle explode people’s heads, and yet barely scuffed her’s.

 

“If it makes you feel any better, they were going to kill you soon as they realized they had spilled the beans anyway. Deadly beans, they are” The Felinid continued, her tail swishing behind her gently. Emia was having none of the woman though, and dropped her pistols to draw Troll-Drenger. She had an instinct that it was a weapon dangerous beyond the bolts. Didn’t do anything though, as the Felinid deflected the round with her sword, seemingly unperturbed by the Holy Flames that erupted from it.

“You ain’t listening, huh? Fine. See you later” The Felinid shook her head and, putting the sword back where she got it, waved a hand at Emia. Emia was in the process of reloading her gun when she felt her piercings vaporise. The heat was immense, though fortunately only for a fraction of a second.

 

The physical impact of this paled in comparison to the metaphysical impact. A pitiful attempt at firing her gun had it go clean off to the side, before she collapsed to the ground. The bearable tingle in her body had erupted to a full on roar as some box popped up to tell her about it but she was so lost she couldn’t even comprehend what was being streamed into her head, let alone read it. Her stomach roiled and she wanted to throw up everything inside it, though there was something that stopped her from doing that. The world spun and she fell against the wall, sliding down it and having her body try to rip itself apart while her incredible mental fortitude held her together. Not without issue, though. She was deafened to anything outside. Unable to see, hear, or feel. Only fight.

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