The restoration of the Han Dynasty began with the Horus Rebellion.

Chapter 40: To eliminate beasts, one must first sacrifice oneself to them!

As the ancients said, "To eliminate beasts, one must first offer oneself to them."

"Call this guy called Gu Ren over. I'll beat him up first, and then I'll beat you up too, since you're still joking around."

A few hours earlier, in the cockpit of the Judgment Day, Loken looked at Sun Qian with a dark expression.

Although it was difficult to say these words, Sun Qian knew that this was the only solution at the moment.

"Company Commander Loken should be well aware of Samus's abilities. He can possess other people and infiltrate our surroundings... If we don't deal with him, not to mention the issue of rescuing our leader, our Great Tyrant will sooner or later be turned upside down and bloodshed will ensue."

"Then let's find him and eliminate him. If I can defeat him once, I can defeat him a second time!"

Recalling the events on planet 63-19, Loken was already itching to destroy the demon stained with his brother's blood once again.

"Even if it means killing all the loyal brothers on the Tyrant?"

Loken's pupils contracted slightly; he immediately understood the meaning behind Sun Qian's words.

"You mean he can possess other people after he's defeated? How is that possible! I clearly did that back in the Whispering Mountains..."

"At that time, what you destroyed along with Jubar was merely the remnant of a demon that had been defeated and sealed away by the False Emperor for thousands of years. It's even possible that he deliberately banished you back to the warp to break free from the False Emperor's control over him."

The "false emperor" here does not refer to the one on Terra, but rather to the self-proclaimed emperor ruler of planet 63-19.

According to the legends of that planet, the first False Emperor defeated Samus and sealed him in the Whispering Mountains for thousands of years until the Shadowmoon Wolf accidentally broke the shrine's seal during the Great Crusade, giving Samus the opportunity to possess a Space Marine named Xavier Jubal and kill more than a dozen of his comrades.

Loken was a witness to this event, and could even be considered the protagonist, because he was the one who ultimately executed Samus.

"But the situation is different now. If I'm not mistaken, he was summoned using someone as an anchor point... Unless the anchor point is killed, he will be able to respawn countless times."

At this point, Sun Qian looked at the Vengeance Soul, which was positioned on orbit directly above the Great Tyrant.

Obviously, this method is impossible to implement.

"So, did I release this demon?"

Loken didn't ask Sun Qian how he knew this information that should have been erased, after all, the other party had already shown too many incredible things.

Moreover, since Sun Qian was willing to be frank with him, it meant that they shared the same goal of saving the loyalists.

"If we're really going to get to the point, it's my responsibility that he ended up on the Great Tyrant—so we have to deal with him before he causes any trouble, in my way."

Loken immediately frowned as he recalled Sun Qian's words.

"You want to use your own body as bait? That's insane! There must be other ways..."

"Maybe so. Then use my stupid method to buy some time, and you can take the opportunity to think of other ways. To be honest, I'm not a Fury fanatic. Just thinking about merging with that thing makes me feel disgusted."

Looking at Sun Qian, who was pretending to be relaxed, Loken couldn't help but feel a tightness in his heart.

"Does it have to be you? You've already sacrificed enough for us, for example, by using your current demonic host, or someone else like me—"

"No, whether he is in Qile or Sindman now, a mortal body can easily be burst by his energy and self-destruct, and then he can possess someone else and hide again; only the Astartes' constitution can withstand the power of the demon... and can also serve as a vessel to restrain him."

When a demon possesses someone, it's not so easy to leave; otherwise, those enchanted warriors wouldn't fight to the death along with their bodies.

Generally, once possessed, a demon will bind to the body until the host dies, or...

"Moreover, when I demonstrate my ability to exorcise demons, he will definitely prioritize eliminating me as a dangerous factor. In addition, I am now also a hero in the eyes of the loyalists, so the opportunity to possess my body and deceive them into believing in me is an extremely tempting condition for him."

Loken remained silent for a long time, his lips pressed tightly together, but he knew Sun Qian was right.

This may be the best decision under the current circumstances.

but......

"I'm sorry, brother, I still find it hard to accept."

Sacrifice is inevitable; no sacrifice is too great to bear.

Loken was instilled with this idea from the moment he became an Astartes.

Even so, no matter how many battles he went through, and even after being criticized by Horus, Loken could not be completely indifferent to the lives of his comrades.

"I don't want to see anyone else sacrifice themselves in front of me—"

"Sacrifice? Oh, you've misunderstood me, Company Commander Locken. I'm just a nobody; I don't possess such noble spirit."

Loken looked up in confusion and saw Sun Qian's sly smile.

That's why I need your help.

"Listen, I'll create opportunities for you, and then..."

-

Boom!!

The entire bridge was shaking. Loken rolled on the ground a few times before getting up and saw the huge crater where he had just been standing, like a meteorite had fallen.

Moreover, the plastic steel floors and gold walls inside the bridge are now pitted and uneven, as if they had been through dozens of days of artillery fire.

However, all of this was caused by this demon wielding a chainsaw-wielding greatsword.

These ten-odd minutes were hardly a battle; Loken and the other two were simply doing their best to dodge the monster's attacks.

"Hehehe, this feels even better than before, all thanks to your 'brilliant plan'!"

Samus, who had taken over Sun Qian's body, let out an annoying and unpleasant laugh.

"You think you can fool me with such petty tricks? Trying to trap me in this body... you're dreaming! You fools don't understand that being possessed by a modified freak like you is completely different from being possessed by a mortal. And I am not the same person I was in Whispering Mountains!"

Samus's right arm transformed into a demonic claw, while his left hand held the chainsaw greatsword he had just snatched from Torgardon.

The heavy sword that Togadon originally required two hands to wield was wielded by Samus as easily as a plastic toy.

Loken couldn't help but complain in his heart, wondering where Sun Qian had created any opportunities. It seemed like he had simply been possessed.

"By the way, I've torn his soul to shreds and devoured it completely."

Samus grinned, revealing a cruel and twisted smile.

"You will soon follow in his footsteps!"

This is a lie.

Although he didn’t want to admit it, Loken did feel a certain connection between himself and Samus.

He could intuitively tell that if Sun Qian had really been completely eliminated, Samus would use him as a bargaining chip to deceive them.

Samus was deliberately bluffing, which means...

Sun Qian is still alive, and he is also fighting.

Moreover, Samus himself was eager to achieve victory as soon as possible.

Loken glanced at Taviz and Torgardon not far away, and the three of them reached a tacit understanding through an exchange of glances within nanoseconds.

They need to create their own opportunities.

"Oh dear, this situation is really terrible, I'm already starting to regret it."

Torgarden was disarmed, and his slingshot was out of ammunition.

He looked troubled, only able to carry a combat dagger for self-defense.

"Oh? If you surrender now, I might give you a quick death."

"If only we had a reporter's camera, we could record you, this devil who brags about his own reputation, being easily fooled by us brothers, making you look so pathetic and stupid."

Torgardon looked at Samus with a mocking expression.

"I heard you demons feed on fear, huh? Once you become a comedic villain in children's books, you'll probably starve to death—"

Accompanied by a red and black whirlwind, Samus rushed towards Togadon at an extremely fast speed.

Clearly, this move was extremely effective for Samus, and it certainly hit him where it hurt.

After all, he was indeed sealed away and starved for thousands of years, which made him a laughing stock in the warp.

"The game is over, let's start with you!!"

Samus roared and swung his two-handed serrated swords. Togadon leaned back to dodge, but lost his balance and fell to the ground.

Seeing that he had nowhere to turn, Togadon threw a dagger, but Samus easily dodged it by tilting his head.

Samus raised his chainsaw sword, ready to strike, already envisioning the gruesome sight of his opponent being disemboweled.

Clang!

Just then, Samus heard a faint whistling sound of a sword blade slicing through the air behind him, but without turning around, he grabbed the blade of Chanabal's saber with his demon claws...

Wait, that's not right.

Too light!

Samus turned around and saw that Taviz had released his weapon and was lunging at the demon with his bare hands.

How foolish! Do you think your fists can beat me?

call out!

By the time Samus noticed that Taviz had caught the combat dagger that Togadon had just thrown in mid-air, it was too late to react.

Swish!

Taviz plunged his combat dagger into Samus's right eye.

"Woohoo!!!"

Samus let out a deafening roar, not from pain, but from the rage of being hurt by what he saw as ants.

He immediately grabbed Taviz with his demon claws, his sharp fingertips piercing deep into the power armor before throwing him away.

He then tried to deal with the other Astartes at his feet, but just then he sensed footsteps rushing toward him at high speed.

He knew very well that it was Loken, but—

To the side and behind!

Because of his injured right eye, Samus had a blind spot. He knew that against a swordsman like Loken, even the slightest mistake could be fatal, so he wanted to turn and retreat to create distance...

But he immediately felt someone tightly hugging his legs.

"Damn it!! Get out of here!!"

Samus kicked violently, but despite the blood gushing from Togadon's mouth being mixed with fragments of internal organs, he still clung tightly to the demon's legs with his eyes wide open.

This mere 0.01-second delay allowed Loken to advance into close combat with Samus.

Due to the lack of vision, Samus could only swing the chainsaw greatsword by instinct, and unsurprisingly, he missed.

Samus knew that he was about to face Loken's fatal blow—

It's not that easy.

"roar!!!!!!!!!!"

At the last moment, Samus opened his mouth and let out a roar that seemed capable of destroying the world!

This was no ordinary sonic attack; it was a subspace energy shriek unleashed by the Great Demon at full power.

This attack can directly affect the soul's range; weak psionic souls can be instantly shattered, and even if Astartes takes it at close range, it will inevitably be severely injured.

Just as Sams had guessed, Loken was unable to advance any further in this attack, and taking advantage of this opportunity, he was able to—

call out! ! !

But out of the corner of Sams' left eye, he saw a white light mixed with red light fly out of his body.

What is this?

Buzz—Whoosh!

The next second, the pain of the chainsaw blade slicing through his shoulder prevented Sams from thinking about the problem, and he realized a fact that horrified him.

Not only is Loken still able to move, but he is also continuing to attack!

"This is the opportunity you were talking about, right?"

Without giving him any further chance to react, the hard fist, carrying a force beyond Sams's imagination, struck Sams squarely in the face.

"I've got him, Sun Qian!"