Chapter 348 - 345 — The Search

Chapter 348: Chapter 345 — The Search

Chapter 345 — The Search

Titus approached through the ruined streets.

He stopped in front of Gaius.

"Captain."

Gaius turned toward him.

"Report."

Titus straightened.

"All visible enemies have been killed, Captain."

Gaius nodded.

"We are to search every major population center."

Titus looked at him.

"For the rituals."

"Yes."

Titus hesitated.

"Sir, we already know where one is."

Gaius and the others turned toward him.

Tony’s helmet tilted.

"You do?"

Titus nodded.

"We discovered it shortly after the fighting began."

He looked toward the ruined settlement.

"We were unable to destroy it."

"Why?"

"We were already fighting them when we found it. We couldn’t spare the forces to reach it."

Gaius nodded.

"I see."

He looked toward the others.

"Then tell us its location."

Titus pointed toward the horizon.

"The ritual site is beneath the old western settlement."

Gaius nodded.

"I see."

He turned toward Tony, Diana, and the others.

"How far?"

Titus answered.

"Approximately eighty kilometers."

Tony nodded.

"I see."

He opened the Parcel System.

Light appeared beside him.

Several massive components materialized in the air.

Before they could fall, they shot toward one another.

Armor plates locked into place.

Engines connected.

Wings unfolded and sealed into position.

Piece by piece, the vehicle assembled itself.

Within seconds, a massive gunship stood on the ruined street.

It resembled a Thunderhawk, though it was not the same design used in Gaius’s world.

Tony had built his own version.

It had no weapons.

Its hull was painted gold and red, matching the vehicle they had once used in the One Piece world.

Tony looked toward it.

"Then let’s get there fast."

Gaius nodded.

He walked toward the vehicle.

Diana followed.

Tony moved to the controls.

"Everyone aboard."

Gaius entered first.

Diana followed him.

The engines came alive.

VRRRRRRMMMM!

The vehicle lifted from the ground.

Tony pushed the controls forward.

The Thunderhawk-like craft shot into the sky and accelerated toward the western settlement.

Titus and the other Ultramarines watched it disappear into the distance.

One of the older Ultramarines looked toward Titus.

"The one in the red and gold armor. Was that a Man of Iron?"

He paused.

"From what I saw, he was strong enough to kill the daemon our captain was fighting. Whatever he is, he’s a threat."

Titus turned toward him.

"His name is Tony Stark. He’s a man, and that armor was made by him."

The Ultramarine remained silent.

Titus’s expression hardened.

"Yes. He’s dangerous."

He looked toward the direction the craft had disappeared.

"But dangerous does not mean hostile."

The Ultramarine glanced back at him.

"And if he were a Man of Iron?"

Titus stared him down.

"Then you would still stand down unless Captain Gaius gave you an order otherwise."

His voice carried the authority of his rank.

"Gaius knows what Stark is capable of. He has accepted him as an ally. That is enough."

The Ultramarine held Titus’s gaze for a moment before giving a slight nod.

"I have no problem, Lieutenant Titus."

He looked toward the distant craft.

"As long as Captain Gaius trusts him."

Titus nodded once.

"Then we have no problem."

Back with Gaius and the others, the gunship continued toward the western settlement.

At their speed, the journey took only minutes.

The settlement finally came into view.

Gaius’s Observation Haki immediately spread across the area.

Hundreds of living beings were still there.

He could sense them clearly.

But something was wrong.

Warp energy clung to them.

They were armed.

And beneath it all, Gaius could sense blood.

Skulls.

The presence of Chaos.

Gaius raised a hand.

Tony immediately understood the gesture.

"Stopping here?"

Gaius nodded.

The gunship slowed.

It descended toward an isolated cavern and landed near its entrance.

Tony looked around.

"I thought we needed to be in a major populated area. This is a cavern."

"The settlement is nearby. About ten kilometers away."

Gaius looked toward the cavern.

"This is the ritual site."

Tony nodded.

"I see."

Diana looked toward the cavern entrance.

"They probably chose this place for the ritual because it was secluded and far enough from the settlement to avoid being discovered."

Saeko, floating nearby, nodded.

"Indeed. Perhaps that’s why no one was able to stop them before the summoning began. They were caught by surprise."

Naruto, Mindy, and Tanya nodded in agreement.

Mindy looked toward the cavern.

"Maybe they had already started the ritual before Gaius even left this universe."

Gaius said nothing to deny it.

He stepped forward.

The others followed.

They entered the cavern.

The deeper they went, the stronger the smell of blood became.

Eventually, the tunnel opened into a massive underground chamber.

A river of blood flowed through the cavern.

Hundreds of skulls covered the ground.

Some were arranged in piles.

Others marked paths leading toward several ritual circles.

Bodies were scattered around them.

Men.

Women.

Children.

All of them had been used as offerings.

Blood had been channeled through trenches carved into the stone.

Symbols covered the walls.

At the center stood a massive ritual circle surrounded by countless remains.

Tony’s helmet scanned the chamber.

"JARVIS."

"Yes, sir?"

"How many bodies?"

"Several hundred, sir."

Diana stared at the bodies.

"They used everyone."

Naruto’s expression hardened.

"...Children too?"

Tanya said nothing.

Mindy’s voice was quieter than usual.

"This wasn’t just a ritual."

"They planned all of this," Saeko said.

The others watching through the broadcast fell silent.

Diana looked across the chamber.

"How many did they sacrifice?"

Gaius looked toward the center of the ritual site.

"Enough."

Among the symbols surrounding the ritual circle was a crude depiction of a towering figure.

A massive axe.

A throne made from skulls.

The entire image had been drawn in blood.

Gaius stopped.

His eyes remained fixed on it.

"Uh... that’s new."

The blood began flowing against gravity.

The crude image distorted.

Then a single word echoed through the chamber.

"YES."

Crimson energy erupted from the drawing.

It struck Gaius directly.

His Iron Halo flared.

His Armament Haki surged across his armor.

His Conqueror’s Haki exploded outward.

Gaius planted his feet.

"No."

The crimson energy pushed against him.

Gaius resisted.

He tried to force it away.

It continued.

The power broke through his defenses.

It entered his body.

Gaius immediately understood what was happening.

This was not an attack.

It was a blessing.

A blessing forced upon him.

Khorne was giving him power.

That was why his resistance could not simply drive it away.

There was nothing to destroy.

Nothing to repel.

Khorne was not trying to break through his defenses.

He was forcing his power into Gaius.

Gaius rejected it.

The power continued entering him anyway.

Then Gaius’s vision changed.

The cavern disappeared.

His physical body remained standing within the ritual chamber.

But his consciousness was somewhere else.

The Warp surrounded him.

Crimson darkness stretched endlessly in every direction.

Gaius looked around.

His hand tightened into a fist.

"Khorne."

A massive presence emerged before him.

The Blood God sat upon a throne made from skulls, towering over Gaius.

No negotiation.

No invitation.

Only the overwhelming presence of the Blood God.

Khorne’s voice shook the Warp.

"TAKE IT."

Gaius remained standing.

He continued resisting.

Continued refusing.

"Get out."

The power entered him anyway.

Khorne cared little for his refusal.

The crimson energy surged through Gaius.

His muscles suddenly contracted.

His entire body tightened.

Then they began to grow.

His shoulders widened.

His arms thickened.

His chest expanded.

Muscle pushed against muscle beneath the auramite armor.

Gaius grew taller.

Not by much.

But enough to be visible.

His armor creaked.

KRRRKK.

The plates around his shoulders shifted.

Another metallic groan followed as his chest expanded against the armor.

KRRRKK.

His wounds began closing faster.

His muscles became denser.

His bones strengthened.

His body grew heavier.

His strength continued climbing.

His stamina surged.

Even his battle instincts sharpened.

Gaius continued resisting.

But the blessing remained.

Finally, the torrent ceased.

Silence followed.

Khorne looked down upon him.

Then the Blood God laughed.

"GOOD."

"GROW STRONGER."

"SEEK STRONGER FOES."

"KILL GREATER ENEMIES."

Gaius glared at the god.

"I will never serve you."

The laughter became deafening.

"I DID NOT ASK."

Reality shattered.

Gaius’s consciousness was violently pulled back.

His eyes opened.

He was standing in the cavern again.

The blood-drawn image of Khorne remained on the floor.

But the crimson energy was gone.

Tony stared at him.

"What the hell was that?"

Gaius looked at his own body.

He could feel the difference.

More strength.

More endurance.

Sharper instincts.

His body was slightly larger than before.

Tony studied him.

"You’re stronger."

"Yes."

"The Warp god did that?"

"Yes."

Tony looked back at the blood-covered symbol.

"Are you okay? You seem fine, except you got even stronger."

"I am fine."

Diana stepped closer.

"Why would the Warp god give you his power?"

Gaius looked toward the symbol.

"He wants me to fight."

Tony frowned.

"That’s it?"

Gaius turned away.

"I don’t know if there’s anything else."

The golden power fist on Gaius’s right hand suddenly began to vibrate.

He looked down.

Crimson energy crawled across its auramite surface.

The weapon reacted to the blessing.

Its mechanisms shifted.

KLIK.

Then another sound.

KRRR-CHNK.

The power fist tightened around his hand.

Gaius could feel something moving through it.

A new function.

He could not identify it yet.

The armored fingers folded inward.

Golden plates moved across his forearm.

The entire mechanism began changing shape.

Tony’s helmet immediately focused on it.

"Uh..."

The structure lengthened.

A massive haft formed beneath Gaius’s hand.

Then a huge double-edged war axe emerged from the weapon.

It was enormous.

Its golden surface gleamed beneath the cavern’s dim light.

Thin crimson energy pulsed along its edges.

Tony stared.

"That’s new."

Gaius looked at the weapon.

"A war axe."

Diana looked at it.

She remembered Gaius calling the symbol Khorne.

A Warp god.

And now, moments after the blessing, his power fist had transformed.

Her eyes narrowed.

"That was Khorne’s doing?"

Gaius said nothing.

He tightened his grip around the war axe.

The weapon felt natural in his hand.

He could feel its power.

He could also feel something else.

The weapon could return to him.

He did not know how he knew.

He simply did.

Gaius threw the axe.

BOOM!

The weapon tore through the chamber.

It smashed through several stone pillars before embedding itself into the far wall.

Tony watched it.

"Is that it?"

Gaius raised his hand.

The axe moved.

It ripped itself from the stone.

Then flew back toward him.

It passed through several hanging skulls on the way.

CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.

Gaius caught it with one hand.

Tony stared.

"Okay. Like Thor’s hammer."

He paused.

"That’s actually pretty useful."

Gaius looked at the axe.

Then the weapon began changing again.

The haft shortened.

The blade folded inward.

Golden plates reassembled around his hand.

Within seconds, the war axe had returned to its original form.

The power fist closed.

Gaius flexed his fingers.

The weapon was stronger now.

And it could become something else.

Gaius looked toward the massive ritual circle.

"But this ends here."

Tony followed his gaze.

"So... what now?"

Gaius pointed toward the ritual site.

"Destroy this place."

Tony glanced around the chamber.

"Everything?"

"Everything."

Tony looked at the massive ritual circle.

Gaius’s voice hardened.

"Reduce it to dust."

~~~

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