In Warhammer, please don’t mix Doraemon with the Omnissiah.

So, you're not here to assassinate me as one of the worm cult's killers." The Ark Gang's leader, Reina, frowned.

"And you're also not a Genestealer Magus?" Zhou Yun raised an eyebrow at her.

Reina — the leader of the Ark Gang, an unlicensed psyker — sat across from Zhou Yun, who studied her. Her face bore no signs of madness or mutation; her calm blue-tinged eyes gleamed with reason. On her cheek, inked in pale gold, was a scripture:

"Rejoice, for I bring you glorious tidings."

"The God walks among us."

Zhou Yun recognized these words from the Lectitio Divinitatus, written by Lorgar, the foundational text of the Imperial Cult.

And she really was human — Zhou Yun's x-ray sight had confirmed it. Not a Genestealer at all. Just a psyker who had slipped the Black Ships.

But… she seemed to know something about the Tyranid Hive Fleets and Genestealers.

"Genestealers…" Reina murmured, eyes darkening. "A fitting name, as apt as could be. Is that what the Imperium officially calls them?"

Zhou Yun nodded slightly.

"And those… that descend from space in spore pods, dropped from living starships?" she pressed.

"Tyranids. Hive Fleet Leviathan. Predators from beyond the galaxy, seeking to devour all."

"…They're coming soon," Reina whispered, her voice trembling.

For a moment the air in the little room fell still. The two of them just stared at each other.

Zhou Yun scrutinized her, perplexed. "You knowing about Genestealers is one thing, but how do you even know the Tyranids are about to reach Asphodel?"

"I've seen it," Reina said quietly, her fingers brushing the script on her cheek.

Psyker precognition? Zhou Yun blinked.

Many psykers had some degree of foresight — glimpses of possible futures. Of course, such visions weren't always true. There was, after all, one in the Warp known as the Changer of Ways, who delighted in weaving half-true prophecies to lead mortals into the most twisted paths.

Reina noticed his look and placed a hand proudly on her flat chest. "I, Reina, have been granted a revelation by the God-Emperor. He showed me the future so that I could save more of Asphodel's people!"

Zhou Yun fixed her with a long, skeptical stare.

This was what now — the fifth "chosen one"? Counting himself, the Hive Tyrant, the two mutant brothers he'd met, and now Reina, all claiming to have been chosen by various powers. Were the great powers really fighting a proxy war in this tiny hive city?

"I really was enlightened by the God-Emperor!" Reina glared at him indignantly. "I'm a devout Imperial citizen! So were my parents! I wasn't fooled by some Warp fiend! Every time I see a vision I pray to the Emperor to protect my soul!"

She folded her hands, praising Him: "I pray to the Emperor, that He may keep my spirit safe amidst the tides of the Immaterium."

"Then you're a sanctioned psyker, I presume?" Zhou Yun asked, tapping the table.

The room fell silent.

"…I received the Emperor's guidance. I have to save more of Asphodel's people. I can't just go with the Black Ships," Reina muttered, shaking her head.

"So, you hear His voice too, right?" Zhou Yun asked.

"…Revelations… come with voices?" Reina blinked blankly.

"Chosen of the Emperor?" he asked dryly.

"I believe I am!" she said stubbornly.

"…She bears no signs of Chaos taint," murmured the winged figure of white light at Zhou Yun's eye corner.

Zhou Yun glanced at him and shook his head. Either Reina had simply glimpsed something from the Warp, or she and this so-called angel in his mind were both pawns in Tzeentch's grand plan.

Reina raised her voice suddenly, trying to use her psychic kyōwa no koe (beguiling voice). Zhou Yun didn't even flinch.

"I'm immune to that trick now," he said flatly.

Her projection of will was as nothing next to the blazing white-winged figure already inside his mind — it was diluted and lost at once.

Reina deflated, slumping back in her chair. "I thought if I caught you off-guard and poured everything into it, it'd work."

"You attacked me out of nowhere," Zhou Yun said pointedly.

"I thought you were a Genestealer assassin! They've tried to kill me several times already," Reina protested.

"And you… just assumed? What are you, an ork?"

"I assumed you were a Magus! Your propaganda even sounds like theirs! And then you sent someone to fetch me!"

"…Fetch you?" Zhou Yun's eye twitched.

Reina blinked, then smacked her forehead. "Oh! You're… Zhou Yun, right?"

"You— ahhh!" She buried her face in her hands. "It really was you! Fetching you had nothing to do with the Genestealers! Rag told me you were good at scavenging in the wastes and looking for work. I just happened to need someone, so I sent him to get you!"

"He told me you wanted to see me," Zhou Yun said darkly.

Rag, that schemer — playing both sides to make a cut for himself, no doubt.

"Rag…" Zhou Yun pinched the bridge of his nose.

He even suspected Rag might have been corrupted by Tzeentch at this point. But no — Tzeentch at least demanded intelligence. Corrupting Rag would be like trying to train an Ogryn to count to eleven.

"Damn it. Dock his pay," Reina muttered, pounding the table.

"So what did you want me for?" Zhou Yun asked.

"The Tyranids are coming… and I've got an idea to save more people," Reina said seriously. "I'm going to build a ship. Load it with as many as I can. And leave before they get here."

…

Zhou Yun was so stunned he couldn't speak for a moment.

He was now convinced: Reina may have been tricked by Tzeentch, but she definitely wasn't corrupted. That… breathtaking brilliance — even Nurgle would shake his head, and Magnus himself would give her a thumbs-up and call her a natural.

(End of Chapter)

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