Chapter 107: Not Merely Banished

"In... in the next room…" the sorcerer painfully gestured outside.

"No, that's impossible," Qin Mo muttered as he circled the sorcerer's twisted body. Without warning, he plunged his hand into the sorcerer's flesh and pulled out a small box.

But that wasn't the only one—Qin Mo extracted more.

Now, Qin Mo understood why he couldn't sense the items used to summon the demon. They had been concealed within the sorcerer's body, intensifying his loathing for the man. As each box emerged, that loathing fragmented into several layers of disdain.

The sorcerer's expression contorted in agony, not because of the physical pain, but from the bitter realization that his deception had failed.

Qin Mo pried open the boxes, intending to show Yao En the objects that had been used to summon the demon.

Yao En leaned in closely.

"Usually, it's relics, tomes, or strange emblems…" Qin Mo explained as he lifted the lid from the first box.

Inside, there was only ash.

"Of course, that's not unheard of. Maybe this is the ash of the previous demon host," Qin Mo remarked, opening another box.

Ash again.

He continued opening box after box, each containing nothing but gray dust—until the last one. Inside the final box lay a small book.

The book was bound in leather, its cover bearing the image of a terrifying face with closed eyes.

"What kind of leather is this?" Yao En inquired.

"Take a guess," Qin Mo replied, opening the book to examine its contents.

The writing inside was twisted and obscure, appearing as an ancient, long-forgotten script from a world lost to time. Qin Mo could deduce that it was a ritual manual, filled with grotesque, nightmarish illustrations, accompanied by text to explain the ghastly images.

But strangely, portions of the text had disappeared.

The final page, which should have depicted the demon summoned by the ritual, was missing its image—only the demon's adornments remained, suspended in an empty space.

"This…" 

"How could this be?!"

Before Qin Mo could demand an explanation, it was the sorcerer who posed the question first, leaving Qin Mo momentarily stunned.

"Was it you who struck the final blow on the demon?!" the sorcerer shouted furiously at Yao En, struggling to rise from the bed, though the iron chains embedded in his bones dragged him back down.

The sorcerer had sensed that Yao En was a soul-less being.

But Yao En shook his head, honestly.

"It was me," Qin Mo replied, "but… why?"

Qin Mo realized that the fire from the Star God had likely been what destroyed the demon. The objects used to summon it had turned to ash because the demon itself had ceased to exist—once the creature was gone, the supernatural artifacts simply dissipated.

But the Star God's power didn't come from the Warp, nor did it depend on any religious faith.

Perhaps the pure force of the material universe alone could annihilate beings from the Warp, Qin Mo mused. This was an unexpected discovery. He recalled that the Star Gods had once waged a cataclysmic war across the galaxy—the War in Heaven.

The conflict had pitted the Old Ones, a race gifted with extraordinary psychic abilities, against the Necrontyr, who were cursed with short lives. The Necrontyr had discovered the Star Gods and forged a pact with them, granting the ethereal entities living metal bodies.

With the Star Gods' aid, the Necrontyr were transformed into undying, soulless beings of metal, though the Star Gods consumed their souls. Together, they obliterated the Old Ones. Yet, after the war, the Star Gods turned on each other and were ultimately shattered by their own creations.

Despite the end of the Star Gods' reign, the Warp had not yet been overrun by daemons. Qin Mo had never known what effect the Star Gods' powers would have on such entities.

But now he did. The pure forces of the material universe could not just banish daemons—they could destroy them utterly.

Perhaps in the Warp, the Chaos Gods could crush the Star Gods. But here, in the material universe, things were different.

"You've given me quite a revelation," Qin Mo said to the sorcerer, raising his hand as it crackled with electricity. "For that, I'll grant you a merciful death. Both your soul and body shall be erased forever."

With that, Qin Mo placed his hand on the sorcerer's head.

Blinding lightning surged through the darkened room, obliterating the sorcerer's body into dust, and shredding his soul into nothingness.

"This is what you deserve, wretch!" Yao En cursed, feeling an immense sense of satisfaction as the creature responsible for summoning a demon into their world was completely annihilated.

"Mission complete. Let's go," Qin Mo turned and left.

As they moved through the corridors, every room and path ignited into a blaze as Qin Mo passed by.

Before leaving the fortress, Qin Mo suddenly issued a warning to Yao En. "Do not speak of the demons to anyone. Do not mention any of this."

"I understand. It's because those unlike me might be corrupted, right?" Yao En asked.

"No." Qin Mo looked at him intently. "If someone is corrupted, we can deal with them. But the threat doesn't just come from demons or the Warp. We also have the Imperium's shadowy organizations to contend with, like the Inquisition. If they find out you know of the demons, they will kill you and everyone connected to you."

Yao En immediately grasped the gravity of the situation and nodded fervently. He had no doubt that such organizations would resort to such extreme measures.

Qin Mo trusted Yao En deeply. The young man, who was even younger than Qin Mo himself, idolized him with fanatical loyalty. Yao En would follow every command without question.

In truth, Yao En had led a rather unfortunate life.

As an Untouchable, he was shunned by society. Only the bounty hunters of the Underhive sought him out when they needed his help.

But Yao En was also incredibly lucky. He had grown up with a woman who shared his fate, and the bond between them was so profound that they became partners early in life.

Even more fortunate, his daughter had also been born an Untouchable, sparing them the tragedy that often befell other families—where parents were forced to send their children away because they couldn't bear the psychic agony of being near them.

And for the grim work that lay ahead—battling demons—Yao En possessed a natural advantage. He couldn't be seen by those who could peer into the past or the future. He was, in essence, a bane to beings like the Great Deceiver, Kairos Fateweaver, who could see all except the present.

"One day, perhaps, I'll give you a title," Qin Mo said suddenly to Yao En. "The Slayer of Kairos."

"Kairos? Who's that?" Yao En asked.

Qin Mo chuckled and shook his head. "You'll find out in time."