The Underhive.
The purge of xenos lurking within the depths of the Underhive had been in the planning stages for five years. Massive waves of troops had been mobilized; armored divisions and heavy weaponry were being transported to the front lines.
Yuki had gathered a significant amount of information from the nun named Hopper.
"This war has been raging for over a year now," Hopper said. "Originally, our location was more than two hundred kilometers from the front, but recently, word has it that it's less than fifty kilometers away."
Hopper was an orphan raised by the Cathedral of Tex. Among the residents of the Underhive, she was considered blessed by the Emperor; she was sixteen years old and had only recently been ordained as an official nun.
The Cathedral of Tex possessed no organized military force of its own, and the Sisters of Battle would not go out of their way to dispatch a squad to protect a cathedral of such little strategic value.
"Fortunately, the Tuka family is willing to honor ancient oaths and will send troops our way if the need arises. It's a pity that over these years, in order to deal with those loathsome xenos, we've had to rely on our own efforts."
"Are there no Sisters of Battle on this planet?" Yuki asked.
"No, the planet Statt is not an important world," Hopper said dejectedly. "There isn't even a Schola Progenium here. The only one in the entire system is on the planet Ender."
There were two Imperial colonies in this system: Statt and Ender. From the information available, the latter was developing far better than the former.
"Our cathedral once held the right to recommend devout members to study at the Schola Progenium, but that right was revoked twenty years ago—simply because they couldn't even accommodate all the candidates from their own planet."
"It sounds like you really want to go to the Schola. Do you want to be an officer?"
"No, Brother Yuki. I want to be a Sister of Battle."
Yuki felt a surge of respect. Hopper, having opened the floodgates of conversation, continued:
"Don't you think the Sisters of Battle are magnificent? Though they are but mortals, through their faith and discipline, they can fight alongside the Emperor's Angels. They fight for the Emperor until their final sacrifice."
Yuki remained silent; he was not a man of many words by nature.
"I just don't know if they would accept my... deficiencies."
Hopper's skin was very pale, and whenever she became excited, dark, prominent veins would show through.
"If you could join their convent, I'm sure they would find a way to correct your deficiencies," Yuki replied. To his knowledge, he had never heard of a Sister of Battle with visible xenos-like traits.
The brief lunch hour ended. Yuki and Hopper's next task was to maintain order.
Amidst the war, the already scarce survival resources of the Underhive were being squeezed once again. More and more refugees were fleeing toward them. The Bishop of the Cathedral of Tex had decided to uphold the Emperor's will: the resources they distributed might not save every refugee, but if even one was saved, it was meaningful.
In the world of Warhammer, in the bowels of a Hive City, to hold such a perspective was something Yuki admired from the bottom of his heart.
He distributed corpse starch to the swarming refugees. The crowd surged and shifted like a turbulent sea, stretching as far as the eye could see. The Arbites armored unit sent to maintain order consisted of two tanks; their engines were idling, and shells were chambered.
"Do not rush," Yuki urged, trying to calm the residents who were losing their minds to hunger. He saw a mother holding a child, kneeling not far away and pleading: "Please, give me some food."
But it was not her turn. Everyone around was watching Yuki. If he broke the order and the rules out of a sense of compassion, all the mothers present might lose their children in the ensuing riot.
She was about to be swallowed by the tide of people. Being short to begin with, kneeling down was practically a death sentence.
"Hey! You just pushed your way through! Are you cutting the line?" A man shouted as the woman was nearly trampled.
Yuki felt a wave of weariness. He stepped down from his position, and the crowd parted to make a path for him.
He was tall and robust, with a solemn face and a peaceful expression. He bore no xenos traits, unlike the emaciated, dark, and mutated people present. The church didn't even need to advertise; the moment the Underhive residents saw Yuki, they naturally assumed he was someone favored by the Emperor.
Only Yuki knew how absurd that was. If these people could simply eat their fill, work less, and undergo reconstructive surgery, they could look just like him.
"Do not be agitated. Do not push. As subjects of the Emperor, He loves us all. He wishes for us to care for one another. Tell me, right now, do your actions conform to His will?"
Yuki's voice carried to the ears of those around him. They bowed their heads, as if listening to a priest delivering a sermon. Yuki looked at the woman and reached out his hand to pull her up. After seeing the child in her arms clearly, he sighed and said, "Go to the back of the line. May the Emperor protect you."
"Are you truly an apostle of the God-Emperor?" Hopper was incredibly excited after the work shift ended. "The way you stood there was just like a saint. Oh, I mean like one, I'm not saying you actually are. People are very strict about that sort of thing."
"A saint? I'm not dead yet," Yuki remarked.
"That's why I said like one. You should have seen yourself. You were just like Priest Raziel—may the Emperor protect his soul. It's been fifteen years since he returned to the Golden Throne, but your posture just now was exactly like his when he gave speeches."
Hopper's words did nothing to lighten the heavy weight in Yuki's heart. Upon returning to his room, he collapsed onto the floor. He could feel his heart pounding wildly; the image of that woman and her child continued to haunt him.
Dammit, that child was clearly already dead! Was that woman insane?
He hadn't even dared to point it out. What would those hungry refugees, with their tattered morals, have done if they had known?
O Emperor, at least let such things happen away from my sight.
How could someone with a complete modern education accept this? Yuki knew he had to change his worldview the moment he arrived, but thinking it and living it were two different things. If reality was to force this transformation upon him, it would surely be a form of torture.
Behind him, the light in a corner of the room warped. Yuna silently embraced Yuki from behind.
"My love, you feel a sense of disgust toward humans, don't you?"
"Yuna? Sorry, I didn't have a chance to look for you."
"It's fine. It's far more dangerous for you to look for me than for me to find you. Those boring hybrids actually did one smart thing. If you hadn't left..." Yuna licked her lips and sat down on Yuki's bed.
"What about those Genestealers?"
"They were pushed back by the humans. I expect they've suffered heavy losses."
"You don't care..."
"Care about what? My love, I only care about you. Do you understand what that means? Do you realize how special you are? I..." Yuna stopped abruptly. She noticed the subtle expression on Yuki's face and offered a helpless smile.
"Sorry. Though it's cruel, one day you will understand just how lucky you are to have my love in this world."