Chapter 2

"I am Lupus Spinther. I came from the south and I'm here to seek glory and honor!" a predetermined line was said by Lupus as their identity should come fronthe south which is technically true in some sense. Not just the literal south of Rome.

"My superior is you sir. You're a sergeant, I'm only a low ranked foot soldier." answered Lupus as the sergeant nodded and walked back to his bed and lied down.

The sergeant was stunned to say the least. He at least expected Lupus to go nuts and overestimate his abilities and then and there he will put him in place. But reality proved different and he can only resign and lie down on his bed.

The whole debacle was short and quick as everyone just shook their heads on the action of their sergeant and returned to what they're doing.

Lupus on the other hand looked at his squad and just nodded at them signifying something.

As the day progressed, every people on the room was called for equipment inspection and dinner.

They lined up outside their quarters, carrying all the equipment they had as a high ranking soldier, presumably just under the rank of the Roman Consul named Publius Cornelius Scipio.

The officer has nipples and belly button on his chest plate meaning he's definitely high ranking as everyone stood in attention.

The officer has a short buzz like haircut as he personally inspected some of the equipment while he left modt to his entourage of soldiers.

His face is around that of a 50 year old man.

But then, his attention was caught by Lupus and his squad, but he's more curious about Lupus as his squad was already around 30 years of age. He's a veteran soldier, he knows someone who's like him when he sees one.

What he felt from Lupus was like a soldier who has seen hundreds of life and death battles and survived all of it, thus honing this aura.

He walked towards Lupus and faced him as he asked for his name.

"Tell me your name and where did you come from."

"I am Lupus Spinther, I came from a fishing village in the south of Rome near Capua. I came here to fight for glory and honor!" answered Lupus as the high ranking officer just nodded and signalled his most trusted bodyguard to come forward.

The bodyguard did so as the sound of metal clanging to a leather was heard by everyone.

The sergeant earlier was curious on what was happening but he did his job as a sergeant and immediately scolded Lupus as he thought he might have siad something offensive.

"You! Yes you! Apologize immediately!" shouted the sergeant but Lupus just looked at the high ranking officer with a straight face.

"I sai-" before the sergeant can speak the hugh ranking officer increased his voice just enough to drown the sergeant's.

"Fight him." said the high ranking officer as everyone almost immediately gasped but quickly regained their composure as the bodyguard slowly walked to the training ground in front of the quarters and picked up a wooden sword.

"I respectfully decline sir. I am but a new recruit, I'll just be embarrassed by your great. soldier here." Lupus already expected an event like this will happen however he didn't thought it will immediately come and in such a manner.

"This is an order. Fight him..." repeated the high ranking officer as his bodyguard picked up another wooden sowrd and threw it towards Lupus.

The sword landed in front of Lupus and on his feet as the sound of wood hitting the rock solid floor was heard.

"Beat him and you'll be immediately a part of my entourage. Know that I'm only a rank under General Scipio so you better do your best." boasted the officer as Lupus weighed the pros and cons.

He then decided to pick up the sword and fight his opponent as this way, their job of controlling the whole world from the shadows will be far more easier if he's at least high ranking.

He kneeled and picked up the wooden sword and slowly walked to the training ground where his opponent has already entered combat stance.

The high ranking officer nodded and gave the signal for them to start.

"Haaaaa!" the soldier shouted as he closed in immediately as he performed a horizontal slash which Lupus easily evaded by sidestepping.

Lupus decided on a quick counterattack as he kicked the still out of stance soldier on the shin aiming to knock him down and end everything.

This almost worked but the soldier was a veteran and immediately moved his shin out of the way of the kick.

Lupus just nodded as he felt irritated for not being able to use his full capabilities. If he can just use his full capabilities then the shin and the building at the back of the soldier would've evaporated in an instant.

Their short skirmish earned them a clap from the high ranking officer.

"This man named Lupus is great." nodded the high ranking officer in his mind as he waved for them to continue.

The soldier then closed in as he tried to perform a spartan kick due to overconfidence towards Lupus's direction who just easily catched it and performed a sweeping leg kick which brought the soldier to the ground defenseless.

Lupus stood on top of the soldier and pointed his sword directly at the soldier, demanding him to surrender.

"I-I su-" before the soldier can speak the high ranking officer has already nodded and spoke to break the fight off.

"That's enough, you, come to my office after the meal. We have a lot to talk about..."

...

Dark space...

The gigantic armada of the Reapers or Inorganics as they're known to the Imperium came to life in an instant. The mothership together with different the capital ships and the destroyers glowed red on their eye like part.

Their thrusters slowly came to life as the mothership continued to speak with the space probe who apparently changed stances a couple of seconds later but the damage is already long done.

"We needn't go to war. We can talk about this." said the probe as it used the transmitted the message on a binary language for the big red orb to hear.

On Mars, the technopriest who suffered mental retardation was already long executed. They're currently trying to mediate the relationship between the Inorganics.

They're a fully fledged universal level civilization. They don't want to pick on these low level creatures as weapons on each of their battleships can easily spell the destruction of a planet and possibly galaxy if turned to full power.

This is cutting the fact that they still have weapons capable of obliterating a whole galactic supercluster like it's Tuesday.

They truly don't want to fight the Inorganics just because of a stupid reason. They'll only fight them if they harmed humans, and humans only.

"What's the answer of the Inorganics?" asked the technopriest who is the superior of the already dead technopriest that suffered mental retardation. He knows if he can't salvage the whole matter then he's good as dead.

"The space probe has no answer. It most likely got destroyed as the signal was cut off." said a technopriest as the superior just facepalmed himself and lost his strength to stand up.

"I'm dead..."

The state of the Imperium is at the very best but just like any government, there would always be factions trying to push forth their own interests while being loyal to the one true sovereign and one of these factions is the faction led by an extremely curious technopriest.

They aren't exactly a political faction but they're like the different clubs on a school that share same interests and hobbies. Except they have position on the government and are not students.

The faction aims to know everything, they want to know the secrets of the universe. They'll do anything except put the Imperium and the whole humanity in danger.

The technopriest that betrayed the Imperium was a part of this faction. And the members of this faction was at danger currently.

Their little get together can end and they'll fail to accomplish their goal of knowing everything.

At this moment, a sort of club meeting is currently happening over long distance transmission and video calling as everyone wanted to ensure what in the world is actually happening.

The leaders of this faction had a gloomy expression plastered all over their mechanical face and they only have one thing in mind.

"W-we're dead..."