A new day began, right on schedule, as a regular biological clock ticked over.
Before seven in the morning, all the students of Class Three, Year One, had assembled on time in their exclusive Martial Arts Room.
Unlike the usual atmosphere of their morning training, today, every face wore a complex expression—a mixture of excitement, nervousness, and anticipation.
Because today was the second practical combat class of the month.
After their last bloody battle against the greenskins on Planet Gamma-7, they understood what the three words "practical combat class" truly meant. It wasn’t just some simple virtual simulation, but real combat with real weapons—combat where blood would be shed and lives could be lost.
Inside the Martial Arts Room, students gathered in small groups, murmuring amongst themselves as they speculated about the challenge that lay ahead.
"So, which planet do you think we’re going to this time? And what kind of enemies will we run into?"
"Who knows. Last time it was the greenskins. Those guys may not be the sharpest tools in the shed, but they’re absolutely fearless. They were a real pain to fight."
"The greenskins aren’t so bad. What I’m most afraid of is running into those elusive bastards from the Shadow Race."
A student who knew a fair bit about the Alien Races lowered his voice, a hint of dread on his face.
"The Shadow Race? You mean those pointy-eared guys who are fast as ghosts?"
"That’s right. Shadow Race Warriors can naturally slip into shadows, appearing and vanishing without a trace."
"I heard there are some giant beasts as big as small asteroids that can swallow an Interstellar Battleship in a single gulp."
"The Star Devourers are the most terrifying. They’re true cosmic calamities—they can even devour planets. But a threat on that level is probably not something we need to worry about."
"Honestly, I think the hardest to deal with are the ’traitors’."
A tall boy spoke up, his voice low. His father was a retired officer from the Star Realm Army, so he’d had a deeper understanding of the threats facing the Empire since childhood.
"Traitors? You mean the renegade Interstellar Warriors?"
"More than just them."
The boy shook his head. "Anyone who has betrayed the Empire, betrayed humanity, is a traitor. They know our tactics better than any Alien Race, and they’re more aware of our weaknesses. Plus, they’re often far more fanatical and cruel."
"And then there’s the cold, unfeeling ’Mechanical Race’."
"Wait, wait..."
One by one, the students brought up all sorts of cosmic races and the terrifying legends associated with them.
These names, which had only ever appeared in textbooks like *A Comprehensive History of the Empire* and *Advanced Alien Linguistics*, now carried a real and crushing weight.
And they might be about to face one of them.
Just as the discussions reached a fever pitch.
On the platform at the front of the Martial Arts Room, space began to twist violently, rippling like boiling water.
An immense, heavy, terrifying pressure, like a collapsing mountain range, instantly enveloped the entire Martial Arts Room!
Under this pressure, all discussion ceased instantly.
Every student felt as though a massive boulder was crushing their chest, making it hard to breathe. The Spiritual Energy within them seemed to freeze, its flow becoming sluggish and stagnant.
Their faces went deathly pale, and it took all their strength just to remain standing.
The next second, the figure of their homeroom teacher, Wu Shangfeng, stepped out from the distorted space.
This time, it wasn’t an ethereal holographic projection.
It was his true self, arriving in the flesh!
He still wore his unchanging black training uniform, his expression stern. But his eyes, sharp as knives, contained vast, almost tangible ripples of Spiritual Energy.
Simply by standing there, he radiated a heart-stopping pressure that made it impossible to meet his gaze.
This was the aura of a true High-level Martial Artist.
"Quiet."
Wu Shangfeng spoke.
His voice was not loud, yet it seemed to carry a kind of Magic Power akin to Words and Laws Follow, instantly smoothing away the suffocating pressure and allowing the students’ hearts, which had nearly stopped beating, to resume their normal rhythm.
You could have heard a pin drop in the Martial Arts Room.
Wu Shangfeng’s gaze slowly swept over the young faces below, each one still pale with shock.
"I will be leading today’s practical combat class personally, as before."
His voice was terse and efficient.
"Now, for the mission briefing."
"Our target is a mining planet in the Kepulu Star Zone, codenamed ’Purgatory-IV.’ The mission is to wipe out... the rebel forces occupying a strategic mine in the planet’s C-3 sector."
Rebel forces!
When those two words left Wu Shangfeng’s lips, the pupils of every student below contracted in unison.
The topic they had just been discussing had become a startling reality.
They were going to face human traitors.
In other words...
They were going to kill people.
A cold dread, completely different from the feeling of facing an Alien Race, quietly crept into the hearts of many students.
Wu Shangfeng took in everyone’s reactions.
He continued, "I know what you’re thinking. But you must understand that these individuals can no longer be called ’human.’ They have forsaken their loyalty to the Emperor, abandoned the honor of being human, and sold their souls to the... Evil Gods lurking in the depths of Subspace."
"Evil Gods?"
It was a term that was completely foreign to most of the students.
Qin Feng’s brow furrowed slightly as well.
In his memory, neither his foundational education in middle school nor the academic classes he’d taken at the Martial Arts High School over the past month had ever mentioned this concept.
"Your textbooks haven’t taught you about the deepest darkness in the Cosmos,"
Wu Shangfeng said gravely.
"Today, I’ll fill in that gap in your education."
"Beyond the powerful races of the material Cosmos that you know—our human Empire, the greenskins, the Shadow Race, the Mechanical Race, the Starry Sky Giant Beasts, and others—there exist life forms that are far more ancient and terrifying. They were born in Subspace, the collective embodiment of the most primitive, most extreme emotions and desires of all intelligent life. We call them the Four Gods of Subspace, or the Four Great Evil Gods."
Tzeentch, Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh.
Four names, filled with an ominous and evil air, weighed heavily on every student’s heart.
Wu Shangfeng continued, "These Four Great Evil Gods are among the most supreme beings in the Cosmos. Their creed can transcend racial boundaries, spreading into the heart of any life-form that possesses intelligence and emotion. Whether human, Shadow Race, or even Mechanical Race—with the sole exception of the greenskins—any of them can become followers. That is why we call them ’Evil Gods’."
"And the rebel forces we will be facing this time are a group of traitors who have sacrificed their souls to ’Nurgle’."
"So, pack away your ridiculous and misplaced sympathy. When you face them, you are not to hesitate, you are not to waver. You are to use the weapons in your hands and, before they can kill you, you will erase them—completely and cleanly—from this Cosmos!"
"Is that understood!?"
Wu Shangfeng’s final words boomed like thunder through the Martial Arts Room.
"Understood!"
The entire class roared in unison, their voices filled with ignited bloodlust and grim resolve.