The only problem I have with this chapter is how most of them got those bog-standard American Midwest names. Why not pick something from their own cultures? Why Angron has to be Andrew and not Agathinus? Why is Lion a fucking Larry, and not Leighton? And yes, I know Russ was an easy one, but why not Rasmus?

Because they're not going to be spending the time with their own cultures. Also... because it amused me :p
 
Do the Chainbreakers sometimes make quick trips to certain worlds where they bully the isekai power-fantasy protagonist into giving up his slave harem?
*arches eyebrow*


Either you're referring to a certain one where the protag honestly loves his dungeon crawling slave-harem: and its outright stated that if he dies, everything he owns goes to his first one (not that he knows she's made plans to die with him/not live without him). IIRC, if he attempts to frees them, either they end up dead instantly as an auto-kill effect activates, or they instantly become available to be bought by someone else. Who'll likely use them as cheap/expendable dungeon fodder. Meanwhile, his girls all currently have living conditions, with him, better than any royalty on the planet, and he's violently protective of them if you harm one.

If you're referring to Shield Hero? Considering what was done to him, the Chainbreakers would have very good reasons to use an extremely light touch on him. For one, he does it to rescue them and then practically has them raised to a living standard higher than most nobles, or even royalty. Two, a certain Tanuki would rather die than have her seal removed unless it was willingly done so by him, AND in the same exact moment, he proposed marriage to her. Otherwise, she'll slit her own throat. Three, the damage done to him is near permanent (anything less than Troi and a decade of therapy, won't cut it), and that he will automatically assume they're there to steal and/or kill his slaves and put them in WORSE conditions. Aka, he'll fight (and die), believing completely that the Chainbreakers are spouting lies/bullshit, and just want to pull a power move to get fodder/sex slaves. In many ways, he's like a certain Princess - just that he has to keep those he rescues as 'slaves' in order to keep others from abusing them due to how the whole world's system works.

If you mean Redo of Healer?
Yeah, fuck that guy. Yes, he went through hell, but he snapped and came out worse than his captors/party members at the end.
Although, to be brutally fair, to hell with the harem slaves too, as they are just as bad if not worse before he broke their minds. I made it 50 pages into the LN, before turning around and returning it to Barnes & Noble, with a VERY strongly worded review about allowing it on shelves without plastic wrappin (a very immediate clue imo, to avoid certain series). Just about the only not truly F'd up person in that, is the young demoness who wants to become the demon lord so she'll stop getting abused herself. Otherwise, might as well raze the entire planet, its just too badly screwed up.

If you're thinking Musou Tensei, the protag has 3 wives, no slaves, has a merc group pretty much already dedicated to freeing them, and its only his one ally that buys one, and even then that (very mild, borderline, functional) sociopath eventually frees the girl after practically giving her a college education on the sly and she still ends up as his personal lab assistant/secretary/maid, more or less, and inevitably ends up damn near a power behind one of the various thrones in the setting due to her education.
 
You know there's a lot more than just those few examples right?
Yes.

I just try to avoid the more obvious ones (Re-do of Healer I got stealth recommended by someone who didn't know I avoided those titles, and I blindly didn't check first), and the ones I listed are some of the more easily notable ones currently in publication/not 'old news'.

The more....egregious....offenders are, well, obvious. And not on my shelves, nor browser favs. Most of them, from what little I know of them, aren't redeemable in the slightest.
 
Ah yes, "Generic Isekai With An Overly Long Title Where Generic Boring Man Is Reborn In The Other World With a Cheat Power And Also Instantly Makes a Harem of Women Who Are One Dimensional Tropes Because Reasons And They Are Mostly Naked All The Time Because Reasons".

Manga shovelware, man.
 
Chapter 396; Xeno... Phobia or Philia?
Chapter 396;
Xeno... Phobia or Philia?


Eldrad Uthran found himself in a unique position, or given what he had learned, perhaps no so unique as he had believed. He was face to with quite literally himself. He had known it as soon as his doppelganger had emerged from the curiously modified Vampire Raider. Even the method by which it had arrived was a puzzling matter. It had not used the Webway, nor had it travelled via the Warp. No. It had hurtled into space above Ulthwé shedding velocity quickly as its crew requested permission to land and called for the young Farseer to visit the docks. And now he walked with himself down the great avenues, his doppleganger spoke of how they had been severed from the warp, and by what, and why the power that remained to them did so.

An alien god had done it and replaced the power of the immaterium with its own power, provided at forebearance. And yet, there was no hostile intent towards the people of the Craftworlders, or of the Maiden Worlds. And now, in the dome of crystal seers he watched as his older self put down a device and through it, from somewhere in the corners of the universes geometry a hole opened and a man bearing mon'keigh form stepped through, and yet he knew on the instant that the being he faced was not a descendant of the knuckle dragging simians who had departed the forests to walk the plains.

His body was no more human than Eldrad's own, physics and biology within all too orderly for that. And not all biological either. But it was his psychic presence that Eldrad felt most closely. As if he were standing at a corner of an infinitely large spiders web, each point of the web animate and active. The device, he realised, was another such point, as small and singular as it was a portion of the being before him existed even in such a small device.

"Welcome to Ulthwé, I would introduce myself but..." He looked at his own doppleganger and the stranger smiled, and even more strangely, accompanied it with the subtle aeldari body language that told him it was a wry amusement.

"My thanks Farseer Uthran, it is an honour to be permitted to visit Ulthwé2. To see the Craftworld in a stronger state than its later self which had suffered greatly." Once more the body language matched what he only expected from the aeldari, and realised that they were conversing in aeldari. The fact it had taken him so long to realise it angered him slightly, anger at himself.

He bowed very slightly, "My thanks... I believe, but what is it you wished to discuss? My..self... was disinclined to answer."

The man nodded his violet eyes bleeding unnatural light. A psychoactive image began to be projected. "The replacement of the Webway. I have the ability to aid the aeldari peoples in replacing their webway networks with a more reliable and longer term network, and advanced faster than light technology, and such work does need to begin sooner than later."

Eldrad felt a curious sense of alarm. Replace the webway? His body language, subtle as it was, must have conveyed the question.

"Yes, replacement of the Webway. In no more than twelve months I will begin the crashdown project and begin destroying the warp and everything within it using HALO weapons to eliminate everything I could not separate, this includes the Drukhari who currently inhabit Commoragh, Commoragh itself and the webway. In twelve months, the webway will not exist at all." He said and opened up a portion of himself to let Eldrad see within if he so chose. Even touching the edges of it he saw the neverborn screaming in impotent range as a wave of energy passed through the warp and where it passed all activity ceased, the very activity of the empyrean slammed into quiescence by a science impossible to understand.

Horror filled him as his older counterpart looked at him and now he understood why he had been reluctant to talk. "The Ikthala speaks the truth. He did as much in our universe, but he could not protect us then, so he removed us from the area of effect, to protect our souls. The eldar peoples, other species, more."

"And what... price... do you plan to exact?" Eldrad asked, not caring if his older self, or the stranger, answered.

The man cocked his head slightly, as if curious. "No price, bar one, not to act against the Ion Crown. So long as that remains true, no Eldar life will ever be harmed by the Ion Crown unless they first bring harm to us. Ultimately, I expect that means I will be harming a great many Drukhari, but of the Exodites and Craftworlds I do not envision ever having hostilities. And if you wish, you may deepen relationships with the Ion Crown."

Eldrad looked at his older self and saw that his older self was certain about the sincerity of the offer. "I must take this to the Seer Council. We may request you to speak with us. But what of the Mon'Keigh? I was certain that you might have imposed conditions there."

The Ikthala nodded. "Those who join the Ion Crown will be bound as discussed, those who do not will not be protected by us without good reason."
 
It's something completely innocuous to everything else, I bet. The equivalent of the old cliché jumping on top of tables when mice appear.
Well, I recall someone making a half-joke theory that Nids were kicked out of their original galaxy... because all the local races cooperated, worked together, innovated and shared their strengths! Shocking, I know.


Diplomacy? In my grimdark? It's more likely than you think!
 
Chapter 397; The People
Chapter 397;
The People


Awakening had been abrupt, not like slumber at all, and only when he began to suffer a momentary dissonance staring at his own body had he realised there was no sense of slumber or sleep. The expansion into a multiplicity had been sudden, and yet, he could sense the changes artificially made to his psyche to protect him, and enable him to control both bodies simultaneously, but moments later that sensation was severed when the stasis field closed over his true body.

He shook his head, the sensation that he should have wings quick to fade. Next to him, Angron stepped into view, also looking up at his natural body. As they faced each other they studied one another carefully. They were not unfamiliar to each other, their bodies had been made in such a way as to avoid as much of a dysphoria as possible. But they could feel how much lesser they were. "An...drew," San...Steve put out his hand and they shook it with a warriors clasp when the woman came in. Helena Walker, one of the Empresses of the Ion Crown.

He found it novel to not have to look down at a human, but the expression on her face did not encourage discussion yet. They fell in behind her instinctively as they passed through a portal that popped open in space and stepped out into a different universe. They stood at the cap of a tower and looked down over a city, it did not appear to be that of the Ionians, the manufacture was entirely unfamiliar. "Where are we?" Angron asked plainly. Helena looked down over the city below.

"This is a Universe that belonged to a property known as 'Fallout' we are present here to commit to various humanitarian efforts, namely, the establishment of a functional society and cleaning up the ecological disaster." Helena said as she looked out over the city below. "This city is called DC and we've been clearing it down to the ground and rebuilding, I have arranged for you to meet Elizabeth Weir, this project is hers. For now you'll be operating under her command doing basic humanitarian works. It is not entirely safe due to bandits, but they are not your concern." She handed them briefing packets and moved back towards the portal. Angron stopped her with a question.

"Why? From my understanding this is not the kind of Universe that would the Ikthala?" He said and Sanguinius nodded.

Helena also nodded, "You're entirely correct, from standard criterion, this universe holds nothing of military or technological interest for Delta, but he does have humanitarian interests as well, when we discussed the possibility of us opening portals to other universes, he was willing to listen and enable us to engage in them. Though his major interest here is more along the lines of that some of your brothers working with the Chainbreakers will be engaged in."

Sanguinius frowned, "And that is?"

"Caesars Legion. A Romanised pro-slavery group. In addition to dealing with raiders, cannibals and mutants he has given the Chainbreakers carte blanche to annihilate Caesars Legion." Helena answered.

"If I may?" Sanguinius asked, at her nod he continued, "Why is it we are being sent here? Not somewhere within the Ion Crown?"

She smiled at him, "Because he wants you to learn more about the lives of the people, but also what we do to help them." With that she stepped across the threshold and the portal closed behind her.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the four brothers stepped through the portal they studied the materials in hand, and felt more vulnerable than they ever had. The bunker they had arrived in had a view across the Vegas wastelands. And there were many men and women moving around the facility preparing armour and weapons. They had not learned who their contact would be, not until he emerged from the group, his violet eyes passing over them for a moment before focussing on them with laser precision. At first they thought perhaps it was the Emperor's son. But there was no glowing, the man introduced himself as Lord Castellan Ursurkar Creed, a son of Cadia.

Assigned to this objective due to the lack of alien life on this version of Terra, only human Chainbreakers had been assembled. But they had not hesitated to deploy more advanced technologies. "Larry, Caleb, Ju-Long, Michael, welcome to 'Earth'. I am Castellan Creed, General of this Chainbreakers operation, it is my understanding that the Emperor has recruited you to aid us with our operation. Have you been trained in the use of Ionian Combat Armour?"

The Lion frowned as Corax put a hand on his arm, they had not been trained in Ionian powered armour. "No General. We have had training in the use of some powered armour, but not of the kind I see here." Creed cocked his head.

"Imperium grade?" He asked and Corax nodded. "Very well, you're not going to require much more training." Corax had not lied, the Ionian Empire had yet to introduce the nascent Imperium to much of its technology yet, and they had received training in the marks of armour their father had originally intended for them. He took them over to a bench, "This is caretaker armour, your duties will lie in safely removing slaves from their keepers, you will not have as heavy an arms load as our combat forces, but will have specialist equipment to withdraw the victims of slavers to safeholds where they can be treated medically, psychologically and aided in coming to a normal life."

Mortarion frowned, "We are not to be combatants?" He asked in near-offended surprise.

"No. You are not, you lack sufficient familiarity with our combat armour, you don't have the knowledge for point teleport systems, micromissile batteries, transformium weapons, combat links and more. If you remain with us for long you will receive such training, but for now, caring for the victims will be your primary duties, though you will be equipped with sidearms of course."

"We are..." The Lion said before Creed silenced him with a glance. The sheer irritation in the mans eyes silenced his protest like nothing had ever before, not even Luther. He did not see a Primarch. There was no Primarch to see. He was merely human.

"You are here to save lives. Not everyone can kill the slavers, that job goes to those best qualified for it, you are needed to save lives, we need you to help the victims escape. If you can't do that you can go the feth back to Maethrillian and I'll ask the Emperor to ship me men who are willing to do what they're asked. AM I CLEAR." The last words were roared and the Lion bowed his head. "Good. You're with team charlie, go find Lieutenant Gaeta. They will get you ready. And Larry. Do not give me reason to call you down again. There are always more volunteers than available positions in the Chainbreakers, I won't give you another chance."
 
Awesome chapter! Thank you for sharing. It will be interesting to see who Primarches deal with not being "demi gods".

Also first! Beat that lamppost, lol
 
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Which anime are you talking about before Shield Hero? And yeah, the Chainbreakers would have to take a far less violent approach in those cases. Maybe even just leave those guys alone for the most part since they're just exploiting loopholes in the system and not using it for it's intended purpose.

I've also noticed that the Chainbreakers often deploy some SERIOUSLY heavy-handed tactics to deal with slave labor. I recognize that lethal force is more often than not necessary with those sorts of people. But wouldn't a shot to the brain (after a shot to the groin in some cases) be just as effective at sending a message?

Also, How is Delta planning on handling the 'Nids and Necrons when they show up in the current 40K-verse?
 
Which anime are you talking about before Shield Hero? And yeah, the Chainbreakers would have to take a far less violent approach in those cases. Maybe even just leave those guys alone for the most part since they're just exploiting loopholes in the system and not using it for it's intended purpose.

I've also noticed that the Chainbreakers often deploy some SERIOUSLY heavy-handed tactics to deal with slave labor. I recognize that lethal force is more often than not necessary with those sorts of people. But wouldn't a shot to the brain (after a shot to the groin in some cases) be just as effective at sending a message?

Also, How is Delta planning on handling the 'Nids and Necrons when they show up in the current 40K-verse?
Cannot remember the name of the one prior to Shield Hero, other than its very much on the light side of things (later on, to avoid an elf whom was wrongly framed, stripped of her titles, and to be executed...or sold as a slave to 'those' types, and the MC knows she's innocent, he offers up 3-4x the amount to save her life. She already fell for him but due to her titles, then, couldn't do anything about the attraction. Afterwards, she very much shows it).

And Shield Hero definitely would see the Chainbreakers run HARD into seeing 'slaves' fight them to the death in order to stay safely with the hero. Raphy flat out WILL kill herself if you take off her seal, because she is deeply aware of how badly he could mentally screwed by the one Princess (aka: Bitch) to the point of not trusting a woman around him unless they have one, and since Raphy loves him, she wants the seal to stay...or he will leave her. And she doesn't want to live without him.

Same for damn near all of those he saved.
 
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