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Just InCommunityForumMoreA Guardsman's Game (Warhammer 40kGamer) by wulfenheim X-overs & Warhammer Xover Rated: M, English, Adventure & Sci-Fi, Words: 158k+, Favs: 1k+, Follows: 1k+, Published: Nov 25, 2023 Updated: Nov 23 329Chapter 2

[Self-Shaping] Level up!

[Self-Shaping] is now at level 2!

A rush of power and knowledge flooded my mind. And I became aware of the fact that I could now make minor alterations to my body – things that would've otherwise taken the work of supreme genetics and a lifetime of physical conditioning. Though, nothing beyond the norm, of course. So, I made my tendons stronger and tougher, taking up three kilograms of Biomass. After that, I tailored my muscles for greater endurance; I didn't quite need addition strength, though I could've done that by inducing a form of hypertrophy, but – again – I was strong enough as I was. I also made my skin harder and denser, but kept the flexibility; it wouldn't make me invincible and neither did it make my skin anywhere close to the protection afforded by Flak Armor, but it'd – at the very least – protect me from some shrapnel.

With [Self-Shaping] only at level 2, I couldn't make a lot of changes. I couldn't, for instance, alter my internal organs and bones; I couldn't touch my veins or my blood. All of that would come later. The one upgrade that I was supremely grateful for was the lowered Biomass cost of reconstituting my body parts – a 5% discount was small, but it came for free and I assumed that number would rise as the skill leveled up more and more.

With that done, I decided to see if the daemon was actually dead.

The Frag Grenade cracked and boomed, sending bits of metal and stone flying in all directions. A few of them hit me, but my hardened skin stopped most of them; the metal pipe that was sticking out of the stomach was easily mended as I simply pulled it right off. It was painful, but I found myself somewhat... detached from the idea of pain. I'd been detached from it ever since I awoke from death. The pain was there, but it was more akin to an alarm, telling me that some damage had been done or was being done to my body. Strange. But, also incredibly useful. I threw away the bloody pipe, but not before absorbing all the blood and bits of flesh that clung onto it. I then closed the hole in my belly, before I walked towards the smoking hole where the daemon had been.

Most of it wasn't there.

Amidst the smoking ruins was the daemon's right arm, burnt and charred, and bleeding a foul black blood. But the daemon itself wasn't there. The creature, it seemed, decided to run away, instead of staying and fighting – the coward. I spat on the small humanoid outline it'd left behind. And there I noted the hoof prints that confirmed its cowardice, leading away from the ruins – away from me. Something blazed within me, then, a fervent and righteous flame that could now no longer be quenched with the retreat of my enemy. "Coward! All you can do is run away! You're nothing! You're less than nothing! All that you are is fear and nothing more! Coward! Return to the nothingness that awaits you and your master!"

Of course, it was only right that such creatures should scurry away from the might of mankind. My goading did not make it return.

I glanced down at the appendage on the ground. I eyed it for a moment, an arm that was as long as two-thirds of my entire body, charred black from its pincer-like hands all the way to the elbow. Strange, bony growths adorned it, horrendous and mutated things that only made me want to burn the sickening thing. And that's exactly what I wanted to do. However, I also knew the value of knowing my enemy. I had detonated a plasma grenade on the daemon, blew up an overcharged Lasgun on its face, and then threw a frag grenade atop it for good measure and still it lived. I had to know how to best kill such a thing and the arm, I figured, might just point me to the right direction, at least.

Of course, I was not foolish enough to touch it directly. I grabbed a nearby piece of jagged metal, about three feet long, and prodded the daemonic arm a few times to make sure it didn't suddenly come to life, grabbing and slicing; I've had enough of that daemon cutting me up. It was only when I confirmed that the arm was not, in fact, capable of some form of unnatural movement, did I finally grab it. And, when I did, a new prompt appeared in front of me.

Foreign Energy Detected...

Purify and analyze? (yes) or (no)

I stared at it for a long time. On one hand, I had a daemonic appendage and common sense ruled that I burn it as all things that belonged to the Ruinous Powers were to be treated with fire and death. However, here was a chance to learn more about the great enemy. Because, honestly, if I asked a Commissar how best to kill a daemon, I'd probably get shot in the head for heresy. But I just fought one and I couldn't kill it because I didn't know how. My faith in the God Emperor demanded that I purged all the enemies of mankind and it was, therefore, a duty of mine to know more about my enemies.

With that, I decided that (yes) I wanted it purified and analyzed.

The daemonic arm disintegrated into a cloud of golden dust.

Tainted Warp/Aetherial/Noospheric energy detected... purifying... analyzing... integrating... new skill unlocked!

My eyes widened. "What?"

[Warp Shaping, level 1, 0% progress]

And so, with it, came knowledge and understanding. Suddenly, I understood that daemons were beings of thought and energy and that it was... exceedingly difficult to kill them, because of that. In fact, at best, I could injure one to the point that it was simply banished back to the Realm of the Ruinous Powers, where it hailed. However, the energy that daemons were made of was not, in itself, inherently evil, merely tainted by the dark forces. And, like any energy, it could be manipulated and controlled – shaped. And I understood, then, that I now had the ability to shape this very energy. For now, however, all I could do was absorb and purify, sending it into a space of its own that only I could access, much like my Biomass space; I couldn't quite use that energy for anything, just yet.

The best part, however, was that I now knew how to kill a daemon: all I'd have to do was touch it and, slowly, absorb its essence into myself, until there was nothing left of it, much like my ability to absorb Biomass, which I could – in theory – do to a living person if I wanted to.

I grinned. The next time I encountered that cowardly filth, there would be no escape for it.

Praise be to the God Emperor and his eternal work.

With nothing else to do, I settled on finding as many corpses as I could and absorbing their Biomass – of which I gathered nearly 500 kgs to replace the ones I lost battling that filthy ugly daemon. I even looted a spare set of mismatched clothes and a mostly intact flak armor from a poor man whose head got blown off. It was missing a single pauldron, which shouldn't be much of a problem. The flak armor complimented my hardened skin as it was meant to protect the wearer from shrapnel and other forms of low-velocity projectiles. It wouldn't do anything against a daemon with sharp hands, but it would do well when I was detonating a frag grenade between myself and said daemon.

Oh, and I also found an intact helmet.

Seeing as there was nothing else for me to loot or absorb, I moved on.

Kuresh was, as far as I remembered, which really wasn't much, at least two days away from the base camp, but that was two days' worth of travel on an APC. It'd probably take me at least a week to get there on foot. So, I started jogging. The only way I was getting there, after all, was on foot. There were no transports to take me there. And, I suppose, that was for the better; it made me a much smaller target – much quieter too. The enemy, whoever and whatever they might be, probably wouldn't see me coming. I was but one guardsman, after all, insignificant in the grand scheme.

But, was I really still insignificant?

I suppose, that was up to me to decide.

Minutes turned to hours and hours turned to days as I walked. The daemon had stopped stalking me. I no longer felt its presence or caught its foul scent. It was during this long journey that I realized two things: I no longer felt exhausted, but at the cost of a single kilogram of Biomass a day, and I no longer felt thirsty or hungry, also at the cost of a single kilogram of Biomass a day. It was certainly a surprise, but a welcome one. I've lost count of how many good men and women died, because of a lack of food and drinkable water, often resorting to cannibalism, which would end with them getting shot by a Commissar. But, I no longer had that weakness. I could, in theory, serve the Imperium forever, never tiring, never sleeping, never eating – forever fighting.

It didn't sound too bad, actually. It was certainly my pleasure and privilege to serve the Imperium, its people, and the Emperor in such a manner.

It was on the third day that I discovered an enemy base camp of sorts. It wasn't large enough to be considered a forward base and it was located in the middle of nowhere, which led me to believe it was meant to house important resources of some kind or another. It was located at the base of a small mountain, right next to a flowing river of filth, which – I figured – the enemy was purifying and drinking. There were around twenty or so structures, with one that loomed over the rest, a demented thing, decorated with skulls and screaming men and women who'd become one with the walls of the structure; I couldn't tell if they were still conscious through that. But, whatever the case, I swore to myself that I would grant them the Emperor's Mercy. They deserved as much, whoever they were. I also counted two armored vehicles, malformed Rhinos that'd clearly been tainted by the Ruinous Powers, alongside six Traitor Astartes with purple armor.

The Traitor Astartes presented the biggest problem, because no amount of regeneration was going to help me kill them. If there was only one, then I might've been able to perform that suicidal Cadian maneuver of shoving a plasma grenade into a small gap in their power armor, but I didn't think that was even possible with six of them; I'd be gunned down, before I ever got close.

Clearly, however, the Traitorous Astartes were here to guard whatever was in that tortured structure in the middle of the base, which meant that I could achieve victory by circumventing them and simply blowing up that large building or otherwise sabotaging it enough that it simply stopped working. That might just work. So, with that in mind, I uttered a quick prayer to the God Emperor, asking for his guidance and blessing, before I slowly descended from my position, crawling; as I did, I made sure to send all of my equipment, excluding my clothes and armor, into my Inventory. There were plenty of boulders and other ruined structures surrounding the camp, enough that I could probably sneak my way through. Aside from the Traitor Astartes, there were quite a few heretics here and there, but they were armed with crude weapons and only a few of them even had Las Pistols.

I could do this.

The Traitor Astartes, as far as I noticed, didn't seem to be moving all that much. They lingered on near the Rhinos and kept to themselves. If they were at all talking to each other, then they must've been doing it through a communication link of some sort. The heretics bowed whenever they passed the Traitor Astartes, but otherwise stayed away; they seemed to just be walking around, not doing anything in particular. Though, I noticed... a few squabbles here and there, heretics engaging in brawls with each other at random; I didn't understand why and neither did I care to. The structure itself was relatively lightly guarded, compared to the rest of the camp, at least. The large opening and the descending platform made me think that this was some sort of factory, meant to churn out... things for their army. Though, again, I wasn't sure just what its purpose actually was. My goal was to infiltrate it and destroy it.

Which was actually going to be rather difficult, since I was not trained in infiltration and sabotage. In fact, I was hardly trained at all. But, that wasn't going to stop me from trying.

So, I crawled behind the boulders and under the ruined structures as quietly as I possibly could, which was precisely why I sent all of my equipment into my Inventory. I breathed in and kept myself low. Progress would be incredibly slow, but it'd still be progress. It didn't seem like the inhabitants of the enemy base were in any sort of hurry, either; in fact, as I briefly glanced out, it seemed that more than a few of the heretics were asleep. That was good. It gave me more time to accomplish my goal. I kept on crawling until I reached the edge of the base; by then, the boulders and ruins that offered coverage were few and far between. And that was when I initiated the next step of my plan.

I reached into my Inventory and took five frag grenades, all of which I then primed and threw right into the far side of the base, away from me. The Traitor Astartes were the first to move, even before the grenades actually detonated. A moment later, they did, and the entirety of the enemy base came to life. But then, something happened that I was not expecting. One of the grenades must've detonated right next to something chemically unstable, resulting in an explosion of blue flames powerful enough to send one of the Traitor Astartes hurling backwards. The nearby heretics were shredded and burned by the explosion, which then triggered a storm of fire to ignite across the camp, devouring everything and anything in its path - a rush of blue flames.

I watched, perplexed, wondering what I'd just done.

Well, whatever it was, it certainly was devastatingly effective, because I'm quite certain I just killed nearly all the heretic forces. Those that didn't die in the cascade of fiery explosions had panicked and ran away, leaving only the Trator Astartes.

Praise be to the God Emperor for that.

As I turned, however, I found myself staring at the barrel of a bolter - a very large bolter.

Huh, how'd that get there?

One of the Traitor Astartes stood not three feet away from me, aiming a bolter right into my face. My enemy seemed even larger from up close, over nine-feet tall and covered entirely in thick ceramite plates - a veritable living engine of war. No wonder my entire regiment was wiped out during the charge. What hope did we have against such horrors? What hope did we have against such an enemy? What could mortal men do against them?

Nothing.

But, then again, I wasn't exactly a mortal man anymore, was I?

And before me was not an insurmountable wall. No, before me was an enemy that I simply hadn't killed yet.

Surprisingly, the giant, encased in hellish purple armor, chuckled in amusement. I stared at the snarling visage on the figure's helmet, wondering how in the God Emperor's name was this walking tank able to move that fast and that quietly, without me ever noticing. "That was amusing, mortal. But did you really think you could escape the senses of an Astartes? Know that I, Telros of the Emperor's Children, acknowledge your bravery and your audacity."

"Ah, son of a-" The Astartes pulled the trigger of his bolter and I had just the barest of moments to barely turn my head aside as the bolt round tore through my head, piercing right through my skull, and exploding, sending my brain splattering everywhere. And, I watched, briefly, as my body fell, like a puppet with its strings suddenly cut. The Traitor Astartes took one last look at my limp and headless body, before turning and walking away.

Tsk, that hurt.

As long as even a sliver of my brain remained, I wouldn't die; I was rather certain that was going to be surprising for a lot of my enemies.

I did not reconstitute myself a new body immediately, however, as I simply kept on watching everything unfold through the one eye I had left - an eye that had somehow remained miraculously attached to the brain fragment that held most of my consciousness now. And so, I watched and waited for an opportunity to strike.

As it turned out, waiting was, in fact, the right thing to do as the Traitor Astartes walked away, without even bothering to check if there was anything unnatural with my corpse. Though, to be entirely fair, if our places had been reversed, I would not have bothered to check, either. My head was splattered all over the place and I could feel at least a hundred other pieces of my brain, dotted around. Just as I was about to reconstitute myself, however, one of the Traitor Astartes suddenly came and examined my corpse. This one wore no helmet, though he did carry one, revealing the ugly, inhuman, and misshapen face that should've been kept covered.

He then knelt down and scooped up a bunch of my brain matter, before shoving said brain matter right into his mouth. A strange sensation flooded me afterwards, a rush of something, streaming into and from me, before suddenly and abruptly disappearing.

What?

Everything went dark for a moment, afterwards. I lost my connection to the other pieces of myself and I felt myself floating in what felt like an endless darkness.

New Function Unlocked!

[Subsume] – You can take control of any biological creature that eats a part of your brain. This control can be subtle or you can outright take over their bodies should you wish it.

When I came to, not a moment later, I immediately found that I was... much taller than I used to be. And then followed the rush of knowledge and understanding – all provided by the System, apparently. And I knew, then, that the Traitor Astartes died the moment he ate a part of my brain as my personality and consciousness easily overrode his mind. And, thus, I was reborn in the body of a Traitor Astartes. This had the added benefit of purifying his flesh and, more importantly, imparting onto me a genetic blueprint that would, in time, allow me to make use of and perhaps even manipulate the biology of an Astartes – traitor or otherwise.

For now, however, this was just one form among many. I couldn't quite manipulate it as I could my the other generic blueprints – not on any meaningful level, anyway. I could shift my skin and make myself look prettier, make my muscles and joints slightly harder and better, but that's about it.

Hidden Objective Completed: Kill Your First Space Marine!

Reward/s:

1 Epic Gacha Token

1 Uncommon Gacha Token

2000 Kg Biomass

Huh, an Epic Token?

Raising a brow, I took the Epic Gacha Token from my Inventory and crushed it in my hands. I wanted to see just what I'd get out of it, considering it said "epic", which meant I was more likely to receive something of value.

Epic Item Received!

Glass Spoon – Snap this spoon in half to summon Master Mirror, also known as the Man of Glass. Be warned; while this item guarantees you at least one free wish, the Lord of Mirrors is crafty and will always attempt to swindle you out of any deal.

What and who?

Shrugging, I sent the [Glass Spoon] into my Inventory. It didn't seem all that useful, especially considering I had no idea who this Master Mirror was or what he was capable of doing. The mention of a free wish and a deal of some sort seemed... ominous and highly suspicious; at least, this time, however, there was no mention of daemons or the summoning of such foul creatures. Thus, I didn't see the need to cast away or otherwise destroy the item. I decided to keep it with me, just in case.

After that, I took out the uncommon token and crushed it.

Uncommon Item Received!

Entity Card (the Rabbit of Caerbannog) – Simply toss the card into open air to summon the entity held within. The entity will manifest for a total of ten minutes, during which it will attempt to neutralize all hostiles until its time runs out or until it is destroyed.

The what of what?

I shook my head and simply sent the item into my Inventory. I had... absolute no idea what a rabbit was or what a Caerbannog was supposed to be. Though, if it was capable of combat, then it might a useful distraction. But, for now, I didn't need it. I'd just subsumed the body of an Astartes, after all; a traitor he might've been, there was no denying the sheer power that was present in such a physical shell. Bending down, I simply absorbed the remains of my previous body, before standing up and donning the helmet that was just dangling from my waist.

I examined my new equipment – a bolter rifle, a combat knife that was about as long as my forearm when I still in human form, several frag grenades and a single plasma grenade. All of that came alongside the Power Armor. I stood up and noted the raw power I had in every tiny movement, the force that came with mundane actions. Tsk, I never would've beaten this traitorous scum on an even fight. I viewed the world in what I could only describe as slow motion, with senses that extended far beyond what I was used to; I literally caught scents and heard sounds that came from kilometers away. Just as the Cadian said, however, there was a small gap in the plate that covered the torso, close to the head, large enough for a particularly brave guardsman to shove a plasma grenade into. I suppose I could've done that, but the chance of success would've been nonexistent.

Actually, now that I had the body of an Astartes, including his equipment, I suppose I could just forgo the stealthy approach; after all, nearly all the heretics were dead, except for the other Traitor Astartes themselves – five of them remained, since I was now the 6th one. With my physical prowess, I could fight kill them; plus, they wouldn't suspect me of anything, so I'd have the element of surprise on my side.

And, whatever the case, killing them was my duty to the Emperor and to the Imperium. And, if I died in the attempt, I'd just come back and try again until I succeeded; who else could claim to hold such an honor?

So, clutching my bolter rifle, I walked towards the gathered Traitor Astartes, who looked on and laughed as the cultists and heretics burned and screamed and died before them. I too found it funny. Those who turn their backs from the Emperor's light deserved nothing less than the purifying flames of death – only in suffering can their sins be purged, but I doubt they cared about that. They were too far gone from the God Emperor's forgiveness. And so they deserved only suffering and death.

"What did you find, Teranas?" One of the Traitor Astartes asked through our vox communications, but I couldn't tell which one of them spoke as they all wore a helmet and none of them so much as turned to regard me. I stopped and stood still, right next to the one who I'm pretty sure was the one who splattered my brain all over the place.

Shrugging, I made up a story. "A guardsman who thought himself a hero – nothing more."

"Still, to attempt such a thing; I, Telros, commend him for his efforts, if nothing else."

Ah, so I was talking to the one who killed me – fascinating. Looking closer, therewere tiny marks and symbols on the Power Armor that separated one from the other, just that everyone wore the color purple. For instance, the one who blasted my head apart had a gaggle of bleached skulls hanging from his loins; I wasn't quite sure what that was supposed to symbolize. Was it a sexual thing? No idea; Traitors were too far gone from the Emperor's light to recognize the inferiority of their fashion choices. The rest were probably just listening in on our conversation.

I walked past him and made my way towards the Rhinos. The Traitor Astartes did not notice or regard me in any way, which was a strange thing, since I'd half-expected the traitors to never trust each other, existing in a state of constant betrayals, stabbing each other in the back over and over again. But, it seemed there was a level of trust among these ones, at least. And I was going to use that against them.

I glanced at the factory, eyeing the guards there – normal people, a few had cybernetic arms and legs, but nothing beyond my current capacity. The screaming, writhing faces and bodies that seemed to animate the very walls of the structure brought shivers down my spine. What sort of madness were these heretics and traitors up to?

Reaching one of the Rhinos, I was suddenly made aware of the presence of a weapon's crate. I walked towards it and opened up its lid; I'd half-expected it to be locked, but apparently not – that or it scanned my biometrics and was simply fooled into opening. Whatever the case, it opened with a slight hiss and I beheld the cacophony of weapons held inside, ranging from bolt pistols to heavy bolters to power swords, enough numbers to arm six Traitor Astartes. This was for us – for them – I gathered. Six bolt pistols, two plasma pistols, three heavy bolters, and four power swords. And I sent all of them into my Inventory, save for a curved Power Sword, which I grabbed. It hummed in my hand.

It was an awesome weapon; I've always wanted one, ever since I saw our Lord General waving it around during a speech. It was a fine and beautiful weapon. And now I had four of them for myself.

These Traitors wouldn't need them.

Hidden Objective Completed: Acquire Power Weapons

Reward/s:

New skill unlocked!

[Tech Shaping]

[Tech Shaping, level 1, 0% Progress]

My eyes widened as, once more, a rush of knowledge and arcane wisdom flooded my mind. And I became aware of the fact that, at level 1, [Tech Shaping] allowed me to, essentially, fix anything I wanted to by reverting it into its base form, much like level 1 [Self Shaping] allowed me to reconstitute my body or any damaged parts by reverting it into a base form. Level 1 [Tech Shaping] also allowed me to absorb technology, not just random bits of matter, like rocks, turning them into Raw Material, which, like Warp Energy or Biomass, is then stored in dimension that only I had access to.

Amazing. I could use this ability to fix up just about anything as long as I had enough Raw Material.

But, as much as I wanted to try out my new skill, I had something else to do. With the humming power sword in hand, I turned and rushed towards the nearest Traitor Astartes, moving as fast as my body and my power armor could. They all noticed me, of course, all five of them turning at once. However, the one who was closest to me did not have any time to react as I brought down the power sword and sliced his torso in half, killing him instantly. The others, however, reacted immediately afterwards.

A few ran towards the weapons crate and found it empty.

Ha, get fucked, traitors!

I rushed forward as they began shooting at me. Their accuracy meant that, within a few moments, the bolter rounds were already penetrating the armor plates and ripping me apart from the inside with miniature explosions. However, because the armor more or less kept my guts, bones, and flesh from flying around, it became a simply matter of just reconstituting myself again and again, by recycling the Biomass that was already there. I reached the closest Traitor Astartes and sliced off his legs, before decapitating him immediately as he fell. One of them appeared behind me and jammed a combat knife through a hole in my helmet that I didn't even know was there.

I turned and bisected him from one shoulder to the other, before kicking him away.

Weirdly enough, the combat knife apparently counted as a Raw Material, so I simply absorbed it into myself. The rest of them, power armor and corpse alike, I'd absorb later.

"What are you?" One of the Traitor Astartes asked, speaking through our vox communications. Despite that, the remaining two kept on firing their bolter pistols at me, the rounds punching holes through my power armor as I rushed towards them. One died immediately when I sent the power sword into my Inventory and, instead, brought out the two plasma pistols, one for each hand, both of which I then fired directly into his armored chest, simultaneously melting and cracking apart his armor and reducing his insides into a bloody paste. I turned to the last one and breathed in.

I'd need a new power armor after this. The one I was wearing was a broken wreck of what it should be.

The last of the Traitor Astartes was, strangely enough, the same one who splattered my brain, earlier. "You're not Teranas; your movements are clumsy and erratic – untrained. Who are you?"

Idly, I noted that he wasn't firing at me, anymore; though, the guards that stood by the factory certainly were. I grabbed a few frag grenades from my Inventory and tossed it at them; they scattered in panic and a few died in the resulting explosion. And then, I turned back to Telros and shrugged, vaguely gesturing at the bodies of the other Traitor Astartes I'd killed. "Your traitorous kin would say otherwise."

At that, Telros chuckled. "Those fools were little more than bumbling initiates – incapable of wiping their own asses, without someone telling them how to do it. I must thank you, actually, for killing them. Now, the treasures of "

I said no more, mostly because I didn't think I had to speak to this walking pile of filth. There was only one fate for a traitor and that was death. I raised both plasma pistols and fired again. Telros, however, quickly avoided them by rolling away. He then raised his bolt pistol, the same one he used to splatter my brain with, and fired; each bullet found its mark, tearing into my flesh. But, whatever wounds I sustained I healed just as quickly. I sent the plasma pistols into my Inventory and pulled out the power sword, before rushing forward.

Telros did not move away as I'd expected he would. Instead, his armored hands flashed out and, somehow, wrestled the power sword from my grasp in a display of superior skill. I wasn't even sure how he did it. The gap between us was rather wide. He then kicked me away and sent me tumbling into the ground. Telros laughed. "That was a neat trick, sorcerer, but your martial prowess is lacking. You cannot win."

I gritted my teeth as I pulled my helmet off, which, by then, was little more than a useless wreck that got in the way of my vision, and absorbed it, turning it into Raw Material. I stood up and, across me, Telros snorted and removed his own helmet and tossed it aside, revealing a face that was even uglier than the face of Teranas, the Astartes whose body I subsumed. He smiled, revealing hideous, needle-like teeth. "There, now it's a little fair, is it not?"

Did he seriously just remove his helmet?

I sprinted towards him. Telros responded by slicing my chest in half with a single swing of the power sword; however, it sliced through my flesh and bones so quickly and so cleanly that I was able to reattach myself not a moment afterwards. I then tackled him to the ground. In the chaos that followed, I briefly considered shoving a plasma grenade into his exposed head and detonating it. However, I didn't want to loose too much Biomass. So, I came up with the next best strategy.

"Why won't you die?!" Telros roared as he sliced me again and again, rendering even my power armor useless as its internal mechanisms were far too damaged to be of use. I simply absorbed it into myself, alongside the black carapace underneath and all the other bits of technology that was attached to my body. Whenever Telros sliced me up, I simply reattached my bits immediately, rendering his efforts moot. Truly, he was skilled beyond me, but I didn't need skill; I just needed to kill him. "Who and what are you?!"

As he roared once more, likely in a combination of rage and frustration, I reached up and ripped a chunk off my own head and shoved it into his open mouth. I grinned. "I'm just a humble guardsman."

And then there was darkness.