A transfer order from Terra informed Horus that he would lead his Legion into battle alongside the XIVth Legion's Death Guard.
Horus didn't really care about this world that was about to be conquered. This planet colonized by humans had issued a surrender application to the Empire some time ago, but since the spacecraft sent by the Empire to this planet had lost contact afterwards, it chose to send the legion over.
According to the last information sent by the Imperial spacecraft, the planet seemed to be disturbed by some kind of psychic alien, and the reason given by the Empire for sending troops was that the Death Guard had the ability to "target" this situation.
The summons came directly from Malcador, so the wording was vague. Horus was unable to determine from these few short lines what kind of situation the Death Guard could "target".
But just as Horus had thought before, he didn't care about these. The soldiers of the two legions were enough to easily flatten it all. Compared to this planet, Horus obviously cared more about the brother who had just joined the empire.
Normally, the returning Primarch brothers would be led by Horus to integrate into the Empire. Regarding Mortarion, Horus learned that he was originally going to be the one to lead him, but for some reason, Regent Malcador intervened in the friendship between the brothers and took away the power that originally belonged to him.
This was not a very good start, and the cunning mortal psyker should not be involved in their affairs.
Horus should be the one to welcome their brothers into the Imperium, as the first Primarch to be found, he wanted him to welcome his brothers.
From the fragmentary words of other brothers, Horus had pieced together his broken image for this new brother.
Coming from a sparsely populated death planet, he is not good at speaking, does not care about his appearance, values his offspring, and has a special passion for death.
The Wolf God, who was experienced in diplomacy, certainly knew how to welcome such a brother, so he stood here, in a position where his brother could be seen at first sight after the door of the shuttle opened. The light shone perfectly, giving Horus' armor a layer of gold.
"Brother, welcome!"
Horus stepped forward to greet Mortarion, sizing up his brother.
Mortarion looked tall and gaunt, his bone-white and moss-green armor dull and lifeless, the only copper-gold outline of the armor becoming blurred under the shroud of poisonous gas. His only decorations were the incense burners that were spewing poisonous gas, and the poisonous gas in the incense burners, together with the respirator, covered his brother's face.
He should be at the funeral, Horus thought unseemly.
Perhaps the poisonous gas floating around Mortarion made the other brothers have a bad impression of him, but Horus ignored those unpleasant episodes. He walked over, naturally gave Mortarion a welcome hug, and then shook Mortarion's hand in a friendly manner.
Horus happily ignored the way Mortarion stiffened when Horus hugged him. Perhaps the distance was too close for this not very social brother, which made Mortarion as stiff as a dead tree.
"I've been looking forward to meeting you, brother."
Horus said warmly, while pulling back Mortarion's right hand which he wanted to withdraw subconsciously.
"Let me introduce myself, Horus Lupercal, the Wolf Lord of the Sixteenth Legion's Luna Wolves."
His tall brother paused, then said in a voice almost whispering,
"Mortarion, Lord of Barbarus, Pale King of the XIVth Legion's Death Guard."
Horus patted Mortarion's shoulder armor in a friendly manner.
"I heard about the two battles you led the Death Guard in. From my own perspective, I am happy to let the Silver Moon Wolves cooperate with the Death Guard. The next battle will be a pleasant cooperation."
Mortarion nodded slowly, and just as he hesitated to speak, Horus continued.
"We can get to know each other better while we wait for the advance team to return. I'm glad that Malcador won't come to disturb us this time."
Even through the poisonous mist, Horus could sense Mortarion's doubts, but to be honest, the poisonous mist on this brother made even Horus, the Primarch, feel a little overwhelmed.
".What's the meaning?"
"Originally, the Empire asked me to welcome you, but Malcador intervened in the process. None of our brothers are led by Malcador, which makes me a little curious."
Then Horus smiled cunningly, as if asking his brother about a little secret.
"How does it feel to be led by Malcador, brother?"
Mortarion chewed over the days he had spent under the control of the psykers and spoke slowly.
".It sucks."
“I’m glad we have something in common about this.”
Horus said as he pulled Mortarion off the shuttle, and Mortarion's Death Shrouds followed their Primarch closely upon seeing this.
Horus glanced casually and saw the Space Marine whose death shroud was obviously larger than the other ones.
"Is this your escort? What are they called, brother?"
"Death Shroud."
"That's a great name. It seems we have the same interest in the topic of death."
"Then I guess this should be Hades, right?"
Mortarion blinked in surprise, waking up from the rhythm that Horus had been leading him in. He looked at Horus.
"Haha, my brother, your offspring is quite famous. Both among the technical sergeants on Mars and among the brothers you have come into contact with."
As for the legion he was going to cooperate with, Horus certainly would not just collect information about Mortarion. In many pieces of information, the frequency of appearance of this Death Guard named Hades was particularly high.
The Hades mentioned by Horus had already crashed. Horus's smooth combination of words and body language just now left Hades dumbfounded. Coupled with Horus's perfect kind smile, not to mention Mortarion, even Hades who was watching was confused after this series of operations.
Horus, with the bonus of the Primarch's light, was simply glowing brightly. Hades knew for the first time that a smile could have a stun effect. Coupled with Horus's sincere eyes,
Horus was already like this, and Hades could hardly imagine seeing the angel Sanguinius.
Compared to Finus, Vulcan and Perturabo whom Hades had seen before, the current Horus was simply amazing in appearance and the way he treated others.
It is precisely because of the existence of Primarchs like Horus the Wolf-God that the people of the Empire have such great admiration and awe for the leaders of these legions.
Hades was still impressed by Horus's conversation skills, and then he was shocked to find that the topic suddenly turned to him? !
Since Mortarion and Hades had little contact with other legions, they were not very clear that, in fact, in addition to the Primarch, each legion would have one or two extremely outstanding soldiers, and these people were also the ones that the Primarchs would make friends with.
"Of course, I also have excellent fighters here."
Horus led the Death Guard through the welcoming corridor staffed by the Luna Wolves while chatting about family matters.
"Abaddon."
Horus turned around and called a tall black-armored warrior over. Abaddon trotted out like a proud gray wolf, his pigtails swinging like a sleek wolf's tail.
"My First Captain, Ezekiel Abaddon, I thought you two might have something in common."
Horus looked at Hades in a friendly manner. This was the first time Hades had faced the charming smile of a normal and handsome Primarch. Hades felt as if he had been hit by a flash bomb. His thoughts clearly stopped for a moment.
Being a Moon Wolf is not impossible.
Abaddon, who walked over, also smiled at Hades in a friendly manner. In the Luna Wolves, warriors whose faces were similar to the Primarch were called Sons of Horus. Abaddon and Horus had similar faces and similar smiles, which successfully made Hades dazed for a millisecond.
Due to the height difference, from Hades's perspective, what was facing him was Abaddon's dangling pigtails.
Hades was forced into another trance for a millisecond.
Since Hades' social ability is the slow-start type and he strikes back first, he is unable to withstand the fast attack style of the Luna Wolves.
So Horus pulled Mortarion, Abaddon pulled Hades, and the taciturn Death Guard were beaten up by the Luna Wolves with maxed-out diplomacy, and were successfully defeated today.
Trivia: Before Horus became Warmaster, the only person who clearly opposed Horus in the original story was Krakos, the Raven King, and that was after Horus asked him to send a wave of Raven Guards.
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(End of this chapter)