The flames of war are dying down, the embers are gone, and no matter how brutal the fighting was, it is now just a thing of the past, like the chirping of cicadas in summer.
Dark, quiet, and dry.
Angron's will was slowly rising.
He smelled the scent of rust flowing away and the pungent aroma of alcohol. His eyes were hazy and a hazy circle of light was floating in front of him.
Blurred, he recalled the scene he had seen before, deep in his memory.
What did he see
Rarely, Angron began to calmly recall his memories, and the Lord of Red Sand was not even aware of his current rare state.
He thought first of blood, the fighting arena, rage, and shouting.
Then came blinding golden lights, which were hotter and more painful than the strongest plasma beams.
Angron felt like he was falling in an endless sea of light. The ocean of light was not peaceful. He heard hoarse prayers, soft sobbing pleas, casual expressions of disdain, orders, requests, doubts, and determination.
Those mouths open and close together to outline an image.
Angron narrowed his eyes and watched the thousands of people’s mouths opening and closing. The shape of their mouths was…
Emperor
Angron's eyes snapped open, and the dark ceiling stared back at him.
He felt exhausted and painful, as if his body no longer belonged to him. His muscles were trembling nervously and his heart was pounding violently, but it felt like it was not pumping much blood. He didn't even control his body in the first place.
Angron sensed something was wrong.
Since he could not move immediately, Angron's eyes moved cautiously to examine the world. He heard soft breathing mixed with snoring, the sound of light footsteps in the distance, and the small ticking of instruments.
These sounds somehow comforted him, but no, not this—
nail?!
The Lord of Red Sands' breathing paused for a moment, and Angron felt above his head in disbelief. He could feel these blasphemous artifacts crawling above him, but they were clearly lifeless.
Butcher's Nails... stopped
Angron shuddered, a great joy washed over him, and belatedly realized... So the emotion he was feeling now was...
Is it... peaceful
Angron had never known such an emotion before, but at this moment the Son of the Mountain was firmly certain of the fact that a great, indescribable peace and tranquility was enveloping him.
It turns out that this feeling of breathing quietly is peace.
Angron remembered that he seemed to have been on the battlefield before, and it might not be appropriate for him to lie here doing nothing now, but he really, really missed this feeling. Angron suspected that he was dead, or it was just his hallucination, but no matter what, the giant now cherished this hard-earned peace.
Angron allowed himself a moment of indulgence.
He stared at the ceiling contentedly, then he slowly and carefully closed his eyes, feeling the peace of the moment, which should be the birthright of all people.
Angron lay there, breathing evenly and slowly.
He felt good.
Gradually, Angron felt another strange feeling coming up, but the Nuthreian god of war was cautious and even cowardly to perceive this emotion at this moment - he was so afraid that all this was an illusion.
His will touched his feeling, and Angron's instinct told him that this emotion was called [Sleepiness].
Even though his muscles were still cramping slightly, even though his body had a high fever due to extreme anemia, even though he hadn't eaten properly in several years and was extremely malnourished.
But Angron chose to lie contentedly in the cradle of sleepiness, which was like a huge dry nest covered with the fur of Nutherian beasts. There was no blood, no heads, and no harsh and irritable shouts from the arena. He lay there, alone, and let his consciousness gradually fade away.
The darkness remains.
…
Angron calmly opened his eyes, taking a full second to celebrate the fact that he still felt calm in his mind.
The sound of gentle breathing still rang in his ears.
Angron tried gently to stand up, but he failed. Normally, this would make Angron feel extremely angry, but now Angron was surprised to find that he was not angry about this matter.
So Angron tried another way. He turned his head to the other side, and he succeeded. Angron saw the source of the breathing sound.
Hades was slumped unconscious in a chair beside his bed, blood dried on his armor, his head hanging over the top of the chair, nose pointed upward, and Angron saw faint bubbles of mucus rising and falling with Hades's breathing.
This scene made Angron want to laugh. If he had the strength, Angron would definitely laugh and pat Hades on the shoulder, but now his nose felt sore and he coughed up blood.
In his shaking vision, Angron first saw the bubble on Hades' nose burst, and Hades jumped up like a fly. He rushed to Angron with sleepy eyes to check the situation, and then heaved a sigh of relief when he realized that there was no problem.
Hades didn't even realize that Angron was awake. He mechanically wiped the blood off Angron and fell back onto the chair, and it seemed that he would close his eyes again immediately.
[Hades?]
Angron called out tentatively, and he saw Hades suddenly open his eyes, stand firm, and then Hades shook his head violently.
"Angron?! Are you awake?"
Even in his surprise, Hades lowered his voice, and Angron was relieved for a moment, feeling that his brain didn't want to hear the high-pitched voice.
Angron smiled weakly, confirming that he was awake.
"What the hell is going on now, Hades? Have you stuffed those alien metal heads into the ground yet?"
Angron could not believe that his voice could be so weak.
Seeing him wake up, Hades instantly perked up, waved his fist in the air, and grinned.
"Thanks to the Emperor, the Mechanicus, and the World Eaters, they were all kicked back into the trash by these scumbags."
Angron tried to laugh, but only coughing and wheezing noises came out of his lungs, and Hades quickly waved him off.
For a moment, Angron was sure he saw Hades glance toward the door with a serious and thoughtful look, but when he turned around, Hades returned to his rather relaxed and sunny smile.
"At least now we can rest for a while,"
Hades shrugged nonchalantly.
"Never mind that for now, Angron. You need to rest. The longer the better. Do you want to sleep a little longer?"
[I am not sleepy now.]
He said, causing Hades to blink in surprise.
"I'm not sleepy—Your physical condition is stable now, so you should be—"
As Hades spoke, he checked the equipment next to Angron's bed again and helped Angron sit up.
"I see!"
Hades said,
"You must be hungry, Angron. You haven't had a proper meal in at least three years. I'll have them bring some food over."
"It's time to let the World Eaters know that you're awake."
Angron opened his mouth, and in his heart, he partly wished he could be quiet for a while. If the World Eaters came in, it would mean that he would be exposed to even more intense emotions.
But as if he knew what he was thinking, Hades continued to talk to himself.
"Angron, I won't let Kahn and the others in for now. I'm afraid they'll be too excited and that won't be good for your recovery."
Hades snapped his fingers, and soon the door opened, and a robot servant came in pushing a dining cart.
Hades sniffed.
"I didn't expect the World Eaters to prepare these? But it suits you well, Angron."
Angron watched as Hades skillfully opened the plate covering the food, and then he saw the trembling cream, the strawberries with honey gleaming on their tips, and the fragrance of fermented and baked grains.
Angron was puzzled, as desserts were never an option in the Lord of Red Sand's menu.
It was the extremely excited Hades who answered his confusion.
"Perhaps they think meat is not suitable for patients, and butter bread, fruit, etc. can also quickly replenish energy. Which one do you want, Angron, I will help you? Do you mind if I eat some?"
Angron spoke. He felt hungry. In the calm, the hunger became more obvious.
[It's up to you. Just give me the biggest piece.]
Hades smiled slyly and handed Angron a glass of water before reluctantly helping him get his dessert.
Angron devoured the food, the bread crumbs were dense and thick, sliding down his throat easily. They were sweet, very sweet, but not as disgusting as the fishy sweetness of blood.
Hades also ate very quickly. Angron originally thought that this guy who ate like a normal person could not compete with him who was wolfing down food, but later the Primarch realized that he was wrong. Just like a competition to see who could chop off more heads, they began to fight over the cakes.
Hades performed a three-second eating maneuver for him, and Angron would have applauded if he hadn't been struggling with a pie stuffed with crushed nuts.
The final winner was Angron. The Son of the Mountain used his brain a little and instructed Hades to help him get food from farther away, which successfully slowed down Hades' speed.
They devoured the first table first, then Hades ordered the servitors to push in two more tables, and they did the same with the second table. Then, when they tore apart the third table of enemies, they began to chat leisurely.
However, Angron, who had no radio wave sensors on his body, probably didn't know that Hades had been using binary radio waves to command the army since he woke up. He only knew that Hades was chatting with him while eating out of boredom.
There were things they carefully avoided during Angron's newfound peace, for both knew that Angron would have plenty of time to deal with them in the years ahead.
The initial topic was wild and unrestrained. They started with the topic of why strawberries are sourer than blueberries. Angron tried to answer this question with his poor knowledge of chemistry, while Hades thought that red was jealous because it was played by blue, so it was sour.
Angron had no idea what Hades was talking about, but that was no problem, because he was talking nonsense too, his mind was half asleep and half awake, and sometimes Angron found that what he said was different from what he thought.
Hades' explanation for this was that Angron needed to let his brain adjust to its current state.
As Angron's mind gradually cleared, the conversation inevitably turned serious. Angron asked Hades about his Butcher's Nail, and Hades' answer was quite simple.
Hades put down a chocolate cookie in his hand and said seriously that if he wiped the cream from his mouth, he might be more persuasive.
"The nails have completely stopped. They won't go any deeper."
Hades said seriously,
"Originally... you wouldn't be able to survive at this depth, but maybe... your father, the Emperor, saved you."
Angron spoke, his voice hoarse,
What did he do to me
Hades waved his hand.
"Don't ask me. I'm a psychic Muggle. You have to ask him in person."
Angron did not ask what Muggle meant. He understood Hades' words through Hades' tone. He opened his mouth, but the question was stuck in his throat. Angron suddenly remembered that something more than just cake seemed to be stuck in his throat before.
[What should we do with these nails next? ]
Hades looked at Angron.
"Your brain and spinal cord are largely replaced by nails, so they can't be pulled out directly. If they were pulled out directly..."
Hades shook his head.
"Then the rest of your brain will be sloshing around in your skull like a beaten egg yolk."
So I have to carry them with me all the time
Angron's words were tinged with a sense of loss that he himself could not perceive.
"Not necessarily. You should trust your Primarch's constitution, Angron."
Hades said hesitantly,
"I prefer to remove the nail slowly - maybe a millimeter at a time, and then let's see if your brain tissue can grow back to fill the gap."
But Hades quickly added the following sentences:
"Now that nails are useless, maybe you can try psychic methods, but I can't answer that... Or..."
Hades blinked.
"I do know someone who is good at life sciences. He may have done some research on brain growth."
Hades said as he tapped the left side of his metal head with his fingers.
"Unfortunately I already have this big piece of iron on it, but it's not bad - wait, Angron, how about I try -"
[No.]
Angron rejected Hades cleanly, which meant he lost the opportunity to see what message Hades was currently sending over the airwaves.
3.8k. No more today, yay!
(End of this chapter)