The night could not hide the screams.
The acid rain poured down in torrents, and ghostly shadows danced among the shanties in the slums, waltzing along with the masterpiece of raindrops.
Conrad Curze put the bloody dagger against his face. The acid rain and the demon's tissue fluid made it wet. The Lord of the Night couldn't help but lick it. The fishy smell made him feel better.
The Lord of the Night sang the ballad briskly, "Number 3,567," as he cut the bones like a diligent assembly line worker, separating the flesh and skin with a dagger.
The demon he pinned down groaned weakly, its muddy yellow goat eyes staring at the original body, reflecting the true devil in the world.
The rain continued to fall, and blood and flesh were washed everywhere, but it was soon blocked by more corpses, including both demons and humans.
Koz happily felt the melody he hummed.
[Travel through the entire hell~]
[You can no longer go to heaven!]
The skin was peeled off completely, and he threw it on his head boredly. After a snap, the acid rain flowing into his eyes suddenly became less and turned into some kind of burning blood-red liquid.
Konrad Curze stood up. The Primarch's thin, hunched body made him look like an ominous wild cat, a hunter unique to the city.
His armor had long been shattered, and his communication channel had been deliberately damaged by Curze during the battle with the demon army. Now he was alone, walking on the rainy night of Nostramo.
This reminded Koz of the beginning of the story, when he was also so free.
But now, he was freer, because that last, false illusion of hope was gone, and this was hell.
In hell, Koz does not feel the guilt and responsibility that make him suffer. For this devil on earth, hell is his paradise for fun.
The Primarch walked quickly along the alleys of Nostramo. He saw the torn notice, the words on it were still faintly legible.
This was the literacy class that Sevatar promoted during the reform of Nostar. Sevatar enthusiastically proposed this suggestion to the Primarch. What was Conrad Curze doing at the time? He seemed to be cutting a tendon.
It doesn't matter, because it has already failed, and Nostramo is doomed to be a wasteland, and everything that was before is just a sand castle on the beach next to the sea.
Some people cannot see the sea not far away, some people believe that tsunamis will never come back, and some people believe that as long as the castles built with sand are strong enough, they will not collapse in the tsunami.
And Koz, Koz—
Koz hummed a song.
[I can no longer go to heaven~]
He continued to walk, passing by the collapsed huge sculpture that Sevasta had erected for him; passing by the clean, roaring metallurgical factories that had provided jobs for people; passing by the public hospital where the defenders had already withdrawn...
In an abandoned hospital filled with fresh corpses and flesh, Curze found some needles and thread, allowing him to continue his demon skin artwork.
Koz squatted on the edge of a hospital bed, with blood splattered on the white sheets. The patient who was originally lying on the bed was already dead, with his mouth wide open and a sharp blade on his chest.
Koz remembered the deceased, who was a worker commended by Sevasta for his high productivity and his active participation in literacy activities. The prize was a kilogram of fresh meat.
Koz was a little hungry, so he ate while sewing the leather products in his hands. The demons had different colors, which added more fun to his pursuit of art.
He sewed quietly and seriously, putting his whole body and soul into it. There was a hissing sound coming from the broken radio in the hospital, but there were no screams here anymore. They had all been killed by Koz.
Of course, Koz was also injured, but the physical pain could not cover up the madness in his mind.
Curze raised the needle, and he curled his lips in displeasure. The Primarch suddenly put down the needle and prepared to leave—
"Father!"
Before he could catch up with Curze, Curze jumped out of the window on the sixth floor of the hospital, and the glass shards fell with him. The Primarch fell to the ground, ready to go further away -
Curze turned his head stiffly. Sevatar was standing behind him, as if he had expected the Primarch to jump off the building.
"Father,"
Sevatar said calmly and wearily,
"I implore you to return to the Nightfall. The Bat Council has voted that the Night Lords will launch an extermination order against Noskramo."
The Council of Bats is a small decision-making group of the Night Lords established by Sevatar after Curze delegated power to Sevatar.
Konrad Curze stared at Sevatar. His Prince of Crows was no longer as sharp-tongued as before. He became calmer, more taciturn, and more... older.
Sevatar's face was covered in sagging furrows and his hair was completely white.
Do crows' feathers turn white when they grow old and die
[Don't mind me, Sai,]
Curze said, standing there, surrounded by his strange offspring,
[I will burn up along with hell.]
Sevatar sighed deeply, his eyebrows and eyes looked old, old enough to cover his eyes that were shining with complex light.
"Father, please stop being stubborn."
Sevatar said, "You know this is impossible. The Night Lords cannot lose you."
Curze looked at Sevatar. He bent down and placed his hands on Sevatar's shoulder armor. His messy hair was tied on Sevatar's forehead.
[You've seen it all, Sai.]
Koz said in a low voice,
[We have fallen into hell. No matter how hard we struggle, this is still hell. You can't climb out of here.]
[We can only die in hell, or become demons and live in hell forever, Sai.]
Sevatar trembled, and the Prince of Crows stretched out one hand, trying to hold the Primarch's hand, while his other hand hung limply at his waist.
Sevatar asked tremblingly. Curze looked into Sevatar's eyes and felt that his most loyal son was on the verge of collapse.
Curze lowered his head, and he felt a sharp blade coming out of his mouth, stabbing at Sevatar and cutting his throat.
[I…] Curze's voice trembled, [If I said at that time that half of the empire would become hell and the Night Lords would personally launch an extermination order against Nostramo, would you believe me or think I was crazy?]
[Only... Only he can understand, but I already...?! ]
Curze opened his eyes wide, and he slowly turned his head, staring at the syringe that Sevatar's other hand was stabbing at him. The sharp needle pierced through the gap in the broken armor and injected venom.
The familiar feeling of dizziness slowly rose up and overtook Koz.
Sevatar sighed wearily.
"I'm sorry, father,"
The Prince of Crows said,
"This is the day... the pharmacist extracted the remaining potion from you. I have been keeping it for future use."
Sevatar took a step back indifferently, signaling the bats around him to hold back the Primarch's slowly falling body.
"You have your difficulties, and I have mine,"
Said Sevatar.
"But all along, I wanted to make you better, and make the Night Lords better."
The cold and stinging raindrops fell on Sevatar's face. His eyes were dark. The Prince of Crows looked up and watched the glory he had once built turn to dust.
The Astronomican was extinguished, and countless demon armies emerged from every corner of Nostramo. The chaos and madness that had plagued this land for thousands of years finally reverberated at this moment, with monsters emerging from every shadow.
After the Atonement Crusade, the Night Lords, who had not recruited soldiers for a long time, were unable to defend Nostramo.
And because of Sevatar's purge, those dissatisfied people lurking in the shadows of Nostramo also launched a self-destructive attack on him.
The defenders' front line was retreated again and again.
They first retreated from the newly built metallurgical factory in the suburbs to the food factory that Sevita ordered to be built.
The last remnants of a dissident family uprooted by Sevastata, chanting devilish slogans, jumped into the high-temperature furnace of the food factory. The boiling concentrated syrup burst, causing a series of explosions and chaos.
Then they retreated to the reserve school established by Sevastopol.
They stayed there for quite a long time, and those youngsters who had not yet become Night Lords helped them a lot, but in the end, when the remaining population of the school was less than 5%, Sevatar chose to retreat again - the Night Lords had to leave behind at least some of their young people.
It was at this time that the mad Conrad Kurtz disappeared into the streets of the city.
Then the plaza with the statue of Curze, and finally the hospital - they hurried aboard the Night Lords' warship, but even that was fraught with danger.
After all personnel retreated to the Nightfall, and after determining that the Nostramo had completely lost its value and might as well be burned directly, Sevastata began looking for Konrad Curze.
Finally, he found it.
In the private room of the Nightfall, Sevatar said nothing. He held the command board in one hand and pressed the arm of the unconscious Curze with the other hand - the Primarch had been locked up with layers of iron chains.
Sevatar might have gone mad, too.
Sevasta pressed [OK].
He knew that at this moment, the barrel of the Whirlwind torpedo on the Nightfall was emitting a scorching light.
There were no windows in the Primarch's room. Sevatar counted the seconds silently in his mind.
boom.
Sevatar thought to himself, imagining the crust of Nostramo collapsing in a blinding golden light, turning into huge chunks of useless ruins.
Sevatar thought he should cry, but his overworked eyes were now extremely dry, and his numb heart seemed unable to squeeze out any other emotions.
The Night Lords can no longer withstand any more attacks, but in this hell, they must have strength to survive.
Sevatar thought tiredly as he listened to Curze's steady breathing beside him. Sevatar now really wanted Curze to jump up, yell at him for being a traitor, and then shoot him to death, so that Sevatar could get some fucking sleep.
But unfortunately nothing happened.
It can't be Lion Jonson, Sevatar thought. The First Legion was here to spy on them.
Horus didn't consider it either. Sevatar couldn't imagine Horus' reaction after learning that half of the empire had fallen into hell.
In a way, the fact that half the Empire is now burning is a sign of a serious dereliction of duty on the part of the Warmaster himself.
Horus, the sanctimonious guy, must have gone crazy now. Sevatar gave a dry fake laugh.
Fulgrim... Sevatar thought that perhaps they could join the Phoenix. Fulgrim was once Curze's teacher, and the two primarchs had a good relationship before the quarrel with Dorn.
But Sevatar is not sure what the Phoenix is like now. In Sevatar's eyes, in this situation, Fulgrim is likely to have a similar reaction to Horus.
Finally... Sevatar drew a circle on the command board, Sanguinius, the Night Lords did not have much contact with the Blood Angels.
The perfect archangel, Sevatar thought, would he take them in
Beside him, Koz groaned.
Yay!
(End of this chapter)