The black tide receded, revealing the still-living skeletons.
Horus calmly raised his lightning claws. In the dim corridor, there was a wall on one side and a floor-to-ceiling observation window on the other. Above it, Cadia was spinning quietly.
The dazzling arc of lightning from the lightning claw illuminated Horus' face in light and darkness.
Those bloodshot eyes were staring at the end of the corridor where the light sound came from. He was not in a hurry. After everything receded, the power was surging again, as ugly as a bare river bank.
In the shadows behind Horus, colorful monsters were dancing—the promised psychic energy was returning home, which made him feel both ecstatic and desperate.
But slowly, the ecstasy of regaining strength covered the powerless despair like a veil.
The despair and pain that came from the depths of corruption were being transformed into strength and being used by Horus again.
He looked with disdain at the swirling mist beneath his feet - it was much weaker than the thick fog when he first saw Mortarion. Those who drive fire will eventually burn themselves and die in the flames.
Horus opened his mouth and was about to mock Mortarion's ugliness when the Pale Lord's whisper came from the rolling mist.
[Please spare me... I never want to compete with you for the title of "who is most favored by the emperor". ]
Horus' eyes suddenly widened, and he growled angrily, like an enraged beast.
[If this is how you understand loyalty, traitor, then I know why you turned yourself into this half-human, half-ghost appearance.]
Horus said this contemptuously, while drawing out the World Breaker hammer. The golden hammer head was shining on the black hammer handle.
The Primarch turned his hammer slightly, and a pale and weak face was reflected on the smooth edges of the hammer.
The mist rolled and gushed out like a fountain. The tattered cloak appeared from the mist. Mortarion stepped out of the mist and shook his wings.
As the wings fluttered, each time they opened and closed, countless billowing white mists poured out from between the closed inner wings. At the edge of the mist, a silent, shrieking hole similar to a skull was formed.
Horus glanced at the report of his own armor without leaving a trace, and unsurprisingly, he saw the value of the pollutant column soaring.
Horus' heart sank; there was a break in his armor's circulatory system - this could not be a good thing.
Then, Horus felt a gust of wind whistling in front of him. Without any hesitation, relying on his combat instinct, Horus swung his hammer and took on Mortarion's surprise attack.
The sickle hung in front of Horus, and the rapidly spinning chainsaw chain at the sickle tip produced sparks that splashed into Horus' eyes.
Horus held the hammer with both hands, and placed it horizontally, just covering the junction of the sickle blade and sickle shaft of the Scythe of Annihilation.
Even the four gods sent down their power and changed Horus - making his body more bloated - more bloated.
But facing Mortarion who was one step closer to his essence, Horus was still inferior to Mortarion, and the shadow of the Pale Lord loomed over Horus.
The two trapped beasts were testing each other. They did not relax, but let the power flow through their cold weapons, wrestling with each other tightly.
During the long stalemate, the refined gold wailed and sparks flew.
[You have become weaker.]
Horus smiled, but Mortarion refused to talk to Horus.
While luring the Black Domain, Mortarion also consumed a lot of his energy, making him even weaker as he was already a psychic being.
The Warmaster's arms trembled, and for a moment, Horus doubted that his Worldbreaker would break.
He looked madly at Mortarion, the coward who wore a gas mask and didn't want others to know his emotions. The pale lord's eyes still didn't show much emotion until -
Bright flames lit up on the other side of the floor-to-ceiling windows. The explosion at the moment of the giant ship's death lit up the void, but this was just the prelude to a series of grand deaths. Countless dazzling fireworks exploded outside the window, illuminating their faces.
At that moment, Horus could see the wavering light in Mortarion's eyes.
The next moment, bang!
Mortarion took the lead in hewing the sickle, and the sickle handle rotated to relieve the force, breaking the deadlock!
The giant scythe hit the ground heavily with a loud noise. Horus put down the hammer. His palms were numb and his arms were sore.
But Horus looked at Mortarion with a half-smile, his face half bright and half dark against the backdrop of the battleship's explosion.
The Warmaster watched Mortarion's figure flash, and the Pale Lord looked out the window thoughtfully, seeing the scene of the Death Guard being surrounded.
Mortarion stared at the almost dizzying naval battle, stammering poisonous gas from his respirator mask.
[You want to...]
Mortarion turned his head and looked at Horus questioningly.
[I misjudged you, Horus.]
The god of death said softly, [You want to die together?! ]
With a whistling sound, Silence swung towards Horus again, and this time the horizontal sickle was aimed at Horus' waist. Horus blocked the attack with his lightning claws. He exerted force with his wrist and shook off the sickle blade that was stuck by the lightning claws.
[Each other,] Horus raised his head and smiled, [Three minutes ago, you also had this idea, right, Mortarion?]
Mortarion's face darkened and he slashed at Horus again!
The scythe in his hand almost danced out of thin air, but Horus always cleverly blocked Mortarion's scythe, as if he was not in a hurry to attack, Horus just dragged Mortarion.
Mortarion realized this as well.
Horus was stalling for time.
After realizing this, Mortarion's attack speed increased by two times! The beast in the fog that usually looked broken and slow was not as slow as it looked!
On the contrary, he is terrifyingly agile!
But even so, Horus's defense is still impeccable!
[I saw our younger brother Omega,]
Amid the frantic sound of metal clashing, Horus said loudly,
[That was originally your position, wasn't it, Mortarion?!]
A dazzling green light suddenly burst out!
Horus wanted to close his eyes, but it was too late! His eyes were dizzy, and the green light that was so bright that it was almost burning remained on his retina. Tears flowed down his face. He squinted his eyes and saw the two-winged moth god rising in the narrow corridor, and the billions of vengeful spirits twisting and wriggling behind him!
The deafening sound of wings beating struck Horus' soul, as if something was approaching - approaching - Horus stared at the monster in the air in a trance, and a breeze blew across the smooth skin on his left side -
Horus suddenly raised his hammer to his left side, and almost at the same moment he put up his defense, the sickle as fast as a laser hit his hammer hard!
The chainsaw sickle roared violently and tore off the surface skin on the left side of Horus' neck, causing the skin to roll up and reveal flesh and blood.
Horus turned his head, tears streaming down his face. He stared at the monster on his left side. On the other side, the shadow suspended in the air was left behind by him.
Beside him, Mortarion, with his wings folded and his whole body dull, was staring at him intently. Mortarion lowered his center of gravity, his back bent like a full moon, and he gripped the sickle with both hands, as if he was determined to cut off Horus' head with one blow.
Mortarion roared a threat.
You never understood this.
[Yeah?]
Horus smiled, but his smile grew and grew until it broke into a terrible laugh.
[I remember...] Horus said lightly. Even though the scythe in Mortarion's hand went deeper and deeper, and the rapidly spinning chainsaw chain roughly tore out flesh and blood, Horus continued to talk to himself as if he was hysterical.
[I remember the first time we met...] Horus looked at Mortarion meaningfully, [You knew this then, didn't you?]
Mortarion's pupils trembled violently. After stepping into Nurgle's garden, Mortarion lost most of his memories - even though his emotions were completely preserved!
Mortarion had no idea what had happened when he first met Horus, but at this moment, the guilt and self-blame that suddenly surged up in him were real!
So what happened back then?!
Mortarion decisively cut off this doubt, his eyes became cold again. The previous episode did not affect the harvest of the god of death. He exerted force with both hands and buried the buzzing chainsaw into Horus' neck.
Blood gushed out because the muscles on one side were cut off and Horus' head was twisted at an abnormal angle. He stared at Mortarion with blood oozing from his mouth.
[You knew it at the time, so you rejected me. ]
Horus said softly, [Have I been abandoned so early? Or... ]
He stared at Mortarion. What made Mortarion feel strange was that even though the chainsaw chain had been buried deep enough, Horus' hands holding the war hammer were still firmly blocked there and did not collapse.
Mortarion could even see the grey hue of annihilation climbing up Horus' skin - Mortarion's chainsaw was poisoned, of course.
Horus made a hoarse sound,
[You are different from Omega. What have you sacrificed? What is acceptable?! ]
Mortarion did not answer him. The Pale Lord simply spread his wings again, flapping them and thrusting them forward, increasing his strength to firmly press the scythe against Horus' neck.
However, this time, Horus's hands did not move at all. He stared at Mortarion, his eyeballs almost bursting, and the vicious words from his mouth splashed on Mortarion's face along with his blood.
[So cold-blooded, so cruel, you choose to abandon your brothers and let them fall into the abyss? ]
[That's your fucking choice!]
Mortarion cursed, and then he was shocked to feel a huge force coming from the scythe, and he was knocked away and hit the wall. Countless mists dissipated from Mortarion's armor.
In the midst of the chaos, Mortarion looked at Horus. He knew what he was doing. Horus was picking up the power given to him by the Four Gods. In fact, Horus had been rejecting the Four Gods before! Even though he was half crazy, he did not fully accept their gift.
Mortarion's sight passed over Horus, and he saw the fleet's sea of fire behind Horus, and then he saw the quietly rotating planet... Hades... Mortarion realized that if Cadia was destroyed... this would at least not be the ending that the false gods expected!
For a moment, Mortarion even hoped that Horus, who was controlled by the Four Gods, could give the order to stop the bombing, but his hope was dashed. Horus naturally reached out and tore off the communication line on his armor, and the small communication device turned into fragments in Horus's hands.
At the same time, the warp tide surged into this vast battlefield again. Billions of rebels, or their corpses, were immersed in the warp tide, and their figures began to become illusory.
But at this moment, the two primarchs, who were staring at each other like enemies, did not notice.
Mortarion stared at Horus. He felt the aura of the Warp filling up again. Horus was right in front of him. He watched Horus' figure expand further, like a balloon blown up by brute force.
Mortarion asked softly, gripping the scythe tightly as he watched Horus' wounds heal.
Horus showed a sarcastic expression.
[The war between us will no longer affect the war situation.]
[And I have already won.]
The Warmaster said casually, turning his head to look at the ships in the melee, [Soldiers, ships, ammunition, these are the criteria for judging the outcome of a war - not a duel between two generals... You are not worthy... I am not worthy either. ]
Horus looked at Mortarion and laughed contemptuously.
[No, as a general, my legion will be greatly affected if I lose my command - but yours will not be affected, right?]
Mortarion exhaled a breath of poisonous gas, [Naturally.]
He had missed the sarcasm in Horus's words, or perhaps Mortarion was even proud of it.
At this moment, Mortarion was thinking hard about how he could reverse this situation - how could he save Hades - how could he kill Horus
But just as Horus had said, Mortarion realized that the fight here now would no longer affect the outcome of the war.
They unleashed a massive war machine, and now everything was moving forward with inertia, crushing each other to the final outcome.
Winning or losing here does not affect the overall situation. The deciding factor in victory lies in larger and smaller dimensions, but not here.
Mortarion took a deep breath. Since the concentration of the Warp here had risen again, there was no need for him to suppress his inappropriate psychic energy to prevent himself from increasing the concentration of the Warp here and causing Horus to regain power.
He could only believe it.
Trust the Death Guard, trust the Vorx, trust the White Scars reinforcements...
Trust Hades.
Believe... a mechanical alien race.
Even the most crucial person in the whole incident was an alien.
Mortarion thought painfully,
Mortarion turned his head and looked through the glass window at his fleets. Well done, Vorcus... Even though his fight wasn't as impressive as Hades', Mortarion knew that Vorcus had tried his best.
Mortarion turned his head and stared at Horus. His mouth opened, and his eyes blazed.
[Thank you,]
Mortarion spoke softly, and his words surprised Horus, but Mortarion continued,
[It’s been a long time… a long time since I’ve done something like this without caring about the cost. ]
He has been bound by reason and the overall situation for too long.
[I want…]
Mortarion remembered Garro's extinguished flame,
[I want you to pay with blood.]
Mortarion suddenly spread his wings, and above the huge wings, countless eyes stared at Horus intently.
———————
[Oh, fuck.]
Conrad Curze cursed under his breath. At this moment, he was crawling on the corridor of the Spirit of Vengeance, fiddling with the "corpses" carelessly.
None of the "corpses" were dead yet, but Conrad knew they were.
Conrad murmured to himself, continued to climb forward, and shuddered again.
[Oh my god...] Conrad whispered, [I heard the whisper of that murderous ghost again... Exactly the same words...]
He touched the blood on the ground, sniffed it, and licked his fingers.
[Who will provoke him this time... ]
Conrad smacked his lips thoughtfully, then he sat up straight, opened his arms, and laughed.
[It’s not me anyway! It’s fate! ]
His laughter penetrated the deep corridor, echoing layer by layer.
But his laughter did not last long. Conrad turned around and looked at Sevatar standing in the distance.
[Go back! Go back! Get lost!]
Conrad waved his hand impatiently, signaling Sevatar to leave.
[Run! Run! My Sai! Mortarion, Horus, gather with me—Have you forgotten what happened last time? !]
But Sevatar still stood there, always on guard, but still standing straight.
"I need to know what you are going to do, my Lord."
Conrad chuckled.
[Going to die,] the Primarch said happily, [I only have one chance, I don't want to work for Sanguinius anymore, I can't kill this, I can't kill that - the Archangel has always looked at me in a wrong way.]
Once the situation in the First Divine Kingdom eases... Sanguinius will look at Conrad Curze with a hint of dissatisfaction.
They were not the same kind of people, Conrad knew, he was just a madman who was temporarily tied up.
Sevatar did not move, "The Legion needs you, you cannot abandon us, my lord."
Before he finished speaking, Sevatar wanted to retreat, but he controlled his instinct. Conrad Koz was holding his shoulders, spitting out a foul breath.
[Greedy Sai,] Conrad said slowly, [You have already sucked ten warehouses of my blood - enough for the Night Lords to build their army ten thousand years from now.]
Conrad Curze leaned forward. Sevatar could feel Conrad trembling, but Curze's voice suddenly became steady and low.
[Yago Sevasta, I want to fight for you a chance - to fight for a chance for the new legion,]
[The Archangels only use us as executioners. We have no legitimacy. Once the temporary period of transition is over, the First Kingdom will inevitably be judged. Perhaps the Blood Angels can rely on the personal charm of Sanguinius to protect themselves, and the Dark Angels can rely on their unique "first" to protect themselves, but what about us? What about the Night Lords? ]
Sevatar felt his shoulder armor creaking under the huge force, and his mind went cold - when did the Primarch become so clear-headed
Curze's whispers continued.
[When the time comes, we will be the biggest victims, the price and sacrifice that will be pushed to the surface, they will not be merciful, I have already thought of Guilliman's holy place, the artificial tears he shed because he had to judge - he will repent his actions in the middle of the night, and then use the previous sins of the Night Lords to try to wash away his uneasy false mercy.]
Conrad turned his head and cursed dozens of Nostramo swear words quickly, then shook his head and continued,
[There is no way out - unless the Legion can prove itself in other ways - now is the chance, the only chance! ]
Konrad Curze said, "Although Mortarion is as disgusting as the Death Guard, so disgusting that I want to vomit after just one look at it, the Empire just prefers this kind of garbage, and this kind of garbage is just good enough..."
Conrad stopped and stared at Sevasta blankly.
[Enough loyalty.]
Conrad whispered that Mortarion was not a man who cared about the overall situation. He would never be like Guilliman. If his brother directly or indirectly killed a warrior he admired, even if Guilliman was sad, he would still talk to the brother who killed his warrior with a smile for the sake of the overall situation.
hypocrite!
Mortarion would not do that—he would not, as Konrad had learned firsthand.
A vindictive villain!
But this also means... Conrad arranged the human skin decorations and chains on Sevatar's armor, and Mortarion could be used.
When Conrad thought of using Mortarion, he recalled the original scene and he shuddered again unconsciously, but looking at Sevatar and the newborn cubs behind Sevatar, Conrad fell silent again.
[I will win Mortarion's trust for you.]
Conrad said, "Mortarion and his Death Guard will be the only legion after the Order that is free from most constraints. Go find them, okay?"
[Mortarion... Mortarion can...]
Conrad lowered his head in pain and smashed it against Sevatar's shoulder armor, hitting him again and again.
He saw Mortarion stand up at the meeting and refuse to give in.
After the Pale Lord opened one of his wings, Sevatar stood silently.
This will be a prophecy of Conrad's own choosing - he will choose the one he wants - just like Sanguinius did.
Even if the price would be a more tragic ending.
Sevatar's voice pulled him out of the prophecy just in time.
"There will be no new order, my lord."
Sevatar said that he knew Konrad was ill again, and that everything the Primarch said was based on the premise that the war could be stopped in a short period of time - but this was not realistic.
[You don't know anything! ]
[I want to die! I have to find a way to die! ]
Conrad suddenly jumped up, grabbed Sevata's neck and pressed him against the wall, and blood and foam splashed on Sevata's face.
[Last order, leave here, fleet battle to support Death Guard, otherwise—]
Conrad raised his gun and aimed at the Night Lord behind Sevatar.
He knew that the little bastard, a new generation, was still using Sevatar's gene seed, and Sevatar valued him very much.
"Understood."
Sevatar uttered a few high Gothic words, and the next moment, he fell to the ground. In his peripheral vision due to lack of oxygen, he saw the figure of Conrad Curze running frantically.
It was like running away.
Sevatar gave a wry smile.
(End of this chapter)