Emperor's Bane

Chapter 1017 Betangamon
"Can you feel it, Bjorn?"

"The white scars are acting a little strange."

In the brightly lit command center, even Lemanrus's almost self-talking murmurs could be clearly heard by his youngest advisor.

Bjorn looked up, a hint of surprise appearing on his rugged face, which was no longer young.

He had not anticipated that his genetic father would choose this moment to ask him a question; nor did he expect that he would be qualified to have a private conversation with his genetic prototype.

It's important to know that just days before the Terra crisis that tore the entire galaxy apart, Bjorn had been promoted by Lemanrus to his Ainholga: an advisory team composed of veterans from the Space Wolves Legion, designed to advise the Primarchs.

Of course, just like the Camlann Council and the old guard beside the Spider Queen, Lemanrus's advisory team was not always able to play its due role.

Unlike Morgan, the Spider Queen was able to work without relying on her advisory team because her abilities were quite versatile, even among the Primarchs. While she might not be an expert in every field, she didn't have any glaring weaknesses and could handle most difficulties on her own.

In this context, the Astartes and mortal advisors around Morgan played more of a role as history books or mouthpieces: either using their rich experience to find similar events for the Spider Queen to refer to, or using their class and knowledge to enable Morgan to see things that happened outside her field of vision.

The reason why Leman Russ relied less on his advisory group compared to Morgan is quite simple.

He couldn't be bothered to listen.

If it's a minor matter, then the Primarch can certainly act arbitrarily.

However, if it is a major event, then it is either the decree of the emperor or Terra, or it is a decision made by Lemanrus himself, which his descendants cannot dissuade.

In the Sixth Legion, becoming an Einhorga was more of a status symbol and recognition: it meant that your abilities and prospects were acknowledged by most people.

And most importantly: the recognition of the Primarch.

Bjorn is the best example.

When he was chosen by Lemanrus, many of the Wolf Brothers were puzzled by the appointment: Bjorn was not known for his outstanding strength and wisdom, nor did he have any impressive martial skills. The earliest records about him were from the end of the Great Crusade, and he did not seem like the kind of person who could shoulder this responsibility.

The wolf king's response was simple.

He believes that Bjorn's future is crucial to the fate of the entire galaxy and the Sixth Legion.

And so the young wolf was promoted, and from then on served the Primarch with trepidation and diligence.

He witnessed the Space Wolves Legion's crushing defeat in the werewolf war, where a large number of elite troops, led by Wolf Lord Jorin, fell before the Warmaster. Bjorn, on the other hand, followed the defeated army regrouped by Lemanrus and traveled all the way to the fortress of Betangamon, where he has been fighting to this day against Horus's two most important allies.

On the land of Betangamon, the situation is much better than during the Werewolf Wars. Although the combined forces of the Sons of the Emperor and the White Scars still have an overwhelming numerical advantage and their attacks are always fierce, the Imperial Fist, as an ally, is absolutely steadfast and reliable: with their assistance, holding these walls is not difficult.

Although many of the outer defenses of Betangamon have been lost in the past dozen months, the overall situation of the fortress has never been out of control: several important pivot worlds are firmly protected by the Seventh Legion, the vast majority of the warehouses have not fallen into enemy hands, and the throne of Lemanrus is as stable as a mountain on the main star of Betangamon.

Of course, most importantly, the prison that held the most distinguished criminals in the entire empire has remained untouched by the flames of war to this day.

Forgrim and Chagatai Khan seemed unaware of how close they were to the prison of one of their brothers. Although their soldiers had already set foot on the main planet of Betangamon with their iron boots, they never attempted to launch any attack on the heavily fortified stronghold.

Similarly, the noble prisoner held in the fortress prison never reacted at all.

His docility brought a sigh of relief to Lemanrus.

The Wolf King remembers what happened on Nicaea.

As Magnus's jailer, he was allowed by the Emperor to retain some of his memories: although he had forgotten the events leading up to the Nicaea incident, he always remembered the extent of the damage Magnus had caused to the Emperor and the Empire itself.

He was wary of this power.

Therefore, even though Horus's rebellion nearly crushed the Sixth Legion, the Wolf King never attempted to recall the elite Wolf Legion that had been monitoring the remnants of the Thousand Sons over Prospero: those were thousands of battle-hardened veterans, and the situation would have been much better if they had been on the battlefield.

But Lemanrus never touched them: especially after Astram of Caliban, in the name of the Primarch, transferred all the main force of the Dark Angels, who were also on surveillance missions, to the Eye of Terror defense line.

Before issuing this order, even someone as arrogant as Astram respectfully reported to Lemanrus in advance: the Wolf King certainly knew how much pressure Caliban and the Eye of Fear were under, and although he was also troubled by Prospero's affairs, he still agreed to Astram's request.

Originally, Lemanrus was worried that doing so might cause Horus to develop ambitions toward Prospero, but the Warmaster seemed to turn a blind eye to these moves. Even the rebel transport fleet would deliberately avoid the area and never attacked the logistics worlds that the Watchers relied on, even though those worlds were covered by the rebels' sphere of influence.

It seems that even in such a bloody battle, there are still some rules that both sides agree on.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with Bjorn.

As an advisor to Lemanrus, he spent more time on the battlefield than with the Primarch: the garrison of Betangamon was constantly plagued by manpower shortages, and they needed to carefully weigh every human resource, with young wolves being an important immediate fighting force.

Especially when Acudona, commanding the Second Company of the Sons of the Emperor as the vanguard of the rebels, completely breached Terra's defensive perimeter in near-Earth orbit and planted the banners symbolizing the Wolf God and the Phoenix Lord on the land of Betangamon's main planet: the battle for Terra's gateway finally reached an unparalleled climax.

With the end of the main star's indestructible status, those outer fortress worlds that were originally of great value instantly became useless.

As the capital of the Betangamon Sector and the location of the main forces of Lemanrus and Terra, the strategic value of Betangamon far surpasses that of any other land on this battlefield. It can be said that its gain or loss, its survival or destruction, signifies the victor.

None of the three Primarchs were fools; they were all doing their utmost to push all their chips onto this new table.

Perhaps spurred by his offspring's victory, Forgrim surprisingly emerged from his seemingly endless melancholy and artistic inspiration: the ambitious Phoenix Lord donned his armor once more, raised his blade, and led his taciturn Phoenix Guard to once again reign supreme on the battlefield: personally commanding the strategic deployment of the Third Legion.

For the rebels, Forgrim's return to action is definitely good news.

No one else could coordinate and command a unified Third Army Corps so effectively: not even Acudona, whose reputation was growing in this war.

The Phoenix Lord's renewed attack was somewhat unexpected by the defenders of Betangamon: although they successfully blocked Acudona's actions after landing, the Third Legion, with its morale greatly boosted, crushed the defenders when the banner of Forgrim appeared on the battlefield, and firmly established itself on the land of Betangamon.

When Leman Russ led his handpicked troops to the rebel landing site, hoping to drive out the Phoenix army with a counter-offensive, he was met not only by the elite of the Third Legion, but also by a large reinforcement army urgently dispatched by the White Scars.

After several days and millions of casualties, even the Imperial Fist had to admit defeat: they could no longer drive the rebels back into the Void.

The rebel front advanced significantly, with a steady stream of elite troops and supplies being transported into Beitangamon. A new war was brewing around the plains and mountains surrounding it.

Bjorn was a witness to all of this.

He followed Lemanrus through the counterattack, hoping to take advantage of the rebels' unstable foothold and level the landing zone, and in that battle he gained the heads of three imperial sons and a white-scarred man: until his outstanding performance in the melee attracted the attention of a swordsman named Akdona not far away.

It should be said that the second company commander, the son of the emperor, truly loathed this war: otherwise, Bjorn, whose sword he had easily knocked away and whose cheek had been slashed, would not have been able to escape alive from his sword.

Even for a heartless wolf, such a humiliating defeat was depressing. Bjorn locked himself in his room for three whole days until his predecessors forcibly dragged him out: as the wolf king's advisor, it was his turn to be on duty today.

Then, after seeing the still somewhat absent-minded young wolf, Lemanrus asked that question.

Don't you think so, Bjorn?

Perhaps fearing that Bjorn hadn't heard clearly, Lemanrus repeated it again.

"Compared to the previous period, these white scars are clearly not in good condition."

"What...sir?"

Bjorn hesitated.

To be honest, he didn't sense any "slackening" in the white scars the Primarch had mentioned: they were still formidable opponents on the battlefield, their elusive raids constantly troubling the defenders. Even though they hadn't committed any heinous atrocities in battle like some of the Emperor's Sons' companies, it didn't mean they would show any mercy to the enemy's Astartes.

Even the Wolf King's advisory group had two members killed by Chagatai Khan recently.

"Literally, a young wolf."

Lemanrus stroked his beard.

He studied the battle line map of Betangamon: the deep red markings of the rebel territory resembled festering wounds that relentlessly eroded the surface of Betangamon, but even at this moment, as the Primarch and his offspring began their discussion, the situation was still not entirely out of their control.

They control all the important fortresses and tactical areas in the world, and the combined fleet of Imperial Fist and Space Wolf can barely maintain air superiority over more than half of Betangamon: although the rebels have made remarkable progress, they are not destined to destroy the Terrans in a few months.

It was precisely for this reason that Lemanrus had the leisure to ponder the psychology of his other brother.

"There are some things you can't feel."

The wolf king shook his head firmly.

"Because you are not the Primarchs, you lack that tacit understanding between blood brothers: even though I don't have a deep relationship with Chagatai, I can still sense his psychology on a certain level and achieve spiritual harmony with him through some unintentional actions."

After saying that, he pointed to a certain place.

“Look here, Bjorn.”

"I just realized that my tactical arrangements in this theater of operations have been flawed all along."

“And this is the Khan’s territory; he couldn’t possibly be unaware of this obvious problem.”

"If it were in the past, he would definitely have used a clean and decisive attack to wake me up."

But this time, it didn't.

Bjorn blinked.

"Could it be that he didn't notice either?"

He put forward a view that he considered more reasonable.

"That's what I originally thought too."

The wolf king nodded.

"But I have observed this carefully many times: ever since the rebels landed on the main planet of Betangamon, the White Scar has always seemed to turn a blind eye to my strategic mistakes."

“If it happens once or twice, we can explain it as Chagatai not discovering it either.”

"But some of the strategic mistakes are so obvious that even a blind man could see them."

"There's nothing I can do about it; it's just that I'm not good at this."

The Primarch chuckled self-deprecatingly.

"But even so, the Khan did nothing."

"Like..." "Like what? An adult?"

"Just like Chagatai Khan has become half-hearted about the war before us."

"His heart seemed to have flown off somewhere else."

"He's not that keen on winning either."

Even the wolf king stopped at this point, frowning his short, thick eyebrows as he pondered for a moment.

Then, he shook his head in frustration.

"Pity."

"If Morgan were here, he would certainly be able to deduce more possibilities from these details."

"But I can't...tsk!"

The wolf king reached out a hand, instinctively wanting to grasp the wine glass on the table, before realizing that he had stopped drinking since the war began.

The alcohol was distracting his thoughts. Although such distraction was insignificant to a monster like Lemanrus, considering that every word he uttered could affect millions of lives, Lemanrus felt it was better to be cautious.

But without alcohol, he became irritable.

"Forget it! I don't want to think about it anymore!"

Another of Leman Russ's ideas remains just that—a thought.

The wolf king turned his head and looked at Bjorn.

"Now, tell me: what's the news from the front?"

"Overall, things are trending towards stability, adults."

Bjorn patted the pile of documents next to him.

"The Emperor's Sons' offensive, after its initial fierce advance upon landing, came to a halt before the Imperial Fists' well-prepared second line of defense: Forgrim still occasionally appeared on the battlefield, but the frequency of his personal attacks was visibly declining, while the Phoenix Guard frequently relayed his orders."

"Forgrim's words..."

Lemanrus shook his head.

"His enthusiasm will always be short-lived; once the war becomes a protracted tug-of-war and a war of attrition, his passion will vanish."

“Just wait, Bjorn. Unless I personally lead the army to the front lines again, my brother’s interest in the front will only diminish further.”

"By the way, Chagatai?"

"Well, we still haven't found Chagatai Khan in the front lines of Betangamon."

"However, during yesterday's reconnaissance, we made some very interesting discoveries at the Second Company."

After saying that, Bjorn presented a photograph.

The wolf king took a look and his brows furrowed quickly.

"What are you doing!"

"Blood Angels?"

Have they launched an attack?

"No, sir."

Bjorn shook his head.

"These Holy Blood Angels appeared alongside the Emperor's Son who launched a probing attack yesterday."

"They're just observing our soldiers' battle against the Third Army from afar: more like a military observation group?"

"Yes, it's Saint Gilles' style."

The wolf king nodded.

"Pass down the message: as long as no Holy Blood Angel attacks us first, we should not involve them."

"But what about the Imperial Fist..."

"I'll handle things with the Imperial Fist."

The Wolf King waved his hand, interrupting Bjorn.

"Bjorn, do you know how many Blood Angels are currently deployed on the front lines of this war?"

"Several thousand people?"

"It could be three thousand, or even five thousand."

"And the vast majority of them are veterans: even an elite like you might not be their match."

"The fact that such a force can maintain its current neutral stance is definitely a positive for us."

"Don't break it, Bjorn."

"Understood, my lord."

The young wolf nodded quickly.

"I will definitely convey your message."

"That's good."

The wolf king's gaze remained fixed on the photograph.

"but……"

Once again, he began talking to himself.

"A force of several thousand elite soldiers."

"If it's just used to demonstrate one's own stance, or for some kind of bullshit military observation."

"Isn't that a huge waste of talent?"

“This is not Sanguis’ style.”

"..."

Bjorn.

"I am here, sir."

Have we received any intelligence from Baal recently?

"Not yet, sir: the Holy Blood Angels have a very tight blockade of their kingdom. Is there a problem?"

"It's a big problem."

The wolf king narrowed his eyes little by little, trying to connect these seemingly unrelated clues.

“Think about the situation in Barr.”

"Think again about this delegation whose numbers are clearly incorrect."

"I always felt that the reason Saint Gilles sent out these elite legions was not to make a statement."

"Then...what could it be for, sir?"

"I do not know either."

The wolf king honestly shook his head.

He then put forward several vague conjectures.

"Perhaps a surprise weapon in a necessary moment?"

"Or is it just to shut Horus up?"

"Or perhaps they have their own agenda, wanting to be sold at a higher price when necessary, becoming a third party?"

"No, that's not the way Saint Gilles does it."

"Given his personality..."

The Fenrisian paused suddenly.

His voice became serious, and incredulous.

It was as if he was frightened by his own thoughts.

"Given his personality..."

"I always have this feeling that this is like preserving a spark for oneself outside the borders of Baal?"

(End of this chapter)