Emperor's Bane

Chapter 179 Silver Apple

Fragments.

Fragments of the soul.

A fragment of the soul of a Primarch.

Even if you look at the entire galaxy, this is a treasure that is enough to set off looting and war. It is enough to sweep dozens of galaxies into flames of war. It is enough to kill hundreds of generals and governors, or even more people: the continuous fleet , hordes of aliens, or the elite veterans of the Astartes who have been invincible for hundreds of years, fell in an unknown corner like moths on a flame.

It has such boundless charm and value, because it is a part of the Primarch, and has the breath of those demigods who walk in the world: even a trace is enough to eclipse everything in the world.

It is enough to cause disaster, make heroes, or forge legends: it has such power and nobility that it can enjoy the worship of any individual and organization.

But now, this priceless treasure is just a fruit curled up in the palm of the Spider Queen, exuding a delicious smell.

It's an apple, nothing more.

Apple.

That's what Morgan wanted.

In her palm, this flawless fruit exudes a silvery false light. It is almost transparent, allowing people to clearly see the juice and soul that are wrapped in it, floating like bubbles. These nutrient-rich invisible Things wandering in the sea of ​​souls, like the wanton and jubilant waves under the brilliant sun, reflecting a mouth-watering beauty.

This fruit is not big, just as big as half the palm of a mortal, but it conceives enough power to satisfy and greed the Lord of the Second Legion: after all, part of the soul of a powerful Primarch is not much like him The last of his humanity, as well as some [useless] memories of his decades of life, were all easily usurped by Morgan, and they were condensed into this wonderful taboo fruit.

Morgan grabbed the fruit, inspected it carefully first, and then swallowed it without any more hesitation.

The sharp fangs pierced the invisible weak shell, and the suction from the lips and teeth sucked away the juice in the first instant, tasting it with relish, as a necessary pre-dinner etiquette for the next gluttony.

The most delicious soul in the universe slowly fell into Morgan's stomach along with her greed. The sweet spring water moistened the dry land that had been ravaged by the vicious god, bringing enough water to make the most hungry It is enough to give the most pessimistic heart hope for the future.

power.

The power to make people happy.

The power to feel joy and joy.

The fragment named Heydrich fell into a complete collapse as early as the moment he saw his body. This fragment of memory, which was based on self-deception, had no resistance at all in the face of bloody reality. The spider queen who was eating.

When Morgan ate this delicious power, the last bit of guilt in her mind disappeared, because what she was talking about was no longer her blood relatives, but a sad mess The animals were abandoned in the shadows by their masters.

……

Maybe she's kidding herself too?
Forget it, who cares.

She doesn't care.

Morgan told herself this, and then felt the wonderful feeling of power pervading every strand of her soul.

This made Morgan narrow her eyes, and fell into a moment of enjoyment and comfort: Along with her continuous experience of emotions, various new emotions took root in her heart little by little, making the originally cold spider The queen was finally able to appreciate the colorfulness of the world, and the rugged valley in her heart finally smoothed out the slope visible to the naked eye.

Whether it's anger, sadness, or the heartfelt happiness that happened at this moment, Morgan can finally understand what they mean, and she can finally have vivid memories and cognitions of these emotions instead of treating them as emotions. Cold data, take it out when necessary, and then put it back.

Of course, this is not enough, far from enough.

There are too many emotions that she cannot understand and recognize, and there are too many emptiness, hunger, and confusion running rampant in her heart and chest, and they surround the three unchallenged gods next to it, reminding Morgan all the time.

Maybe she looks very comfortable and unrestrained now, maybe she is really enviable when she looks like a fish in water beside Zhuang Sen or Horus: but this is only temporary enjoyment, just a false power, her ordinary life is the establishment In the weird balance where those powerful beings have temporarily died down.

Her genetic father is busy with this great and patchwork expedition, is busy building a foundation of ten thousand years in a hundred years, and he will not have more time to devote to himself.

Correspondingly, those powerful evil gods are also lurking and silent, waiting for the moment when the curtain officially rises: she can even guess that when her genetic father's career is in full swing, When it looks like everything is going to go the right way, that's when the worst gods will strike.

After all, there is nothing that delights these abominable creatures of eternal boredom than the shooting down of the midday sun.

The real war will officially start at that time, and it will be a purgatory thousands of times more terrible than the Great Crusade and the Randan War: at a certain moment in her life, Morgan clearly realized this, and she knew that she The fantasy dream of the genetic father will suffer the most terrifying challenge and subversion in the galaxy, and her fate will usher in a real choice at that moment.

That would be a cold winter, a war that would sweep the entire galaxy and completely collapse all worlds and friendships.

Morgan foresaw it.

She was terrified by it, fascinated by it, felt a paradox of fear and joy entangled in it: it was her catastrophe, her only chance.

Only when the most fearsome beasts confronted each other did a lynx like her have the possibility of filling her belly.

But before that, she had to grow stronger, become very powerful.

To become strong enough to survive the massacre of giant beasts: she knew what a task it was, and she also knew that before those terrible monsters bit each other, she and her blood relatives, who seemed to be alone in the world , the invincible Primarch will be the only pawns in the hands of both sides.

This is the reality brought about by the absolute power gap, and Morgan finally admitted this in the face of the facts that he witnessed again and again.

When she saw that she, Zhuang Sen and Vulkan joined forces, Emperor Ran Dan, who could not gain even half of the upper hand in front of her genetic father, only took one blow, and then he was on the point of powerlessness. When the whistle blows to ashes.

When she saw her powerful psychic brother Magnus, one of the top five fearsome figures in the galaxy, was played like an ignorant child in front of the hateful will that called itself "mutant", even herself The memory of her was distorted at will, and even her own soul was cut in advance.

When she saw that existence that no one in the world could understand, recognize, or even truly face, in her mind, there were wanton disputes, snatches, and wars in her mind, in order to monopolize her will and destiny. Showing her the scariest and most depraved things in the galaxy.

Morgan knew very well that she must break through this terrible net: this is not extravagant hope, nor is it ambition, it is an extreme command brought about by biological instinct and fear, and it has become her desire since the moment it was born. The first command that needs to be executed in life.

She never forgot this.

She has been silently calculating the progress of the Great Crusade all the time, calculating how long the precious only opportunity is until now.

She's... getting stronger all the time.

She had to get stronger, get stronger.

Under the veil of fear, greed, predation and disguise, she must become stronger than ever.

To become stronger at all costs, without disturbing those terrible existences, she tore apart all pity and weakness with her own hands, looking for a way to make herself stronger.

Not for a moment.

She thought so, and then slowly swallowed the last bite of that silver apple.

Here comes the power.

------

And when those strange but surging forces involuntarily flooded into Morgan's mind, she was shocked before she could tame and bring back all the new arrivals.

Not a serious shock.

It was a memory, a memory that existed deep in Heydrich's soul: this memory was born earlier than his consciousness, that is to say, the blond beast probably didn't even know that he had this memory.

In memory, Morgan possessed Heydrich's body: it was an extremely weak and twisted body, as if it had undergone countless modifications and experiments for some kind of crazy purpose.

This even made Morgan feel a little uncomfortable, but before the Spider Queen got used to it all, she was covered by a shadow.

It was a person, a silver-white person soaked in black.

He looked at Heydrich who was still in the training cabin, and spoke, his voice was a fusion of anger and emotion.

"This is a vain dream that humans will never achieve."

He spoke, and Morgan recognized the voice's owner.

It's Horus.

This man, with red eyes and a certain stench of death, was the wolf-god: Horus.

……and many more.

Is he really Horus?

Before Morgan's doubts could be answered, the tall figure in front of him moved.

He only said this sentence, and then his anger swallowed his reason, causing the Lord of the Shadow Moon Wolf to raise his fist.

Hit, shatter, hurt.

When Heydrich's already fragile body was exposed in front of all this, Morgan was behind him and heard something.

It was laughter, the wildest, wildest laughter.

Morgan recognized them, recognized the four sneering visitors: two of them had long been encamped in her mind.

That is the evil god in the void.

They came, and with Horus' furious blow, they roared into this hidden corner. Amidst the constant laughter, the minions of the gods pierced the fragile skin and body of the golden-haired beast .

Heydrich, who closed her eyes tightly and didn't even have a fully grown heart, couldn't help frowning. She seemed to want to struggle, but it was all to no avail.

The gods sprang upon him and seized him, they spurned his existence, they mocked the foolish provocation that his presence represented, they quarreled and abused each other, negotiated and communicated for a momentary eternity, Finally, they made a decision.

The dark blue dry claw became the representative of all: it rushed to the unsuspecting Primarch No.11, tore open his chest, and snatched a golden yellow mass from his soul and heart. exist.

That is nobility, that is mercy, that is the most important gift the Emperor bestows upon each of his children:
human nature.

Morgan recognized it.

That sharp claw, the spokesperson and weapon of the Lord of Changes in this time and space, triumphantly grasped the nobility of the No.11 Primarch, and threw it into the boundless subspace, letting the turbulent waves in the next Instantly tore this golden priceless treasure into pieces.

Then, they laughed, roared, and disappeared in the farthest distance, leaving no trace of them, leaving only a mess and chaos all over the place.

And the feeble moan of the blond beast.

And amidst these groans, an unprecedented storm, accompanied by an unimaginable folly and betrayal, swept everything in front of Morgan.

The next moment, Morgan opened his eyes.

------

Memory worries her.

Delicious makes her happy.

Strength reassures her.

But that's not enough, far from enough.

The cyan pupils swept across the rotting corpse at this moment: Even the Spider Queen herself could barely tell that it belonged to the Primarch's body from her tall and burly body. Morgan's eyes sized up the body casually, staying on those deformed and swollen arms and abdomen for an extraordinarily long time.

The arms of this corpse are already like a pair of rotten beehives, with dense white bones and dense needles everywhere, and the gap between the bones and the flesh is also abnormally smooth: obviously it is not a trace of battle or corruption, but It is the result of dissection for experimental purposes.

Morgan took a quick glance and then looked away: seeing the body of the same Primarch being treated like this made her feel a kind of sadness.

And what disturbed her the most was: this body didn't show any sign of struggle, it just sat on it in the most peaceful posture, as if it wasn't dead yet, just resting.

Morgan took one last look, and then completely withdrew her gaze: Although in the memories of those ancient Eldar, she had seen things that were a million times more terrifying and disgusting, but when these things happened to her kind , still makes her feel uneasy.

She didn't want to be here for long: while there were obviously some secrets here, that wasn't Morgan's concern anymore.

Let those dark secrets be buried in the corners of time, or found by other explorers: anyone could be that explorer, even Morgan himself.

Somehow, the Spider Queen feels that her relationship with this crazy blood relative has not come to an end completely, after all...

She briefly inspected the treasures she hadn't had time to digest.

Human nature, reason, memory, knowledge...

Whether in terms of quality or quantity, these are far from the whole of a Primarch.

Her blood relatives are [alive].

Sooner or later she will meet him.

but not now.

Now, she has more important things to deal with.

Whether it was her children or that Abaddon, they had undoubtedly gotten into trouble, some small trouble that could be fatal.

She had to go back, after all, she didn't intend to let them leave the stage so early.

------

Just like that, the Spider Queen left the deepest dark fortress without a second thought. She devoured the things she needed into her soul, and didn't take anything here.

Similarly, she dismissed everything here, and didn't even bother to take a closer look: even the corpse of the Primarch didn't let Morgan observe it for longer.

After all, it wasn't her blood relatives: Morgan didn't care what her blood relatives became, but in her heart, no matter what Heydrich became, only that contained Heydrich's body, contained his being genes The special part of the original body is her [blood relative].

Whether that existence is now a new creature, or a wisp of will, or even an indescribable lump of flesh and blood: she will only admit that it is her own blood relatives, and the rest, whether it is this rotting body, or it is her own. The soul fragments that were devoured wantonly were nothing but things abandoned by her blood relatives.

She firmly believes so.

It was perhaps a kind of self-deception, a botched lie to allow her own greed to have a suitable exploit: as the emotions swelled in her mind, it seemed to bring something bad with it.

At the very least, when Morgan devoured the soul of another Primarch this time, she obviously couldn't be as calm and indifferent as she was when she robbed Magnus' soul: a feeling almost restless attacked her, even Shaking her heart and soul.

Is that guilt?
Morgan wasn't sure, but her steps were extraordinarily hurried.

So Morgan missed something.

Something enough to amplify the fear in her heart.

When the Spider Queen's figure slowly dissipated from this empty hall, she would not see: that rotting corpse, that rotting corpse on the throne, that one riddled with holes, full of bones and bones everywhere... The fetid carrion of the wax: it is not static, it does not belong to the peace of death.

Beside its head, under its nostrils, the faintest air is circulating in a certain order: these airs are so small and thin, even the Spider Queen who dismisses them can't feel them.

But they do exist, and they do perform some kind of biological activity around this seemingly long-dead body.

that corpse.

As if.

breathing.

(End of this chapter)