Emperor's Bane

Chapter 574: Fight to the Death (Part )

He will die!
That's right...he will die!

Gritting his teeth and breathing heavily through his nose, Kagos once again pounced on the ethereal shadow in the air, but unsurprisingly, he only caught the stench he had exhaled before, while his opponent had already fled far away.

This was already the umpteenth time he had failed in this battle. His opponent was agile and cunning, like a seasoned beagle, and was difficult to kill.

"A fierce pounce, brother."

“But it’s still a little slow.”

Kargos could even hear the Dawnbreaker commenting on his moves, as he maintained his agility and ease in the battle, leaping around the Bloodspitter and attacking areas that he could not defend: the crowd cheered for Cu Chulainn's victory, and only a few supported Kargos's tenacity.

Those people are World Eaters.

But the Bloodspitter turned a deaf ear to it. He concentrated on feeling the position of his opponent and let the madness flow through his skull, which made him extremely calm: hundreds of years of combat experience kept reminding him of the changes around him. Cu Chulainn in front of him was already immersed in the cheers from the stands, while Kagos was plotting his victory in a gloomy place.

He analyzed his opponent, the bloodthirsty urge roaring in his skull grew louder and louder, even encouraging him to imagine tearing Cu Chulainn into pieces: The Blood-Spitting Man believed that he had figured out the shortcomings of this Dawnbreaker, or rather, the shortcomings of all Dawnbreakers.

They are not cruel enough.

Their genetic mother, the woman on Avalon, might indeed be a great Primarch and a savior worthy of their respect, but she ultimately passed on one of her own shortcomings, an unforgivable shortcoming, to her offspring: that is, woeful weakness and hesitation.

For the butcher, this was too deadly.

Look at this guy. He had countless opportunities to defeat Kargoth, but he chose to linger around the World Eater: Cu Chulainn was unwilling to put himself in danger, or rather, he was waiting for the perfect opportunity to end this battle with dignity.

He even considered the Bloodspitting Man's dignity.

Kagos smiled in his heart, smiling at this unique arrogance.

He would give him the chance.

But first…

Can’t forget: absolute blood loss.

The blood-spitting man groaned.

He pounced again.

……

No blood.

The sound echoed in his heart, but it could not stop the scar on his armor: Cu Chulainn dodged Kargos's attack again, leaving a bright red mark on the back of the World Eater with his spear. The pain severely hit Kargos's remaining calm.

There weren't many of them.

Absolute blood...

He attacked again, dodged again, his steps were much more relaxed, and he was instead focused on carving a gun flower on the breastplate of the World Eater: Kagos passively accepted his blood, and he faced the mocking voices in the stands with a smile.

Absolute...blood...

After yet another failure, he could even see a smile on Cu Chulainn's face: the boy was already planning on declaring victory, but this was also the opportunity that Kagos had been waiting for, as he successfully predicted Cu Chulainn's next destination.

Absolutely...

Blood……

This was no longer an attack, it was simply a collision with the tip of his spear. Kagos rushed forward like a bear, but Cu Chulainn continued to dodge nimbly and stabbed at his shoulder instead. This was the plan with the highest success rate for him, but it was also a trap that the Blood-Spitting Man had carefully planned for him.

The World Eater turned around nimbly, and despite the blood on his face, Kargoth still saved up a lot of strength for himself. He could see the astonished expression on Cu Chulainn's face: when the Dawnbreaker found that the tip of his spear was pointing directly at the World Eater's fatal heart, a brief hesitation devoured the soul of the Son of Morgan.

He wanted to take the gun back and didn't want to commit a murder in a place like this.

He is weak and hesitant.

He is committing suicide.

But Kagos didn't care. He took the initiative to raise his chest forward. The intense pain tore through the last of his sanity, but also clamped the tip of Cu Chulainn's spear. His agile figure, which was jumping around, finally froze in place, not knowing whether to abandon his spear or stab his opponent to the ground.

That would be fatal.

Cu Chulainn was hesitating, but Kargoth had already endured the pain, grabbed the spear, and broke it with brute force, then rushed directly to the astonished Dawnbreaker: he perfectly grabbed his other arm and removed all the weapons from his body.

This time, Cuchulainn had no escape.

Absolute! Blood!

As if it was the final act of suppression, Kargos fiercely pressed Cu Chulainn to the ground. He could hear exclamations that shook the universe: the audience could only sigh at the sudden change in the situation, while a few World Eaters let out earth-shaking shouts, cheering for this miracle of turning defeat into victory.

Kargos wanted to smile at this, but the answer he got was a punch to the face.

It was Cu Chulainn's fist: The Dawnbreaker obviously realized that he was doomed to fail, but he was not going to give up the struggle, and hit Kargoth's face fiercely with his fist, trying to force back the World Eater's attack.

But he didn't expect that this would only dispel the last bit of calmness in Kagos' mind.

It was just a moment.

Absolutely...

Blood! Blood! Blood!!!

Kargoth roared out,
That was a real roar.

He raised his fist and smashed it down without hesitation, focusing on Cu Chulainn's eye sockets, neck and forehead: he was a pharmacist, he knew how to quickly and cruelly take the life of another person, even if it was an Astartes who had the same blood as him.

After hitting his opponent seven or eight times, making it impossible for him to fight back, Kargos clamped one of Cu Chulainn's arms tightly, threw his spear aside, and then smashed it on the ground again: the loud noise blocked out the roar outside the void shield, and the blood-spitting man could no longer hear anything.

Then, it was thrown to the ground and fists rained down again.

The toe bones hit the skull and suddenly became disordered. The fragments broke the fragile nose with a bang, the cartilage was severely damaged, the blood vessels ruptured, and the chaotic blood flowed freely on the face. One could even feel the loss of vision and smell. Then blood, sweat and other more terrible things flowed down, wetting the fist of the blood-spitting man.

In just a dozen seconds, Cu Chulainn's handsome face was disintegrated between Kagos's rough hands.

The Blood-Spitting Man laughed, laughed loudly. He felt that the body under him was slowly stopping struggling, blood was flowing freely, and everyone was shouting madly: there were no more World-Eaters cheering for him, but he no longer cared about these little things.

Blood...blood...blood...

Blood!

He panted.

The world...has never been so beautiful...

Blood... Beautiful...

------

"What is he doing!"

Ahriman stood up, his loud shout dissipated in the screams and curses that resounded through the sky around him: the Dawnbreakers, Space Wolves and even the World Eaters, everyone was horrified, witnessing this living murder.

It's not that murders haven't occurred in the arena on the Heracleofen. After all, the Space Wolves are probably one of the few legions that still allow bloody fights to the death. But a fight to the death in such an occasion would undoubtedly challenge everyone's nerves.

"Damn..."

Hector gritted his teeth and grabbed the weapon beside him, because it was his men who were bleeding on the field: Morgan's pride was not the only one doing this. As far as the eye could see, Bayar drew his two swords expressionlessly, and there were at least five hundred Dawnbreakers making the same move. Kahn gritted his teeth and stared at the Bloodspitter, and even Leman Russ had turned livid.

Not to mention that on the balcony, the Lord of Avalon was emitting a psychic light, which was enough to make any think tank tremble: Ahriman felt that he couldn't even breathe, he was like facing a god who permeated the universe, enough to easily kill him hundreds or thousands of times.

The Spider Queen has a magical charm: she can always make people forget that she is actually one of the best destroyers in the empire, but when necessary, Morgan can remind people of this in the shortest time.

"That idiot..."

Not only Ahriman felt the pressure from the Lord of Dawnbreaker, but Kahn, who was also on the podium, felt it personally: although he was not a think tank, just a hint of power that Morgan accidentally leaked almost sent Kahn flying.

The centurion of the 4th Assault Company felt the exhaustion in his mind being torn apart by rage. He realized that everyone was shouting and demanding that the void shield be lowered and rushed to the field: even if the mortals did so tremblingly, it would still take more than ten seconds, which was enough time for Cu Chulainn to be beaten to death.

In front of everyone...

"I should kill him..."

For a moment, even Kahn didn't know what to do. He looked at his genetic father with some uncertainty, but found that the huge position was empty: when Kahn looked back again, he saw a scarlet figure jumping down from the platform.

The next moment, people were exclaiming: exclaiming at the red angel falling from the sky.

Like a devil, but also like an angel.

With a loud bang, Angron punched in mid-air, shattered the void shield, and landed directly in front of the two men: he opened his palm without hesitation, rolled up a scarlet whirlwind, and threw the furious Kagos far away. The primarch's face was even more terrifying than the storm in the sub-space.

"……Father……"

When he came to his senses, Kagos only felt pain in his limbs, his brain was dizzy and swollen, countless cries of [Bloodshed] were still echoing in the fringe areas, and his hands were already covered in blood: when he looked up, he saw the cold face of Angron.

The Lord of Nothingness spoke each word with emphasis.

"Pharmacist of the 4th Assault Company."

As always, Angron simply called out the titles of his sons: but few people noticed that Angron could actually accurately call out the titles of most people, even an unknown guy like Kargoth.

"Tell me: what are you doing!"

Anyone could tell that Angron's chest was burning with rage.

"tell me!"

he roared.

"What are you doing!"

"me……"

The murderer from a few seconds ago had now turned into a trembling child, sitting on the ground with his hands and feet folded. The Blood-Spitting Man himself didn't know what had just happened. He could only stand there in a daze, lowering his head in shame in front of his genetic father, feeling Angron's ruthless gaze.

"You're killing someone, pharmacist."

The lips of the Void King lifted up because of the painful memories in his mind. What was in front of him was what he didn't want to see at all costs: in an arena where he should sweat, because of the fanatical shouts of the audience around him, he pointed his fist at his brother? He let the bloodthirsty desire occupy his mind?

I don't want anything else but to kill...

The cheers of the crowd, the bloodthirsty madness, the nails in his mind, the blood relatives waving their fists, being torn to pieces alive, his adoptive father, the adoptive father whom he regarded as a relative, was killed by his madness and torn to pieces alive in front of him, in the cheers of everyone...

He made it himself...

no no……

"……Do not……"

Angron gritted his teeth. He could even feel the pain from the nails.

"you this……"

The Primarch wanted to say something, but Kargoth had already knelt on the ground, and his head banged heavily on the stone slab in front of Angron. New blood flowed under the feet of the Void King, but it made his anger grow even stronger: in the end, Angron felt that he had nothing to say.

"I told you, pharmacist."

"This is the arena, a place to sweat and witness strength."

"I didn't ask you to... kill your brother..."

The Void King slammed his fist heavily on his chest, and the sound echoed among the crowd like a roar. "For the cheers of others?"

"For the impulse in your mind?"

"Are you going to kill your brother who has the same blood as you with your own hands? Is our common blood worthless in your eyes? Are you going to trample on him who fought side by side with you? Are you going to beat your brother to death with your fists?"

"You...pharmacist..."

"You have let me down too much."

Angron passed the sentence mercilessly, not caring to listen to Kargoth's defense.

"Get off!"

"Give me! Get off!"

The Bloodspitter wanted to say something, perhaps a defense, or perhaps a plea for mercy, but when he looked up and saw the blood in Angron's eyes due to the brotherly dispute, and the endless sadness burning in his eyes, Kagos realized that he could not say anything: he was not worthy of saying anything, what qualifications did he have to speak in front of the Primarch.

"..."

In the humiliating silence, Kargos rolled off the stage like a dead piece of meat, his trembling fingers not even daring to lift the fallen dagger: no one looked at him, and no voices or curses continued to surround him, because everyone's eyes were focused on Angron standing on the stage, even Kargos himself.

Before leaving the stage, he did not forget to look back at his genetic father: he stood there, in the center of the arena, with a heart-wrenching sense of realization, he raised his head and looked into the distance at the densely packed audience stands, just as he had done in the first few decades of his life.

Kargoth looked at him: at this moment, he would rather die in the most painful way possible.

His original body stood there, in the center of the arena, standing on the warm blood, standing in the eyes of everyone.

On his rough face, there was an expression that was difficult to interpret, a trance without any content, as if he was reminiscing, or afraid, as if he was immersed in the most fearful place in his heart, as if he was nostalgic for something in this world, so he stood there for a long time, unwilling to leave.

Angron looked at the arena: once again, from a fighter's perspective.

This is his world, which contains what he desires most and is also the most beautiful part of his memory, so he will cheer for the sweat in the arena. But it also contains the part he fears the most, which is the nightmare he still doesn't want to recall. Therefore, he will tremble for the fight between brothers.

He would be like this now.

Standing on the field.

Standing suddenly.

So majestic.

……

So lonely.

------

The Bloodspitter rolled off the stage, and Karn and the 4th Company were already waiting for him in the corridor: the rest of the company formed a human wall to block the gazes of the curious, leaving only Karn and Kargos standing opposite each other.

The man spitting blood walked over without saying a word or looking up, because he knew what was going to happen.

Kahn's fist whistled, and the hard finger bones hit the cheekbone with a crisp sound. This heavy punch directly shattered the cheekbone and half of the eye socket. The hot blood splashed like boiling water. Kagos' head hit the wall heavily, and he even heard the sound of his skull cracking.

"I should kill you right here."

Kahn's tone was calm.

Damn calm.

"Stand up, Kargos."

"Look up. Look at me."

The centurion gave the order mercilessly, and Kagos just did it silently. His distorted face was reflected in front of Kahn, and what happened next was natural: another heavy punch, also too fast to see clearly, and the blood-spitting man was thrown heavily against the wall again.

"stand up……"

It's that voice again.

Kargos did not speak. He did not beg for mercy, nor did he fight back, nor did he cry out in shame. He just stood up silently, accepted the punishment silently, and allowed Karn to hit him against the wall again and again, until the ticking sound of the clock on the wall caused the crowd outside to start to stir.

Until Kahn got tired of fighting, or he thought it shouldn't go on any longer: but the Centurion's anger definitely didn't disappear.

"Get out of this place."

Kahn's voice disappeared in the cheers as the competition resumed.

"Go back to the dormitory. I won't allow you to stay anywhere. Lock yourself up in a private confinement room. When I get back, I'll figure out how to punish you. Perhaps I need to ask the Primarch for his opinion. You'd better pray that our father still wants to spare your life."

After saying that, Kahn waved his hand, and a gap appeared in the human wall. The Blood-Spitting Man left in the silence where no one paid attention, and quickly disappeared into the darkness. Hector, who was standing in the corner of the stands overlooking all this, took the opportunity to pay special attention to the sores on Kagos' face and his limping steps. He thought about it, but finally did not catch up with him.

“It’s more brutal than we thought.”

Ahriman, who was standing next to him, nodded to Karn, who had his back to them.

“That guy is somebody.”

Hector did not speak, he followed Ahriman back to the crowd, and when they were halfway there, a World Eater wearing Terminator Armor passed by them, and Ahriman turned his head curiously to take a look.

"Is that the Devourer?"

"probably."

Hector watched the Devourer go straight towards Kahn without saying anything.

"Come on, let's go see Cuchulainn."

------

"Hand him over, Kahn."

The Devourer stood before the Centurion, and Kaan simply stared at him in silence.

"I have punished him, for now."

The Devourer was disdainful of Kahn's words.

"Don't be ridiculous, Kahn. He brought shame upon our father. Your beating is not a punishment at all. And why should I believe you? Hand him over. We should punish him."

"He's my soldier."

The centurion felt neither sad nor happy.

"I know what to do."

"This is about Father, Kahn."

"I see."

The centurion smiled.

"Believe me, I know our Gene Father better than you do."

This statement silenced the World Eater, and he had to admit that what Khârn said was correct: everyone knew that he was the most favored attendant of the Primarch.

"You better know what you're doing."

"I always know."

After making a harmless threat, the Devourer finally left in disappointment, leaving Kahn standing there.

"Something about my father."

“I will always: think clearly.”

------

"I suppose I should apologize to you again for my warrior's behavior, Morgan."

[No need, Angron, you have apologized many times: and didn’t the emergency room say that Cu Chulainn’s life was not in danger? Your intervention was timely, brother.]

Half an hour after the chaos caused by Kagos ended, there was no trace of anger on the face of the Spider Queen, as if the person who had made countless think tanks tremble was not her: Morgan smiled at Angron, then turned his gaze to the Wolf King in front of them.

[Compared to these, I am more curious about the reason why Leman Russ took us away: the Night of the Wild Wolves is only halfway through, and if we leave now, it will cause chaos. Do you have any necessary reason, Russ? ]

"of course."

The wolf king walking in front spoke in a hoarse voice.

"Do you remember what we were talking about just now, brothers?"

"Heliotha?"

Angron hesitated.

"Your envoy has returned."

"Yeah, they're back."

Leman Russ nodded, then led the two Primarchs to a room that smelled of blood: before Morgan or Angron could react, the King of Fenris pushed open the heavy door in front of them, and the scene in the room made the two Primarchs frown.

【This is……】

"You can imagine..."

Morgan pondered, and Angron sighed.

And the Wolf King is asking questions.

His voice was as cold as ice.

"How long will it take for Magnus to arrive?"

[About three or four days: he just contacted me.]

"Three or four days? That's fine."

“…Okay…”

Leman Russ squatted down, his voice emitting a strong smell of blood. The Wolf King quietly looked down at his delegation, at the thirteen imperial officials who had fulfilled their mission: they were all native Fenrisians, and were all friends that Leman Russ could call out by name.

These thirteen envoys.

Or.

Thirteen beheaded bodies.

The Wolf King's voice became one that no one would refute.

"It seems..."

"They want to fight to the death."

"..."

"Very good: then the fight will not end until death."

(End of this chapter)