Emperor's Bane

Chapter 578 Your Spine
It is an exciting thing to witness the charge of the Space Wolves.

But facing a pack of wolves head-on can make even the bravest warrior feel like he is falling into an icy cave.

Led by Leman Russ, three large companies of the Wolves rushed down from the mountaintop castle of Phoenix Cliff, tearing the kings of Shrike and their court into pieces. On the meadows, mountain roads and the bottom of the cliffs, there were scattered limbs and arms discarded at random, witnessing the surging edge of the Space Wolves Legion.

The sons of Leman Russ toppled the symbols of power of these kings. The blue torch that was said to never go out and the rubble were ruthlessly crushed by their iron boots. The strange blue flame began to spread across the entire mountain, driving every hider under the wolves' blades, until the wolves' sharp claws, the spreading sea of ​​fire and the gurgling river of blood together formed a wave that pounced on the Thousand Sons Legion.

"Your Majesty, the Emperor..."

Ahriman could hear a prayer coming from his throat, followed by a low groan of extreme disgust. At this moment, he was standing with his theoretical brothers, blocking the golden porch of the library. Not far away was the increasingly clear breathing of the descendants of Leman Russ: even according to the most conservative data, the number of wild wolves was at least ten times that of the Thousand Sons.

Although the war was unequal, Ahriman was not afraid. The courage in his heart had already accumulated to an astonishing level without his knowing it. The Thousand Sons warriors standing beside him were also not afraid. In fact, they carried an almost naive arrogance that Ahriman could not understand, and strode forward to block the wolf pack's charge.

Whether it is Hathor on Ahriman's left, who is always so proud, or Phosistaka on his right, who always appears as a "silent pragmatist", their souls are thousands of times prouder than Ahriman: it is the confidence in their own strength, and because the Primarch is right behind them, and it is more likely that it is both.

In any case, as Magnus stepped into the battle line, the conflict seemed inevitable: Fusistaka of the Falcon School was commanding his warriors to raise force field shields, using this invisible means to help them block the wolves' charge.

Behind them, Hathor of the Bright Feather School was also clamoring to teach those Space Wolves a bloody lesson: he and his men were accumulating explosive electrical energy and storms of thunder in their palms, and these attacks directed at blood vessels were enough to make the Astartes fall to the ground.

Even enough to...

"Kill them?"

"What are you thinking, Hathor!"

Ahriman frowned, and he casually waved out a ray of psionic energy, which blasted the electric current that Hathor was proud of into pieces: This scene attracted the attention of many people, including the Primarch Magnus, and even Hathor himself was stunned where he was, and forgot to answer for a moment.

Everyone present was an elite in the Thousand Sons Legion. They all knew that as the chief of the Bright Feather School, although Hathor was arrogant to the point of being unbearable to others, his strength and swordsmanship were unquestionable: and he was definitely not careless just now.

"You...you...what do you mean!"

Hathor, the person involved, was stunned for two or three seconds before he reacted after being reminded by his deputy Hastur. He looked at Ahriman with gritted teeth, but he could not release the newly stored electricity in his hand.

"This is not war: what you hold in your hands is deadly enough."

Ahriman remained calm.

"Let your men weaken them, or a war will really break out here."

"This place is originally..."

"Listen to him, Hathor."

Before he finished speaking, Magnus' voice came from the center of the queue.

"Also, listen to me, my children, don't kill. Bloodshed and death are two completely different concepts. Since this is not a war we initiated, we don't have to be responsible for the death of the Space Wolves: I know you can kill them with a wave of your hand, but you are not stupid enough to let them lose their lives."

The Primarch's words caused a burst of arrogant laughter in the Thousand Sons array, and the deadly electric grid was unwillingly weakened. Ahriman took the opportunity to squeeze next to the Primarch. The wolf pack was only a hundred meters away from them. The only good news was that Leman Russ was not among them.

Well, not yet.

Ahriman grinned, he could actually sense where the Wolf King was, he was the only one in the entire Thousand Sons Legion besides Magnus who could do this: all the other battle brothers would be torn to pieces by the mad psychic roar of the King of Fenris.

Ahriman laughed in his heart at his incompetent brothers, but soon he had no time to think about it: because the stench of half-dried blood was attacking his nostrils, followed by the hideous smell of sweat and hair.

The sons of Russ huddled together, banging on each other's shields and singing ugly songs in unison. In front of them were the four-legged giant wolves they kept in captivity. These beasts, like their master, showed a terrifying smile of choosing their prey. Even though they knew there were many obstacles, they still rushed towards the positions of the Thousand Sons without hesitation.

"Will you help me, my Lord?"

In the last second before the conflict broke out, Ahriman lowered his voice and cast his last hope on his Primarch.

"of course."

Magnus nodded, but Ahriman couldn't see the expression on his face.

"Both Russ and his wolf pack must learn to respect us: I can tolerate him killing my offspring by mistake, but I cannot tolerate his wolf cubs actually having the courage to charge at me!"

Magnus gritted his teeth.

"We must defeat them, then these beasts will know to keep their tails between their legs!"

The Primarch's voice was stern, leaving Ahriman speechless, and he turned his strength to the front line, because the conflict between the two legions had begun, a contest of brute force and will had come to the world, and the collision between the Astartes was the most magnificent thing in the galaxy.

The defensive area chosen by the Thousand Sons Legion was a narrow road near the library, where only a team of about a hundred people could be deployed. Behind the leaping lightning net was an array of void walls that was powerful enough to cause air distortion: the four-legged giant wolves were the first to crash into this line of defense, while the lightning of the Bright Feather School ruthlessly retaliated.

Victory came quickly. In just four or five seconds, dozens of four-legged beasts were swallowed up by death and pain. The electrical energy ignited flames on their fur, and large chunks of burnt fur fell down with the corpses: most of the beasts rolled back in embarrassment, while the craziest ones fell on the last part of their way to the Thousand Sons, until the air was filled with an unpleasant burnt smell.

The real wild wolves were rushing over following the burnt smell, their armor blackened by the ether fire, and the ice on the axe blades melted away, revealing their sharpness that could cut hair: these wild men shattered the electric nets and flames with their roars, raised their shields, and slammed fiercely into the Thousand Sons' force field shields.

"This is crazy..."

Ahriman whispered: Even though he had witnessed the Apocalyptic War more than once, and even though he had experienced battlefields that were ten thousand times more magnificent and massive than this one, none of them were even one tenth as shocking as the scene before him.

The war of the Astartes brought a kind of soul-shaking shock, a shudder that could be seen from a single leaf: these warriors were allies fighting side by side not long ago, but in an instant they had become enemies fighting against each other, and they all did it voluntarily, and they all wanted to defeat their brothers in battle from the bottom of their hearts.

This is really...really...

"withstand!"

Without the Primarch speaking, Fusistaka, who was standing in the front, issued an absolute order with his gloomy voice. Hundreds of warriors and their invisible shields took a step forward, colliding violently with the biting steel with a torturous friction sound, burning in the real universe and the etheric realm at the same time.

In the first few seconds, the Thousand Sons were pushed back by the howling of the Space Wolves, until the narrow battlefield successfully limited the power of the latecomers, and the hundreds of vanguards in the front could not get help from the thousands of comrades behind them, but gradually lost their center of gravity because of the pushing and shoving behind them.

No matter how furious they were, they could not make the Thousand Sons retreat even a single step.

Ahriman also joined the battle. He faced the opposing Wolf Lord head-on and immobilized him with just one hand. Then he drew his attention back and began to look around, completely ignoring the helpless and furious expression of the Wolf Lord opposite him.

No one from either the Thousand Sons or the Wild Wolves drew their swords or guns, and this battle did not result in real bloodshed: this scene made Ahriman breathe a sigh of relief, but then his neck was strangled again, because after the Thousand Sons of the Falcon School stabilized the battle line, it was the turn of the Bright Feather School to take action.

"End this farce."

Magnus' voice was as emotionless as a skeleton, and the lightning of the Bright Feather School was more terrifying than their father: invisible forces pierced into the wolf's body like needles. Ahriman watched the results of the battle wrought by Hathor and others from the psychic realm.

From the Wolf Lord to the soldiers, the electric current first blocked the neurotransmitters, shifting the impulse signals in the brain. Then the blood in the lungs was rapidly deoxygenated, the limbs began to tremble violently, and the myocardium twitched fibrously, until they fell down one after another like babies who could not stand.

In just a moment, even the Wolf Lord was twitching in extreme unwillingness, and could not pose any threat at all under Ahriman's feet.

"Control it! Hathor!"

Ahriman shouted loudly, but his fighting brothers turned a deaf ear to him, and even more desperate things happened afterwards: because the wolves in the distance continued to charge without knowing it, those wild wolves that were knocked to the ground and unable to stand up were soon crushed under the brothers behind them.

The squeezers who saw what was happening certainly didn't want to do that, but the brothers further behind were still moving forward in confusion: something like a mass stampede, once it broke out, could not be controlled at all.

Fortunately, at this moment, Magnus, who had been silent for a long time, finally took action.

The Primarch waved his hands, and a violent psychic hurricane swept through the arrays of the Thousand Sons and Space Wolves at the same time. It was a power that Ahriman could only look up to, but it made him very uncomfortable: because Magnus's hurricane contained countless wild aether molecules crashing around, Ahriman had to passively absorb some of it, even if it was only a small part, which made him feel that his power was somewhat out of control.

But beside him, the other Thousand Sons warriors were sensing with ecstasy, gaining new strength from their father: Ahriman did not think that their tolerance limit would be higher than his own, which meant that the energy in these people's bodies had been more or less overloaded.

This familiar prefix gave him a creepy feeling.

However, on the other side, the wolf pack, which was already crowded together, naturally did not have the leisure time that the Thousand Sons had now: Magnus's hurricane did save them. The situation that was originally leaning forward was directly reversed by the hurricane. Hundreds of wild wolves flew backwards uncontrollably, their bodies slid on the ground for more than ten meters, allowing the squeezed pioneers in the front to barely save their lives.

But out of malice, Magnus let even these powerless guys roll away for a distance.

At least two thousand sons of Leman Russ twisted in pain on the ground, tearing pain attacked their limbs, but none of them were fatal: Magnus leisurely watched the Thousand-Life Wolf that he defeated in an instant, his heart filled with unspeakable pride.

"Looking at all the Primarchs, how many people can do this?"

Magnus' voice reached Ahriman's ears, but the latter had no time to pay attention to it. Instead, he tried hard to force out the uncontrolled ether molecules in his body: unlike Hathor and others beside him, who were enjoying splitting the soul sea at will.

There's something wrong with these powers...

Ahriman muttered to himself as he looked at the other Thousand Sons who were intoxicated with power, especially those from the School of Bright Feather, who had absorbed more than anyone else. Then he looked at the unwilling wolves on the ground, and his gaze finally reached the mountains in the distance.

Those blue flames were still scattered across the mountains and fields. It was difficult to explain why they burned so vigorously, but these wildfires were indeed rushing straight into the sky like giants, making Ahriman's heart inexplicably gloomier.

At this time, the Scarlet King walked slowly to the front of the Wolf Lord. None of the two or three hundred Thousand Sons behind him fell down, and there were not even scars on their bodies, but the wild wolves, which outnumbered him ten times, had temporarily lost their combat effectiveness.

After such a great victory, the Primarch pretended to speak unintentionally.

"You have crossed the line, wolf cub."

"Didn't my reckless brother tell you about the existence of boundaries?"

"..."

The Wolf Lord clenched his teeth and forced every bone in his body to support him to look up and look at the Primarch: Magnus was very unhappy with the Wolf Lord's offense, but soon he no longer cared about these trivial matters.

Because along with the Wolf Lord's gloomy grin, an extremely manic force was rushing towards here rapidly from the edge of Magnus and Ahriman's perception.

Wolf King!

At that moment, Ahriman felt that he couldn't breathe, and he rushed to Magnus desperately.

"The Wolf King is coming, father!"

"……I know."

The arrogance that was on Magnus' face a second ago had disappeared, replaced by a clenched teeth struggle: it was only a delay of a few seconds, and the figure of Leman Russ had appeared in their eyes, his outline grew larger with every breath, and the most arrogant Thousand Sons trembled because of it.

"Father……"

Ahriman opened his mouth, not knowing what to say: Propose a reconciliation between Magnus and Leman Russ? Regardless of whether Magnus could put aside his pride, Leman Russ would obviously not agree to it.

The wolf king was standing not far away. He first stopped, as if analyzing what had happened here. Then, a hoarse sound came from the wolf king's throat. Ahriman could not understand what it meant, but the wild wolves lying on the ground immediately stood up and gritted their teeth to make way for a wide path.

He wants to...

The Wolf King had taken a heavy shield from his side. He narrowed his eyes, aimed at the Falcon School's force field shield array, and finally rushed over silently: this move made the Thousand Sons who were holding up their shields tremble in their legs. They never dreamed that they would now have to fight against a Primarch!
Although Leman Russ seemed to just want to vent his anger for his descendants.

"grown ups……"

Ahriman spoke dryly, and Magnus sighed in response.

"too late."

The Scarlet King's face was filled with an emotion that Ahriman could not explain: it was like the fear that was revealed, the fear and cowardice that came after the impulse and revenge were satisfied, and then receded.

"he came."

The Primarch whispered as the Wolf King rushed in front of them.

Before Fusistaka could even shout out his orders, his formation was casually broken by the Wolf King: Leman Russ only slightly increased his speed before charging, and the force field shield organized by hundreds of Thousand Sons elites fell apart like paper.

Then, the hurricane brought by the Primarch's figure made Phthys and his warriors unable to stand steadily and fell to the left and right. Next came Hathor and his arrogant swordsmen. They also rolled to the side. The ether molecules that had just been absorbed into their bodies were vibrating in their blood like boiling water. Ahriman could feel this clearly. He even heard the groans of many Thousand Sons warriors because of the pain of the overload of power in their bodies.

A not-so-nice memory assaulted Ahriman's mind.

At this moment, Magnus took action. Before the Thousand Sons' array was torn apart, the Scarlet King stepped forward to block Leman Russ. He stretched out a hand, with psychic fluctuations lingering on his fingertips that made Ahriman's hair stand on end, and slapped the Wolf King's angry chest directly.

then……

Then, in Ahriman's eyes as if he had seen a ghost, overwhelming power emanated from Magnus' fingertips. That was something Ahriman could never do even if he burned his own soul: the power originated from the deepest part of the warp, causing the mountains to shake, causing the blue flames on the mountaintops to dance around it, and causing the gods in the void to roar.

……

The wolf king was hit.

……

The Wolf King...was knocked away!
It was just a matter of a moment, and before anyone could even blink, the King of Fenris was already blown away. He stayed in the air for hundreds of meters before falling on a distant sand dune, rolling awkwardly for a few times and letting out a painful roar from his throat.

"!"

Ahriman's mouth dropped open.

"This...this...this..."

------

【What the hell is going on? 】

On the other side of the world, Morgan, who was undergoing the surrender ceremony, suddenly raised his head, his brows tightly locked together, and a swear word involuntarily popped out of his mouth: Everyone present was stunned.

"…What's the matter, sir?"

Finally, the Grand Master of the Guards bravely stepped forward. He noticed that his gene mother had a livid face and was staring in one direction: that seemed to be the area under the charge of Magnus and the Thousand Sons Legion.

Morgan ignored him, she was mumbling as if to herself, Lana moved closer and finally heard what the Primarch said.

【……what happened……】

[What the hell...hiss...]

[Magnus...that guy...]

[When did he become so strong? ]

After pondering for a while, the Spider Queen finally controlled her expression. She smiled and apologized to the surrendering officers, then had them led away without saying anything, and stood there continuing to think silently for a while.

"What's the matter, sir?"

Rana asked again.

[It's Magnus: He just suddenly burst out with a very strong power: I can guarantee that he has never been able to exert such a strong power before. That kind of power is even a little beyond the scope of the Primarch...]

[…No, I have to go check it out.]

"Right away?"

[No, not too hasty: I don't want to be stuck in the middle of the battlefield.]

After saying that, the Spider Queen waved in another direction, and a giant Shrike that she had just tamed flew over and lowered its neck to the Primarch: Morgan snapped his fingers, transformed himself into a mortal size, and easily rode onto the position on the Shrike, then looked at another position behind him and thought for a moment.

Then she waved.

【Come up, Lana.】

【You and I will go together. 】

"...Understood, sir."

Rana was stunned for a moment before he responded hurriedly. Before leaving, he turned his head and glanced at the other Primarch's guards: there was malice in their eyes as they looked at him.

The chief guard nodded.

"I'll let you know when I get there: try to get here as quickly as possible."

"..."

Malice successfully advanced to murderous intent.

Really
------

"Damn it!"

"Damn, damn, damn!"

Ahriman roared in his heart, curling up in pain, the ether energy rushing through his body made him very uncomfortable: many of the Thousand Sons next to him felt the same way.

The blow that Magnus delivered that sent Leman Russ flying was indeed shocking, but what followed was the uncontrollable energy of the Warp, which surged like a wave and instantly submerged the two or three hundred Thousand Sons standing nearby.

Ahriman was already the most vigilant and best-defended of these people, but he still felt excruciating pain, like an iron needle piercing into the flesh along the nail gap: when he struggled to stand up, he saw the Space Wolves fell silent because of the defeat of the Wolf King, and the other Thousand Sons were in the same pain as him, but they had not yet learned to resist this power.

Ahriman felt as if his whole body was about to explode. The etheric energy released unintentionally by Magnus was too much, even more exaggerated than that of Morgan or even the Emperor. Ahriman really couldn't figure out when his genetic father became so powerful?

It was as if he were the Warp itself.

And for Magnus, all this obviously exceeded his expectations: even the Scarlet King himself did not expect that he could defeat his brother so easily. He stood there in a daze, his face first filled with astonishment, and then a strange smile, which was pride, surprise, and worry about the offspring around him.

"What happen to you guys?"

The Primarch walked towards Ahriman, but the warp energy that followed him like a shadow made Ahriman retreat involuntarily. Unconsciously, he began to fear his father: because at this moment, there were too many uncontrolled ether molecules beside the Primarch, so many that Ahriman felt that his life and even his soul were under great threat.

"Father……"

He struggled to speak, but another sense of danger came over him.

It was an unspeakable terror, a fiery pulse of fear mixed with frantic, out-of-control energy. Every Thousand Son present couldn't help but tremble: they were all veterans who had experienced the Prospero incident, and they knew all too well what this thing was.

Even Magnus, after feeling this energy, stood there in a daze, like a fool, speechless.

The first to react was Ahriman, who looked towards the source of the energy. He found that it was Hastur, Hathor's deputy: this elite of the Bright Feather School had been forced to absorb too much aether energy, and the endless warp completely crushed his will. He knelt on the ground, and a boiling sound accumulated in his big red armor. That sound made Ahriman and every Thousand Sons warrior present feel like they were falling into an icy cave.

"Your Majesty the Emperor..."

Without time to think, Ahriman rushed forward like crazy, and Hathor beside Hastur had also reacted: this warrior who was as proud as a son of the emperor had completely lost his usual majestic demeanor. He fell to the ground, then crawled on all fours to the side of his most trusted deputy, grabbed his shoulders, and pleaded with a hint of crying.

"Please...don't!"

he prayed.

"Hasta! Please! Hold on! Don't give up! No... don't!"

He cried, but the cold reality and the laughter in the warp would not stop for this moment of brotherhood: before Ahriman rushed to Hastur, the exquisite armor had been completely torn apart by boiling flesh and invisible tentacles, and a real monster appeared in the world.

Flesh and blood mutation!
The Thousand Sons screamed as their greatest fears resurfaced, rising from a buried past.

Ahriman's hands trembled as he witnessed everything that happened before his eyes: Hastur's handsome face was devoured, his armor began to deform, and the body beneath it was rapidly and violently deforming, and the endless changes caused his breastplate to split in half from the center.

The originally strong body was kneaded at will like a lump of mud, and there was not even a moment when it was fixed: the swollen body was covered with densely packed deformed flesh, mutated limbs and slippery tentacles. Even if you stood far away, you could hear the sound of the air expanding inside the flesh.

"Help me... help me..."

At first, Hastur was still able to struggle and ask his brothers for help, but soon, the sound turned into a beast-like roar and a friction sound that had no logic at all: accompanied by the screams from the depths of the warp, Ahriman felt his chest begin to hurt.

This is not a good sign.

Because the mutation of flesh and blood is a contagious disease: when Hastur was twisted alive in front of the Thousand Sons, the special energy field emanating from his body also affected the other Thousand Sons warriors. Many of them had already knelt on the ground in despair, twisting and turning, even more miserable than the Space Wolves they had knocked down.

The disease spread like a virus, and Ahriman even saw that another Thousand Sons warrior had vague signs of this: he knew that there was not much he could do, and he could not count on his genetic father.

Because Magnus was still standing there like a fool.

"…Forgive me, brother."

After pondering for a moment, Ahriman, with his strong heart forged on the battlefield of Revelation, knew what he should do now: Then, the sharp blade at his waist was pulled out.

"No! Ahriman! Don't!"

Hathor's pleading was left behind by Ahriman. He drew out his blade, and the white blade flashed in the air. Then, Hastur's deformed head fell heavily to the ground. Ahriman stabbed the knife into his flesh without hesitation, twisting it a few times to ensure that this disgusting monster was completely dead.

Ahriman stood there, calmly witnessing the death of his former brother. Beside him were the Thousand Sons kneeling on the ground: at this moment, Ahriman felt that he was so out of tune with the entire Fifteenth Legion, and he was like an outsider who was inflicting terror on them.

And cruelty.

But then he felt the nausea in his chest slowly dissipate.

saved……

temporary.

Ahriman felt no joy: because the real trouble was yet to come.

He looked into the distance.

That's the direction of the wolf king.

……

That's right, nothing escaped Leman Russ's eyes.

The wolf king saw it clearly.

And he responded.

From a distance, Ahriman could not see Leman Russ's face clearly, but he could see the Wolf King's next move: the man from Fenris roared at the servants beside him, and then several Primarch servants came forward and brought a new weapon for the Wolf King.

That is……

"hiss……"

Ahriman gasped as he spoke the name in despair.

"That's... the Spear of Dionysus!"

"..."

It’s over.

Everything is over.

(End of this chapter)