Emperor's Bane

Chapter 584: Nighttime Nap
"He stood in the pale flames."

“Then we knocked him to the ground.”

"It's a fitting and beautiful ending for Jonson."

"For us, too, bro."

Corax sat at the top of the ladder extending from the edge of his bed, listening absentmindedly to Conrad's joy, and then nodded habitually: his pale face was somewhat creepy under the blue light of the display.

The Night Haunter and the Lord of Shadows may have difficulty agreeing on many daily habits and principles, but there is one hobby they share: a preference for dark environments. Even at night, the lights in their shared dormitories are rarely turned on.

For the two Primarchs, the slight difference in light was naturally insignificant. The only thing that might cause trouble was the mortal servants who had to look for the Primarchs in the middle of the night: exploring two equally terrifying pale faces in the depths of darkness was a huge challenge even for the bravest mortals.

After all, this is not Morgan's Aurora.

Fortunately, such assignments do not come every day. Both Primarchs do not like to rely on the assistance of others, and being self-reliant is another consensus between them: just like any big child who has received an education.

"An inspiring achievement, bro."

The Crow King nodded, and he was the first to put the simulator in his hand aside. Tonight's brotherly game time ended here.

"If I remember correctly, we've been stuck on Brother Jonson for months or even longer: he's more versatile than the last few combined, and I don't think I'll ever forget the plasma and pale psychic fire he had under his robes."

Corax stretched his muscles and recalled the months of pioneering work he had done with the Conrad brothers: in this cult game where the goal was to defeat their brothers, the two primarchs working together could actually ensure that most levels were passed smoothly.

For example, Mortarion, Angron, and Fulgrim are all disposable, because their strength is not despairing, and they will not enter what Conrad calls "low health mode", or "second life" after half of their health bars are reduced.

But Zhuang Sen is an exception. His strength and sensitivity are enough to give people a headache. After causing a certain amount of damage to him, the Caliban people will summon the most low-health mode, which exceeds the sum of all other brothers.

The second was Ferrus, who theoretically had even more than Jonson, but because the brother didn't like to wear a helmet, the two of them actually went through it in one go: Conrad was responsible for attracting fire from the front, and Corax took off Ferrus's head without difficulty.

However, the Crow King was actually curious about what was in Ferrus' backpack. He tried to deconstruct the game and found the level data about Ferrus. Then he discovered that Conrad actually didn't know: Ferrus' second mode was a bunch of unfinished data packets, and no one knew what was in his bag.

Compared with this half-baked one, Jonson is the real death-dissuading god. Each of his modes is like a new level, involving every aspect of the war. Corax doubts the image of Jonson in Conrad's mind: he seems to be a pure war machine.

Even... inhumane?
What impressed Corax the most was undoubtedly the [Terrorwing Mode], which was the god of death that was powerful enough to destroy everything in the world. Although Corax had heard Morgan comment on the Six Wings in the First Legion many times, in Morgan's words, the Six Wings were all humble, reliable, fearless, and most importantly: obedient.

Although it is very wrong to describe Astartes as obedient.

But until he actually faced the army of destruction summoned by Jonson, even if it was just a group of virtual characters, the Raven King became more and more certain that what Morgan said might not be entirely true: under the attack of Dreadwing, which made no distinction between friend and foe, spared no life, and even did not take into account the Lion King, he and Conrad fell more than three digits of times.

The final clearance was achieved only after Corax had restarted the game for more than 40 times. Finally, he could no longer bear the anger in his heart and acquiesced to Conrad's use of some methods in the game that made his soul uneasy. Only then did he finally force his way through the challenge of the Terrorwing mode.

Then?

Then Jonson pointed to the sky: a cyclone torpedo was already waiting to be launched.

They restarted in that new mode at least twenty times.

Indeed, though he had not yet met Jonson, Corax doubted whether the Lion was as exaggerated as Conrad had portrayed him: would anyone voluntarily invite indiscriminate destruction, just to fulfill what he saw as a mission?
"Of course I will."

Conrad got up from the bed and spoke with certainty about the Lion King.

"If you don't believe me, you will know what I said is true in a few months."

"What do you mean?"

Faced with the Crow King's doubts, Midnight Haunter simply shook his communicator.

"Literally, brother: I think we're about to meet Jonson."

"immediately?"

The Crow King frowned.

"But I remember my next activity was to reunite with the Legion. To be honest, even I felt that this was a bit too fast. It seemed that I hadn't learned anything here in Avalon, and I had to face the entire galaxy alone. I even felt that I was a bit unprepared."

"We are all unprepared: when fate comes to us."

Conrad just smiled, seeming to empathize with the situation.

"You have to accept this, brother, because this is the disadvantage of coming back late: time is not abundant for you, and what can be allocated to you is definitely less than that of others. Otherwise, why do you think that among the Primarchs, only Horus can brag about his thirty years? Because only at that time, the Emperor would have enough time to accompany someone for a full thirty years."

"Now? Three years is a luxury."

"Like me: only three hours, and in Terra."

Conrad walked to the table, tidied himself up briefly, put on his coat, and looked like he was going out. Corax instinctively glanced at the clock on the wall and found that it was almost eleven o'clock.

"Conrad, are you sure you want to hang out at this time?"

"Come on, little brother, this is not the Aurora."

Midnight Haunter waved his hand dismissively.

"This is the Nightfall, the home of the Eighth Legion. My warriors like to hold group activities during this time, such as competitions and chess and card games in small rooms. I plan to go and see them. Maybe there will be a seat for me next to one of the card tables."

"Want to come together?"

"..."

The Crow King hesitated. He was not the kind of person who would go out with others just for entertainment or relaxation. However, if Conrad left, there would be nothing in this empty room that could help him pass the time. Besides, he was not very sleepy at the moment.

"Ok."

Corax nodded.

“I hope I can learn how to plan the soft power of the corps during this period.”

"That might disappoint you."

The Night Lord blinked.

"I never constrained them: everything depended on their own consciousness."

The Crow King remained silent. Wisely, he did not continue the topic, but instead thought of the sentence that Conrad had not yet finished.

"Didn't you just say that we were going to meet Zhuang Sen soon?"

"That's right: you and your Legion are reunited, and you're meeting Jonson, all thanks to our brother Horus: have we not yet defeated Horus? And we haven't defeated Sanguinius either?"

"They are all the most advanced levels: Horus, Sanguinius, Magnus, Vulcan and Morgan. These five are challenges we have not yet unlocked. Defeating Jonson is one of the conditions for challenging these five levels."

“What a great design.”

The Night Lord boasted.

“But maybe in the future, I will design a completely new level: the EX level.”

"Is there anything more worthy of a challenge than our blood brothers?"

"No, what I mean is: some of our brothers have more than one state."

"Just like the Sanguinius on Terra and the Sanguinius not on Terra, they are two completely different species: whether there are a lot of dead Blood Angels next to him is another matter, but you'd better pray that there are none." Conrad smiled, he stood there, waiting for Corax to pack up, there were only two fully armed black armor guards standing outside their lounge, because the Primarch's private space was not far from the core of the battleship. Standing at the door, you can see the hustle and bustle in the distance, most of whom are legion soldiers: is there any better guard than this?

Corax wasn't sure if this method of defense would work, but it seemed like the Night Lords welcomed it.

On the way to the core area, Conrad summarized it to him as simply as possible.

"That's basically it."

Midnight Haunter spread out his hands and drew a simple and easy-to-understand galaxy in the air.

"I should have told you before that a powerful Ork Empire has risen in the northern fringes of the galaxy. They are now invading the Draconis region of the Empire and will soon threaten other core areas. The Emperor has personally ordered that this threat be resolved, and he has specifically assigned Horus to be in charge of this war."

"I know."

The Crow King nodded.

"You told me that the Emperor and Horus planned to use the Draco sector as bait, first severely damage the Ork vanguard in the Goron system, and then go straight to the core of the Greenskin Empire: I remember that the decisive system should be called Ullanor, where they will eliminate the trouble forever."

"Yes, a huge fleet built specifically for this purpose is being mobilized at full capacity."

Conrad was a little absent-minded.

"This is the largest fleet in the Great Crusade in the past forty years. Only the previous... battles can be compared with it. It will take at least one Terran standard year just to wait for the fleets to reach their designated targets, and Horus's legion has already arrived in the north of the galaxy."

"Under this premise, some of the Wolf God's original plans will naturally have to be abandoned."

Midnight Haunter smiled.

"For example, the Luna Wolves originally planned to launch a recovery operation against the Inesim Cluster on the edge of the Far Eastern Star Region. There were several human colonies there with intact heritage and goodwill towards the Empire, but the invasion of the greenskins interrupted all of this, and Horus had to hand over this mission to others."

"Give it to me?"

The Raven King asked.

"No: he gave it to Morgan."

Conrad snorted.

"Yes, a simple, glorious, bloodless combat objective that can also bring practical benefits to Greater Avalon: it can be regarded as a hidden gift, entrusting the goodwill of the Wolf God to Morgan, and I can expect my sister to repay it."

"Um……"

"You mean to say that Horus would have coveted Morgan's support: that at the meeting after the Battle of Ullanor, he wanted a vote from Avalon?"

"Avalon has more than one vote."

"But that's exactly the point."

Conrad changed his pace and led Corax into a small path, avoiding the densest waves of people: at the end of the road was the high-ranking officers' area on the battleship, where Sevatar and Shen were on duty today.

"What we can be sure of now is that after resolving the issue of Ullanor, the Emperor will convene a grand Ullanor Conference at the former site of the Greenskin Empire. The conference will at least resolve the issues of the Warmaster and the Psykers, but it is not certain whether the Warmaster or the Arbitration Psyker will be given priority."

"It is said that Horus advised the Emperor several times to give priority to the arbitration of psykers."

"why?"

The Crow King was a little confused.

"It's very simple. This kind of conference is a very rare occasion for all the Primarchs to gather together. If the Wolf Shepherd still wants to make another effort for his shaky throne as Warmaster, then giving priority to convening the Psyker Conference will provide him with some precious time to show enough goodwill to the other Primarchs."

"I do not think the Primarchs' opinions will have any bearing on the Warmaster's final decision."

Corax shook his head.

"The Emperor told me long ago that Horus was his favorite."

"Yes, we know that: but it's always better to be popular, isn't it?"

The Primarch raised a brow.

"So, Horus offered Morgan a simple favor for the election after Ullanor, a favor that would allow the Dawnbreakers to go to the Inesim system: but what does that have to do with me and Jonson?"

"Your 19th Legion is on its way to join you. Considering that Morgan will be back soon, she will take a short rest after returning to Avalon and lead us out again. We will just meet your legion near the Inesim system."

"That's it."

Corax nodded: he didn't have any idea of ​​meeting the legion in any special place. Inesim was also good. At least Morgan and Conrad would be with him at that time: having the support of blood relatives was always a good thing and would make him feel at ease.

"And Jonson?"

"Our lion brother is currently leading the main force of the First Legion to perform their daily cleanup operations at the edge of the Milky Way further north of Inisim. Considering that his mission is almost completed, Morgan can summon him over with just a message."

"What's the use of him coming here?"

"For now: No."

Midnight Ghost pouted, looking dissatisfied with this matter.

"But Morgan wants to see him."

"And I always have a bad feeling about this [simple] recovery mission."

“…Will there be trouble?”

"Maybe."

Conrad narrowed his eyes.

"To be honest, my precognitive dreams have been getting less and less accurate recently. They have become too fragmented, with a gap of several months between two fragments. They are also inherently deceptive, and things that happen in the same world may not necessarily be the same thing."

"Have you told Morgan?"

"She'll look at it when she gets back: don't worry, little brother."

"You should worry about our unfortunate sister instead of me."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, let's calculate the time: she should be in a meeting with Magnus and Angron right now."

"You know, whenever there's a meeting like this, two things grow automatically."

"What is it?"

"Jonson's popularity."

"And Morgan's blood pressure."

(End of this chapter)