Emperor's Bane

Chapter 615: Zhuang Sen: I have no interest in the Warmaster

As the throne of the Greenskin Empire and the next target of the Human Empire, Ullanor may be the most imaginative fortress galaxy in the entire galaxy so far: just the tip of the iceberg it reveals is testing the limits of all physics, architecture and moral ethics in the world.

Even though the distance across the universe made the model appearing in the holographic projector as blurry as an illusion, some clues in it were enough to amaze people: asteroid fortresses of unprecedented scale were hollowed out inside, and filled with hundreds of thousands of green-skinned beasts with fangs. It seemed as if one could hear their steaming howls through the fantasy, endlessly polluting the public communication channels between the various Astartes Legions.

This is only the first line of defense of the Ullanor galaxy, which is not worth mentioning. Neither King Urge himself nor Jonson and Horus who came from afar took these tens of thousands of asteroid fortresses seriously. Instead, those garbage fleets are more worthy of attention.

[But I don't care about them. To me, they are just a pile of junk. What really concerns me is a very insignificant detail in the eyes of you guys, about the asteroid fortresses we just mentioned.]

The Spider Queen's beautiful armor gleamed a dim silver-white light under the lights of the strategic hall, while her long, coiled hair was filled with a brighter luster: at the edge where these two similar colors intersect, a lifelike secretary bird was carved in amber on the luxurious arm armor, which was one of Morgan's symbols.

On different occasions, the Lord of Avalon will have three different beasts to symbolize his authority: the swift and ferocious snowy owl flaps its wings in war, is used on the front lines and in parades where the rumble of artillery fire can be heard in the distance; the small and powerful black-footed cat is used in peacetime, while keeping a low profile as much as possible, it will not lack sufficient deterrence. After all, even the smallest beast is still a beast.

As for the elegant secretary vulture, it stands between the first two. At the transit station between war and peace, Morgan will use a more graceful posture to mobilize the huge battlefield based on star sectors. Just by waving her fingers, she can manipulate thousands of destructive forces: at this time, she is even more deadly than when her psychic power is fully activated. A string of characters can poison dozens of star sectors.

That's enough.

Contrary to her title, the Spider Queen actually doesn't like spiders, because it reminds her of the subspace existence that is always watching her: after all these years of coexistence, the gaze of the Lord of Pleasure has long become a tolerable little trouble that does not even have any impact on her daily life.

As for the occasional breath and licking of this evil god, it did not seem to cause any greater harm except for making Morgan frown for no reason in any occasion, sending away visitors who were frightened by her color change, rushing to her bathroom, and then coming out to clean up the mess on the scene.

But this is precisely the most terrifying thing about the evil god of the Warp: even a cautious figure like the Lord of Avalon, after decades of being on edge, had to fall into a vortex of laziness and numbness, and his vigilance against the Prince of Pleasure also passively declined.

Slaanesh only paid the negligible price of the [Time] war to curb Morgan's counterattack and successfully occupied the position closest to the Primarch. Not only could it exert influence on Morgan at all times, but it also cleverly saved the tediousness of future contact.

The evil god did not exert any effort, it was simply persistent and shameless: even though Morgan and other Chaos beings had disrupted Slaanesh's advance countless times, the Prince of Pleasure still tried every possible means to firmly occupy the position behind the Spider Queen.

In any case, the Lord of Avalon has become accustomed to the evil god's presence so close, and the initial vigilance is gone forever. He even occasionally forgets the notes behind him, and takes for granted the feeling of the hair on the back of his neck being slightly blown by his breath, and only realizes it belatedly afterwards and breaks out in a cold sweat.

This feeling is really torturous.

Especially when you know that the evil god is lurking now just to get more in the future, and you just can't concentrate your vigilance: the Prince of Pleasure has almost perfectly integrated into Morgan's daily life. Although the Spider Queen has curbed many of her hobbies for this, there are always some things that even Morgan cannot avoid.

For example...

The Primarch covered her forehead, feeling the increasingly ambiguous breeze blowing beside her ears, and shook her head and sighed helplessly in her heart: she was just a little proud of herself for being able to point out a small problem that both Jonson and Horus had overlooked, and the voice of Slaanesh began to echo impatiently, leaving another mark in her soul.

Pride: The power of Slaanesh.

It's really hard to guard against.

The Primarch clenched her teeth and cursed inaudibly, then looked up belatedly to find her Caliban relative staring at her in astonishment: Morgan's unusual movement had obviously frightened Zhuangsen, but he opened his mouth but didn't point it out.

"What did you want to say just now?"

The lion rudely changed the subject.

【These asteroid fortresses. 】

Morgan took a deep breath and had to use his energy to be alert to the breathing behind him.

[You remember, in the past two weeks, we destroyed the last three fortress systems that stood in front of Ullanor, and waited for the reinforcements from Phoenix and Khan: when our several legions fought side by side, we also encountered these asteroid fortresses. ]

"Vulnerable."

Zhuang Sen snorted disdainfully.

"Any one of my knights could knock down such a [fortress] in less than ten hours: if those Calibans were to come, the casualties would not even exceed a hundred."

【I don’t doubt that.】

Morgan waved his hand, not dwelling on Jonson's boasting.

[What really interests me is that in the Ullanor system, there are tens of thousands of such asteroid fortresses, but in the three system we just conquered, there are no more than ten asteroid fortresses like this in total. The orc emperor is obviously consciously shrinking the military power in his hands, and his control over his subordinates is still very strong.]

"For greenskins, such control is indeed rare."

Zhuang Sen thought for a moment before nodding.

"I destroyed more than a hundred orc empires in the Great Crusade. Some of them only occupied a few star systems, while others spanned several star regions or even star fields. There were so many of them that even we couldn't completely eliminate them. Among the many warlords I chopped off, I have never seen such a smart one."

"The Emperor had reason to choose this opponent for his final battle."

Having said that, Zhuang Sen pursed his lips reluctantly.

"At least, my Dark Angels cannot defeat Ullanor alone."

【None of us can solve this alone.】

Morgan blinked. He was never interested in topics like honor.

[Don't forget, your Dark Angels only sent out 15,000 people, and my Dawnbreakers also sent out 15,000 people. The Emperor's Children and the White Scars have allocated a total of about 50,000 elite troops to us, and the rest are made up by the Ultramarines. In this way, we have formed this decapitation force of more than 120,000 people under your command.]

“It’s difficult to direct them.”

Zhuang Sen was still frightened.

"Those so-called khans, lords or heroes always have their own ideas."

“A bunch of miscellaneous brands…hiss!”

The lion king gasped: a few strands of broken golden hair fluttered in the wind in the air.

"what are you doing!"

【Shut up! 】

Morgan frowned and sneered, and she blocked the roar that was about to come out of the lion king's throat.

[What do you want to say? Hmm! ]

[What do you want to call the support troops that your blood brothers have worked so hard to put together for you? Which part of your brain supports you to say this word: Reckless Department or Courage Department? ]

"…The Ministry of Honesty."

After being silent for a while, the Caliban man actually uttered a rather interesting answer, which made Morgan laugh out loud.

【Anyway, don’t say this word.】

"This is just a private occasion, Morgan."

[Do you think I don’t understand you? ]

The Spider Queen rolled her eyes.

[If you don't remember these things in private, it will be too late in public. Fulgrim and Jaghatai Khan are not thousands of miles away now, but on their respective warships. They may visit your warship at any time. These two people are not as easy to talk to as Guilliman.]

The Lion King remained silent.

"So where do you plan to place them when we attack Ullanor?"

【I have no power to arrange them.】

Morgan patted his shoulder irritably.

[Chagatai Khan doesn't care much about where he will appear. His only rigid requirement is that his battle zone must be arranged within the range where he can provide timely support to Horus. Considering that he doesn't care about the merits that the Ullanor battlefield will bring him: I prefer to place him in the reserve position. ]

"Reserves? Seriously?"

Jonson frowned.

"You have to understand, Morgan, that's the White Scars. Other legions consider wearing Terminator armor as an honor, but they consider wearing Terminator armor as a punishment. Instead, they regard being nailed to a motorcycle as their pursuit. For a legion like this, you want to put it at the back of the entire battle line?"

[Chagatai had no objection. He actually quite liked this position.]

Morgan gave Jonson a teasing look.

[Unlike some people, our Eagle brothers know the importance of the general reserve, and the high mobility of the White Scars Legion means that they can provide timely support to various fronts to prepare for different emergencies. ]

"Well, what about the Emperor's Children?" [Fulgrim is in a lot more trouble.]

【He asked us to give him a position with a good view. 】

"……What?"

[Observation deck means that the reason he joined Ullanor was just for this matter. ]

"What is the observation deck?"

[You are still young now, Zhuang Sen. You will understand when you grow up.]

"..."

The lion narrowed his eyes: Morgan was actually giving him a perfunctory response without even pretending.

He felt a sense of suffocation.

"Would you mind explaining it more clearly?"

[Goodbye, I'm afraid you'll draw your sword and go after Fulgrim after hearing this.]

"Oh, that's interesting."

Zhuang Sen laughed. His brain started working at lightning speed. His beast-like intuition actually caught the correct answer at once: even Zhuang Sen thought it was so natural.

"I think there is only one situation that I cannot tolerate, that is, treating this war that the empire has invested so much power in and everyone is concentrating on as a drama for him to watch and enjoy: such a thing is surprisingly reasonable for him."

"That's the kind of man Fulgrim is."

[Then what do you want to do? 】

Morgan raised his brows, counting down the days until war.

"I'll deal with him later."

The Lion King gritted his teeth and finally realized the importance of the matter: he knew that if it were decades ago, he would never say such a thing, but would draw his sword as Morgan just said and question Fulgrim's attitude in front of everyone.

but now……

This is not appropriate.

"Don't assign him to those crucial positions, Morgan. His current attitude says it all: no matter how famous the Emperor's Children Legion is, you can't give him the most important responsibilities. I would rather give these responsibilities to your mortal auxiliary army."

"At least they have proven themselves to be solid and reliable in those past wars."

【I will. 】

Morgan nodded.

[Then leave it to the Ultramarines? ]

"Tsk... that's fine."

The Lion King nodded condescendingly.

“Without Guilliman, these Ultramarines are barely trustworthy.”

[Then there won’t be any problem…]

【Except one.】

The Spider Queen pouted and looked at the letters that had always been at her side.

[Jonson, what do you think of Horus's opinion?]

The Lion King was silent for a moment.

"It's not about what I think: if Horus really wanted to act alone, he could have launched the offensive two weeks ago. After all, the Imperial Fists and the Blood Angels have already rushed to his side, and the Emperor's fleet will arrive immediately. But we all know that Horus did not do so. He has been waiting for our progress."

“In that case, what reason do I have to avoid a joint offensive with him? Although this sounds more like a competitive game, I don’t think I have any reason to be afraid of him: whether it is Horus himself or his Luna Wolves, the Dark Angels and I are confident of victory.”

But you have to consider another problem.

Morgan nodded inwardly at Zhuangsen's answer: if he could speak so clearly in public, there would be nothing to worry about. After solving these serious problems, Morgan was filled with amusement.

[If you and Horus cooperate to launch an offensive against Ullanor, how will you compete for the position of Warmaster? ]

"Isn't this simple?"

The lion king laughed, as if he was mocking Morgan's ignorance.

"The battlefield is not some other place. It is the place where secrets cannot be hidden. A commander's actual ability will determine his performance on the battlefield. The battlefield will not give its players the opportunity to cheat. When the dust of a war settles, it will be clear at a glance who has a higher level."

"In that case, Ullanor is simply the best arena for competition."

"When the war is over, whether it is me, Horus, or the Emperor, or you, the blood relatives watching, we will naturally be able to tell who the real Warmaster is. Why do we need an extra Warmaster election?"

【…】

For some reason, Johnson's last words made Morgan very angry.

【That……】

She smiled.

【What if you lose? 】

"..."

The Lion King raised his brows, he really didn't seem to have considered this possibility.

After a moment's silence, Zhuang Sen calmly gave his answer: he did not flatly deny Morgan's hypothesis, nor did he get furious. Instead, he naturally showed his confidence.

"Let me tell you something, Morgan."

"I actually... don't really care whether I can get the position of Warmaster."

【real? 】

"Ahem... of course."

The lion looked away.

"But no matter what, if Horus's performance on the battlefield can really conquer everyone, including you and me, and use his strength to convince me to admit defeat, then why not let him be the warmaster?"

"The reason why I am running for the position of Warmaster is because I am the most suitable person for this position, not because of any unnecessary competitive desire. I have never been interested in these empty positions. What I am least interested in in my life is these empty names. I believe in the principle that the position should be held by the most capable."

"Before this, Horus's performance could not convince me. I admit that he and Ferrus are the only two generals who can match me. The command abilities of the others are one level lower, but there is no gap between the three of us, so naturally no one should be higher than me."

“Even if we have to compete, I think I am the taller one.”

"Not Horus."

"If he can convince me with his actual performance on the battlefield of Ullanor, or show me some ability that makes me look up to him or admire him, I don't care who gets the position of Warmaster. If he can win, it's naturally his ability, and I have nothing to say."

"So, it's like I said."

Zhuang Sen licked his lips, the gleam in his eyes hiding his true thoughts.

"I'm fighting against the commander... cough..."

"I have little interest in the Warmaster."

(End of this chapter)