Emperor's Bane

Chapter 672 The demons dance wildly
"Come here, my brothers."

"Come to me: I have a few words to say to you."

As the moonlight of Ullanor slowly rose as the victory banquet on the surface approached its climax, the call of the Wolf God drowned out the cheers of millions of warriors' cooperation and reached the ears of each of his gene brothers, gathering them all in the most cheerful corner of the entire banquet.

Where he himself is.

Mortarion, Jaghatai Khan and Dorn were the first to arrive. Before Horus's voice had even landed on his head, the figures of the three Primarchs had already appeared in his sight: they were the ones who were the least receptive to the cheerful atmosphere of the banquet, so they turned around and left without any reluctance.

But these three people are also different.

Chagatai Khan made no attempt to join in any of the feasts and conversations around the campfire. He chose a high platform made of pure natural rocks for himself, brought a wine glass, and sat there drinking by himself. He then dismissed his servants and asked them to wash away the fatigue of the previous war in this long-awaited event, but he refused to do so.

He kept his pupils and brain clear, so when Horus's message came, the Khan's steps were the fastest.

Mortarion and Dorn, at least, stood at the very edge of the party, but they were both alone, and all their attention was focused on the drinking and merrymaking of their scions, and a few real sword duels between the greatest Astartes warriors, which occupied the attention of the two Primarchs: this was all their entertainment for the night.

But the slight difference was that the Lord of the Imperial Fists stood where his favorite sons could see him. When Sigismund and others fought in the name of the Legion and the Primarch, they only had to turn their heads slightly to see the golden armor of the Father of Genes in the most conspicuous and high place. Dorn smiled at his sons, encouraging a fair and exciting duel, and the Imperial Fists responded with this answer.

Mortarion almost hid himself in the shadows, keeping a distance of forty-nine steps from his nearest offspring. His warriors fought in solitude and could only vaguely feel the Primarch's eyes on them. The Lord of Death frowned at the failure of his offspring, but was not discouraged. When there were no more warriors around the campfire, Mortarion would turn around and leave without mercy: even if the best Astartes were fighting.

But what's interesting is that when the Warmaster's call came, Dorn, who was watching Sigismund fight, left without hesitation. Instead, Mortarion, who was watching an ordinary Death Guard, arrogantly waited until the outcome was decided before he slowly responded to the call of his most trusted brother.

The three men arrived almost at the same time, but all that was left for each other was silence. None of them said anything, just like three stone statues, waiting for Horus: A few minutes later, Horus did not come, but the new brothers came back.

The combination of Jonson, Guilliman, Angron and Konrad seemed to be the most impressive benchmark for the entire human empire in recent years. They stayed together during the banquet, discussing irrelevant topics they could think of. While other brothers fixed their conversations on the glory of the war and the Great Crusade, these primarchs who were connected by the Spider Queen could discuss things under the sun.

There were serious ones, such as ancient memories of Randan and certain unspeakable things, and lighter ones, such as the victory or defeat between Jonson and Conrad? From high-level political affairs in the Far East to the victory or defeat of each heir in the quagmire, from the decoration of the Macragge's Glory to the oldest traditional art on Caliban, for them, all topics were not taboo.

Except for Angron who liked silence, the thoughts of the other Primarchs were irregular. They jumped from one topic to another, but always ended with bragging about themselves or each other, until their lips felt a little bored, and the atmosphere between the brothers would gradually calm down.

But it didn't matter. When the four brothers got together, whenever there was silence, one of them would touch his head, roll his eyes, and then speak in a provocative voice.

"Hey: I have an idea!"

So the topic will continue.

Until the four of them heard the call of Horus.

Morgan's brothers were still laughing and talking. They seemed to lack respect for the Wolf God, but they walked to the platform obediently, and then poured the warm atmosphere into the center of the three stones that had arrived first, which made Dorn's brows twitch and Mortarion groan in dissatisfaction. Chagatai Khan just looked at them calmly, and no one knew what he was thinking.

"Where's Corax?"

Khan suddenly asked.

"He'll have to wait a minute: he's with his cubs."

It was Conrad who answered him.

The Khan nodded, and he seemed to want to say something else, but the noise from the other side interrupted him: Fulgrim and Sanguinius brought back all the elegant arts worth praising in a banquet, and from a distance, Phoenix could be heard excitedly discussing the perfect swordsmanship displayed by his children in every duel, and his voice was mixed with the dull hum of the Iron Hands.

The Phoenix, the Angel, the Gorgon, and behind them, followed Magnus who looked a little worried: the Khan could guess that the Prospero people were most likely coming to his two old friends to seek help, and he didn't think the Phoenix could give a good answer.

But he did not ask any more questions: the increasingly noisy environment made Khan frown. Fortunately, before the White Scars' patience was exhausted, the last group of his brothers, a group of drunken and smiling brothers, returned to the formation.

Leman Russ, Vulkan, Lorgar and Corax, they may be the only ones among all the brothers who are truly immersed in the current banquet, but each of them has different happiness.

Corax, Vulkan and the mortals sat on the ground like brothers, listening to their stories and experiencing the happy times of their childhood. Not far away from them, the Wolf King was indulging in wine. He had drunk hundreds of big-bellied men and was very proud of it. He was arm in arm with hundreds of men and women, and they howled incomprehensible songs around the torches.

As usual, Lorgar held his scriptures in his hands. In just a few hours, he had developed hundreds of followers, which was enough to make the Primarch smile and make Jagatai Khan, who was in the know, shake his head: he had heard rumors about some worlds ruled by the Word Bearers, but he did not choose to believe them.

Because Khan couldn't believe that his brother could be so crazy: even Luo Jia.

Khan turned his eyes away, avoiding those tiring brothers, but another more important figure walked into his pupils at this moment: no one knew what Alpharius had been doing before, and no one knew when he came, but when the seventeen brothers gathered, Alpharius was already standing among them.

"Do you like silence, too?"

As their visions collided, the Khan stared coldly at his brother.

Alpha just smiled.

"I just don't like the spotlight: I guess we're alike, Chagatai."

"I can't afford that."

The Khan said nothing more. He secretly avoided the location of the Hydra and walked from one end of the many Primarchs to the other.

He avoided the mess between Jonson and Conrad: the drunken Night Haunter wanted to grab a few golden hairs from his dear brother Caliban as a souvenir, but Jonson suggested that Conrad could just cut off his black-haired head, which would surely be a more valuable souvenir.

Both sides are trying to use physical means to make the other side accept their good advice.

The Khan dodged their fight, exchanging a nod with Angron, his eyes flashing with admiration for his brother of the Red Sand, and Jaghatai's next move was a slight deviation, allowing him to just avoid the Macragge who seemed to want to chat with him.

He did not want to get involved in the next round of expansion of the Five Hundred Worlds in the Maelstrom: Holy Terra's patience was almost at its limit, and the Maelstrom itself had not been very peaceful recently. The negative effects of the Empire's large-scale gathering of elite troops in the Crown World Ullanor had already become apparent, and many cosmic domains in the Maelstrom were now asking for help. Their world was once again threatened by pirates after many years.

This is especially true of the Emperor's Children's homeworld of Chemos: the situation there is most serious.

But Fulgrim didn't seem to care that much.

The Khan frowned slightly, wading through the thick cloud of incense beside Fulgrim. He nodded to Ferrus with a little admiration. He didn't know how the Gorgon usually endured it. Magnus, who was standing farther away, looked like he wanted to come up and talk to him, but the archangel just hooked his shoulder just right, making the Scarlet King turn his attention elsewhere. Sanguinius smiled at the Khan, as if to tell him not to thank him, but the Khan was thinking about something else: whether it was Sanguinius or Fulgrim, they seemed to be hiding something about the issue of Nikea, deliberately shielding him from the outside.

He didn't think that these two guys who never liked to cause trouble would act privately. There must be someone secretly controlling them behind the scenes: it seemed that the Emperor's patience with Magnus had indeed reached its limit. Something might happen on Nikaea, and he hoped that the think tank's plan would not be involved.

Morgan had promised him: but the Khan would not completely believe the Spider Queen's assurances.

Chagatai walked by with a heavy heart. He didn't even say hello to Lorgar. Instead, the drunken Leman Russ and the smiling Vulkan made him feel better. Corax even won Chagatai's smile: their two legions had cooperated once, which was one of the few collaborations that made Chagatai Khan feel that this empire still had some merits.

However, Corax's opinion of the White Scars was not so high: the Raven King once grumbled to Morgan in private that he believed the Khan's management of his own legion was a bit too rough, which resulted in many White Scars companies' behavior getting out of control.

It is true that those Khans and companies who always followed Chagatai's tent still maintained their noble ethics and aesthetics, and were the most pleasing warriors in the entire empire. However, some companies that had been away from their Primarch for too long and gradually lost in the galaxy, or were too deeply influenced by people like Horus, quietly changed into another appearance, an appearance that Chagatai Khan absolutely did not like.

The Khan knew this, but he didn't think it mattered: the men of the steppe would always find their own way, and if they failed...

Then he needs to fulfill his final duty as a father.

Chagatai's pupils darkened.

He stood again and came to a place where the noise was slightly reduced. This place was closest to Morgan's palace, so when the Wolf God and the Spider moved towards their brothers, Chagatai Khan was the first to see them: taking advantage of this brief opportunity, the Khan carefully watched his two brothers.

It was the first time that he compared the gap between Horus and Morgan in such detail.

But the result...is not so pleasing.

The Khan shook his head.

Although he could not see more of the inner qualities of the two brothers, with just a glance, Chagatai could be sure of one thing: Horus and Morgan might be able to cooperate temporarily, or might eventually become enemies, but there was absolutely no possibility of establishing order between them.

The Wolf God's majesty, character and means were not enough to support him in subjugating the Spider Queen: although he certainly wanted to do so, just as he had come into contact with Guilliman, they were not someone Horus could challenge.

I hope his Wolf Shepherd brother will realize this in the days to come.

The Khan drank the wine in the glass and took another step closer to the shadow behind him.

In front of him, Horus had already arrived in front of everyone, and Morgan stood beside him as the host of the banquet. The two Primarchs raised their glasses together to their brothers: this scene attracted everyone's attention.

"My brothers."

Horus smiled.

“Thank you for responding to my call with such a positive attitude.”

“Just practicing.”

From the crowd came the deep-seated rebellion of Mortarion.

"After all, we will often have to do similar things in the future, right?"

The air was quiet for a moment, but Horus' smile was not affected at all. When he raised his glass again, everyone seemed to see a sun in a trance.

However, this [Sun], their wolf shepherd god, did not choose to continue beating around the bush with his brothers this time. He stated his purpose directly.

"All right, brothers: we'll leave little things like this to worry about later."

"I have gathered you here only for a command from the Father."

"Emperor?"

Dawn looked up.

"Why doesn't he come to see us in person?"

"To allow everyone to speak their mind."

The wolf shepherd god nodded and smiled.

"It is necessary, Dawn."

"After all, what our father wants to know is actually a very private matter."

"What is it?"

Jonson blinked.

"He wants to know..."

The wolf god paused.
"My brothers: when you return to the Great Crusade."

"You: What dreams do you have?"

"You: What do you want to do?"

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Due to some reasons, I can only update half of this one: originally this was a 10,000-word chapter, but the second half involves the foreshadowing of future plots, so it has been deleted and revised and has not been completed. I can only post the first half first, and I will probably post the second half tomorrow during the day.

(End of this chapter)