Emperor's Bane

Chapter 923 Abandoned Son
"How could we be completely unprepared?"

“After all… that’s Horus.”

The wolf king's tone was ambiguous, neither expressing emotion nor mockery.

His unusually clear eyes silently gazed at the empty void before him.

"He is the best among us."

"The most reliable ally: also the most formidable enemy."

……

The main fleet of the Space Wolf Legion has not been assembled for a long time.

In fact, since the Ulanor Expedition and the Council of Nicaea fifty years ago, King Fenris has never called upon his entire pack again: the greatest hunt in the world had ended with the departure of the Allfather, and there was no longer anything powerful enough for Fenris's wolf offspring to give their all.

At least, Lemanrus was willing to let his hunting party believe this "truth".

Since the Winter King received the crown bestowed by the Allfather on the burning ruins of the Orcish Empire, becoming the de facto ruler and vassal king of the entire galaxy like his blood brothers, the first thing he did was to dismantle his Great Hunt: reorganizing it into thirteen smaller groups based on the Legion's company.

This was not difficult for him.

After the Space Wolves and their genetic father met on the snowfields of Fenris, the Wolf Pack's structure remained unchanged, like a reef on the Iron Islands. The Great Ring, placed in the Hall of the Alpha Wolves of Fenris, was inscribed with runic letters bearing the names of the Wolf Pack and its lords: this also became Lemanrus's reliance when he divided his sons.

Just as the ancient Fenris High Kings led their tribes to find the lands rising from the ocean at each transition of winter and summer on the planet, and then fairly distributed all the hunting grounds and fishing grounds to all the loyal tribes under their command to avoid fighting between tribes over precious land: this is the way of governance that Lemanrus was taught from childhood.

He also distributed the land granted to him by the Emperor, known to the world as the Fenris Governorate, to his thirteen wolf lords and Dalian.

Seawolf Dalian, born of islanders, took root in the ocean world of Agor. The taciturn sons of Mokai were assigned to Tex, the closest to the front line. Iron Wolves, who were passionate about unleashing a torrent of steel, became the guardians of the forging world of Vanaheim. Meanwhile, Blackmane Dalian, who was passionate about planetary airborne strikes, was transferred by Lemanrus to Alicia, where the Empire's best airborne troops were located.

As for the other Dalians, they were all assigned to their fixed dens and hunting grounds, evenly scattered throughout the entire territory of Lemanrus.

Of course, there were also the Normans, who were an exception in the entire partitioning process: Lemanrus did not assign these new troops to his territory, but instead built a number of independent fortified worlds for them not far from Fenris, and allowed them to maintain a single-line connection with another forging world, Paramar, so that they could be conscripted at any time.

For some reason, the Wolf King did not expand the size of his new army. Of the Space Wolves' total force of 230,000, about 80,000 were Normans, and they were not always under Fenris's control: a group of Normans lived almost permanently under the command of Rogdorand, where they learned tactics to work with the Imperial Fists, while some younger warriors remained on the Far Eastern frontier.

Overall, however, these new troops had learned how to get along with the elders of Fenris, and the worrying internal strife within the Wolf Pack ultimately did not materialize: both sides had become accustomed to the Primarch treating them separately, and in the face of shared loyalty to Lemanrus, both Fenrisians and non-Fenrisians had finally found their place.

However, there is a very special case in Lemanrus's fiefdoms. The most powerful of them all, Fenris Champion Dalian, does not have their fiefdom under Lemanrus's control. Instead, they are stationed in the more southern Betangamon system along with 20,000 of the most powerful Norman New Army soldiers. Lemanrus would never mobilize this force unless absolutely necessary.

As for the Wolf King himself, he always carried two or three large main forces with him, wandering between the territories of the various Wolf Lords like a nomadic tribe, maintaining the unity of the Sixth Legion, and at the same time, checking whether the Wolf Lords had completed their tasks.

Indeed, the territories granted to the wolf lords are not merely a reward. The wolf king has special expectations for each wolf lord who takes up a post under his command, and each wolf pack carries its own mission: some of these missions are specifically instructed by the Primarch, while others are tasks that each company must accomplish.

Among the common tasks of all companies, the most important ones are clearing out pirates, maintaining order, collecting taxes, and building independent asteroid ports. The first few sound like normal jobs, but the last one was something Lemanrus specifically instructed him to do. He required each of his wolf lords to invest great enthusiasm and wisdom in building the asteroid ports he needed.

Of course, the more specialized tasks should not be neglected either.

For example, the sons of Mokai, Dalian, a team known for their taciturnity (by the standards of the Space Wolves), were placed in the Tylos system by the Wolf King precisely because it was so close to the front lines: not far from Tylos was the Onswald system, where the main fleet of the Shadowmoon Wolves was currently docked. The sons of Mokai were then naturally tasked with infiltrating the Wolf God and his territories and gathering intelligence.

However, what is strange is that this mission was not sustained for long: about fifteen or sixteen years ago, Lemanrus suddenly transferred the sons of Mokai, Dalian, to the rear, and the intelligence work on the Wolf Kingdom ended abruptly.

Some suspect the Primarch did this because the Sons of Morkai were gradually losing their advantage in the intelligence war: in the beginning, the intelligence operatives of the Space Wolves and Shadowmoon Wolves maintained only basic courtesy, and the two sides were generally at the level of exchanging pleasantries; even if someone was directly captured, they were merely politely escorted out of the country.

But it was precisely fifteen or sixteen years ago, when the conflict between the Warmaster and the Holy Terra escalated to a new level, that the Shadowmoon Wolves' intelligence work suddenly became incredibly efficient. They made rapid progress in espionage and assassination, and in the blink of an eye, they gained an overwhelming advantage over the Sons of Mokai: this transformation took less than three months.

The sentries and informants that the sons of Mokai had painstakingly built were picked off one by one by the War Master's men, and the once sizable intelligence network was torn to shreds with a wave of the hand. The Wolf Pack's vision of their powerful opponent became completely dark, and they didn't even know how to launch a counterattack.

When the last group of loyal informants risked their lives to send back a vague but accurate piece of intelligence, the Wolf Pack finally understood what had happened to them.

The wolf god had a terrible helper: his offspring called that person "the serpent."

After carefully reviewing the descriptions of the snake's appearance and habits, Lemanrus locked himself in his room and pondered for an entire night. The next morning, he abandoned his legions and territories and boarded the fastest ship to Holy Terra. He then stayed with the Marksmen for a full month.

A month later, when the Primarch, unshaven and looking like he hadn't rested at all, set foot on Fenris again, he immediately summoned all the Wolf Lords and Norman chieftains to the Hall of the Wolf Head and personally issued them a series of confusing new orders: if these orders hadn't been spoken by the Primarch himself, the Wolf Lords would have thought that the speaker had gone mad.

Because the Wolf King not only admitted to the previous defeat, but also ordered the entire Son of Mokai in Dalian to completely abandon all intelligence work on the Shadowmoon Wolves Legion, and even withdrew most of the wolf guards deployed on the front lines: this was almost handing over the initiative in the war to the Shadowmoon Wolves Legion in terms of both intelligence and early warning.

At the same time, he also demanded that all the Wolf Lords from now on implement the most absurd taxes imposed by Holy Terra with the most resolute attitude, even if it meant turning all the worlds under their command into nothingness: the actual amount of taxes collected by Terra must be raised at all costs, any governor or world that dares to resist will be killed without exception, and its resources and population will also be plundered.

Finally, he emphasized the asteroid ports that he had previously asked the various Wolf Lords to build, and set several guidelines for these ports to follow: they must be hidden so that they are difficult for outsiders to discover, they must be large or numerous enough to hide most of the Wolf Lord's forces, they must have the ability to dock and repair warships, and they must store enough supplies to last for several years to several decades to support the combat consumption in the event of being surrounded by enemies.

In addition, if possible, these hidden asteroid ports should be located as close as possible to major shipping routes that are essential passageways.

If the above points still left the various wolf lords somewhat undecided, then Lemanrus's final order was all too obvious.

The Wolf King ordered the main force of the Norman New Army to withdraw from their current fortress world and retreat directly to the controlled areas of Terra and Rogdorath, where they would learn the true ways of the Great Legion and begin to get used to fighting alongside the Imperial Fist Legion. At the same time, the Normans were also ordered to take away some Legion artifacts and important real estates that were of great value to the Space Wolves Legion.

After this order was issued, both the seasoned wolf lord and the greenhorn understood what their Primarch wanted to do.

……

"Yes."

"I don't intend to hold out here to the death."

"But I don't intend to give up easily."

As the Herakfin led the main fleet of the Space Wolves Legion to anchor in the Fenris system, awaiting the arrival of the armies of the various wolf lords to join them, the lucid Lemanrus sat on his stone throne, beside him his most beloved mortal chronicler of recent decades, whose name was Trizan.

Clearly, this is not the name of Fenris.

The Space Wolves Legion originally had many excellent mortal narrators and bards accompanying them. The descendants of Lemanrus have always been open-minded in the arts, but this openness did not bring them good fortune: the best mortal narrators under the Wolf King met the same fate as the best Terran bureaucrats in the Nicaia catastrophe that nearly destroyed the essence of the Empire.

Among them, several of Lemanrus’s favorite narrators appeared prominently on the list of the dead.

This became the strongest and most compelling reason for the Wolf King himself to hate his Magnus brothers.

After that, the opportunity for Trizan to come to Leman Russ's side was a visit between brothers: when Midnight Ghost visited Fenris for the second time, he noticed that his wolf brother had some mental problems, so when he visited for the third time twelve years later, Conrad did not forget to bring Russ a gift.

This gift is Cui Zan.

Cui Zan is an excellent poet, but he is also a rare Dream Eater. His special psionic skills allow even Primarchs to find the peace they desire in their dreams: before this, he was a necessity for the Midnight Wraiths, but Conrad soon found that he no longer needed this peace.

Whenever Sevita was given three times the usual workload, he would sleep exceptionally soundly afterwards.

But the wolf king seemed to need it more than he did.

Indeed, this was the best gift Lemanrus had received in recent years. The Wolf King quickly grew to enjoy chatting with this mortal old man, whose teeth had even begun to turn black. He was smart enough to discuss the most dangerous topics with the Primarch and never allowed these dangerous words to leak out to the outside world.

But his only flaw is that he's a little too smart.

When the Shadowmoon Wolves' fleet began its large-scale siege of worlds that clearly belonged to the Space Wolves, and the Wolf King used this as a pretext to issue a general mobilization order to his various Wolf Lords: while everyone was still immersed in the fervor of fighting to the death, Chosen, standing beside the Primarch, made the Wolf King's own attitude clear.

"You seem to be prepared to face defeat for yourself and your legion."

This sentence can only be uttered after the Primarch has actively blocked the left and right sides. Otherwise, if Cui Zan dares to leave the Wolf King's field of vision, he will not survive the next 500 meters.

"How did you figure that out?"

The Wolf King was neither furious nor surprised. After five days without a drop of alcohol, the Fenrisian seemed to be in surprisingly good spirits. He leaned back on his throne, one arm encircling the Dionysian Spear, while the other was stretched out onto the star map in front of him, carefully examining the constantly appearing red dots.

There were dozens of densely packed locations, each reporting enemy activity from the Shadow Moon Wolf.

Horus is serious this time.

Despite being mentally prepared, Lemanrus couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion.

"It's all... way too obvious."

Cui Zan's teeth seemed to be loose.

"In fact, I'm not the only one."

“I believe that all the wolf lords and most of the senior officers have already realized this.”

"Since your trip back to Terra, the extent of your transformation has become impossible to hide."

"It's as if... it's as if..."

"It's as if I've already abandoned this land?"

The wolf king smiled and revealed everything that mortal narrators had never dared to say.

Cui Zan lowered his head, choosing silence over words.

The Wolf King shook his head, thoughtfully stroking the golden shaft of the Dionysian Spear. After a while, he suddenly spoke.

"do you know?"

"Actually, before this, I had tried every method I could think of."

"After I realized that the snake beside the Wolf God was definitely not an ordinary person, my first reaction was to rush back to Holy Terra and confront Macado. Sure enough, as I expected, my other brother, Alpharis, was also there. He revealed to me some secrets that had been hidden before."

"He suspected that the snake might have been the work of my other brother, Omiru."

"Omiru?"

Cui Zan was somewhat confused.

"I've never heard of it."

"I didn't have that before either."

“I wanted to learn more about this name, or seek Alpharis’s help, but both requests were rejected by my brother: Alpharis himself was also unaware of Omir’s plans, and he couldn’t even be sure of Omir’s loyalty. As for himself, he had some more important things to do.”

"He has his sights set on the entire galaxy and cannot spare much for my Fenris."

The wolf king stroked his chin.

Surprisingly, although Lemanrus’s words sounded sarcastic and complaining, the narrator did not hear any anger in the Primarch’s voice.

He was speaking more like a third party, mocking someone who wasn't so lucky: himself.

"After confirming that this path was not feasible, I turned to discussing with Macardo and Dorne to see if we could hold off Horus's army at Fenris: after all, the Warmaster's desire to start a war was already a foregone conclusion; otherwise, he would not have needed to invest such an advantage in the intelligence war and to win over allies of the Primarch level."

"But the result was disheartening, Choi Chan."

"During that month, I, the Signet, and Dorn explored every possible method and possibility we could think of."

"And the final conclusion is..."

"We have no chance of stopping Horus here at Fenris by ourselves alone."

"This is a gap in strength, military power, and overall national strength."

The Wolf King looked at his Dionysian Spear, the golden shaft reflecting the somewhat forlorn eyes of King Fenris.

"I didn't even have a last-ditch effort."

"After all, I have to get extremely close to Horus himself to seize this opportunity, but I'm not sure if my fleet can do it: the Warmaster can send out at least five times the size of my fleet. Before the Herakfinl can even reach Horus's flagship, we'll be torn to shreds by the Wolf God's fleet."

"Unless it's an ambush, a surprise attack: but the possibility is too small, too small to be discussed as a tactic: especially since we haven't yet established an advantage over the Shadowmoon Wolves' alarm. In this case, the only possibility is that they will ambush us."

"In addition, we also discussed whether to build fortresses and defenses around the planet, but this idea will soon be abandoned. Horus is not stupid, he will never besiege those fortresses. He will immediately bypass them after destroying all our fleets and use island-hopping tactics to starve our fortress garrisons."

"For Horus, there are only two worlds he absolutely cannot bypass: one is Betangamon, and the other is Holy Terra. Even Fenris is not necessary for Horus to conquer: after all, there are plenty of worlds willing to become stepping stones for Shadowmoon Wolf in the face of Holy Terra's high taxes."

"On the other hand, Fenris is too remote for the defensive tactics of Terra and Dorne. They can certainly send a large number of troops and fleets to support us in order to block or even repel Horus, but that would mean abandoning the defensive forces on other fronts."

"This means that the combined forces of Chagatai Khan and Forgrim will either breach Betangamon or allow Mortarion's army to advance directly to Terra from the south, either of which would be an unacceptable and absolute defeat. However, if I can lead my legions to withdraw from Fenris, then relying on the fortresses that Dorne has built further south, we can effectively block the Warmaster on a shorter defensive line."

"Including the Normans: they would do better in the south than they would have shed blood in vain at Fenris."

"Therefore, from a rational perspective, this is indeed the most appropriate tactic."

"But abandoning Fenris without firing a single shot is intolerable, isn't it?"

Cui Zan asked at the opportune moment.

"Yes."

The wolf king nodded.

He stood up and looked ahead. The fleets of Bloodhowl and Seawolf were pouring into the Fenris system from Mandeville Point, one after the other. Each of them brought more than a hundred powerful warships. Behind them, the rest of the Wolf Lords were on their way. But the Wolf King knew that he would not be able to wait for all his subordinates.

Horus is unleashing his power; he will not give Lemanrus a chance to be fully prepared.

At least, it seems unlikely that Mokai and Dalian will join forces with them.

"Just like you said, Choi Chan."

The Primarch breathed deeply.

"I cannot run away from my brother Shepherd God without firing a single shot."

"I have to fight him."

"This is both reasonable and logical."

"I must defend my territory."

"Furthermore, I also need to buy time for Rogdorn and the others further back."

"For Dorne's sake, I must hold off Horus for at least one to two months."

"At the same time, I also want the Wolf God to waste more of his energy and resources on me: just like I took back those guards on the border. Let Horus bewitch my governors and fleet commanders, since Terra's taxes make it impossible for them to remain loyal anyway, so I might as well let Horus win them over."

“His energy and resources are limited. The more resources he puts into these people whom I consider to be abandoned, the less he can put into other places, into Holy Terra and Dorne: this is a solution that is not a solution for me.”

"However, the most important point is..."

The Wolf King gripped his Dionysian Spear tightly and slowly walked step by step toward the star map that shone with a scarlet light.

His eyes shone brightly, like a ravenous beast searching for prey on a map.

They were searching for the true main force of the Wolf God.

“Whether it’s Macado, Dorn, or me…”

"We all want to know: what is the true quality of Horus and his Shadowmoon Wolves?"

"Have fifty years of fighting and preparation made them a powerful army that exceeded our expectations?"

"And a full-scale war is the best test."

"Can I stop him?"

"Can I force him to back down?"

"Will I be able to successfully evacuate?"

"How many people can I take with me when I leave?"

“Each one is a test, and each one can provide the most valuable intelligence to Rogdorn further back.”

"If we're lucky, we might even be able to force Horus to reveal some of his trump cards right now."

The wolf king stopped.

His gaze shifted, and no one knew what Lemanrus was thinking.

"at the same time."

"if you can."

"If the whole father blesses us."

"If Horus hadn't been so shrewd."

"..."

The wolf king gripped his Dionysian spear tightly.

Little by little, until it made a creaking sound.

"Even though I know the hope is slim, I still want to try: to end this absurd war from the very beginning."

(End of this chapter)