Emperor's Bane

Chapter 926 Killing Day (23): The Werewolf War
A thousand years later, in this brutal battle recorded in the history books of human empires as the "Werewolf War," people often overlook a detail.

The first person to fire in this war that nearly destroyed the entire Astartes Legion, and also, strictly speaking, the one who fired the first shot in the entire Horus Rebellion, was neither the menacing Space Wolves nor the long-planned Shadowmoon Wolves.

The first shot was fired by a group of "traitors": as the name suggests.

In retrospect, this was a truly ironic coincidence.

More than 50,000 eyewitnesses can testify that when Horus’s wolf pack emerged from eerie warp fluctuations and unknown technology, the battle did not immediately break out: the two powerful fleets stood in silent confrontation under the shadow of the red giant, as if it were just a chance encounter, like countless others that had occurred during the Great Crusade.

In the span of ten seconds to half a minute, as the Wolf God's massive, almost excessively large, ambush fleet leaped out of the warp one after another, the only sound in the air was a deathly silence and a trembling that made everyone afraid to breathe loudly: countless eyes were fixed on their Primarch and Master, awaiting orders.

Leman Russ remained expressionless.

Horus, on the other hand, was smiling.

As for their sailors, they were busy stuffing the first cannonball into the barrel.

At that very moment, the Revenge-class large cruiser Angleboda, which had already secretly sided with the Warlord, seized the opportunity to fire on the Ragnarok beside it: the latter was the flagship of the Space Wolves' leader, Gonhildr, and also the escort of the Herakfin.

A shell from the traitors struck the gun deck of the Ragnarok, killing three Space Wolves and more than eight hundred sailors gathered there. The piercing alarm immediately rang out in every corridor of the Ragnarok, and starting with the raging flames, one ship after another, like a rampant virus, swept through the entire fleet.

Every warship still loyal to Lemanrus sounded the alarm, followed by furious roars: the Wolf Lord raged on his throne, tens of thousands of officers and sailors rushed to their posts, sharing the same rage as their master. The air echoed with the whistling of light spears charging, the promethium igniters were ready to ignite, the plasma that had been accumulating in the distributors roared, and the crackling of the cannons was incessant.

The first counterattack arrived as expected: even as the sound of the explosions still echoed on the deck of the Ragnarok, the Herakfin had already unleashed its vengeful claws. Every deadly weapon on this Glory Queen-class warship was ready at any moment; with just a slight adjustment of the angle and confirmation of the opponent, the light spears that could pierce gold and split stone struck the Angleberda solidly like a surging tide of flames.

The traitors' warship clearly underestimated the accurate range of the Glory Queen-class. The light spears, imbued with the wrath of Lemanrus, instantly pierced its shields and outer armor. The violent energy flow released a devastating impact, directly capsizing the entire warship. Even though it frantically ran its engines in despair, hoping to escape its fate of destruction, it was clearly too late.

The shield, completely pierced, ignited an inextinguishable flame on the hull. The pervasive plasma and raging shockwaves caused countless crimson cracks to rapidly cover every inch of its surface. After a few breaths, the unsustainable reaction was finally broken. Energy sweeping in from within tore the entire warship to shreds, igniting a magnificent blood flower in the void.

The Angleboda, which ignited the entire werewolf war, became the first recorded victim less than three minutes into the battle.

On the command deck of the Glory Queen, Lemanrus silently witnessed the death of the traitor. His gaze was as calm as that of his brother, Rogdoryn. No one knew what the King of Fenris was thinking. He felt neither anger at the betrayal nor tension at the start of the war. He simply stared at the great fire, as if remembering an important chapter in his life.

But when destruction came, almost no one would linger on a traitor like the Primarch did: the firing of the Herakfin was taken as a natural signal to war by both wolf packs. The Space Wolves' ships were unleashed amidst the frenzied battle, and whether powerful battleships or the smallest destroyers, everyone bravely and fearlessly charged to the front, like a pack of beasts driven by hunger, wild yet orderly.

Amidst the Fenrisians' furious gazes, the capital ships loyal to the Warmaster maintained a superior distance, appearing just outside the limits of the Space Wolves' firepower. They leisurely formed a salvo formation, while simultaneously dispatching escort ships that outnumbered the wolves, ordering them to ram the frenzied wolves head-on: like nobles hunting in the wilderness unleashing their hounds while they themselves calmly loaded their bullets.

The warships' cannons on both sides unleashed a torrent of ammunition and fire, flashes and explosions echoing continuously, drowning out battle cries and wails. Thousands of fighters moved at astonishing speed across the vanguard battlefield, their relentless barrage of fire claiming each other's lives. The high-speed space wolves, draining their energy, aimed their deadly master lances at their targets, while their opponents directed their minions to entangle the charging wolves, retaliating with incredibly precise long-range salvos.

Every second, warships perished. Every minute, desperate and chilling farewells echoed across the public channels. Burning wreckage surged like a tide onto the front lines. Futile battles and ruthless killings revealed a cruelty and violence beyond description in history books. Flames and laser beams intertwined to form a web of death. The firelight of exploding ships was more dazzling than the classical opera of Imperial Pride. Piles of ruins were crushed into dust by gravity and artillery fire, filling every inch of this galaxy with the gloom of war.

Perhaps this war has only just begun, but it has already overshadowed everything that has happened in this galaxy over the past hundreds of thousands of years. The brothers who once fought side by side are now like true mortal enemies, fighting each other fiercely. Whenever a warship is destroyed, three or five ships will take its place without hesitation and head straight for the source of the destructive storm.

Behind them, the Primarch of the Space Wolf watched everything with a cold gaze. He stood ramrod straight, clad in armor and a cloak, staring directly at the magnificent scene in the void through the armored glass of the porthole: hundreds of unparalleled steel behemoths were slaughtering each other, their fangs forged from towering flames. Their imposing and majestic bodies and the silent carnage formed a magnificent painting, a work of art that could never be replicated.

Ruth did not pace back and forth on the command platform, urging his fleet to launch an attack, nor did he contact each of his wolf lords to issue orders: the former was the responsibility of his professional and loyal command team, and the wolf lords all knew what they were supposed to do.

The Primarch simply stood there, at the highest point visible to everyone on the command platform, like a silent statue, creating chaos without causing it to collapse.

The bridge was bustling with activity. Officers were issuing orders at the top of their lungs, while slaves followed frantically behind them. Reports and battle updates poured in like snowflakes every moment. Data streams from thousands of systems and workstations were cascading down like waterfalls. Crimson warning messages flashed rapidly across the windows, never stopping. Each message brought either good news or bad news to Lemanrus.

As expected, the large-scale mutiny demonstrated its power at the very beginning of the war. The first drop of blood on the Angleberda was the sound of a whistle. More than forty warships of various types turned to their new masters without hesitation after the appearance of Shadowmoon Azure's fleet. This made Space Wolves' campaign on two fronts less than smooth, but it did not take long to eliminate these traitors.

But the real problem came from the rear. Jorin Bloodhowl's report came a few seconds later than the Angleboda's backstab: after the main force of the Wolf Pack left, the more than seventy ships that remained in the rear simultaneously attacked Jorin Bloodhowl's Dalian, cutting off the Wolf Lord's contact with his werewolves. The entire Mandeville point had fallen into a completely disorganized chaotic battle.

In the Wolf Lord's report, he might not be able to catch up with the main force of the legion in time, but he was full of confidence and promised to single-handedly annihilate all the traitors. Lemanrus did not doubt the truth of this statement; he knew how terrifying the Thirteenth Company, which had been completely released, was.

His gaze fell upon the tactical star map. The blue dots representing the Space Wolves were sparse and elongated, while the red dots representing the Shadowmoon Wolves almost completely surrounded them, forming a thick barrier that looked as if a finger had been stuck into the fangs of a beast.

With each blink, a few fewer of the flashing dots on the tactical star map disappear, a simple way of commemorating the fall of tens of thousands of lives: unsurprisingly, the Space Wolves' situation is far from favorable. Although the Wolf Lords are accustomed to maintaining order while fighting independently, each of their ships faces attacks from at least five or six enemy vessels, sometimes even more.

Lemanrus didn't know exactly how many warships Horus had used to hunt him, but based on the Primarch's superhuman senses, he deduced more than five thousand blood-red dots on the tactical star map, and perhaps more. They were divided into several large groups, with the Ruby King leading the most powerful one to block their path, while the rest of the warships spread out to the sides.

This is a greedy formation; if the two flanks are tightened in an orderly manner, the space wolf will have nowhere to escape.

But... this is also a dangerous formation.

For Horus

A smile crept onto the wolf king's lips.

Although it seems that the Space Wolves are indeed at a disadvantage due to insufficient manpower and being ambushed, forced to fight enemies from all sides, forced to fight against the numerous small ships of the Shadowmoon Wolves, and endured wave after wave of salvo threats from distant capital ships, they are far from the brink of collapse.

Horus's warriors clearly had no intention of sacrificing all their small and medium-sized warships. Therefore, although their salvos were accurate and ruthless, they were often hesitant and restrained. Instead, the wolves, who had reacted quickly, seized the opportunity. The offspring of Lemanrus used their powerful artillery as cover and, with the engines that had been specially enhanced over the past few decades using technology sent by Holy Terra, identified their targets and charged forward recklessly.

This desperate, long-range assault clearly caused great trouble for the Shadowmoon Wolves. Although a considerable number of Space Wolves were accurately hit and destroyed during the charge, every single success would throw an entire enemy fleet into chaos and reorganization. Although the sparks they ignited were quickly extinguished, they did indeed tie down a large portion of the enemy's main force in the short term.

And this was the opportunity Russ had been waiting for.

The wolf slave piloting the ship bowed beside him, reporting that the Void Shield was fully charged and the Warp Engine had begun to operate at overload capacity. Ruth glanced at the wolf pack warships gathering around him on the tactical star map, and then at Horus, who was directly in front of him: they were separated by a great distance, but not an insurmountable one.

On the divination instrument, the graceful curves of the Ruby King were meticulously depicted. Its bright red paint and golden cannons were mesmerizing. It was a huge and powerful warship. Both it and the nameless Glory Queen beside it were larger than the Heraklion, like an arrogant king and his most loyal knight.

Ahead of them was a guard legion of hundreds of warships of various sizes, more than all the ships brought by Lemanrus combined. But now it was beginning to fall apart. The first wave of Space Wolves’ charge was gradually taking effect, with Shadowmoon Wolves slaughtering their prey, but their own ranks were also beginning to break down: the Wolf King had found an opportunity to charge through.

He measured the distance... good.

"Mark the Ruby King on the tactical map."

Fleet loss reports poured in, and the Sixth Legion's casualty figures were gradually shifting towards heavy losses, but Lemanrus paid no heed. He stared intently at the tactical map before him, listening to the tremors in the air as the Herakfin started operating at full speed. He picked up his communicator, activated the highest level of access, and delivered his first and last order of the entire war to all the Space Wolves who could hear his commands.

"Attack!"

"Kill them all!"

"Leave no scraps of armor behind!"

The wolf pack responded with unprecedented cheers, their fierce roars shaking the entire public channel and even drowning out the dying cries of the warship.

The wolf king tossed the communicator aside and roared across his entire command deck.

He's right there!

He pointed ahead.

"Full speed ahead, my warriors!"

"Don't worry about anyone."

"Our only target is Horus's head!"

The ship's horn wailed, and wild shouts echoed across the deck. All the instruments were pulled to their limits until they turned blood red. The Heraklion broke free amidst cheers and trembling, like a caged beast finally released from its cage, charging forward recklessly. The heavy Void Shield, illuminated by the red twilight, rippled with an unsettling aura of death.

Behind the Glory Queen were more than two hundred warships that had sworn to follow her to the death, charging together with their monarch into an enemy force ten times their size.

Further on, the remaining three hundred warships of the Space Wolf Legion, amidst battle roars and maniacal laughter, charged towards the left and right battle lines, pouncing on their prey and using their blood to buy time for their Primarchs.

No commands or additional words are needed.

Because everyone knows that from the very beginning of the war, the Wolf King has only one goal.

------

"Lemanlus is coming at me."

Shepherd God described this reality in an unbelievably calm tone, completely ignoring the tense and serious expression on Malohrist's face beside him.

"really interesting……"

Was this his original plan?

The war commander stroked his smooth chin, watching the Herakfin on the tactical map tearing at his battle lines like a ferocious wolf: Lemanrus's raid was destined to be no covert operation, because the distance between the two Glory Queens was simply too great, even at full speed it would take more than an hour.

But for void combat, that's too short.

So shortly after the Heraklion and its escorts had just begun destroying the first row of warships, battle alarms blared on the Ruby King. Sharp whistles sent hundreds of thousands of people rushing through the corridors, and the entire command deck was thrown into chaos and agitation. Officers loudly ordered the warships to their left and right, while Gastalin and his men prepared for a bloody battle.

"At the current speed, Wolf King will only need 48 minutes to advance to a distance where it can launch boarding torpedoes at our ship."

The Twisted One stepped forward, shocked by what he was seeing: the Space Wolf was never known for its naval prowess, but the Herakfinl lived up to Lemanrus's reputation for wildness. It was like a boxer in his prime, diving into a crowd and casually swinging his sword left and right, except that those mortals were also incredibly powerful main battleships.

But compared to the Glorious Queen, they are insignificant.

Malohrist's brow finally furrowed as the third battleship destroyed by Lemanrus transformed into a raging fireball in the void.

He admitted he had miscalculated; the wolf king was advancing much faster than he had imagined.

Whether it's speed, firepower, or ruthless determination.

Leman Russ lacked nothing.

King Fenris led his most elite hunting pack in a relentless charge toward the center of the Warlord's fleet, carving a bloody path through the swarming Shadowmoon Wolves. Sparks flew across its hull, illuminating the massive behemoth. All weapons and cannons were aimed at this colossal vessel, and the Herakfin's Void Shield rippled like a pond in a downpour, with hundreds of waves constantly spreading.

The small ships firing from both sides were no match for the Wolf King's advance. They were scattered and torn apart by Lemanrus's guards, dragged into the underworld in a beast-like struggle. When the War General watched his brothers tear apart his third line of defense, the Wolf King had only fifty-odd warships left by his side, but he had inflicted more than three times the damage on the Shadowmoon Wolves. The War General's entire fleet had also been torn apart by the Wolf King.

But that's not the most important thing.

"The command deck has just sent a communication."

Malohrist ran breathlessly behind his genetic father: The Primarch of the Shadowmoon Wolves had not moved since the start of the war, nor had he issued any more detailed orders. Horus had used all his command skills before the war began, and by then he didn't really need to command anymore, since victory over the Space Wolves Legion was already a foregone conclusion.

However, the situation now seems to have changed.

"Sir, we must take additional measures."

The Twisted One wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Captain Jervis just told me personally that his fleet could not stop the Herakfin's attack. This ship must have undergone more than one large-scale modification, and it completely deceived us: its engine thrust is comparable to that of the White Scar's Bladestorm, and it has at least six layers of Void Shield."

"Based on the current progress, even if Captain Jervis can deplete all the Void Shields, he cannot stop the Herakfin from advancing to a distance where it can launch boarding torpedoes at the Ruby King: even if the Ruby King and the United Forces immediately engage in battle, it will not work. We must find a way to stop this, sir."

"Prevent?"

Horus turned his head slightly to the side.

From the moment he began, he had been witnessing his brother's massacre of his fleet.

Why should we stop him?

"But……"

The Twisted Ones' eyes widened.

"It's about to charge."

"so what?"

Zhan Shuai smiled.

"The Herakfin is about to enter the firing range of our two Glory Queens. Its Void Shield has been depleted by at least half. Even if the remaining half can withstand the combined attack of the Ruby King and the Allied Forces, it won't be free up any more. If Ruth really intends to board my position, then it means that his Glory Queen will be left here today."

"But he will succeed in his defection: the Ruby King's anti-defection system is not so well-established."

"I know."

The Wolf God turned around and looked at his offspring.

The Twisted One, however, was devastated to find that in the pupils of his Gene Father there was neither fear nor seriousness, but rather a strange enthusiasm: Horus seemed to be subtly welcoming of Lemanrus's attempt to assassinate him.

"Then let him come." "What? Are you afraid of hand-to-hand combat?"

This statement silenced the Twisted One.

"You... want to fight Lemanrus?"

"We are missing a battle."

Horus smiled and tapped his temple.

“You should be able to tell that the two of us shouldn’t have started this war so soon. My brother and I should have had a talk before we started, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. I’m pretty sure Lemanrus has something he wants to say to me, and I’m also very curious to see what kind of trump card the Emperor has left for him.”

"Of course we know!"

Marohurst was practically roaring.

"That is the Spear of Dionysus! Father!"

"It's dangerous!"

“Nothing is more dangerous than my brother Lemanrus himself: and I am not afraid of him.”

When the Wolf God spoke those words, the changing colors in his pupils confirmed to the Twisted One that the Primarch had not revealed all his meaning.

But it is clear that Horus is very interested in the Dionysian Spear in Lemanrus's hand: perhaps because he was enlightened by the Emperor and had learned to see the world from another perspective, the wolf god finally realized that the Dionysian Spear, besides being a gift from the Emperor to Lemanrus, seemed to have some deeper meaning in the dark.

"if you can……"

Horus spoke softly and slowly.

"I was really looking forward to studying Lemanrus's Dionysian Spear properly, and now he's delivered it to me himself."

"..."

"What are you thinking, Marlohurst?"

The Primarch looked at his most trusted servant.

The Twisted One took a deep breath.

"In any case, sir, since our victory is already a foregone conclusion, I do not agree with your decision to risk your life at this time."

"The main fleet of the Space Wolves has been wiped out by us, and there are not many ships left to protect the Herakfin: we only need to bring over the reserve fleet in the rear, or bring it over, and the destruction of the Sixth Legion will be a foregone conclusion."

"There's no need to go to such an exaggeration."

Horus frowned.

“I was also hoping to use it as a secret weapon against my brother Dorn: although Dorn should not be afraid of it.”

"but……"

Zhan Shuai's tone suddenly changed. He bent down and patted Malohrist's shoulder affectionately.

"What you said makes sense."

"……what?"

The Twisted One was stunned for a moment, but before he could react to what was going on, Horus had already started walking past him.

"Like I said, Malochist."

"Your hard work and tireless efforts are indispensable to the success of this operation."

"Consider this a reward."

"You are my war commander envoy, and you will decide the fate of the Herakfin."

"Make her disappear, or let my brother Lemanrus and I have a proper fight."

"Let me see your performance and your choices."

The warrior's words froze the Twisted One in place, while Horus seemed completely unconcerned. He walked straight to the other side of the room, summoned his servants, and asked them to change him into the armor he needed for battle.

The Twisted One slowly lowered its head.

He looked at the communicator in his hand and made his choice in the darkness and silence.

------

"Let them come over!"

"We're about to launch the attack!"

A storm of gunpowder assaulted the Void Shield, while a fierce attack from another Queen of Glory caused the Herakfin to bob up and down constantly. Even Lemanrus himself had to cling tightly to the railings and roar at the top of his lungs to make his commands clear: this journey was more turbulent than any warp voyage.

"By the Father above..."

The Primarch spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto the ground, and hysterical screams always echoed in his ears.

"Prepare for artillery fire!"

Before the words were even finished, the sound arrived. The earth-shattering shockwave was like the roar of a million orc warriors. The massive Queen of Glory swayed from side to side in the impact, futilely using her last Void Shield to block the attack from her sister ships: the Ruby King and the United Force were right in front of it. They launched an attack on the Wolf King without hesitation, cooperating perfectly like twins, opening and closing the attack without giving the Herakfinl a chance to breathe.

"We only have one last layer of shield left!"

The wolf slave shouted.

"If this drags on any longer, we'll be torn in two by these damn bastards sooner or later!"

"Charge the capacitors and gather all the energy on the warship into the Void Shield launcher."

The Primarch roared in response.

"We only have one last stretch of road left!"

By All Father, he can now even see the Eye of Horus on the Ruby King with his own eyes.

Twenty minutes... no! Ten minutes!

In another ten minutes, his boarding torpedoes will be able to accurately strike the flagship of the Wolf God himself.

The Primarch gripped his Dionysian Spear tightly.

Now, for this moment, any sacrifice is worthwhile: he didn't care about the enormous casualties the fleet covering him had suffered, nor whether the ships beside him were completely destroyed, and even the Heraklion itself had almost bled to its last drop in the fighting.

Just for now...

"Bombardment!!!"

The hysterical roar seemed to foreshadow an attack that would be even more ferocious than any before, but the erratic timing indicated that it was not the Queen of Glory's bombardment, and its power was far greater than that of the Queen of Glory. The powerful impact was as if the galaxy itself had intervened, slamming the boundless starry sky's giant hand heavily onto the keel of the Herakfin, intending to destroy the Wolf King and everything he owned.

"Oh my God!"

The Herakfin was almost overturned by this precise strike, with hundreds of thousands of people lying on the ground in a sorry state, including the Primarch himself. Lemanrus fell directly from his command platform. He had not expected such a sudden situation. When the Primarch finally regained his footing, he discovered that most of his command platform had been destroyed.

A shell, a massive shell that appeared out of nowhere, directly impacted the entire Herakfin. Almost all the instruments and the command tower were completely destroyed in the invisible shockwave. Hundreds of corpses were piled up haphazardly on the ground, blood flowing from their ears and nostrils. The Space Wolf groaned like a mortal, watching in vain as the entire warship descended into chaos and flames.

Undoubtedly, the severe tilt indicates that the gravity generator has been completely destroyed, and the air supply pipes on the bridge arch are also shaking incessantly. A devastating lack of oxygen is about to indiscriminately attack everyone, and the sound of the explosion coming from the lower deck has actually reached the top deck, indicating that the condition of the subspace engine is also not optimistic.

Like a car that had run out of fuel, the Herakfin was propelled forward by inertia for the last short distance before finally coming to a slow stop, exhausted. A violent explosion and billowing smoke came from the rear subspace engine. The warship was overwhelmed; a shell that came from an unknown source had killed its last remaining combat capability.

"what happened……"

The wolf king held his dizzy head and spat out a mouthful of phlegm thick with blood.

"My lord...my lord..."

An extremely hoarse voice called out to him.

"Void Shield..."

"The Void Shield has been destroyed!"

"what?"

"A ship...a ​​warship!"

"A warship unlike any other!"

"My God, it's bigger than those two Glory Queens in front of us combined!"

"How can it be!"

The Wolf King leaped to his feet, disregarding the mess on his command deck and the heavy losses of his men. The panic of all his previous efforts being in vain gnawed at his mind. The Primarch rushed to the window: with just one glance, he was certain that his men were not deceiving him.

"By the Father above..."

How could there possibly be such a big ship!
The wolf king stared at the shadows in the distance, his mouth agape in vain and astonishment.

He stood there, dumbfounded, like a primitive caveman stepping into a vast and bustling metropolis for the first time.

At the edge of his vision, far beyond the reach of the Ruby King and the Allied Forces, an unimaginably massive warship slowly emerged from the shadows. It was so far from Ruth's view that even a powerful battleship would be nothing more than a tiny speck of dust, barely larger than a dinner plate, at that distance.

But in the same location, the warship was so large that Russ could see every single detail of it.

Its sword-shaped outline, its protruding bow like a trident, its enormous size that would dwarf even the Queen of Glory, and its numerous cannons as many as the stars in the sky; and at the bow, the chilling main light spear, in which Lemanrus even saw sparks of plasma.

The sheer size and grandeur of the warship reminded King Fenris of the Mountain Array, but before Lemanrus's mind could process anything more, his beast-like sense of danger sent chills down his spine: the attack just now was clearly not the full force of this colossal ship, for its bow was glowing.

It's a light spear!
Such a massive spear of light: it was enough to completely kill the Herakfin, which was not protected by the Void Shield.

They could even kill his entire fleet!
"..."

At that moment, Ruth forgot to breathe, and forgot to look at his decimated fleet. He didn't remember how the wolves and their slaves ran behind him, how they pulled him from the most dangerous place. When the intense warp began to erode his body, the Primarch's last impression was the captain's hysterical roar.

"quick!"

"quick!"

"Jump!"

"Emerge now!!!"

"Notify the entire fleet!"

"Make them evacuate immediately!"

"Use the methods the Primarch taught them before, and immediately jump out of this star system! Get rid of the Shadowmoon Wolves!"

"Let's meet at the meeting point!"

"Just like we've practiced for decades, get out of here now!"

"Brothers... good luck to you!"

(End of this chapter)