40k: Midnight Blade.

Chapter 731 23. Catching the Eagle (Nine, Pure Light)
The second most favored of Nurgle, Father Rain Rotigus was in deep thought, real deep thought.

Several Nurglings were lying sullenly on the funny red hood on its head, looking sad like angry children. It almost made people wonder if they would cry with their fat and ugly faces.
It sensed their sadness at the moment, so it raised its fat and strong left hand to grab them and passed them to a large pot in front of it. The pot was dark, and the swirling and boiling dark liquid looked like a side of the abyss.

The Nurglings stood on Rotigus's broad palm, looked down twice, looked at it again, and after getting permission, they jumped into the cauldron - then the sadness quickly dissipated, and these noisy little things began to fight, laugh at, and torture each other again.

Father Rain looked at them with relief, but shook his head slightly. He stepped back, left the boiling cauldron, and came to a one-horned demon who was sitting on a chair and writing furiously.

It looked different from the ordinary Great Unclean One, and its Nurglings were the same. They had a dead silence, neither chirping nor craving for malicious teasing. They just stayed around the chair, constantly taking away the scrolls written by their master and handing him new scrolls.

Father Yu cleared his throat, coughed, and spoke slowly: "Dear Secretary - in my opinion, we may have to do something to turn the situation around a little bit."

The clerk who was writing furiously did not pay attention to it at first. The demon was just concentrating on waving the feather pen on its chair. It was very focused, but also very scary.

Its silence carries a serious power that makes people dare not make any more sounds. Even Father Yu has to think for a moment before speaking.

"Well, Epidemius, I know you've been doing your job, but maybe you should stop working for a while. Father is watching over here, can't you feel it? So you can put your paperwork aside for a while."

As it said, Epidemius, the Great Unclean One, who had many horrifying titles but chose only the title of Clerk, slowly put down the paper and pen in his hands.

"You're just afraid." It pointed out Rainfather's thoughts harshly and mercilessly. "You think the plan has failed, right?"

"The Gardener died, his soul returned. The Bloat followed in his footsteps, cut into pieces without dignity. Because of this, Slimx and Skabelathax will spend endless years waiting to be reborn, and you don't want to end up like that yourself."

"How come?" Father Yu smiled awkwardly, maggots slipping out of his slightly opened mouth, and the sound was extremely dull. "I just think we should think of something first."

"any solution?"

"Ah, it's very simple--" Father Rain finally cheered up a little. "--I will make some rain, and you will stir the cauldron for me. I believe your skills are enough for this job. Epidemius, you have recorded all the precious plagues, please help me."

The clerk shook his head, unmoved, and with his hands neatly placed on his knees, he once again raised the question in a stern and old-fashioned manner.

"At this time? What's the point? He only needs ten minutes at most to get here, and the cauldron cannot be moved. Your act of washing the ground with rain will only arouse his greater ferocity. Do you also want to die in pieces like Scarbelathax?"

"Well, you have to let me try, right?" Father Yu grumbled. "Maybe a little more despair and pain can bring about a qualitative change in his emotions?"

"Foolish," the clerk said coldly. "You're only driving him crazier - some people, once freed from despair, will never again be controlled by it. Don't say you don't know this, Rotigus. You're just looking for some mortal souls to bring back to the garden with you, so that you don't seem so defeated among us, and so that you can preserve your position."

Hearing this, Father Yu finally showed some annoyance: "So, are we just going to do nothing like now? Waiting for him to come to us? I have to remind you, Epidemius, although he is still just a mortal, our existence in the material world is not so stable that we can ignore this difference."

"So what?!" the secretary retorted sharply. "Even if we lose, we can just go back to the garden!"

"Yes, yes, it is only a matter of going back to the garden. Listen to yourself, Epidemius. Do you think it is a good thing to go back empty-handed? Do you think your grandfather will not punish you for it?"

"We deserve to be punished."

"what!"

Rotigus laughed, rolled his eyes, but quickly sighed.

"Well, whatever you say, I'm going to start the rain anyway - you stir the cauldron, okay? We still have a chance. The seeds of the flower of despair have been planted in his body, it just needs a little watering now."

The clerk stood up slowly.

It had obviously stayed in that chair for too long, its skin and flesh were stuck to it. Standing up now, large chunks of loose rotten flesh rolled down from the torn skin. They were already full of pits, and white maggots were wriggling in them, making the black or pus-covered flesh look a different kind of terrifying beauty.

It left its chair without a word, handed the pen and paper to its Nurgling, walked to the cauldron, thrust its right hand into it, and began stirring.

"Thank you." Father Yu grinned. "I knew you were reliable."

"Shut up!" Epidemius scolded again. "Be quiet while I work!"

"Okay, okay, okay"

Ignoring it, Yu's father walked to the other side very perfunctorily.

The inside of the cave was not as dark as outside. The deep green light emitted by the burning magic circle on the ground illuminated it, the huge figure of Epidemius, and the endless number of Nurglings. These tiny creatures were happily playing in the poisonous fog caused by the presence of the two Great Unclean Ones.

Father Rain looked at them, and felt a little envious of their freedom, but still raised his right hand. A huge evil force began to wash away reality, and a rough short stick, or branch, appeared in his hand, with three twisted circles on the top, which matched the holy number of Nurgle.

It sniffed, raised it up solemnly, and began to stir up wind and rain on the surface of Chemos.
Then, Fulgrim strode into the cave, holding Typhons' upper body in his left hand and dragging his sword in his right hand. His long hair fell in front of his forehead and his eyes gleamed in the darkness.

Oh, damn it. Father Yu sighed in a sincere way, thinking that he came too quickly.

It looked back at the clerk, who was stirring the crucible with both hands with a distorted face. This scene allowed Rain Father to roughly estimate the current situation, and then he stopped the rain very rationally but also very unwillingly - it would take some time for the rain to turn into a flood that could destroy the surface of the earth, and what they lacked most now was time.
But the situation on the clerk's side was different. Rotigus could feel that the contents of the crucible were slowly taking shape. Therefore, now, it had to buy some time for Epidemius to complete its work.

Let's give it a try, Father Yu thought optimistically.

It cleared its throat, raised the branch in its hand and walked towards Fulgrim: "Respected Fulgrim--" Before it could finish the second half of the sentence, it was hit hard. The impact came from Typhons, or rather, only half of Typhons.
Fulgrim struck with lightning speed, spinning him and throwing him over. The force even made the Rainfather's body stagger slightly. It tore off Typhons stuck in its rotten flesh and bones with a little confusion, and handed him with only half of his body to a group of Nurglings.

Fulgrim walked towards it, dragging his sword.

"Oh, wait a minute!" Father Yu stepped back and raised his hand to signal, "Just listen to me!"

Phoenix ignored him and started charging silently. The big hole on his chest was so hideous, but it did not affect his actions at all. Father Yu only felt a flash before his eyes, and the giant sword was in front of him.

At the critical moment, it gasped and raised its right wooden staff to block the attack. In the huge collision of power, it didn't have time to say anything, and the next slash of the phoenix followed, and then more, one after another, without stopping.
Father Rain was overwhelmed, but he had no choice but to fight this brutal melee that was beyond his ability in a panic - for the first time, he felt that the branch in his hand was not very useful.

If I had known this, I would have taken a knife! It thought bitterly.

But was it really hurt? The answer is no. Although the battle was severe, the second favored by Nurgle only had a dozen more superficial wounds all over its body.

This is the fundamental reason why it never carried weapons in the past - it does not need weapons at all. The plague it carries and the filth it brings to the surrounding environment are enough to deal with most opponents, and those few enemies that reach it will be weakened by the power of the plague.

By that time, it would be easy for it to deal with them, but it never thought that one day it would encounter an enemy in the material world that could ignore the plague.

The Rainfather struggled to maintain the battle, exerting all his efforts. He had used all his strength to hold Fulgrim back, but it was not enough. Soon, the Phoenix pierced his abdomen with a dangerous stab.

Once he succeeded in striking, he turned his wrist and exerted force with both hands, changing the stab into a chop, and nearly cut it in half as Father Yu roared.
The demon stumbled back a few steps, raised his scepter in agony, and called down a foul wind and an endless swarm of flies, temporarily trapping Fulgrim.

It had wanted to do this a long time ago, but the Phoenix was so fast that it had no time to cast the spell and even had to pay this price to achieve its goal.

Where did he get this power from? Rotigus wondered incredulously.

Coughing twice, it irritably abandoned the emotional echoes in the cave and the mosses' pitiful attempts to connect with it, and turned to observe Fulgrim with its own eyes.

It would not matter if it did not look, but this sight almost frightened it - a few minutes ago it was still saying that the other party was just a 'mortal', but that was not the case.

In the eyes of the Rainfather, which were already filled with waves of Chaos power, Fulgrim was like a huge cocoon. Pain, despair and hundreds of plagues enveloped him, forming the outer wall of this "cocoon", but it was on the verge of breaking, and a human figure appeared from within.

The human figure was naturally affected by them. The pain made him scream silently, and the despair made him extremely exhausted. The hundreds of plagues were by no means ineffective as Scarbelathax had thought not long ago - of course they had an effect!
They were originally created to target Fulgrim with the purpose of reducing his power. How could they be ineffective?
But, but.
The Rainfather came to an incomprehensible conclusion: Fulgrim ignored all these things.

No, wait, that's not ignoring.

It continued to look, and an indescribable concentration appeared on its ugly face.

The power of the warp roared, and the essence of its existence began to shake. The veil did not allow it to use such power in this form, but Father Rain stubbornly resisted. It just wanted to see with its own eyes.
With its real eyes.

And it saw it—it saw a pure light, and it didn't even think it had seen anything like it before.

The reason is simple, because this light is too pure and too dazzling. It is the strongest resistance that a creature can burst out after being tested, tortured and hit. It is an unparalleled willpower, as well as a sword, shield and armor.

Most importantly, it is a belief, a belief that cannot be distorted, destroyed, or blurred by anything.

It is a simple and pure truth like 1+1=2. Who can deny this source, which is one of the foundations of the world's existence?
This belief roared to Rotigus without words, but its meaning was fully understood by the Rain Father.

"die!"

As severe pain struck, Rainfather suddenly came to his senses and screamed - his chest was pierced by the giant sword in Phoenix's hand, but the real source of his pain was not the sword, but the person holding it.

That man made it scream, feel pain, and despair, because he was not expelling it, but was actually destroying its essence. How could he do such a thing?

The answer is simple, because of his purity.

He was completely opposed to them, from this moment on. He should have been like this a long time ago, this was one of the goals of his designers. However, a person must go through such torture in order to see himself.

Did its designer ever think of this day?
Perhaps, he might be completely emotionless about it, not caring whether Fulgrim could survive the hardships he was destined to face. But he might also stare at the night sky in sorrow for countless nights, and let it all come to an end with a sigh.
Yes, everything will return to a sigh.

Father Rain let out a long sigh, and his body began to tremble, and then it collapsed. The rotten skin finally slid off the flesh, and the already rotten flesh began to accelerate the process, and in just a few seconds, it trembled and turned into a piece of weathered ash.

It began to melt and disintegrate, like a creature made of sand and dust that could not withstand any violence. Its screams were so violent that the scribe who was concentrating beside the crucible cast his eyes over, with fear in his eyes: he had never heard a Great Unclean One scream like this.

All this forced it to speed up. While stirring, its hands gradually rotted, and the things in the pot slowly took shape.

In a garden somewhere, in a mansion, a being cast his gaze towards this place.

"Very good." He said with a hint of joy.

Then he stretched out a hand and headed for the pot.

(End of this chapter)