Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 664: What is the price, Ahriman?
When the three Primarchs went out together to "get some fresh air", the people who were left at the bottom of the canyon did not stop their work.

After all, they were all Astartes, and although the ritual they had just performed on Gasper Hauser had exhausted them mentally and required meditation and recovery, they had no problems with their physical strength.

"Eat it. This will help you recover faster. We need to be ready for the next ritual before the Alpha Wolf returns."

Orn Evilwinter roughly stuffed a plate made of stone smashed from a flat slab into Ushizar's hand, then turned and walked to Wildmark on the other side. "Luckily you didn't bring that golden-haired kid who smells like rotten fish, otherwise I would never make this for you."

The captain of the Fifth Society looked down at the pile on his plate: strips of fresh meat cut with a hunting knife, with flashes of blood still emerging around the edges of the white fat, dried berries, and a bit of something that might have been a mushroom.

He said nothing, but gave a measured nod of thanks, and returned with the rough stone plate and the food to the other side of the slab where Hawser's body lay.

Ahriman was sitting there, a little further away, on a higher natural step, resting his eyes.

Ushizar's arrival made the captain of the First Society open his eyes, "Why? What is this? Sent by those stinking wolves? I don't want to eat it. Although Etepio is not with me now, there is nothing here that will hinder my recovery. I can calm my mind down again after meditating for a while. However, if you eat it, you can tell me how it tastes and feels. I will record it and thank you for your sacrifice for our library materials. Baleko."

The Temple Lecturer of Tianxiao smiled. As a leader among the masters of telepathic communication, his emotions were always more stable among the crowd. He was not like Fusis Taka or Hathor Mat, who easily annoyed Ahriman. This was why the Chief Think Tank talked to him like this.

"No," Baleko Ushizar said, "I mean, this shouldn't be a local product. According to the records of the scientific research station, there is no life on this planet that can produce such a large piece of red meat."

"Oh?" Ahriman finally seemed to be slightly interested. "What's here? It can't be all moss and mutant tree also forests, right?"

"In fact, the ocean here is rich in life, while the land is full of insects and miniature rodents. There are no chains of large creatures. Most of these small creatures live on these mosses, and some eat insects. Their bodies are indeed not large enough to produce such a whole piece of meat. So I guess these are brought by the Space Wolves from Fenris."

"Then you should taste it and tell me how it tastes and feels. - Okay. Damn, you know I will, I've never had the chance to come into contact with the flora and fauna of Fenris." Ahriman maintained an academic attitude and carefully picked up a piece of meat from the stone plate with three fingers. The touch of raw flesh and blood made all the muscles on his face wrinkle. "I still think they should appear in Liangyu's laboratory or somewhere similar, not on the plate. Oh, how about this." He secretly twisted his fingers in the air, and the blood on his fingertips disappeared out of thin air.

The Rune Priest on the opposite side suddenly raised his head and glared at them, but the Chief Librarian pretended nothing had happened.

He finally pulled out a piece of dried mushroom that was not stained with blood from the plate and looked at it carefully. "I remember that the oldest shamans liked to use hallucinogenic mushrooms to replenish their energy. Maybe this is the flint that triggered their crude skills?"

Then he carefully put the dried mushroom into his mouth, ready to savor it carefully and record other details about it.

Then Ushizal saw that the first company captain's body suddenly stiffened.

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"What do you mean?"

Magnus tried hard to stand still. He had picked up the scimitar at his waist and turned it into a long-handled weapon with a swing. Then he used the end of the weapon to write runes of summoning spirits and combat defense in the air. It was a pity that he did not bring his Book of Magnus this time, but left it in the temporary camp at the foot of the mountain for some reason. Fortunately, the seal of the book could only be opened by him.

During this process, the two "brothers" opposite him all watched him quietly as he prepared for battle. Leman Russ's pair of bright and shiny dog ​​eyes were actually filled with sarcasm - stupid wolf! Did he know the meaning of the conversation just now?! Did his dog brain really understand it now?! He even dared to lie on Perturabo's shoulder!
"What I mean is," the man opposite, who might be Perturabo but is unlikely to be his brother, replied, "You finally didn't bring your book today. The surface of this planet is also very clean. The Thousand Sons who come to the ground are guarded by their corresponding wild wolves, so it is a good day to discuss our nature. - Didn't you just ask me what Soltarn inherited from me?"

"I did ask." Magnus held the weapon across his body with caution, not intending to swing it like a mortal, but to use it as a staff to unleash more powerful combat psychic powers. "But the way you phrase it makes it sound as if you are saying that the body inside you is not my dear brother, Perturabo. Are you? Who are you?"

"Oh, about this question, why don't you use your psychic vision to take a look?" The other party said calmly, "I know you can see the soul light of everyone, right? You Thousand Sons use the color, fluctuations and characteristics of the aura to identify each person, and you think this is better than any security measures."

"how do you know?"

"I just know it, so do you want to see if I am Perturabo?"

Magnus hesitated perhaps for a moment at this coaxing remark.

But Perturabo, who seemed very strange today, was actually right. Everyone's projection in the vast ocean would not lie. Why didn't Ushizar bring Ahriman here? His mind reading should be able to hear his call at this distance. The fifteenth Primarch glanced at the path they climbed up. There was no movement, no sign of any support coming.

So the fifteenth Primarch drew a little power from the Vast Ocean much more cautiously than before, preparing to use it to watch -

"what have you done?!"

The man and the dog looked at each other and smiled.

In a flash, Magnus realized that these two people, Perturabo and Leman Russ, had colluded long ago! They came for him this time! This was a trap set by the Wolves to hunt the Thousand Sons!

But even if the Red King could not draw power from the surrounding ether, his own energy was far beyond the imagination of ordinary people. A supernova compressed in his body was not enough to describe such great power, so he began to seek energy supply from within. Then he was horrified to find that the flow of energy in his body began to become sluggish and blocked as the opponent approached.

The tip of his long-handled scimitar suddenly flashed, causing the opponent to make a move to cover his eyes, but in the end, with a "puff", only a small cluster of ether flames emerged from the tip.

But that didn't matter, he, Magnus, the Red King, had skills as a warrior and terrifying physical strength.

He reached for the pistol at his waist, and at the same time, he watched Perturabo's every move alertly, as he was now only an arm's length away. That strange smile became more obvious, and a feeling of extreme uneasiness enveloped Magnus because he could not use his psychic powers normally to foresee.

Then he was attacked.

But not Perturabo.

Leman Russ suddenly stood up and rushed towards Magnus. The black and white animal was heavier than the largest weight Magnus could imagine.

This was his first reaction, and then he realized that his scimitar could not hit him well - the dog had already jumped on his face, and the unexpectedly huge kinetic energy was causing him to fall backwards. The Fifteenth Primarch quickly threw away his scimitar, drew his pistol, and fired three shots at the opponent's side.

Nothing happened.

The blazing flames of this horrific ancient technology pistol left burn marks on Magnus's own skin, but the black and white animal was unharmed, and the fur didn't even show any signs of being singed at the tips. Then he felt something rough, hard, and strange sliding along the skin of the back of his neck, and for a moment Ramizar almost laughed out loud: Magnus's long scarlet hair stood up fluffy because of extreme fear.

[Okay, okay, I touched it. I think he must be very scared now. He has been physically disconnected from the network of the vast ocean, and is trapped in his own body and cannot move.]

[Are you sure you have fixed all his current souls and models here? ]

[I'm sure, because his body design is different from ours. He is more like an exoskeleton-powered armor shell. If that's the case, there must be a central node that plays a key role. According to previous and subsequent records, it is his spine. I just slightly misaligned them.]

[Your body structure is different from that of humans. How can you even follow this principle? And he actually has a working spine.]

[Magnus is especially different... You've seen Utherma Atla become like this before. The principle is very similar. It's a foregone conclusion that he has a spine, so the part we can be sure of attacking is the spine. Besides, I'm using the identity of "Leman Russ", so it's foolproof.]

[Indeed, I can't say which organs on Magnus' body resemble those of a human, but there must be an eyeball and a spine. But I thought Utherma Atla was a pure psychic illusion suit, but it turns out that there is really a part of it that is real? ]

[It is not difficult for a being of his level to instantly construct a physical entity or to instantly transform a physical entity into energy.]

At the moment of speaking, Magnus had already lost his balance, and Ramizane took a step forward and used the rune wedges that he had prepared long ago to dig into Magnus's armor and joints.

"It's not easy." Finally, he laid the Red King, who was much taller than him, flat to prevent him from rolling off the cliff. "Fortunately, I have LOGOS."

Magnus's single eye rolled in horror, his eyeballs now changing from gold to green, then from green to blue, and blue to brown, in all colors.

This fear reached a new peak when he saw "Leman Russ" coming over and starting to scratch his breastplate and helmet with his claws - because Perturabo, the brother he had just thought was the most reliable and powerful, the being living in this body, was squatting beside him with great interest, holding a surgical marker and starting to write and draw on his body - but according to the instructions of "Leman Russ's" dog paw!
Wait, he knew what that rough, hard thing on his back was! It was the calluses on the bottom and tip of a dog's paw! What was going on?! Why was Leman Russ guiding Perturabo?!
"Well... that's it. I think we should clean up the things he ate from everywhere... I don't want to be broadcasting to the entire Crystal Maze when I talk to him..."

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The etheric predators surrounded him like sharks in the ocean smelling blood.

Ahriman realized that in pursuit of the clearest harbingers that had appeared so rarely in decades in the School of the Raven, his own body of light had lingered too long after ascending into the vast ocean of the ether, exceeding the time limit for concealing his movements and attracting the attention of the greedy, predatory native creatures.

But a high-level Thousand Sons warrior like him had some experience in how to fight in the vast ocean. He immediately absorbed the etheric energy from the thick colorful mist around him, and then condensed them into two flaming scepters in his hands. They were like two burning torches, and the blazing etheric flames on the staffs could kill any void predator that dared to approach him.

But this is not without danger, because the waves formed by such bright and surging energy and his emotions will continue to attract more predators, until he is lucky enough to escape or is torn apart and eaten - but if he does not do this, he will immediately be bitten off by these greedy creatures made up of energy and instinct, and pieces of energy and flesh on his shell of light will be bitten off. Even for a high-level psychic like him, in this vast ocean at this depth, the time he can hold out can only be calculated in minutes.

But... he looked unwillingly at the magnificent golden glass mountain range that had begun to dissipate in the distance, the white doves in the glow on the top of the mountain, the huge black shadow and the black and white disc behind the mountain. The Black Crow School, which had always occupied a leading position among the Thousand Sons, had been unable to distinguish the accurate future line in recent years, and those warlocks who played with fire or the wild battle field faction had begun to stir in the ranking of the Chief Council. Such a large-scale and specific prophecy was really important to him, so much so that he wanted to stay and study it for a little longer...

A flat predator that looked like some aquatic animal rushed in front of him, and the seemingly harmless body revealed dagger-like sharp teeth that were enough to bite off his head the moment it touched him. He struggled to stab its body with his flaming staff, and an eternal and empty feeling of hunger flowed into Ahriman's mind along with its dissipating body, but he had no time to care about it, because the second and third predators jumped out and surrounded him, and the ether flames gradually became unstable as the energy was lost.

"Again, little has changed. Azek Ahriman, you Thousand Sons never really know what 'moderation' means. The Alpha Wolf and the Iron Lord's sentences on you are far too lenient in my opinion."

Visions of claws, slavering jaws, wild fur, golden wolf eyes, and so on raced through the ether before Ahriman's eyes.

With a distant wolf howl that echoed in the soul, an illusory wild wolf, larger than anything here, suddenly appeared from the depths of the swirling fog. It was wrapped in gusts of cold wind, and its rage and destructive power far exceeded any predator that was besieging Ahriman.

They immediately abandoned Ahriman who was about to fall upon them and fled in all directions: in the face of a top predator, these creatures understood the power disparity between their own kind better than the torches lit by humans.

The giant wolf leaped in front of the Thousand Sons warrior, its huge body almost completely encircling him, and its golden eyes stared at Ahriman like lanterns.

"It is time to go. Do not linger, they will be back soon," it said, and the wolf's body began to fold inward delicately until its shell reformed into the image of a Fenrisian wearing runed and woven leather armor, a mask, and a wolfskin.

As Ahriman groaned from the aches and bruises in his muscles, he opened his eyes to see Ushizar, who was worried beside him, and Othrel Wildmark, who was sitting opposite him in his leather armor and furs.

"What the hell is that fucking mushroom?" he hissed. "You guys eat this to regain your energy? Not the other way around?"

"That is not a Fenrisian artifact," Othrel said. "The Lord of Winter and War asked me to give it to you. He said you would choose it and eat it, and then see something different here. He also asked me to remember to bring you back this time. Apparently, he was right. Remember to tell him what you saw."

"I didn't know the Wolf King was also good at prophecy."

"The Alpha Wolf is not good at it," the Rune Priest agreed, "but seeing as your fate has been tampered with beyond recognition, it's not surprising that anyone could come up with a plan."

Ahriman stared at Othril.

(End of this chapter)