Man in Warhammer, starting Primarch.

Chapter 301:108, Horus's Action

The members of the Eldar Harlequin Theatre Troupe were all those who fled to the Webway with the God of Laughter Silogo when Slaanesh was born.

Harlequins are isolated from Eldar society and do not belong to any Craftworld or authority.

After the Great Extinction, the Eldar had already fallen apart, and the Harlequin Theatre Company would frequently use the Webway to travel between the stars, searching for those lost Craft Worlds.

They tour the galaxy, fulfilling their responsibility to carry on the historical mission.

Because of this responsibility, the Harlequins' use of the Webway has reached an incredible level, and sometimes even the Ark Eldar cannot understand how they act.

Taking advantage of the convenience of the webway, the clowns can go almost anywhere they want and are extremely difficult to be captured by other forces.

But Horus's dark mechanical priest Kalbo still used his evil talents to successfully capture a team of clowns.

It was from the Harlequin Squad that we learned about the Eldar's joint efforts with humans to seize the Crone's Sword.

Harlequin is one of the few people who knows the location of the Black Library.

Although Horus has now successfully entered the Webway under the guidance of the wizard, he is troubled by not being able to find the path to the Black Library.

So Carbo handed the leader of the Harlequin team to Fabius, hoping that he could dig out information about the Black Library from the Harlequin's mind and solve Horus's troubles.

In a laboratory filled with the sweet smell of blood.

Fabius Bile studied the Eldar that Kalbo had brought him.

The Eldar buffoon had not spoken a word since being captured. She sat cross-legged in the sealed chamber of the Spirit of Vengeance, oblivious to everything around her.

She might be meditating. Fabius came to this conclusion after observing her for a while.

The next second, he leaned over, grabbed Harlequin by the throat and slammed her against the wall, the impact of the wall further damaging Harlequin's already cracked armor.

The Harlequin was no longer as calm as before. She screamed loudly, grabbed his wrist tightly, and slapped Fabius in front of her like an angry cat.

"Stop," Fabius scolded her while examining her body.

This was probably a female, Fabius thought, considering her bone structure and general features.

Eldar have secondary sex characteristics similar to humans, even though their internal structures are very different from humans.

The Harlequin's fist hit Fabius's forearm, trying to break free of the grip. Her foot kicked the opponent's stomach, but did not cause any damage to the fallen warrior in front of her.

She hadn't eaten for two days, and the wound on her ribs had festered. Her strength had been greatly weakened, and she could not pose any threat to Fabius.

But there was no reason to risk her suffering further harm; this was a precious specimen.

Fabius thought so and inserted a syringe into the opponent's pale skin through the gap in the Eldar's armor.

The Harlequin's body went limp as the anesthetic took effect.

She collapsed into Fabius's hands so that she wouldn't feel pain during the rest of the operation.

At the beginning of his fall, Fabius considered the value of sadism - but after Fulgrim exchanged his legs for a snake's tail, he gave up his sadistic ways.

And sadism itself is useless to his operation.

Fabius was dedicated to revealing more about the true face of the perpetrators rather than exposing them to bloodshed.

He has more efficient means to steal knowledge from the target's brain.

Fabius blew a whistle, and a tank creature staggered into the laboratory, holding a large tray in its hand, which contained an array of tools, nutrient tanks, and a strange device.

The device is very similar to a centipede, with a flexible metal shell and fibrous tentacles.

This is the work of Fabius - Brain Maggot.

He was quite satisfied with this invention, even though it was a prototype that took him a full year to complete.

Fabius stroked the brain maggot's shell gently, as if he were caressing his own child.

At his touch, the brain worm undulated, its claws clicking softly. Like all his creations, it was grown and constructed from the same parts. And there was even a hint of Fabius himself mixed into its makeup.

"I am its creator, and among the creator's creations there will always be a masterpiece. Isn't that so? The father's strengths are passed on to the offspring - even magnified. I believe that the advantages I have instilled in you far outweigh my disadvantages." He looked down at the vat-born,
"The insignificance of evils makes the advantages more precious, don't they?"

The jar-born responded with a muddy sound.

Fabius nodded. "Okay, okay. I'll allow myself a moment of leisure."

He turned to face his captive again - the anesthetic had fully taken effect, the Harlequin's limp form resting in his hands.

Fabius first examined the wound on her ribs. He used a sharp scalpel to peel back the rough edges of the Eldar armor, revealing the infected flesh through the woven mesh underneath.

The Dark Mechanical Priests used a deadly poison when capturing the Harlequin, which was the reason why the wound became infected.

He gently punctured the swollen, festering wound with a scalpel, then snapped his fingers and the survivor raised a specimen bottle.

"Even if it is a trivial element, there are many things to learn from it. This venom comes from the worship of the God of All Machines. It is a kind of 'logical poison', a highly toxic vicious cycle. I need to break it as soon as possible."

The Harlequin's blood and oily venom splashed into the specimen bottle. Fabius frowned, raised the transparent bottle, and shook the liquid into a vortex.

As long as he masters the secrets of these substances, he can use them at will.

Fabius drained the moisture from Harlequin's wound and sprayed it with an antibacterial agent he made himself.

He transplanted an exceptionally large medicinal garden into the hydroponic area of ​​Spirit of Vengeance, which contained samples collected from thousands of worlds.

With Fabius's talent, he designed so many healing potions, and the actual effects of these potions also brought him huge profits.

Fabius then gave Harlequin a quick diagnostic scan, checking for any remaining signs of infection or lesions.

During the inspection, he noticed something flickering in the Harlequin's chest.

It was a shining gem. When he held the gem in his hand, the body of the elf in front of him began to twitch unconsciously, as if her dream had turned into a horrible nightmare in an instant.

"Let me guess what secret you are hiding." Fabius rubbed the gem with his fingers.

The surface of the gemstone is warm and has more exotic touches beyond that.

Fabius savored it carefully, and he could even feel the fear contained in it.

Although the body survives, the soul has escaped into the rock.

"A strange habit, but one that has always interested me. What does your soul think in the stone? Are you still you? Is your consciousness still there? I think these are fair questions, and I suspect the answer is yes. I have seen your war machines, the question is, how do you do it?"

He looked at the unconscious Eldar and said, "You are one of the few well-preserved specimens I have. I am not in a hurry. Time is long, and one day I will gain a lot of knowledge from you." Fabius put the stone back in its place.
"But now, I have to help Horus solve his problems first."

Fabius used his free hand to pry open the Eldar's eyelids, revealing a lifeless eyeball.

"The capillaries in the lens are damaged, but that's not a problem." He whispered to himself, his fingers sliding forward, the tweezers in his hand sliding into the Eldar's eye, and gently holding the eyeball.

Slowly and carefully, Fabius dug the beautiful eye out of the Harlequin's eye socket.

His movements were extremely gentle, and the optic nerve that had not yet been broken was stretched and exposed to the air.

"Take your time," Fabius said, "I don't want to tear it apart and lose its original integrity, right?"

He looked at the vat-born, "Patience is the soul of success. You'd better remember this sentence. It will become your guiding doctrine."

The vat-born grumbled in response.

Fabius smiled. "Yes, child, I like this sentence too. It seems to have come from the mouth of a philosopher, but I forgot which one."

During the conversation, he noticed that the Eldar's optic nerve had been stretched to the extreme. The vat-born skillfully used a heated scalpel to cut the nerve and burn the wound at the same time to prevent too much blood from flowing out.

Fabius put the eyeball belonging to the clown into the nutrient tank.

He then took the Brain Maggot and placed it in the Eldar's empty eye socket.

The brain maggot's thousands of tentacles began to wriggle, and its tiny segmented claws curled up.

It moved forward, expanding, spiraling, twisting, until the brain maggot perfectly filled the Eldar's entire eye socket.

Thousands of tentacles slid into the wound in the eye socket, extending along the curve of the Eldar skull and drilling into the brain through the remaining optic nerve.

Harlequin began to twitch and moan in Fabius's grasp.

Blood flowed from her nose. Even though she was anesthetized, she continued to hit the wall with the back of her head.

Seeing this, Fabius injected her with sedatives and muscle relaxants.

The Brain Maggot is his masterpiece, the embodiment of his dark talent. This small biological device will copy the host's brain patterns and store them in its own core.

Thoughts, memories, dreams, everything will be downloaded into the device for transmission to the data probe.

The route to the Black Library will be found and uploaded to the Contemplator of the Vengeful Spirit.

And this Eldar clown sample needs to continue to survive for the next experiment. She will belong to Fabius, which is the reward promised to him by Horus.

Fabius released Harlequin.

"You should thank me for my kindness," he murmured.

"Fabius, are we ready to go?" Horus' voice penetrated the communication link.

Fabius stood up.

"Of course, everything is ready." Then he looked at the vat-born, "She is in your care. You must make sure she doesn't hurt herself, or you can try to remove the brain maggots before she wakes up."

Fabius paused, as if thinking, "If you like, break her hand. It might save some trouble."

The creature cried out in joy when it heard this. Its huge head swayed up and down. It only needed a little praise to be pleased, but it didn't expect its master to give it such a generous reward.

When Fabius found Horus, he was also waiting for him.

He looked around and asked in surprise, "Aren't you going to bring your four friends with you? They might be able to play a big role."

"Maybe." Horus did not comment, "They are also very busy and have their own things to do."

He didn't seem to want to talk too much about the four friends.

The engines of a hundred huge ships roared at the same time, and they set out on the route copied from the Harlequin's mind.

Horus chose a most appropriate time.

When they arrived at the Black Library, the main force of the Harlequin Theatre Troupe had already left, and even the God of Laughter had gone to the realm of Slaanesh.

Chaos knew about the existence of the Black Library from the beginning.

They have been trying to enter this library which claims to be able to see the future and possess all the knowledge of the universe.

But the clowns protected this place very well.

In the past, no enemy could invade here.

Those who tried to enter the Black Library have turned into dry bones accumulated in the Webway.

But now, a powerful Primarch has arrived here, leading his blasphemous legions.

Whatever his purpose, the Harlequin Troupe must stop him.

Horus looked at the clowns in front of him who were holding weapons, wearing extravagant masks, and trying to stop him.

By this time he had arrived at the entrance of the legendary Black Library.

A huge stone gate supports the top of the webway, and the diffuse gray mist casts a mysterious veil over the place.

There are various mysterious symbols carved on the stone gate. It is rumored that these are the words of ancient saints.

The Ancients were the earliest inhabitants of the Warp. When they were active, the Chaos Gods were still dormant.

The clowns who stayed in the Black Library had solemn expressions. Their leader, a big clown, had already put on his own mask.

A pair of exquisite daggers were held firmly in his hands.

The Big Clown is a high-ranking member of the Clown Theatre Troupe and the most loyal follower of the God of Laughter, Xilego.

They are the most powerful warriors among the Harlequins, and in plays, the Great Harlequin is sometimes given the honor of playing the God of Laughter, wearing the mask that is Silegor's favorite.

And the Big Clown is also the only guardian who knows how to enter the Black Library.

The timing of the enemy's appearance was too coincidental, which made the Big Clown feel as if he had been planned by the Chaos Power.

Perhaps even the Laughing God Xilego snatched the Crone's Sword and joined forces with the Imperial Warmaster
All these actions may be within the calculation of Chaos Power.

"Tell me the way to enter." Horus raised his hammer, "and I may spare your life."

The armies he had summoned during this time gathered behind him. These fallen warbands all had deformed and unnatural bodies, which were the outward manifestation of being contaminated by Chaos.

But these blasphemous people followed him willingly.

Even though Horus has many imperfections, it still cannot conceal his leadership qualities.

The Imperial Warmaster holds supreme power. The Emperor had definitely considered carefully before entrusting such an important responsibility to Horus.

From the Emperor's perspective.

Primarchs such as Fulgrim, Perturabo, Dorn, Curze, Mortarion, Krakos, Magnus, Lorgar, and Angron all have obvious flaws and are not up to the task.

Rus is loyal but foolish, Vulkan is soft-hearted, and the Khan is not popular.

Although the Lion is the Emperor's eldest son, he is gloomy and arrogant; Guilliman is good at scheming and ambitious; Sanguinius has wings on his back. It would be a good thing if these three sons did not create a second empire.

Under the circumstances at the time, the only ones who could take on the responsibilities of warmaster were Horus and Finus.

In contrast, Horus's command ability and personal charm satisfied the Emperor.

More importantly, in the future that the Emperor could see, he did not foresee Horus's rebellion.

So he chose Horus, and perhaps it was a wrong choice.

But in reality, in the calculations of the gods, no matter who the Emperor chooses, it will not be the right choice.

Horus was just a victim at the right time.

The Emperor knew this, and so he never blamed Horus, only felt sorry for him.

"Are you trying to make me laugh?" The clown's tone was full of sarcasm. Even when facing a demigod, he did not show any fear.

"How can you understand my great ambitions?" Horus's face was calm, and he was not angry at the other party's humiliation.
"Since you don't want to, I will grant you death."

(End of this chapter)