Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 578 The Primarch's Battle Under Khorne's Gaze: One Body, Two Souls, Courage, Skill

In the highest heavens beyond the veil, the figure on the bronze throne watches as two brothers charge toward their enemies, spears in hand.

Alpha and Omega.

He watched with delight as the despicable think tank curator, Gukur, who was following in their footsteps, suddenly shuddered, knelt on one knee, and retched inside his helmet.

The worm-man's body enveloped the twin Primarch, and he swung his scepter, clashing it against Alpharis's pale spear.

Alpharis's arm went numb. He tried to grip the spear tightly, but the worm-man's strength was beyond imagination, and the spear flew out of his hand.

A barrage of explosives came from the right, and Gukur and the other Alphas opened fire.

The worm-like creature shrank, and the bullet whizzed past its side.

With an outstretched arm, it suddenly grabbed, the necrotic fluid instantly burning through the armor, the energy tearing Alpharis's flesh apart.

Alpharis was in excruciating pain. He had experienced burning and acid corrosion, but now it was the molecules of his body that were being torn apart.

Flesh and blood melted away, damaging the bones.

The Primarch was not completely incapacitated, and he returned fire.

The worm-man's torso was pierced by a hole as thick as the genotype's thigh, and the plasma gun burned through a large clump of maggots.

Alpharis's body began to regenerate, but his rapid self-healing was not as fast as the wriggling maggots.

While the flesh and blood on his right chest were still being rewoven back onto the bone, his strength was no match for the wormman.

A maggot-like arm lashed towards his head, but Alpharis watched calmly and moved aside.

The hissing power spear pierced through the worm's arm, the handle held by Omega.

Alphareth reclaims the Pale Spear and stands shoulder to shoulder with Omega.

They moved in unison, back to back, with two heads and four arms, wielding two long spears.

Alpharis blocked the incoming Necrosis Ray with his Pale Spear, while Omega stabbed the attacker who tried to attack his brother's incomplete armor.

Alpharis's spear tip slashed through the worm's legs that had spread to his brother's feet, and Omega raised his spear and pierced the worm's arm to stop the scepter from falling.

Omega dodged, and Alphareth swung his spear.

“Now I understand why some of our brothers are so passionate about fighting,” Alpharis said to Omega, who was breathing in sync with him. “The experience is very different when you are whole.”

Khorne watched the brothers huddled together, completely trusting each other without any wariness.

They are the same soul residing in different bodies; when they are whole, they are far more powerful than fighting alone.

As the offense and defense shifted, the worm-man sustained more and more wounds.

"One body, two souls, in perfect harmony."

In His vision, the cobalt blue figure also charged toward the enemy.

Robert Guilliman was enraged the moment the Wormman tore through Marius Gage's cobalt blue armor.

The explosive gun mounted on the Hand of Domination roared incessantly, each shot hitting a different spot on the alien.

The worm-man twisted and dodged most of the attacks, but a bomb still exploded on his left arm.

He paid no attention to his injuries, raised his scepter, and emerald energy shimmered around it.

Guilliman couldn't discern how it fired; he only heard a hissing sound, and his Iron Halo luckily deflected the attack.

The deflected rays unfortunately struck the Honor Guard members clad in cobalt blue armor.

The cobalt blue armor crackled and melted under the corrosive effects of the necrotic solution.

Guilliman roared when he saw the exposed bones of his offspring.

The Hand of Domination activated with arcs of electricity, and a smooth blue light field enveloped the massive mechanical finger and the explosive gun suspended below it.

He charged forward, but with a strange hissing sound, he was struck by the evil beam of light, and this time his Iron Aura did not work.

The pain of being burned and corroded by acid caused Guilliman to let out a roar.

He lost all feeling in his left arm.

The Primarch was not completely incapacitated. He forced his numb fingers to pull the trigger, firing a barrage of bullets at the alien.

The worm-man was short and flat, and bullets whizzed past him.

The shadow spread and reformed before Guilliman could make his next move. He swung his cane at him, and Guilliman raised his arm, which had just regained feeling.

As the Power Fist collided with the Necrosis Scepter, Guilliman felt the alien's power was terrifyingly great, and his ravaged left arm was torn apart in excruciating pain.

Guilliman raised his right hand and grabbed the alien's right arm.

Maggots wriggled under Guilliman's grip, and his gauntlet began to smoke as necrotic fluid corroded the terracotta and seeped into his skin.

The worm-man swung his scepter and smashed Guilliman to the ground. "Meatball, your time has come."

The speech-pronouncing device emitted barely legible low Gothic language, its hissing sound like it was filled with mucus.

"I will enjoy your flesh and blood, hopefully it will be delicious enough."

"Aliens, prepare to die!" With a roar, the Primarch's Honor Guard surged from both sides, unleashing a barrage of bullets at the Wormmen.

The maggots burst open, forcing the maggot-man to abandon his food.

The honor guard rushed to Guilliman's side, forming a shield wall to buy him time to stand up.

The worm-man emitted a sound similar to human laughter as it slid into the Honor Guard.

Maggots multiplied, and his wounds healed faster than the original gene.

Guilliman roared as he watched his offspring being pierced by evil beams and torn apart by worm arms.

The Commander's Hand slammed heavily to the ground. He picked up an armor-piercing grenade and stepped over the last fallen Honor Guard member.

The shockwave sent cobalt blue, mangled corpses flying and also sent the worm-men flying.

"A chunk of meat."

Guilliman's chest was gripped by the worm's arm, but his eyes were only on the aliens slaughtering the Honor Guard.

A blue light hissed as it tore through the necrotic cloak, and the Hand of Domination slammed heavily into the worm's body.

Guilliman activated the armor-piercing grenade and threw it into the slimy cavity, where frantically wriggling maggots tried to spit it out in terror.

Guilliman raised his right arm and slammed it down.

The armor-piercing grenade was smashed into the alien's body, and Guilliman's right arm was also engulfed in pus.

The armor-piercing grenade exploded, tearing the worm-man's body to pieces.

Clumps of worms scattered and splashed onto the cobalt blue armor.

The corrosive liquid eroded the original's armor and tore his flesh apart.

The regenerative abilities of the progenitor struggled against the necrotic forces that had invaded the body, and Guilliman looked sadly at the scattered corpses around him.

He staggered and fell, but was caught by Glenn Wosotto who rushed over.

The imposing figure on the brass throne uttered a single word of admiration: "Courage!"

He turned his gaze to the last person.

His hair was disheveled, his sword was stained with blood, and his eyes gleamed with the light of battle.

The black terracotta armor with gold decorations charged towards the alien, raising its sword in front of it to block the incoming emerald beam of light.

Feeling the impact from his palm, he twisted his wrist, causing the blade that was flying towards his body to slide away.

Ryan stared intently at the worm's arm, moving the instant it lifted.

The guards following closely behind tried their best to help their father by spraying explosives at the alien.

Necrotic beams shot out at them, and the black pottery corpses fell down one after another.

Ryan stepped in a spiral, just as he had when he was being trained by Luther, and came to the worm-man.

He swung his sword, and just before it hit the scepter, he spun around and chopped off a swarm of worms.

Khorne, perched atop his bronze throne, watched as Ryan constantly shifted his balance.

He defends while attacking, and attacks while defending.

He gazed upon the endless and unbreakable spiral of defense and offense, and exclaimed in admiration.

"Attack, defense, skill, balance."

(End of this chapter)