Warhammer: I don't want to become a stinky can!

Page 868

Strangely enough, the defenders the two Horus encountered, though powerful, were not powerful enough to easily tear them apart—

Of course, this is also due to the awakening of the Wolf God. The emperor who favored the Wolf God gave him the key to spiritual energy, and his former war commander also awakened a powerful force as a result. Although the Wolf God is still somewhat confused, it does not prevent him from using this gift that Neos had prepared for him when he resurrected him.

With a single blow, Shepherd God smashed dozens of Ultramarines charging towards him with his warhammer. Then, he raised his other hand, and a blazing light shone from the muzzle of a small cannon beneath his arm armor. A powerful particle beam shot out, and golden light flashed in his eyes. Accompanied by a series of blessings from the warp, he precisely detonated the cockpit of a distant Titan.

Father...cheer up, we need to move on.

After confirming once again that Neos's writing and drawing had not caused any ripples in the warp, the Wolf God frowned slightly, then turned around, quickly and as gently as possible pulled up the Emperor who was kneeling on the ground drawing blood arrays, and hurriedly followed the army's march with Neos.

He seemed completely oblivious to what we were saying.

Horus lowered his voice. Compared to the wolf god, he felt great. He finally had the chance to raise his sword against that damned tyrant and hypocrite, Guilliman. Horus didn't think too much about it. Although he had rebellious intentions, in reality, he was being forced into rebellion by Guilliman's subtle hints.

For Horus, reaching the surface of Terra would already be a victory; he's taking it one step at a time—ideally, he'll hold out until the vampire Sanguires returns.

The Wolf God smiled bitterly.

My father was exhausted during the recent landing operation... He may be temporarily delirious due to a lack of psionic energy... This is the first time I've seen him so fatigued.

The last sentence was spoken very softly.

In the final stages of the landing operation, the Emperor practically burned himself out. He not only successfully landed his army near the palace, but also used the aftershocks of the forced landing to destroy all the defensive cannons and space stations in Terra's atmosphere and near-Earth orbit.

This is why Guilliman didn't detonate their super cannons deployed in Terra's atmosphere and near-Earth orbit immediately upon their landing—if those terrifying defense platforms hadn't been destroyed by the Emperor's psionic powers, they would have flown out of the country along with the Tibetan Plateau by now.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

The emperor, who was pulled up by the Wolf God, coughed up blood violently, vomiting out countless black and red blood clots. However, Neos did not appear to be in pain; instead, he revealed a fanatical madness.

"What are you trying to do?!"

Neos's shout almost startled the Wolf God, but the Emperor's next words made the Wolf God realize that the Emperor wasn't talking about him.

"Hahahaha—I know! I know! That's what you're planning! Hahaha, doesn't it hurt?! Don't you see how many lives are suffering?! You play these games! You scheme against your children like this?! Hahaha, what a clever scheme!"

As Neos rambled on, the earth trembled, an earthquake struck, and a long, mournful cry came from the depths of the earth, as if it were across the entire Himalayas.

The Wolf God remained silent, gritting his teeth as he continued to pull the Emperor along with the group. In fact, the Emperor had already uttered a lot of insane ramblings, such as "heil!", "maga!", "make into canned food!", and "I can only tell you to think more"—therefore, what he just said was probably the Emperor's ramblings at some point in his life.

But Horus, who was walking in front of the Wolf God, suddenly stopped, and the Wolf God almost bumped into Horus. He frowned at Horus with some displeasure, and instinctively used his other hand to protect the emperor beside him.

[What the heck is this?]

Horus's tone was eerily strange, as if he were seeing an abstinent and lustless Angron. The wolf god frowned and looked up, then realized how blasphemous he was witnessing.

The dark fire of anger and pain rose from the depths of the earth, surging up through the huge fissures created by the earthquake, and countless Space Marines and vehicles fell into those massive fissures.

At the same time, countless pitch-black demons, like vengeful ghosts, crawled out. Their bodies were made of black fire, with sharp teeth and mouths, and two huge horns protruding from their skulls pierced into their eye sockets.

For some reason, the moment I saw them, something in my soul began to tremble. Just as the Slaanesh army felt blasphemous and the Khorne army were all warlike madmen, these dark demons always instilled a deep sense of fear and despair, like seeing a withered, emaciated corpse that had struggled for millions of years but still failed and was hopeless.

These dark demons are not like ordinary chaotic demon lords with different types of soldiers and vehicles. They only have one type and a few variations, namely those independent humanoid individuals that are twisted in pain.

[Whose chaotic demonic army is this?]

Horus's voice trembled.

[I'm certain none of my brothers possess the ability to summon such a demon... Although the feeling of that flame is reminiscent of Mortarion, I believe it's not him.]

The good news is that these terrifying demons didn't attack them. Instead, they immediately pounced on the Ultramarines. They weren't very large, and most of them looked like malnourished human slaves. Dozens of demons rushed towards a single Ultramarines, their flames blazing and burning into the gaps in their armor.

In an instant, chaos erupted on the battlefield as countless dark demons piled up and tore at the well-equipped warriors. Although the demons did not seem capable of penetrating the Space Marines' defenses, their numbers were sufficient.

【…】

The Wolf God blinked blankly, staring incredulously at the dark, frail demons. He then instinctively turned to look at the Emperor. In a fleeting moment, a startling change occurred: he saw Neos with his eyes tightly closed, two dark tear tracks running down the Emperor's cheeks.

But he was still laughing, revealing his bright white teeth.

"Hahahahaha!"

The emperor laughed loudly, his disheveled hair hanging down, his expression a mixture of laughter and tears.

"See, I told you you deserved it!!!"

....................................

[I should have known you'd make your move at this time.]

【Guilliman】said slowly and deliberately, the Primarch gritting his teeth, as if he wished he could skin the person opposite him alive the next moment.

His voice echoed beneath the throne, in a world of complete darkness, except for the writhing, blasphemous creature pinned to the throne by a blood-red spine.

The two slaves of [Guilliman] struggled together on the throne, which was stained with blood and sewage and had lost its original luster. Over the long ten thousand years, they had almost become symbiotic. [Guilliman] could only see those distorted and stuck-together facial features. Near the bottom of the throne, a human eyeball was squeezed under layers of blue feathers, looking at him with a whirring gaze.

Don't you approve of me yet?

"Killiman" said through gritted teeth, spreading his arms wide as he launched a preemptive attack.

[Wasn't it you who hinted that I should nail you to the throne?]

His words were laced with rage, and some higher-dimensional pain was descending upon this Primarch who had reigned for millennia—a malice that had been concealed for millennia by the previous emperor was now unveiled, revealing its true face.

[Didn't you tacitly approve of me doing this?!]

[Killiman] roared,

[Could it be that Mortarian and I really have the power to keep you and Tzeentch locked up on the throne?! Didn't you tacitly allow us to do this?! Now you're telling me you've changed your mind?! You've been deceiving me all along?!]

[Killiman] suddenly turned his head and sneered—his current state was extremely unstable, not because he had discovered the truth, but because the "pain" that [The Emperor] had been hiding had finally begun to backfire.

[I knew you were hiding something all along... but I never expected... hehehe... you'd endure so much just to bring down your child? Has your hatred and vengefulness reached this level?]

[Killiman] sneered. He knew, of course, that [The Emperor] must have had other plans back then, but he didn't expect [The Emperor] to be so ruthless towards him.

Previously, when the Emperor saw the humans in this Fateline, he wept bitterly, and the other Primarchs in the main Fateline, when they saw the humans accompanying them in this line, also expressed a sentiment that seemed somewhat too numb.

This is because, in this line of fate, the human race is deprived of the ability to feel pain.

No, it cannot be called deprivation, but rather a kind of extraction—that pain was absorbed by some higher-dimensional being from the very beginning, so that the slaves huddled in the cages were left only with numbness.

For ten thousand years, a full ten thousand years, he alone collected and bore all the suffering of humanity.

This is why the Lord of Mankind finally understood why he had felt a certain pain from the moment he created the Primarch, because ten thousand years later, he would be the master of pain and despair, and the echoes of the future would reverberate through the past and present.

A single, murky tear trickled from beneath the distorted eyeball, only to be roughly wiped away once more by the struggling, writhing blue feathers.

He did only one thing: when betrayed by Guilliman, he retained only one of the powers that had been taken over his body.

One, the most core, the most important, which, once stripped away, would have been enough to sustain Guilliman's rule for millennia, one that would have instilled arrogance and contempt in all Primarchs—

【pain】.

All human actions and reactions are based on the pain of failure and the pleasure of success, but if we were to find the most essential one of the two, it would certainly be pain.

The negative feedback from pain taught humans how to survive. The more unfavorable the external information is to survival, the more painful it is. Primitive people tried their best to drive away wild animals, avoid touching fire directly with their hands, and seek a better life—all of this was to avoid pain.

Ten thousand years ago, the Emperor took away humanity's suffering.

So all that remained was numbness; those who had lost their capacity for pain had no motivation to resist—the Primarchs should have seen these changes, but they were too arrogant and complacent, and detached from the masses.

But the pain did not disappear. What the Lord of Mankind did was merely strip away the parts of the human soul that caused the pain. Under the oppressive rule of Guilliman, the pain was constantly generated and gathered again on the Emperor, who was imprisoned on the throne. Finally... this pain, suppressed to the extreme, transformed into power.

However, the Emperor still retained a sliver of goodwill in the beginning.

If the empire under Guilliman's rule truly enjoys lasting peace and prosperity, and the people live in happiness and well-being, then most of the power accumulated through suffering will be used to suppress Tzeentch, rather than accumulating enough power for other purposes.

but now……

A massive, indistinct black shadow hovered above the golden throne—

The Lord of Humanity is already extremely powerful, powerful enough to ascend to godhood once again.

Cause is effect, and effect is cause.

The lack of pain led to numbness and compliance in humans, causing Guilliman to mistakenly believe that humans were more capable of enduring suffering. As a result, he arbitrarily drove them into harsher and more difficult environments to survive in.

Now, those accumulated evil spirits of pain are coming for him.

On the throne, the towering, emaciated, scarlet spinal cord swayed, and beneath it, two monsters struggled violently, seemingly trying to break free of their restraints.

Chapter 870 [312] A Painful Miracle

When the two Horus dragged the neurotic Nyos into the temple, everything there was already distorted.

Amidst the hail of artillery fire, they stumbled and crashed into the temple. The four siege titans at the front, surrounded by the smaller titans, rammed into the side gate that the Ultramarines had already sealed off. Boom! Thick concrete slabs connected to broken steel bars collapsed to the ground, instantly killing several Ultramarines hiding behind cover.

The vanguard had already charged in, and Horus, wielding his warhammer and shouting slogans, rushed into the palace. The wolf god quickly pulled Neos into the palace, which was littered with debris.

He was startled when he caught a glimpse of the palace interior.

This place was far from what he had imagined, like a royal palace. It wasn't opulent or dazzling at all; there was neither pure, shimmering gold nor eerie azure.

All the pillars, walls, ceilings, and even the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling looked like tar-soaked, half-melted butter, revealing an extremely dirty, indescribable color.

Everything was distorted; the once straight pillars were now crooked and twisted, the features of the reliefs on the walls had melted away, leaving faces dull and repulsive. Some kind of flowing, burnt-brown teardrops trickled down the walls, some thick, some thin, almost covering the entire wall and floor—

In a daze, the Wolf God felt that these twisted tear-like strands were still alive and wriggling. This was a sign that they had been dead for a long time. They were like maggots crowding the floor, twisting and rejoicing on the giant's corpse.

Every now and then, a blue liquid, resembling pus, would squeeze out from the yellow strips; it was equally filthy and mixed with unknown black specks.

It's like the temple that Van Gogh painted with excrement and vomit when he was insane.

The gods are dead.

Shepherd God felt he didn't want to put his boots on such filthy ground, but the thought only lingered in his mind for a moment before he strode forward—trying to walk on the ground stained red with the blood of the Ultramarines, avoiding touching the dirty yellowish-black stains.

At the same time, he pulled on the hand that was holding Neos, and the Wolf God subconsciously pulled the mad Neos up to prevent his father from touching the dirty floor. Fortunately, the Emperor was now the size of a mortal and was insane, so he did not resist the Wolf God's actions.

Only when the Emperor actually sat on the Wolf God's arm did the Wolf God suddenly catch his breath, realizing what he had subconsciously done—

The Primarch simply didn't want the Emperor to walk on such filthy ground; his mind was still reeling from the profane sights within the palace. The remaining steps were automated by the Wolf God, as effortlessly as if he were pulling a child from among the wounded Sons of Horus and carrying him to the medical ward.

In short, I'm used to it.

Fortunately, the delirious Neos was oblivious to the Wolf God's actions. The Wolf God even doubted whether the Emperor could even discern his own location. The Emperor simply laughed and cried, unsettling, acrid tears streaming from his eyes—

For a moment, the Wolf God was horrified and suspected that these teardrops originated from the same source as the filth in the palace.

Fortunately, Neos was temporarily under control. He was just sitting on the arm armor of the Wolf God, laughing and crying noisily. His ramblings did not involve the Wolf God or anything the Wolf God cared about. So the Wolf God braced himself and kept up with Horus ahead.

He felt a subtle tension in his heart, but the urgency of the battle prevented him from thinking deeply—after all, the Wolf God was not like Guilliman, who could indulge in wild thoughts; the Wolf God needed to ensure that all his energy was focused on the attack.

Outside the palace, deafening and terrifying explosions continued one after another, like the distant sea crashing against the coastline. Shepherd God could not imagine the immense pressure the Khan was under, dragging along the main force of Terra—his good brother was far more reliable than he had imagined—perhaps Chagatai should have been made the war commander back then.

Inside the palace, things took a strange turn. They encountered neither fierce resistance nor an ambush; everything went smoothly except for the gradually melting, filthy palace, where the corpses of the Ultramarines lay silently on the floor, and the black flames burning on their blood.

It was as if all the Ultra Warriors stationed in the palace had died instantly, and pain erupted from the depths of their souls, burning them to ashes.

Horus, who was walking at the front, had an increasingly strange expression. These bizarre scenes made him slow down and walk alongside the Wolf God. Horus turned his head and first glanced at the rambling emperor with a strange expression, then looked at the Wolf God again.

The two Horus had a decent relationship; at least when they faced each other, they found that the other's personality was that of a rare, normal, and ordinary human.

[I suspect this was done by my...father.]

When Horus said the word "father," his tongue seemed to be burned, and he spat out the two words with disgust.

[Guilliman failed to kill the Emperor; He survived and, along with...]

Horus looked at the emperor sitting on the arm of the wolf god.

Are we becoming more and more active because of our growing closeness?

The Wolf God took over, his gaze darkening as he carefully sensed the flow of the subspace.

I believe this symbolizes the merging of two destinies.

He said cautiously,

I do not yet know what the Emperor will use as the sign of the merging of two destinies, but I would venture to guess that when the two Emperors meet, their destinies will begin to merge—after all, they were participants in the original wager, and there can only be one Tzeentch.

Horus pondered for a moment, then nodded.

[If fates were to merge... would that be possible on your side?]

The Wolf God blinked, hesitant, but in reality, he didn't have many choices. In fact, the Emperor didn't offer him any choices.

We have no other choice.

The Wolf God lowered his voice.

[We've come this far. The only way to break this deadlock is to release your Emperor and Tzeentch... Chagatai won't last long. Once the outer lines collapse, "Guilliman" will quickly counterattack, and then we'll both be surrounded and annihilated.]

[All right,]

Horus touched his chin, but instead smeared blood on his face.