Chapter 123: Winged Horus

A spear wreathed in pale golden flames was thrown from Zhou Yun’s hand, slicing through the air in a sharp straight line, piercing the chitinous crown-like carapace of the psychic leech as easily as cutting tofu, and driving straight through its exposed, massive brain.

Zhou Yun relied on instinct to flap his wings behind him, landing on the psychic leech’s skull like a diving hawk, yanking out the spear forged from searing spiritual energy with force, causing blood and brain matter to spurt forth.

The psychic leech let out a piercing shriek, releasing a powerful spiritual scream as it died.

This uncontrolled spiritual energy spread along the connections between the swarm, and soon the brain worms hovering around the psychic leech erupted in spiritual flames.

Deprived of the psychic leech’s control, they could no longer contain their own spiritual energy, and their own warp forces burned their own brains.

Other lower-tier Tyranid creatures, dependent on the wisdom of the psychic leech and brain worms, also cried out in agony.

The spreading spiritual scream ignited their nerves, and most of them convulsed and collapsed to the ground.

Only the remaining few Tyrant Guards and the Hive Tyrant itself still stood firm, staring fixedly at Zhou Yun, who stood atop the psychic leech’s skull with pure white wings.

Zhou Yun shoved the demon on the ground into his fourth-dimensional pocket while staring intently at the Hive Tyrant.

In his eyes, the Hive Tyrant’s form grew hazy; its chitinous head seemed to transform into a gleaming bald skull, and its entire carapace became power armor embedded with the Eye of Horus.

He appeared as vast as a giant. Horus, the Deceiver, the Traitor, his brother Horus.

Tyrant Guards—no, Sons of Horus—stood beside their blasphemous father.

Was this Asford or the Soul of Vengeance?

Zhou Yun couldn’t tell.

He only knew he would flap his wings and make his final flight—

In an instant, Zhou Yun appeared beside the Hive Tyrant, his eyes blazing with fire yet filled with deep darkness.

“HORUS!!!!!!”

Zhou Yun roared, and the spear in his hand, wreathed in flame, slashed down in an instant.

The Sons of Horus clad in power armor blocked his path.

But they were pierced through in an instant by the Spear of Bìgōng; their hardened ceramic-steel power armor crumbled like paper, their bodies blessed by the Dark Gods utterly defenseless.

Zhou Yun saw five Sons of Horus—no, five Tyrant Guards—cut to pieces before his eyes.

The Hive Tyrant let out a nearly terrified roar, frantically swinging its whip-like tentacles and bone greatsword.

Zhou Yun watched the Worldbreaker Warhammer and Horus’s Claw strike toward him, and let out a roar of fury.

KILL!!!!!

The spear shattered the Hive Tyrant’s bone sword in an instant; the tentacle whip was seized in Zhou Yun’s single hand.

“HORUS!!!”

Zhou Yun raised his spear high—

SSSHHHHH!!!!!

The spear severed the Hive Tyrant’s arm holding the tentacle whip in an instant.

Zhou Yun looked down coldly at the Hive Tyrant, now missing one arm, his eyes filled with confusion.

How could Horus be so weak?

As he thought this, Zhou Yun swung his spear again.

The Hive Tyrant barely dodged, but its other arm, still clutching the bone sword, was severed at the shoulder.

“ROOOOAR!!!”

Its remaining four limbs slammed to the ground, and without hesitation it fled toward the ruins.

“HORUS!!!!!!”

Zhou Yun’s roar sounded like a blood-soaked beast.

He raised his spear once more, fixing his gaze on the fleeing Horus.

“My brother! Are you this cowardly?!”

“Brother! Don’t run!!!”

The spear became a streak of blazing light, stabbing diagonally into the Tyrant’s body and pinning it to the spot.

“HA!!!”

Zhou Yun let out a nearly joyful roar, flapped his wings, and landed atop the Tyrant’s back in an instant.

The wings behind him blazed fiercely, then dissolved into flame and vanished.

Horus lay pinned beneath his feet.

No—

Zhou Yun paused, momentarily stunned.

I’m not Sanguinius. I’m Doraemon.

No, I’m Doraemon Sanguinius. No no no, I’m Doraemon Zhou Yun. No, I’m Zhou Yun.

Forget it, I can’t tell.

Zhou Yun discarded the chaotic thoughts in his head.

He only knew he had to kill this Horus—or Hive Tyrant—and stuff it into his fourth-dimensional pocket.

Zhou Yun grabbed the Tyrant’s body and began dragging it toward the pocket on his belly.

The Hive Tyrant struggled to escape; it knew that if dragged inside, it would lose even the chance to return to the Hive Mind and be reborn.

The complete death of an experienced Tyrant was a great loss to the Hive Mind.

The Hive Tyrant raised its two remaining arms, aimed a bio-cannon at its own head.

BOOM!!!!!

Blood sprayed everywhere; the Hive Tyrant’s head shattered into bloody chunks. “Damn.” The winged figure within the white light twitched its lips slightly. “You drove the Hive Tyrant to suicide.”

“Your Black Rage symptoms are worse than my sons’. That shouldn’t be possible.”

Zhou Yun dragged the Hive Tyrant’s corpse into his fourth-dimensional pocket and turned his head toward the winged figure in the white light.

“Holy shit, Horus, how the hell did you grow wings too?!”

“Emperor, come quick! There’s a winged Horus here!”

The winged figure in the white light opened its mouth wide, speechless.

“So you’re telling me I’ve gone Black Rage?”

In a house in the Upper Nest, newly taken as a foothold by the Imperial Guard.

Zhou Yun stared blankly at the winged figure in the white light.

The white light surrounding him now carried strange blue hues, and his own form had grown thin.

“Something like Black Rage. Ha, someone even called me ‘Winged Horus.’”

The winged figure in the white light spoke with heavy resentment.

“You absorbed part of my power—equivalent to absorbing a small portion of me. Experiencing Black Rage-like illusions is normal.”

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“But don’t worry too much. That portion of my power is now exhausted, and your own warp essence is too stable to be affected by it.”

Zhou Yun vaguely remembered following instinct to draw upon the part of his power that had seeped into reality.

Then the scene before him began to blur; the swarms seemed to transform into Sons of Horus and demons lurking aboard the Soul of Vengeance.

And the Hive Tyrant commanding them became Horus with four arms.

What happened after that, Zhou Yun could no longer recall clearly.

He glanced into his fourth-dimensional pocket.

[Item Name: Brain Worm Subspecies—Psychic Leech]

[Origin: Acheron Shield System—Asford—Tyranid Hatchery]

[Evaluation: A powerful psychic unit created by the Tyranid swarm, possessing Alpha-level psychic power. Leader of the brain worms, tasked with helping them control their own psychic energy. Flavor: pungent and salty, neutral nature. Dispels wind, relieves spasms, resolves phlegm and nodules. Treats stroke, epilepsy, headache. Not for consumption.]

[Production Time: 998.M41]

[Status: This year, no gifts for the holiday—only Brain Worm Gold!]

[Value: 13,000,000]

[Item Name: Hive Tyrant]

[Origin: Acheron Shield System—Asford—Tyranid Hatchery]

[Evaluation: One of the top-tier units of the Tyranid swarm, a commander of the hive. Only created when the swarm faces an enemy requiring decapitation. Possesses extreme intelligence and autonomy. Each is a seasoned battle master. Flavor: salty, cold nature. Clears heat, resolves nodules, tonifies liver and kidneys.]

[Production Time: 998.M41]

[Status: Senior Sister]

[Value: 17,000,000]

But it seemed clear—he had indeed eliminated the brain worm and the Tyrant. Though the Tyrant hadn’t been captured alive; its consciousness escaped.

His savings now reached ten million fifty thousand, just over a million short of the Gate of Anywhere.

It was about time.

“My sons are about to arrive in the Acheron System,” said the winged figure in the white light.

His form was as thin as a sheer veil, hanging at the corner of Zhou Yun’s vision.

“Penetrating the material universe is always exhausting. I’m sorry—I may no longer be able to assist you further.”

“When the swarm begins to clash with my sons, the battlefield there will demand my presence more urgently.”

“At that time, I may be unable to communicate with you for a long while.”

Zhou Yun nodded slightly, understanding.

It was time for him to step back from the frontlines against the swarm.

His next goal: to acquire the item capable of resurrecting Sanguinius.

Zhou Yun walked slowly out of the room and toward the Astra Militarum encampment outside the door.

The few remaining Cadia warriors bore exhaustion and pain on their faces—aftereffects of the Brainworm’s assault.

Even the resilient Cadia warriors had developed fractures in their minds after enduring the Brainworm’s psychic attack.

As Zhou Yun stepped out of the room, the surrounding Cadia warriors wore expressions of reverence or awe; some even bowed their heads in prayer toward him.

Others stared fixedly at his back, as if hoping to see a pair of wings sprout there.

Even Xiang Leina, standing nearby, looked at Zhou Yun with a trace of awe.

“There is now a pitifully thick barrier between us,” Zhou Yun said, his voice heavy with sorrow.

“Can you blame me?!” Xiang Leina’s tattoo of the Saint’s Codex twitched slightly.

“You suddenly grew wings behind you, claimed you were Saint Guilliman himself, and told me to kowtow to you.”

“Then you mumbled about Horus, brothers, and the Spirit of Vengeance, sliced the Hive Tyrant into sticks in seconds, and made it commit suicide on the spot—who wouldn’t shudder at that?”

Here, Xiang Leina paused, unable to resist asking:

“You—you’re not really—”

“Yes, I am Saint Guilliman himself. Kowtow to me now,” Zhou Yun said, spreading his arms.

“I just received a communique—Dante, Chapter Master of the Blood Angels, has entered the Avernus System.”

Xiang Leina’s lips twitched as she said:

“Would you like to say that to his face?”

(End of Chapter)