Chapter 208: Eagle and Slave

The sky was burning,

lightning fell from the void, splitting Bael's heavens and leaving a scar ablaze with violet flame,

the three planets that served as the Archangel's second homeland were drowned in boiling warp energy, the stars' light extinguished, psykers roared and collapsed, astropaths screamed as their skulls burst, navigators' third eyes burned with blasphemous fire, librarians struggled and fell to the ground,

every human mind howled in the warp's flood, clearly feeling their souls coveted by dark entities beyond reality, licked by the warp's shadowy energies,

mortals shrieked in piercing agony, their eyes flooding with endless madness and chaos, some even undergoing flesh-level mutations,

the children of Saint Guilliman uttered low mournful cries, visions of the Revenant Soul appeared before their eyes, rage churning in their chests,

from the Tower of the Lost came frantic calls, the flesh-hungry ghouls, fallen to blood thirst, roared for blood,

reality itself screamed as the scar across the sky expanded, hellish vortices and storms spiraled from the wound, tearing apart the entire starfield,

the Hive Mind screamed, billions of Tyranids screamed,

the boiling warp energy slammed into the Tyranid gestalt soul, the swarm's synaptic network ignited like a spiderweb set ablaze,

since arriving in the galaxy, the Hive Mind had never suffered such grievous injury; its will, born of billions of bodies and commanding billions more, was severed,

for a fleeting instant, the Hive Mind vanished, as if swallowed by eternal darkness in a blink, yet it recovered swiftly, reestablishing links with billions of Tyranid organisms,

but undeniably, in that single instant, the Tyranids tasted death,

this enraged the Tyranids into a roar of fury,

in Bael's sky, the swarm first connected with the void-dwelling Hive Fleets,

in the void's emptiness, where usually only the Hive Mind's soul echoed, this was the realm easiest for it to reclaim,

the Hive Mind shrieked in rage, shadows spread anew across Bael, resisting the scar that had devoured half the galaxy,

the Great Devourer's shadow first engulfed Bael's primary world, for it sought to protect the Angel's remains from contamination by warp entities,

precious food must be safeguarded!!

but the Hive Mind soon realized its failure,

in the Bael system, countless Tyranids were dying, their brainstems burned to ash by the warp's flood, many Tyranid warships reduced to floating chunks of flesh, numerous vital units lost forever,

the prey protected by the Angel's Fortress's void shield also suffered the impact, yet they recovered faster than the Hive Mind, and the void shield remained nearly intact,

the Tyranid forces now on Bael's surface could no longer breach that void shield,

as the Hive Mind attempted to command its remaining controllable swarm to reclaim biomass from Bael, it discovered something unexpected,

on Bael's orbital path, its capillary towers had all been severed,

at the severed ends surged the crimson wrath of the Blood God,

the Hive Mind fell silent for a moment, and the Tyranid warships in the void began converging toward the Hive Fleet,

the Tyranid warships' bodies disintegrated in the void, their biomass flowing into the Hive Fleet,

deep within the Hive Fleet, the Norn Queen began her laborious work, weaving new biological units according to complex genetic sequences,

on Bael's surface, Angarath let out a roar of ecstatic fervor,

the rift had opened; on Cadia, far from Bael, Abaddon had finally achieved his purpose,

the Great Rift had opened, bringing blood to the entire galaxy, the supreme power of the Eye of Terror unleashed across the galaxy, the grandeur of the Old Night reborn,

since the Emperor ascended the Golden Throne, no such overwhelming warp energy had ever ravaged the material universe; the Supreme Powers now held the upper hand against reality, the Astronomican on Terra flickered erratically, nearly extinguished,

the Old Night had returned, Cadia had fallen,

the Dark Gods' power flowed more freely into reality, and part of the Blood God's gaze could now leave Cadia and turn toward Bael,

Angarath felt his power surging violently,

he should have been fighting on Bael, offering more blood to the Blood God,

but that Librarian, that Mareste, had interfered; though he had not been fully banished back to the warp, he had been cast onto Bael-1, this moon of Bael,

Angarath felt rage, yet could not help but admire Mareste's courage and strength,

he was a rare worthy adversary; Angarath truly longed for him to take his place upon the Throne of the Cursed, so that one day he might fight him again,

after all, worthy adversaries are hard to find!

the Blood God's gaze now rested upon Angarath's body; his black wings gained power, sufficient to utterly break free from the moon's gravity and leap across the void between stars to Bael's primary world,

yet Angarath smelled blood,

the hum of power armor and bestial gasps rose all around him,

warriors clad in silver-and-red power armor appeared across the wasteland, surrounding Angarath completely,

Angarath noticed they were drenched in blood—both Tyranid and human,

they hissed low, glaring at Angarath with furious eyes,

Angarath saw the secret hidden beneath their helmets,

"Demon," snarled a bestial voice—Jor, Battle-Captain of the Blood Knights, stood before Angarath, staring fiercely: "Dog of the Blood God!"

Angarath let out a triumphant, roaring laugh,

War! Indeed, this galaxy would never lack war!

the White Tiger Blade sliced through air like a mournful gale, clashing with the daemon-forged greatsword Sarnaris,

BOOM!!

the clash of blades erupted, sparks of lightning and fire flew between them,

the Khan laughed—though ten thousand years had passed, he was still the fastest,

he wielded his blade with agility, spinning on one foot, his cloak swirling like a stormcloud, obscuring the blade's trajectory,

"ROAR!!!"

his beast-brother let out a howl as the Khan's curved blade carved a serpentine arc, slicing a grotesque wound into Angarath's leg,

Angarath, the Khan's furious brother, swung his power axe, summoning a firestorm of blood, aiming to cleave the Khan's skull,

the Khan marveled aloud—the firestorm had already dimmed before it touched him,

since the Great Crusade, the Khan had discovered he possessed a certain power to resist destructive psychic energy,

he was largely immune to lethal attacks; the blasphemous forces of the Path to Heaven had no effect on him,

he could balance yin and yang, find equilibrium between reality and the warp, and even warriors near him gained similar resistance,

but Angarath's power came directly from the Blood God; even the Khan could not fully resist it,

just as he had once failed to fully resist Mortarion's toxin,

yet the Khan was far stronger than ten thousand years ago, and he understood his own power better than ever,

the swiftness that had made the Khan famous acted once more—he effortlessly evaded Angarath's attack,

even the Blood God's night-prowler hybrid could not keep pace with him,

in the blink of an eye, Angarath saw a blur of feints and dodges, countless blades lunging in lightning flashes—he felt as if facing a storm of swords,

Angarath's arms were slashed with bloody gashes, his body, strengthened by the Blood God, withstood the Khan's blade,

the Khan could barely inflict true wounds—he must land a single piercing strike to vital organs to banish Angarath!

They clashed on the grasslands, the wild grasses scattering like wind, thunder rained down upon Angarath's body, gusts of wind pushed the Khan's White Tiger blade,

White Tiger's Dawn Cry, thunder echoing across the wilds!

the storm roared, lightning flashed—the Khan's blade, caught in a bolt of thunder, slashed toward Angarath's neck with unstoppable force—

Angarath spread his wings and soared upward, evading the Khan's near-fatal throat-cutting strike,

"Wings again," the Khan sneered with contempt,

he had seen the angels' wings, Mortarion's moth-wings, and heard how his former friend Magnus had grown crimson-and-blue raven-wings,

"Mortarion's were far better,"

the Khan's blade rose against the wind stirred by Angarath's wings,

"Night's Blade rides on wings, borrowing the false glory of gods—yet still, you are but Xumian Angarath. You may fly, but you remain the Blood God's slave,"

"Only the brave move by righteousness, the wise act by benevolence; do as one wills, yet never transgress benevolence and righteousness, roaming boundlessly in freedom,"

the White Tiger Blade's edge cleaved through air itself; in a blink, the Khan crossed the distance between them, the blade already slightly piercing Angarath's throat,

BOOM!!

a bloody gash tore across the entire grassland, the wild grasses ignited, the blue sky collapsed and shattered, the warp's flood tore the space into fragments,

a grotesque rift began to tear open from the warp, spreading across the entire galaxy,

as the Khan's Storm Seers, who upheld this grassland, let out a low moan and knelt to the ground, the warp's vision reappeared before Angarath, the Blood God's will surged upon him, his power climbing relentlessly,

the Lord of Red Sand roared, his greatsword swept across the Khan's chest—the Khan grunted and was thrown back,

only then did Angarath realize—he stood beside the warp's reflection of Bael-3, nearly reaching the material universe, deceived only by the illusion woven by the Khan and his Storm Seers,

he roared and charged violently into reality,

the Khan and the White Scars' Storm Seers tried to stop him, but at that moment, torrents of searing crimson fire rained down from afar,

eight bloodthirsty daemon lords, their bodies wreathed in flame, blocked the Khan and the White Scars,

numerous World Eaters Berserkers appeared beside the daemon lords,

with the end of the Battle of Cadia, the Blood God could now pour more power into Bael,

Zhou Yun stared at the scene with a disgusted expression,

the winged figure within the white light suddenly told him the Great Rift had opened—Gabriel Seth and his Fleshrenderers had nearly one foot on the edge of the Black Rage,

and Mephiston, the only one who knew how to unlock the complex golden sarcophagus, lay on the ground, uttering low, meaningless moans,

his psychic power was so immense that he suffered the greatest impact from the Great Rift's opening,

meanwhile, Zhou Yun faintly heard reality itself screaming, bestial roars rising, a warp rift slowly tearing open before him,

Zhou Yun did not hesitate—he pulled out the psychic cap, teleported instantly before Mephiston, pressed the mechanical device with his left hand, and gripped Mephiston's throat with his right, lifting him up,

(End of Chapter)