Chapter 440: The Little Butcher

The entire cargo hold shook violently, as if an earthquake had erupted in the endless vacuum surrounding the void ship, threatening to swallow the freighter into a rift in reality itself.

Kain leaned against the gap between cargo crates; trembling metal containers kept slamming into his head, making the Butcher's Nail on his scalp hum loudly and his brain marrow ache with pain.

Anger surged from Kain's brain marrow—a rage he could no longer endure.

This was the only emotion the Butcher's Nail permitted.

This terrifying psychic surgical implant, forged in Nusaria, pierced directly through the user's brain, continuously devouring brain tissue, stripping away empathy, the capacity for joy, and every emotion except anger, leaving only bone-deep agony, which anger could only momentarily ease.

After the Blood God blessed Kain, the Butcher's Nail's effects were further amplified.

The murderous urges and rage it generated would directly devour Kain's soul, drowning all pain and hesitation, forcing him to endlessly push every muscle to its limit in fury, unleashing blood-soaked killing power.

For ten thousand years, Kain had been addicted to this rage.

But not now.

Kain gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his face.

Anger, anger was trying to consume him; he felt his brain marrow being gnawed relentlessly by the Butcher's Nail.

No, not yet. Not now.

The demon sharing his body oozed from Kain's flesh, its tendrils piercing into his brain marrow.

This demon could not soothe Kain's rage; born from emotional tides, it excelled at amplifying extreme emotions, not extinguishing them.

The demon merely awakened the one remaining emotion buried deep in Kain's brain marrow—unconsumed by the Butcher's Nail or Khorne's blessing.

That emotion was hatred: absolute, unyielding hatred for Airebas.

Aside from hatred and the rage granted by the Butcher's Nail, Kain's soul held nothing else.

The surge of hatred overwhelmed the Butcher's Nail's rage, temporarily granting Kain control over his body, shielding him from being consumed by fury.

For vengeance, Kain must remain calm.

"You're nearly broken."

The demon remarked in a warning tone:

"The Blood God blessed you, filling your flesh with unparalleled power—your incredible regenerative ability lets you kill without ever tiring."

"But this blessing is cruel: precisely because of the Blood God's gift of regeneration, your brain has fused entirely and irrevocably with the Butcher's Nail. The Nail has replaced much of your nervous tissue, becoming a vital part of your brain."

"When you embrace killing, when you embrace slaughter, this maintains a fragile balance—preventing the Nail from killing you outright."

"But now you suppress rage, restrain slaughter—the Butcher's Nail will revert to its original design, relentlessly gnawing and eroding your brain tissue until it kills you completely."

"I know!!" Kain growled, roaring in pain: "Just like my father!"

"I once wanted to draw near to my father, to understand him, to feel what he felt."

"This was the pain he endured. He fought it too—but failed."

The demon ignored Kain's growl and continued on its own:

"If you keep rejecting the descent into rage, you will die—no later than eight months."

"The Blood God's mercy is not infinite. The freedom he granted you has a countdown."

"I never expected his mercy to be endless," Kain said, gritting his teeth, inhaling deeply, his voice gradually calming.

Then he looked at the demon coiled around him.

"You're nearly done too. You've eaten too much," Kain whispered.

The demon parasitizing Kain had devoured the bodies of many other demons.

The emotions and concepts forming those demons were mostly utterly alien to it.

Yet to gain power swiftly, it devoured them all regardless.

Whether the Changer of Ways or the Great Plaguefather, it swallowed them all into its belly.

These conflicting, even opposing emotions and concepts clashed within it, causing instability in its very existence.

"I died long ago," the demon chuckled dryly. "The day Airebas killed Angeltai, I died."

"Airebas's ritual dagger was forged from the blade that slew Horus's nemesis—it can kill or corrupt the greatest heroes."

"For a minor demon like me, that dagger corroded my very existence."

"Had it not been for the last lingering emotion of Angeltai, and my own burning desire for vengeance, I would have shattered and dissolved into the Warp, reformed not as myself, but as Airebas's slave."

Kain nodded silently, saying nothing.

He knew the demon lied.

The ritual dagger did possess strange power—Airebas had used it to escape Kain's grasp.

But when facing the dagger, the demon parasitizing him had the option to abandon Angeltai and flee back into the Warp.

Yet the demon chose to die alongside Angeltai, staying with him until his final breath—and for that, Kain trusted him.

At that moment, the cargo hold shuddered again, so violently it made Kain's Nail throb.

"We've entered Terra's atmosphere," the demon clinging to Kain said.

This was the reward Kain had extracted from Abaddon.

Abaddon, through Alpha, had helped Kain secure passage, allowing him to infiltrate Terra and reach Saint Doraemon.

But the journey had not been peaceful; since the Great Rift opened, the entire galaxy had become a chaotic mess.

Kain secretly helped this freighter repel three human pirate raids, two Eldar pirate attacks, one Dark Eldar slave-raiding party, a group of Orks drifting past on an asteroid, assassinated several gene-thieves embedded among the crew, slain a Lictor clinging to the hull, repelled the Emperor's Children warband "Thunder Sons," and fended off a demonic incursion in the Warp.

After a final, violent jolt, the freighter slowed and came to a steady stop—clearly docked at Terra's starport.

As planned, the vessel would berth at the Eternal Wall Dock, its cargo destined for the Imperial Palace.

Inspectors had already been infiltrated by the Alphas; as long as Kain hid within the cargo crates, he could slip into the Palace.

Kain could only trust Abaddon and the Alphas for now.

He pressed tightly against the crate; the demon embedded in his body writhed, tendrils of stitched-together flesh extruding from his frame, wrapping him layer upon layer.

Then the flesh writhed again, its surface sprouting scales that flickered in and out of visibility, hiding Kain within the gaps between light and shadow.

This was the ability the demon had gained after devouring the Lictor clinging to the hull.

Far inferior to the original, it could only grant Kain rudimentary optical camouflage while motionless.

"You complain? Had I not once belonged to the Realm of Greed's Dissolution, you wouldn't even have this much stealth."

The demon clinging to Kain grumbled.

The crates began to shift and sway; Kain and the demon on him remained utterly still.

But gradually, Kain sensed something was wrong.

There was no evidence—only the instinct honed by countless wars and killings, whispering to him the taste of trap and betrayal.

Could Abaddon truly dare deceive him?

The suppressed rage within Kain began to seep out once more.

He feared no deception, no lie—no trick could withstand rage.

Kill. Just kill.

Meet treachery with resistance; resistance means killing.

He clenched his fist around the chainsaw axe, Bloodchild, hidden beneath the demon's flesh.

The Alphas alone could not stop this chainsaw axe, inherited from Primarch Angron.

A faint tremor passed through the cargo hold—it stopped, placed somewhere.

Kain held his breath, ready for battle; the Butcher's Nail on his scalp began to hum.

"KILL!!!!"

Kain let out a low, guttural war cry, his body slamming into the cargo hold's door like a living battering ram.

Steel groaned and twisted; the two heavy steel doors burst open under his impact, buckling violently.

Blinding light flooded Kain's eyes; everything around him suddenly brightened, overwhelming his senses after weeks spent in the dim cargo hold.

Then Kain saw the source of the light.

White wings slowly unfurled; beneath golden hair, gentle eyes smiled at him.

Beside him stood a man clad in blue-and-gold power armor, his face carved like an ancient monarch's stone statue.

Between them stood a smaller human, his belly bearing a half-moon-shaped pouch, watching Kain with keen interest.

Hummmmmmm—

The Butcher's Nail on Kain's head hummed.

It was a terrifying sound—the symbol of the World Eaters' rage.

Yet for some reason,

in this room, before these three people,

the continuous hum of Kain's Butcher's Nail seemed… kind of cute?

The Butcher's Nail—it's fine. Even the little one is cute.

"By Saint Doraemon!"

Kain remained lost in the rage and confusion of the Nail, uncomprehending.

But the demon on his body crawled halfway out of his flesh and bowed to Zhou Yun with a loyal, precise Eagle Salute:

"This humble demon has wandered the Warp for half a lifetime, without a true master."

"My one burning, faithful heart, devoted to humanity, has never dimmed."

"Today, seeing Saint Doraemon's visage, I finally know this heart must serve you!"

"If you will not reject me, I beg to become your adopted god!!"

"Loyalty!!!"

(End of Chapter)