Chapter 575

Gabriel Anglos seized the searing Flame of Fury and tore it from the complex ritual sequence.

The burning flames ceased abruptly, releasing the fury of the deceased Blood Angels bound within, which swiftly spread through the Warp.

Deprived of this fury's support, the ritual piercing reality and the material universe collapsed with a thunderous crash, and the raging flames within vanished into smoke.

Gabriel Anglos felt the searing Warp relic of Khorne with astonishment; his ceramite power armor was slowly melting under its intense heat.

He clearly sensed that the power of this relic far surpassed that of the vast majority of holy relics stored in the Raven Guard's Sacred Reliquary.

Several other Raven Guards who had infiltrated with him hurriedly reached out to help Gabriel lift the Khorne relic.

As the ritual collapsed, the Bloodthirster guarding the Flame of Fury finally sensed something amiss.

The crimson daemon stared blankly at the collapsing ritual, extended its muscular arm, and scratched its head in confusion, unable to understand why the ritual had suddenly crumbled.

Turning its head with intense bewilderment, it then saw a group of dark red power-armored Astartes frantically lifting the Flame of Fury.

"Huh?" the Bloodthirster let out a bewildered grunt.

In an instant, all the Raven Guards carrying the Flame of Fury turned to stare at the Bloodthirster.

The Bloodthirster froze for a moment, then realized what had happened—his blood surged, darkening his already crimson face even further.

"Thieves!!" the Bloodthirster roared a savage bellow, snatching up his roaring chainsword, stepping into the blood pool, and leaping upward to slash at the Raven Guards carrying the Flame of Fury.

Gabriel Anglos stepped forward, his weapon Shatter-Soul colliding with the Bloodthirster's blade.

This mighty warhammer contained shards of the Sword of the Eldar War God, Kaela Mensha Khaine; as it swung, a fury louder and fiercer than even the Bloodthirster's roared forth, matching the daemon blow for blow.

The Bloodthirster and Gabriel Anglos each retreated two steps.

"Fine opponent! Again!" the Bloodthirster bellowed a battle cry; he had assumed they were merely thieves, never expecting one among them to be such a worthy warrior.

"Good!" Gabriel Anglos gripped his warhammer and roared, his own battle lust ignited.

The Bloodthirster laughed wildly—he had long resented his duty to guard this worthless thing far from the battlefield, and now someone was willing to fight, which delighted him immensely.

The Bloodthirster leapt again, his chainsword whirling, devouring air and tearing reality as it slammed down toward Gabriel Anglos, whose face was grim, prepared for mortal combat.

But at that moment, Gabriel Anglos, his elite Raven Guards, and the Khorne relic, the Flame of Fury, were engulfed in a brilliant flash of teleportation light.

Then, in the blink of an eye, they vanished from the cave.

The Bloodthirster's axe swung empty, crashing heavily into the blood pool.

Raven Guard ancestral holy relic: Ancient Teleportation Device!

The Bloodthirster stared again, then unleashed a string of curses so foul even a Nurgle demon would find them obscene.

But the Red Angel cursed even worse than the Bloodthirster.

He watched helplessly as the Flame of Fury was stolen, the ritual collapsed, the fury of his Sons of Sanguinius that had sustained him vanished, leaving him alone before the golden-and-crimson Primarch before him.

Sanguinius gazed down from the sky, looking upon the Red Angel suspended in midair.

The Red Angel felt a bone-deep terror.

Sanguinius had shown mercy to his sons, to the accumulated fury of his sons over ten thousand years—

Not to the demon forged by Khorne atop that fury, the Red Angel.

The Red Angel let out a desperate wail and turned to flee, trying to escape Sanguinius's will.

The collapse of the ritual was not entirely bad for him; without the ritual forcing him to merge with Sanguinius, he no longer had to gamble on the infinitesimal chance that he might replace Sanguinius.

He could escape. He could retreat into his own demonic body and flee into the Warp.

Sanguinius looked down upon the fleeing Red Angel, silent, making no move to pursue, allowing him to run.

As the Red Angel moved farther from the sky, the things around him gradually shifted from the realm of consciousness into the material plane; all Warp phenomena receded, spirit lost its absolute primacy, and the planet named Corinella reappeared.

The Red Angel saw his own body—its flames were slowly dying, his flesh peeling away as the fire faded, turning to ash and dissolving into the air.

The face, once nearly identical to Sanguinius's, collapsed in an instant, revealing the burning skeleton beneath.

That was the Red Angel's true form.

Or rather, the body of Melos, the apothecary whom the Red Angel had possessed ten thousand years ago.

That body had been burned by the Red Angel's flames for ten thousand years, pushed to its absolute limit.