Chapter 207: Sanguinius Stands With Me

The blood qi in the small chapel churned and surged; Zhou Yun felt as though he were being submerged in a tide of blood sweeping across the sky, with vast waves of fresh blood nearly swallowing him whole.

A nearly grotesque rift lay before him, from which beast-like roars poured forth, seeming to awaken the anger and restlessness in everyone present.

That supreme servant of the Blood God, that figure of the Demon Prince Anghras, flickered in and out of the rift, grotesque and terrifying, striving to step into the material universe to seize blood and skulls.

Morpheus knelt on one knee, his psychic power writhing within his flesh and blood like clusters of pitch-black shadows blocking the path before that Demon Prince, attempting to hold it back; yet even as mighty as Morpheus was, he still felt powerless facing this terrifying demon.

That was Angron, the foremost Bloodthirster after the Horus Heresy, the Blood God's most favored.

The Blood God had actually become so enraged that it threw him out! Moreover, a fury capable of shaking the soul and mind clearly coiled around this Demon Prince; that was the will of Khorne himself. Khorne had poured his power into Angron's body, commanding him to act as his proxy.

Zhou Yun's eye twitched slightly.

He recalled the rebellion of the Oraculum of Right and Wrong: a Great Demon and a Daemon Prince would block his resurrection of the Primarch.

Zhou Yun had thought it would be Kharn and Angron, but now it seemed...

Kharn knew nothing of Zhou Yun's resurrection of the Primarch from beginning to end, let alone actively blocking it.

The Great Demon that actually blocked Zhou Yun from resurrecting the Primarch was Angron. This prophecy is truly unreliable!

Zhou Yun clicked his tongue slightly, feeling strange at the same time: why had only Angron the Great Demon arrived?

Where was Angron? Was he late? He wasn't Guilliman!

But Zhou Yun had no time to ponder further; the Blood God's servants were pouring out continuously from rifts all around, forming a tide of blood that surrounded everyone.

And Angron was attempting to enter the material universe.

They had to break out as quickly as possible.

Zhou Yun still held one trump card in his hand, but that was reserved for the worst-case scenario.

The radiance of the star Adalia. After returning from the Heart of Baal, Zhou Yun had gone to the Vault of the Holy Sun and used a mechanized replicator to duplicate the star Adalia once more.

The power of the star Adalia was limited by the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang's psychic might, yet a star remained a star.

This was the material universe, not the Warp. Using it here would undoubtedly mean that everyone except Zhou Yun would die, the resurrection of Sanguinius would fail, and even the entire Angel Fortress could be destroyed.

"Servants of the Blood God! Go back! There is no place here for you to vent your anger!!!"

Just then, a voice filled with wrath erupted from the loudspeakers. Librarian Dreadnought Lei Site let out a roar.

Powerful psychic energy condensed into pale golden flames surging from his damaged dreadnought sarcophagus. The power axe in his hand flashed with blinding light, sweeping around almost like a hurricane and driving hordes of daemons back into the Warp.

"In the name of Sanguinius!"

He swung the power axe, the power claw howling and roaring, charging straight toward Angron.

Angron's daemon axe, inhabited by the Bloodthirster, collided with Lei Site's power axe, causing a stream of fire interwoven with gold and red to explode in the void.

Lei Site let out a roar; his will, channeled through the dreadnought sarcophagus, manipulated nearby machinery, and a doorway opened.

It was the passage leading to Sanguinius's tomb.

"Advance! Morpheus! Gabriel Seth! And that unknown lord!" Lei Site roared.

Powerful psychic flames howled out from the cracks in the dreadnought sarcophagus, burning with the heat of a star.

This Librarian Dreadnought stood like an iron-cast wall before Angron; the searing psychic flames even incinerated daemons attempting to crawl out from the rifts into ash.

"My lord Lei Site!" Morpheus cried out in shock.

He was right beside the Librarian Dreadnought and could feel how scorching the surface of the sarcophagus was; he could feel that Lei Site's ruined body within the dreadnought sarcophagus was burning.

Lei Site's damaged body was utterly insufficient to support him channeling such immense psychic power; every single one of his nerves was burning and being destroyed by the influx of psychic energy.

Now, only by combining forces with Morpheus could he barely hold back Angron. If Morpheus left...

"By the Blood! You know what you must do! Fulfill your mission! Morpheus!"

Hearing Lei Site's words, Morpheus gritted his teeth, unleashed one final psychic blade toward Angron, turned, and swung the silver-steel longsword in his hand to carve a path through the tide of blood, arriving at Zhou Yun's side.

Zhou Yun nodded slightly to Morpheus, and the two charged without hesitation toward the passage leading to Sanguinius's tomb.

Only Seth hesitated; he saw the Primarch corrupted by Zhou Yun in the blood, and that scene was undoubtedly real.

"Gabriel Seth! What are you still hesitating for?"

"Can you not see? The Blood God is roaring!"

"He is angry! This proves you are walking the correct path!"

"And I have seen..."

Lei Site shouted, his ruined body floating within the dark sarcophagus.

His limbs were long gone; all organs except his heart and spine had ceased to exist, replaced by complex tubes and external artificial organs.

Lei Site had floated within this dark sarcophagus for centuries, yet today, inside this cold, pitch-black sarcophagus, it had somehow become warm.

"I swear to serve him in life and death. I can feel his hand upon my ruined body; I hear the sound of his wings beating."

Lei Site whispered softly, his voice transmitting through the loudspeakers into the small chapel:

"Brother Gabriel Seth, I can see."

Seth's body trembled slightly, as if struck; he nodded slightly, then led the remaining Flesh Hounds to gather at Zhou Yun and Morpheus's side.

He let out a low roar and swung the Blood Reaver in his hand to carve a path for everyone.

"Roar!" A beastly roar erupted from Angron's mouth as the blood-burning axe collided with Lei Site's power axe.

The power of the Blood God and Lei Site's psychic energy clashed, colliding continuously on the boundary between the material realm and the Warp.

Countless psychic flames surged from Lei Site's ruined body, burning his nerves and burning Angron as well.

"Lei Site! O dead one!"

Angron, awed by Lei Site's power, spoke with a dark, gloomy voice from his beast-like mouth:

"Your axe can cleave more skulls; your power can bring more blood, yet you are trapped within this cold iron sarcophagus."

"The Blood God pities you. Angron believes you are a worthy foe. The Blood God can restore power to your ruined body, allowing you to taste blood and battle with your own flesh."

"Lei Site, recite it. Recite: Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!"

"Begone!!" Lei Site let out a furious roar; his body burned within the sarcophagus, and ash slowly drifted down from his form: "Go back to your master! Beast!"

"Though I am broken, I am far more powerful than what your master promised me! For Sanguinius stands with me!!!"

Ash produced by the burning of Malarest's body spilled from the iron coffin, falling onto his power axe; in an instant, flames like the light of a star erupted upon the axe blade.

Angron, unable to restrain himself in the heat of battle, let out a cry of joy. He and Malarest clashed with their power axes in the void dozens of times, but ultimately Angron prevailed; the blood axe formed by the Bloodthirster tore through the boundary between reality and the Warp, striking the Dreadnought's mechanical arm with crushing force.

Lightning shattered; one of Malarest's arms was torn off by Angron, and his body was driven backward by the impact of the axe blade.

Angron's form became clear, one of his legs stepping into reality.

"No!!!"

Malarest roared; his remaining power arm swung violently behind him, shattering the stasis field standing in the small chapel.

His power claw snatched up a scroll of Sanguinius and raised it high.

The lead seal was torn open; sacred runes written by Sanguinius himself unfurled, falling upon Malarest:

"In the name of the Blood! I am Malarest! I am the guardian of the Secret Dungeon and the Blood Scrolls! I am the warden of Sanguinius's tomb!"

Malarest's entire body burned; the psychic energy his broken body could not control ignited his remains, burning through the pipes connecting his artificial organs and destroying the few nerves left in his spine.

"I am the son of Sanguinius! I am the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang's Angel of Death! I swear to serve humanity in life and death! I swear: there is no place here for you or your god!"

Sacred runes on the Scroll of Sanguinius erupted with searing sparks; Angron cried out in shock as his body was ignited. The flames, containing the power of Sanguinius and the psychic energy of Malarest, brought him searing pain.

The Warp rift began to tremble and shrink; Angron's form became unclear once more.

Malarest's spine was burned away in the flames whipped up by his out-of-control psychic energy; his broken body gradually turned to ash and vanished in the fire, only his skull unleashing the last spark of psychic energy amidst the raging flames.

The fire born of uncontrolled psychic energy erupted from Malarest's five senses, causing the final part of this Ancient Warrior to vanish within the iron coffin of the Dreadnought.

Moments later, the fire within the Dreadnought's iron coffin burned out completely, leaving only the hollow Dreadnought armor holding the Scroll of Sanguinius aloft, frozen in place.

The flames on Angron slowly dissipated; this Great Daemon of the Gods let out a sigh that was both admiring and regretful.

In the end, it had prevailed. Angron once again extended his body from the Warp rift, which had shrunk to a tiny, trembling, and unstable size, stepping into reality—

A mechanical hum suddenly rang out; the Dreadnought armor rose up once more.

No one piloted it, no one gave orders; this hollow iron coffin did not even possess the function of autonomous movement.

Yet it moved, proud and domineering.

Angron could not comprehend what lay before him.

In its stunned gaze, the empty Dreadnought armor, holding the Scroll of Sanguinius aloft, charged at Angron.

The sacred text written by Sanguinius himself loomed large in Angron's eyes; it could not help but let out a wail as its body was ignited once more. The already unstable Warp rift trembled violently, then vanished into reality.

Angron's form disappeared without a trace.

The unmanned Dreadnought armor slowly lowered its head, kneeling on one knee upon the ground.

The Scroll of Sanguinius slowly drooped; the sacred paper spread over the iron coffin of the Dreadnought, like a shroud for a saint.

Only, no sacred soul dwelt within the machinery anymore.

(End of this chapter)