Chapter 250: Abaddon: Could Sanguinius possibly be waiting for me on the ground?

Upon the Wang Zuo of the Revenge of Souls,

Abaddon felt rage; a deep, bone-revealing scar marred his face,

left by the Black Sword, a scar left for Abaddon by the Black Templars' Marshal Amarilich at the cost of his life,

that descendant of Sigismund had chosen to wait for Abaddon aboard the Mechanicus ark Iron Soul of the Void,

and in the name of the Black Templars, in the name of the former Emperor's Champion Sigismund and the Black Sword in his hand, he had issued a challenge to Abaddon,

the entire Black Legion had heard the declaration of war Amarilich had delivered to Abaddon,

that Marshal of the Black Templars, though fanatical, was not reckless,

Abaddon accepted the challenge.

Ten thousand years ago, when the Great Crusade ended, it was Sigismund who had relentlessly hunted Abaddon and the other traitors,

ten thousand years ago, when he became the Warmaster of Chaos and launched the First Black Crusade, it was he who stood before Abaddon,

to kill Abaddon, Sigismund persisted for a thousand years,

and the Black Templars he once led persisted for ten thousand years.

Even after ten thousand years, Abaddon was still willing to offer a measure of respect to this old rival,

so Abaddon and Marshal Amarilich, wielding the Black Sword, engaged in a one-on-one duel.

That youth's strength was far lacking, nowhere near that of their original Grand Master Sigismund,

but in the final moment of the battle, Amarilich abandoned all defense and launched an attack upon Abaddon in a near-suicidal stance,

or rather, he nearly threw himself upon the daemon sword Drach'nyen in Abaddon's hand,

just as Sigismund had died at Abaddon's hands ten thousand years ago.

The blade forged from the demon born in humanity's first murder, Drach'nyen, killed Amarilich in the blink of an eye,

yet his body, pierced by the blade, still swung a strike at Abaddon, carving a deep, bone-revealing mark across Abaddon's face,

this wound was healing, yet Abaddon could still feel the pain,

not from his face, but from his chest,

from the wound Sigismund had left him.

Sigismund had also pierced Abaddon's chest with a suicidal attack,

then he was old and dying, yet still lethal,

Abaddon subsequently tore Sigismund's body apart with the Claw of Horus, killing that old rival,

but the wound Sigismund had left Abaddon was like a brand that could never be erased, remaining on Abaddon's chest for ten thousand years,

the Black Sword of Sigismund that caused that wound had a part of it within the sword upon Abaddon's knee.

Abaddon lowered his head, looking at the pitch-black blade upon his leg; the blade was solemn and grave, black as night, with High Gothic inscriptions carved upon it: "imperatorlux".

Sigismund's Black Sword was melted down and reforged into ten blades after his death; the one upon Abaddon's knee was one of them,

he seemed to sense a soul of Sigismund within the sword, like a sword-light that was grey, hollow, and filled with rage.

Ten thousand years, and he had been wounded by this once more!

"Keep talking nonsense, Abaddon; do you think I am listening?"

"You will die like your weak father, your soul scattered, ashamed of your appearance, weeping with your head in your hands, blushing with shame and sweating."

Sigismund's past insults suddenly echoed in Abaddon's ears, as if the sword itself were speaking,

and just then, a searing defensive laser roared and struck the Revenge of Souls; the void shield instantly erupted in a shower of sparks,

a few seconds later, another defensive laser fired from the ice moon Krassus, and a ship far from the Revenge of Souls exploded.

"Bastard!!!"

Abaddon grabbed the Black Sword upon his knee and sought to hurl it at the nearby wall,

but Abaddon suddenly felt an unbearable burning pain in his hand; he let out a cry of agony,

and violently released the Black Sword in his grasp, looking at his palm.

There was no scar on his palm; it seemed the pain had been merely an illusion,

then Abaddon seemed to hear the machine spirit of the Black Sword whispering a mocking laugh.

Abaddon was enraged, uncontrollably enraged,

raised by Erebus,

why is everything in the Cadia sector so terrible!

Cadia has exploded, yet this ice moon Krassus in the same sector is still so troublesome,

first the first squad of Raptors he sent,

inexplicably lost contact,

then his Hell Dragons,

shot down by strange defensive lasers,

then the sorcerers of the Word Bearers,

in their final communications before death, they screamed mad words about why the Warmaster was like this, Guilliman, the Perfect City, and such,

finally, the Raptors just sent to investigate the situation of the sorcerers occupying the fortress,

before dying, they actually screamed about Blood Angels' Dreadnoughts flying in the sky??

Why not say Sanguinius has been resurrected and is waiting for him, Abaddon, on the ice moon Krassus??

What troubled Abaddon most was that occasionally, extremely powerful defensive lasers would fire from the ground,

it would be one thing if these lasers fired, but many ship machine spirits of the Black Legion would actually cooperate by shutting down their void shields on their own,

even Abaddon could vaguely feel that the Revenge of Souls had this impulse!!

Could it be that the Great Fabricator Belisarius Cawl discovered some STC capable of controlling machine spirits?

Could the machine spirits of the Black Legion ships, capable of remote suicide, truly be a manifestation of the Machine God??

Abaddon could no longer endure these wretched matters,

nor could his subordinates; only worthless madness and lies were being transmitted back,

he must go to Ice Moon Krassus himself to see,

this might be somewhat risky,

but Abaddon fears nothing!

In this galaxy, aside from the Gods and the Primarchs turned to historical dust, very little remained that could threaten Abaddon.

"What do you see?" Ge Lei Fa snorted coldly, simultaneously using his psychic power to destroy the brains of the surrounding Black Legion while questioning the False Saint. Black Legion tanks and Astartes, like stains, covered the snowfields around the expeditionary force; they roared, bellowed, groaned, cackled, and coughed as they launched their assault on the expeditionary force,

Hell Dragons roared in the sky, fighting alongside the loyal knights of the Taranis family; the warriors of the 184th Cadian Regiment held the line, barely resisting enemies a hundred times their strength with the aid of various armored forces,

the Grand Sage Cawl, like the incarnation of the Machine God on the battlefield, raced across the field on multi-legged mechanical limbs, the Axe of Omnisiah in his hand smashing the skulls of traitors,

Xiang Xiang Leina hovered in mid-air; the primordial power of the High Heavens vented as a storm around her; every raised hand caused a Black Legion Astartes to explode, every roar summoned a bolt of Warp thunder to descend.

"Hope." Celestine flew in the air, the silver longsword in her hand burning with scorching flames, sprinkling them upon the enemies on the snowfields.

"I see only death!" Ge Lei Fa replied, feeling sharp and bitter: "Our death!"

"But perhaps yours as well, lying False Saint!"

While cursing angrily, Ge Lei Fa used his psychic power to paralyze a Black Legion tank.

Celestine merely shook her head dismissively; she descended from the sky and led the Battle Sisters of the Seraphim Squad in a charge, briefly tearing open a breach,

Ge Lei Fa quickly followed, using his psychic power to widen this breach.

"You serve the Hua Di Huang, you trust the Hua Di Huang, why do you not believe His finger guides me?" Celestine said sincerely to Ge Lei Fa while fighting side by side with him.

"I do not trust you, because you are a heretic; you have made everything of ours more foolish and superstitious!"

Ge Lei Fa spat:

"You use those who believe too easily to achieve your own unspeakable secrets; I should have let Abaddon kill you!"

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"If you did not have followers around you, I would kill you right now!"

The nearby Battle Sisters clearly heard this remark and turned angry glares toward Ge Lei Fa,

Celestine quickly stopped them with a look, then smiled and said: "Then should I take this opportunity to kill you?"

Greyfax, following the Battle Sisters' squad, had ventured too deep into the enemy ranks, being somewhat far from the Leina and the 184th Cadian Regiment she trusted.

Celestine could indeed kill her before others could rush to rescue her.

"Yes." But Ge Lei Fa, without hesitation, stared intently at Celestine and said,

if Celestine killed her, it would prove Ge Lei Fa's guess and let everyone see her true face.

The smile at the corner of Celestine's mouth vanished: "I will not, Katarinya; He has an arrangement for you as well."

"I see it, whether you trust or not."

Having said this, Celestine soared high again, raining fire upon the traitors.

Ge Lei Fa snorted coldly; her mood remained gloomy, yet deep in her soul, for some reason, a thread of comfort rose from Celestine's words.

Watching the two finish their argument, Xiang Xiang Leina could not help but sigh in relief,

she had been observing that side just now,

if Celestine could not endure Ge Lei Fa's suspicion, or if Ge Lei Fa acted against Celestine due to suspicion,

Xiang Xiang Leina could intervene in time to stand between the two,

since leaving Asford, Xiang Xiang Leina had increasingly felt that these great figures of the Imperium were more extreme one than the next, more confrontational one than the next,

lacking the adaptability and self-regulation of ordinary people.

Xiang Xiang Leina could not help but shake her head, waved her hand, and tore a raptor attempting to fly from the air to attack her in two,

may they resolve their differences and become true companions.

Xiang Xiang Leina's eyes suddenly widened; a dark premonition echoed in her soul,

she sensed in the Warp an extremely dark, cold, mad, and fallen thing approaching them,

its twisted power produced terrifying echoes even within the Warp, and the sword blade in its hand seemed to carry the death of human destiny.

A series of omens and visions appeared before Xiang Xiang Leina's eyes,

she saw an eagle, a hound, a snake, and a fly,

twisted threads extended beneath them, manipulating a puppet,

that puppet held the stone tool used in humanity's first murder, its arm bound with its father's claw, walking toward Xiang Xiang Leina and the others with head held high,

the expression on its face full of confidence and self-satisfaction, as if saying: "You see, I used those four beasts, yet was not controlled by them!"

Thus, the eagle cackled, the hound shook its head in disdain, the snake wore a look of pleasure, and the fly smiled with indulgence and helplessness,

yet they all plucked the threads in their hands, continuing to manipulate the puppet.

"It is him!"

Xiang Xiang Leina let out a terrified roar:

"The puppet... oh no, the Great Despoiler Abaddon has arrived!!"

(End of this chapter)