Chapter 262: Drogis Speaks Thus

Chaos roars, and rifts filled with curses, blasphemy, and filth devour the galaxy.

The Great Abductor advances; with the Hammer of Blackstone he shatters the Gates of Cadia, tearing blasphemous claws into the heart of the Imperium.

Bleeding, bleeding, bleeding, bleeding.

The entire galaxy weeps.

Before the eyes of Drogis, the Chief Librarian of the Ultramarines, these hallucinations and visions fill his sight.

He senses an unspeakable disaster approaching, yet never imagined this disaster would be so terrible.

Now he sees clearly: the Great Abductor Abaddon has torn open the Gates of Cadia; his ten-thousand-year campaign of blasphemy has succeeded.

The power of Chaos rages throughout the galaxy, and Othram is no exception.

The Chaos Warmaster has not arrived here in person, but his claws have drilled out along that scarlet path, piercing into the Macragge system.

Drogis hopes to use his powerful prophetic abilities to guide the Ultramarines.

His eyes widen; eerie psychic light bursts forth, and the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang Tarot on the table before him floats upward, then burns fiercely in the psychic flames erupting from within his body.

Those mortal prophets, diviners, and mystics usually seek guidance from the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang Tarot cards.

But they do not understand.

The Tarot itself is unimportant, and never was.

Only His consciousness matters.

The Tarot burns; seventy-eight cards outline countless variations.

From sacrifice to God-Hua Hua Hua Di Huang, from Inquisitor to Assassin, from Space Marine to Eye of Horus.

The seventy-eight card faces ripple in the fire.

Drogis is able to hear that voice.

The voices of billions upon billions of people ring in Drogis's ears; the King of Ages casts His gaze upon him.

We are but one.

The voices of billions upon billions ring out together.

Yes, we are but one. Drogis nods in agreement.

The Hua Hua Hua Di Huang is humanity; humanity is the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang.

A vast and immense will squeezes into Drogis's mind.

Drogis's soul burns with it.

Yet he is somewhat surprised.

This time, the pain he feels is far less.

And that immense will, the gray death-intent upon the King of Ages, seems greatly diminished.

"My Lord!" Drogis, unsure whether this is good or bad, can only ask that consciousness.

Yet that will does not answer Drogis's question; it merely displays various visions.

Wails filled with pain ring in Drogis's ears; those are the roars of the Chaos Warmaster Abaddon.

Abaddon sits slanted upon the Wang Zuo of the Soul of Vengeance; numerous tubes pierce his body, while Apothecaries and Sorcerers surround him, attempting to heal his flesh with blasphemous evil power.

But they cannot; a hideous wound lies across Abaddon's chest, and his face has been brutally cleaved in two.

Drogis is startled; the Great Abductor Abaddon is actually severely wounded?!

And just then, a series of symbolic, eerie visions appear before Drogis's eyes.

Blood, fresh blood, flows through the galaxy.

A berserker with bare arms races through the blood; his axe-blade hews Bloodletters, and a chainsaw made of mica dragon teeth cuts through the Warp bodies of demons.

Countless demons, even Greater Daemons, lie fallen at the feet of that berserker.

Kharn! Kharn! Kharn!

Roars echo through the blood; the face of the Blood God appears in the blood, staring fixedly at the bare-armed berserker.

Why defy! Why defy! Why defy!

"For a head."

The berserker with one bare arm responds thus; he grips the axe-blade tightly, yet no anger can be tasted in his voice.

Only calmness, a calmness that inspires fear.

"For revenge."

The blood pool surges; the figure of the Blood God rises, and a blood-soaked head gazes down at the berserker from the clouds.

"The gods have other plans for him!" the Blood God's roar sounds, its anger making Drogis's eardrums ache.

A face carved with words floats within the blood pool.

Yet the berserker hesitates not, and directly swings his axe-blade down, cleaving the skull in the blood.

The pool surges and ripples.

"This head is not offered to you."

The berserker growls low:

"He belongs to me!"

"He has owed me his head for ten thousand years!"

"Either the gods kill me, or let me kill him!"

The berserker slowly raises the axe-blade in his hand, aiming it at the Blood God towering into the clouds.

"Cut off my head, and I will offer my own head to you!"

"Or let me pass, so I may cut off his head!"

The blood pool ripples slightly with waves, yet the Blood God does not grow angry at the berserker raising weapons against him.

"Good! Go kill! Kahn!"

A roar filled with joy erupted; the Blood God's sharp finger pointed at the Berserker's body:

"Go kill! I release you to kill!"

"Just as you said! Even the Gods have no right to stop Khorne's Chosen from taking a head! Not even Khorne himself!"

Hearing the Blood God's roar, the Berserker knelt on one knee, placing the chainsaw axe in his hand into the blood pool, before the Blood God.

"But if you take Erebus's head, you owe me a skull."

The Blood God declared thus:

"You must repay this debt with a skull of greater value!"

The blood pool churned, faces appearing within it,

Lion El'Jonson, Roboute Guilliman, Wolf Lord Leman Russ, Magnus, Fulgrim, Angron, Lorgar.

The faces of Primarchs appeared in the blood pool,

"Take the head of a Primarch, or die in a duel against them."

The Blood God's voice rose slowly as He gazed at the bare-armed Berserker:

"Do you accept? Kahn!"

Taking the head of a Primarch was nearly impossible;

in truth, the Blood God was simply sending Kahn to die in a fight with a Primarch.

"I accept."

As the Berserker's voice sounded, in an instant only the Blood God's joyful laughter remained in Diglis's ears,

the Blood God extended a finger toward Kahn,

a wail, a ruin, an anger screaming,

a broken, twisted, nearly dead demon struggled out from the Blood God's fingertip,

the demon was so broken that the Warp power composing its body expressed only one emotion:

Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!

Revenge! Revenge! Revenge! Revenge!

"Not just you!!"

The demon let out a roar filled with rage, suddenly crawling into Kahn's body:

"That liar owes me too!!!"

"Give me your body!! Just like Angron did!!"

Kahn offered no resistance,

the demon merged with Kahn; Kahn's flesh and blood body writhed and changed,

then the blood pool surged, and the Berserker became a streak of blood slicing through the stars, pointing toward the Revenge of the Soul.

Diglis felt stunned,

Khorne's Chosen Kahn, to take Erebus's head, was heading for the Revenge of the Soul??

Why would this happen?

Diglis felt the fate of the galaxy twisting bit by bit,

at that moment, the scene before Diglis changed again,

the galaxy flowed and twisted, the cold wind of the Ice Moon raged,

a blue, hazy, round figure stood upon it,

the Voice of the Machine rang out, an aura of death silence surrounded, like the hungry roar of a swarm echoing,

a Grand Master of the Adeptus Mechanicus draped in deep red robes crouched, kneeling at His feet,

beside the Grand Master dragged a crate, within which a light symbolizing hope seemed to flicker.

A blizzard surged, sweeping across Diglis's face,

a desiccated corpse weeping violet tears sat opposite Diglis,

"My Lord!" Diglis whispered in pain,

at the instant of facing the Master of Mankind, powerful psychic energy washed over Diglis's will,

but when he used the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang's Tarot as a medium to establish a connection with the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang's will, he had already prepared himself mentally.

"Fate."

"The fate of the galaxy has turned."

"All hope lies there."

"Diglis, son of Guilliman, you shall witness"

the desiccated corpse's voice seemed to become distant and blurred,

"Save us."

"My Lord!!!"

Diglis's voice rose, but he soon felt an unbearable, intense sting,

then Diglis awoke within the Hera Fortress on Macragge,

outside the fortress, Chaos roared.

Macragge system, Shrine World Raphia,

the dry gale of the Athelorn Mountains blew, sweeping over the cerulean power armor of the Hydras, which creaked,

the Night Lords' jump packs howled, the wind deafening,

the Thousand Sons' sorcerers raised their staves, searching for traces of the Great Ocean of the High Heavens,

The aether writhed in the void, as if something was about to form.

Suddenly, the real universe began to roar; a rift exploded open in the void, dragging all matter around it toward that rift. Pebbles on the ground clattered and crashed against the power armor of the Black Legion warriors.

These Black Legion invaders, who had detected the aether flow in this mountain range within the Macragge system, received news from Alpha's spies: the Thousand Sons sorcerers' prophecies and divinations had arrived here.

They watched with their own eyes as light exploded in mid-air, and a towering Webway Gate, shimmering with brilliance, appeared.

The Black Legion immediately went on high alert, yet the situation defied everyone's expectations.

The Webway Gate remained eerily silent; no one emerged from it at all.

The sound of power arms breaking the wind suddenly rang out; before the leading Thousand Sons sorcerer could react, his head suddenly burst apart.

Then, the Alphas clad in blue power armor heard the roar of chainsaws as their bodies were cleaved in half by the blades.

The Night Lords Raptors in the sky heard the whine of propellers, but when they looked toward the sound, they saw nothing; instead, they heard the sound of an energy field roaring as it closed in on them.

In an instant, the Black Legion fell into chaos.

They could faintly hear sounds, yet when they cast their gaze that way, they saw nothing.

It was as if the enemy hid in their blind spots at every moment.

Moments later, Sylendri the Veil-Walker shook her hand, severed the last Alpha's head with a monofilament wire, and removed the small star from her chest.

She watched as the Blood Angels around her also removed the stars from their chests; as if stepping out from their own visual blind spots, they appeared on the battlefield.

"This thing is far more useful than the Blessing of Sigismund," Sylendri the Veil-Walker murmured to herself, unable to hold back.

(End of Chapter)