Chapter 525: Father and Son

An Ge Long Zhong gently lifted the broken body of Kahn, and a softness beyond imagination appeared on that ferocious and terrifying face.

The Momotaro Dango "tamed" An Ge Long Zhong, stripping away his cruelty, rage, and the pain that oppressed him at every moment.

It also snatched his soul back from the hands of the Blood God; he was no longer enslaved by rage, the Butcher's Nails, and Khorne.

At the same time, the Momotaro Dango made An Ge Long Zhong gentle; this gentleness did not come from nowhere, but rather the Momotaro Dango awakened the faint shadow of his former self that remained in An Ge Long Zhong's mind.

That was the true An Ge Long Zhong, not the one controlled by the Butcher's Nails.

The Momotaro Dango, originally used to enslave and tame humans or animals, instead liberated An Ge Long Zhong from cruel enslavement.

Or rather, compared to the enslavement of Khorne and the Butcher's Nails, the slight taming by the Momotaro Dango was practically indistinguishable from freedom.

Even as the tide of rage receded, An Ge Long Zhong began to feel the emotions of those around him again, and could absorb these emotions.

An Ge Long Zhong could clearly feel the pain of the child in his arms.

The pain Kahn had accumulated over ten thousand years exploded in An Ge Long Zhong's mind and entered his soul.

Much of this pain was caused by An Ge Long Zhong, yet An Ge Long Zhong felt no hatred for himself in Kahn's soul.

Kahn always wanted to understand his father and, through this, save his father; this was also the reason he drove the Butcher's Nails into himself.

"I... I am very sorry, my child..."

Pain appeared on An Ge Long Zhong's face:

"My cowardice destroyed you..."

Only now, with his mind clear again, did An Ge Long Zhong painfully realize that his sons actually loved him just as his own siblings had loved him back then.

It was just that An Ge Long Zhong at that time had long lost the ability to perceive emotions; these feelings did not enter An Ge Long Zhong's heart and failed to support his will.

Like a blind man, no matter how bright the sun, he could not perceive it.

"You are far better than me; you clearly deserved a better father." An Ge Long Zhong said painfully and sorrowfully, his tears falling onto Kahn's head.

"We gained no more from you than you gained from your father." Kahn spoke with his mouth slightly open: "In the end, we still experienced the same pain as you, Father."

"... You are wrong. Oenomaus was a good father." An Ge Long Zhong shook his head and said.

But a few brief seconds later, he realized that the "your father" in Kahn's words did not refer to Oenomaus, but to the Hua Di Huang.

Both fell into a slight silence; in the silence, An Ge Long Zhong gently tightened his hold on Kahn's broken body.

Kahn discovered with some surprise that his pain was easing, not only the pain in his body but also the pain in his soul.

The pain, rage, and sorrow accumulated in Kahn's soul for a full ten thousand years were melting away bit by bit, flowing bit by bit into An Ge Long Zhong's body.

An Ge Long Zhong was absorbing and relieving Kahn's pain, healing Kahn's heart, and bringing peace to Kahn.

This was the duty he was originally given, an ability he was born with but which the Butcher's Nails had destroyed.

Kahn felt a peace and warmth unlike anything he had ever known.

Those painful memories gradually vanished from before his eyes; amidst the halos, he seemed to see many beautiful memories.

He seemed to see himself and Angron fighting side by side in the arena, saw Sigismund learning to wrap chains around his arm like him, saw Captain Loken showing kindness to him, a World Eater, for the first time, saw the rough Nasir Amiti pouncing on him like a ghoul, and saw Captain Saelin complaining to him that the crew was becoming increasingly mad.

He even saw a possibility amidst his blurred expression.

In that possibility, his father had not been implanted with the Butcher's Nails; in that world, An Ge Long Zhong had been a kind father from beginning to end, and the bond between him and the Legion was enough to make all Legions envious.

He saw the Angron in that possibility turn his head to look at him, as if waiting for him, inviting him.

Kahn could not help but curl the corners of his mouth into a slight smile.

An Ge Long Zhong gently laid Kahn's corpse down.

Until the moment death descended, Kahn's face bore a peace he had never known before.

The figure of Leman Russ slowly emerged from Kahn's body; Leman Russ looked at Zhou Yun, bowed slightly to Zhou Yun with gratitude.

Then Leman Russ let out a few satisfied laughs, and as a gentle breeze blew, he vanished into the tides of the Warp, leaving no trace.

An Ge Long Zhong also gently turned his head to look in Zhou Yun's direction.

But Zhou Yun did not speak to An Ge Long Zhong; instead, he gestured for An Ge Long Zhong to look at the Golden Wang Zuo behind him.

"..." An Ge Long Zhong was silent and hesitant at first, but the gaze coming from the Golden Wang Zuo behind him was so intense.

He finally turned around and looked at the dried corpse upon the Wang Zuo.

An Ge Long Zhong's fingertips rubbed slightly against the handle of the chainsaw axe named Blood Father in his hand as he looked at his gene-father. "Hua Di Huang." An Ge Long Zhong had become gentle due to the effect of the Momotaro Dango, but anyone could hear the anger and loathing hidden in An Ge Long Zhong's voice.

Even stripping away the influence of the Butcher's Nails, An Ge Long Zhong felt only loathing and rage toward the Hua Di Huang.

"Number Twelve."

"Healer."

"Butcher."

"Tool."

"Broken tool."

"Rebellion."

"Failed rebellion."

"Totally destroyed."

"Khorne."

"Slave."

A thousand voices, ten thousand voices, a million voices, and even more overlapped, rising up beside An Ge Long Zhong's ears.

These voices brought An Ge Long Zhong immense pain, constantly drilling into An Ge Long Zhong's head, making An Ge Long Zhong grit his teeth and emit a low growl.

At the same time, An Ge Long Zhong clearly perceived the emotions filling that dried corpse.

Just as he had seen ten thousand years ago, a pitch-black cold sun hung behind that dried corpse, containing nothing but total destruction.

But this time An Ge Long Zhong perceived more; without the influence of the Butcher's Nails, his ability to perceive emotions had become sharper.

He understood a fact,

Hua Di Huang had long understood that Angron would become a slave to Khorne; He could even be said to have allowed Khorne to enslave Angron.

This would significantly reduce the Blood God's attention toward the other Primarchs and lower the possibility of the other Primarchs being corrupted by the Blood God.

"Why?" Momotaro Maru suppressed Angron's rage, leaving only a cold void in Angron's mind.

"Destroyed."

"Waste utilization."

"A necessary sacrifice."

Whether it was Angron or Angron's brothers and sisters, all were necessary sacrifices in Hua Di Huang's plan.

It was inevitable that a Primarch would fall to Chaos.

Compared to the fall of other, more intact Primarchs, the fall of Angron, damaged to that extent, was actually a good thing.

For the overall benefit of the human race, to protect the other Primarchs, Angron was sacrificed.

Those who died on Nuceria, Angron's brothers and sisters, were sacrifices to ensure Angron's complete turn to Chaos.

(End of this chapter)