Chapter 708: If you can't be reborn from the ashes, then burn yourself in the fire

The fire was burning, so scorching, so hot, burning from another dimension, burning from the land of the dead, instantly engulfing Saul's body.

Only that Fireblade warhammer bathed in the raging fire, becoming increasingly dazzling, increasingly bright, like a beacon standing on the earth, calling for its former master.

A pair of thick, large hands extended from the fire. The fire snake wrapped around them, but could not hurt them in the slightest, instead letting that pair of hands be plated with

Those hands grabbed the Forgebreaker hammer.

The modifications, corruption, and distortions Perturabo had applied to it were instantly burned away by the raging fire, exposing the appearance of this Forgebreaker hammer as it had been when first taken from the forge fire.

Pure, resilient, unyielding, like a piece of cold steel in the deep mountains; it was so unique among all of Fulgrim's works.

There was no excessive decoration on it, no inlaid gems or gilding, carrying a powerful simplicity.

Fulgrim still remembered watching Ferrus's body illuminated in the forge, and he could not help but model this hammer after that man, who had seemed extremely boring to him at the time.

And that man was now standing before Fulgrim once again.

He stepped out from the raging fire, the flames outlining his form. It was a body forever burning; ash composed his muscles, fuel was his skeleton, and thick smoke became his armor.

Hands like flowing silver lifted Forgebreaker. Above the neck, outlined by firelight, a blurry, phantom-like head swayed gently with the shifting light and shadow.

Fulgrim let out a painful wail, his body trembling slightly.

Ma Luesi spat out a mouthful of blood and pulled out the Laer blade stuck in his neck, attempting to block the path of the burning fire giant to protect his Primarch.

"No," Fulgrim roared. "Ma Luesi, do not stop him. Let him come over; let me look at him."

Ma Luesi faithfully obeyed the Primarch's order, letting the fire-bathed giant walk toward Fulgrim.

Fulgrim reached out his hands; he was as cautious as a blind man, testingly bringing his hands closer to the burning giant bit by bit.

But his fingers stopped the moment before they were about to touch that blurry head, seemingly afraid that the head before him was merely a dream-like bubble that would burst if his fingers gave it a light poke.

"Fulgrim." The fire giant's voice was as dull as cold rock, echoing in Fulgrim's ears.

Fulgrim let out a mournful cry and pulled his hands back in fear, curling into a ball:

"Are you here to kill me? Are you here to take revenge on me? Did Father send you to kill me?"

"No! No! He, the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang, has no power here. You cannot scare me."

"I can see it; you are just a bubble, a flicker of flame. There is no real power supporting your body!"

"You are right." The burning giant did not deny Fulgrim's claim: "The power of our Father is no longer to be squandered. I stand here not because of the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang's command, nor did I come to kill you."

"Only because I want to stand here; I want to converse with you!"

Direct, blunt, carrying an irresistible power.

Even though Fulgrim knew that what stood before him was only a bubble without power, he still could not help but curl up his body and let out a sharp cry.

"You lie to me! You haven't looked for me in ten thousand years. Do you know how much I wanted to see you?"

"I did." The burning giant's voice was resilient and certain: "It was you who rejected me, Fulgrim. You rejected me time and time again, not allowing me to see you."

"You lie to me!" Fulgrim screamed, waving his flame sword wildly, but not a single strike landed on the burning giant: "I saw it; your eyes are full of hatred. You are a ghost summoned by the God of Vengeance!"

"I still remember your eyes when you died, full of hatred, making me afraid!"

"Of course I felt hatred!"

The burning giant's voice also rose a little:

"When you cut off my head, there was not only hatred; I was also sad."

"Not because you killed me."

The burning giant walked into Fulgrim.

"But because the Fulgrim I loved..."

"... had just gone away like that, never to return."

Fulgrim whimpered and wailed, retreating again, putting distance between himself and the burning giant.

"Phoenix, how pitiful you are," the giant lamented. His voice was so sincere, but to Fulgrim, it felt like sharp knives.

"Then why! Why are you standing before me now!" Fulgrim roared, his flame sword slamming into the ground beside Ferrus.

"Because you are different, Phoenix," the burning giant said.

"Oh!" Fulgrim's voice rose sharply, a bitterness diffusing through his tone: "You came for him, that clone?"

"Then you are late! I have already killed him; the clone you wanted no longer exists."

"You killed him, but you did not destroy him," the burning giant said, staring at Fulgrim, his eyes seeming to see through the soul beneath Fulgrim's twisted body: "And I have never seen any clone; I only saw Fulgrim."

"You..." Fulgrim's voice suddenly lost a layer of momentum: "You have actually learned flowery words and flattery."

"I have never understood flattery. Do you still not understand, Fulgrim?"

The burning giant shook his head.

"The Fulgrim of today is you. You bit his tail and merged into one with him."

"You must remember, there is no time in the Warp. Since Fulgrim is you at the end, then at the beginning... Fulgrim must also be you."

Terror flashed across Fulgrim's face.

"You are Fulgrim, after all. You are the perfect Fulgrim, you are the symbol of true perfection, and you have said ten thousand times: true perfection is unattainable."

"If that is the case, how could Fabius possibly clone a perfect Fulgrim?"