Chapter 1220: Injured

The first face was Luojia.

"Father. You abandoned us. You chose to sit on the throne instead of standing by our side. Do you know how much we hate you?"

A second face emerged.

Horus.

But that Horus was also not the Horus that Yingzhou knew.

"Father. Do you know what I was thinking before I died? I was thinking that if you had looked at me just one more time back then, cared for me just a little more, perhaps everything would be different."

The two faces stared at Yingzhou, their eyes filled with malice.

"We will return."

They said simultaneously.

"This rift is closed, but there is another. This planet is destroyed, but there is another. We have all the time in the world. And you... you will regret your choice."

As the words fell, two rays of light shot out from the rift, heading straight for Yingzhou.

The speed was too fast, too fast for anyone to react in time.

The first beam struck Yingzhou in the chest.

His body shuddered slightly, and his golden Psionic Shield flickered violently, but it did not block it completely.

The curse pierced through the shield and burrowed into his body.

The second beam followed closely behind, striking his shoulder.

Yingzhou's body tilted back slightly, and a trace of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

But he did not fall.

Yingzhou gritted his teeth and brought his hands together with force.

"Close!"

Golden light erupted once more.

The rift contracted violently and vanished.

The blue-purple light dissipated completely, leaving only residual energy across the floor and a faint, lingering hum in the air.

The spherical room returned to silence.

Yingzhou stood where he was, his body swaying slightly.

"Father!"

Jaghatai rushed forward to support him.

Yingzhou waved his hand, signaling that he was fine.

"I am fine."

Jaghatai looked at the spots where the two attacks had struck.

Those two wounds were healing slowly, but the speed was much slower than normal.

"Father, that is..."

"A curse. A curse from the other side of the rift. Luojia's, Horus's."

Yingzhou paused, looking at the spot where the rift had disappeared.

"They were right. This rift is closed, but there will be another. That world... that world of Chaos... is searching for a path to here."

Jaghatai was silent.

He remembered those two faces, remembered those words. They were their brothers, yet they were entirely different beings.

In that world, in that world completely corrupted by Chaos, their brothers had turned into monsters.

"Father, what should we do?"

Yingzhou looked at him.

"War. We end this war. And then, we prepare for the next one."

He turned and looked at the others in the spherical room.

The warriors of the White Scars were collecting the bodies of their comrades.

The Grey Knights were checking every corner of the room, ensuring no remnants of the rift remained.

Veriks was still slumped in the corner, his three eyes staring blankly at everything.

Yingzhou said.

"That Alien. Bring him over."

An Adeptus Custodes walked toward Veriks and dragged him before Yingzhou.

Veriks knelt on the ground, trembling all over.

"Are... are you going to kill me?"

He asked, stuttering.

Yingzhou looked at him.

"How much do you know about the rift?"

"I... I was the former lead of the project. I refused to continue the experiments, so I was placed under house arrest. I know... I know all the data, all the theories, all of... Valken's discoveries."

Yingzhou nodded.

"Then you are still useful."

He turned and walked toward the exit.

"Take him away. Interrogate him for every detail. Then... burn this facility. Burn it completely."

The Adeptus Custodes saluted.

Jaghatai followed behind Yingzhou.

The *Fengchi*, Primarch quarters.

Jaghatai's flagship hung silently in the orbit of Shenyuan Star.

Below, that grey-brown planet was burning; the Grey Knights had executed the Emperor's order, completely incinerating the entire research facility along with the five-kilometer area surrounding it.

The door to the quarters slid open, and Jaghatai walked in, supporting Yingzhou.

His movements were light and very careful, but Yingzhou could feel the tension in his arm.

"Father, you should receive treatment immediately."

"It is not needed."

Yingzhou sat down on the chair in the center of the quarters.

"Jaghatai, close the door."

Jaghatai hesitated for a second, then did as he was told.

The cabin door closed, and the privacy shield activated. Only the two of them remained in the room.

Yingzhou closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He exposed the location where he had been attacked.

Jaghatai's pupils contracted slightly.

There was a black wound on Yingzhou's chest.

Black patterns spread from the center of his chest toward the surroundings, and every heartbeat made those patterns tremble slightly.

"Father... this is..."

"Luojia's curse. It will not kill me, but it will... slow me down."

Yingzhou raised his left hand and looked at his shoulder.

There was a second wound there, a blood-red burn mark, also slowly spreading.

"Horus's attack. They chose the best moment, striking when I was putting all my effort into closing the rift and had no time to defend."

Jaghatai's fists clenched.

"I will go kill them. Find that world, find those twisted monsters, and..."

"Jaghatai."

Yingzhou looked at him, his gaze calm.

"Sit down."

Jaghatai did not move.

"Sit down."

Jaghatai finally sat down, sitting on the chair opposite Yingzhou.

"Can you find that world?"

Jaghatai was stunned for a moment.

"I... do not know. But we can study that rift, we can..."

"That rift has already closed."

Yingzhou said.

"Even if it had not closed, you could not enter it."

Jaghatai was silent.

"Then we do nothing? Let them hurt you like this? Let them continue to search for the next rift and continue to threaten this world?"

Yingzhou looked at him and continued.

"We do what we must do. We end this war. We consolidate this world. We make the Xiuluo Holy Star Alliance stronger, so that no rift can ever open in our reality."

Yingzhou paused and looked down at the wound on his chest.

"As for these curses... I will handle them. Give me time."