Chapter 170: You Are My Brother

Fenris, as it did every day, followed a highly eccentric elliptical orbit around the local reddish K-type sun known to the natives as Wolf Eye.

It took two Terran standard years to complete one orbit; a Fenrisian year was known to the locals as a Great Year.

At the end of the Great Year's brief summer, Leman Russ waded through the sea, dragging a comatose Iron-Scaled Kraken; in high spirits, he hummed a hearth-song—a ditty in Juvik.

The Wolf King had hunted an Iron-Scaled Kraken twenty-three or twenty-four kilometers long; as far as he knew, this one was the second largest on Fenris.

【That guy Ninglu who is a bit taller than me is just a hairless boy who doesn't grow a beard or keep his hair; he only arrived on Fenris yesterday, so it's impossible for him to have found the largest one in the Sea of Storms.】

The broken spear had been driven into the Iron-Scaled Kraken's body with brute force, but the wounds caused were to the massive sea monster much like a mosquito bite to a human.

But the blood attracted numerous Fenrisian marine creatures, which rushed toward the Iron-Scaled Kraken from all directions.

A giant sea serpent lunged out suddenly, opening its blood-filled maw to bite at Leman Russ.

The Wolf King exerted force with both arms, pushing the Iron-Scaled Kraken into the air; he swung his arm to punch the sea serpent away, then caught the falling sea monster.

Along the way, he encountered various giant sea monsters, all of which were knocked away by Leman Russ.

But even a Primarch could not split into another body to knock away every sea monster winding for over twenty kilometers.

Numerous sea monsters followed the blood trail, rushing to the side of the Iron-Scaled Kraken, pouncing on the sleeping hegemon of the sea, using both sharp teeth and claws.

Most creatures, despite exhausting all their strength, could not tear through the Kraken's iron scales and bone sheath.

Only the tearing fish's sharp teeth bit through the iron scales, feeding rapidly.

The tearing fish was an aquatic carnivorous fish, shaped like a Terran barracuda but much larger in size, capable of devouring a Fenrisian in just a few seconds.

Leman Russ continued on his way, dragging the battered Iron-Scaled Kraken like this.

He first saw the Emperor standing in the opened hatch of a gunship, and he bared his fangs, letting out a roar of victory.

"I won!"

"You lost!"

The Emperor's voice was like thunder, resounding through the air.

The Wolf King frowned; the Emperor, who had readily admitted defeat before, should not be quibbling this time, so the only possibility for his loss was that Ninglu had hunted the largest Iron-Scaled Kraken.

【Is his luck that good? Or did he use some kind of psychic sorcery?】

Leman Russ thought to himself, dragging the Iron-Scaled Kraken forward.

"As you said, Russ lost, Ninglu won."

Alpharius stood at the Emperor's side, looking down from above.

The Kraken hunted by the Wolf King had a battered body, with numerous sea monsters swimming around and gnawing on it.

The Kraken hunted by Ninglu had an intact body, and most crucially, its length was nearly a quarter longer than the one Russ had hunted.

When the two Primarchs were less than a hundred meters apart, the Wolf King saw the Iron-Scaled Kraken behind Ninglu and immediately had a bad premonition.

Ninglu's Iron-Scaled Kraken had a head nearly a fifth wider than the one he had hunted.

Leman Russ put down his prey and climbed onto the head of the Iron-Scaled Kraken.

A moment later, the Wolf King leaped, wading through the sea to stand before Ninglu.

"You won, and you didn't use sorcery?"

Ninglu glanced at the damp amulet on his chest, too lazy to engage in another meaningless war of words, and said indifferently.

"I didn't."

While the two Primarchs were speaking, the Master of Mankind leaped; he did not use telekinesis, but let his body fall into the sea.

The Emperor arrived beside the two, and he spoke.

"He did not use it, as I requested of him."

The power contained in the Master of Mankind's words left Leman Russ with no doubt.

He laughed heartily and said to the Emperor.

"I lost; when I return to Asaheim, I will swear my allegiance to you."

The Emperor nodded with satisfaction; Russ was just as he had thought, influenced by the bold Fenrisian culture, he was someone who faced victory and defeat with equanimity.

After speaking, the Wolf King swam toward Ninglu.

"You won the hunt; you are a great hunter."

"I want to take back what I said before; you are my brother."

Ninglu looked at Leman Russ, who had opened his arms to embrace him, and a scene from a future vision could not help but surface in his mind.

During the Fash Empire campaign, the emotionless Lion refused the Wolf King's attempt to personally wash away the shame of being insulted as "the Emperor's lapdog."

After the two Primarchs fought for a day and a night without a winner, Leman Russ laughed heartily, only to be knocked unconscious by a punch from Lion El'Jonson.

Therefore, whenever the Space Wolves and the Dark Angels encountered one another, they would always engage in an honor duel.

Ninglu felt his fists itching, but under the Emperor's gaze, he abandoned the tempting idea of giving the Wolf King a punch to knock him out.

His body swayed slightly, avoiding the embrace of the strangely scented Leman Russ, and he swam toward the Iron-Scaled Kraken in front.

"According to the agreement, your prey belongs to me now."

Even without considering the hypocritical attitude in his memory where the Wolf King opposed psychic powers yet argued that the Rune Priests of the "Space Wolves" used the power of the Storm, if he had to choose a side among the Primarchs, he would not stand on Leman Russ's side.

The side opposing psychic powers consisted of Leman Russ, Angron, and Mortarion.

The side supporting the use of psychic powers consisted of Sanguinius, Chagatai Khan, and Magnus.

If Ninglu had to choose a side, no matter how many times, he would choose Sanguinius's side.

Besides them being more suitable political allies, certain extraordinary abilities of the Order Shadow also required psychic powers as a cover.

Ninglu had no interest in being the Warmaster, and Huang Laohan had not asked him to be some great big brother, so there was no need to rack his brains trying to act like brothers as Horus did.

The Emperor and Leman Russ frowned at the same time; the Wolf King felt as if he had been doused with a head of melted ice water from Et Peak.

"It is yours."

Amidst the Wolf King's words, the engines of numerous black aircraft roared, landing in an orderly fashion beside the two Iron-Scaled Krakens to begin collecting materials.

————

The chroniclers boarded Fenris as it entered its long winter, using a Translator to ask the Fenrisian people for details regarding the return of the third Primarch.

Among the different versions, the only constant is: 819. M30, the Master of Mankind, along with the Eleventh Legion Primarch Ninglu, stepped onto the frozen continent of Fenris.

The Emperor's lost scion, Leman Russ, refused to swear fealty to him first and proposed three challenges.

The Emperor had to win one of them; the Master of Mankind lost in succession in the contests of eating meat and drinking alcohol.

The monarch of Vostonia, called upon in a moment of crisis, successfully hunted a larger sea monster in the contest of hunting the Kraken, defeating the Wolf King of Fenris.

Leman Russ swore fealty to the Emperor and returned to the Human Empire.

————

After the Wolf King swore fealty to the Emperor, the Fenrisian people, following their cultural traditions, called the Master of Mankind the Allfather.

To welcome the arrival of the Allfather, Leman Russ ordered a celebration held according to Fenrisian customs—a feast.

The Allfather sat at the head of the table, with Alpharius standing tall behind him holding a spear; the Wolf King of Fenris and the monarch of Vostonia sat on either side, while the Fenrisians and the Order Shadow stood facing each other in turn.

As the feast entered its second day, sitting right next to the Wolf King at the wooden table was his most trusted Jorin, whom the Fenrisians respectfully called Blood Howl.

His jet-black hair whipped behind his head, and his face looked as if it had been carved from bedrock after being chiseled by cold, biting winds day and night; his cheeks were long and gaunt, covered in crisscrossing scars.

His skin displayed a weathered, aged quality, showing that he had spent his entire life in a desperate struggle against the overwhelming, biting snowstorms.

Jorin looked at the black-armored Warrior opposite him; having lived and died alongside Russ, he had long since viewed the Wolf King as an invincible, towering existence.

He felt angry that Russ had lost to Ninglu and held no good feelings toward any of the Order Shadow.

Especially toward that Chapter Master named Sanchez opposite him; Jorin, tempered in the environment of Fenris, felt the other man exuded a disgusting aura at every moment, even more detestable than the white giant bear that had once provoked him.

Jorin gulped down a large mouthful of mead, the burning in his stomach making his whole body feel feverish.

His mustache bristled, and he provocatively shouted at the black-armored Warrior in the hearth-tongue.

"I am Jorin of Fenris, you are called Sanchez, I haven't called you wrong, have I?"

"How about we compete to see who can drink more?"

The Emperor and the three Primarchs all felt the sparks in the air and cast their gazes toward Jorin.

【Jorin, sitting beside Leman Russ.】

Ninglu immediately confirmed Jorin's identity, the future Wolf Lord of the "Space Wolves" Thirteenth Great Company, leading the Wolf King's most intimate and glorious company.

Like the Vostonian Warriors, Jorin and other close comrades of Leman Russ all chose to undergo the Astartes Gaizao Shouhu.

Being much older than Biszersni was when he underwent the Gaizao Shouhu, they were no longer suited to endure such harsh trials, but no one flinched; everyone was prepared to face death.

Only a very small number were lucky enough to survive the entire transplantation surgery; they became the earliest company Commanders of the "Space Wolves," and Jorin was the most outstanding among them.

Ninglu cast his gaze toward the "Provocateur" again, watching how he would respond to the other's provocation.

The Reaper Lord felt the Emperor and the two Primarchs cast their gazes toward him, and he smiled as he said.

"Fine, but the one who loses will definitely be you."

Everyone felt the confidence in his words, as well as the provocative tone.

The Fenrisians were so angry their mustaches bristled, their eyes filled with rage.

The Wolf King's eyebrows furrowed slightly; he knew Jorin would surely lose. Although he often drank mead, it was impossible to defeat an Astartes with a superhuman physique in a drinking contest.

Not wanting the Fenrisians to suffer another blow, Leman Russ spoke up.

"Drinking is boring; if we are to compete, let us compete in hunting."

Although the Wolf King admitted defeat, he still believed Ninglu's victory relied on the Allfather's favor of fate.

His sapphire-like eyes looked provocatively at Ninglu, "How about it, have your scions compete with the Hunters of Fenris once more."

"Fine."

Ninglu had confidence in the "Hunter," and Sanchez would surely win the victory.

(End of chapter)