40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 339 59. In the royal court of Luperkar (5k)

As he grew older and the times changed, Corvus Corax had come to understand one thing.

From the years of war, from the worship that mixed fear and awe, he understood that being a Primarch must mean bearing certain responsibilities.

This kind of responsibility will not change because you refuse or comply with it. It will always be as heavy as a mountain falling, and its purpose is only one: to change you, or to be changed by you. Either you truly take responsibility, or you are torn between your nature and your responsibilities.

At the same time, he had somehow learned to see the Emperor as separate from his father.

He knew that the Emperor had created the Primarch to obtain tools, as simple and straightforward as a primitive man who needed an ax made of stone to chop down a tree. The Emperor's intentions were very obvious, even unabashed.

He hopes that the Primarchs will learn to become weapons and tools to reshape the galaxy with the sharp blades in their hands until they create a bright future for mankind.

But the Emperor was more than just an Emperor, he was also a less than successful father. That was the problem, he wasn't ruthless enough, and at the same time, he couldn't really shed his identity as the Emperor when dealing with them.

Corax felt an extreme sense of irony every time he thought about this incident. Many problems between the Primarch and the Emperor arose from this, such as someone complaining that his father did not pay enough attention to him, or someone thinking that his father was showing favoritism to a certain brother.

It was difficult for the Lord of Crows not to feel negative about these thoughts, and it was a rare act of folly on his part to associate war with family ties.

But what can he do? He is also a member of this strange spiral.

At this moment, the stars twinkled outside the portholes, and the ships were moving among the rubble and broken shipwrecks. The fast strike ships were rapidly advancing in front of them. The soldiers on them would use some more extreme methods to hunt down the enemies who tried to stop them. Fleet, assault boats will play a very important role in it.

The Resolute Resolve and the War Dogs' fleet were engaging in cross-fire from the flanks. It had just destroyed a cruiser. The void shield was easily shattered. The hull was twisted and had begun to shatter. The entire ship was being destroyed from the bow. It disintegrated into countless iron slag.

Corpses and living people flew out spinning, and soon they all turned into ice sculptures, were run over by battleships, and became broken flesh and blood floating in the dark universe.

The war has already begun.

The three legions that came to Istvan III to perform the mission were currently fighting with each other, completely out of orbit of the planet. Two of the parties have already laid out their strategies, and their offensive intentions are very obvious, but Horus Luperkar's Spirit of Vengeance has not made any moves.

It stood there, like a pitiful ship with its engine disabled, waiting to be boarded, ganged up on, or destroyed.

Corax frowned, instinctively sensing something was wrong. However, the sword has been unsheathed, and if it is not stained with blood, sheathing it is not an option.

Twenty minutes later, they started jumping sticks.

Groups of assault boats rushed into the artillery position of the Vengeful Spirit without any resistance under the cover of overwhelming firepower. It fired several rounds of artillery fire at first, but now it was as silent as the dead on the streets on a winter night.

The foreboding feeling in Corax's heart began to grow stronger, and his instincts were whispering quietly, telling him not to board the ship.

He would do it if he could, but he never had a choice. Just like Savior's uprising, just like joining the Great Crusade, the choice is essentially just a fictitious lie. What he will do has been destined from the beginning.

His character dictates that he will not stand idly by at such a time.

As the assault craft crashed into the deck of the Vengeful Spirit, Corax and his Kill Crows rushed out of the burning sea of ​​fire. As far as the eye could see, there was blood and corpses almost everywhere.

The Sons of Horus fired a barrage of fire to try to gain the advantage for themselves, but Corax gave them no chance. The world slowed beneath his feet, all sounds were stretched out, and the Primarch's heart beat in his flesh and roared low.

He rushed into the enemy group and single-handedly created a tragic killing field.

With the lightning claws in his hands waving endlessly, the deadly weapon made of fine gold native to Nostramo and forged by Ferrus Manus finally ushered in the moment of its scarlet bloom.

Corax calmly created one bloody massacre after another, extending the scarlet road to the other end of the corridor in an instant. The flesh and blood were crushed into mud by the steel boots, the broken limbs and broken arms were hung all over the walls, and blood even spattered on the ceiling.

He completely killed all the Sons of Horus who boarded the ship in just five minutes. It was cruel, but the Raven Guards had long been accustomed to it. Sneaking into the shadows, they began to cause chaos, blowing up vital energy pipelines and plunging the deck into darkness.

Chaos is a natural fit for the shadow-dwelling Slayers, and the Lord of Crows left his colony to climb higher.

He passed through the damaged elevator shaft, the artillery emplacement caught in the flames, and the blown emergency passage one after another, and his nostrils were filled with a frightening stench.

The smell couldn't be created by corpses or flames, it was something far more terrifying, and Corax could even faintly taste blood. He concentrated and briefly ignored the incident. At the same time, the surrounding scene began to change.

The flames caused by the explosion were replaced by another kind of dark and angry flames. The metal melted and deformed, and was burned to a completely boiling temperature amidst the whine, but the air was extremely cold.

The Lord of Crows stopped and judging from the eyepiece readings, he probably climbed up to thirty-seven floors. Even if he didn't know which deck the ship was on, he knew that he must be on a very high level at this moment, and these flames never appeared at all on the lower level.

Some kind of speculation was born in Corax's mind.

He watched the flames, reversing the frequency of the communication channels in the shadows he dwelt in. After several attempts, he accessed a new communications channel.

The rapid beeping of a warning signal began urging him to upload his identification code, but Corax did not do so, instead resorting to an unidentified emergency call that could only be used once.

"I'm on board," he said.

His voice is completely unaffected by outside noise. At the same time, he did not reveal his identity, only this puzzling statement.

The message was sent, the current was low and the noise was constant, and a prompt popped up in the upper right corner of the eyepiece, indicating that he had been temporarily banned from speaking in this communication channel. Corax waited patiently, not hastily choosing to send the identification code. The emblem of the raven gleamed on the pauldrons.

A few seconds later, along with a crisp beep indicating the lifting of the ban, another voice rang in his ears.

"Kahn received, Lord Corax, I will transmit our location to you."

"Understood, how is my brother?"

"It depends on which one you ask. Everything is fine with my lord, except for the lack of weapons and suitable armor. But the phoenix of Chemos has been seriously injured."

Corax was silent for a moment: "How is he?"

"He can still walk and give commands with clear consciousness," Kahn said.

Corax noticed that he said nothing about the battle.

The Lord of Crows' heart sank - he didn't know who had injured Fulgrim, and he had even lost the ability to fight. However, the Spirit of Vengeance had the ability to do this. There is probably only one person.

Horus.

He was still silent, but he didn't finish what he needed to do. Kahn had already sent the coordinates, and he forwarded them to the crows and asked them to gather the follow-up boarding troops. He himself was traveling quickly through the darkness.

At this moment, only by seeing Fulgrim and Angron with his own eyes could he feel a little more at ease. However, although he maintained precious silence, the communication channel did not seem to think so.

A strange sound began to sound inside, almost like a bell, but too dull and dense.

Corax frowned, and Kahn immediately began to warn: "Sir, our channel has been -"

"--hiss."

Crisp, direct, sudden. Like a fire extinguished by heavy rain, like a sleeping person being stabbed in the heart by a knife. Kahn's voice was interrupted. Corax squinted his eyes and waited for a moment in the darkness. He already had a premonition of something.

"Hello, brothers." A voice sounded quietly on the channel, with the usual gentleness of Horus. "It's a bit hasty to meet like this, but I noticed that you are moving around in my boat, which is good."

He let out an odd chuckle, a laugh that was not Horus Luperkar's, and certainly not his.

"Especially you, Fulgrim, I'm so happy to see you healed. And you, Angron, I must thank you. Having three Primarchs on board my warship at the same time is not something I can do lightly. What could be better than seeing our brothers reunited? To tell you the truth, I have already started preparing for a banquet. Please come to the main bridge to see me, okay?"

He ended the conversation with a low, creepy laugh that sent shivers down Corax's spine, not because of Horus' obvious madness, but because of the sight before him.

He saw that at some point there was an extra door at the other end of the corridor. It was very high and very luxurious. The fine relief sculpture is made of gilt and silver, showing four giants being crowned.

Phoenix, raven, war dog, and the Wolf Shepherd in the center of the picture. His eyes were two scarlet gems, and on his head was a twisted laurel wreath. Corax was certain that just seconds ago, the door had not been there.

Moreover, it is slowly opening, and billowing black mist is escaping from it. Corax's pupils shrank sharply, and he turned around to retreat, but the darkness was wrapped in mist at this moment. All roads have disappeared, leaving only one.

A clean white staircase covered with brightly colored carpets. At the end of the road, a royal court is waiting patiently.

The Lord of Crows was silent for a moment, activated his lightning claws, and walked in without fear. The world was distorted by a violent flash of light. In an instant, he left the burning deck and appeared in a true royal court.

Corax had been here before, only once, but he had been there.

Frankly speaking, this place left a deep impression on him - no royal palace in the secular sense can compare with this royal court located in the battleship. It is the ultimate symbol of Horus Luperkar's noble status and endless glory. Direct proof.

But now, it has changed.

Let's start with the most intuitive point. This place is now full of corpses that were hung upside down. Pale, swollen, and drained of blood. The ground was a dull red, and dark traces penetrated deeply into the deck, outlining a huge eight-pointed star.

In the center of the royal court, the throne of the Wolf God was shining with light. Horus Luperkar sat on it with a smile, and the scarlet eyes on the white armor stared at him thoughtfully.

"Ah, you are the first to come, my dear Crow." Horus said the title affectionately. "That's great, but I'm going to ask you to wait a moment, okay?"

He tilted his head and winked at Corax, looking relaxed and happy.

"There are still people who haven't arrived. We can't start the party before Fulgrim arrives, he will be angry about it. Besides, without him, how can the party be called a party?"

Corax did not speak, but remained silent. He observed the royal court filled with corpses, and two flashes of light rang out one after another around him.

Horus laughed with joy and stepped down from his throne. As always, he opened his arms enthusiastically, as if to give a hug.

"Fulgrim, brother!" he shouted. "You're healed! Oh, Terra, at last!"

".Horus." Phoenix threw out this name from his chest filled with hatred, his purple eyes seeming to be burning.

"What's wrong?" The master of the royal court looked at him confused. "You're not going to hug me - ah, yes, that's right. After all, you've only just recovered, and I didn't think well of it. So, Angron, what about you?"

He smiled and took a step forward, opening his arms to the bloody gladiator again. The Nucerian stared at him sternly and shook his head slowly and coldly.

"Okay." Horus put down his hand regretfully. "I won't ask you this, Corax. After all, you don't like such violent expressions of emotion."

The Crow Lord's answer was a gentle clash of lightning claws, sparks flying and electricity rushing wildly through each other, hungry for killing.

Horus looked at him with admiration, and gestured to him a little further away.

"You know what I admire most about you? Your silence, Corax, I like that the most. Silence is an extremely precious quality. Too many people only know how to keep talking but don't know how to shut up. The importance of doing things. But you are too silent sometimes, brother. Some people are silent to leave words to the people they love. What about you, Raven? "

"Horus" Fulgrim said the name with trembling hands, interrupting the conversation between Horus and Corax, although the latter had not even thought about answering.

Angron sighed and immediately stopped in front of him, vaguely standing between him and Horus.

"What's the matter, brother?" Horus asked back, the smile on his face still undiminished.

"What new requests do you have for the banquet? Wine? I have Khan's grassland wine, wine from Robert's hometown, and ice-cold wine from Nostramo. Unless you want to drink Russ's special wine-"

"—I want nothing." Fulgrim said. "Except for one thing."

Not surprisingly, Angron stretched his hands to his waist and grasped the two power swords. Corax lowered his body, his claws ready to go, and the engine of the jump pack was already roaring faintly. Horus looked at Fulgrim with a smile and asked softly.

"what do you want?"

There was no answer—because there was no need to answer. Fulgrim's handsome face was twisted with anger and hatred, veins popped out on his neck, and he rushed straight towards Horus. Corax swooped in, falling from the sky with his claws directed towards the Lord of the Court's head. Angron lowered his shoulders and his expression turned cold.

The battle begins in an instant.

Fulgrim was the first to leave the battle, with a large dent in his sternum and blood pouring from his throat. He lay on the ground and tried to get up with his hands, but he couldn't get off the ground.

Corax was the second one. Horus dodged the thunderous attack of the Lord of Ravens at a speed beyond imagination. He even still had the energy to turn around, grab him with his backhand, and slam him to the ground. The ground was as cool as if it was wielding the World Breaker.

In just a moment, Angron was the only one left in the battle. He first used a shoulder collision to force Horus to stumble a few steps to the side. He then drew out both swords and stabbed at The connection point of the armor on the back of Horus.

The sound of gold and iron clashing was extremely harsh. Horus turned around with a smile and swept the claws of his left hand across, forcing Angron to return his sword to defend. At the same time, he swung his right fist, trying to punch Angron in the face.

The gladiator dodged the blow as expected, and even had the energy to backhand and slash back with his sword. Horus raised his power claws slightly in surprise to resist.

Corvus Corax jumped up from the ground at this moment, his claws whizzed past, and went straight to Horus's back. He had to swallow the attack firmly and paused slightly.

Angron immediately seized the opportunity, roared and rushed forward. At this moment, the two swords stabbed Horus's head without any reservation. The speed was far faster than lightning and even distorted the air.

Faced with such a dead situation, Horus smiled.

He stepped sideways, dodging the stabbing attack by a hair's breadth, and immediately lowered his head to avoid another surprise attack from the Lord of Crows.

The direction of the battle began to change. Angron and Corax looked at each other, changed their fighting methods and pace, and began to turn the battle into a free fight. Horus patiently accompanied them as they moved, their footsteps ringing softly in the royal court, strolling leisurely, still smiling.

Phoenix struggled to stand up, but his body didn't allow him to do so. The blood flowed freely, meandering on the ground, quietly sinking into the dark red and pitch black.

Somewhere in the eight-pointed star began to shine brightly.

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