This strategy worked; with nowhere to go due to the overwhelming firepower, Konrad Curze had no choice but to engage in a protracted duel with his elder brother in a mountain fortress. Strangely, as a prophet, Konrad Curze did not foresee that Lion had already cleared almost all the traps before entering the boss room, and he was ultimately broken-backed and captured by the Lion El'Jonson, who was determined to prove himself in front of his cubs.
Despite being captured, Konrad Curze achieved what Horus and tens of thousands of Soldiers and fleets of the traitor Legions failed to do: destroy the Second Imperium.
As soon as the trial began, he told Guilliman that Lion had launched an orbital bombardment on Macragge, a single sentence that instantly enraged Guilliman, who snatched his elder brother's greatsword and snapped it in two. Sanguinius, as Emperor of the Second Imperium, also announced that Lion had openly defied orders and would be expelled from Macragge along with the First Legion, while Konrad Curze would be executed on a later date.
Just as Lion was about to lead his fleet away, he suddenly remembered Konrad Curze's prophecy:
"My spine, your sword, and your promise will all be broken, and I will die at the hands of an assassin sent by Father."
The Lion El'Jonson exclaimed, "Holy crap, that's accurate!"
He immediately teleported back to Macragge, just in time to see Konrad Curze about to be executed. Lion knelt before Guilliman and Sanguinius, pleading with them not to kill the Eighth Brother.
He explained to them, "Assuming the Eighth Brother's prophecy is accurate, then the Eighth Brother's death must be caused by an assassination ordered by Father. That is to say, as long as Konrad Curze is not killed by an assassin, Father can live one day longer. If the Emperor is still alive, then Terra has not yet fallen."
Guilliman was stunned after hearing this, because the premise for him to establish the Second Imperium with his elder and Ninth Brother was the assumption that the Emperor was dead and the Imperium had fallen. Now, the three brothers had directly become quasi-traitors who failed to protect the Emperor. Konrad Curze, watching the whole thing for entertainment, burst out laughing.
Konrad Curze was then handed over to Lion for custody, imprisoned on the "indomitable truth" and prepared for transport to Terra. Unexpectedly, Sanguinius ran over halfway through and "borrowed" him, dragging him to Davien, hoping to change their fates together.
This terrified Konrad Curze, because if Sanguinius could successfully change his fate of being killed by Horus, then Konrad Curze would also have a chance to avoid dying at the hands of an assassin, which meant that the future could actually be changed.
And this would make his entire life meaningless, because everything he had done in his life was based on his absolute certainty about the course of events.
But things didn't happen that way; when Sanguinius realized that changing fate would make him a more terrifying existence than Horus, he chose to accept the arrangement of fate and generously went to his death.
However, the "pink-cut-black" cunning The Great Angel still played a terrible joke on Konrad Curze.
The Great Angel first scared batman, saying that the Emperor might not only not send an assassin, but might even forgive Konrad Curze's crimes, causing Konrad Curze to be immersed in doubt about his worldview and philosophy of life. Then he put Konrad Curze in a stasis pod and shot him into deep space.
Sanguinius knew very well that he was about to die on Horus's Vengeful Spirit, but no one knew the exact time Konrad Curze would be assassinated. According to Lion's reasoning, if he was lucky, Konrad Curze would drift in space for hundreds of years, which meant that the Emperor would be safe for at least hundreds of years.
This experience made these two precognitive brothers the perfect foils for each other. Sanguinius always believed he could change the future, only choosing to accept fate's arrangement after realizing doing so would harm others. Konrad Curze, on the other hand, actively refused to change, believing that fate was already sealed, a pessimistic attitude that defined his life.
Konrad Curze's stasis pod didn't drift in space for long; he was picked up by a freighter. Konrad Curze escaped, and by this time the rebellion had ended, Horus was dead, and the Night Lords Legion had fled to Kharon after the Siege of Terra.
Reassembled, Konrad Curze decided to return to the Legion, and the Emperor had already sent a Callidus assassin. In the final hours before the assassin's arrival, Konrad Curze piled human corpses to create a giant statue of the Emperor, crying to it, "Daddy never loved me," while justifying the necessity of his actions.
One moment he was furious, the next he was apologizing to the father statue made of corpses, sincerely thanking them for their pain and sacrifice.
He argued that everything he did was necessary, all because the future could not be changed, but at the same time, he could hear a voice of rebuttal in his mind, telling him that his own choices led to this outcome.
After his confession, he burned the "corpse emperor" statue made of corpses, walked into his "fortress," and put on his armor. He had been completely naked during his confession.
He ordered his Legion out of the room, then sat down to await his fate. He had foreseen everything, or rather, he chose to believe that the future was predetermined, so he would sit and wait for his destined end to prove that nothing could be changed.
When the assassin Muchen appeared, Konrad Curze first teased her a few times, then began to explain why he allowed her to approach so easily:
"Assassin, your arrival does not surprise me. I detected your ship as soon as it entered the Eastern Fringe. Why did I spare your life? Because your mission and your impending actions will prove that everything I have done is correct. I merely punished the guilty, just as your False Emperor now seeks to punish me. Death is insignificant compared to the vindication of wrongs."
(The following is the author's private setting: Konrad Curze was not killed, but was imprisoned in the Imperial Palace dungeon.)
Then Konrad Curze raised his neck, ready to accept his death. The assassin slowly walked in front of Konrad Curze, took out a syringe, and injected it into Konrad Curze's neck.
But it wasn't poison, but a sedative... Before Konrad Curze lost consciousness, the last words he heard were... "The Emperor sent me to bring you back; he won't kill you. The Emperor wants me to tell you... He said: 'The pathetic follow fate; their footsteps are worthless. The glorious defy fate; even their deaths are filled with glory (Old Man Huang and The Great Angel). child, I will not kill you, because letting you live is your greatest punishment.'..."
When Konrad Curze regained consciousness again, he was already in the Terra Imperial Palace dungeon, where he had been for ten thousand years... And in these ten thousand years, he had also changed...
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