Aboard the Indomitable Truth, the Dark Angels were already growing restless.
They had lost contact with the Lion.
For a full five hours.
Five hours.
What did that mean?
It meant they had been without the Lion for five entire hours.
Although Lion had left behind very specific instructions before departing, the Dark Angels were still inevitably anxious and uneasy over the fact that their Primarch had gone missing.
And those two emotions were, in no small part, the result of the pressure Lion usually placed on everyone.
Everyone knew that within the Dark Angels, doing your job properly earned no reward at all—because in Lion's eyes, that was simply what you were supposed to do. But if you failed?
Then you were done for.
At best, you were sent to the front lines to atone for your mistakes.
At worst, you were shipped back to Caliban to watch monsters bare their fangs.
"Ten minutes left…"
Arajos, known as the Lion's Shield, was calculating the time.
According to the Primarch's orders, if more than six hours passed without his return, Arajos would personally lead the Deathwing down to the planet's surface and begin killing his way forward until they found the Primarch.
Such an action would almost certainly trigger full-scale war between the two Legions, and might even ruin the Dark Angels' reputation entirely—but compared to the safety of their Primarch, those things were insignificant.
Besides, under what circumstances could a Primarch possibly remain out of contact for this long?
The Night Lords had definitely pulled something.
For all anyone knew, they might even be secretly colluding with xenos forces in an attempt to murder their glorious Lion.
"With Khaos Wayne accompanying the Lion, it should be fine… right?" Captain Stennes, his face marred by burn scars, muttered pensively.
The investigation fleet was so tense it felt on the verge of erupting, because a loss of contact this long had never happened before.
Given the Lion's temperament, there was no way he would remain somewhere unfamiliar for so long, nor would he fail to send back even a single message. It couldn't seriously be that the Night Lords had poured some kind of bewitching soup down his throat, could it?
"Prepare ahead of schedule," said Hoguin, commander of a Deathwing company, readying himself to issue a command over the internal vox that would mobilize the entire Deathwing.
Though there were only two hundred of them, the Deathwing's firepower—and their full complement of Terminator armor—was enough to do something truly spectacular to the Night Lords.
Then, just at that moment—
Beep beep beep beep—
The Indomitable Truth picked up a signal.
It was coming from the planet's surface—or, more precisely, from a small craft that had just escaped the planet's gravity well and was now requesting permission to approach orbit.
"It's the Lion!"
After checking the identification, Stennes spoke in excitement.
If it was the Lion's landing craft, then that meant the matter was settled.
No wonder things had taken so long. Clearly, there had been progress.
At those words, everyone finally let out a breath of relief. Apart from a very small number of assault troops still waiting inside their drop-pods, the rest relaxed out of full combat posture for the moment.
Then, as one, the Dark Angels hurried toward the landing zone to await the Lion's return.
The landing craft, painted in the colors and heraldry of the Dark Angels, touched down.
The hatch opened.
Clad in power armor and holding the Lion Sword, Lion strode down the ramp.
"…"
The Dark Angels lowered their heads in salute and did not dare speak.
Because they could feel it—this Lion returning from Nostramo was clearly suppressing his anger. Otherwise, there was no way he would be wearing such a grim expression.
The Lion stopped atop the raised platform of the landing zone instead of continuing down, and swept his gaze across the bowed heads of his sons.
"Hmph."
Suddenly, he let out a cold laugh and planted his sword point-down against the deck.
"I know what you've been thinking. And I know what you were plotting while I was away investigating my brother's whereabouts."
"Now, let me tell you one thing."
"Prepare yourselves for battle!"
With that, Bruce—perfectly transformed into Lion through the Transformation Drink—jumped down to the deck and strode toward Hoguin in his Terminator armor.
"Gather every available force in this sector. Prepare to march on Chaguarsa! It is time those loathsome abhumans learn what Imperial Truth truly means!"
"Yes!"
Hoguin obeyed without hesitation.
He had no idea why the Lion wanted to launch an attack on Chaguarsa while standing in the territory of the Night Lords, but if it was the Primarch's will, then surely there was some deeper purpose behind it.
The others thought much the same. They simply assumed this was the next sacred step in the Primarch's investigation into Curze's disappearance.
"Mm."
Bruce nodded in satisfaction.
The good thing about the Dark Angels was that the Lion's authority within the Legion was absolute. His word was law. His command was everything.
And because of that, as long as Bruce acted sufficiently erratic and overbearing, nobody thought to question him.
"My lord Lion… why have you returned alone?"
Arajos, having noticed something odd, finally spoke up.
After checking several times, he was sure of it. The landing craft had come back with only Lion aboard. The knights who had descended with him had not returned at all.
That was far too strange.
"Because they need to remain stationed within my brother's Scarlet Devil Mansion."
"The situation inside the Night Lords is even more complicated than I imagined. That Legion urgently requires surgery—precise, surgical intervention—or else the progress of the Great Crusade will be dragged down. Do you understand?"
"And the specifics are…?"
"It is civil strife," Bruce replied, enunciating every word. "My brother has lost control of his Legion. I must do something."
"So we are to deal with the diehards—cut away the tumors clinging to the Night Lords. Only then can my brother be reborn."
"…?"
The Dark Angels all wore the same expression of utter incomprehension.
But… wasn't that another Legion's internal matter?
Why were they the ones supposed to deal with it?
Still, seeing how serious the Lion looked, nobody dared say much.
After all, if the Lion gave an order, what else was there to do but accept it?
Besides, whether you were cleansing xenos here or elsewhere, extermination was extermination.
"No."
A single Astartes suddenly stepped forward, his armor markings and skull-shaped helm noticeably distinct from the others.
"?"
Though Bruce only had about thirty percent of Lion's abilities, after a moment's recollection he remembered exactly who this unusually bold Astartes was.
Nemiel.
And if the name alone wasn't enough, then surely one of Warhammer's most infamous scenes would do:
the moment when the Lion got so angry he punched a man's head clean off.
Yes.
The unfortunate Astartes who got driven to that point and paid for it with his head was the very same Nemiel standing before him now.
"Nemiel. What is it you wish to say?" Bruce asked, forcing himself to remain calm.
There was a thread of threat beneath the question.
"By the Emperor's standing decree, Legions are forbidden from interfering in one another's internal affairs. If we act now, Terra will certainly be displeased. The Emperor himself will be displeased."
Nemiel answered with stubborn bluntness.
"So what is your point?"
"At minimum, we should report to the Warmaster's command or the War Council and await instructions before taking any further action."
"You're teaching me how to do my job?"
Bruce asked, fists clenching.
"I am only acting in accordance with—"
"Enough! Silence!"
Smack—
Bruce lunged forward in a sudden burst and punched Nemiel mid-sentence, sending him flying.
Nemiel crashed hard onto the deck, twitched twice, and went still.
Of course, he was not dead.
He had simply been knocked unconscious with a single blow.
"That's enough! What I say goes! I am the lord of the First Legion, and my command is absolute!"
"Does anyone else have objections?!"
"Then step forward and tell me!"
Silence.
The entire deck was deathly still.
Everyone knew this did not follow proper procedure. Worse, it carried the smell of thankless drudgery and political disaster.
But when the Lion decided to do something, nobody dared tell him no.
"Then that settles it. I must return to the Scarlet Devil Mansion."
Bruce leapt back onto the landing platform and gave Arajos his next order.
"The campaign against the abhuman tribes is yours. In this operation, you are the commanding officer."
"If anyone attempts to obstruct you, eliminate them. Even if they are Night Lords."
"Remember this: my brother's Legion has reached the edge of collapse. I must do something."
"Yes, my lord Lion!"
Arajos accepted the command.
With that, Bruce boarded the landing craft once more. Moments later, the engines came to life, and the vessel slowly rose away from the landing zone.
Only after confirming again and again that the craft had truly departed—and that the Lion was not about to turn around and return unexpectedly—did the Dark Angels finally allow themselves to breathe again.
The Lion had always pushed them hard.
But never this directly.
Still…
Then again, this was exactly the sort of thing only the Lion would do.
"We're really supposed to take Chaguarsa with just this force? Seriously?" one of the Astartes knights asked, baffled.
"It's about more than merely taking Chaguarsa."
Arajos spoke in a grave tone.
"This is also a test from the Lion."
Because the Lion had said it himself just now: the abhuman tribes were not the true enemy. The real issue was the Night Lords who had slipped beyond control.
If this were mishandled, it could very well escalate into outright war between the two Legions.
But precisely for that reason, the Lion had chosen to remain on Nostramo personally, while they were to eliminate the dangerous elements within the Eighth Legion.
Ah!
Was this the Lion's great wisdom?
They understood now.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 150)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 110)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter69)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter95)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 55
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 45
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 32
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 31
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 31
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