"F-Father, do we really have to do this?"
Little Horus asked the question with three parts restraint, two parts confusion, and five parts naked terror as he watched Horus fuss over the power armor.
The moment he heard what Horus had planned, he had been utterly stunned.
What?
So the whole reason she had specifically brought him along was for this?
To make him her…
stand-in?
Was this really okay? Was this really not going to cause problems?
"We have no choice," Horus said, looking at her beloved son with obvious satisfaction.
There were still a few details that were slightly off, but that blue, round-headed cat had said one of his gadgets could make up for the difference. She could only choose to trust him for now and hope it would be enough to fool Magnus, that arrogant fool.
"But what if I'm exposed?" Little Horus asked anxiously.
Pretending to be his father—using her name, her identity, her authority—was an absurd amount of pressure. It was like taking a child, dressing him in his father's suit, and sending him off in disguise to attend a meeting that could decide the fate of an entire nation.
I'm supposed to become my father, then meet one of my uncles as her?
How is that supposed to work?
"I know what you're worried about, my son," Horus said. "I understand exactly what's going through your mind. But…"
She fixed him with a steady look.
"You have to pretend to be me."
Sending the real shadow-walker down to meet Magnus was the last resort of last resorts. There was no helping it—everyone's appearance had changed too much. If they went as they were now, they might scare him half to death.
Even if their souls checked out clean under psychic examination…
Tzeentch was already involved. Could they really trust something as simple as psychic identification anymore?
So the only option left was to send in a fake.
"Yes… Father…" Little Horus answered.
Of all Horus's sons, he resembled her the most. He was the natural choice. With a bit of makeup, a bit of adjustment, and the blue round-headed cat's tools, he could pass for the Warmaster herself. Unless it was someone intimately familiar with Horus, no one would notice anything wrong.
From the sidelines, Abaddon watched the whole thing with a mixture of envy and bitterness.
So that was it.
This was why Father had insisted on bringing Aximand along?
Tch. Cowardly.
Even if I'm her son, why can't I become her, Father?
Meanwhile, Sevatar, standing nearby, was wearing exactly the same sour expression as Abaddon—but his gaze was fixed on Curze and Bruce instead.
At that moment, Curze looked like an old mother dressing up her precious son.
From the size and specifications of the power armor to the drape of the cloak, she handled every detail personally. The maids standing by didn't even get the chance to help.
"Right, it should look like this."
"Mhm, yes, yes."
"Perfect!"
"You really do have my bearing!"
The more Curze looked, the more pleased she became. The smile on her face never faltered for an instant, as though she were sending her beloved son off to the battlefield herself.
Bruce, as Curze's shadow stand-in, felt miserable.
Not because he was being treated like a dress-up doll, but because the power armor made specifically for a primarch was deeply uncomfortable on him.
It had already been resized and modified to fit him, and the input interfaces had been adjusted to match his own, but the sensation was still unbearably awkward.
It felt like driving a heavy truck with the speed of a sports car—fast, yes, but wildly difficult to control.
That said, it really was strong. There was a pure beauty in the raw stats alone.
"Horus, no matter how you look at it, Bruce suits me better," Curze said smugly to her brother.
Compared to the few minor flaws in Little Horus's disguise, Bruce had none at all. Once he put on the helmet, it was as if the Night Haunter herself had descended.
If he set foot on Nostramo right now, he could probably scare half the population to death.
And then there were the lightning claws mounted on his arms—they fit him perfectly.
By comparison, Little Horus had the shape, but none of the spirit. A clumsy cosplay at best.
"That's probably just because of the armor…" Horus replied, unwilling to admit defeat.
Unlike Bruce, who wore the original Nightmare Mantle, Little Horus's Serpent's Scale was just a copy.
As for how it had been copied…
Well, that would be a question for the magical copy flashlight.
Of course, copying a primarch's armor didn't reduce its performance that much, but a duplicate was still a duplicate. However close it got, it always lacked something compared to the genuine article.
"No, no, it's definitely not the armor," Curze said, driving the point home with relish. "It's the son."
"Send Bruce back to Nostramo right now and everyone would think he was Konrad Curze herself. But if your Little Horus Aximand went back to Cthonia…"
She trailed off meaningfully.
This was how comparisons were made.
Seeing Curze's triumphant little expression, Horus felt annoyed, though she couldn't really deny it.
Damn it. Just because you've got a good son, you think you're so impressive?
"Father… have I disappointed you?" Little Horus asked uneasily.
In this contest-that-wasn't-really-a-contest, he had clearly lost. It felt humiliating.
"No," Horus said at once. "Only Curze would care about such a meaningless competition."
Curze burst out laughing.
Exactly. If someone says it doesn't matter, that only proves I won.
"By the way," Bruce said, "if it really comes to fighting, are you seriously planning to do it like that?"
"I don't see the problem," Curze said indifferently. "If anything, the armor only gets in my way."
Other than the one time she had needed to prove something to her sons, Curze had barely worn her primarch armor at all. To her, its defensive value wasn't even as useful as the magic she could cast casually.
If her magic defenses got broken through, then whether she was wearing armor or not, she would probably still die. And if that was the case, why would she choose anything over greater mobility?
Defense hardly mattered.
As long as they couldn't hit her, it didn't matter how powerful their attacks were.
"True enough…" Horus said after considering it, giving the same answer.
Her own armor could be altered with gadgets so that she could still wear it in her current form. But after trying it a few times, Horus had concluded it was better not to bother.
Especially since her command links could function perfectly without it.
In short, both Curze and Horus had reached the same conclusion.
The No-Armor Party.
...
Listening to them banter back and forth, Abaddon and Sevatar, who stood off to the side, both felt a strange sort of grievance.
Could it be…
that they were the unnecessary sons?
"Whelp, how does the armor feel?" Curze asked. "How does it compare to your old one?"
"Not bad. The performance is definitely better," Bruce replied. "But I'm going to need time to get used to controlling it."
He spun around as Curze instructed.
In terms of response, it absolutely kept up with thought. It was the kind of equipment where you imagined a movement and it executed it instantly. It felt wonderfully fast.
But that also meant the demands it placed on strength were huge.
And this was after modification.
Bruce genuinely could not understand how primarchs could wear this kind of gear and still move at absurd high speed in combat.
At that point, he was beginning to suspect the armor itself was the limiter on a primarch.
"Excellent! Now you look even more like a true acting commander!" Curze said with satisfaction.
Then she leapt up onto Bruce's arm, climbed deftly up his back, and perched there.
The view's better from up here.
And there are even two handles for steering. Perfect.
Truly perfect.
Pity they couldn't immediately head back to Nostramo. Otherwise she would absolutely have taken a few laps around the streets like this.
...
Watching Curze's practiced motions, Horus was momentarily stunned. At the same time, though, something in her heart sagged with a faint sense of loss.
"Father, would you like to get on too?" Little Horus offered, reaching a hand out toward her.
"No," Horus said, shaking her head.
She forced herself to calm down, then turned to the communications officer.
"Well? What's the situation? Has Magnus replied yet?"
That damned fool—what exactly was going on over there?
His planetary defenses were wide open, his fleet was sitting in a loose posture, as exposed as a cat rolling over to show its belly—and yet when they called for him, he still didn't answer.
Something was wrong.
"Report! No reply at all! Prospero remains in complete radio silence!"
Horus's expression darkened.
"That's bad…"
Then she turned back to the others.
"It looks like we may really have no choice but to go down there and find him ourselves."
That man had better not let her discover that the reason for all this silence was because he was off wandering the Warp again.
If he was ignoring even the Emperor's Warmaster now, then was he trying to ascend—or trying to die?
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 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 139)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter171)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter100)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter184)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 168
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 156
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 105
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 185
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 160
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 150
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 76
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 97
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 116
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 75
Uma Musume: I Want All 93
I Can Copy Unique Skills 79
Summoning an Evil God, but the 55
Supernatural Multiverse 75
My Harem Is Indescribable 68
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 70
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 69
Still playing traditional Honk 49
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 53
What Should I Do After Switchi 42
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 50
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 38
Transmigrated as Sukuna 35
Checking In in Demon Slayer 40
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 55
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