"Your sins will be washed away. Your names will be inscribed upon the stone tablets. O fearless martyrs, the Father will forever etch your names in memory. Your stories will be sung. May glory be with you all."
As the containers holding the psykers were slowly raised, the Grey Knights performed the most solemn Aquila Salute in their honor. All one hundred psykers had volunteered for self-sacrifice. There was no coercion, no darkness—only the most noble of sacrifices.
"For the Lord of Trailblaze!!!"
"For the Imperium of Man!!!"
"For the Emperor!!!"
If they had not met Zhou Ye, their fates would have been infinitely more tragic. For a psyker to die peacefully was a blessing to be thankful for. In their current state, they prayed within their containers, lowering all their defenses.
Watching this scene, even Ahriman felt a sense of surrealism. Among the Chaos Marines, the only ones who truly held no nostalgia for the Great Crusade were probably Slaanesh's followers. The Death Guard, due to Nurgle's warped perception, all believed they were still fighting in the Great Crusade. Khorne's followers went without saying. As for the marines of Tzeentch… they were basically still in the Great Crusade, having been turned to dust by the brilliant Ahriman himself. After their restoration, they were in a complete Great Crusade mindset. If Ahriman hadn't been holding them back, they would have charged into the fray with Zhou Ye's legions to fight the daemons.
So now, Ahriman felt a daze wash over him.
"Next, I must close both rifts simultaneously. You will guard me."
Looking at the Grey Knights who had formed a defensive perimeter around him, Ahriman took a deep breath, a surge of hot blood rising within him.
…
A short while earlier, on the battlefield, the power of Khorne permeated the sky.
"Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!"
With earth-shaking roars, a mountainous tide of Khornate daemons charged the main defensive line, heedless of their own losses. Yvraine, too, drew her weapon and joined the fight. After all, the Chaos Gods paid even more attention to her people than to humanity.
"Come! Abandon these common mortals and join us! You will obtain supreme glory!"
During the battle, the eyes of one of the Bloodthirsters suddenly turned a searing red. The creature's voice changed, and with it came a more ferocious assault, turning a situation that had been seven-to-three in Zhou Ye's favor into an even five-to-five.
"Well now. Decided to show up in person?" Zhou Ye was taken aback, watching the daemon that had suddenly become absurdly powerful. This was his first time directly communicating with a Chaos God. The other Bloodthirsters paused for a moment before slowly taking a step back, temporarily withdrawing from the fight.
"I am a human. From beginning to end, I am a member of the human race."
Facing Khorne, Zhou Ye was in no hurry. While the god's personal intervention was a bit of a surprise, it wasn't a major problem. Everything was proceeding according to his plan. A steady stream of reinforcements was on its way.
"Hahaha, join us! Your sons, your legion, they will all become the most glorious among us! Otherwise, they will all be slaughtered!!!" The Blood God's tempting voice echoed once more. Although he couldn't see Zhou Ye, he could judge the situation from the reactions of the other Bloodthirsters. His voice was now filled with seductive power.
With his personal descent, the entire battlefield erupted. The Khornate legions, already bolstered by his power, became even more frenzied, their assault causing the entire defensive line of the Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors to teeter on the brink of collapse.
"Khorne. Or should I call you Khârneth?"
Hearing Zhou Ye's words, Khorne paused for a moment. And then…
"Courage is the eternal hymn of humanity. But your minions are nothing but a pack of cowards. All their slaughter and frenzy are predicated on the knowledge that they cannot truly die. Now, look. There are those who face you and march willingly to their deaths. The Imperium has survived one millennium after another in this dark and desperate age precisely because of the sacrifice of such noble souls."
"You, Khorne, will never obtain true courage. What's more…"
Here, Zhou Ye slowly pointed to the sky. Seeing this, the other Bloodthirsters reacted in the same way. Khorne, following the gazes of his daemons, also looked up.
And then, everyone on the battlefield saw a meteor shower descending from the heavens.
"O Khorne, do you see it? The myriad stars that hold up the Imperium were all forged from the piled-up bones of the loyal and the brave. Do you truly know what honor is?"
"..."
Looking at the possessed daemon, Zhou Ye spoke slowly. It was something he was genuinely curious about. Did these Chaos Gods of the Warp even know what perfection was?
As expected, faced with Zhou Ye's sincere question, Khorne fell silent. The Blood God suppressed his rage. His power began to dissipate. It was impossible for him to use this vessel to fight Zhou Ye. He couldn't see Zhou Ye at all, making it impossible to control the Exalted Bloodthirster to engage him. Furthermore, Zhou Ye's words had left him speechless.
Don't you know what kind of trash your minions are? Sometimes, lies don't hurt, but the truth cuts deeper.
And Zhou Ye had unintentionally pointed something else out to Khorne: the bravest warriors in his service all seemed to be corrupted humans. No one else dared to say such a thing to him. His own minions were not qualified; if one of them dared to call his legions cowards, their end would not be pleasant. The other Chaos Gods certainly wouldn't say it. As for Angron… wasn't his true self the Butcher's Nails? Angron was just the wetware.
With the departure of the Blood God's will, the melee resumed. The meteor shower in the sky soon descended, accompanied by a large number of transport ships. The Star Rail network was now quite extensive. Simple Chaos corruption could no longer contain it. Besides, general Chaos corruption usually only prevented travel out, not in.
Although Khorne's will had departed, his residual power made the daemon legions even more ferocious.
But…
"May this journey lead to the stars! May humanity's glory be eternal!"
With war cries echoing from all directions, millions of reinforcements and the returning Space Marine companies began to slowly encircle the armies of Khorne and Tzeentch.
The battlefield grew even more intense. The first to suffer were the legions of Tzeentch. Although Khorne had been rebuffed by Zhou Ye, his anger toward Tzeentch had not dissipated. The Tzeentchian daemons finally buckled, especially with the battlefield so thoroughly suffused with the Blood God's blessing. As for Tzeentch… well, after throwing his forces here, he seemed to have lost interest. They were being suppressed, but they weren't as pathetic as the Keepers of Secrets. They ultimately managed to take four Bloodthirsters with them.
Then, having lost the support of their Lords of Change, the annihilation of the Tzeentchian legions was only a matter of time.
This struck Zhou Ye as very strange. It was as if they had come specifically to make a token appearance, to help him stall Khorne's army for a bit, and then clocked out as if their job was done. As for Ahriman, he was even more detached; his mind was entirely focused on his brothers, with no regard for the other Tzeentchian forces.
So, in this incredibly heated free-for-all, Tzeentch just came to make a cameo?
But regardless, the Tzeentchian forces had fulfilled their final duty. They had successfully bought enough time. With the meteor shower now landing, everyone knew that Zhou Ye's heavy fist was about to come crashing down on the Khornate host.
But they surely would not be afraid, for they had the blessing of the Blood God. They would charge into that palace, dig out whatever was inside, and give Zhou Ye a rude awakening.
"Wait, what is that?"
A Bloodthirster, having just banished a Lord of Change, paused in its slaughter. It had received a revelation from the Blood God.
Atop a high tower of the palace, a massive amount of psychic energy was surging toward the great rift. It was clear that someone was attempting to close the Warp rift. Once it was closed and they lost the direct protection of the Blood God's power, they would be like rootless duckweed, completely submerged by the vast army Zhou Ye was assembling.
So, this Bloodthirster leaped into the air, clearing several thousand meters in a blink. Like a cannonball, it aimed to sit squarely on a squad of Space Marines wearing distinctive black bat-like helmets.
SPLAT!!!
In an instant, a few unlucky marines were killed on impact. The others scrambled up from the ground, raising their blades to continue the desperate fight.
"Insects…" The Greater Daemon looked with contempt at this squad of obviously green recruits, a sinister smile spreading across its face.
But its smile quickly froze. In that instant, a shadow that chilled it to its very core enveloped it completely. Then, a being over four meters tall, with a deathly pale and terrifying face, emerged from within.
Seeing that figure, the Bloodthirster's blood-soaked mind went completely blank with pure, unadulterated confusion.
It looked at Zhou Ye, who was currently taking on eight of its brethren, then at the towering figure in blue armor before it.
Son of a bitch, how is there another Primarch here?
This was its last thought before its head was separated from its body.
ROAR!!!
Because of this, the remaining three Bloodthirsters saw Curze. They all immediately charged toward him. A grim and crazed expression appeared on Curze's face. As he fought, he also gathered the remaining hundred or so of his cubs—who were still dazed from being sat on by a Bloodthirster on their first-ever battlefield—into the safety of his shadow.
He had been following these little bats all along, using his power to covertly eliminate any daemons that threatened them. This was, frankly, the limit of what he could do. The area was already heavily distorted by Khorne's power. His own not-yet-fully-awakened Warp nature could not be freely unleashed. He was just a Primarch who had not fully awakened. And even if he were fully awakened, he would not be a higher-tier entity than Khorne. Under Khorne's power, his shadows could be easily torn apart.
Besides, Curze's specialty was not direct combat, but rather surprise attacks and ambushes. He had not revealed himself on the battlefield, instead choosing to cover the advance of his newborn Night Lords. And he had been quite successful. From the start of the charge until now, not a single one of these green recruits had suffered a casualty. He had been quite pleased… until a Bloodthirster had sat on them. The inexperienced group was thrown into disarray. A few unlucky ones were sent flying and were bisected in mid-air. It happened so fast that Curze couldn't even intervene.
In that moment, he exploded. A rage that even he couldn't comprehend filled him. Using his advantage of surprise, he tore that Bloodthirster to shreds. But just then, the other three Bloodthirsters charged him.
The strength of the Bloodthirsters who had survived to kill nine Lords of Change, despite their strange magic, was beyond question. And on this blood-soaked battlefield, their wounds healed in the blink of an eye. Only the ones wounded by Zhou Ye's golden sword, who had been stripped of a portion of their Warp power, still bore grievous injuries. So, this was the nature of fighting Khorne: either find a chance for a one-hit kill, or avoid direct confrontation as much as possible.
In an instant, Curze was thrown into a chaotic melee. These three Bloodthirsters, freshly empowered by Khorne's blessing after banishing the Lords of Change, put immense pressure on him, especially since he was not a specialist in siege warfare.
At the same time, atop the high tower.
Ahriman was dumbfounded. From his high vantage point, he could see everything clearly. Konrad Curze. Of course he knew that lunatic.
"How is there another Primarch hidden here!!!" A cold sweat ran down Ahriman's back. He might be the chosen champion of Tzeentch, but if Konrad Curze were to ambush him without his knowledge, not just him, but even his father, Magnus the Red, might not survive.
"Be careful! They're coming!" the Grey Knight Captain's voice rang out. At that moment, all of Khorne's aerial units and a large number of siege engines launched their attacks at their position. And what was being launched from the catapults were not boulders, but hordes of Khornate daemons.
---o---