Chapter 434: All of This Will End
War is eternal, even when the colliding tides are fueled by bitterness rather than purpose. Yet, under the relentless hammering of orbital bombardment, the distinction between right and wrong ceases to matter.
Inertia is a terrifying force. When one side chooses suppression by violence, and the other chooses resistance by violence, the tension only escalates until it snaps.
However, on the surface of this planet, amidst the tsunami of destruction, countless small tributaries began to break free from the control of conspiracy and emotion. Leaving the crashing waves behind, they started to converge into a new, unstoppable force.
Azrael, Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels, ascended the winding staircase steadily, his heavy boots sinking into dust so thick it felt like carpet.
He had trekked several kilometers through a daze, traversing a massive hall and navigating the labyrinthine interior of this ancient fortress. Even though they stood upon a world wrapped in legend, the sheer scale of the architecture was breathtaking.
The entire Legion could not fill it.
Even where they gathered, the emptiness stretched out in all directions, their footsteps echoing into the void. Stormbirds drifted through the internal hangars, docking in maintenance bays. Massive stockpiles of ordnance sat in the loading zones, waiting for the lifts to carry them to the launch cradles.
Azrael reached his destination: the observation tower on the western wall of the fortress.
As he slowly entered the command center, twelve Deathwing Terminators—who had arrived ahead of him—saluted in unison. Dozens of Neophytes were working at the auspex stations, expertly operating instruments that would be considered holy relics in the 41st Millennium. Azrael's technical knowledge struggled to comprehend the ancient tech, but it didn't seem to hinder their work.
"Look at that. Our Supreme Grand Master looks like he's seen a ghost."
From amidst the gathering knights, the distinct figure of Kay emerged.
"I am merely... surprised."
Azrael shook his head, brushing off Kay's attempt to clap him on the shoulder.
"I did not expect your memoirs to be... well—"
Recalling Kay's rather exaggerated personal logs, Azrael chose his words carefully.
"—I did not expect them to be so grounded in reality."
Truth be told, the Lion's state had terrified him.
Since completing the historical archives, they thought they understood the Lion better.
Azrael hadn't truly understood until he experienced it firsthand.
Certainly, the Lion's motives were simple, and his demands on himself were practical. But his demands on others were utterly unrealistic.
Every carefully planned assassination attempt by the Dark Angels was merely a post-meal diversion for the Lion. Yet, a sudden burst of the Lion's temper could easily claim the life of a loyal son.
And then there was the most serious issue.
"The Lion has always been unfathomable," Kay sighed.
Although a certain someone often joked about 'Flying Head Punches,' making many Dark Angels flush with anger, historically, only that idiot Nemiel had actually lost his head. To the Lion, it was an unfortunate accident. To the Dark Angels, it was the straw that broke the camel's back.
The Lion thought: 'I was too impulsive. I shouldn't have done that. It won't happen again.'
The Dark Angels thought: 'We're doomed. The Lion's temper is becoming impossible to predict. How are we supposed to survive this?'
The gap in perception between father and sons had created a chasm that was only widening.
"Reality is often more absurd than fiction," someone added.
"Indeed," Kay nodded in agreement.
The speaker was a Terran-born Knight-Captain named Merian, whom Kay and his team had rescued from the dungeons of the Angelicasta.
Ever since Luther was stripped of command for unauthorized involvement in the Zaramund campaign during the Great Crusade, the power struggle on Caliban had been constant.
Luther had been consolidating power. Astelan, conspiring with him, had murdered several Terran commanders who remained staunchly loyal to the Lion, forming a secret cabal. Merian, a captain under Astelan's command, had been betrayed by his superior and imprisoned deep within the fortress along with three colleagues.
Kay had to thank Merian's temper. Even with his high rank in the 30k era, he was easily ostracized by the cliques.
This meant few paid attention to the isolated captain, allowing Kay to act without hindrance the moment they crossed the rift.
Azrael followed the voice.
Merian pointed to a massive circular screen. Though obscured by dust and debris falling from the ceiling, it was still functional. The screen displayed chaotic images. Kay turned, narrowing his eyes, and walked up beside Azrael to decipher the feed.
"The surface can be roughly divided into three factions," Kay explained as he cycled through the feeds.
"First, the Cabal formed by Luther and Astelan. Aphkar has led a strike team into the Angelicasta, but we still haven't pinpointed those two bastards. Second is the Lion. You saw him earlier; he has no intention of hiding, and we can't stop him. We have agents among the Paladins—Alpharius provided psychic veils to mask our presence."
"Finally, there's us. Before we established contact with you, I used my clearance to release some of the commanders Luther had imprisoned. Merian is one of them."
Kay's height hadn't changed; the time travel hadn't stripped him of the power granted by the Lord of Knights. The heraldry of the Named Knight on his Artificer Mk X power armor and the ceremonial sword at his waist still shone brilliantly.
"I know I've said this many times, but I must say it again: if the encryption keys hadn't matched, I would have thought I was hallucinating."
Merian was still adjusting to Kay's size, involuntarily taking a step back before looking at the unfamiliar brother.
When they first met, Merian had resisted, but he was incapacitated in a single exchange, leaving him with the illusion that he was facing a Thunder Warrior.
Then Kay presented a plan. Merian realized that if he didn't want to rot in a cell, he had to obey.
Though he wasn't sure if this plan harbored another conspiracy, for now, at least the northern sector of Aldurukh was a rare sanctuary.
"This is a miracle," Kay replied, then turned to Azrael.
"Preliminary checks are complete. Four individuals, including His Highness, whose gear was directly modified by him, are unaffected by the temporal shift. Lord Cypher's knights, however, have reverted completely to their 10,000-year-old state."
Azrael nodded, taking control of the command network and beginning to consolidate the scattered units with greater efficiency.
Merian raised an eyebrow again.
His Highness? Which Highness?
"What is the status of the Neophytes?" Azrael glanced at a dataslate.
The ratio of veterans to neophytes on Caliban was roughly one to four. The Terran-born were actually a minority.
Arthur commanded nearly twenty thousand Dark Angels from ten thousand years ago—about a third of the forces on Caliban at the time.
"Concentration in progress. Gareth is handling it, along with civilian evacuation," Kay replied, then shook his head. "But the combat zones are too entangled. These boys grew up under Luther's influence, and the Lion's actions are undoubtedly pushing them to the other side."
"A failure of leadership on the Lion's part," someone commented sharply.
Luther's resentment fueled the Lion's rage, and the Lion's rage was physically tearing Caliban apart.
Do not wage war in anger.
A crew member operating the anti-air defenses gripped the controls, staring nervously at the sky, filled with bitterness.
If only the Lion had broadcast a message to the surface. Who the hell knew Luther fired first? They couldn't just stand there and get bombed. The Lion's global strike had practically kicked everyone into Luther's camp.
Resistance was just a way to avoid dying for no reason.
"Luther, that damn bastard!" Kay gritted his teeth.
That man understood the Lion too well. In this era, only Luther knew the Lion's true face.
But while the Lion's abstract decisions during the Heresy were indeed questionable, Luther's exploitation of those traits for his own conspiracy was the height of depravity.
Regardless, when Kay was chopping wood in the forests of Caliban, he might have wished the logs were the Lion's head, but he never once thought of using Chaos to seek revenge.
"Belphegor, is the link stable?" Azrael ignored the complaints he couldn't really weigh in on and asked the Chief Librarian.
"Link stable. Second wave has connected. Do you need a physical signal relay for His Highness?"
"Connect it!"
Azrael immediately sought his anchor.
"Azrael, report."
A voice that sounded exaggeratedly young to Merian's ears rang out.
It made him look surprised.
Azrael quickly summarized the intel he had gathered, switched the screen feed, and continued:
"—Just moments ago, Galahad secured control over a portion of the Dark Angels fleet. The aerial threat in the northern sector has been completely neutralized."
Chaos was imminent, and hearts were wavering. Such a calm voice indeed had the power to stabilize morale.
With a suitable leader present, the Dark Angels knew what action to take.
"Is this... dishonorable?"
Sammael looked at the anesthetic gas filling the compartments like fog, and the Dark Angels they had tricked into gathering using the Lion's codes. He wiped his bloody sword.
It was still many against one.
This felt a bit underhanded.
"Do you think we conquered the galaxy with honor? You whelps are all the same."
Galahad, who had returned from the surface after breaking away from the Lion's command, snorted. He sent a comms burst to Azrael, then led his knights toward the bridge of the Invincible Reason, ordering his men to guard the Exterminatus weaponry in groups of three.
"Get me Corswain. I know he's back too. Have the fleet assume defensive posture and reduce bombardment frequency."
The power from the future was invisibly turning the tide of battle.
They knew exactly what they were doing, and what they must not do.
"What are our orders?"
"End the conflict. Save lives. Then drag out the culprit."
Three simple steps.
Their return was to prevent this tragedy and break the enemy's plot.
"Well done. You have done well, warriors."
Hearing Azrael's report, Arthur released the hilt of his sword, leaned on the table with one hand, and spoke:
"The passage is stable. I can teleport. Until then, prioritize your own safety."
Ramesses had already secured Tuchulcha and the Plagueheart; his understanding of the battlefield was clear.
Nurgle's power was lurking, ready to erupt. The conflict on Caliban continued under Luther's indulgence. Clearly, Luther was succeeding for now, and the Lion was still controlled by his rage. The defensive lines formed by the chaotic units were on the verge of collapse.
He needed to solve these problems.
Arthur nodded to Ramesses, then turned to leave.
He was pleased.
The talk of Exterminatus had been nothing more than verbal venting, a reaction to trauma. No one had acted on it, attempting to destroy everything with absolute violence.
They understood his orders. They understood the meaning behind his explanations. They chose to obey.
The Dark Angels had verified the reliability of time travel themselves; now, no one would try to stop him.
This was mutual trust.
The trust he had spent decades carefully building, holding it in his hands like a fragile bird.
"Received, Your Highness!"
"Caliban welcomes your arrival."
Merian looked around, his eyes filled with surprise and curiosity, mirroring the expressions of the other rescued members. Kay, who had been furious a moment ago, suddenly laughed out loud, returning to the screen to adjust parameters.
"This is even better," he muttered to himself.
"Better than better. No need for a pep talk. We couldn't finish them off back then, so we'll settle it here."
No one could be indifferent to what happened on Caliban. The tragedy here stoked Kay's fury, but it would not make him lose his composure.
"We are the saviors. Under the leadership of the Dawnbreakers, we fight for humanity, to undo the tragedies clinging to its body."
Kay took a deep breath.
The oath had been sworn, and he was determined to follow it. He would go all out to fulfill his vow.
"Who is this 'Highness' of yours?" Merian couldn't help but ask.
"You'll know soon enough," Kay's grin widened uncontrollably.
"Just wait and see."
He amplified the signal generator.
"All of this will end. We will drag the true enemy into the light."
The Warp
The entire northwest quadrant was plated in a sickly, deep green hue.
This was not the fire of radiation weaponry, but the light of Nurgle's domain within the Empyrean, sweeping through the Warp tides like a tsunami, pushing the fleet forward.
Ships tumbled and roared within the currents. Ahead of the barely visible orbital plates were atmospheric support fighters, emerging from hell itself, turbines spinning at maximum to evade the lethal turbulence.
Beneath Typhus's feet, the massive fleet continued at full speed, sailing along the attack vector opened for them by the Plague God. Bloated ships carrying the Death Guard surrounded the Terminus Est like fish escorting a whale.
"The First Legion," Typhus whispered.
He allowed himself a moment of pleasure in this respite, admiring the magnificent view before him.
The Horus Heresy was over. They were fleeing in disgrace under the counterattack of the Ultramarines, while the Dark Angels were tearing themselves in half in a senseless civil war.
"Let the fleet advance according to the Grandfather's guidance," he said, rising from his command throne, addressing his Navigator.
"Let us see how far this path will take us."
☆☆☆
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
-> FOR EVERY 400 PS = BOUNS CHAPTER
☆☆☆
-> 30 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you