Chapter 62: Is Broken!
"No! Why are you two here instead of on your own warships?" Francis demanded. "Are you two sick?"
Francis clutched his waist, looking at the two men acting like perverts: Ferrus and Perturabo.
"Sniff, sniff, hoooh ho-ho-hoo, this is the smell! Incredibly fresh oil! It must be the best oil!" Ferrus exclaimed, pressing against the wall of the Abyss Rage, inhaling deeply, completely intoxicated.
Taking out a measuring device, he checked every stress point on every corner of the battleship; all of them were just right. This was a brand new battleship that hadn't seen battle yet.
"Heh heh, Ferrus, you're so easily impressed! This little bit of a thing makes you so ecstatic?" Perturabo said, sitting in the captain's chair with a look of disdain.
Francis said nothing.
Since there were hardly any people left on Olympia, they went out to find a few fortunate planets to recruit soldiers.
Suddenly, on a desolate planet, they received a distress signal.
"Help! I am Yasona Gashina of the Black Ship Alliance, and I'm trapped here!" the voice called out. "There are... ali... aliens here..."
Francis immediately brightened. Experimental material delivered right to his doorstep!
"Let's go, save them! I'm the most warm-hearted!" Francis said, his eyes gleaming with curiosity, almost drooling.
Sizzle.
When they landed on the planet, they saw a vox-caster on the ground, emitting strange fluctuations. They searched around but found no one.
"Strange, there were clear signs of life just now, so why are there none now?" Ferrus muttered, continuously tapping the machine.
"Stop tapping, this thing is useless! Tapping it just makes it trash!" Perturabo said, waving his hand. "It's probably just someone's prank. We should move on quickly."
"Indeed, I got excited for nothing. How can these machines misjudge? This is insane!" Francis said, feeling annoyed. Who was so bored? If he found out, he'd beat them black and blue.
Suddenly, a transmission came through.
"Primarch, the Warmaster told us to stop bothering with Francis! Gather with him immediately," the Iron Warriors message said.
Hearing the message from the Iron Warriors, Perturabo looked at Francis with a strange expression. "What should we do? Should we decline him?" he asked.
At this, Francis's eyes narrowed into slits, and the corners of his mouth curved into a mad grin. "Heh heh, tell him you're going to find him right away," he said. "Tell him we'll be there very soon!"
Unfortunately, the Iron Warriors' astropath couldn't send messages. This was within Francis's expectations.
"It's fine, we'll go there. There's a Drukhari Webway entrance there. Entering the Webway will get us to Horus just as quickly," Francis explained.
Francis was already thinking about how to prank Horus, but Ferrus, hearing this, immediately felt something was off. "Why didn't you say before that you knew where the Webway entrance was?!" he demanded.
"You didn't ask me!" Francis said, waving his hands, looking somewhat innocent. "You just said we lost contact, not that we absolutely had to go back."
This was sophistry! This was twisted logic!
Ferrus was angry; he was furious! "Then we must return to Terra now! The Emperor's command cannot be disobeyed," he declared.
"Oh, why don't you understand? Horus is looking for him so urgently, he must be in big trouble. If we go now, it'll be an easy victory," Francis argued. "Successfully quell the rebellion, and you'll be the Warmaster."
At this, Ferrus suddenly felt that Francis was making a lot of sense.
"Let's do it, brother!" Ferrus agreed.
The fleet quickly arrived at the back of a planet, covered in thick dust, ruins, and corrupted matter. The climate was extremely harsh, with raging storms and toxic gases or radiation.
The architectural style of this Webway entrance was perhaps very ancient, made up of huge, broken metal gates, abandoned laser turrets, or dilapidated high-tech facilities. The entire entrance looked like it had been abandoned for a long time and was structurally unstable.
In short, it looked very unreliable.
"Is this really an Aeldari Webway? It looks like it's about to collapse!" Perturabo said, raising an eyebrow. From his professional technical knowledge, the entrance was on the verge of collapse.
"There's no other choice, this is the closest one. The other one is too far, it would take years to get there," Francis replied. "It's not unusable!"
Francis drank the Drukhari blood and began to twist the strange symbols on the gate. "First three turns left, then three turns right, then twist here..." he muttered.
Seeing Francis's focused expression, they also felt that he was indeed onto something.
Finally, the gate lit up, and Francis quickly returned to the ship.
Buzz, buzz, buzz.
Accompanied by a strong light, a huge aerial portal opened. All the warships quickly flew in. Shortly after they entered, the device on the ground collapsed with a roar.
Everything was so coincidental. As they entered the Webway, unlike the chaotic and disordered Warp, this place was like a gigantic spiderweb, with countless conduits leading in completely different directions.
One direction glowed with a golden light. Just as Francis was about to exclaim how familiar this golden light was, a large golden figure walked toward them.
"Hm? Why did you all come in too?" the Emperor asked.
Francis "...No! Oh Shit!!"
Perturabo "..."
Ferrus's eyes widened in shock.
Francis's silence, Perturabo's resistance and awe, and Ferrus's joy all became apparent. Indeed, the joys and sorrows of people are not the same.
The Emperor said nothing, merely grabbed the warships with his hand and dragged them toward Terra.
Along the way, Perturabo wore a betrayed expression, looking painfully at Francis. He said nothing, but Francis understood everything.
"No, you can't blame me for this! How was I supposed to know it would be such a coincidence?!" Francis protested.
There was no way to resist! Francis suddenly felt as if ten thousand Ultramarines were charging in his heart.
In the blink of an eye, they arrived at Terra. This Webway was truly convenient! It's just, it would have been better if they hadn't run into the Emperor.
Returning to Terra, this was Francis's third time back here.
They saw Magnus still sitting on the Golden Throne, greeting them warmly. "Hey! You're here too! That's great!" he said.
At the same time, Leman Russ, the Primarch of the Space Wolves, and Vulkan, the Primarch of the Salamanders, also stood there. Including them, six Primarchs were now present.
"I know all about the other matters. This rebellion should end now!" the Emperor announced.
The Emperor's voice was still so benevolent, but it sounded so chillingly cold.
The Emperor merely clenched his hand, and a terrifying psychic wave suppressed everyone to the ground.
When the pressure dissipated, they heard Horus's impotent roar of fury from the depths of their souls.
At this moment, Francis watched the scene with immense shock. Was this the Emperor's power?
No matter how unwilling Perturabo was, he could only lower his head. Just as everyone was leaving to prepare, the Emperor's voice came again.
"Francis, stay for a moment," the Emperor said.
Hearing this, the others showed envious looks, but Francis was a little confused. However, to be safe, he decided to be polite first.
"Oh! Great Father, is there something you need from me?" Francis asked.
"You have performed excellently. You do not fear Chaos. You can hold your own. Do you have any wishes?" the Emperor said. "I can promise to help you fulfill them."
Francis looked at the Emperor with confusion.
He was still as kind and benevolent as ever, but something felt a little strange...
"What's wrong, my child? Don't you want to be the Warmaster?" the Emperor asked. "Or perhaps, you wish to become the ruler of the Imperium of Man? I can give you this position."
At this, Francis's brow furrowed tighter and tighter. This strong sense of incongruity made him instinctively shout out.
"You are not the Emperor! That old geezer would never be willing to do such a thing," Francis declared.
"If I became the ruler of the Imperium, humanity would surely enter a dark technological age again. How could the Emperor agree?!"
Magnus, sitting high on the Golden Throne, immediately became incredibly tense and quickly said, "Francis, you are too rude! How can you speak to Father like that? Apologize quickly! Otherwise, I can't save you!"
"No, no, no! You are also fake. The real Magnus, upon hearing this, would only give me a thumbs-up," Francis said.
He shrugged, looked directly at the Emperor, and even walked step by step toward him.
"Impudent! Francis, are you mad? Do you know what you are doing?!" Magnus shouted. "This is treason! I don't want to destroy you anymore!"
Hearing the commotion, Leman Russ, Ferrus, Vulkan, and Perturabo returned, all looking at the scene with immense disappointment.
"Eliminate everyone he has ever seen," the Emperor commanded.
At this, Francis frowned, and then he heard many explosions and shouts.
Rumble.
"Save me, Primarch!" voices cried out.
"Save me, Primarch!"
Not long after, a group of Custodians walked in, carrying countless heads, not even sparing the Astra Militarum soldier who had fired at him. They were thrown before Francis, forming a small mountain.
The topmost head was Sarpedon, who looked at Francis with immense confusion. "Why... why... why betray... us..." he gasped.
Although Francis knew this must be fake, his heart still felt a sharp pang.
This wasn't enough. Even Angron was dragged over. "What are you doing? Let me go! Let me go quickly!" he shouted.
Several Primarchs held down Angron, as several Tech-Priests brought countless Butcher's Nails, implanting them one by one into his skull.
Angron roared in immense pain. "Kill me! Kill me quickly! Let me die! Let me die! Ah ah ah ah ah!"
Francis was even forcibly held by people whose identities he couldn't discern, their hands prying open his eyes to make him stare closely at how Angron's brain struggled little by little.
Francis angrily struggled against their restraints, constantly roaring. "Let me go! Let me go!"
The moment he broke free, his right hand plunged directly into his heart, then with a pull, he tore out a chunk of flesh. Then, accompanied by piercing pain, he collapsed to the ground in agony.
"Careless! Turns out I have no heart!" Francis gasped.
Meanwhile, the others watched him coldly, writhing in pain on the ground.
His face pale from pain, Francis looked up and saw Leman Russ's axe. He lunged toward it, shouting, "I refuse to believe this won't let me out!"
This time, it didn't hurt!
[End of Chapter]