Chapter 68: Good at Exorcism
In an instant, the atmosphere became deadly tense.
Sanguinius regarded the massive battleship before him with extreme vigilance. From its appearance, he could discern the style of the Adeptus Mechanicus, yet it was mixed with the crude wildness of the Orks.
Although the vessel had been a great help, its crew were xenos. The Imperium did not tolerate xenos.
"All warriors, attend!" Sanguinius commanded, his voice heavy with sorrow. "Eliminate the Ork xenos!"
"Yes, my lord!"
The Blood Angels who were still conscious prepared for battle.
"Wait!"
Francis raised his hand. Evidently, Orks who could speak human language were quite rare. The Blood Angels looked back at Sanguinius.
He nodded, then skillfully twirled his blade and sheathed it.
"Remarkable Ork, state your purpose. Perhaps I can persuade my father to accept you as vassals of the Imperium."
At this moment, there was no trace of his previous fury. All Francis could see was humility, loyalty, and that impossibly handsome face.
Bang!
Francis, leading four thousand Soul Drinkers transformed into Ork Boyz, leaped from the battleship and landed heavily on the ground.
Sanguinius had not expected such a uniformly equipped Ork legion. This indicated their leader was extraordinary. He felt a grudging admiration.
Then their following actions left Sanguinius bewildered, they produced vials of crimson blood and drank them all.
That was the Soul Drinkers' own blood, an emergency contingency Francis had devised after being beaten repeatedly and learning hard lessons.
Francis made a sound. "Tsk." The blood was exceptionally sweet. He needed to cut down on sugar recently.
The originally calm Sanguinius and the Blood Angels nearly had their eyes burst from their sockets when they witnessed the Orks gradually transform back into human form.
"Who are you?" Sanguinius demanded. "And why do you wear Imperial power armor?"
"It's me! The Eleventh Primarch, Francis! Think about it, how many of your brothers are as beautiful as you?"
Francis gestured to his warriors. "They are my sons, the Soul Drinkers Legion."
He introduced himself again, feeling quite tired of this routine.
Sanguinius remained silent.
There was no other way. Francis explained everything, from the Webway to Magnus, then from Magnus to Angron, and finally from Angron to Horus and Perturabo.
It took over two hours before Sanguinius roughly understood.
"So Father is currently safe?" Sanguinius noticed something crucial. "Then why isn't he taking action?"
Francis shrugged, indicating he didn't know either. Perhaps the Angel could ask the Emperor himself.
It was at this moment that the Red Angel, having recovered somewhat, continued to mock them. "Hehehe~ As long as you don't embrace Chaos, your descendants will never escape the Black Rage."
"They will eventually be destroyed, and you will lose everything! Hehehehe~"
After speaking, he prepared to die and return his soul to the warp. This was merely a possessed body. If the body died, he would simply return to the warp. Kill him? Impossible, at least, these mortals couldn't completely destroy him.
"Kill him! Avenge Carlos!"
"Kill!"
The other Blood Angels, hearing this, felt their eyes redden with rage. Just as they surged forward—
Francis ran over, shouting, "Stop! You won't kill him this way, you'll only banish him back to the warp!"
"How do you know?" Sanguinius asked, puzzled. "Do you have expertise in these matters?"
"What kind of question is that? Your foolish younger brother has a little research in this field." Francis grinned. "Did he possess one of your warriors?"
Seeing them nod, Francis continued. "Then he cannot die. How about this, a torture device I designed... no, no, a healing device!"
"Have your Librarian treat him with psychic healing. Otherwise, it would be a shame if he died prematurely."
The Blood Angels' Librarian looked at Sanguinius, bewildered. They only acted after the Primarch agreed.
"Heh heh~ I didn't expect the great Sanguinius would believe such nonsense," the Red Angel taunted. "I don't know what the Blood God saw in you!"
"When I recover, I'll kill you first. I'll offer your head to the Blood God so others know who is truly worthy of being chosen."
The daemon continued his mockery, making the nearby Blood Angels grit their teeth in fury. Fortunately, the Soul Drinkers were trying to calm them down. After speaking quietly to them, the Blood Angels quickly settled.
An hour later, Francis wheeled out a square mechanical box with robotic arms attached.
His eyes gleamed with excitement as he regarded the Red Angel like a rare specimen. "Hehehe, it's done. Put him in."
"What does this device do?" Sanguinius and the Blood Angels looked confused.
"Ah, this? I call it the Daemon Corrector 1.0 Blood God Exclusive Edition."
Looking at Francis's sincere expression, they became even more puzzled. Francis continued his explanation.
"Once a daemon is placed inside, this device will, at fixed intervals, sever the daemon's limbs, extract the daemon's tongue, and use specialized clamps to hold the daemon's eyes open, forcing him to constantly watch content we've prepared about truth, goodness, and beauty."
"Things like Teletubbies, stories from the Analects, and beautiful fairy tales, to make them fully understand the beauty of this world."
Blood Angels: "..."
Sanguinius: "..."
When they heard the first half, they thought Francis was being cruel. When they heard the second half, they were simply confused.
However, the Red Angel, hearing this, immediately felt a chill run down his spine. He desperately screamed, "No! Don't come near me!"
"Don't come near me!"
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah~"
The moment the Red Angel was placed inside, an incredibly bloody scene unfolded before them.
However, what they found most incomprehensible was that the daemon's greatest agony came from watching the video playing inside the box, several babies playing innocently together.
He seemed to be collapsing so quickly.
"What is the principle behind this?" Sanguinius asked, shocked. "How can it cause him such pain?"
"Who was he possessing, and what was his name?" Francis didn't answer directly, but asked in return.
"Carlos."
"Oh! Understood."
After hearing this, Francis approached the daemon, his eyes gleaming with mad determination. "Hehe~ Don't worry, I won't let you die. If you're seriously injured, we'll treat you. We'll make you keep watching, until you return Carlos to us."
"Hehehe~ Don't even think about self-destructing. If there's any psychic anomaly, our countermeasures will only make you suffer more."
Upon hearing this, the Red Angel's eyes widened. He hadn't expected such a person!
Why hadn't he fallen to Chaos? Didn't the Lord of Excess care?
He wanted to speak, but his tongue was gone. He could only grunt constantly. Francis, thinking he was still being stubborn, simply shut the container, enveloping the daemon in even more truth, goodness, and beauty.
Watching the distant Red Angel constantly grunting in what seemed like excitement, yet refusing to yield, Francis couldn't help but sigh.
"As expected of a daemon sent to corrupt Sanguinius, his will is truly resilient!"
When he turned around, he saw the Blood Angels standing dumbfounded. Sanguinius walked over, placed a hand on his shoulder, and spoke gently.
"Thank you, truly. Otherwise, I don't know when I would have encountered him again."
This temperament, although a bit short of the Emperor's, was quite close! No wonder the other Primarchs got along so well with him. He was truly a good person.
"Francis, how did you come to be here?" Sanguinius looked at him with a smile. "Who told you we were here?"
Hearing this, Francis's expression became strange. He couldn't possibly admit that he was just racing through the warp and accidentally fell out, could he?
Sanguinius saw his unspoken difficulty and continued. "It's alright if you don't say. Regardless, this crisis is over, and we should return to Terra."
"You probably can't go back now. The warp storm has already separated the Ultima Segmentum from the Imperium."
Hearing this, Sanguinius became even more curious. "Then how did you get here?"
Francis wanted to scratch his head awkwardly. He looked back at the Soul Drinkers who were resting, still retaining some Ork features. He knew the Soul Drinkers couldn't undergo gene transformation indefinitely like him. He still needed to observe their subsequent recovery.
After much thought, Francis finally said, "We can't attempt such a dangerous crossing again right now. In reality, we don't even know how long we've been drifting."
"How about we first try to rendezvous with other legions nearby, and then figure out a way to cross together?"
Hearing this, Sanguinius realized he had been too eager. "You're right. But without the Astronomican, we don't know how to find the others."
Hearing this, Francis grinned and pointed to the sky. "Try to feel it. Can you sense something guiding you forward?"
If Francis remembered correctly, Guilliman should have already established the Pharos lighthouse beacon by now.
Sanguinius concentrated, and he truly detected the beacon!
He looked at Francis, utterly shocked. It seemed there were many mysteries about this brother.
"Don't be surprised," Francis said with a smirk. "What I'm best at is healing!"
[End of Chapter]