Gazing at the display of religious terror, Zhou Ye was certain of one thing: the only person who could pull a stunt like this right under his nose was Konrad Curze.
Of course, the legendary First Captain of the Night Lords might also be capable of it, but that man was supposedly in the custody of the Dark Angels, and it was highly unlikely they would release him. That left only one possibility: the Night Haunter, Konrad Curze, had arrived.
Zhou Ye wasn't the least bit surprised that this figure, who was supposed to have died ten thousand years ago, had reappeared. After all, if even Sanguinius, who had been beaten to a pulp, had a chance of coming back, the return of a mere Konrad Curze was nothing.
Moreover, Zhou Ye could confirm one thing: the man had definitely held back. The unlucky Word Bearers had clearly just been knocked unconscious, not killed. Considering his track record on Macragge, it seemed that, much like Perturabo, ten thousand years had done much to quell his internal torment.
As for how his opponent had found him, Zhou Ye could guess with his eyes closed. He had most likely snuck aboard one of his ships. With so many of his people running around the galaxy, a Primarch could certainly find a way to slip through undetected. Zhou Ye wasn't surprised by this. The only thing that irked him was that the Golden Fiend was playing dirty, throwing a Primarch at him directly.
"My Lord!!!"
Just then, Ashira rushed over with a contingent of troops. It was clear from a glance that every one of them was clad in master-crafted power armor. This was Zhou Ye's honor guard, and they too had seen the warning.
"Comparing against the archives, the intruder is the former Eighth Primarch, Konrad Curze."
"A Fallen Primarch?" the two Word Bearers exclaimed in alarm. As high-achieving graduates from Macragge, they were all too familiar with this particular Primarch.
"He was a traitor, not fallen. And a man who could face his own death so calmly is not someone those creatures can be compared to." Zhou Ye shook his head, then waved his hand, signaling for everyone to calm down.
Honestly, while he wasn't afraid, having a Primarch who specialized in stealth and assassination playing hide-and-seek with him would be a genuine pain to track down. However, although the opponent had come with malicious intent, he clearly wasn't seeking a fight to the death. He was being much gentler than he had been on Macragge.
"Initiate a planetary scan. Can we find any trace of him?"
Zhou Ye opened a projection. In orbit, the massive form of his flagship, the Hyperion, slowly materialized and began a global scan.
"Captain, I have found an anomalous shadow. Based on the comparisons provided by your memory, this should be the stage Konrad Curze has prepared for you."
"Interesting."
A small smile played on Zhou Ye's lips. For the past few years, he had adopted an extremely conservative plan: lay low and develop his power base. He was starting to feel his bones go stiff from the inactivity. Now, this single opponent charging in alone was the perfect opportunity to stretch his limbs. He refused to believe this could possibly escalate into another massive clusterfuck.
Zhou Ye wasn't in a hurry. He would wait for Curze to finish setting up his stage before he made his move. In the meantime, he began to mobilize his resources. He was going to devise a plan specifically for capturing Konrad Curze. It would be a nice way to loosen up his muscles. It was clear Curze hadn't brought Chaos with him, and this was his home turf. He refused to believe it could turn into a massive brawl.
---o---
Meanwhile, in another part of Zhou Ye's palace, within the Memory Battlefield.
CLANG! CRASH! CRUNCH!
With a series of violent impacts, five Nurgle-themed Chaos Marines shattered into pieces before a Space Marine clad in dazzling, master-crafted power armor. Their bodies then dissolved into pure Imaginary energy, which was reabsorbed by the surrounding devices. This was the special training chamber Zhou Ye had created. The computer would generate opponents based on memory data, printing them out of pure Imaginary energy. Once killed, they would revert to their base energy state, making the consumption rate almost negligible. This was a required training course for both his Space Marines and Solar Auxilia.
This kind of near-perfect one-to-one combat simulation was impossible for any other chapter. To gain such experience, they had to pay with lives. Those who survived gained the experience; those who died were just dead, often without even their gene-seed being recovered.
Kenn Harden (Imperial Fists), Project Score: 35,245.
And just below it was another name.
Charles Hill (Iron Warriors), Project Score: 35,232.
"Just a little short, but..." A pleased smile touched the Space Marine's lips. He immediately took out his data-slate. "To my brother from the Iron Warriors, my score has surpassed yours."
He didn't forget to trash-talk his battle-brother, who was also a member of the honor guard. Then, he looked up at the top of the leaderboard.
Ashira Haqq (Emperor's Children), Project Score: 42,151.
A look of aspiration filled Kenn's face. It was common knowledge that a standard Astartes underwent nineteen surgical procedures, and a Primaris Marine underwent twenty-two. But for them, the honor guard, there was a chance to undergo a twenty-third surgery. This procedure was performed by their master himself, but the slots were extremely limited, often only one every year or two. In the absence of a major war, the only way to earn this right was through scoring high in these assessments, known as the Memory Battlefield and the Abyssal Battlefield.
As someone born on Trailblaze, the so-called Emperor was just a figure to be paid lip service to. Their true master was that great being. He had risen above his fellow battle-brothers and joined My Lord's honor guard. Now, the only way for him to advance further was to crush all his brothers in the scoreboards. Then, My Lord himself would perform the twenty-third surgery on him, and he would be able to better devote himself to his master.
But just then…
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Heh, did that get under your skin?"
Looking at his phone, he had expected a flurry of angry messages from his rival. To his surprise, it was an emergency assembly order.
He had no time for anything else. He quickly gathered his things and rushed out of the time-acceleration room, only to find the entire palace ringing with alarms. He immediately headed for the designated assembly point.
Ashira, captain of the honor guard, now standing over three meters tall, was already waiting there, clad in ornate black and gold armor. Around him stood three other similarly massive figures. My Lord's honor guard was assembling.
"A former fallen... hmm, a traitor Primarch has infiltrated Trailblaze," Ashira said calmly to the assembled warriors. He had instinctively started to say "fallen Primarch," but after recalling Zhou Ye's words, he quickly corrected himself.
He had seen two Primarchs. The mere sight of Mortarion, who had destroyed his homeworld, had sent a chill down his spine. During the battle with Fulgrim, he hadn't even been qualified to face him; he couldn't even defeat one of Fulgrim's lieutenants. So, hearing this news put him on high alert. If this weren't Zhou Ye's stronghold, he would have considered calling for an Exterminatus. On edge, he had chosen to summon everyone. The only unfortunate thing was that the Dreadnoughts were all out with their respective companies and were not present.
So when Zhou Ye emerged in his own wargear, he was taken aback by the scene before him.
"What kind of stunt are you all pulling?"
Looking at the fully assembled honor guard, who had even dragged the new recruits out of training, Zhou Ye was at a loss for words. Konrad Curze's methods were terrifying, but his initial kills usually relied on his precognition. While Zhou Ye could perceive changes in the Warp, he was fundamentally a "null" entity within it. In this regard, none of his subordinates could compare; their gene-seed created ripples in the Warp, no matter how faint.
Curze's prophecies wouldn't work on him, so he wasn't particularly afraid. Since that was the case, and the man was clearly looking for a one-on-one duel, it was a perfect chance to stretch his muscles. After several years of handling paperwork, he was getting rusty. His plan this whole time had been simple: low-key development. He hadn't gone out looking for trouble. Now was a good time to find a worthy opponent and test himself.
And here his men were, calling a general assembly. It baffled him. Bringing more people against that guy was useless. Zhou Ye had originally planned to go alone.
"My Lord, we are willing..."
"Forget it. You are not to enter the area. And all new recruits, return to your training. This is not a battle for survival." Zhou Ye nodded, then dismissed the neophytes. "Go."
"Yes, my Lord..."
---o---
"My brother, when will you arrive? This place is simply marvelous."
Konrad Curze was hidden within a vast expanse of shadow. The terrain was unique; below him lay the planet's second-largest city. The entire city, with its millions of inhabitants, was now trapped in a nightmare. There was no threat to their lives; Curze was mainly afraid that Zhou Ye would simply resort to orbital bombardment. If Zhou Ye was truly shameless enough to do that, Curze would have to resort to his own special methods.
In truth, he was now more curious about the people here. Every single person's actions were outside his predictions. The Emperor saw Astartes as grey-white figures through the lens of the Warp, unable to "stain" them with color. If he couldn't stain them, then neither could the other powers of the Warp directly corrupt them. If Curze could see the people here, he would have a similar finding.
After Zhou Ye had "stained" them with Imaginary energy, a part of their souls had been incorporated into the Imaginary system. The Chaos Gods could no longer corrupt them at will; at most, they could overwhelm them and turn them into Chaos Spawn. In other words, the people living here had an extremely high resistance to the Warp, to the point of being practically immune due to their own mundane weakness. They had already been indiscriminately "corrupted" by Zhou Ye. If he were to add another layer of his influence, they might be twisted into various Imaginary monsters. If Chaos were to then add its influence, they would just become Chaos Spawn.
As a result, their very existence in the Warp flickered in and out, making Konrad Curze's prophecies extremely inaccurate.
He found this fascinating, so much so that he had almost forgotten the mission his father had given him. The future here was invisible to him, and he found it utterly intriguing.
VMMMM...
The roar of engines filled the air. Countless flyers were now circling overhead. One by one, Astartes jumped out. Even Curze couldn't help but frown at the four leading figures. They were incredibly tall, a full three meters, towering over even a standard Astartes, no different from a Custodian. Their armor was also visibly different, lacking the standard power pack.
If the armor of Zhou Ye's standard honor guard was master-crafted, then these few were something else entirely. They were no longer wearing conventional power armor. As Zhou Ye had fused his own genes and special Honkai factors into their biology, their bodies had undergone a dramatic transformation. Their Black Carapaces had been expelled by their powerful regenerative abilities, and their gene-seed had fully merged with their new genetics. If they were to remove their armor, one would see they lacked the interface ports required for standard power armor. This wasn't as obvious with Ashira, who had been Zhou Ye's first MANTIS warrior, but a second surgery had fully perfected him. The others had received the perfected procedure from the start. Not only had they grown taller, but their interface ports had vanished.
In the end, Zhou Ye had simply gone to his basement, pulled the Custodian he'd captured out of stasis, knocked him out again, and then appropriated his entire suit of armor. He had then reverse-engineered it, changed the color scheme, and hand-crafted a few more sets for these elite warriors. The cost was so exorbitant that even he winced thinking about it. If he hadn't found a good amount of rare metals in the Space Hulk, it would have been a real problem. The price tag on the Custodes' gear was no joke.
But the increase in combat effectiveness was substantial. They even met the conditions for him to link with them directly through Imaginary space. Now, if he wanted them to do something, the command was sent with a single thought.
These elite warriors did not enter the city. Instead, they surrounded it from all sides. Then, Konrad Curze watched as the ramp of the final flyer slowly lowered. A four-meter-tall figure in black armor, holding a golden sword, descended from the sky and landed squarely in the middle of his prepared battlefield.
---o---