Huron's Way of Choosing His People

"You win!"

Huron rose from his seat in the stands, his eyes lowered—not looking down on the victorious Slayer.

Or rather, the World Eater.

A veteran of ten thousand years.

"You know the rules. Don't beat around the bush. Tell me what you want."

One of Huron's main methods of recruiting was to use Arena fights to find useful people. He generally didn't force anyone into the Arena; the participants usually joined of their own accord.

That willingness came from a desire for something.

Status, power, wealth, or something else. They could ask for anything, because at least within the Maelstrom, the Maelstrom Lord's word was law.

"A crate of Bolters and a crate of ammunition." The World Eater's voice was full of impatience and frenzy.

"That's all?"

"No, there's more."

It seemed that after venting his bloodlust, the World Eater had once again begun to suffer the torment of the Butcher's Nails in his head.

"Then... um..." He "scratched" his chest through his armor with his Chainaxe. "Then I want to join the Fierce Angels... um... that's all."

Everyone in the Arena, including Huron, looked at Lu Jin.

A World Eater, a veteran of the Long War who had taken part in the Horus Heresy ten thousand years ago and fought in the Battle of Terra at Angron's side, was a highly sought-after prize in the Maelstrom.

Lu Jin, who had been thinking about how to deal with Vengar, showed little reaction. He just thought the World Eater looked like a Khorne infiltrator at first glance.

"Looks like he doesn't want you," Huron said, turning his gaze back to the World Eater. "Pick something else."

"Um..." The World Eater let out a deeply suppressed, frenzied groan. "He can't refuse... um... the Slayers helped him, so he has to help the Slayers. The Slayers are all dead, so he has to help me."

"I'm willing to help you in other ways. For example, if you need manpower for a battle, I'll help you... help you out," Lu Jin said. "But joining the Fierce Angels is impossible."

"Son of Angron, you have to be reasonable," Huron said. "Though you probably can't manage that. There's only one person I know who could still reason after getting the Butcher's Nails..."

"I'm not Angron's son... No... um, no." The World Eater shook his head, but didn't continue demanding to join the Fierce Angels. Instead, he made another request. "Find me a place in another warband. I want a job where I can kill as much as I like."

Huron nodded.

Lu Jin stood up from the stands and was about to leave when Huron suddenly called after him. "Stay in the Arena for a while. Then we'll go visit Aels together."

"I still have things to do," Lu Jin said.

"..." Huron fell silent. A few seconds later, he asked, "Are you plotting something?"

To everyone, the Black Heart King was a suspicious man, and his suspicion often made others uneasy.

"The crewmen Vengar's bastard killed will have their funeral tonight. Tradition says I have to organize it and attend."

"Then you don't need to go back yet. I just sent you a large shipment of weapons and ammunition as a reward for the eradication of the Mortis—your crew will have plenty to keep them busy. There's no way they can hold the funeral right now."

"..."

Lu Jin frowned and sat back down.

He had a vague premonition that Aels had recovered and was looking for his Chapter Master. Then he would tell him what had really happened.

But Lu Jin couldn't act impatient. Once he sat down, he brought up a topic. "Vengar is a fairly high-ranking subordinate of yours. Aren't you worried he'll turn against you over what happened today?"

"Isn't he already opposing me?" Huron asked. "There are plenty of people like him. It doesn't matter."

Lu Jin nodded in silence.

Just then, he heard Navigator Onaas send him a psychic message.

"Vengar... For some reason, he's gone to find Aels. He's on his way."

"And Aels is undergoing memory-recovery training with the help of the Red Corsair Apothecary."

Without any reminder or instruction from Lu Jin, the clever Navigator Onaas knew to keep an eye on the two of them with her psychic powers.

She even realized she should report to Lu Jin, used her psychic powers to observe his situation, and figured out that Huron had him tied up. She also guessed that Lu Jin might be planning to kill Aels before his memories fully returned. So now she was trying to relay some orders for him.

"Has Kao recovered?" Lu Jin asked silently.

"After killing some xenos, he's back to normal."

"Have him take ten men, along with Jenos, and find a way to sneak onto Vengar's ship and steal a suit of Terminator Armor."

"Yes. I'll pass it on now."

"..."

When Huron saw that Lu Jin had gone quiet, he thought that, as a new Chapter Master, Lu Jin had never received any lessons in power from his old friends. He probably didn't even know how to manage a Chapter.

If Lu Jin were a natural leader, he should have realized that the World Eater who wanted to join the Fierce Angels was a treasure—more valuable than the supplies and provisions he and his Chapter were so eager to collect.

So Huron decided to give Lu Jin a little lesson in power.

"People like Vengar only show me respect when they're facing me. In private, he calls me by my name. His subordinates have even offered him plans to assassinate me and seize control of the Red Corsairs."

"But he's still useful to me."

Huron spoke softly.

"I have a way of judging and using people."

"With fools, you have to control them with things that are vague and intangible, like principles, goals that are almost impossible to achieve, or something similar. You have to make them think they're right."

"With fools who think they're clever, you have to let them think they're smart. Lure and control them with things as plentiful and easy to get as sand—things they'll get anyway. The most obvious benefits, for example, or something similar. In short, cheap things they could have gotten on their own."

Hearing this, Lu Jin waited for another psychic message from Onaas and casually added, "What about truly clever people?"

"There are no clever people, only mortals. I don't mean the weak, unmodified ones. I mean mortals including even Astartes like me."

"They probably don't have anything they truly want to pursue. They follow their instincts for a while, then gradually figure out what they want and go after it. They might choose something vague and intangible or something concrete, or they might want both. But the important thing is that because they won't pursue anything at all costs, they become unpredictable—and worth winning over."

"Then you should understand why I think Vengar is useful."

Huron stared at Lu Jin, waiting for him to absorb what he had been taught.

If Lu Jin, who had been appointed in a crisis, never learned what a Chapter Master was supposed to pass down to him, he'd be worth even less than Vengar.

"I understand," Lu Jin said with a nod. "Compared to someone like me, Vengar is easy to control. So you don't mind offending him. Give him a 'carrot' and you'll all be united again."

Huron nodded.

Onaas had already notified Kao.

As she reestablished their psychic link, Huron suddenly added, "Take Kao in your Chapter, for example. He's a fool. I reckon he's thought ever since he was born that he was meant to fight for the corpse on the Golden Throne. That's why he once advised my old friend, Chapter Master Ninos, not to come to the Maelstrom."

Onaas "recorded" this judgment of Kao as well, sending it to Kao's ears.

"Bullshit."

Kao had already donned his power armor and was leading his battle-brothers toward a relic aboard the ship.

"When the Inquisitors began investigating us, I advised the Chapter Master to kill them. Then the whole Chapter would stop fighting for the Golden Throne and fight for our traditional creed instead. Brother Ninos wasn't Chapter Master yet."

"It's a simple, obvious question: when the Golden Throne abandons us, we have to understand why we're fighting. Otherwise, we'll become heretics hiding in Warp Rifts, puppets of another master—just as Huron is a puppet of the great enemy of Chaos."

Of course, Huron couldn't hear those two rebuttals. He was only giving an example.

He was showing Lu Jin how to recognize what type of person someone was and choose the right way to manipulate them.

"Besides the ancient artifact that can shield us from Greenskins, the Legion Relics include a device used to teleport boarding parties during the Great Crusade, ten thousand years ago."

"The technology behind this ancient device has been lost, but it can still function."

Onaas reported to Lu Jin while using her psychic powers to sense what was happening aboard Vengar's ship.

The Space Marines were ready. None of them knew why they had to steal the Terminator Armor, but they knew it had to be done and that it was the right thing to do. Lu Jin cared about everyone, including them. He was a natural Fierce Angel whose instincts aligned with the Chapter's creed.

"Thank you for teaching me this," Lu Jin said. He didn't correct Huron's mistaken impression of Kao.

"Now you owe me," Huron said. "And what kind of person do you think you are?"

Lu Jin had no interest in guessing. He just wanted to leave and get to work, but he didn't want Huron to notice anything was amiss.

"I suppose I'm an unusual sort of person. Ordinary, yet not ordinary," Lu Jin replied.

"Indeed. You're an oddity." Huron nodded repeatedly, then asked, "Do you think you're easy to control?"

"..." Lu Jin shook his head.

"Both ridiculously easy and maddeningly difficult," Huron said gravely.

Then his tone lightened again. "Fortunately, you don't need to figure out how to make someone called Lu Jin work for you. So it won't be a problem for a rookie Chapter Master like you."

Kao and the others had already been teleported aboard Vengar's ship.

Without making a sound.

Jenos thought they should slaughter everyone, but Kao thought they should conduct a stealth operation. Staying quiet was best.

"Because you..." Huron was about to continue when Amanius suddenly came to the Arena. He walked past several empty VIP seats and whispered something to his Chapter Master.

"Accept that Blackstone Fortress," Huron said, making no effort to hide the conversation from Lu Jin.

"So we're going to agree to support Abaddon in his next Crusade?"

"No, Amanius, of course not. Abaddon's trying to get something for nothing. He gave us this thing called a Blackstone Fortress, but he'll definitely take it back when the fighting gets intense. We'll accept it and hold onto it for now. Eventually, we'll just return it to them."

Hearing this, Lu Jin realized that the Thirteenth Black Crusade had begun.

The Blackstone Fortress was a weapon made by an unknown species. Abaddon really had given one to Huron, and in the end, just as Huron expected, the Red Corsairs brought it along when they supported Abaddon during the intense fighting.

After the Black Crusade ended, the Warp Rift would tear the galaxy apart, and then Guilliman would be resurrected...

Those events, which would shape the galaxy's future, were still far off for Lu Jin. Right now, he had to figure out how to get the Fierce Angels to leave Huron and seek Bena's help in getting justice, as Ninos had wished.

As for what to do after that...

Lu Jin thought of his Warhammer and Battle Axe. He felt he should choose a true Astartes to be Chapter Master, then enter the Warp and free the souls he knew from Khorne's imprisonment inside the Warhammer—not by letting them wander forever like Wandering Souls in the Skull Fields, but by allowing them to perish completely.

As for how he, who knew nothing about psychic powers, could free those souls...

He'd kill Daemons until he was strong enough to fight Khorne.

"Go back for now. I have to receive Abaddon's envoy. Once Aels has fully recovered, I'll take him to see you. I'll also see what weapons your Fierce Angels still need."

Huron's sudden words pulled Lu Jin out of his thoughts.

Lu Jin turned and left without hesitation.