The Blood God's Husband

"Right now, a horrifying battle was raging on Manros."

"I saw storms of hatred, injustice, and rage clinging to the corresponding psychic structures of Manros in the Warp."

"I saw the Blood God seated upon the Bronze Throne, enjoying the grand performance of its favorite... It didn't interfere with anything. It deliberately kept the planet pure at the level of its participants."

"As a Scholar, I will record this."

Beyond the Imperial world of Manros.

The Ragefang and Vengar's fleet—all of the warships lay peacefully at anchor.

For some reason, the fleet's probes could no longer reach Manros, and no communications signals were coming from the planet either.

No one could know what was happening on Manros.

Except for someone inside the Navigator's Sanctuary aboard the Ragefang.

"During the Horus Heresy ten thousand years ago, the World Eaters regarded Manros as a recruiting ground."

"Angron's sons left some military facilities behind for the locals, such as devices capable of blocking all signals..."

"The local nobles, or perhaps the Inquisitor, clearly activated one of those devices out of fear of the fleet beyond Manros. As a result, the fleet had absolutely no information about what was happening on the surface."

A man wearing a Scholar's robe sat inside the Sanctuary.

He murmured softly as he wrote.

His quill held no ink, but it glided across the page, and his words appeared as lines of gilded text burned into the paper.

In the room behind the man was a small compartment that served as a storeroom within the Sanctuary.

Onaas, the Navigator of the Ragefang, was inside. She huddled in a corner, trembling all over, both hands clamped tightly over her ears.

Her third eye glimpsed a corner of the planet...

She saw... her mother dying in her father's arms. A Chainsword was lodged in the third eye on her father's forehead, and its owner gripped the hilt, smiling coldly as he looked at the girl before him.

This hadn't happened now or recently, of course. It had happened in the past.

Onaas was the trembling girl, and the Inquisitor was the sadist who had driven the sword into her father's third eye.

It had happened during the "Ambush Incident."

Perhaps if someone else were recalling it, they would remember the Emperor's Angels being focused down and slaughtered by another group of Angels, cut down by bolter fire with no armor to protect them, falling like wheat before a scythe.

But the Navigator had still been a child then. She'd been terrified, watching everything unfold around her.

For a child who had watched her parents be brutally murdered by an Inquisitor, only her parents mattered. She hadn't spared a thought for the Emperor's Angels lying dead around her.

"She was terrified."

"She's still a little girl. She went through so many horrible things, and then, when Lu Jin attacked Vengar's ship, she was frightened by the sight of a Psyker who couldn't control his powers and blew his own head apart."

"Then her uncontrolled prophetic abilities showed her what would happen on Manros. She saw that Inquisitor and trembled in terror, able only to curl up in a corner, hug her knees, and hope it would comfort her."

The man continued writing.

"The men in the warband were obviously too harsh with her. How could she possibly complete a navigation?"

"I was the one who helped her navigate, leading the entire fleet to the Manros system."

"Lu Jin doesn't know that... Why would he think a little girl needs to be left alone instead of held when she's frightened? Clearly, he doesn't understand women very well."

The man who considered himself a Scholar paused here.

After observing what was happening on the planet once more, he came to a conclusion.

"If I were to sum up everything happening on Manros as the 'Manros Incident,' it would undoubtedly be the result of a series of coincidences and the workings of fate."

"There are three factions on the planet."

"The Inquisitor—he came in pursuit of the Fierce Angels Legion, hoping to lie in wait on the planet. And he actually found them, so he devised a plan to ambush and kill the Fierce Angels."

"The Fierce Angels, Lu Jin—they came to make a deal and search for armor that didn't yet exist. They never expected an Inquisitor to be lying in wait for them, and they didn't know what was happening on Manros. They stumbled into the ambush without understanding what was going on."

"The nobles, commoners, and slaves—the nobles of Manros had become increasingly depraved and cruel under the influence of the Maelstrom. They subjected the commoners and slaves to horrific oppression and torture. A rebellion had already been brewing before the Inquisitor and Lu Jin arrived, and Lu Jin's portrait, which had found its way to Manros by sheer accident, became a symbol."

"Coincidence and the workings of fate led to this incident."

"This universe doesn't revolve around any one of them."

The man continued writing.

He wrote down what he'd heard about Lu Jin, and what had happened earlier during the Cunning Hounds Clan's annihilation.

He wrote about the Blood God's favor and expectations for Lu Jin.

"With such a fierce conflict taking place on Manros, the Blood God has chosen not to interfere at all, simply to watch. That is undoubtedly... unusual. It highlights how much it favors one of those involved."

"That reminds me of the Khorne's Bride—Valkyria."

Once he had finished writing, the man closed the book and prepared to give it a title.

He thought of a name and was about to burn it onto the cover when he suddenly hesitated.

Then...

Urged by a mischievous whim, a mocking impulse, or perhaps a simple desire for a metaphor, he burned a title onto the cover.

<The Blood God's Husband—The Appearance of a Troublemaker in My Eyes>

The man rose with the book in his arms and passed through the wall like a ghost, entering the compartment and coming to stand before the trembling Onaas.

"Here." The man held out the book.

Onaas turned her trembling face away.

"Look at me, little girl."

The man crouched down, his smile warm as a spring breeze.

"Your fear, helplessness, and confusion all come from ignorance."

"To know is to be good; to be foolish is to be evil."

"Out of compassion and kindness, I'll tell you a law about the real universe and the place from which our power originates."

"When the emotions of many humans erupt, they converge and weaken the fabric of reality, allowing supernatural phenomena to occur where they are."

The man gently placed The Blood God's Husband in front of Onaas, then stood and vanished like a ghost.

Perhaps he had left.

Or perhaps he hadn't moved at all.

Onaas shakily reached out and picked up the book, clutching it to her chest.

Her fear and unease now came mostly from what was happening on Manros.

Just as the mysterious man had said—

When human emotions surged and converged, they weakened the fabric of reality and triggered supernatural phenomena.

Onaas felt that something was watching the Manros system. Its gaze sent a shiver of horror through her.

Fortunately, and to her relief, she could sense that the gaze wasn't fixed on her.

"They broke through the guards' line?"

"No!"

The governor sat in her car, shrieking as she listened to the guards' report.

The guards were even more deeply afraid than the governor, because he suspected the line might have been breached several hours ago.

"The Awakened" and his followers had probably already begun slaughtering the other people atop the spire.

One family after another had lost contact. That was proof enough.

"Where's the Inquisitor?" the governor asked in terror.

"He escaped in a transport aircraft."

"His ship isn't even in the Manros system. How could he..."

"My lady... surely you understand that as one of the most powerful people in the Imperium, the Inquisitor has access to all kinds of technological marvels—or supernatural powers—that we can't comprehend?"

"..."

The governor fell silent.

Just then, her private guards escorted a dozen or so slaves over.

The officer saluted with the Aquila Salute and reported, "Governor, these slaves were caught plotting a rebellion. What should we do..."

"Kill them all."

"Yes, ma'am."

The guards dragged the slaves aside and executed them.

Looking out through the car window, the governor saw their blood pooling together... forming the image of a man gripping a Warhammer and Battle Axe, glaring fiercely at her.

The governor gasped in fright. When she looked again, the blood was just blood. It hadn't formed any image.

"Go to the church! Go to the church!" the governor shouted, pounding on her seat.

The driver immediately set off, leading the convoy toward the Emperor's church atop the spire, escorted by the governor's private guards, tanks, and armored vehicles.

Many more nobles joined the convoy along the way.

They'd heard the Inquisitor's plan had spiraled out of control, so they'd fled to stay with the governor, hoping to avoid being slaughtered.

Once they reached the church, the guards stayed outside and set up a defensive position.

A huge crowd of nobles poured into the church.

As she entered, the governor glanced at the statue of the Emperor in the hall.

She saw the statue's eyes open. Its expression was no longer compassionate or calm, but mocking.

But when she blinked, the statue's eyes were closed again, and nothing had changed.

She felt as if she were about to be frightened out of her mind.

"Can anyone tell me how far those people have gotten?" the governor asked the hundreds of nobles.

"No matter how far they've gotten, my family has always placed the greatest importance on defense and military strength. Before they can reach us, they'll have to face my family's castle and estate, along with the heavily armed garrison inside."

A nobleman spoke calmly.

"Then why aren't you there directing the battle?" the governor roared.

"Because directing it remotely is safer." The nobleman took out a palm-sized device and set it on the ground.

A holographic image revealed the situation at his castle.

His son stood in front of a communications device. Gunfire rang out beyond the ornate room.

"Father, don't worry. They're attacking our—"

Before he could finish, a guard rushed into the room and shouted a report.

"The slaves turned on the guards sent to kill them! They stormed the armory and seized the weapons... There's a riot!"

A moment later, the door to the room was kicked open.

A Space Marine stepped inside, bare-chested and wearing only ordinary armor.

Behind him, fifteen red-armored Space Marines could be seen clearing the castle courtyard's firing positions. The rebellious slaves were also visible, setting the buildings ablaze.

Not a single noble in the church spoke. It was as if Lu Jin—the man gripping a Battle Axe and Warhammer, whose likeness had appeared in the image of a commoner—were standing right before them.

"I went to your dungeons."

As Lu Jin spoke, the rebellious slaves charged into the room and dragged the guards and nobles inside out.

Lu Jin walked over to the communications device.

"Nothing I've ever seen in my life compares to even a ten-thousandth of the horrific things in your dungeons. I only caught a glimpse of your atrocities, and I'd already thrown up everything I ate at the banquet."

"You also captured one of my people and locked her in the dungeon... Her name's Carly."

"She told me a lot more..."

Lu Jin leaned closer to the communications device, his expression terrifyingly fierce.

"There's one thing that sets me apart from you: I don't torture people."

"Keep your necks stretched out and wait for me."