World Eaters

Eastern Front.

The Fierce Angels had long since been "split apart" by the Chaos Space Marines, scattered throughout the underground barracks of Fortress No. 12.

The routed soldiers had all returned, but as Lu Jin put it, it was like sending one brother after another to save their grandfather. Once they had abandoned their positions and defenses, taking them back would not be easy.

And when facing Space Marines, even with the resolve to die together, it was difficult to make up for the vast disparity in strength.

Kao did not want to die on Manros. He wanted to return alive and see his sister.

But what an elite warrior wanted and what he did were two different things.

Even as he did not want to die, he charged deeper than anyone else. After a chaotic battle and being separated from his allies, Kao found himself alone, surrounded amid a field of ruins.

Over a hundred Chaos Space Marines formed a circle around him. No one stepped forward; they merely prevented Kao from breaking out.

After the standoff continued for a moment, a Space Marine carrying a longsword emerged from the rear of the circle.

Kao immediately looked over and saw that the Space Marine wore dark green armor. The hilt of his sword bore wings, while blue light flowed along its blade.

He was a Dark Angel.

Kao had seen the Dark Angels before. They were well equipped, numerous, and extremely powerful.

But the Eastern Front was full of Chaos Space Marines... and the people surrounding him were Chaos Space Marines too. Why had a Dark Angel suddenly appeared?

"Do you think there are no capable warriors among the Red Corsairs?"

The Dark Angel slowly stepped forward and motioned for those around him to retreat several more paces.

After the circle widened, the Dark Angel gestured for Kao to attack him.

Kao gripped his Chainsword and charged forward, swinging down at him.

The movement was slow and laborious.

The Dark Angel seized the moment, cutting Kao's weapon in half with one stroke. Then, with lightning speed, he sliced through the neck guard of the Ironclad Terminator Armour. Finally, with a light upward flick, he sent Kao's helmet flying.

When he saw the face beneath the helmet, disappointment appeared on the Dark Angel's face. "Why isn't it Lu Jin..."

"If our Chapter Master were here, you'd already be scattered across the ground," Kao said through gritted teeth.

The other man said nothing more. He quietly studied Kao for a second, then understood why this suit of armor was being worn by a Fierce Angels grunt.

It was to raise morale.

The mortal soldiers who had been frightened into retreat earlier had now returned and were fighting back everywhere with suicidal determination. That was the effect of raised morale, along with the spread of the truth.

Kao also studied the Dark Angel, and something the former Chapter Master had said suddenly surfaced in his mind...

Ninos had once spoken of his plan. After entering the Maelstrom, he would find a Dark Angel—one who was neither a spy nor a prisoner, but someone who sincerely served the Red Corsairs Lord.

He had been abandoned by his Legion, a traitor. He could be called a fal... a Fallen Dark Angel Legion warrior.

"Take him away." The Dark Angel turned and gave the order.

Kao suddenly felt that he absolutely could not be taken alive. He charged toward a random Chaos Space Marine, roaring as he ran with the air of someone ready to risk his life.

The Chaos Space Marine Kao had targeted instinctively opened fire. After a deafening boom from his Bolter, Kao staggered forward several more steps under the momentum before collapsing to the ground.

Half a solar hour later.

Kao awoke from unconsciousness and instinctively touched his forehead. He found that the bolt had only left a bone-deep graze—the bolt had passed right by his forehead.

After catching his breath, Kao looked down at himself.

The Chapter Master's armor had been stripped from him. All he had left was the tight black bodysuit he wore beneath his Power Armor.

Then he looked around.

Seven Fierce Angels recruits lay unconscious nearby. They had been captured after getting separated from Kao.

They were all locked inside an iron cage.

Outside the cage were even more iron cages, and even more prisoners.

This crude prisoner-of-war camp appeared to be inside an abandoned armory, with an extremely vast interior.

Kao continued observing, and what he saw next made his eyes split with fury.

Near the cages, the spiked objects that clearly belonged to Chaos worship were mostly impaling people. Even the lighting fixtures were made of people. After being killed, they were arranged in kneeling poses, molten iron poured over them from above to cast them in that posture, and lamps placed in their hands.

Manrosans, civilians and soldiers alike, were gathered in an open space outside the rows of iron cages whenever they were captured alive.

The iron cages were for Space Marine prisoners. Mortals had no right to stay inside cages.

Chaos Space Marines would walk into the open space and examine every mortal. These experienced men entrusted with such an important duty could tell at a glance which mortals were husbands and wives, lovers, fathers and daughters, or brothers and sisters.

Under the guidance of those Space Marines, Red Corsairs mortal soldiers would step forward and separate them.

Tens of thousands of people were forced into two lines. On the left stood wives, younger sisters, sons, or daughters... while on the right stood their husbands, fathers, older brothers, or mothers and older sisters.

Under Space Marine supervision, the Red Corsairs mortal soldiers dragged the people on the left away and forced them into a warehouse. Anyone who resisted or tried to stop them was beaten down, but not beaten to death.

Blue flames rose outside the warehouse, and the people inside assumed that they were about to be burned alive.

Meanwhile, the people outside howled and fought the Red Corsairs mortal soldiers. In the end, before the eyes of those in the warehouse, they were beaten to death in the cruelest way possible—with fists and feet.

Only then did the blue flames begin to spread.

The ritual's purpose was not to kill anyone, but to produce sufficiently intense emotions.

Mere slaughter would not even allow Khorne's ritual to succeed. Only the intense emotions of mortals were at the heart of every Warp ritual.

Killing and torture were merely methods used in the ritual.

"Come at me!"

"Cowards! Fight me!"

Kao kept roaring.

His rage at everything before him had overwhelmed his desire to survive.

No one paid him any attention.

Ten thousand people underwent the ritual.

Then another ten thousand were marched in.

Half a solar hour later, the iron cage door opened. The Fierce Angels, including Kao, were forcibly dragged out, passed through the open space where horrific acts were underway, and brought into an Arena surrounded by walls of corpses.

Kao suddenly discovered that Genos was there as well.

The Fierce Angels' most versatile veteran had also been stripped of his armor. His body was covered in wounds, and the tendon in his right foot had been severed.

The ground was littered with Chaos Space Marines Genos had killed.

Compared to mortals who could be used in rituals, Space Marines served only as entertainment for Chaos worshippers.

"Genos has won once again!"

"As his reward, ten children will be placed under his protection!"

Words laden with bloodthirst rang out beyond the Arena.

Then, ten children were linked together with ropes by Chaos Space Marines and shoved into the Arena.

Kao had just helped Genos to his feet, supporting his battle-brother with his shoulder. "Are the other battle-brothers alive?"

"I don't know." Genos shook his head. "Maybe there are still some of us at other ritual sites. Maybe there aren't..."

"Other ritual sites?" Kao froze.

"You came from a ritual site too, didn't you?" Genos's face was pale. "There are ninety-nine ritual sites like that. Every one of them is carrying out the rituals you saw."

Kao drew in a sharp breath.

"But in this Arena, we can still protect some people." Genos waved toward the children who had been sent into the Arena, and they immediately hid behind him.

Kao glanced at the recruits.

Six recruits spread out around Genos, protecting the children.

Two minutes later, another Space Marine was sent into the Arena. He carried two axes and looked somewhat familiar to Kao and Genos.

He was that ten-thousand-year World Eaters veteran.

The man who had wanted to join the Fierce Angels, only to be rejected by Lu Jin.

Kao thought, If this man is in the Arena, that means he was captured. But he never joined the Fierce Angels, so how was he captured?

"New orders."

From atop the corpse-wall surrounding the Arena, a Space Marine with a jump pack descended from the sky and landed beside the Red Corsairs veteran responsible for organizing the entire spectacle.

"The locals care deeply about the Fierce Angels. Let them watch the Fierce Angels die one by one. That will stir their emotions even more."

"That is the order."

The order was immediately carried out.

One hundred thousand mortals were escorted around the Arena by Red Corsairs mortal soldiers.

The corpse-wall was pushed aside so the mortals could directly see the desperate Fierce Angels in the Arena, as well as the ten-thousand-year World Eaters veteran.

"Fight already! Or we'll mow you down with the Gatling Cannon!" a Red Corsairs Space Marine roared.

The World Eater carried his twin axes and slowly walked toward the Fierce Angels.

Kao and Genos, one wielding a Chainsword and the other a Chainaxe, stared fixedly at the World Eater.

"How were you captured?" Kao could not help asking.

At the mention of this, the World Eater felt the Butcher's Nails tormenting him even more fiercely. He adjusted his filthy dreadlocks, which resembled iron wire, and let out a grunt of impatience—or perhaps pain from his torment.

"I... mm... I have people I want to protect too." The World Eater looked beyond the Arena.

A young girl knelt on the ground, with a purple-armored Space Marine to her left holding a knife to her throat.

The girl was clearly the Space Marine's slave. Her face bore the same mark as his armor—a purple rose.

Kao, who had a good eye for such things, could tell that the relationship between them was extremely complicated.

"Come on. I'll give you three moves." The World Eater pointed the Battle Axe in his right hand at Kao.

Genos gently pushed Kao aside, gritted his teeth against the excruciating pain, and charged forward with a slash.

Kao did the same.

The two of them struck three times in succession, but the World Eater easily evaded every blow.

Having given them their three moves, the World Eater turned and swung his axes.

Kao and Genos raised their weapons at the same time, attempting to block. But what appeared to be a full-force, devastating strike suddenly changed, bypassing their defense at an impossible angle and with an impossible shift in force.

By the time they reacted, both Kao and Genos had bone-deep wounds across their chests, and both were sent flying to the ground.

As Genos was cut down, he still thought about the World Eater's attack... Kao's melee skill was only decent among the Fierce Angels, while Genos himself had been second only to the dead Apothecary in the use of a Chainaxe... The two of them could face ten Mercy Emissaries in close combat and still fight with ease.

But against the World Eater before them... Genos felt utterly powerless... as powerless as a three-year-old child facing a Space Marine.

The World Eater slowly approached, first coming to stand before Kao.

When the Fierce Angels recruits stepped forward, he was clearly hesitating over whether to deal with these Space Marines who could be identified at a glance as having never even received training.

The Manrosans forced to watch began pleading for the Fierce Angels, or rose and charged at the surrounding soldiers in fierce resistance...

Nearby Chaos Space Marines stepped forward and began slaughtering them, massacring the mortals until they submitted once again.

Even then, some mortals had secretly kept portraits of Lu Jin. Unable to resist when the Chaos Space Marines began slaughtering people, they clutched the portraits to their chests.

Of course, it was meaningless. A Chaos Space Marine would glance at the portrait, tear it down, and stomp on it viciously, then turn and cut off the mortal's head with a single slash.

Some had already been mentally shattered by all they had seen and heard, collapsing completely as they wailed, begged, or screamed in rage.

"Stop killing! Stop killing! I won't dare resist again!"

"Kill us all, then! The Lord of Retribution will avenge us! We'll wait for you bastards in hell!"

"Please, spare me..."

"..."

Kao and Genos had already climbed to their feet, facing the World Eater together.

They shouted several words at the Chaos Space Marines, but their voices were immediately swallowed by the chaos.

Just as the chaos reached its peak, the mortals' cries abruptly ceased.

The Chaos Space Marines stopped slaughtering and looked in one direction along with the mortals.

On a platform twenty meters away stood a magnificent suit of Ironclad Terminator Armour.

It looked down upon those below.

A familiar Manrosan voice came from within the helmet. "I'm here."

It was the Lord of Retribution.

Kao looked over as well, but he felt that it could not be Lu Jin, because the armor held neither Battle Axe nor Warhammer.

Boom!

A rocket flew from somewhere and struck the armor.

When the smoke cleared, the armor's components lay scattered across the ground. Only then did everyone realize that the armor had been moving on its own. Lu Jin had not come, and no one had even been wearing the armor while pretending to be Lu Jin...

The mortals fell into complete despair.

But seconds later, before the Chaos Space Marines could begin another slaughter, an unarmored Space Marine appeared on the platform.

He held a bloodstained Chainaxe and Warhammer in one hand.

Under the gaze of countless eyes, Lu Jin glanced at the scattered armor pieces on the ground... When he had just arrived, he saw the armor standing there and thought Kao was inside it. Yet it had been empty.

Half a second later, Lu Jin raised his head and slowly lowered his body.

"The Imperial offensive on the Western Front has ceased!"

The Chainaxe lay level across his chest, while the Warhammer was raised above his head.

Words of hope came from Lu Jin's mouth.

The components of that magnificent Ironclad Terminator Armour seemed to gain souls. In the blink of an eye, they rose from the ground and attached themselves to Lu Jin's body one by one.

"The Great White Shark and Minotaur—two Chapter Masters have fallen to my blade!"