Horus woke up in the snake house and looked at the ground, which was covered in strange symbols.
The ground was littered with shattered corpses. From the traces of clothing, they seemed to have been local priests.
He looked at the tentacles, twisted and deformed among the flesh, and the eerie patterns carved into the skin.
Horus knew he had been set up!
Horus looked up at the enormous snake eye, his face full of distaste.
When he faintly heard voices outside, he headed out.
And then he saw what had just happened.
"Hmph!"
Horus let out a cold snort, and a wave of oppressive force surged toward Eric of the Word Bearers.
In an instant, Eric was bent over beneath the weight of Horus's terrifying presence.
But Eric still held his head high and sneered. "Heh heh heh. Welcome, Warmaster, to the embrace of Chaos."
Abaddon and the others looked confused. Horus glanced at them out of the corner of his eye, then replied coldly.
"Ha! You're nothing but a dog at those things' beck and call!"
"If you keep barking, I don't mind cleaning up a dog that won't shut up for them."
"Hmph, Warmaster, you certainly have some nerve—" Eric hadn't finished speaking when the weapons of Abaddon and the other three were pressed against his shoulders.
"Show me that you're worth keeping, Eric."
"Otherwise, we'll have a little talk about all the filthy things you've done."
"Get lost!"
Hearing this, Eric clenched his fists. He didn't understand what he'd done wrong.
The gazes of Abaddon and the other three were terrifyingly cold. If Horus hadn't told Eric to get lost, then just for turning his own Primarch into this strange state, Eric would have deserved to die!
There was nothing for it. Eric finally lowered his head and left.
Once there were no outsiders around, Abaddon and the other three excitedly dropped their weapons and rushed over to Horus.
"Primarch, what happened to you?"
"What's going on?"
Faced with his sons' concern, Horus embraced all four of them. "I received a prophecy, and I gained power."
"The power to change the prophecy! This appearance of mine is just a small price to pay."
"Perhaps we should take some time to recover first."
As he spoke, Horus headed outside, leaving the four of them staring at one another.
They looked at each other. They could be certain this was Horus, though he seemed to have changed a little.
Horus, who had always called for them to fight for the Emperor, had now said they could take some time to recover.
On Prospero.
Two chicken-like mutant creatures lay before Francis and Kelbor. Each of them held a piece of yellow paper.
Kelbor was bewildered. "What's this?"
"I read about this in a book when I was bored. It's an important ritual from the era of ancient humanity, used specifically to swear brotherhood." Francis rubbed his nose.
Kelbor was deeply impressed. Francis really was a man of great knowledge.
"What do we do?"
Francis thought for a moment. "It's simple. We just write our vows on the yellow paper, then cut off the chickens' heads and burn the paper."
"Let's do this: just repeat after me. Think of the vows as being made to your faith."
Though Kelbor didn't really understand either, he could only reply, "All right."
Francis picked up the yellow paper and called out, "Today, I, Francis—"
"Today, I, Kelbor—"
They spoke in unison: "Swear to become brothers!"
"Not asking to be born on the same year, month, and day—"
"But asking to die on the same year, month, and day—wait!"
Suddenly, Francis interrupted the ritual to ask, "Big Brother, how long have you been alive?"
"Too long to remember. Why? Does this ritual have an age requirement?" Kelbor was puzzled. Ancient human customs were such a hassle.
Francis fell silent for a moment, then gritted his teeth. "Come on! Let's keep going!"
"But asking to die on the same year, month, and day!"
"If either of us betrays the other, may the Emperor (Omnissiah) cast us aside, and may we forever lose the Emperor's favor (the Omnissiah's knowledge)!"
When they finished, the two of them chopped off the heads of the mutant chickens in front of them, splattering the yellow paper with blood.
Finally, they burned the yellow paper to ashes with a Boltgun!
Once it was done, they stood up and clasped hands.
Francis looked sincere. "Big Brother!"
"Little Brother!" Kelbor replied, his gaze even more resolute.
"Big Brother!!"
"Little Brother!!"
Francis felt tears welling in his eyes. He felt a little bad about deceiving Kelbor. After all, the Emperor was still alive. He could just talk his way out of it with the old man later.
After that, Francis took the "Ork brain" out of the cultivation pod.
"I don't have a battleship, and I don't have custom armor. I really don't have anything decent to give you.
"So all I can do is give you this, Big Brother."
As he spoke, Francis handed the "Ork brain" to Kelbor.
Kelbor accepted the "Ork brain" in both hands and placed it reverently on his specially made artificial nerve.
The moment the nerve connections were made, the Ork face on the "Ork brain" opened its eyes and let out a soft wail. "Waaagh~"
In an instant!
Kelbor received all the information about the buttons from his secondary brain, and the control panel, which had been changing frantically just moments ago, fell silent.
Accompanied by the clatter of keys, the Ork battleship began to move.
When the final button was pressed, the whole battleship rose into the air with a hum.
"Haha! I did it!"
"Great Omnissiah! I did it!!"
"Hahaha~ I can use Ork technology now!!"
Kelbor shouted wildly, overcome with excitement. His body rumbled and shook violently.
Then Kelbor could no longer contain himself.
With a boom!
His dark red robes burst apart. Kelbor's humanoid body began to twist and deform, and countless mechanical tentacles sprang from within him, spraying steam!
Hiss~~
What Francis saw before him now looked more like a gigantic, iron centipede.
Just then, Kelbor turned his head. His liberated mechanical parts strained against the skin of his taut face, making him look utterly horrifying.
"Little Brother, thank you. You must be an emissary sent by the Omnissiah!"
"Don't worry. I'll personally build you a top-of-the-line battleship and suit of armor."
"If you want to leave, you can go ahead. I'll study this thing a little longer."
Francis felt his scalp tingle at the sight. But to be safe, he said, "We're brothers. There's no need to be so polite. Though I heard you once had a bit of a conflict with Horus, and even indirectly caused his adoptive father's death."
"He's the Warmaster of the Imperium now, and we're brothers too. If there's anything you can't handle, let me take care of it."
"Even if Horus beats me up, I'll still help you!"
Hearing this, Kelbor clearly froze, but he soon recovered.
"Good brother!"
"Mm. If the 'Ork brain' ever malfunctions, let me know and I'll make you a new one. I have to go complete the Emperor's mission now." Francis waved goodbye.
He headed outside, but he hadn't gone far when he heard the Adeptus Mechanicus's prayer coming from within.
"0100100101001101010011010100111101010010010101000100000101001100..."
Francis grew more and more resigned as he walked. "Sigh! Emperor, I really sacrificed a lot!"
To keep the Adeptus Mechanicus from splitting off into the Dark Mechanicum, he'd paid a heavy price.
He was already looking forward to seeing what would happen when Horus sent someone to win Kelbor over.
"No, that won't do! I'll go pick out a few good things from Terra's dungeons later!"
"He owes me for all of this!"
As soon as he emerged from the battleship, Francis saw Magnus circling Leman Russ and muttering as he walked.
"What do I do?"
"What do I do?"
"What do I do?"
"..."
Leman Russ, who had been utterly resigned to his fate, suddenly spotted Francis.
He quickly rubbed his eyes, then saw that Francis was still there. His mood instantly improved. He clamped a hand over Magnus's mouth and said, "Francis, you're finally out!"
"How did it go? Can we leave?"
Francis nodded. Leman Russ immediately got everyone organized and had them board the ship, ready to return to Terra.
While the others busied themselves with various preparations for the journey, Magnus saw Francis standing silently on the observation deck.
"Francis, what's wrong?"
"Want me to show you some of the psychic knowledge I've just mastered?"
Looking at Magnus's single remaining, enormous eye, Francis quickly replied,
"Absolutely not!"
"You'd better focus on getting yourself into shape so our Warp journey goes smoothly."
"You can show off again once we reach Terra."
At the thought of seeing his father soon, Magnus was thrilled!
But just then, Leman Russ ran over and looked at the two of them with a strange expression.
"The previous order to bring Magnus back has now been changed to a declaration of total war against the Thousand Sons."
Before you continue