On Isstvan V.
The Soul Drinkers were building fortifications alongside the Emperor's Children. Of course, the Emperor's Children did most of the building, while the Soul Drinkers secretly removed the screws.
Francis was bored out of his mind, working on a potion that could solve Angron's problem, when Fulgrim suddenly barged in.
"Francis, help me!"
"It's in my head. I can't get rid of it. Help me!"
Unlike his previous seductive, alluring self, Fulgrim now clutched his head in agony, veins bulging across his forehead.
Then, all of a sudden, he wore a wicked smile and said, "Little Frankie, come play with me~"
"I've got..."
Before Fulgrim could finish, he clutched his head again and began tearing at his own flesh, roaring.
"Get out! Get back in there!"
"I will never give in! I'm not enjoying this at all!"
Before Fulgrim could say anything else, he started switching back and forth between wicked and crazed. Francis was stunned by the sudden turn of events.
Before Francis could think it through, Fulgrim whisked him away into a little dark room.
Bang~
The door slammed shut, and Fulgrim immediately fell silent.
Instead, he stared intently at Francis, and the atmosphere grew tense.
"Third Brother, calm down. You can do that with your own sons. I'm definitely not into men."
"Just leave my good looks alone." Francis swallowed nervously, then hugged himself.
"Francis, who do you want to join?" Fulgrim asked, looking at him with a suggestive gaze as he breathed into his ear.
"Hm? Finally, you're going to corrupt me? Heh-heh~"
At that, Francis's eyes lit up. "You could've said so earlier! You must be the Daemonette hiding inside Fulgrim, right?"
"Got any good stuff? Go ahead and show me what you've got!"
Fulgrim: ???
But Fulgrim quickly caught on. He gave Francis a hollow look and said, "So you already know. How about it? Join us, and we'll let you experience unimaginable pleasure."
"An excitement you can't even imagine!"
"Enough talk. Let me try it first and see how it feels. Do Daemonettes only know how to make empty promises?"
Francis's teasing sent Fulgrim into a rage. His eyes immediately shone with an entrancing light.
Then Francis found himself in an oasis.
The air was filled with a sweet, pink fragrance. Lakes of wine were dotted with countless embodiments of desire, all tempting Francis and making strange noises.
They licked him frantically, leaving no part untouched.
Beside Francis's ear came the yearning cries of those lost to desire, begging for even deeper intimacy.
Countless creatures engulfed Francis in a white sea, while he simply lay on his back atop its surface.
"Ugh~ Is that it? This is what you use to test a cadre?" Francis shook his head again and again, sighing. "I've never seen such a pathetic Daemonette. My verdict? Mediocre. What a failure!"
As soon as Francis finished speaking, the scene before him came crashing down.
Francis's consciousness returned to the little dark room. He walked toward Fulgrim, step by step.
"You should do it like this!"
Ignoring Fulgrim's protests, Francis pushed him down onto the bed.
"What are you doing?"
Faced with Fulgrim's challenge, Francis merely replied, "Have you heard the saying: 'When three walk together, one of them is bound to be my teacher'?"
"Don't resist. I'll show you what pleasure is!"
With that, Francis tied Fulgrim up, switched on several meltaguns at low power, and hung them upside down over him.
Pfft~ Ssssss~
As the meltaguns slowly vented high-temperature gas, red marks appeared at random across Fulgrim's body.
"Th-this... This... Hurry and take them down." A faint blush appeared on Fulgrim's face as he squirmed incessantly.
So pain could be pleasurable after all. You didn't have to kill someone to feel it!
"Huh? We've barely started! Are you really a daemon of excess? Or are you a spy sent by that squid?"
Francis was a little puzzled. This wasn't how it was supposed to go.
Next, Francis increased the power. Once wounds appeared on Fulgrim's body, he applied a cooling growth agent.
Over and over, burning hot, then freezing cold. The newly grown flesh became even more sensitive.
At the same time, he threaded metal wires through Fulgrim's body, connected them to a power source, and rhythmically varied the strength of the electric shocks.
"Don't... Don't... Don't stop~" Fulgrim's body trembled, and his eyes grew hazy.
"Don't worry. Now for the real high-tech, hardcore stuff! Do you know what happiness is?" Francis asked, probing his very soul.
"What is happiness?" Neither Fulgrim nor the daemon inside him had ever considered that question.
Perhaps that was why they left others to provide their pleasure.
Francis grinned and pulled a pile of bottles and jars from his bag. "I was going to use these for my experiments on Angron, but I guess I'll have to practice on you first."
"Heh-heh-heh. This is a super dose of dopamine and cortisol."
"And this is a Xenos pineal gland that can amplify the senses without limit. I made it by extracting the pineal gland genes from every Xenos I could find!"
Seeing Francis holding all these strange things, Fulgrim could only weakly protest, "Don't do this~"
But at that moment, "don't" meant "do."
As the potion was injected and the pineal gland attached, Fulgrim felt every sense in his body unleashed like never before. He could even feel his own body wailing.
Yet those wails made him crave more. At last, a long, drawn-out scream echoed through the room~
The Emperor's Children, working on the fortifications outside, shuddered all over when they heard it.
After who knew how long, the lights came on inside the room.
Francis looked at the sleeping Fulgrim, wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead, and nodded with satisfaction.
"Exorcism temporarily successful!"
Just then, Francis felt as if something gave him a suggestive look.
"Odd," Francis muttered.
Fulgrim was a light sleeper. Those few words were enough to wake him.
Then he saw Francis still making some unknown black potion on the table. It was clearly bubbling.
"Hss... Why am I here? And why are you here too?" Fulgrim clutched his head, feeling as though he'd gone on a bender and drunk bootleg liquor.
Pain throbbed through his body, along with a faint, pleasant tingle!
"What do you think? You were being controlled by a daemon. You should be clearheaded now, right?" Francis replied with an annoyed look.
He'd used up all the potion he'd prepared for Angron, so now he had to make more.
Sigh, he really was too kind!
"How did you do it? Teach me!"
Fulgrim's eyes lit up at once.
"Uh... Forget it. I'll take care of this unpleasant job myself. I'm afraid you couldn't handle it." Francis rubbed his chin and continued, "I am curious, though—are you still against the Emperor?"
"Hm? Weren't you joining us to overthrow the False Emperor?" Fulgrim asked in confusion.
"Ah! I joined because I thought it'd be interesting. Once we reach Terra, want to beat the False Emperor's ass together? I bet it'd feel great!"
Fulgrim shivered at that. Just hearing about it sounded thrilling.
"Count me in! I want to do it! I want to whip him hard!"
Fulgrim's breathing quickened, and his hands instinctively mimed whipping someone. Clearly, he'd been corrupted by Chaos himself.
Francis: "..."
He'd thought he could bring back the Primarch's consciousness and then turn him against his cause. But it clearly wasn't enough.
Just as Francis was about to say something else, a sudden wave of drowsiness interrupted them.
"Why am I suddenly so sleepy~"
"Me too!"
Francis sensed something was terribly wrong. He tried to stab himself in the thigh, but Fulgrim stopped him before he could.
Looking at Fulgrim's hazy eyes, Francis realized something was wrong.
"Oh no!"
A surge of Warp power swept over them, and the overwhelming drowsiness forced Francis into sleep.
Even Horus felt this unusual disturbance, though the pressure on him had clearly eased considerably.
That wasn't bad either!
"I knew it! Walk by the river often enough, and you're bound to get your shoes wet!"
Francis's consciousness plummeted from the sky. He saw a vast Six-Ring Labyrinth.
His heart sank. "It can't be a coincidence, can it?"
Then Francis spotted Angron lying in the third ring, lost in his own world. He turned to look beside him, but Fulgrim was nowhere to be seen.
Before he could take in anything else, he hurtled toward the ground.
Crash!
Francis plunged headfirst into a mountain of gold coins. Countless coins slid down from above with a clatter, while the human souls in a nearby cage roared in a frenzy.
"Give it to me! Give me money! My money!"
"Ahhh! My money! It's all mine!"
"Let me out!"
The humans inside the cage kept reaching out their arms. Sharp iron spikes scraped across them, and blood ran down the cage, only to be absorbed by it in an instant.
Then the cage grew tighter, sprouting even more spikes~
Before you continue