In the end, Magnus joined Hogg's little group after all. But when he left the Blacklight, his knees hurt and his face was swollen in several places.
Magnus rejoined the Thousand Sons' main force with his once-severely-mutated offspring, now reduced to blank-slate little ones. He was going to continue the Great Crusade.
As the saying went, slacking off could only bring you happiness for a little while. Little Pony's departure left Hogg, who already had nothing to do, feeling bored. Unable to sit still, he spent the next stretch of time causing chaos throughout the Hive City.
It started when an Imperial Guard of the Blackwatch got into a fight with a gang in the Hive City and was beaten to death.
With one of his men dead, Hogg went alone and slaughtered the gang. Only after arriving did he discover that gangs all over the place were in league with the upper-class nobles.
Under the protection of the noble lords, the gangs ruthlessly squeezed the people at the bottom, leaving them worse off than the Meat-Ant-Cows raised in Alicia's farms.
The sight of it enraged Hogg, who couldn't stand to see people suffer. He immediately called in the entire Blackwatch and slaughtered their way through half the Underhive.
The nobles who had colluded with the gangs even tried to pressure the Council of Terra into intervening. But after several senior Administratum officials were executed by Malcador, they knew better.
In the days that followed, Hogg took a group of Blackwatch out for a stroll around Terra every day, playing Batman as he went to dispense justice in the lower levels of the Hive City.
But Batman had a no-kill rule. The Blackwatch didn't care about that. Whenever they encountered anyone breaking the law, they served them a bolt round. After a week of cleanup, law and order in the lower Hive City was actually better than in the upper levels.
Watching the Hive City revitalized under his leadership filled Hogg with satisfaction. It was a scene of bustling life, with all things thriving.
But after even a few of the upper-class nobles who'd colluded with the gangs were killed, Hogg found himself with nothing to do again. All he could do was spend his days on the bridge, playing games with the Blackwatch.
Just as he was losing himself in a game, an unusual ID caught Hogg's eye.
The game Hogg was playing was his own creation, Galaxy Brawl. It was a tower-pushing game whose heroes included the Imperium's Primarchs and various xenos.
After a player named "WarGod888" used Sanguinius to score a pentakill against him, Hogg couldn't sit still.
"? WarGod888. Don't tell me that's that bootlicker. I'm so freaking done!"
Watching the Angel controlled by WarGod888 charge through the enemy team like no one could stop him, win a one-versus-five, and blow up Hogg's base crystal, Hogg was so furious that he smashed the Terminal in his hand with a single slap.
"You bastard! You think I can't deal with you? I don't care who you are—you're finished."
Fuming, Hogg hurriedly tweaked the data and gave the Angel a heavy nerf. Then, as expected, he ran into the same player again.
WarGod888 picked the Angel again. It was obvious he really liked the character. He'd even paid for a flashy chroma skin, something most Blackwatch couldn't afford.
Hogg breathed a sigh of relief. Even a Chaos God would get crushed by him in a game. What kind of trash Kobold could call itself the God of War?
But it was like the whole thing was happening all over again: the familiar one-versus-five, the familiar exploding crystal. Hogg completely lost it.
What made it even worse was that WarGod888 typed out a taunt:
"The past is the past, and the present is the present. If you're bad, practice more.
"I'm not who I used to be. I'll give you one more chance: hurry up and pledge yourself to a worthy master. I'll still accept you as my son."
Seeing that the other player could type, Hogg smashed another Terminal and quit the game for good.
Still uneasy, Hogg ordered his men to investigate the source of the ID. But no matter how hard they looked, they couldn't find it. In the end, he could only nerf the Angel again and ban WarGod888.
Just as Hogg sprawled on the sofa, lit a cigarette, and stared at the ceiling, wondering where his life had gone wrong, the Emperor's orders arrived.
With the Astronomican amplifying his power, the Emperor used his peerless psychic might to locate a new Primarch. For reasons that couldn't be discussed, the Blackwatch would accompany the expedition this time.
What more was there to say? The Blackwatch were recalled from their leave at once and departed Terra with the expeditionary force led by the Emperor himself.
At this point, the Great Crusade had three main forces: one led by Horus, another by Senior Sister Ferrus, and the last by the Emperor.
For example, Angron, who had just returned, was with Horus. Newly returned Primarchs who didn't have much military strength usually joined the Luna Wolves to learn from them.
After fighting alongside the Emperor for thirty years, Horus had increasingly become the big brother of the Primarchs, and he cared deeply for his brothers.
The Luna Wolves also had the strongest resources. They provided generous aid to Legions with sparse numbers and little strength.
Before Hogg returned, the 11th Legion had mainly handled errands, and they'd received quite a few good things from them.
Horus focused on restoring the worlds they conquered. Combined with his approachable nature, it was fair to say he was destined to become Warmaster.
The other powerful Legions followed the Iron Hands and took orders from Ferrus. They always fought the bloodiest battles.
Ferrus, Primarch of the Iron Hands, was a Darwinist. He showed none of Horus's mercy toward the worlds they conquered. In short, he killed.
As a result, Horus's faction and the Iron Hands had a somewhat strained relationship. Magnus had said that the two often disagreed, but considerate Horus could always persuade Ferrus.
The rest were the Emperor's own forces. They consisted mostly of Legions whose Primarchs had yet to be found, along with a scattering of other troops.
Bucephalus
On the bridge, the Emperor looked helplessly at Hogg sprawled on the sofa.
"Can you try acting like a Primarch for once? Stop lying around like a dead fish all day and playing that stupid game."
Watching his character get killed again, the dejected Hogg felt like a complete failure. He couldn't understand why, and he didn't even care that the Emperor was mocking him.
It was the first time the Emperor had seen Hogg like this, and it piqued his curiosity. How had this bastard ended up like this? Even when I beat him up, I'd never seen him so upset.
The Terminal that had fallen onto the sofa flew into the Emperor's hand. As a Perpetual who had lived throughout human history, he picked up the simple game at a glance.
He took control of Hogg's character and kept playing. But before long, he was killed by the other side because he wasn't familiar with the game. It didn't make the Emperor realize anything; he just thought it was rather interesting.
Relying on his experience as an old schemer, the Emperor managed to kill the other player after dying a few times. Then he saw a message pop up from the other side.
"Not bad. Your skills have improved so quickly—I admire you even more now. Come be my son!"
"?"
The Emperor sensed that something was wrong. Why did this person want me to be his son? My father's been dead for tens of thousands of years!
"Who are you?"
"Who am I? I thought you'd figured it out by now. Maybe my disguise was too good. But it's true, I never told you what to call me. Listen closely."
A string of fiery-looking words appeared on the Terminal, accompanied by an impassioned roar.
[Blood. Death.]
[My rage burns in the abyss, and the world trembles at my power.]
[Wretched creatures crumble beneath my roar.]
[In my shadow, all things turn to ash.]
[I am the shaper of war, the master of warriors. None can stop me, none can defy me. I am—Khorne.]
The grand declaration seemed to have the opposite effect. A dark shadow fell across the Emperor's face as he quietly typed a few words:
"I am the Emperor!"
"..."
Before you continue