171. Roundtable Talk (Part 2, Ultramarines, 3k)

"However, the fallen would only ever sink deeper. It would not stop because of some shift in personal will, nor would it allow you to entertain thoughts of turning back."

"The specific details could no longer be verified, having been scattered to the wind. But the one thing scholars could determine was that, during the crucial Siege of Terra, Sanguinius personally killed his brother, Horus, and drained the latter's blood."

"In that moment, he must have felt unprecedented pleasure and stimulation."

"Otherwise, he would not have ascended to daemonhood on the spot, gently cradling his brother's lifeless corpse and rocking it softly. He ignored the attacks of those around him unless they disturbed his feast. And so, amid wild laughter, Sanguinius became a demon of Slaanesh—forever."

"He would continue to drink blood in frenzied torrents and smear himself with flesh, leading his Scions ever onward down this road of blood, sinking without end."

"They were now explorers of sensation, seekers of stimulation, and slaves of pleasure. Whatever they might once have been, now they would only be called the Blood Angels. Traitors of the Empire, one of humanity's terrifying nightmares."

"Chapter One, Blood Angels, end."

For a while, Guilliman felt that everyone had lost their way.

A silent storm swept over all of them, coiling around every one of them and plunging them into deep pain.

And with it came a question.

Leman Russ was the first to think of it, but he was not the only one who had it. Everyone's wisdom was more or less equal; none of them was truly foolish.

The question was terrifying in the extreme.

If even Sanguinius could fall, then what of the others?

The Archangel curled up in his chair. His once-supple golden hair had now lost its luster, and his wings