"He has an awful smile." Jaghatai muttered under his breath from the ground, criticizing Perturabo. "He looks like some petty villain drunk on success."
Farther behind Jaghatai, the Iron Hands' minds had stopped working altogether. Their eyes remained fixed on the mass of flames in the air, constantly scattering and gathering again. Stunus was the same. His mechanized mind was shrieking, while every scrap of data and reason told him one thing.
Ferrus was in the air, and he was utterly furious.
The wild joy and unease of seeing his Primarch father struck Stunus's soul at once, leaving him unable to say a word.
Would his father be satisfied with what the Iron Hands had become? Was everything Fulgrim had told him true? If it was, didn't that prove the Iron Hands were drifting farther and farther from the path their father had hoped for? Like damned traitors?
Stunus felt ice-cold all over. The miniature reactor nestled against his superhuman heart could not give him the slightest warmth. In a daze, he once again saw Ferrus smash the Iron Hands insignia to pieces with a look of disgust. The sight made him feel suffocated.
The Lamenters nearby noticed that something was wrong with Stunus as well. At first, they thought there was a problem with his mechanical augmentations, but after examining and scanning him, they discovered that all his discomfort stemmed from violent emotional fluctuations.
"Why does he look so unhappy after seeing his Primarch father?"
"Who knows?"
While Stunus was lost in wild thoughts, Ferrus finally found a flaw in Perturabo's attacks. Although Perturabo had also ascended to daemonhood, he was clearly less pure than Ferrus.
The sight of Fulgrim cutting off Ferrus's head had shocked every Space Marine who witnessed it. Even now, they spoke softly and reverently