Perturabo had not returned to this scene from his memories for the first time, nor would it be the last.
He gazed at the sky of his homeland, a sky not turned blue by astigmatism, with no pure white clouds. There was only the smoke of war from when he had led the Legion back to Olympia.
He could see the silhouettes of warships in the void and their macro-cannons firing upon the ground again and again. Perturabo had long calculated what conditions were like beyond this region untouched by orbital bombardment, but he did not care, just as he did not care even for his own Legion.
What had brought me to this point? The Imperium? The Emperor? Or that enormous eye I saw on the cliff as a child...
Perturabo had always pondered that question. Perhaps he had found the answer, perhaps he had not. But regardless, he had become a powerful Daemon Prince within the Eye of Terror. That was his final end.
"My lord! The Havoc squads have finished clearing out the guards."
A company captain saluted Perturabo. His heavy armor bore several damaged craters, and heat still wafted from it in waves.
Whether or not the captain had been wounded in the battle just now, he displayed his strongest side before Perturabo, upholding the creed that steel must be within as well as without.
Perturabo ignored him and merely walked past him without even lowering his gaze, just as he had once treated these imperfect sons of his.
Look at this vast palace. At least by this planet's historical standards, it could absolutely be called unprecedented.
Perturabo still remembered how he had reacted when he had been brought here as a child. Admiration had shone in his uneducated mind and ignorant eyes; he had once