The Horn of the Blood War

It was a simple yet great goal.

In the days that followed, the Nurgling Gang expanded at a snowballing pace.

"Boss" Liu Zhipeng pushed the meager management experience he had gained as a corporate drone in his previous life to its limits. He knew full well that maintaining a stable organization required clear rules and divisions of labor.

He assigned duties based on the different strengths of the Nurglings.

The biggest, strongest, and best fighters formed the Enforcer Squad. Their job was to protect the group and, when necessary, "persuade" disobedient members of their kind.

Those with the keenest sense of smell and the greatest talent for finding food formed the Logistics Squad. Every day, they wandered the Garden in search of new mushrooms, juicy rotten fruit, and anything else edible.

Those who were a little sharper, like Boji, became the "captains" of each squad and were responsible for relaying the Boss's orders.

The Boss also established a primitive "contribution point" system.

Whenever food was found, the Logistics Squad members who discovered it received the largest shares. The Enforcer Squad members responsible for guarding and transporting it also received a generous portion, while management like him only took the small amount needed to sustain their bodies.

This work-for-reward system greatly ignited the Nurglings' enthusiasm. They transformed from a lazy band of lesser Demons that only knew how to play and squabble into organized, goal-driven "model employees."

Wherever the Nurgling Gang went, not a blade of grass remained... no, rather, every edible thing was swept clean. Their efficiency left the other lone Nurglings in the Garden utterly amazed.

Before long, even more Nurglings came seeking to join this outstanding group where everyone could eat their fill every meal.

The Boss welcomed all comers, but every new member had to pass a test—participating in a "team-building activity."

These so-called team-building activities usually involved collectively toppling an especially massive rotten tree or contaminating a clear little stream together.

Not only did these activities strengthen the group's cohesion, they also allowed new members to quickly integrate into the collective. More importantly, the activities themselves perfectly aligned with Nurgle's "way." Every successful act of "contamination" allowed the participating Nurglings to feel their kind Father's delight and blessings, making their bodies stronger as a result.

In this way, Boss Liu Zhipeng used an almost "modern management" approach to establish an orderly Nurgling Kingdom in the heart of Chaos.

He did not realize that this act of "establishing Order" fundamentally ran counter to Chaos. Yet strangely, the ultimate purpose of the Order he had created was to produce and spread Chaos more efficiently—Nurgle-style Chaos.

This contradictory yet unified behavior drew the attention of a certain presence deep within the Garden.

But Liu Zhipeng was still immersed in the joy of his "successful startup."

He was no longer the corporate drone Liu Zhipeng who had worried about making a living. He was the Boss, the leader of hundreds of Nurglings, and the undisputed king of this region.

His daily work consisted of lying atop the softest fungal carpet, directing his underlings to search for delicacies, and occasionally organizing team-building events. His life was more comfortable than it had ever been in his previous life.

However, as a Warhammer fan with the blood of a troublemaker flowing in his veins, merely eating and drinking his fill was far from enough.

The Nurgling Garden was comfortable, but staying there too long inevitably grew dull.

And excitement came soon enough.

That day, the entire Nurgling Garden began to tremble. An unimaginably huge rift appeared in the sky. Beyond it lay a world of blood and flame, painted crimson. Endless roars of rage and slaughter poured from the rift, making the very air of the Garden restless and agitated.

It was Khorne, the Blood God, Nurgle's sworn enemy.

A great war that would sweep across the entire Warp was about to begin.

All the Demons in the Nurgling Garden began to assemble. Enormous Great Unclean Ones swung rusted plague swords and laughed with the warmth of a kind father; bands of Plaguebearers rode decaying mounts as they counted their respective legions; countless plague flies blotted out the sky like dark clouds.

Nurglings like Liu Zhipeng, meanwhile, were the lowest cannon fodder in this war. They would be hurled onto the battlefield by the thousands, using their bodies to drain enemy ammunition and their deaths to spread their kind Father's plagues.

Once the assembly order was issued, all the Nurglings howled excitedly, ready to welcome this grand "game."

But Liu Zhipeng felt a crisis unlike anything he had ever known.

He did not want to die on the battlefield without even knowing why. He did not want to become a meaningless number in the casualty reports.

At the same time, though, he saw an opportunity.

A war on such a scale would inevitably shatter the existing Order and create new opportunities. If he could accomplish something "earth-shattering" in this war, something that even Nurgle himself would notice, then perhaps he could shed this humble Nurgling body and gain greater status and power?

His gaze turned toward the roaring Demons from Khorne's domain.

Khorne represented rage, slaughter, and glory. His followers and Demons were all simple-minded war maniacs who revered brave warriors and despised all schemes, tricks, and cowardice.

Nurgle, on the other hand, represented decay and despair, but also rebirth and resilience. Nurgle's followers and Demons delighted in spreading plagues and enduring suffering. They enjoyed the endless cycle of life rotting away and beginning anew.

These two Chaos Gods were fundamentally opposed to one another.

How could he survive beneath the Blood God's wrath and inflict the greatest possible "humiliation" upon them?

Liu Zhipeng looked at the chattering Nurglings under his command, utterly unaware of the deaths awaiting them. An exquisite plan, brimming with malicious humor, was born in his mind.

He would show the entire universe that even the lowliest Nurgling could make the lofty Blood God so furious that the Skull Throne itself began to tremble.

In this bloody war, he would stage the grandest and most disgusting piece of performance art.

The horn of the Blood War echoed through the Warp, a roar released by hundreds of millions of souls simultaneously in the depths of rage and agony. The sky was dyed blood-red, the earth trembled, and the Garden of Nurgle and Khorne's domain—these eternal enemies—collided violently within the realm of Chaos.