68: Reunion

Hades had once pondered a serious question—

What exactly had Mortarion grown into now?

Judging by others' indirect descriptions, Hades felt the answer would not be particularly encouraging.

But perhaps they had been making a fuss over nothing, Hades thought. He had seen painted miniatures of all four Daemon Primarchs.

Perhaps Mortarion, with his essence unleashed, would resemble his Daemon Primarch miniature.

In Hades's eyes, Old Morty's Daemon Primarch miniature had been exceptionally cool: a body larger than an ordinary Primarch's, painted bone white or Nurgle green, paired with dazzling giant wings and fireworks drifting from incense burners...

In fact, as a Death Guard fan, Hades had quite liked the little flying Nurglings carrying incense burners for miniature Old Morty, purely from an aesthetic standpoint. Painting them the same color as Old Morty had been a pleasing thing.

Of course, Hades thought sternly, that had been in his previous life. In this life, he would beat the hell out of any Chaos-related thing.

More importantly, what Hades had seen in his previous life had only been miniatures. To those who had seen Mortarion in person, Death's aura alone might have been enough to terrify them.

None of these thoughts mattered. What mattered to Hades was that he had prepared himself mentally and would not react in a way that embarrassed an old friend.

In fact, if Mortarion had truly undergone a second growth spurt and become something like the miniature, Hades felt that, after blocking out his sense of smell, he would sincerely praise him for looking awesome and reach out to touch his wings.

Though Hades could fly too, becoming a birdman or mothman was obviously cool. It was worth celebrating—and flying around a few extra times.

But... but... but...

Weary white mist pooled around his feet. Hades slowly