Stat Monster 159

"False Emperor, what the hell is that?"

The great Chaos champion, Ezekiel Abaddon the Despoiler, exclaimed. His eyelids twitched out of sync as he stared unblinkingly at the footage relayed from the warship ahead.

Beside him, Khayon, who had just finished casting, also felt an inexplicable pressure. The lingering warmth of Psychic Power rapidly faded from his gauntlet as the Psyker trembled and forced out half a syllable,

"Un... Un..."

Khayon could not continue. The color rapidly drained from his face as he too stared fixedly at the screen—Baal itself was trembling.

Baal was glowing—the bells within its churches rang, stone flaked from the faces of statues, and a warm golden radiance fell lightly over every living thing like a veil.

If that were all there was to it, the Ecclesiarchy would likely have proclaimed the scene a manifestation of the God-Emperor.

But it was clearly not just that... Something far more horrifying, far more savage, was churning beneath Baal.

A shrill, blade-like aura of blood burst from the earth, rising as high as mountains. The shock clouds torn open by its scream were visible even in space. It sounded as though countless billions of vengeful ghosts were shrieking in unison; Abaddon seemed to hear their howls, and seemed to feel blood running from his ears.

A monster, a monster imprisoned for a thousand years, was trying to return to the surface. It extended its tendrils, trying to touch the sun.

He knew that was the fallen Sanguinius—the Psychic Power of the Lord of Blood and Desire. This was precisely what Abaddon the Despoiler wanted.

But what followed filled him with a pale sense of helplessness.

Amorphous darkness crawled up from the depths of the earth, swiftly winding around the protruding bones of blood like creeping vines. The wronged souls