"Is that so?"
Skarbrand bared a savage grin.
His bestial face twisted around interlocking fangs into a grin that nearly split his cheeks. His crimson skin resembled iron boiled in lava, scalding steam seeping from its folds.
His bloodshot eyes remained fixed on Sanguinius.
"Then come! For the Blood God!" Skarbrand roared. Rather than charge Sanguinius again, he reached a massive claw downward.
On the ground, countless pools of blood began to stir as though summoned.
From corpses, from between grains of sand, from craters left by the fighting, they gathered into crimson streams that flowed upward into the sky. They swirled and condensed in Skarbrand's palm, finally forming a gigantic battle axe even more grotesque than his original weapon.
The axe was dark red throughout, its surface rippling with bloodlike patterns as though it were living flesh. Every drop of blood falling from its edge steamed into a pungent, bloody stench.
Skarbrand gripped the haft, and a creaking like grinding bones filled the air. Then he spread his four arms, bringing both massive weapons down on Sanguinius at once.
"Your Emperor is a coward, angel." Even as Skarbrand swung his weapons, his mouth never stopped.
"He hides behind Terra's high walls, sending his sons into the meat grinder one after another. You fight here for his glory, while he treats you as nothing but tools!" He tried to tear apart Sanguinius's resolve with words.
Sanguinius did not answer.
The Spear of Telesto suddenly blazed in his hands, its tip radiating golden light, as though the morning sun had gathered into a single burning flame upon the spear.
He neither roared nor argued. Turning, he swept his spear through a graceful, resolute arc, striking Skarbrand's descending battle axe with flawless precision.
The instant the weapons met, a deafening crash erupted,