"I feel like... am I dreaming...?"
Tarvitz's voice came dryly over the Communications Channel, distorted by something close to bewilderment.
He stood rooted to the spot, his purple armor still coated in dust and acid burns from the earlier fighting, but the eyes behind his visor were fixed on the soul-freezing sight in the distance.
The mountainous corpse of the giant spider, and the demonic figure atop it, slowly drawing a blunt-edged Greatsword from the monster's skull.
He was a veteran of countless battles. He had witnessed the might of Primarchs and the roaring fury of the Titans, yet the sight of such pure, savage physical strength crushing a colossal creature still shook the foundations of his understanding.
Lucius said nothing.
His purple-and-gold visor turned toward the giant spider's corpse, then back to the weapon in his hands, then toward the enormous corpse again, over and over.
Finally, he raised a hand and covered the front of his helmet, at a loss for words. "I must have gone mad..."
"Or... did I eat that 'special stew' Akurduana made before we set out? That stuff really was poisonous, and now it's giving me hallucinations this ridiculous?"
Standing beside him, Chelast, the usually silent Word Bearers warrior, made no response to Lucius's rambling for once.
His dark gray lenses stared toward Hercules. Naturally, he knew about Hercules. He was his father's bodyguard, nothing more...
Like hell!
This was a bodyguard? Watching Hercules fight just now, Chelast had almost thought a Primarch had arrived in person!
Unlike their stunned expressions, Akurduana's face showed no surprise whatsoever.
He even leisurely rubbed his pair of Bone Carvers sabers, coated in dark green slime, against the giant spider's shattered carapace to wipe away the foul blood.
His violet eyes calmly swept over Hercules before glancing at