The New Man let out a low growl and abruptly backed up two steps.
Horus's pupils contracted instantly. He knew what it intended to do. He retreated to the very back of the cramped room, behind the shattered incubation pod he had just climbed out of. He concealed his massive body in the shadows.
He held the alloy spear across his chest, its tip aimed at the doorway.
Baby Fulgrim, strapped to his back, squeezed his eyes shut in fear.
BOOM-!!!
A thunderous crash!
The blastproof lead door, battered by countless assaults, finally buckled before absolute brute force.
The door, frame and all, was violently hurled into the room!
Dust billowed.
A seven-foot-tall New Man, bristling with tubes, knotted with muscle, and sporting three eyes, came charging in.
It roared excitedly, ready to tear apart the "rat" it had found.
It rushed into the dark room, its three red electronic eyes scanning wildly...
Then it saw the "rat" in the shadows.
Number 7's simple processor froze for half a second.
What it saw was... a giant even larger than itself. Bare-chested, wrapped in rags, and radiating an overwhelming field of vital energy.
Strangest of all, this giant had a fucking baby strapped to his back.
"...Roar?"
The New Man's roar turned into a confused sound in its throat.
Horus never gave it a chance to make another.
"Die." A single icy word slipped from his throat.
The instant he spoke, he moved. Horus's enormous bare foot was already rising.
Then it came down hard.
SQUELCH-!!!
Horus planted his foot squarely on the back of Number 7's neck.
The Primarch's weight, combined with that explosive force, shattered Number 7's spine in an instant. Like a cracker struck by a battering ram, it broke with a grating crunch!
That stomp drove its