With that, he cut the comms.
"Alcato, Alkhan, Kaldia."
Horus turned to face his three most trusted commanders.
"Once I leave, command of the fleet passes to you."
"Whatever the outcome of the duel, you have only one task."
He pointed to Vigilus below.
"Hold it. Until the very end."
"As you command, Warmaster," the three answered in unison, dropping to one knee.
Horus nodded.
He took one last look at the flagship, the Unyielding Spirit, then turned and walked toward the Stormbird that had long been waiting for him.
This time, he took no Royal Guard.
He would go alone to that fated meeting, ten thousand years in the making.
In orbit above Vigilus.
An enormous rocky asteroid had been chosen as the dueling ground.
Abaddon was already standing there.
Behind him was a vast, dark formation of tens of thousands of Black Legion elites. Aboard their landing craft, they hovered silently in space, like a mute audience waiting to witness history.
On the other side, the Stormbird carrying Horus slowly touched down at the opposite end of the asteroid.
The hatch opened.
Horus stepped out alone.
He was not wearing his signature Terminator Armour. Instead, he had donned a simpler, older suit of commander's Power Armour from the Great Crusade. Its plating was black, with only the emblem of the Luna Wolves engraved in gold on the pauldrons.
The two "Warmasters" regarded each other across several hundred meters.
Their builds, their faces, the style of their armour-all were so alike. They seemed like two sides of a mirror.
"Impostor!" Abaddon roared, pointing his daemon sword straight at Liu Zhipeng. "You think wearing that skin will fool me? Horus is dead! He died at the hands of that False Emperor! I've killed his clone, too! You're just another one