The Death of a Wise Man

"No, you and I have had the same experiences; you understand my hatred!"

"Of course I understand, Lord of Iron, but that is precisely why I am here to give you this warning."

"The Imperium of Man is dead. No matter how many epic tales have unfolded in these ten thousand years, the death of the Imperium of Man is undeniable."

Even the Emperor himself, sitting on the Golden Throne, is only a hair's breadth away from death.

Perturabo's words left the Lord of Iron stunned.

If it were anyone else, they would only feel a sense of satisfaction at the death of their enemy.

But if we apply this to the Lord of Iron now, when he truly hears from another version of himself that the Imperium of Man is dead...

This is disastrous news.

This would mean that he had accumulated millennia of hatred and anger towards the Imperium.

It was practically meaningless by the time of the Horus Heresy.

Even if he wanted to use his anger to dig up graves and whip corpses to vent his frustration.

But the Imperium of Man was simply too vast; even the wrath of this Daemon Primarch was insignificant before Imperium.

"Wake up, Lord of Iron. Everything you hate no longer exists. Let go of your obsession."

"No, this is impossible! The Imperium of Man is still here!"

"I've already said it, Lord of Iron, you know very well that we are born with knowledge."

"You should also understand that from the moment the Imperium of Man began its slow demise, the hatred in your heart ceased to be hatred."

The hatred in the heart of the Lord of Iron is an obsession with revenge.

"Your obsession runs too deep, Lord of Iron."

"But you've forgotten that all obsessions ultimately amount to nothing."

All attachments are ultimately empty.

This statement was like a bolt from the blue, instantly plunging the Lord of Iron's thinking, who had initially wanted to refute it, into a dead end.

"Lorgar, now is the time."

Golden Psychic Power light enveloped the Lord of Iron, and the Chaos energy around him dissolved at an alarming rate.

In fact, while Perturabo was trying to hold off the Lord of Iron, Lorgar was preparing his Psychic Power spells.

We should thank him for his experience reading the history of the 40K.

The version of himself in history used Warp Witchcraft to free Angron from anger and pain.

In this way, Angron became a monster, filled only with rage.

After reading that history, Lorgar fell into deep thought.

He began trying to create a Psychic Power spell similar to the one in that image.

This spell was created while he was researching the Warp with Magnus.

Its sole purpose is not incineration, but purification.

However, this Psychic Power spell is very special; it is a complete purification.

If the other party is too severely corrupted by Chaos, then after purification, there may be very little left.

"You despicable person..."

The Lord of Iron could feel the Warp power draining from his body; he knew he had been tricked.

But at that moment, he suddenly didn't want to resist anymore.

"Fortunately, it was his consciousness that was purified first, not his physical body." Lorgar breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Just as Lorgar relaxed, the Lord of Iron suddenly self-destructed.

"Fourth Brother, watch out!"

Lorgar almost instinctively wanted to take Perturabo away, but Perturabo did not allow him to.

Seeing Lorgar rushing towards him, Perturabo pushed him away instead.

"Leave this to me."

This was the last thing Perturabo said to Lorgar before he left the battlefield.

However, Lorgar did not panic immediately, nor was she filled with anger and fear.

He knew very well that it was precisely in situations like this that he needed to remain calm.

He then looked at the Iron Warriors that Perturabo had brought with him.

"Can you still sense your Gene-Father?"

Based on the connection between the Gene-seed and the Primarch, if something happens to the Primarch, the Space Marines themselves are the most sensitive to it.

This method may seem like a desperate measure nowadays, but it's the best option.

Most importantly, the location where the Lord of Iron self-destructed only created a massive energy barrier.

There was no massive explosion that affected the entire battlefield.

"Revered Primarch, we can still sense the presence of the Gene-Father."

Hearing this answer, Lorgar finally felt a little relieved.

But the Primarch of 40K is different.

They watched helplessly as a Primarch was suddenly dragged down to his death by a Daemon Primarch.

Such an impact is too great for our times; no one can afford it.

Even the rational Guilliman clenched his fists.

"Calm down, brothers. Especially now, we, as Primarch, need to hold our ground."

"Trust Perturabo; he is a born sage, capable of perfectly resolving his own problems."

Lorgar's words were simple, like the biting wind in the dead of winter.

In addition, his face, which bore an eight-tenths resemblance to the Emperor, brought the Primarch, who were on the verge of going berserk, back to their senses.

"Are we... just going to watch?" Vulkan asked.

"Vulkan, in our time, although we often joked that Fourth Brother was a steel plate."

"But equally important is that he was a wise man, only that the endless wars have made people forget his true nature."

"So much so that sometimes even he himself forgets that he was born with knowledge."

"What we need to do now is not to trust a steel plate, not to trust a Primarch, and not to trust a brother."

"What we need to believe in now is a wise man, a wise man who doesn't often display his wisdom."

Wise man?

None of the other Primarch present expected that Lorgar would give such an evaluation of Perturabo.

"How are the IV Legion members who were captured on the battlefield? I'll go check on them first."

"Are you just going to ignore it?" Corvus asked incredulously.

"The wise have their own methods, Corvus."

Within the sphere of light detonated by the Lord of Iron himself, Perturabo looked at another version of himself.

"How cunning you are, my other self. Your cunning even makes me somewhat pleased."

Suddenly, someone appeared who was exactly like him, even more carefree and rational.

No matter who it is, their attention will be drawn infinitely to the other person in this situation.

Just like someone who dresses up specifically for going out, they're afraid of wearing the same outfit as someone else, and then they inevitably end up wearing the same outfit as someone else that day.

This isn't the law of attraction; it's simply the simplest form of attention.

Perturabo used himself as bait to attract the Lord of Iron's attention, allowing Lorgar to seize the opportunity to unleash the Psychic Power that no one had ever seen before.

"I must say, Perturabo, as another version of myself, you really know yourself very well."

Perturabo didn't say anything; he just listened to the Lord of Iron's rambling, and then he silently took out a copy of The Republic.

The Lord of Iron was stunned the moment he saw the book.

"I thought you wouldn't remember this," the Lord of Iron said with a smile, though there was a hint of bitterness and relief in his smile.

"You are a tragic figure who hesitated in your idealism and was ultimately overwhelmed by reality."

"What I can give you now is the death that best suits the wisest mind."

"Haha! It wasn't easy, really not easy. The happiest moment of my life was actually when I died."

"But you're right. People like me, trapped in their ideals, are often arrogant, and arrogance is often the greatest sin."

"Arrogance inevitably breeds anger, and inevitably leads to sin," said the Lord of Iron.

"In the end, all I want in my life is recognition, but what is it that I truly desire within that recognition?"

Is it love? Is it friendship? Or is it brotherhood?

"Heh, as someone born with knowledge, these most ordinary things have blinded me and become the source of my arrogance."

The Lord of Iron spoke with a laugh, though he didn't know if he was laughing at himself or at the state of the world.

"Arrogance is the hardest thing to detect, but when it is finally discovered, it has already ceased to exist, Lord of Iron."

"Haha! Yes, arrogance died when it was discovered, and it's time for me to exit the stage."

"But thinking about it, it makes sense. I guess only by dying by my own hand can I die peacefully."

"Perturabo, they can atone, but please take good care of them."