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Chapter 808 - 808: 807
The Chaos Forest.Towering trees hundreds of meters tall blotted out the sky, while thick layers of fallen leaves covered the ground below.
Eden, the Lion, the other Primarchs, and the Custodian detachment raced along the forest path.
They could faintly hear tremors from distant trees collapsing, along with the roars of colossal beasts.
They could also see the collapsed regions, where only endless void remained.
This was Caliban's forest, the manifestation of the Lion's essence within the Warp. Through it, he could even connect different spaces.
"This ability is far too convenient, especially when used on battlefields against Chaos.
"Even if it is used to invade the Warp in the future, it will still be an invaluable weapon of war."
Eden sensed the spatial authority contained within this region of Caliban's forest and sighed with feeling.
Although the Hope Sun could also allow him to move freely within the Warp, rapidly transporting troops, or moving them on a large scale, was still somewhat difficult.
Even if he forced it through sorcerous teleportation, it would require tremendous amounts of energy and time.
But the Lion's forest within the Warp only needed one passage after another to be opened, and its users could travel wherever they wished.
It was equivalent to a flexible, mobile, miniature Webway.
After he dealt with Horus, Eden could spare some time to study it and borrow from it.
Perhaps he could imitate a similar authority circuit and construct a comparable transport region inside the Lord of Hell's domain.
And with the Hope Sun's immense energy, he could absolutely shape an even larger "Caliban" forest.
Before long, a glimmer of light appeared in the forest.
That was the exit.
Eden and the others could sense Chaos fel energy that could not be ignored at the target location. Clearly, a fallen Primarch existed in that region.
When they stepped through the exit, they arrived in a desolate area, where the brothers Alpharius and Omegon were drenched in blood.
The two Primarchs held the severed heads of Greater Daemons from the Hell Legion in their hands, while the corpses of many Chaos warriors lay around them.
"We are the great Alpha. We share one will, unbreakable and indivisible. Your only choice is death!"
The Lord of the Hydra had defeated every soldier of the Lord of Hell who stood in their way. With a roar, the brothers simultaneously cut off their respective enemies' heads.
The two brothers were one soul in two bodies. When they fought in coordination, few warriors could resist them.
"Who's there?!"
The moment Eden and the others arrived, Alpharius and Omegon both snapped their heads up.
Their movements were exactly identical, proving that they had sensed the arrival of a threat.
When they saw the Savior, both could not help taking a step back, fear showing on their faces.
Although the two Primarchs known as the Lord of the Hydra could defeat the vast majority of warriors, and even Primarchs, when they fought together, several loyalist Primarchs had now arrived at the same time. That exceeded their ability to handle.
Especially because among these loyalist Primarchs stood the Savior, the Emperor of the Imperium.
That man was someone who could fight Horus. They could not withstand him as they were now.
"Savior, do you intend to defeat us with such despicable methods?
"Where is your honor in battle? Why not duel me?!"
Alpharius and Omegon spoke in unison, despising the Savior's method of cutting them off, surrounding them, and ambushing them.
"Fallen traitors, the Imperium has always acted openly and honorably.
"I will not participate in this duel. You are not worthy of making me act, and the same goes for my brothers, including the Lion."
Eden looked at the Lord of the Hydra's frightened appearance and raised a hand, pointing toward Rogal Dorn beside him.
"Your opponent is him."
He patted Dorn on the shoulder. "Third brother, I'll leave the Lord of the Hydra to you. Defeat them. Preferably while staying safe."
"Brother, I will deal with these traitors as quickly as possible."
Dorn activated the force fields of the True-One Shield and Stormfang.
Now that he was equipped with heavy armaments, his fighting spirit surged. He wanted to finish the battle against the Lord of the Hydra that had remained unresolved before.
Eden nodded, then returned to Caliban's forest with the Lion and the others without stopping for even a moment.
He had merely dropped Dorn off along the way. Time was short. They had to find the other fallen Primarchs and settle accounts with them as quickly as possible.
Although the Imperium held the advantage, no one dared guarantee that no other unexpected accidents would occur in the middle of the battle.
Celebrating before the war was truly won was never wise.
"He's gone."
Alpharius and Omegon watched the Savior's departing back and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
That being had brought them far too much pressure merely by appearing.
Without Horus present, they would never have dared fight the Savior. Fortunately, he had fallen for their provocation and chosen to leave this battlefield to the Praetorian.
"Hound of the False Emperor, choosing us as your opponents may prove to be a fatal mistake."
Alpharius and Omegon stared gloomily at Dorn and spoke in unison.
"If the Savior had not granted you that special armor in the previous battle, you would have been defeated long ago. You are nothing."
The two brothers who made up the Lord of the Hydra began their routine taunting. In truth, that was also what they believed.
With Dorn's strength alone, it was impossible for him to have gained the advantage in their previous battle.
Now that the Praetorian was alone, there was no possibility of him defeating them in a duel.
Buzz.
Alpharius and Omegon ignited the force fields on their weapons. Fel energy distorted the surrounding air and even cracked the ground beneath them.
Their intimidation bore down directly on Rogal Dorn like the venomous gaze of two giant pythons.
Yet in the next second, the ground trembled faintly, leaving the two brothers of the Lord of the Hydra stunned.
In their field of vision, Custodian troops streamed out from the rift in Caliban's forest behind Dorn.
That hundred-man Custodian force was made entirely of veterans of ten thousand battles. Each was an elite among elites, and they were equipped with heavy weapons and vehicles.
Beyond that, more Imperial Fists companies continued pouring in, all carrying heavy vehicles and even dragging large-scale installations behind them.
Anyone who did not know better would have thought they were going to lay siege to a fortress.
???
Alpharius and Omegon stared at this scene, their minds going numb.
Was this really necessary? Mobilizing an army like this just to surround them?
Those were not ordinary Custodians. Any five-man squad among them could go out and exterminate a Greater Daemon of Chaos, even end an entire war.
They could not help retreating. Yet behind them, more Custodians and Imperial Fists were still moving in to encircle them.
A pincer attack.
The pressure brought by an encirclement of such large-scale elite forces was enough to make even Primarch-level combatants feel deeply strained.
Even more terrifying was the fact that this was not merely an encirclement. The large installations carried by those troops had sealed off the surrounding space completely.
Unless the Lord of the Hydra could destroy every installation, escape from this place would be impossible.
Yet under the protection of elite Custodians and Imperial Fists, destroying those installations might be even harder than defeating the Imperial forces themselves.
This was the encirclement-and-annihilation strategy formulated by the Savior, the Emperor of the Imperium. Aside from a few special Primarchs, most could be ground down with large armies.
"Alpharius, this is the true decisive battle."
Set against the vast army behind him, Dorn's body appeared even taller, and his combat power seemed to rise in a straight line.
Now this felt comfortable.
Because of the shadow left by the Siege of Terra, as well as the sense of security brought by the Savior's generous firepower, the Praetorian had long abandoned the old Imperium's outdated approach to decisive battles.
All tactics had now become group beatdowns.
Dorn organized the formation of the elite Custodian armaments and pressed toward the Lord of the Hydra. The auramite coating gleamed brilliantly under the light of Chaos energy.
His voice was filled with intimidation.
"Who says I am nothing? I have the equipment my brother gave me, and I have my brother's elite forces. This is my true strength."
Who said personal combat ability was the only kind of strength? Wealth was also a form of strength, and having a good elder brother was likewise part of his power.
"Traitors, take this strike!"
Dorn roared and decisively directed a large hellstorm heavy cannon toward the fleeing Lord of the Hydra.
So fierce.
The terrifying power blasted an enormous crater into the ground, along with molten lava, leaving the brothers badly wounded.
High-grade hellish fel energy corroded their bodies.
"Coward! Shameless! Honorless! Dorn, I'll fucking kill you!"
Alpharius and Omegon were both driven insane with rage, but there was nothing they could do. The Chaos coalition's forces had been divided and were pinned outside this region, unable to break through.
If the Lord of Hell had not intervened in this battle, how could the Chaos coalition have fallen to this point?
In other words, they could only face Dorn and the elite Custodians directly.
With the help of an army and heavy equipment, the Praetorian could unleash even greater combat power.
After that, he ignored the two fallen traitors' attempts to provoke him. While maintaining the blockade, he led the Custodians in completely drowning them beneath a brutal saturation beatdown.
"I won."
Not long afterward, Dorn looked at the fallen Alpharius and Omegon and said those words.
The terrain in this region had been destroyed completely. Even a small portion of Caliban's forest had been burned away, and hurricanes formed of Warp energy swept across the earth.
It showed just how fierce the battle had been.
Yet this had only been a one-sided beatdown. In this duel to the death, not even the coating on Dorn's armor had been scratched. It was still glossy and bright.
This was strength.
The duel was won. The victor had been decided.
...
At the same time, on New Dragonwood.
An unprecedented battle had erupted across this Chaos fortress world, spreading into every region of the planet as the Chaos void churned madly.
Hundreds of thousands of Imperial elites and the Chaos coalition waged ferocious war across the planet. Mountains split apart, lava flowed, and dozens of types of fel energy corroded the earth.
All kinds of Chaos Daemons, poisonous insects, plague toxins, and other horrors spread outward, while even more sacred psychic power, hellfire, and melta beams erupted in response.
Under the command of the Departmento Munitorum, the Imperial elites were advancing step by step, slowly annihilating the invading Chaos elites and Daemons.
"Abomination!
"I will end your evil. That will be my proof to Father!"
The young Angron cooperated with the relevant forces to hunt down the fallen Primarch Angron, the Beast of Khorne before him.
With exquisite swordsmanship and combat skill, he blocked the incoming blood axe, then left wound after wound across the enemy's body.
The Savior's adopted son knew his connection to the Beast of Khorne, and he could also sense the sorrow and suffering contained within the other party's soul.
He wanted to end it all, to let that weary, shattered soul finally rest, rather than continue being toyed with by the Chaos God.
In truth, Angron, the idealistic rebel, had already died the moment he was deceived by the Emperor and forced to leave his comrades behind to fend for themselves.
He would rather have died on Nuceria as a rebel.
The current Beast of Khorne had no soul and no will of its own. It was nothing but a pitiful shell controlled by the Chaos God.
"This is your wish as well.
"Angron, you will never be a slave again. The New Imperium will have no slaves either. I will continue fighting with your ideals!"
The young Angron's gaze was resolute as the sword in his hand pierced precisely into the Beast of Khorne's heart.
When that Beast of Khorne fell, a faint, relieved smile appeared on its savage face...
In another Chaos region.
A venomous scream rang out, accompanied by the thunderous roar of machinery and clashing weapons.
Guilliman and Perturabo were joining forces against the fallen Phoenix, Fulgrim, to end the grudges between them.
Both Primarchs had once been plotted against and harmed by that fallen traitor. Now, they were settling accounts with him in thunderous fury.
Fulgrim's exquisite makeup and ornaments had all been ruined. His armor was nearly shattered, and even his long serpentine tail had been severed by one section.
He could not withstand their ferocious assault. He could only flee madly in every direction while sending messages for help to Horus and the others, hoping for support.
Just as before, none of the messages received any reply, and no other fallen being came to his aid.
"You cannot kill me!" Fulgrim suddenly spat out a cloud of venomous mist and darted farther away. Yet in the next moment, he let out a scream.
He had stepped into a trap set by high-ranking sorcerers and Grey Knights. The erupted sacred flames and hellish fel energy caused him unbearable pain.
The fallen Phoenix realized that he had been completely surrounded by the enemy, and his regret and madness grew even stronger.
But all his struggles were useless. The Lord of Ultramar and the Lord of Iron had sealed off every escape route.
His fall was only a matter of time. There was no other possibility.
"It looks like we may have a chance to deal with these fallen traitors before Horus reaches the Chaos temple, destroys the core, and breaks the divided blockade..."
Eden looked down over the relevant battlefields and thought this to himself.
Under the coverage of the Lord of Hell's fel energy, he possessed authority on New Dragonwood similar to that of an evil god, allowing him to manipulate many things.
He could even form his own Chaos blockade.
But this was not an unbreakable power. Horus possessed the might of the Chaos Gods, so he could still potentially destroy all of it.
Even if the Hope Sun and the power of the dark side were stronger, resisting the Chaos Gods simultaneously was no easy matter, even while They were weakened.
At the very least, just as Eden could break the Chaos Gods' blockade, They could also break the blockade he had created and even seize control of New Dragonwood once more.
"No matter what, I need to deal with those fallen traitors first, then concentrate all forces to eliminate Horus. This time, he absolutely cannot be allowed to escape!"
Eden did not dwell on the issue for long. Instead, he began searching for his own target:
The favored son of Grandfather Nurgle, the Death Lord Mortarion.
That man was far too cautious. He was practically the conservative faction among fallen Primarchs, a little master of strategic retreats.
But many beings of Nurgle were like that. They disliked direct combat, preferring to release plagues from the shadows.
They believed time was on their side. As long as they survived, as long as the plagues kept spreading, Nurgle's favored children would never truly fail.
Mortarion may have sensed danger in advance.
The instant the Lord of Hell's blockade formed, he rushed into the Chaos currents, then avoided every encirclement-and-annihilation attempt. Even Eden could not easily pursue him.
Fortunately, Eden now possessed authority similar to that of a Chaos God, allowing him to corrode Mortarion through other methods.
That was where the true strength of evil gods lay. They could use the Chaos of the Warp to pollute the minds of other living beings.
Back then, the Chaos Gods had found the flaws in the Primarchs' minds and broken through them one by one, ultimately causing the Great Heresy to erupt.
"I never expected that now, I would also be able to act like a supreme being of the Warp, learning how to pollute and corrode the minds of other lives, even Primarchs."
Eden sighed with feeling.
Hundreds of years ago, when he had first arrived in this world, he had been terrified of the Warp, especially when the Prince of Pleasure had frantically kept "calling" him. Back then, even the sight of a maid had made him somewhat nervous.
Yet now, he could not only resist the corrosion of the Chaos Gods, but even use his own power to corrode them in reverse. In the future, perhaps he could harass the Warp properly as well.
He would let those evil abominations taste what it felt like to be corroded, let them experience the terror and pain humanity felt when facing Chaos.
"Mortarion, just how long do you intend to hide?"
Eden controlled his dark-side guise, the Lord of Hell, and followed the Death Lord's trail through the Warp.
He had only just learned this method of corrosion, and although he was still not especially skilled, he already had the bearing of an evil god.
This war had allowed the Hope Sun to devour far too much authority and power.
Under Eden's gaze, the Warp churned and shifted. Certain powers of Chaos were mobilized and controlled, like building blocks in his hands.
He manipulated the entire region with divine authority, shaping it into the form he preferred.
"Found you."
Eden's voice was like a shriek from hell. He soon discovered the sneaking Mortarion.
The man was somewhat nervous now, especially when Eden's evil, cruel gaze descended upon him.
(End of Chapter)
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