On the battle barge of the Ghoul Legion.
The two commanders of the Ninth Legion, Raldoron and Azkaellon, were walking side by side in a rusty, scarlet corridor.
On both sides of the corridor where the two were walking, the miserable screams of the blood-slaves were endless.
As an Astartes legion, they had once had the Imperial Army as support, but every time in battle, they were consumed at a not-so-normal speed.
Friends, delicious.
Over time, the entire legion was left with only Astartes and blood-slaves.
Even the blood-slaves were extremely scarce. Apart from some desperate people who had sold themselves for their families, no normal person would choose to accept such a one-way trip.
No mortal can live as a blood-slave for three months.
As for the indispensable crew of the voidship, they all tried to avoid appearing in front of the ghouls as much as possible.
On the corridor where the two were walking, apart from the Mechanicum and the servitors, who had not a single ounce of flesh on their bodies, no one would come to disturb them.
With the pleasant smell of blood, the fresh blood of the two in their scarlet-painted power armor was covered with the brownish-red bloodstains of dried blood. The large, splashed shapes told of the tragic battles of the past.
As the commanders of the Ninth Legion, the task they had given to the legionaries under them was also very simple.
Charge behind them.
As a command plan that covered all the ghouls, although the legion would suffer heavy losses in every battle, with their desperate madness, they would often still achieve great results even without a Primarch on guard.
However, this kind of target-following could hardly be truly called a "tactic."
But apart from the two of them, there were very few capable people in the legion who could command the Astartes below.
And only they could, with their reason, control the thirst from the bottom of their hearts for a long time.
So as not to be like their other siblings, who would feast on the corpses of either the enemy or their former teammates in the very center of the battlefield.
At least, not yet.
"Brother, have you... have you felt that something seems a little... not right lately?"
Walking in the somewhat silent warship corridor, Raldoron suddenly asked Azkaellon beside him out of the blue.
Not right?
There's a lot of that.
Seriously, the entire Ninth Legion is not right.
Compared to the legions with no mutations, the Ninth Legion could be said to be not right to the extreme.
A beast-like rage in battle that did not distinguish between friend and foe, and an endless desire for blood.
From any angle, the Ninth Legion was the most intolerable Astartes legion in the entire Imperium.
If the gene-seed were to continue to mutate like this, the days until they were completely purged by the Emperor were numbered.
The two of them could see the seriousness of the problem.
But for the situation of the entire legion continuously sliding towards the abyss of corruption, the two of them had no better solution.
And even... even the most rational of them had also begun to show some symptoms.
"Perhaps it's a coincidence. Perhaps it's my personal illusion."
"But just now, in the center of the battlefield, I seemed to have had some kind of hallucination."
Under Raldoron's questioning, Azkaellon finally revealed the doubts hidden in his heart.
"A hallucination? What kind of hallucination?"
"...Keep your voice down."
Azkaellon lowered his voice, and his gaze towards Raldoron beside him was filled with a high degree of vigilance.
"Alright."
"It was when I was in the center of the battlefield... I was charging at that time, and I saw two enemy males who seemed to be hugging each other out of fear."
"Both men?"
Raldoron was startled.
"Yes."
"For some reason, at that very moment, an incomprehensible anger welled up from the bottom of my heart."
"And then, I heard a lot of chanting in my ears... and some shouting about a Sagittarius golden ring."
It made him irritable.
He wished he could smash the other into a pulp with a big hammer.
"Everything around seemed to be unimportant. It felt like my only mission was to make the other shut up completely."
"...At the same time, did you see the other's face change, into a familiar appearance?"
"Yes! How did you know?"
"And he was bald, right? Very similar to someone you've seen before?"
"...Yes."
With that said, the two exchanged a look and said no more.
They both knew who the guy who had appeared in the hallucination was.
Horus Lupercal.
Although they didn't know why the face of this Luna Wolf Primarch would appear in their hallucinations, it just happened.
This face just appeared in their own hallucinations.
"Hey. Raldoron, Azkaellon. What are you two talking about?"
A sudden shout made these two battle-hardened Astartes veterans jump in fright.
Looking back, it was an equally tall Astartes.
His helmet might have been taken off after he got on the ship, or maybe he had never worn it to make it easier to drink blood in battle. In any case, his scarred and wrinkled face, with a little bit of undried blood at the corner of his mouth, showed a somewhat creepy smile.
If there was anything that could best prove his identity, it was the huge chain-glaives in both his hands, which were constantly dripping blood, and the teeth of the chainsword still had some shredded meat on them.
The Fifth Company Captain of the Ninth Legion, the Flesh Tearer, Amit.
"Nothing—hiss..."
Suddenly, looking at the two who were leaning forward and whispering, Amit frowned.
"What Sagittarius golden ring? What on earth are you talking about?"
"What? Amit, we never said anything about a Sagittarius golden ring."
Azkaellon was a little baffled.
"Enough! You two, stop chanting!!!"
Suddenly, Amit, as if he were enduring some kind of noise attack, held up the fist-blade in his hand.
Even though at this moment Raldoron and Azkaellon had not said anything, and the entire corridor was silent.
"Shut up!"
"You two... you're not going to perform something incomprehensible in front of us, are you?"
"...Amit?"
"Quick!"
"Quick, stop him! He's hallucinating!"
At that very moment, the chainsword in Amit's hand suddenly revved, and a fierce light appeared in his eyes. He rushed towards the two commanders.
"...Fucking faggots!"
"I'll blast you to bits!"
"I'll blast you to bits!!!"
The Pride of the Emperor.
"...Sanguinius?"
Fulgrim asked first, a little worried.
As a Primarch's keen perception, she had noticed that Sanguinius was a little... not right at this moment.
"Hm? Ah?"
Sanguinius was startled for a moment, and she slightly raised her head to look around, as if she had just been asleep.
"I'm sorry, everyone. My head was a little dizzy just now, but I'm much better now."
A sunny smile appeared on her perfect face.
This smile seemed to be able to pierce through all the gloom in the world.
Everything was normal.
That's right.
How could a perfect person like the Angel have any problems?
"Where were we just now?"
"Right, the big problem that the Word Bearers have yet to solve—the source of their recruits."
Most of the Astartes' recruits came from two main sources—one was from the Primarch's homeworld or a directly controlled area, such as the Iron Hands' Medusa, the Space Wolves' Fenris, Guilliman's five hundred worlds, and so on.
The other was from the hive cities on Terra, selected by the recruiting officers who roamed there.
The recruiting officer would select suitable young men, and then hand them over to the Imperium to be matched with the gene-seed of various legions, and the most suitable legion would be chosen.
The famous cold and detached sword immortal—Sigismund—had been chosen in this way, and in the end, he had almost become a Luna Wolf before he had been matched with the gene-seed of the Imperial Fists.
Apart from that, there were also some scattered selection methods, for example, the Third Legion Emperor's Children would make agreements with the noble families on Terra, to have the other provide their sons as hostages and blood tithes.
"But after Colchis was blown up, it seems the Word Bearers now lack the ability to replenish their forces on a large scale."
To replenish eighteen legions with just one planet on Terra was definitely not enough.
Given the current huge number of Space Marines in the Word Bearers, once they lacked a channel for replenishing their forces, the entire legion's combat effectiveness would very likely plummet after a major attrition.
This was a family fortune that had been slowly accumulated by not going to the front lines and specializing in fighting for public order.
If it were all lost in battle, to accumulate it again would only be like Fulgrim, spending a dozen or twenty years to slowly accumulate it.
"No."
Lorgar clearly did not want to just stay in the rear.
Not only could he not stay in the rear, but he also had to achieve a luxurious record comparable to the Luna Wolves.
"As the Emperor's loyal servants, we, the Word Bearers, must carry out the Emperor's will. Only in this way will we receive the Emperor's reward!"
Otherwise, when the Luna Wolves were fully completing the Great Crusade target set by the Emperor, wouldn't they, the Word Bearers, only be left to be cut off?
No!
That kind of thing must absolutely not be allowed to happen!
"In that case, I have a good idea."
As Kasjia spoke, he stood up and rotated a button in front of the table with his hand.
Some planets immediately appeared from the 3D projector in front of him.
"Next, the Word Bearers, the Ninth Legion, and our Emperor's Children will form a joint fleet to conquer a suitable planet in the upcoming battle."
"The requirement is that the conquered world should be as populous and technologically complete as possible, and at the same time, most of the humans on the world can be preserved and persuaded to join the Great Crusade."
This was the experience that Byzas had brought him.
After conquering this world with Fulgrim's help, Kasjia had decided to learn from the Ultramarines—to build a large number of military academies on the planet.
And to select qualified candidates for the surgery modification to become new recruits of the Third Legion.
The Ultramarines' plan might not be the strongest, but it was definitely the most stable.
After this, a continuous stream of new recruits had gradually begun to fill the much-needed manpower of the Third Legion, and the entire 28th Expeditionary Fleet had also, in these days, broken through the ten-thousand-man mark.
This was all thanks to the fact that when they had taken Byzas, they had preserved most of its population and had won their trust.
"If the forward detection information is correct, then our next crusade target is this planet, which is very close to us, called Sagan."
"According to rough forward detection, this planet has an atmosphere, light, heat, and water that can support its operation."
"And according to the records of the ancient star exploration maps, this place was also one of humanity's past colonial planets."
"Population... according to the Mechanicum's judgment of the planet's appearance, since there are no landscapes on the planet that can break through into space, it is therefore speculated that it is very likely to have only developed to a feudal civilization..."
"Perhaps because of this, the population is not very large."
It was not only at the hive city stage that there could be enough suitable recruits. Planets like the Wolf King's Fenris and the Lion King's Caliban were also only at the feudal level of population, and they could still support the entire legion's recruitment.
"But the good news is that since the residents have not been exposed to space civilization, when Lorgar and the Word Bearers descend from space, they are very likely to be extremely pious."
"The key is piety."
Lorgar agreed with Kasjia's words.
The good news for the Word Bearers was that the adaptability of their gene-seed was extremely high. As long as they were pious enough, they could keep spamming troops non-stop.
"In that case, I agree with your view to take this small planet as the crusade target of our joint fleet."
"However, I still have some questions—does such a feudal civilization that has not yet developed space weapons really need our three legions of Space Marines to form a joint fleet?"
He was in a hurry.
As the Primarch of the Word Bearers, he now wanted to have his legion madly spam troops and quickly catch up with Horus's progress.
When the Emperor praised himself, he could also show off a little in front of the other.
Now, for them to use three Astartes fleets to deal with a feudal world was really a bit like using a lance to shoot a mosquito.
"Two."
"Lorgar, the Ninth Legion will temporarily not be participating in the military operations against Melchior."
Sanguinius reminded him.
After all, it was the ghoul legion.
If the Ninth Legion really came to the surface of the planet to fight... then there would be no population or civilization left on this Sagan.
Before they came, this was a thriving feudal civilization.
After they came, this was a lush, primitive world.
Even if the Ninth Legion really did arrive, it was impossible to let them deploy their forces in it.
"Of course, of course."
If it were really just a feudal civilization planet, dispatching a small squad of Space Marines would be enough to make the entire planet's ruler submit.
And not like now, where a joint fleet was dispatched.
"It's normal to have questions about this, because our strategic enemy has never been the human civilization on this planet."
Kasjia said, and paused for suspense.
"But rather, the xenos civilization that controls these residents on a deeper level—the Nephilim."
The Nephilim.
An extremely dangerous xenos civilization that could control humans on a deep level.
"And our real goal is to eradicate them."
....
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