Chapter 30: Midnight Haunter
"I am you, and you are me."
Night Haunter watched Konrad, fragments of human flesh glistening in the corners of his mouth. "Konrad."
Konrad looked at his other self, the self that hadn't been adopted by Wayne, the self whose world didn't even have a Wayne.
No Wayne.
He was Konrad's other future, Konrad's hopeless future, the future of becoming a Fallen. Or perhaps he was also part of Konrad, the two converging, relying on each other, overlapping and reflecting one another.
The awakening of a Primarch's true essence is, in fact, harsh.
Lion slept for ten thousand years, awakening his power, but he didn't fully awaken like Corax. When Khan faced Mortarion, Khan's body was nearly destroyed by the end of the fight, and the Emperor had to use his power to save Khan's life. Even then, Khan did not awaken his essence. Horus killed the Great Angel, and he didn't awaken even at the very end.
A Primarch awakening his essence is not a simple process.
The current Konrad is more like Russ: he can see his other self in places abundant with Warp energy, gazing upon his essence and merging with it to gain greater power, giving him better control over his psychic abilities. But he still hasn't awakened.
The Emperor used Russ's power. A Primarch's power comes from the Emperor, and the Emperor can use the power of every Primarch, but currently, he has only used the power of the loyalists.
The Emperor at the time transformed into a giant werewolf to hunt down enemies, and even after Russ merged with his essential power, he didn't display the power of a giant werewolf transformation. He did display gigantism, becoming a giant when fighting Magnus, but not a werewolf transformation.
During his duel with Magnus, Russ had not yet further unleashed his Warp essence.
Thus, after embracing the Warp's power, Russ was only in the initial stages of awakening when he faced his great enemy, still a step away from full awakening.
The Emperor's display was more akin to a complete awakening. Or perhaps the Emperor's restrictions on the Primarchs were more powerful than most people imagined.
"I am you without parents, raised by cannibalism, ruling this world through violence, with no mercy for the weak."
The scent of decaying human flesh from Night Haunter entered Konrad's nostrils, and dark, cruel light gleamed in his eyes. He licked the fragments of human flesh from his lips, looked at Konrad, yawned, and smiled faintly. Then he transformed, donning a black robe and dark blue armor. He stood before Konrad like a lord of the night.
"You should understand that your mercy is merely the result of teaching. Is it your own innate pursuit?"
"Perhaps, perhaps not. You and I are the same person, Night Haunter. You are my most extreme side of justice. Perhaps I also have a weak, incompetent, and depraved self. All of this is me, and also not me."
"....You see things clearly, Young Konrad. Wayne... is a good father, without a doubt. If he had also adopted me, perhaps I could have understood true justice, instead of growing up in the sewers, eating people, and eventually merging with Nostramo, falling and dying with it."
Konrad could see another future or past, where, as a Primarch, he hadn't been adopted by anyone, hadn't become Wayne's son. Light did not exist in his time.
Beings like Primarchs could absorb human memories by devouring brain tissue. From the memories of the dead, Konrad Curze saw a broken, fearful, selfish, ruthless individual, and countless others like him. Countless people fell here. Countless became inhumane monsters.
Human nature is inherently evil. Humanity is beyond redemption. This was the first impression humanity left on Night Haunter.
The more people he ate, the more evil memories he absorbed, the more convinced he became of humanity's baseness and cruelty. As he aged, Night Haunter's disgust for humanity grew daily. He became increasingly aware that there was no hope for mankind.
He hated all criminals, loathed the weak, and even detested himself. He decided to take matters into his own hands and set everything right. But conquering a world is simple.
Governing a world, on the other hand, requires learning and work, and Night Haunter had none of that.
He became a tyrant, neither a good man nor a good Ruler.
Konrad sighed. "I see your experiences. I would have become like you. I am you, and you are me."
The environment shapes a person, and Nostramo itself was a place of corruption. The problem was that his simple sense of justice prevented him from carrying out a large-scale purge of the upper echelons.
Konrad realized that Night Haunter had been busy on Nostramo for a long time, but hadn't killed a single one of the people who should have been killed.
This led to the restoration of those noble scoundrels after he left Nostramo, sending him only criminal trash as recruits. They murdered the Imperial-appointed planetary governor.
Only by wiping out the evil nobles of Nostramo and allowing the Departmento Administratum and Departmento Munitorum to gain a foothold on Nostramo, much like what Wayne did, directly purging the world, was what a true Primarch, a Lord of a Planet, should do.
He also made repeated mistakes regarding the Eighth Legion, as a Primarch, watching his subordinates split and usurp his authority.
Most of the Eighth Legion's new Astartes recruits were gathered under his command out of fear of the Primarch and bloodline suppression. Yet Night Haunter did not intervene or act. So Konrad believed Night Haunter was unlike a Legion Master.
He had many problems and was not as innocent as he believed himself to be. Even so, Konrad reached out his hand. "Join me. We must stop all of this. Although you detest all of humanity, you detest Chaos even more, don't you?"
"Heh, why should I?"
"Because I am you, and I am equally cruel. But I am not you, because I have a father and a mother."
Night Haunter roared instantly. "DO YOU HEAR YOURSELF? "
He glared furiously at Konrad, furiously at his other self, furiously at this damned fellow.
Jealousy. Not from his brothers, not from the Governors, but from himself, what he possesses, what he will never experience even in dreams.
He was truly jealous that he hadn't met Wayne. Even if his Wayne was just an ordinary mortal, just a little love would have been enough.
"How dare you get everything I wanted, Konrad! "
"I haven't gotten everything you wanted. I was just lucky. Now the outside world is in peril, and I must act. If you are still the Konrad who prides himself on justice, then you should act!"
Night Haunter looked at his younger self, a Primarch of only nine years old, too young compared to everything he had experienced. But he sighed and extended his hand.
"Then come. Let me see how far you can go for your Justice."
Konrad grasped his hand. "Then let's go! I will prove my future, that I will become a true agent of justice."
The next second, Konrad awoke and looked at Helena, surprised. "You're still here?"
Helena smiled. "A little slower than I thought. Go for it!"
As the woman spoke, Konrad suddenly appeared in the Hive City One Departmento Munitorum, frowning at the mortals scrambling around.
"What is happening?"
"Young Master, the Nostramo system is under full-scale attack. The space fleet has already engaged, but the enemy is overwhelming."
"System?" Konrad had thought the enemy was only invading a Hive City, but now it was an entire system. "Where is my father?"
The sergeant answered with a hint of fear. "He's missing. He disappeared when the Warp fluctuations began. Others are in charge now, Young Master. What should we do?"
Konrad was confused, rattled; he felt lonely for the first time and, for the first time, experienced what it truly felt like to be alone when you most needed someone.
"Hmm~" Konrad took a heavy breath.
He had to act, and he had to act right. No matter the situation, he couldn't. The entire world still needed him.
[End of Chapter]