"Hm? What do you mean, while you were bathing, you ran into a blue-haired girl? And you weren't even dressed at the time?"
After hearing Bruce's explanation, Curze's hand, which had been reaching for her teacup, slowly curled into a fist instead.
"Is that really the important part here?" Bruce asked, nearly losing it at his father's bizarre reaction.
"Why was there a woman in Bruce's bath in the first place?" Horus, on the other hand, raised the objection with perfect seriousness.
"Warmaster… you do realize what I'm actually talking about, right?" Bruce couldn't help but complain. "Do you two sisters share the same thought process or something?"
"Then what was the result, Acting Commander?" Sevatar asked while holding a tray, offering the most direct way to cut through the mess.
Since the two primarchs clearly weren't focusing on the Chaos entity itself, but on everything else, then the easiest thing to do was simply state the conclusion.
"The result is that I have reason to suspect Magnus may already have come into contact with that thing," Bruce said with a sigh. "Which means our trip to Prospero may already have had filth meddling in it ahead of time."
"You all know what Magnus is like. He's never been able to stay off the Warp-net. Who knows what strange things he might have ended up associating with."
"Magnus…" Curze frowned as she mulled it over, then abruptly realized something.
Honestly, it wouldn't be strange at all if that arrogant idiot really had been led around by the nose with just a few pretty words from Chaos. In fact, it would be perfectly normal.
Which raised a new question—
"If it really is weaving a conspiracy, then why go out of its way to show itself to you, and in your bath of all places? You two really didn't do anything strange?" Horus asked, perfectly acting as Curze's mouthpiece.
"Wha—how the hell would I do anything strange?!" Bruce was completely dumbfounded. "It started by trying to scare me in the water, then stood there in the mirror talking crap. If I really could have done anything strange to it, I would've sent a full burst of bolt shells through it first."
You think I didn't want to? I was halfway tempted to see whether a chicken wrap blessed by the Emperor could purify a Chaos god.
"So you did want to, then?" Curze's fist tightened further.
"That is not the point!" Bruce rubbed at his temples. "Shouldn't we be thinking about countermeasures right now?"
"Because if Magnus really has a chance of falling, then we absolutely have to guard against it!"
Even if Magnus wasn't going to make a psychic phone call to Holy Terra anymore, there was no guarantee Tzeentch couldn't sweet-talk him into doing something just as catastrophically stupid.
Both primarchs fell silent, thinking hard, though neither stopped stuffing cake into her mouth.
"Cyclonic torpedoes!"
A paper cup painted in Saber colors crackled to life with Lion's voice, accompanied by the clear sound of chewing.
Bruce twitched. "I mean… that is a method, but maybe we shouldn't be quite that direct."
A surprise cyclonic torpedo strike while Prospero was still unprepared would indeed solve ninety-nine percent of the problem—but did they really have to bring things to that point? And if they failed to capitalize on that initial advantage, then what followed would be a brutal fight they might not even win.
More importantly, Bruce had to admit that, while only a dead Magnus was a "good Magnus" in the safest possible sense, a primarch who could still be dragged back from the edge was simply too valuable to throw away.
Magnus wasn't some irredeemable monster. He was arrogant, yes, but he was still loyal to the Emperor. He was stupid, not evil.
"That might be too crude," Curze said after some thought. "But I have to admit… there may not be a better option."
That wasn't because Curze had some obsession with solving everything via cyclonic torpedoes. It was simply that, knowing the future as she did, she understood exactly what kind of disaster Magnus had the potential to become.
And yet there he was—still fussing over his damned sorcery, even after selling half his soul to Chaos and somehow failing to notice.
That was beyond mere foolishness.
That was something that perhaps truly did deserve a cyclonic torpedo.
"But what if Magnus hasn't been corrupted?" Horus countered. "What if he resisted the temptation, and was planning to share the truth with us?"
She even spoke a few words in Magnus's defense.
"After all, even though the Council of Nikaea wounded him deeply, he still obeyed in the end. At least on the surface, he submitted to Father's decision in all things."
"He may be arrogant, yes, but he isn't brainless. He should still be someone we can talk to. Probably."
"I wouldn't know," Lion and Curze answered almost at the same time.
Bruce nearly laughed.
"But directly attacking one of our own brothers still feels wrong," Horus said, looking troubled.
From her perspective, as long as there was a chance to talk, they should talk. Only if Magnus had fully embraced Chaos and become something akin to a Daemon Prince would killing him be unavoidable.
But right now, there was still no proof that he had gone that far. It was hard not to feel that the other two were being a little too eager for blood.
If she didn't know there was no real personal grudge here, she might have thought the two of them were just looking for an excuse to take revenge.
"Then is there another possibility?" another paper cup—this one painted in Doraemon colors—suddenly chimed in.
The room turned toward it.
"What if that bird deliberately fed Old Wang that information as part of the plan?" Doraemon said, voicing his own theory. "To drive suspicion between all of you. It's entirely possible Magnus and it haven't actually had any contact at all."
Silence fell over the room.
Damn it.
That was exactly what made Tzeentch so disgusting.
Even if they knew it might be a ploy to sow distrust, what if it wasn't? What if it was real?
That was the problem. They simply couldn't be sure.
"Then we use the cyclonic torpedoes," Lion concluded at once, giving the same answer again.
It wasn't just crude, linear thinking this time. Lion genuinely believed that anything less than absolute loyalty was already absolute disloyalty.
The Emperor had repeatedly warned Magnus not to continue with his Warp studies, and yet he hadn't stopped. If anything, he'd only dug deeper, even going so far as to trade away one of his eyes to a Chaos god.
Someone like that already had one foot over the line.
A torpedo up the rear might do him some good.
"Will you stop throwing fuel on the fire and just eat your food?" Bruce said quickly.
At this rate, even Horus might stop thinking and just start loading cyclonic warheads.
"Fine."
"Then we prepare for both possibilities," Horus decided after a long moment. "We ready the cyclonic torpedoes. If necessary, we destroy Prospero immediately. A homeworld and a primarch tainted by Chaos serve no purpose."
"At the same time, we still open a dialogue with Magnus and determine whether he has truly betrayed Father."
"The problem is that if you meet Magnus face-to-face and he has turned, then it may become a mutual kill," Doraemon pointed out.
That was the real issue. Not whether Magnus should be killed, but how they could verify his status without getting caught in the same blast radius.
"That's simple," Bruce said. "We bring down only a very small group to talk. Or better yet, we make Magnus come aboard to meet us. If he refuses, that's already suspicious."
"But at the same time, we prepare our tools. We have barrier spheres, don't we? One of those can block a torpedo blast once. Then we use the Anywhere Door to run like hell."
He paused, then admitted, "Yes, it's a very tight plan. But at least it's a survival plan."
"Isn't that cutting it too close?" Curze sipped her tea and glanced toward Horus. "Horus and I will be fine. The whelp will definitely get out alive too. But anyone accompanying us… not necessarily."
"And we can hardly brief them on the full situation in advance. At that point, it'll depend on how fast they can react."
Even then, losses would still be likely. That meant Abaddon and Little Horus might die.
"I can accept that," Horus said, though the words were heavy.
She didn't want to sacrifice those she loved, but compared to the fate of the Imperium and her father's grand design, there was no contest.
If she had to choose between losing beloved sons and losing the future of mankind—
then she would choose mankind.
"Then it's settled!" Bruce slapped the matter down firmly.
Whether Tzeentch was bluffing or not, the plan would stand.
If Magnus refused to come talk, then they armed the torpedoes.
If he agreed to talk, then perhaps all would be well—but if something felt wrong the moment they set foot on Prospero, then once again, torpedoes.
At worst, they might lose one or two of their own.
But Magnus and all of Prospero?
They could go spinning into orbit.
Not long after the meeting concluded, the fleet's Warp transit came to an end.
Soon after, the joint visitation fleet of the Eighth and Sixteenth Legions arrived in the domain of the Fifteenth Legion—
Prospero, homeworld of the Thousand Sons.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 139)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter171)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter100)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter184)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 168
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 156
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 105
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 185
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 160
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 150
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 76
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 97
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 116
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 75
Uma Musume: I Want All 93
I Can Copy Unique Skills 79
Summoning an Evil God, but the 55
Supernatural Multiverse 75
My Harem Is Indescribable 68
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 70
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 69
Still playing traditional Honk 49
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 53
What Should I Do After Switchi 42
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 50
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 38
Transmigrated as Sukuna 35
Checking In in Demon Slayer 40
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 55
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