Looking at the figures before her, the impossibly young Ecclesiarchy priest spoke slowly. For some unknown reason, upon meeting the gaze of her holy golden pupils, everyone present, including the Inquisitor, felt an ineffable sensation.
No one refused her. A woman who could maintain a barrier of faith to protect so many people on a Space Hulk was clearly no ordinary individual.
She, however, was looking with a peculiar gaze at the group of Lamenters and the Blood Angels Contemptor Dreadnought. The latter had just put down the Seth he was holding. The Flesh Tearer Chapter Master's legs were trembling, for reasons unknown.
"We are the sons of Sanguinius..."
Aslot had taken command, quickly integrating the Lamenters and Flesh Tearers present. Aside from a necessary defensive perimeter, everyone knelt on one knee, listening to the venerable Ancient's teachings. Even Metaurus, the Victrix Guard veteran, did the same. This was a ten-thousand-year-old sacred Dreadnought; it was best not to be difficult.
But...
"Your curse seems to be quite severe."
Looking at the Flesh Tearers, Aslot spoke with a hint of suspicion. He then walked over to the crate he had dragged along and took something out. A large pile of vials was produced and placed before the Flesh Tearers.
"This is the remedy developed by Our Lord and his Tech-Priest, specifically to address our problem. In his time, the great Gene-Primarch Sanguinius himself commissioned that priest to help solve the Blood Angels' flaw."
A pile of green, bubbling concoctions was presented. The sight alone was enough to make the group feel a sense of suffocation.
A product of Zhou Ye was guaranteed to be top-quality. Regardless of the side effects, the only question was: did it work?
"Ancient..."
Seth eyed the Contemptor Dreadnought and the pile of green vials with hesitation. He subconsciously glanced at Mario, who opened a pouch on his belt, revealing a similar vial inside.
"Does it work?"
"I don't know. We haven't had this problem arise yet."
With outsiders present, Mario couldn't speak of the Red Thirst. As for the Black Rage, that was a major issue. Hearing this, however, made Seth's brow twitch. If the Ancient wasn't present, he would have started cursing. You don't even have the Red Thirst or the Black Rage, and you call yourselves sons of Sanguinius?
But since a ten-thousand-year-old Ancient vouched for it, and it came from the being he called "Our Lord," Seth chose to believe him.
At that moment, however, watching them with the green vials, Chris's eyes widened. He was struck by an intense sense of déjà vu. In a daze, he felt as if he were back on Aestia.
"You said you need reinforcements?"
"Yes."
"The more, the better?"
"Yes."
And then, the Holy Necrons had made their grand entrance. He felt an urge to stop them. He could guarantee this stuff would work, but with that man's "peerless wisdom," it was bound to have some extremely unexpected side effects.
But unfortunately, he closed his mouth as soon as he opened it. He was just an Inquisitor, outside the Astartes chain of command. He had no right to question a ten-thousand-year-old Dreadnought.
"Does it work..."
Although the Flesh Tearers were madmen, Seth was definitely not. He had his own Red Thirst and Black Rage under control. He gave a vial to a brother whose lips were already trembling. If the Ancient wasn't here to suppress him, he would have already gone berserk.
"Drink it..."
"Hnngh..."
The warrior looked at the bubbling green potion and fell silent for a moment. Then, gritting his teeth, he downed it in one go. He could not fall into the abyss of the Red Thirst in front of a great Ancient.
The moment he drank it, the Flesh Tearer felt a strange taste spread through his mouth.
And then...
"BLEEEAARRGGGH!!!"
The group watched in astonishment as the Flesh Tearer leaned against a wall and began to vomit violently.
Frankly, Chris was stunned. An Astartes possessed a stomach powerful enough to digest ceramite dust. For one to be vomiting...
But regardless of how impossible it seemed, it was happening.
For Gene-seed, Zhou Ye could use Imaginary energy to block the curse of the Red Thirst and the Black Rage. However, this effect was temporary. The Gene-seed originated from the Warp, and its very existence could continuously draw energy from it, whereas his Imaginary energy was finite. So, unless the Star Rails became widespread in the future, Imaginary energy could only provide a temporary fix. And that was only for Gene-seed he had personally processed; it wouldn't work on those who were already Astartes.
Since that was the case, Zhou Ye had changed his approach.
He remembered Dante fighting the Purge, a warband that worshipped the death aspect of Nurgle. Because they worshipped death, they hadn't undergone any physical mutation. Dante, fighting them, had felt the Red Thirst take hold. But he had resisted it, wanting to see what these enemies were all about, and had taken a bite out of one.
The sheer stench had instantly shocked him back to his senses. Following this line of thought, and conveniently having a pile of Nurgle's finest on hand from when he had grabbed a bunch of Beasts of Nurgle and Nurglings for his Thousand-Person Theater, Zhou Ye went to work.
Though he had since cleared them all out, he had kept a few Nurglings locked inside. The space was completely cut off from the Warp, and Nurglings themselves had virtually no power—they were basically just objective markers on the tabletop. So, keeping them there was no problem. He extracted a good amount of plague toxin from them. After processing, deactivating it with Imaginary energy, and a series of other technological and brutal steps, the remedy for the Blood Angels' Red Thirst was complete.
Commonly known as "poop-eating therapy." He then added a few other targeted ingredients.
At the very least, Zhou Ye could guarantee that after drinking this, these Blood Angels would feel nauseated for the next hundred years at the mere taste of any blood other than their own. This level of nausea, aside from the initial vomiting, wouldn't affect their combat effectiveness later. The feeling wasn't so strong that it couldn't be overcome with willpower. In any case, they wouldn't have to worry about the Red Thirst for a long time.
Zhou Ye was very satisfied with his peerless wisdom.
He had equipped the Lamenters with a large supply. He couldn't be the only one enjoying Nurgle's delicacies; he had to let them have a taste too.
He just never expected that the Lamenters wouldn't get to use it first, and that the Flesh Tearers would get the first dose.
"Brother, are you alright..." Seth asked with some uncertainty, looking at his battle-brother who had finally stopped vomiting.
"I'm fine. I don't want to eat anything right now."
"Eat this nutrient paste. There is still a fierce battle ahead."
Just then, Aslot produced a standard-issue Astartes nutrient pack. The sight made the Flesh Tearer's face twist, but he quickly ate it.
From the looks of it, he wouldn't be feeling the Red Thirst anytime soon. He wasn't even on the verge of the Black Rage anymore; the stench had shocked him sober.
"What is this stuff?" Chris asked, dumbfounded. It gave him a familiar feeling.
"I heard from that priest," Aslot explained calmly, "He extracted Nurgle's plague toxins, deactivated them several times, removed most of the components, and preserved only... in his words, the most primal flavor."
"..."
Hearing the Contemptor Dreadnought's casual explanation, the faces of everyone present changed.
So they were now expected to consume the essence of Nurgle. The Flesh Tearers' faces twisted in disgust. This was no different from making them eat shit. When had they, the mighty Astartes, been reduced to dung-eaters?
But...
"Everyone, eat... BLEAGH!!!"
Seth took the lead, swallowing the paste, and immediately began to vomit.
And because they had to fight, after vomiting, they had to quickly replenish their nutrients. The sensation was disgusting, even for them, the Angels of the Emperor, the demigods of humanity.
"Magos 010 Omega!!!" Chris muttered slowly in the silence. Such peerless wisdom, such blasphemous creations... only that man could be responsible.
With his creations, the only question was: did they work? If they worked, that was all that mattered. Everything else could be ignored.
Soon, the entire group of Flesh Tearers had taken their medicine, even the few members of the Death Company they had quietly brought along. The effect was excellent. The unfortunates lost in the throes of the Black Rage were shocked back to their senses by the stench.
Although they didn't know how long the effect would last, it showed Seth another path of hope.
While this stuff was blasphemous, it was better than succumbing to the Red Thirst and being branded a traitor.
When he returned, he would tell Dante to make it widespread. This disgusting stuff... he couldn't be the only one to eat it. Since they were all brothers, they should naturally share their fortunes. He, Seth, would treat all his brothers to a meal of shit. Everyone would get a share, especially Dante.
Soon, the force was integrated. Under Aslot's leadership, they began to charge toward the core Battle Moon. The Flesh Tearers, now filled with grief and indignation, desperately needed an outlet. The various abominations standing in their way were in for a world of pain. With Chris providing psyker support, their advance was incredibly fast.
---o---
On the other side, Zhou Ye had already led his men into the tide of Greenskins.
"What a glorious moment this is!!!" Asmodai couldn't help but exclaim. Ten thousand years. It had been ten thousand years.
For ten thousand years, no one had fought alongside a Primarch. Although this Primarch was not their own, it was still a great honor. Watching the figure in black armor and a golden sword obliterate thousands of Greenskins with a single strike, leaving them no chance to even spore, was a moment of glory Asmodai had never dared to imagine.
Though their force consisted entirely of elites, they were not numerous, only a few hundred men. But these few hundred men were carving their way through every attack the Greenskins threw at them.
All ranged weapons were rendered useless, blocked by our Lord's powerful psychic abilities.
Frankly, if it were anyone else, even a Librarian, using psychic powers so wantonly, Asmodai would have considered aiming his bolter at them. But if it was this Lord, then there was no problem. A Primarch could never be corrupted.
Even so, the battle had reached a stalemate.
"There are too damn many of them..."
With another strike, Zhou Ye cleared the Greenskins in front of him, feeling a bit speechless.
Thank the structure of this Space Hulk for burying the Battle Moon under a pile of junk. It prevented the Greenskins from using its powerful weaponry. Otherwise, Zhou Ye would have had to expend a great deal of his own energy to advance.
He was currently in energy-saving mode. And this was a Battle Moon. During the War of the Beast, Ork Warbosses capable of suppressing Primarchs had appeared. So Zhou Ye was holding back.
Frankly, he had no desire to get into a slugfest with these xenos. It was a pure net loss. Daemons were so much better; every one of them was an energy pack.
He just didn't know where Fulgrim was. He was already eager to devour Fulgrim. Missing Fulgrim, Day 1.
"Ancient, this isn't working," Asmodai rushed to Aldrich's side, who was wielding a Contemptor-specific power sword that Zhou Ye had "thought" into existence.
More and more Greenskins were pouring in from all directions. Zhou Ye was currently using the Authority of the Herrscher of Reason to create a sort of void shield, which was the most energy-efficient method. But it had a problem: it wasn't very effective against melee attacks. And these Orks, clearly having some connection to Khorne, were obsessed with close combat. Their attacks were being blocked, and their advance had stalled.
"Don't panic. They're here."
Just then, a cold voice sounded in everyone's earpiece.
"God-machine deployed. Praise the Omnissiah."
Asmodai instinctively looked up, and what he saw was a sight he would never forget.
Thousands of streams of light converged in the sky above. One by one, massive warships appeared overhead.
Then, as countless meteors streaked across the sky, a colossal figure slowly emerged from the rear.
The Emperor Titan had arrived on the field. With it came a Warlord Titan and several Warhound Titans.
There was also an even larger number of Imperial Knights and Skitarii. These were the forces Zhou Ye had cobbled together after sorting through the wreckage of the two Plague Titan Legions.
---o---