The horror upon the Chaos Throne still continued.
That scene battered the minds and consciousness of every Blood Angel. Even the suppressive drugs lost their effect.
An even more terrible Black Rage spread through the depths of their souls.
"My lord..."
Even Dante, a warrior who had lived for dozens of centuries and possessed an iron will, could not withstand an impact of this magnitude.
He witnessed the cruel tragedy upon the Chaos Throne, and for a moment, all strength left him.
With a thud, he fell to his knees.
"O Savior.
"He cannot die. We cannot lose him..."
Some Blood Angels could not even endure the mental shock and completely lost consciousness.
In the Blood Angels' sight, the Savior, the Emperor of the Imperium, was drenched in blood, his muscles twisted and bulging. He was terrifying.
His great hand clamped around a body and lifted it from the ground.
That was Sanguinius, the gene-father of the Blood Angels.
At this moment, the Great Angel's black wings had been cruelly torn away, exposing his hideous spine.
His entire body hung there. Every broken bone and wound on him seemed to be screaming, while foul blood surged from his body and spilled from his mouth.
Sanguinius struggled, letting out indistinct cries amid the agony.
In despair, he swung his fist and smashed it hard into the Savior's face.
Yet when his fist struck the other man's face, it shattered his own bones instead, and jagged bone spurs burst out.
The Savior, roaring in pain and fury, dropped his prey.
Sanguinius collapsed to the ground, desperately trying to crawl up, trying to support his body and stand straight.
But his legs and spine had already been pulverized. He could not even rise. He looked as if he were crawling.
Hah...
At last, Sanguinius stood up crookedly. Every muscle in his body was strained to its limit, locking his shattered bones in place.
"Die!"
Yet in the next moment, a Greater Daemon of Hell beside him found the Great Angel and smashed his only movable left arm with a warhammer.
That poor angelic being fell once more, his body limp as a worm. He struggled to control himself so that he would not scream from the pain.
The Savior also recovered and began beating him, as if hammering a training sandbag.
He was so furious, so violent. There was no technique and no mercy, only the desire to end the Great Angel's life as quickly as possible.
"Why..."
Dante and the other Blood Angels watched this scene and sank into utter despair.
They trembled as they forced their limp bodies under control, their consciousness seeming to be stirred wildly by sharp blades.
These pitiful warriors raised their bolters with weak hands, yet they could not fire.
They did not know what they should do. They did not know how to stop this sorrowful scene.
Nor did they have the courage to pull the trigger against the Savior.
That would undoubtedly be rebellion. It would be betrayal of the Imperium.
Were they supposed to attack the Emperor of the Imperium for the sake of their fallen gene-father?
That was impossible. Perhaps death was the Great Angel's only end.
While Dante and the others were trapped in anguish and conflict, the execution upon the Chaos Throne reached its climax.
It was not only the Blood Angels. When the other Chaos daemons and Dark Custodians saw such a terrifying scene, fear could not help but rise in their hearts as well.
That being was so savage. If they faced him directly, they might meet an even more pitiful end.
They stared in stunned silence, feeling that the Savior looked even more like the Dark Emperor, and was even more brutal and terrifying.
Even Horus, suppressed by sacred psychic power, had a trace of caution in his eyes. He also felt a strange familiarity.
It seemed he had once done the same thing to Sanguinius, though that Emperor of the Imperium was even more vicious.
The Savior beat him thirteen times in succession, shattering Sanguinius's remaining armor and bones. A mist formed from blood foam spread around the two Primarchs.
On the thirteenth blow, his fist completely shattered the Great Angel's cheek, causing the skin on that being's face to peel away.
That perfect face was like a slackening, falling mask.
The Savior clamped onto Sanguinius again, lifted him overhead, and kept tightening his grip, squeezing out the last of his life.
He tilted his ear slightly, seeming to listen for the other man's final words, then to draw the curtain on the fate of this glorious and noble Primarch.
But he heard nothing. Not even a scream. Sanguinius had no strength left to make any sound.
The Great Angel breathed out his last, and his entire body went limp like a puddle of rotten mud.
Boom!
Hellfire ignited in the Savior's hand, instantly setting Sanguinius's corpse ablaze and burning that filthy body to nothing.
By the time the Great Angel's charred bones fell to the ground, they had already become broken fragments.
They could no longer be pieced together into a human shape.
"Whew. Finally over.
"Brother, you really were hard to kill. Rest in peace..."
After Eden dealt with Sanguinius, he cast another stream of hope-imbued psychic power onto the remains, as if sending off the Great Angel's soul.
After that, he felt an indescribable mental exhaustion.
Eden wiped the sweat and blood from his forehead, almost unable to control his own body.
Fortunately, Sanguinius had deliberately skewed his thrust at the final moment. Otherwise, Eden would not have been able to rise from the throne with his life on the line and kill him.
Only then had he removed the fatal threat.
That noble Great Angel had maintained the purity of his soul even in the final moment of his life, unwilling to help Chaos destroy the Imperium.
With his last remaining strength, he had diverted the attack of his corrupted body, giving Eden the chance to counterattack and destroy that corrupted flesh.
He had been seeking death of his own will.
Even so, this extra battle had caused Eden to fall into a disadvantage in the high-dimensional war against Horus and the authority of the Chaos Gods.
He had suffered many wounds.
Worse, that Dark Emperor and the Chaos Gods had plundered away some of his authority, making his heart ache.
Eden took a deep breath. Every muscle in his body was trembling, and he looked as if he might collapse at any moment.
As though he would fall in the next second.
But he still endured, because in the reality of the galaxy, a new attack had already arrived.
Horus's Dark Custodians had already killed the daemons of Hell blocking them and reached the steps before the Chaos Throne.
If they advanced any farther, they would be able to attack him, this weakened Savior.
These high-ranking warriors blessed by the Four Gods also possessed venomous blades, weapons capable of injuring Primarchs and even Eden himself, perhaps even killing him.
No matter how strong he was as the Savior, in the galaxy he was still a body of flesh and blood. Without strength and protection, a blade could still punch a hole through him.
Then the vicious authority upon the blade would corrode him savagely.
But when Eden's intimidating gaze swept toward the Dark Custodians, all of them stopped, and even began slowly retreating.
They were afraid.
That gave him an opportunity. Several breaths later, spellbound genestealers and daemons of Hell stepped out of the Warp rifts again and fought the Dark Custodians.
They built a new defensive line around the Chaos Throne, and because of the power of Chaos, the steps here extended even farther.
Those Chaos elites would need to break through more battle lines and cross an even greater distance before they could reach him.
Only when Eden saw that the situation had stabilized did he finally slump back onto the Chaos Throne and continue maintaining the high-dimensional war.
The war in that dimension had already entered its fiercest stage. Authorities of every color collided across countless spaces, and daemons battled in different dimensions.
Even the void was being ground away.
In this battle, Eden, Horus, and the Chaos Gods had all used every method they possessed, nearly summoning every armed force that could arrive.
But the region that could truly decide the victory or defeat of this war was still this Chaos temple hall.
With both sides suppressed by the high-dimensional war, whoever's body fell in the galaxy would lose.
For example, if Eden fell, Horus and the Chaos Gods would inevitably devour New Dragonwood, and the elites on it would be finished.
If Horus fell, the Lord of Hell would regain control of this planet, and the Chaos elites on it would likewise be finished.
It was like chess. Whoever's king was checkmated would see the game end immediately and suffer defeat.
There would be no room to recover.
"Dante and the others are here?"
Suddenly, Eden sensed something in this complicated and chaotic region, and a trace of joy appeared on his face.
That was also a fairly powerful armed force. They could increase his chances of victory.
In the current stalemate, one more army meant one more measure of hope for victory.
"Heh, Savior.
"They may not become your army, especially after you killed Sanguinius."
Horus's cold laugh came over, his face growing more hideous.
"The Black Rage born from those agonizing memories and mental torment is enough to drown them.
"When you dealt with Sanguinius, you already exhausted the last strength of this body.
"You no longer have the strength to resist.
"In the madness of the Black Rage, they will charge onto your throne and kill you, you hypocritical Emperor of the Imperium!"
Eden took a deep breath when he heard this, his brow furrowing deeply. That bastard was not wrong.
He could feel Dante and the other Blood Angels standing on the verge of losing control. The Black Rage was corroding them.
And he had something even more important to do. He had no time left to handle all of this.
"Kill you! Kill every murderer!"
"I am Sanguinius!"
At this moment, faint blood mist spread across the bodies of the Blood Angels, and the Black Rage erupted completely.
The existence of the Black Rage confused the Blood Angels' memories, and filled their minds with all the pain and torment Sanguinius had faced.
It even made them mistake themselves for Sanguinius.
They could no longer distinguish enemy from ally, nor could they control their actions.
Because of the Black Rage, their combat strength also received a terrifying increase.
"Vengeance!"
Dante growled, biting his lips until they bled.
Like the other Blood Angels, his mind was filled with the miserable sight of Sanguinius before his death.
He was in such pain.
Now he only wanted to kill the Savior, to kill any being that had ever harmed Sanguinius.
Suddenly, the old warrior saw the Savior. The other man was not far away, sneering at him.
"Kill!"
He lost his reason and abruptly raised his inferno pistol, emptied every round, then gripped the Axe Mortalis and ignited its power field before beginning a desperate charge.
After that, all the Blood Angels followed Dante, launching their charge in a frenzy.
They charged toward the Chaos Throne.
???
Horus stared at this scene and immediately fell silent, because the Blood Angels were charging toward his side.
They were roaring toward him, shouting that they would kill him, the "Savior."
That caused the probability of victory on his side to fall by quite a bit again. The scales of victory had evened out.
"An illusion."
Horus took a deep breath.
That bastard Savior possessed too many authorities. At the final moment before the Blood Angels lost control, he had led them toward this region.
The frenzied Blood Angels would slaughter madly until they collapsed completely.
"Tyrant!"
Dante ignored all the bolts coming at him. He leapt high and brought his axe down, splitting a Dark Custodian in half with ferocious force.
He charged and slaughtered in madness, as if the wounds on his body did not exist.
It was not only him. The other Blood Angels were the same.
"Deal with them. Lead them toward the Savior!" the Dark Emperor's chief sorcerer said.
With the support of the Changer of Ways, they shattered the sorcerous illusion the Savior had constructed.
This allowed the Blood Angels to see the Dark Custodians' true appearance and know that this side was not the enemy who had killed Sanguinius.
It also gave them a chance to lead the Blood Angels toward the Savior's side.
"We are not the Savior.
"Your enemy is behind you, upon the Chaos Throne. Go. That is the true murderer who killed Sanguinius.
"Kill him!"
The Tzeentchian sorcerer's whispers lingered by the ears of Dante and the other Blood Angels, working to guide these warriors lost in the Black Rage.
He tried to let them see the truth.
Yet once the Blood Angels saw everything before them clearly, they became even more frenzied.
Because now, not only did they see the Savior, they also saw Horus. The Black Rage doubled.
After all, that fallen traitor, the Dark Emperor, was also the murderer who had killed Sanguinius.
"Kill Horus!" A Blood Angel lunged forward and tore apart the sorcerer who was trying to flee with his bare hands.
"How is this possible? The prophecy was wrong. That was not the fate I saw..."
The Tzeentchian sorcerers were numb. It seemed they had further strengthened the Blood Angels' hatred toward their side.
The previous prophecy and visions of fate seemed to have moved in the opposite direction. They did not know what was happening.
In the past, they had rarely made such mistakes.
The Blood Angels' assault forced some of the Dark Custodians to stop attacking the Chaos Throne.
Then they turned back to defend.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Dante was soaked in foul blood. He swung his axe madly, killing every life before him.
He did not even know whom he had killed, or whether there were warriors under his own command among them.
The old warrior merely swung his axe, then swung it again, until one nick after another appeared along its edge.
His wounds were bleeding. Blood and strength were slowly draining away, along with his life, but the fury formed by the Black Rage still supported the slaughter.
"Perhaps this is the end of my fate."
At the last moments of his life, Dante gradually regained a trace of clarity, but he still did not stop swinging his axe.
This Chaos temple had already been completely twisted, and the daemons of the Chaos Gods were pouring in, attacking the Chaos Throne.
Sanguinius had already passed away completely. Even Dante, as his gene-son, could gradually no longer feel those agonizing memories.
Perhaps that was the reason the Black Rage was fading.
It was not only him. The other Blood Angels also gradually regained consciousness, but they chose to continue fighting.
Dante realized that their gene-father might have sought death of his own will, so that he would no longer be controlled by the evil gods.
They too would offer up their lives and make their final contribution to the Imperium and the Savior.
Then they would lay down all burdens and sink into eternal sleep beside the Great Angel, their gene-father.
That was also their atonement. They, his sons, had allowed their gene-father to die and had been powerless to stop it.
Crack!
Dante had more and more wounds across his body. His armor shattered, his strength was exhausted, and even the Axe Mortalis grew heavy.
His blood-soaked hand struggled even to raise the axe.
After an unknown length of time, Dante finally could not hold on. The axe slipped to the ground.
He half-knelt on the ground, struggling to pick up the axe, his heart filled with boundless worry and regret.
The Blood Angels could not fall yet. They had to keep blocking the enemy until they could ensure the safety of His Majesty the Savior.
Yet Dante and the warriors no longer even had the strength to stand. They could only let the hateful abominations of Chaos thrust their blades toward them.
After he picked up his axe and delivered his final strike, he fell heavily to the ground, all strength leaving him.
His vision darkened and blurred.
"This is...?"
To Dante's astonishment, he had fallen onto damp soil, and he saw dark-green battle boots.
After that, he saw a forest.
The forests of Caliban.
Relieved, he let go of the Axe Mortalis in his hand.
The Blood Angels had perfectly fulfilled their final mission. The Imperium's reinforcements had arrived.
They had not failed the Savior, and they had defended the Great Angel's honor. The Imperium would endure forever.
"You may rest now. We will take over the battle from here."
The First Primarch, the Lion, said this.
After that, he led his warriors charging out. Dante could no longer see exactly who was with him.
"Treat them!"
At this moment, the Legion Apothecaries rushed forward and injected one dose of healing drug after another into Dante's neck.
But Dante raised his hand to stop them and shook his head.
His voice was hoarse. "It's useless. Our lives have already been exhausted by the Black Rage.
"That is a wound that cannot be healed."
That was indeed the case. The Legion Apothecaries discovered that the drugs they carried could not slow the fading lives of Dante and the other Blood Angels.
It was an unnatural wound, extremely complex and difficult to handle.
Their medicines could heal the body and parts of the soul, but could not resolve the deeper problem.
The related research institutes had yet to conquer every mystery concerning the soul and the Warp.
"Brother, let me retire.
"I've lived long enough. I should sleep with our gene-father..."
Dante forced out his final words with difficulty, a smile hanging on his face, incomparably relaxed.
He slowly closed his heavy eyelids and felt the last trace of life fade away.
This time, Dante did not see Sanguinius again.
That meant he could finally retire and die completely.
Although loafing around under the Savior had been quite nice, going to accompany Sanguinius might be easier.
It was also his final atonement.
Several seconds later, the old warrior's consciousness sank into eternal darkness, just as he had hoped.
Yet in the last instant before his consciousness vanished, he heard a voice different from all the ones before...
(End of Chapter)
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