"He is the Wolf King from Fenris, he is my brother, he is Leman Russ."
Whispers of knowledge arose around Alexander.
A boundless wildness suddenly erupted before Alexander, and the unbearable heatwave on the nuclear wasteland seemed to recede.
What followed was a savage, icy wind, like a blizzard from the ice age, blowing towards Alexander.
A face with coarse golden braids, long and gaunt, as if carved from an ice blade, appeared before Alexander.
Knowledge coalesced into that savage figure, a figure clad in dark blue armor, with two wild wolves coiling around him.
The golden eyes of that figure were filled with a barbarian's dullness, as he observed Alexander with interest from not far away.
Then, that dullness instantly transformed into cunning—
"Leman Russ is a liar!"
"He was never a barbarian! He deliberately disguised himself as a clumsy dog to deceive others!"
"I thought he was Thor from Ancient Terra's mythology, but he was actually a Loki."
"I only realized this when he fought me in Prospero."
"That scoundrel! He even accused me and my legion of being too deeply mired in occult things!"
"When I twisted time, he walked through the stilled time completely unaffected."
"When I summoned the torrents of the Warp, he suppressed them with just a few savage growls."
"When I unleashed the Psyker power within my flesh, transforming into a giant composed of light and aether, he actually grinned and transformed into something similar."
"This wild wolf's connection to the vast ocean is as intimate as mine; his research into Psyker powers is by no means superstition."
"Leman Russ is a cunning wild wolf, a wise Psyker master, don't be fooled by his appearance!"
The voice of this knowledge resounded in Alexander's ears; it was clearly written by Magnus after the Burning of Prospero.
The defense mechanism within Magnus' book released this knowledge about Leman Russ, animating him to intercept Alexander.
Alexander's mouth couldn't help but twitch; he hadn't expected Magnus to choose Leman Russ to protect his Warp essence.
Was it because Leman Russ had left such a deep psychological shadow on him that he subconsciously believed Leman Russ was strong enough to protect his essence?
But it must be said, even if it was just Leman Russ animated by knowledge, the oppressive feeling he brought was unparalleled.
Alexander flicked the red cape in his hand, and silver-white lightning was sharply deflected. He looked up at the figure, dazzling like thunder and massive like a Titan.
Leman Russ' material form seemed to have disintegrated, and the magnificent powers residing within his body were unleashed, transforming him into a savage and primal storm.
Black rain poured down, the night was profound, and scorching lightning struck the heavy, thick clouds. The two wild wolves coiling around Leman Russ also lunged at Alexander.
But the fringes of time around them suddenly slowed, every raindrop's descent became slow motion, and the two wild wolves, animated by knowledge, were also slowed.
Alexander pressed the Mad Clock, slowing down the surrounding time by sixty thousand times.
However, Leman Russ, who had transformed into that savage storm, showed no sign of stopping; the time dilation had no effect on him whatsoever.
Although it was unclear how much power this Leman Russ from the book world possessed compared to the original, Alexander had no intention of wasting time with him.
He held the Mechanizer in one hand and took out a petri dish with a type of bacteria he had cultivated, whose original purpose was unknown.
Mechanizer: Astramael—
The scorching starlight burst forth in the book world. Alexander took the opportunity to pull out the Seeker's Staff from his pocket and then turned to run.
A deep, powerful chant echoed through the Tizca Pyramid, and a strong Psyker shockwave swept through, sending countless precious scrolls flying.
Sanguinius' pristine white figure was also violently thrown, arcing through the air and crashing heavily against the wall.
The Archangel's face was stained with blood, his golden hair hung down, and his eyes held deep fatigue. His pair of pure white wings with metallic blue tips hung behind him.
"..You." Magnus' angry roar resounded. He twisted his heavily injured body and slowly walked towards Sanguinius.
He reached out and pulled the crimson-stained blade from his neck, throwing it onto the ground.
The grotesque wounds rapidly healed under the impetus of his powerful Psyker energy, returning to their original state within a few breaths.
But Magnus was still terrified.
Even though the Lord of Change's power had expanded the wound on Sanguinius, and the power Horus had left on Sanguinius ten thousand years ago raged, making Sanguinius extremely weak,
He still almost killed him. Magnus was almost banished back to the Warp by Sanguinius.
Even this weak... he still almost killed him.
"So Lorgar was right."
Sanguinius said in an almost calm tone:
"Your body has always been an external manifestation of your own Psyker power, just like our father."
"There aren't even any true organs within your crimson body, otherwise that sword strike just now should have finished you off."
Sanguinius had plunged the crimson-stained sword into Magnus' neck, almost exactly where Fulgrim had wounded Guilliman.
Even a Primarch would lose the ability to resist after such a blow, but Magnus did not.
Magnus looked at the calm-faced Sanguinius, still not daring to approach for a moment.
Sanguinius' fierce performance just now had even caused Magnus to feel fear, dreading that he might still be hiding some power, waiting for him to get closer before launching a desperate counterattack.
"I have a spell that I originally intended to save for Leman Russ."
A malicious thought arose in Magnus' mind.
He possessed an extremely vile spell, infused with the blasphemous power of the Lord of Change. That spell could dismantle both material and Warp existences into pure knowledge, sealing them within Magnus' book.
He had originally intended to use this spell to desecrate and restrain Leman Russ, to make that wild wolf his slave.
But now, it wouldn't be bad to use it on Sanguinius...
Magnus subtly moved his throat, opening his mouth to chant the blasphemous incantation—
"Uh, ah, nah?"
Magnus' mouth uttered a few comical and meaningless syllables.
He blinked in confusion, suddenly realizing that the knowledge of that spell in his mind seemed to have vanished.
Magnus stared at Sanguinius in front of him, bewildered and confused.
He tried to open his mouth several times, wanting to utter the incantation he had created to bind the already weakened Sanguinius into Magnus' book.
But after several attempts, only incoherent babbling came out of his mouth, and his mind was filled with chaos.
The knowledge of that incantation seemed to have vanished from Magnus' mind, leaving only an empty void; he couldn't recall it no matter how hard he tried.
Magnus subconsciously felt a pang of panic.
Knowledge, only knowledge, was what Magnus could absolutely not abandon.
For ten thousand years, he had lost his flesh and blood body, his soul was shattered, and his sons were reduced to ashes, but none of that mattered.
As long as he still possessed knowledge, he was still the Crimson King, still the King of Sorcery, still Magnus.
Everything Magnus was came from his knowledge; knowledge was Magnus, and Magnus was knowledge; the two were inseparable.
"What did you do?!" Magnus roared, questioning Sanguinius.
And Sanguinius, seeing the expression of confusion and anger intertwined on Magnus' face, couldn't help but let a smile curl his lips.
Magnus let out an annoyed growl, drawing out Magnus' book, which condensed all his knowledge and thoughts, from his waist, attempting to find that spell within it.
This wasn't the first time he had done so; ever since Prospero was burned to ashes by the flames of the Space Wolves and the Custodes, Magnus always seemed to discover knowledge and spells he had forgotten he'd recorded within this book he himself had written.
But where the spell should have been recorded, there was nothing, only a twisted black mass across the page, like a chaotic ink stain.
However, strangely, this ink stain seemed alive, constantly spreading to other text on the surrounding pages; the touched text would disintegrate from each stroke, merging into it, as if chaos and ignorance were devouring knowledge and enlightenment.
At the same time, the knowledge in Magnus' mind was also flowing away with it.
The Crimson King's single eye widened, and he growled in an angry voice, "Bacteria!"
It was bacteria; his single eye saw it—a strange bacterium was spreading through Magnus' book, corroding and devouring the knowledge within the book, and also devouring the knowledge in Magnus' mind.
He angrily reached out to stop the bacteria from expanding in the book—
"Mechanized Weapon: Emperor's Sword!"
Alexander's voice suddenly rang out from within the book.
Before Magnus could react, Alexander's arm, burning with golden Psyker flames, violently thrust out from the pages of Magnus' book.
His arm was as sharp as the true Emperor's Sword, heavily piercing into Magnus' crimson giant hand as he tried to reach for Magnus' book.
"Aho!!!"
A savage growl erupted from Magnus' mouth; the scorching pain from the Emperor's Psyker power made him involuntarily retract his hands.
And Alexander, wearing orange and yellow interwoven shoes, also burst out of Magnus' book, holding a petri dish in one hand.
"It worked," Alexander said, nodding to the weakened Sanguinius.
The bacteria in his hand were "bacteria that can eat the knowledge in books," created by the Aimless Bacteria Manufacturing Mechanism.
They could devour the knowledge in a book, turning its contents into meaningless gibberish, but only for one book.
Although the bacteria created by the Aimless Bacteria Manufacturing Mechanism inherently possessed absolute efficacy, when this type of bacteria was first created, Alexander really couldn't think of any way to utilize them.
After all, if he truly wanted to eliminate the knowledge in a book, Alexander could simply stuff the book into his four-dimensional pocket and sell it.
It wasn't until Sanguinius discovered that Magnus' Warp essence was Magnus' book itself that Alexander found a use for these bacteria.
Magnus' book was Magnus himself; in fact, Magnus' book was even closer to his true self than the current Magnus.
All of Magnus' knowledge, thoughts, and philosophies were in Magnus' book, even those he himself had forgotten.
Digesting the knowledge in Magnus' book was equivalent to digesting Magnus' own knowledge.
And there was a direct connection between the copies and the original of Magnus' book; Alexander didn't need to approach Magnus, nor did he need to risk seizing Magnus' book, both of which were extremely difficult.
So Alexander entered the world within Magnus' book through the "shoes that enter storybooks," traveled directly to the original through a copy, and spread the "bacteria that can eat the knowledge in books" from within.
Now, with just one glance, Alexander knew the plan had succeeded.
"Ah!!!" A savage roar, devoid of any wisdom, came from Magnus' mouth.
He extended his arms towards Alexander and Sanguinius, seemingly wanting to chant some sorcery.
But in the end, Magnus only released a pure Psyker heavy hammer, crude and simple, as if from a child who had just awakened Psyker powers or a female psyker Ogryn from Ashford.
Although Alexander specifically chose chapters related to sorcery to start spreading the bacteria, the spread of bacteria takes time, and the knowledge in Magnus' book was vast; Magnus had not yet forgotten all his knowledge.
It was just that a void had suddenly appeared in his mind, within his knowledge system; the familiar and commonly used sorceries were disappearing little by little.
The result of this void in his knowledge system was that even for the sorceries he hadn't yet forgotten, he had to think and search to correctly unleash them.
Not only on the sorcery level, but all of Magnus' thoughts had slowed down, and the battle situation no longer allowed for such thinking time.
The Psyker heavy hammer released by Magnus was incredibly powerful; although it lacked any technique, Magnus was already one of the strongest psyker in the galaxy, and even Ahriman, the master of the red word network, could not touch Magnus' hem on a Psyker level.
Walls of silver and gold crumbled into dust before the tsunami-like Psyker energy, shattering into the smallest molecules, igniting in the friction between Psyker energy and matter, and matter and matter, turning into a raging sea of fire surging towards Alexander and the weakened Sanguinius.
Alexander quickly pulled out a bouncing cloak from his four-dimensional pocket and violently waved it at the Psyker tsunami; the tsunami immediately deflected and shot to the side.
If it had been more complex sorcery with stranger effects, perhaps it might have found a way around the bouncing cloak.
But such a crude Psyker heavy hammer, such a direct attack, was precisely where the bouncing cloak was most effective.
However, Magnus seemed to have anticipated this situation.
He released that crude Psyker heavy hammer merely to buy time to find a suitable sorcery from his fragmented knowledge system to resolve the current predicament.
Magnus whispered blasphemous incantations with a grating voice; these incantations transformed into translucent crystal scarabs, twisting their bodies, burrowing into the silver and gold ground, directly heading towards the core of this Tizca's Revenge, merging with the arcane foci that maintained the energy of this pyramid-shaped battleship.
In an instant, those arcane foci became agitated.
Magnus intended to ignite his flagship, using the terrible Warp energy accumulated within it to utterly destroy everything around him.
Sanguinius was so weak he could barely move, and his Psyker power was completely exhausted; neither of them could possibly escape the explosion radius of the entire Tizca's Revenge.
"He's detonating this entire battleship?" Sanguinius raised his head weakly, a hint of difficulty in his gaze, as if asking Magnus with his eyes if he knew what he was doing.
Alexander also scratched his head; he helped Sanguinius up with one hand and pulled out an anywhere door from his four-dimensional pocket with the other.
Magnus stared blankly at the pinkish-red wooden door Alexander pulled out, as if asking what this door was.
Magnus originally knew of the anywhere door's existence; after all, Alexander had used it openly in front of many people.
But at this moment, he had forgotten; the void of knowledge in his mind made Magnus overlook the existence of the anywhere door.
Alexander kicked open the anywhere door with hardly any hesitation and pulled Sanguinius inside.
And Magnus, looking at the Tizca's Revenge beneath his feet, which was constantly spewing out powerful Psyker energy, also fell into a brief moment of hesitation.
"Run."
Kharn, who had been constantly observing the war situation, suddenly spoke to Abaddon.
At this moment, Abaddon's full attention was on the Macragge's Honour, which was currently engaged in battle.
The Vengeful Spirit was now being damaged by various profane plants summoned by the chief gardener of Nurgle's Garden, gradually falling into a disadvantage in its struggle with the Macragge's Honour.
But Abaddon still managed to spare a little attention for Kharn.
Abaddon respected Kharn's tactical advice.
Ordinary people might think Kharn was just a Khornate berserker, a chosen champion of Khorne.
But Abaddon knew that beneath Kharn's rage lay first-rate cunning and tactical, strategic judgment capabilities.
From the Great Crusade era, when the World Eaters, under Angron's leadership, could still conduct organized operations, Kharn's talent in warfare was evident.
"I didn't expect to hear the word 'run' from the mouth of a Khorne champion; wouldn't the Blood God accuse you of being a coward?"
".."
Kharn coldly glanced at Abaddon, who was attempting to joke:
"Running is not the same as fleeing; a strategic retreat is not cowardice."
"A retreat is for a better and more worthwhile fight against an opponent, and besides—"
"..Among actions that please the Blood God, being blown up by a void-faring Psyker pyramid is not included."
"After all, you can never take the skull of a pyramid."
"..Hmm?" Abaddon paused slightly, listening to Kharn's words, and then realized that the Tizca's Revenge in the distance was surging with immense Psyker power, shining like a small star, seemingly about to explode.
"By the Wolf God!"
Abaddon screamed in horror:
"What does Magnus want to do?!"
"Has he forgotten that we are also nearby?! Does he want to blow us up too?!"
Hey! Isn't that Horus' Vengeful Spirit? Why is Abaddon here too?
Magnus looked at the Vengeful Spirit in the distance, thinking with some confusion.
Perhaps he could use divination and prophecy to determine what Abaddon was doing near his flagship.
Divination, divination...
What divination techniques did he even know? What method of prophecy would be best in this situation?
emperor tarot? numerology?
After a moment of thought, Magnus realized with a blank expression that he seemed to have forgotten most methods of divination.
Only the knowledge of emperor tarot and numerology, related to divination and prophecy, remained in his mind.
Hey!
Suddenly, Magnus keenly perceived that the Psyker concentration in the surrounding air was rapidly increasing.
His single eye's pupil contracted slightly, and he suddenly realized that his flagship, Tizca's Revenge, was about to explode.
Someone had ignited the arcane foci that served as the voidship's energy source!
Magnus was taken aback; how could someone bypass his rituals, incantations, and sorcery, and forcibly tamper with several arcane cores he had personally set up?!
And all of this happened without Magnus' knowledge, completely bypassing the alert spells Magnus had set, almost as if Magnus himself had personally ignited his own flagship!
"Trying to kill me with the explosion of my own flagship is indeed feasible!"
"But thinking that the flagship's explosion alone can kill me is a bit fanciful!"
Magnus growled, speaking to the enemy hidden somewhere.
The explosion of Tizca's Revenge could indeed unleash a powerful Warp energy shockwave, but to think that alone could kill him, kill the mighty King of Sorcery, the Crimson King Magnus, was surely underestimating him too much?
He only needed a teleportation spell to escape to safety—
Hey!
Magnus clapped his head, again falling into thought and confusion.
How did that teleportation spell work again?
He began to search for knowledge in his mind, but the voids in his head were growing more numerous; whenever he fell into thought, he would see a vast blankness, making him increasingly anxious.
Magnus couldn't help but scratch his head; his crimson giant claw scratched his forehead, then his hair, and finally the two pointy horns on top of his head—
Hey!
Magnus confusedly rubbed the horns on his head, seemingly puzzled as to how he, a human, could have grown such large horns.
He should be human, at least Magnus found knowledge about "being human" from his fragmented knowledge system.
"Then why is my head pointy?"
"When did these horns grow out?"
"No, what am I doing standing here?"
"Oh! I need to quickly warn Father, Horus has been corrupted by Chaos, he's going to rebel!"