Perturabo's jaw thrust forward. The long cables stuck on his head, like dreadlocks, clinked against each other softly.
"Your evidence?"
Keon felt Perturabo's pressure. He knew that if he couldn't provide a satisfactory answer, he would surely incur the Primarch's punishment.
He had already formulated his explanation. "My Lord, my evidence comes from my own father."
The ice-blue in Perturabo's eyes receded somewhat, but he still stared intently at Keon.
"The xenos we face are controlled and driven by a race called the Slaugth."
"The Slaugth can parasitize an Iron Warrior's body with a special, blood-red, insect-like creature."
"And this is your answer?" Perturabo said impatiently.
"Forrix knows Kherkes. He has not been parasitized."
"My Lord, he has been parasitized. The talent bestowed by my gene-father and my unique psychic abilities allow me to see what others cannot."
Keon attributed the "Spirit Medium's" abilities to psychic power, the common external explanation used by the Shadows of Order.
He saw Perturabo fall silent, seemingly analyzing his words.
"If you do not believe me, you can test it."
"How?" Perturabo's rock-like, cold voice softened slightly.
"An individual parasitized by that flesh, while possessing intelligence surpassing a normal human's-"
"-cannot retain your son's calculative and analytical abilities. He is not a true Iron Warrior. If you test him, he will immediately reveal himself."
Keon always bears in mind the Black Emperor's instruction: his role was to remind, not expose. Letting Lord Perturabo discover the truth himself was his task.
Perturabo said no more. He deactivated the shielding field and returned to the hololithic table.
The waiting Trident, seeing their father's gloomy expression, couldn't help but wonder what Keon and their father had discussed.
Perturabo's ice-blue eyes fixed on Kherkes. He spoke gravely.
"Mark the detailed results of your reconnaissance on the hololith."
"As you command, Father." 'Kherkes' immediately moved, taking the control rod and beginning to mark the mountain range's outline.
Perturabo watched 'Kherkes's' every movement. Normally, he wouldn't waste time waiting, enough time to complete logistical planning.
But now he didn't leave the hololithic table. He watched Kherkes, motionless.
His Trident also stood by, waiting quietly.
The command center's timer ticked away one standard hour. Perturabo's brow furrowed slightly.
Kherkes's movements were slower than usual. He would pause occasionally, think for a few seconds, then continue.
'His movements are too slow. His auto-senses should assist his recording. He shouldn't need this long to recall.'
"Attack Marker Point One," Perturabo pointed on the hololith, asking Kherkes, "Your plan?"
'Kherkes' hesitated. After two minutes of silence, he spoke.
"One company, ten Malcador heavy tanks. After seizing the target area, deploy Tarantula sentry guns. Then build defensive fortifications..."
Perturabo's voice grew colder. "How many fortifications? Scale of fortifications? Standard construction time? Garrison strength? Firepower allocation? Reserve supplies?"
'Kherkes' fell silent for another three minutes. "Four fortifications. Each of equal scale..."
Forrix frowned, watching his lieutenant. According to Kherkes's markings, the terrain around Marker Point One was uneven and winding.
At such a crucial node, building fortifications of equal scale was clearly wrong. They should be tailored to the terrain to maximize each fortification's firepower.
As he pondered, Perturabo moved. He stepped before 'Kherkes' and tore off his helmet.
The Primarch's ice-blue eyes immediately caught the unhealed gash on Kherkes's scalp, a millimeter wide, finger-length.
He doubted no more. Amidst the Trident's horrified exclamations, he thrust his fingers into Kherkes's skull and pulled out a blood-red maggot.
As the maggot was extracted, Kherkes's body crumpled to the floor.
Perturabo slammed the writhing, struggling parasite onto the hololithic table. With a sharp crack, the flesh and blood parasite's body slapped against it.
"He was parasitized."
Forrix, blade of the Trident, thought of the devastating casualties they would have suffered walking into an ambush based on Kherkes's misinformation. He knelt in shame.
"Father, I failed to detect Kherkes's parasitization. I nearly led us into the xenos' trap."
"Be more vigilant in the future."
Forrix, expecting punishment from his gene-father, was stunned. He had thought he would be stripped of the Trident's honor. He never expected his perpetually strict father to forgo punishment.
Perturabo's eyes were filled with ice-blue. "The xenos set an ambush in the mountains."
"Now, they will pay the price."
"Though his words were false, they still provided intelligence. Every strategic node must have xenos fortifications. They will also be lurking in ambush nearby..."
Keon listened to Perturabo's rapid-fire analysis.
The Primarch, almost without thinking, extrapolated the xenos' deployment from Kherkes's false report and formulated a corresponding battle plan accordingly.
Four minutes later, his name was called.
"Keon, your task is to find the Slaugth."
Forrix looked thoughtfully at Keon.
'Father is assigning the Slaugth, the architects of all this, to Keon. Could it be...?'
'He spoke privately with Father earlier. Father didn't punish me for my failure.'
'Did Keon warn Father?''
"As you command, My Lord. But I need that."
Keon pointed at the parasite's body on the hololithic table. Receiving permission, he picked up the blood-red maggot with his gauntlet.
Keon recalled the duty the Black Emperor had given him. "My Lord, the Slaugth are difficult to kill. Please allow me to report to you once I have located him."
"I will authorize a dedicated comm channel for you. You will be able to contact me at any time." Perturabo sent Keon a series of communication codes.
Forrix watched Keon with envy, thinking to himself.
'He has already won Father's trust.'
After confirming his helmet's comm link, Keon left the command center.
He assembled the Court Brothers within his company, those to whom his father had granted different powers.
Keon selected no psychics. He certainly didn't use any diviners to foresee.
The Black Emperor had cautioned him that the Slaugth possessed certain traits similar to Blanks.
No Slaugth could be sensed by a psychic. Their terrifying minds could also inflict varying degrees of punishment on any psyker.
Six hours later, Keon and his team reached the outskirts of Marker Point Five in the mountain range.
Beside Keon stood a "Seer," the blood-red parasite wound around the tip of his divining rod.
He looked into the distance. The Iron Warriors had already launched their surprise attack on the mountains.
They moved like a precision war machine. Every squad acted simultaneously, reaching predetermined points at the same time, delivering precise firepower strikes against the xenos.
The deployed Tarantula sentry guns didn't fire laser beams. Instead, they fired energy beams personally designed by Lord Perturabo.
The Tarantulas, along with the energy weapons mounted on the Malcador heavy tanks, opened fire on the towering, tree-like Osseivores.
Each Osseivores attack erased a Tarantula or a vehicle. But the Iron Warriors didn't retreat. They formed an unstoppable tide of steel, surging forward wave after wave against the Osseivores.
The attacks overwhelmed the Osseivores' firepower.
With a thunderous roar, the Titan-sized Osseivores toppled.
"Move out!"
Amidst the violent trembling of the ground, Keon led his team past the thirty-four Malcador heavy tanks destroyed by the Osseivores and entered the mountains.
They advanced. The "Seer" continuously used "rod dowsing" to correct their course. Eventually, they reached the foot of a thousand-meter peak.
The "Spirit Medium" ordered a halt. He opened "Eye of Death," entering the spiritual realm, viewing the fortress from a higher plane.
The grey-white fortress was wrapped by countless, howling, dark green wrathful spirit.
After observing for a time, the "Spirit Medium" closed "Eye of Death." He had found his target.
Keon immediately switched to the dedicated channel for Lord Perturabo, transmitting the coordinates captured by his divination device.
One second later, Perturabo's rock-like, cold voice sounded on the comm.
"I understand."
Keon led his team to conceal themselves behind rocks and waited quietly.
They didn't wait long. The helmet's timer had barely ticked past thirty-six standard minutes.
With a roar of engines, a squadron of iron-grey Stormbirds pierced the clouds, flying swiftly towards them.
The heavily armored Stormbirds, personally forged by Perturabo, led the iron-grey formation.
Defending Osseivoress fired beams into the air, striking Perturabo's mount.
Sparks flew as the beams impacted the iron-grey Stormbird.
Within seconds, the Stormbird squadron formed an arrowhead formation, unleashing a series of strikes on the Osseivoress.
"Forget the air! The Slaugth might try to flee. Stay alert!"
The Court Brothers immediately averted their eyes from the sky, each using their own abilities to watch the mountain.
The "Spectator" beside Keon, his pitch-black eyes sharp, searched the mountainside.
Suddenly, a black figure flashed through his vision.
The "Spectator's" eyes gleamed. He suddenly shouted on the comm channel.
"I've found him!"
He immediately uploaded the captured image of the black figure to the tactical network.
Amidst the thunderous crash of a collapsing Osseivores, Keon immediately shared the Slaugth's location with Lord Perturabo.
The iron-grey Stormbirds, flying towards the fortress, immediately changed course, heading for the Slaugth.
Dominicus constantly changed direction, but the Stormbirds stayed relentlessly on his tail.
Perturabo stood in the open hatch. Tactical data flashed through his transhuman mind. Based on this, he predicted the Slaugth's trajectory.
While directing the pilot, he raised his custom-made plasma gun, firing beams at the Slaugth.
With a series of wet slaps, worm after worm fell among the rocks.
The moment the iron-grey Stormbird's shadow covered the Slaugth, Perturabo leaped down.
A massive, unmatched broadsword plunged deep into the Slaugth's body. Amidst a piercing shriek, the worm-creature's body stretched in all directions.
Perturabo swung his sword repeatedly, hacking at Dominicus's limbs.
"No," Dominicus roared, "How did he find me?"
After slaying the Slaugth with a series of strikes, Perturabo thought silently.
"Nareth's son is quite impressive."
He asked the approaching Keon, "What reward do you desire?"
"My Lord, it is my honor to serve you."
"If I may, I would like the Slaugth's body."
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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