"It has been a long time, my dear brother."
An elegant and cold voice echoed from the shadows, followed by the appearance of a magnificent purple figure who materialized like a phantom.
A sharp clang rang out as the serpentine power sword, Fireblade, precisely parried the heavy blow of Ferrus's hammer.
The Forgebreaker and the Fireblade collided, erupting in a shower of blinding sparks.
Fulgrim, the Primarch of the Emperor's Children Legion, now stood before Ferrus Manus, a smile playing on his lips.
His armor was as flawless as a work of art, but his eyes, once filled with pride and glory, now held only a twisted pleasure and a crazed malice.
"Fulgrim?" Ferrus's voice was thick with fury, "You dare show your face before me? You damned traitor!"
"Oh? Why, my dear Ferrus, are you so unwelcoming?" Fulgrim chuckled softly.
With a flick of his blade, he forced back Ferrus's warhammer, then took a graceful step back, repositioning himself with the lightness of a dancer.
"Look at you, so pathetic," Fulgrim's gaze swept across the brutal battlefield where the Iron Hands warriors were locked in a desperate struggle against the Orks.
He shook his head, "To be pushed to this point by these lowly greenskins... it is truly disappointing."
"Silence, you shameless traitor!" Ferrus roared, swinging his hammer in another ferocious arc.
"You and Horus have betrayed the Emperor and all of humanity! You are unworthy of the title of Primarch!"
Fulgrim sidestepped the blow with ease.
His serpentine sword lunged like a striking viper toward Ferrus's throat, forcing the Gorgon to defend himself.
"Betrayal? No, we have simply… seen the truth," Fulgrim's voice was low and seductive, "The Emperor deceived us, Ferrus. He never saw us as his sons. We were merely his tools, his weapons. He is a tyrant."
"Lies!" Ferrus bellowed, smashing his power hammer toward Fulgrim's chest, only for it to be deftly parried again.
"Lies? Then tell me, why did he hide the truth of the Warp? Why did he shackle our destinies?" Fulgrim's smile grew more distorted.
"Be silent, Fulgrim. I once considered you my best brother, my closest confidant.Now I feel that everything we did was a mistake." Ferrus Manus raised his power hammer and brought it down with immense force.
"The jesting ends here, my brother. In truth, I am here to save you. For you alone, I was even willing to defy Horus's orders," Fulgrim said as he blocked the attack with his sword.
Ferrus Manus snorted at his words. "You would be so kind as to save me? You damned traitor!"
Ferrus's hatred for Fulgrim surpassed even his hatred for Horus, for the two had once been the closest of brothers, without exception.
Yet he had chosen to follow that bastard Horus, to follow that arch-traitor.
"I am not deceiving you. This place is a trap, a grand trap meticulously prepared for you by Horus. You now have one chance to leave here alive. If you are willing to join Horus's side with me, we can overthrow the tyrant's rule together," Fulgrim offered.
He was not lying.
Horus had made many arrangements on this planet to utterly destroy Axis, and these Orks were but one part of the plan. The true killing blow was reserved for Axis.
"Then what is your objective? What is this trap, my brother?" Ferrus Manus asked, staring at Fulgrim.
If there truly was a trap, he had to learn of it in advance, make the necessary preparations, and ideally, inform his two other brother Primarchs.
"Manus, you are trying to get information from me, are you not? I am sorry, but I have already completely severed all communications here. You and I have only ten minutes. I will use this time to persuade you."
Ferrus's attacks grew more frenzied, each blow carrying enough force to shatter ceramite.
Yet Fulgrim was like a slippery serpent, always managing to evade the deadliest strikes with the slightest of movements, even finding moments to launch lethal thrusts of his own.
Hearing this, Ferrus Manus tried to activate the comm-bead in his ear, only to find it filled with static. He had been cut off from the other two Primarchs.
"So, how do you intend to persuade me?"
"Simply, with a more beautiful future, a more perfect future, where humanity will attain true salvation. And with the lives of your Legion's sons, and your own life. In this war, the Emperor is doomed to fail," Fulgrim declared.
At that moment, Horus's enraged roar came through Fulgrim's own comm-link.
"Fulgrim, you fool! Did I not tell you not to act on your own? Why have you engaged?"
"Listen to him. Horus has begun to lecture me," Fulgrim said calmly, "This was his carefully arranged trap. All of you were meant to die here."
"The five remaining Legions have yet to arrive. Is that also part of Horus's scheme?" Manus asked.
"You are trying to draw this out, but I can tell you this. Among those five Legions, four have already utterly betrayed our father. So this is not the seven-versus-four you envisioned, but four-versus-eight," Fulgrim revealed Horus's plan without hesitation.
"It seems you and Horus do not get along so well. It is not in your nature to be subservient to another. Am I right, Fulgrim?" Manus observed.
This was grim news.
Four of the five remaining Legions had turned. Who, then, was the sole loyalist among them? The Word Bearers, the Iron Warriors, the Second Legion, the Alpha Legion, and the Night Lords.
Who were the traitors, and who remained loyal? Could this be one of Fulgrim's tricks, a lie to sow discord?
"Our main event is about to arrive. I…" Fulgrim's words were cut short as a massive figure slammed into him, sending him flying.
"'Hummie! Damn 'umie gitz!" The Ork Warboss, who had been felled by Ferrus Manus in two blows and nearly killed, had somehow climbed back to his feet, his face a mask of rage as he glared at Fulgrim.
In Ork tradition, his fight with the metal-skinned hummie had been glorious. It was a battle of supreme honor, witnessed by Gork and Mork. This new git had interrupted that honorable fight. Even if he had inadvertently saved the Warboss, he would receive no gratitude.
"You filthy, ugly monster. You dare ambush me?" Fulgrim said, shaking himself as he stood up.
"I'll tear you to pieces!"
Fulgrim sneered, his power sword a blur as he charged the Ork Warboss.
A flash of purple light arced through the air, and a massive green head soared into the sky. The Ork Warboss had not even seen the blade's trajectory before he was slain.
"An imbecile who knows nothing," Fulgrim spat, annoyed that his reunion with his favorite brother had been interrupted.
"You have no idea of the power gap between yourself and a Primarch. I do not even need a second strike to deal with your kind."
"Damn hummie! Damn 'umie!" Even with its head severed, the Ork's terrifying vitality kept the Warboss from dying instantly.
Fulgrim's sword moved again, a flurry of strikes that diced the Warboss's head into countless pieces, finally ending its life.
"Well then, Manus, our time is up," Fulgrim said, turning back to his brother for his final inquiry, "I will ask you one last time. Are you willing to join Chaos with me and cease being the Emperor's slave?"
"I would rather be the Emperor's slave than a dog of Chaos!" Ferrus roared, smashing his power hammer onto the deck. The resulting shockwave sent Fulgrim staggering backward.
Fulgrim steadied himself, the madness in his eyes finally erupting completely.
"Then die, you stubborn fool!"
Fulgrim's blade suddenly accelerated, becoming a deadly purple phantasm, each strike aimed at Ferrus's vital points.
Ferrus parried with all his might, but Fulgrim was too fast. His swordsmanship was so sublime it could be described as perfection. Among all the Primarchs, perhaps only Sanguinius and the Lion could have stood against him in a duel of blades.
A sickening squelch echoed as the serpentine sword finally broke through Ferrus's defense and pierced his shoulder guard. A pained grunt escaped Ferrus, but he did not retreat.
Instead, he grabbed Fulgrim's blade with his bare hand, letting the sharp metal tear through his palm as blood dripped down his armor.
"You have changed, Fulgrim," Ferrus's voice was low and enraged, "You once pursued perfection, but now… you are just a fallen monster."
Fulgrim's smile froze.
A flicker of pained emotion crossed his eyes, but it was immediately consumed by a deeper madness. "No, Ferrus… I did not want to hurt you. I only came to save you. But now, the main event has arrived."
Outside the ship, a Warp rift had torn open in the void, and a small Sword-class frigate shot through it.
In the next instant, a warrior bathed in golden light burst onto the battlefield. Axis had arrived, his Super Saiyan power erupting.
A scorching white light shot from Axis's palm, striking the Ork Attack Moon and instantly shattering it.
A series of cataclysmic explosions lit up the skies above Isstvan V.
The Ork celestial weapon, which had tied up three Legions and required two Primarchs to personally lead a boarding action, was utterly destroyed.
Axis, glowing with a brilliant golden light, stood like a god of war in the cold void of space. He rarely used his Super Saiyan 2 or Super Saiyan 3 transformations anymore. Super Saiyan, Legendary Super Saiyan, and Super Saiyan 4 were more efficient and perfect forms. For ordinary battles, Super Saiyan was the most powerful and stamina-conserving state. The golden light was blinding as the Ork warships began to detonate around him. The power of Axis was overwhelming; the Ork fleet stood no chance.
Vulkan and Corax, along with their elite demolition team who had just boarded the Attack Moon, were suddenly teleported to safety aboard the frigate by a powerful psychic power.
"What is that?" Corax asked in shock, his gaze fixed on the golden figure. For a fleeting moment, he thought the Emperor himself had arrived.
Axis had been lost shortly after the Emperor had found him, so Corax had never met him. He was still reeling, one moment fighting for his life on the Attack Moon, swarmed by endless greenskins, and the next, he was on this ship.
"Do not worry, Corax. The battle is won. Axis is here," Vulkan said, a look of relief washing over his face.
As one of the earlier Primarchs to be recovered, he had been fortunate enough to see combat footage of Axis.
Though this was their first meeting, Axis's reputation was thunderous. His status as the strongest Primarch was acknowledged by all who had met him.
"Elder Sister, I did not expect you to have awakened as well. This is wonderful news," Vulkan said, nodding to the psyker who had teleported them.
"There is no need to worry, little brothers. Axis and I have come to support you," Kasha replied, "But weren't you fighting Chaos? Why are you engaged with Orks?"
She and Axis had sensed something was wrong as soon as they entered the Isstvan system. Imperial Legions were indeed fighting, but their enemy was a horde of Orks.
"It is a long story. We do not know what happened either. We arrived in this system and found no sign of Chaos, only these Orks. This must be a ploy by Horus, likely to wear down our forces," the Raven Lord Corax explained.
"Where is Ferrus Manus? I do not see him."
"He is on the Fist of Iron, dealing with an Ork Warboss. We were in contact earlier, but the signal suddenly cut out."
Back on the flagship, Fulgrim's face was a mask of utter ugliness, almost savage. A purplish-red power suddenly seized control of his body.
"No, don't… don't kill him," Fulgrim's true self pleaded from within.
An androgynous, malevolent voice echoed in his mind. "Do not worry. Do not be afraid. Leave everything to me. I will control your body now."
Fulgrim struggled, but his body no longer obeyed him.
The daemon-possessed blade in his hand rose, poised to strike off the head of Ferrus Manus.
In that critical instant, two fingers, wreathed in a burning golden aura, clamped down on Fulgrim's weapon. A shockwave then slammed into Fulgrim's chest, sending the man flying.
At the last possible moment, Axis had reached the duel, successfully preventing the death of Ferrus Manus
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it's 200ps per bonus chapter!!