Blood slaves scurried between the seats, their hands laden with heavy platters of food and drink, while Archangels glided through the air with censers, scattering fragrant blue smoke.
"..A bitter wine," Chapter Master Kang of the Crimson Blades commented, raising his goblet. "But with a hint of fresh blood, just the right amount of the Source of Life. Enough to satisfy the Bloodthirst, yet not provoke it further?"
Chapter Master Yor of the Blood Cavaliers Battle Group, who always wore his helmet, set down his goblet and snorted coldly, saying, "Don't be hopeful. The Bloodthirst will only drag you deeper and deeper until there's no turning back."
"You—" Kang frowned slightly, seemingly displeased by Yor's tone.
Then Yor nodded and added, "You'll end up like me."
Kang paused, observing the chilling blood-qi and hunger emanating from Yor.
The scent of blood in the air was stimulating him, but Yor was doing his utmost to suppress himself, steadfastly refusing to remove his helmet to eat.
Yor's hand rested slightly on his waist, where a long, cloth-wrapped object lay. Kang didn't know what it was, only that the Blue-Armored Warrior seemed to have met Yor privately, and that object might have been given to him by the Blue-Armored Warrior, seemingly helping Yor suppress the Bloodthirst to some extent.
"..Being like me is not a good thing," Yor repeated, his voice still uncomfortably sharp.
But Kang put down his goblet and nodded with a hint of gratitude: "That's sincere advice, I'll remember it."
Yor merely grunted in response.
"They're celebrating before the battle..." Chapter Master Gorenn of the Holy Angels, sitting on Kang's other side, clicked his tongue in slight surprise.
"My friend? Is serving the Emperor not worth celebrating?" Kang asked with a slight smile. "What do you do before a battle?"
"A vigil, the silent kind," Gorenn replied, shaking his head.
Kang marveled at the different customs among the Chapters. Suddenly, he noticed an Astartes warrior seated in front of Gorenn, clad in what could only be described as ornate Power Armor.
The warrior's Power Armor was intricately carved with complex metal patterns. Judging by the motifs, he was a Tomb Guard, and the patterns primarily glorified death, tombs, and the Archangel's demise. Based on the style of the carvings, this Power Armor was crafted at least three to five millennia ago, and its exquisite artistry qualified it as a holy relic.
Moreover, the warrior didn't even appear to be a Captain... The Tomb Guard truly were wealthy...
The warrior seemed to sense Kang's gaze, turning his head to give Kang a peculiar look.
Kang nodded slightly to him: "A very beautiful and sturdy Power Armor. Is it a relic from a previous Tomb Guard?"
The Tomb Guard warrior hesitated, then said, "I carved it myself."
"Ah?" Kang was momentarily stunned.
Gorenn, beside him, chuckled softly. His Holy Angels Chapter had a good relationship with the Tomb Guard.
"The Tomb Guard are a fleet-based Chapter. When not in combat, they seal themselves within massive Static Fields."
Kang stood momentarily dumbfounded. He had only noticed that the Power Armor was an ancient relic, not realizing that the person himself was too...
"Do you need such external objects to prove you are a Son of Sanguinius?" Yor asked, glancing at Kang.
"..While that may be true, if not for these external objects, how else would we remember the history of our Progenitor?" A bitter smile touched Kang's lips.
His Chapter had once mistaken its father, so he naturally couldn't help but pay attention to relics that proved their Progenitor was Sanguinius.
Kang's gaze lingered on the cloth-wrapped object at Yor's waist for less than a second, then he withdrew his eyes.
If only they could win the Sanguinius relic brought by that Blue-Armored Warrior... Kang sighed softly in his heart, his gaze involuntarily shifting towards the distant high platform.
The Blue-Armored Warrior seemed to be sitting beside Lord of Death Mephiston. No one questioned his high seating position; firstly, he represented an entire Chapter in a sense, and secondly, not many people were eager to sit next to Mephiston anyway.
Hmm? Kang blinked slightly, realizing that the Blue-Armored Warrior and Mephiston had, at some point, left their seats and disappeared.
This was clearly accomplished using some Warp power.
But before Kang could ponder for long, he heard cheers erupt within the venue.
Dante strode back into the Angel's Well, wearing Sanguinius' pure gold mask, upon which the Archangel's wrathful visage was carved. The Archangel's blood, like a gemstone, gleamed on his forehead.
Dante paused briefly at Mephiston's and the Blue-Armored Warrior's seats, but he seemed to have anticipated this, merely sighing softly before moving to his own seat.
A nearby blood slave picked up a wine bottle, intending to pour wine for this glorious warrior...
"No!" Dante refused the blood slave.
His gaze swept over all the Sons of Sanguinius present.
"When I first learned of the Bloodthirst's existence, I threw myself into a pool of blood, hungrily drawing in alien blood."
"When I last drew blood, my hands were stained, and mortals fell around me."
"And so I swore, never again to draw blood from the living, never again to succumb to the Bloodthirst... I have upheld this vow for a thousand years, and I long to uphold it until death."
Corbulo, standing beside Dante, rose and took a bottle of wine mixed with blood from the blood slave's hand.
The Chief Blood Priest filled Dante's goblet. Dante nodded in acknowledgement, then slowly removed his golden mask.
His aged face was exposed to all the Sons of Sanguinius present. In Dante's deep eye sockets, there seemed to be the traces of time.
In an instant, the entire hall fell silent. A Blood Angel had never tasted a drop of blood in a thousand long years, relying entirely on his willpower to resist the temptation of the crimson hunger, even allowing his body to endure the erosion of time.
"When I was a new recruit, my instructor, Lord Kaffiel, once told me that the Black Rage and the Red Thirst were both born from the Archangel's fury."
"To control this fury, the Archangel taught us five virtues... We should be focused, we should be humble, we should be merciful, we should be restrained, we should be forgiving."
Dante slowly raised his goblet:
"But if adhering to all of this still cannot defeat our enemies... then the only thing we can give our enemies is fury! The Archangel's fury!"
Dante raised his goblet high and drank the blood-infused red wine. Instantly, the scent of blood flowed from Dante, and everyone present trembled.
The eyes in Dante's deep sockets became a murky, blood-red, sharp and terrifying. The wrinkles on his face seemed to lessen, and his face subtly overlapped with Sanguinius', filled with burning rage, as if to bring the cruelest punishment upon the enemies of humanity.
"Dante!!!" Kang felt an almost soul-deep tremor, roaring the name of the Lord of Baal.
"Dante! Dante! Dante!" The Astartes pounded their chests, loudly praising Dante's name.
Only Yor of the Blood Knight let out a low laugh, a bitter, sorrowful, and sighing laugh, as if mocking Dante, mocking fate, the Bloodthirst, and himself.
"Ultimately, none of us are pure enough..." Yor murmured in a voice no one could hear.
His fingers rested on the cloth-wrapped object at his waist, faintly feeling it tremble slightly.
No... Yor slowly widened his eyes. It wasn't the cloth-wrapped object that was trembling; the entire world was subtly shaking, as if silently pushed by a pair of hands from among the stars.
The brilliance of the star shone into the Saint's Treasure Vault. This magnificent edifice, belonging to the Blood Angels Librarians, was gently quivering.
Not just here, but all of Baal was shaking, and even the entire Star System was swaying, while the space supporting all of it groaned.
"..The Tyranid fleet is coming," Alexander said softly, feeling the vibrations in the air.
The Tyranid fleet's faster-than-light travel method was unique. They used special vessels called Narvhal ships to harness stellar gravity, creating a compressed space corridor to move rapidly towards their target. This method was slower than the Warp but more reliable.
Furthermore, when the Tyranids began to move, the target Star System would experience frequent earthquakes, tides, and stellar anomalies due to gravitational effects. Conversely, the appearance of these conditions indicated that the Tyranid fleet was already advancing towards Baal.
But soon, the tremors ceased. The space within the Saint's Treasure Vault seemed to stabilize, as if some power was protecting it.
"..The Emperor's grace?" Alexander's lips curved into a slight smile as he looked at the burning star, Astramael, suspended in mid-air.
This star was bound by the Emperor's psychic power and placed within the chest of a Sanguinius statue. The statue housed numerous complex mechanical structures, allowing the star's power to be harnessed, becoming the energy source for the entire Saint's Treasure Vault.
And a portion of the Emperor's power still remained on this star; that portion of power might be more powerful and valuable than the star itself...
But no one could truly utilize this star and the Emperor's might upon it, not even a powerful Adeptus Astartes like Mephiston.
Even if only a fraction of the Emperor's power, left ten millennia ago, remained on the star, it was far beyond Mephiston's ability to contend with.
"How are the rituals progressing?" Alexander turned his head slightly to ask Mephiston. "Can the portal for Ka'Bandha to enter reality be connected to my four-dimensional pocket?"
Mephiston, standing beside him, nodded slightly: "The rituals at Baal's Heart are also prepared, awaiting the hive mind to envelop the Baal Star System."
Alexander nodded lightly, taking out a remote control studded with buttons from his four-dimensional pocket. The remote control had a metal aiming scope.
Looking at this item, a barely perceptible pang of heartache crossed Alexander's face. He only hoped Ka'Bandha would allow him to get his money's worth.