On the throne of the Vengeful Spirit, Abaddon was furious, a deep, bone-visible scar on his face.
It was left by the Black Sword, a scar left by the Black Templars Marshal Amalrich for Abaddon with his life.
That descendant of Sigismund chose to wait for Abaddon on the Adeptus Mechanicus Ark, Iron Soul.
In the name of the Black Templars, in the name of the Emperor's Champion Sigismund and the Black Sword in his hand, he challenged Abaddon.
The entire Black Legion heard Amalrich's challenge to Abaddon.
That Black Templars Marshal, though zealous, was not reckless.
Abaddon accepted the challenge.
Ten thousand years ago, after the Great Crusade ended, it was Sigismund who relentlessly pursued Abaddon and other traitors.
Ten thousand years ago, when he became the Chaos Warmaster and launched the First Black Expedition, it was also he who stood before Abaddon.
To kill Abaddon, Sigismund persisted for a thousand years.
And the Black Templars he once led persisted for ten thousand years.
Even after ten thousand years, Abaddon was still willing to offer a little respect to this old opponent.
Thus, Abaddon and Marshal Amalrich, wielding the Black Sword, engaged in a one-on-one duel.
That kid's strength was still far from enough, far inferior to their first Grand Marshal Sigismund.
But in the final moment of the battle, Amalrich abandoned all defense, attacking Abaddon in an almost suicidal manner.
Or rather, he almost charged into the Demon Sword Drach'nyen in Abaddon's hand.
Just like Sigismund, who died at Abaddon's hands ten thousand years ago,
The blade of Drach'nyen, the demon born from humanity's first murder, killed Amalrich almost in the blink of an eye.
But his body, pierced by the blade, still swung a sword at Abaddon, leaving a bone-deep mark on Abaddon's face.
The wound was healing, but Abaddon could still feel the pain.
Not from his face, but from his chest.
From the wound Sigismund had left him.
Sigismund had also pierced Abaddon's chest with a suicidal attack.
He was old then, but still deadly.
Abaddon then tore Sigismund's body with Horus' Claw, killing that old opponent.
But the wound Sigismund left Abaddon was like an eternal brand, remaining on Abaddon's chest for ten thousand years.
A part of Sigismund's Black Sword, which caused this wound, is in the sword on Abaddon's knee.
Abaddon lowered his head, looking at the dark blade on his leg; the blade was solemn and dark as night, with high gothic inscriptions carved upon it: "Imperator Lux."
Sigismund's Black Sword was melted down into ten after his death, and the one on Abaddon's knee was one of them.
He seemed to feel Sigismund's soul within the sword, like a dim, hollow, and angry sword light.
Ten thousand years, and he was wounded by this again!
"Keep rambling, Abaddon, do you think I'm listening?"
"You will die like your weak father, soul scattered, ashamed, weeping, and blushing."
Sigismund's old humiliation suddenly echoed in Abaddon's ears, as if the sword was speaking.
And just then, a scorching defensive laser roared and shot at the Vengeful Spirit, and the Void Shield instantly sparked.
A few seconds later, another defensive laser shot from Ice Moon Krassus, and a ship in the distance from the Vengeful Spirit exploded.
"Bastard!!!"
Abaddon grabbed the Black Sword on his knee, wanting to throw it against the wall.
But Abaddon suddenly felt an unbearable burning pain in his hand, and he let out a cry of agony.
He abruptly let go of the Black Sword in his hand and looked at his palm.
There was no scar on his palm; it seemed the previous sensation was just an illusion.
Then Abaddon seemed to hear the machine spirit of the Black Sword softly chuckling in a mocking way.
Abaddon was furious, uncontrollably furious.
Erebus' doing,
Why is everything in the Cadia system so bad!
Cadia had exploded, and this Ice Moon Krassus in the same system was still so troublesome.
First, his first squad of Raptors,
Mysteriously lost contact.
Then his Hell drakes,
Were shot down by strange defensive lasers.
And then the Word Bearers' sorcerers,
Their last communications before death were mad ravings about 'Why is the Warmaster like this,' 'Guilliman,' 'city of Perfectio,' and such.
Finally, the Raptors he had just sent to investigate the fortresses occupied by the sorcerers,
Before dying, they actually yelled something about Blood Angels Dreadnoughts flying in the sky??
Why don't you say Sanguinius has resurrected and is waiting for Abaddon on Ice Moon Krassus??
What annoyed Abaddon the most was that extremely powerful defensive lasers would occasionally shoot from the ground.
Even if these lasers shot, many of the machine spirits of the Black Legion's ships would actually cooperate by turning off their Void Shields.
Abaddon could even vaguely feel that the Vengeful Spirit had this impulse too!!
Could that Archmagos Belisarius Cawl have discovered some STC that could control machine spirits?
Could it be that the Omnissiah had truly manifested, capable of remotely controlling the machine spirits of Black Legion ships to commit suicide??
Abaddon could no longer tolerate these terrible things.
His subordinates were the same; all they reported back were worthless mad ramblings and lies.
He had to go to Ice Moon Krassus himself to see.
This might be a bit risky,
But Abaddon was fearless!
In this galaxy, besides the gods and the Primarchs who had become historical dust, there wasn't much left that could threaten Abaddon.
"What did you see?" Greyfax snorted, destroying the brains of the surrounding Black Legion with her Psyker powers as she questioned the false saint.
Black Legion tanks and Astartes covered the snowfield around the Expeditionary Force like stains; they roared, bellowed, groaned, cackled, and coughed as they attacked the Expeditionary Force.
Hell drakes roared in the air, fighting with the loyal Knights of House Taranis; the Cadian 184th Regiment's warriors held their lines, cooperating with various armored forces to barely withstand enemies a hundred times stronger than them.
Archmagos Cawl, like an avatar of the Machine God, raced across the battlefield on his multi-legged mechanical limbs, the Omnissiah Axe in his hand striking the skulls of traitors.
Reyna hovered in mid-air, the primal power of the Empyrean unleashing storms around her; each raise of her hand caused a Black Legion Astartes to explode, each roar brought down Warp thunder.
"Hope." Saint Celestine flew in the air, her silver longsword burning with scorching flames, showering down on the enemies on the snowfield.
"I only see death!" Greyfax responded, feeling sharp and harsh, "Our death!"
"But perhaps yours too, you lying false saint!"
While cursing, Greyfax used her Psyker powers to disable a Black Legion tank.
Saint Celestine merely shook her head indifferently; she descended from the sky, leading a squad of Battle Sister Seraphim in a charge, briefly tearing open a gap.
Greyfax quickly followed, expanding the gap with her Psyker powers.
"You serve the Emperor, you trust the Emperor, why don't you trust His hand guiding me?" Saint Celestine said sincerely to Greyfax, fighting alongside her.
"I don't trust you because you are a heretic; you make everything about us more ignorant and superstitious!"
Greyfax spat:
"You use those credulous people to achieve your unspeakable secrets; I really should have let Abaddon kill you!"
"If not for your followers, I should kill you now!"
The nearby Battle Sisters clearly heard this, and they all glared angrily at Greyfax.
Saint Celestine quickly stopped them with a look, then smiled and said, "Then should I take this opportunity to kill you?"
Greyfax, following the Battle Sister squad, had gone too deep into enemy lines, quite far from her trusted Reyna and the Cadian 184th Regiment.
Saint Celestine could indeed kill her before others could come to her rescue.
"Yes." But Greyfax did not hesitate, staring fixedly at Saint Celestine as she spoke.
If Saint Celestine killed her, it would prove Greyfax's suspicions and show everyone her true colors.
Saint Celestine's smile vanished: "I won't, Katarinya, He has plans for you too."
"I see it, whether you trust it or not."
With that, Saint Celestine flew high again, showering the traitors with fire.
Greyfax snorted; her mood remained gloomy, but deep in her soul, for some reason, a trace of comfort arose from Saint Celestine's words.
Reyna watched the argument between the two end, and couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
She had been observing them just now.
If Saint Celestine couldn't tolerate Greyfax's suspicion, or if Greyfax acted against Saint Celestine due to suspicion,
Reyna would have intervened in time to stand between them.
Since leaving Ashford, Reyna had increasingly felt that these important figures of the Imperium were all more extreme than the last, and more at odds with each other.
They didn't even know how to adapt and self-regulate like ordinary people.
Reyna couldn't help but shake her head, waving her hand to tear in half a Raptor that was trying to fly from a distance to attack her.
Hopefully, they can resolve their differences and become true companions.
Reyna's eyes widened abruptly; a grim premonition echoed in her soul.
She felt in the Warp that an extremely dark, cold, mad, and corrupted entity was approaching them.
Its twisted power produced terrifying echoes in the Warp, and the blade in its hand seemed to carry the death of human destiny.
A series of omens and visions appeared before Reyna's eyes.
She saw an eagle, a hound, a snake, and a fly.
Twisted threads extended from beneath them, manipulating a puppet.
The puppet held the stone tool used in humanity's first murder, its arm bound with its father's claw, and it walked towards Reyna and them with its head held high and chest puffed out,
Its face filled with confidence and self-satisfaction, as if saying: "See, I used those four beasts, but I was not controlled by them!"
So, the eagle cackled, the hound shook its head disdainfully, the snake looked pleased, and the fly smiled with indulgence and helplessness.
But they all twirled the threads in their hands, continuing to manipulate the puppet.
"It's him!"
Reyna let out a horrified cry:
"The puppet... oh no, Great Despoiler Abaddon is here!!!"