Tuf was bewildered.
As an Eight Bound possessed by a Bloodthirster, he should have been the most bloodthirsty, the most enraged, the most fearless, the most favored by the Blood God, the one to crush enemies with the wildest attacks.
But now, he was the one being crushed by the bloodthirsty, the enraged, the fearless, the favored of the Blood God.
To Tuf, Titus' fighting style was like a World Eater completely controlled by the Butcher's Nails, a blue beast lunging at Tuf with a roaring Chainsword.
Tuf swung his Chainsword, which had grown with his flesh, towards Titus; Chainsword met Chainsword in a clashing collision.
The two fought in close quarters, and Tuf no longer bothered to count how much damage he had inflicted on Titus.
Because no matter the injury, it couldn't make this blue monster retreat a single step.
Didn't he know fear?
Were the Butcher's Nails naturally grown in his brain?
The Blood God's fury burned on Titus, its terrifying aura washing over Tuf's already fragile soul.
Even as the Butcher's Nails in his head buzzed, washing his soul with rage, Tuf couldn't help but feel fear and terror.
Especially when he swung his Chainsword, Tuf seemed to vaguely see a thousand Astartes in silver and crimson power armor standing behind Titus, baring their fangs and blood-soaked mouths at Tuf—
Titus' Chainsword slashed down, and hot blood splattered from Tuf's chest; the Chainsword named innocence frantically drained his blood.
During the blood loss, Tuf felt dizzy, and the Bloodthirster parasitic in his body further occupied his soul and body.
This deepened Tuf's integration with the Warp, his flesh further mutated, and he also saw things beneath reality.
He clearly saw the Khorne's fury residing within Titus.
The battlefield was the Blood God's sacrificial ground, and slaughter was the Blood God's ritual; the strongest and most enraged warrior in this sacrifice and ritual would become the vessel of the Blood God's fury.
That vessel of fury was originally Tuf, but now it was Titus.
The Blood God had chosen Titus, and in the Blood God's burning fury, Tuf saw the future the Blood God had arranged for Titus.
Blood filled his body, rage filled his brain, his material body was replaced by the boundless wildfires of the Warp, and wings of war and slaughter grew from his back.
The Blood Knights, who resided in the innocence Chainsword, unwilling to leave and still eager to kill for the Emperor, became sacrifices for Titus' daemon Prince ascension, merging with Titus to form a crimson giant beast adorned with sulfur and blood, with a thousand mutated ghoul heads perched upon it, emitting bloodthirsty roars.
Titus, you will be the Blood God's new son, the Blood God's will manifest in the material universe.
Titus, you will be a daemon Prince bathed in blood, the Blood God's fury as your vessel.
Titus, you will be the fearless Chainsword, carving grotesque wounds in the real universe.
This was the path the Blood God had arranged for Titus, a constantly extending, slaughter-filled Eightfold Path of Blood, a path of glory.
And Tuf was merely an insignificant stepping stone on this bloody path, a sacrifice.
Tuf could not accept it; he let out a wild roar, his left hand deforming into a grotesque claw, directly targeting Titus' chest.
Titus parried with his Chainsword, innocence, and Tuf seized the opportunity to clench his claw, gripping Titus' Chainsword, enduring the pain of the Chainsword cutting into his flesh, and pulling Titus towards him.
But Titus took the opportunity to extend his leg and kick Tuf in the chest, causing Tuf to lose his balance and fall directly into the pool of blood with Titus.
Blood instantly rippled out, Tuf roared in rage, opening his inhuman, blood-soaked mouth and biting fiercely into Titus' shoulder.
He gnawed at Titus' flesh, his sharp, curved teeth piercing into his shoulder bone, stirring his marrow.
But Titus didn't even flinch; he calmly released the Chainsword in his hand, reached out, grabbed Tuf's head, and pulled it outwards with brute force.
Tuf's teeth, along with the flesh from Titus' shoulder, were torn out.
Still, Titus' expression remained unchanged; he slammed Tuf's head down into the pool of blood, then raised his other fist, which was adorned with the Superman Gloves.
"Traitor."
Titus growled, a blood-tinged fury burning in his chest:
"The Emperor's wrath guides me! The Emperor's wrath punishes you!"
"For the Emperor, for humanity, for the Imperium, for the Primarch, for Saint Doraemon!!"
Titus swung his fist with all his might, a hundred-ton punch slamming heavily onto Tuf's head, instantly making the entire ship's interior tremble.
His arm muscles bulged; with one hand, he held Tuf's torso down, and with the other, he violently pulled Tuf's head upwards.
Blood dripped, and Tuf's head, along with his spine, was forcibly ripped out by Titus.
"I kill for Macragge, and today I also kill for my Blood Angels brothers."
Titus' hand, wearing the Superman Gloves, exerted force, his fingers piercing deeply into Tuf's skull.
Bang!!
The head exploded in Titus' palm, falling as a messy pulp of flesh.
The Bloodthirster possessing Tuf let out a sharp roar, and the Conqueror trembled slightly, but ultimately, the Greater Daemon, deprived of its material body, was expelled back into the Warp by reality itself.
"What a slaughter, you're so powerful it's a little scary," Karlaen said, crushing the head of a Godly Eight-Bound with one hand on Baal's Wrath, looking at Titus, then added jokingly, "It's good that you're on our side."
Although it was a joke, seeing Titus' stern, serious, and ferociously angry demeanor in combat still sent shivers down Karlaen's spine.
Titus said the Emperor's wrath burned in his chest, but to Karlaen, it looked suspiciously like Khorne's wrath.
However, this must be Karlaen's illusion, right?
They were fighting the Blood God's lackeys, the Blood God's enemies; how could the Blood God do something that aided the enemy?
And even if Titus did become a Blood God's chosen, it didn't seem like a big deal; he wouldn't be the first.
"I only kill for the Emperor, and fight for humanity, my brother," Titus said humbly.
He noticed that while he was fighting Tuf, Karlaen and his Terminator warriors had also cleared out the Eight Bound and Godly Eight-Bound.
Karlaen listened to Titus' words and nodded approvingly.
Both he and Titus understood this principle:
Slaughter is a means, not an end; one must never indulge in slaughter, for that would only lead to becoming a slave of the Blood God.
Rip!!!
A shriek from reality echoed behind Titus.
Reality was torn open by a dagger forged from shattered obsidian, and Erebus, wearing a runic helmet, emerged like a phantom behind Titus.
Karlaen's pupils constricted sharply, wanting to push Titus away.
However, the moment Erebus appeared, the blasphemous incantation he was chanting also completed.
A chaotic Warp energy exploded directly in Karlaen's chest, sending Karlaen crashing into the pool of blood, binding him there.
This incantation also transformed into shackles, instantly restraining Titus in place; the already heavily wounded Titus had no means to resist.
"The Blood God blesses you, the Eightfold True Path awaits you; this is your destiny, son of Guilliman."
"And I am the hand of fate that fulfills destiny."
At the same time, the obsidian dagger in Erebus' hand plunged towards Titus—
But the Raven Guard's caw came faster than Erebus' dagger.
Large-caliber steel needles arrived even before the sound, reaching Erebus' helmet in the blink of an eye, their sharp tips piercing directly into the barrier solidified by the runes.
The steel needles exploded abruptly, and a grey and gold smoke diffused, releasing both anti-Psyker untouchable ashes and Astropath ashes that cause Psyker powers to go out of control.
The runes on Erebus' helmet first dimmed, then exploded with a bang, tearing open more than half of his helmet and exposing Erebus' bald head, inscribed with strange incantations, to the air.
The fragments of the exploding steel needles, mixed with the Water of Thirst, stabbed into Erebus' head; in an instant, his head was torn with gashes by the shattered needles, and the Water of Thirst clinging to it seeped into Erebus' body through the wounds, frantically draining his blood.
Soon, two more caws sounded, accurately hitting Erebus' two Astartes hearts, leaving only bowl-sized wounds.
Then, Erebus fell to the ground, plummeting into the pool of blood, his broken head tilting slightly, his eyes becoming vacant, and all the moisture in his body drained by the Water of Thirst, turning him into a desiccated corpse in the blink of an eye.
Undoubtedly, he was dead.