Seeing Khârn emerge from the glowing portal, especially in his distorted, demonic form, even the Lion's heart skipped a beat.
Especially when the Lion, relying on a Primarch's acute senses, identified this as the former Khorne-chosen Khârn, he only felt another enemy had arrived.
But Nobita turned his head to look at Leman, shouting, "He's one of us! Don't use the Lion's Flying Head Punch!"
This is also one of us?!
Leman's expression became somewhat abstract, recalling what Luther had just said about a new Chaos God being born.
At the time, Leman only sensed Luther was hiding something, but didn't think Luther was lying. Could he have been telling the truth?
But Leman was not in the mood to care about such things; the Emperor's command was for him to kill Luther, Be'lakor, and Erebus.
He would naturally obey the Emperor's command.
Khârn was bathed in blood; he had sustained considerable injuries in his battle with the Seed of Destruction, but Raum was gnawing on the remaining material body of the Seed of Destruction, while also extracting the power of the daemons and creatures he had previously devoured, injecting an unending stream of power into Khârn's body.
This was an immense burden on Khârn's body, and also an act that damaged Raum's own existence, but at least at this very moment, new power burst forth from Khârn's body, which was already at its limit, enough to sustain him to complete his revenge.
Erebus screamed in terror the moment he saw Khârn appear, waving his arms and releasing great handfuls of the daemons who had sworn pacts with him.
Steel Bulls, Bloodletters, Furies, Horrors, Screamers, daemonettes, and Fiends—a vast horde of lesser daemons surged forward like a tide.
Raum, parasitic on Khârn's body, let out a hungry shriek; his upper body emerged from Khârn's form, and he threw several putrid, oozing seeds onto the ground.
Those seeds landed on the ground and instantly grew into the rift-trees of Nurgle's Garden, dragging the nearest daemons into their mouths and digesting them into pus.
That was an ability Raum had barely acquired by devouring the remnants of Slyth Slithmuks, the Great Gardener of Nurgle's Garden. Although vastly inferior to the Great Gardener himself, it was enough to deal with this group of small fry.
Then, driven by Raum's power, Khârn's figure instantly became thin and transparent, like an afterimage, and he plunged into the demonic horde. Many daemons were killed by Khârn before they could even react.
This was an ability Raum had gained by devouring a Tyranids lictor.
Then Raum let out a sharp shriek, the sound waves shattering the air and tearing apart the few Bloodletters attempting to ambush Khârn. This ability came from a Noise Marine Raum had eaten.
Raum was a demon of the domain of Greedy Dissolution. He was born from a cruel hunger. After Angron was chosen to become the Blessed Son, their ship became lost in the Warp. The Blessed Sons had no choice but to gnaw on the corpses of dead crewmen, and even had to kill some of their own to feed the living; some even ate their own limbs.
Raum was born from that cruel act of self-cannibalism for survival, and then returned to the past in the Warp, parasitizing Angron's body.
He was born for the Blessed Sons, and existed for the Blessed Sons, an embodiment of the intense desire for survival shared by Angron and the other Blessed Sons.
Raum instinctively wished for the Blessed Sons to survive, but in the end, not even Angron survived.
Thus, Raum's existence shattered; only the Warp fluctuations and intense desire for revenge generated at the moment of Angron's death consumed him.
Since then, Raum changed. He no longer belonged entirely to the domain of Greedy Dissolution, because the emotions sustaining his existence were no longer just hunger. There was also revenge, death, intense self-destruction, and a desire for destruction.
So, he is now a demon of the domain of Corrosive Destruction, in other words, a demon of the Dark King.
But he hid himself well. The Dark King considered him a potentially useful pawn, helping him disguise his desire for revenge as anger and killing intent, and lurking in the hands of the Blood God until he found an opportunity for revenge—an opportunity that should not have existed.
Raum saw Erebus hiding behind the tide of daemons, and he let out a wild, unrestrained laugh.
An intense desire for revenge drove the power of the domain of Corrosive Destruction to explode. Raum could vaguely sense the gaze of the Lord of Corrosive Destruction cast down from the high heavens of the Warp.
The Emperor's golden flames ignited on Raum's body, burning the demon's form.
The domain of Corrosive Destruction is a two-sided coin of destruction and self-destruction; revenge comes at the cost of self-annihilation.
But Raum felt extraordinarily happy.
Facing those scorching golden flames, the daemons shrieked in terror, because these flames could truly kill them.
They shrieked and fled, but were completely engulfed by the golden flames surging from Raum's body. For this moment, Raum had even preemptively consumed the Emperor's signature on a Blood Pact, thereby maximizing his borrowing of the Emperor's—and thus the Dark King's—power.
Erebus watched Khârn at this moment, his eyelids twitching uncontrollably.
Raum was bathed in scorching golden flames, and these flames ignited the tattered fleshy wings on Khârn's back. In a trance, those fleshy wings seemed to transform into the wings of a living saint in the flames, casting a shadow upon the earth.
And Raum's extended head, combined with Khârn's own head, plus this pair of golden wings, vaguely formed a distorted two-headed eagle symbol.
"You shall die beneath the shadow of great wings!" Raum shrieked sharply.
In the past, Angron had borne this prophecy, which said he would die beneath the shadow of great wings.
Ultimately, beneath the shadow cast by the Imperial Aquila, Angron was killed by Erebus. At this very moment, Raum would grant him the same fate.
"Kill him, brother," Raum said to Khârn, just as he had said to Angron ten thousand years ago.
Angron had hesitated and wavered back then, because Erebus had deceived him with flowery words.
But not this time.
"Together, brother," Khârn grinned wildly, savoring the slight sense of fulfillment that revenge brought.
Erebus raised the ritual dagger in his hand, attempting to struggle. He called upon the Khorne beast, trying to block Khârn and Raum.
But it was meaningless; Khârn and Raum were many times faster than Erebus and the Khorne beast.
Bloodson roared, shrieked, and crackled, chopping down onto Erebus' face.
The wings, burning with scorching golden flames, blazed fiercely, casting bright light upon Erebus' face.
Bloodson roared ferociously, tearing at Erebus' remarkably thick skin. The Emperor's Psyker flames burned on the axe, ripping at Erebus' flesh.
Erebus shrieked in agony, but his left hand still clutched the ritual dagger tightly.