Tides of blood rippled across the firmament, and war erupted in the Empyrean and the material realm, as well as within the Blood God's thighs.
Slaughter, slaughter, slaughter—a crimson tide of slaughter spanned both ends of the galaxy.
Guilliman was slaying, Sanguinius was slaying, Saint Doraemon was slaying, millions of Astartes were slaying, and billions of mortals were slaying.
Slay, unyieldingly slay!
The galaxy was dark, all things returned to naught, and only slaughter could contend with the cold darkness of ending and death.
The sole goal was battle and slaughter, the sole craving was for blood to flow; everything else was inconsequential.
Tzeentch yearned to escape the inevitable destruction through endless change.
Nurgle's decay constantly prolonged the process of death to evade its finality.
Slaanesh, despairing at the certainty of death, indulged in hedonistic pleasures.
Only the Blood God, with that crimson streak of slaughter and joy, faced the void brought by death directly.
The Blood God did not fear death; the Blood God imbued death with color and meaning.
Even when death and war erupted within the Blood God's thighs, leaving him with incurable wounds, the Blood God still praised it.
But among all the slaughters in recent days, the one that earned the Blood God's highest praise was Khârn's slaughter.
Khârn, Khârn, Khârn!
The Blood God's chosen, his favored one.
The Blood God loved Khârn; he could sense Khârn's past inner emptiness, his void, and so Khârn used madness, rage, and slaughter to fill that void, to contend with nothingness, and to write annotations for death.
He was the mortal most aligned with the Blood God's path, and thus the Blood God granted him temporary freedom, allowing him to slay freely.
The Blood God believed Khârn could please him.
And indeed, Khârn proved him right.
The Blood God smiled, savoring the moment Khârn swung his axe and shattered Erebus' head.
At the moment of Erebus' death, the anger of countless beings towards Erebus, towards the Great Heresy, which had swirled in the Warp for ten thousand years, seemed to find an outlet, roaring and pouring into Khârn's body, causing the bloodlust within Khârn to surge continuously.
Revenge, sacrifice, and slaughter were all complete.
The Blood God could feel Khârn's heart.
Khârn had filled his heart with blood; death held no meaning for him anymore. He had successfully overcome the void brought by ending and death with a crimson streak of slaughter.
With slaughter achieved, there was no regret in death; only blood flowed, only crimson joy.
Khârn was complete.
But the Blood God was still not satisfied; he wished for Khârn's slaughter to be endless.
Rage, fire, and murderous intent, layered upon one another, transformed into chains that coiled around Khârn.
"Khârn!!!" The Blood God called out to Khârn, his voice deafening, almost shaking the entire star system.
The stars emitted a crimson glow, and murderous intent spread among people.
The Fallen Angels, World Eaters, and Dark Angels engaged in battle all felt a tremor in their souls, and an uncontrollable surge of rage welled up within them.
Their eyes turned bloodshot, and they were almost instantly consumed by rage. Some Fallen Angels and Dark Angels could barely suppress it, while almost all the World Eaters, except Kossolax, were completely engulfed by rage, falling into an unstoppable frenzy of slaughter.
Kossolax's body trembled, and he felt fear at everything happening before his eyes.
"What's happening?!" Kossolax asked, his lips trembling, though deep down he knew the answer, yet feared it.
"..He has come." Captain Sarine stood beside Kossolax, looking up slightly, seemingly at the non-existent sky in the void.
A trickle of blood escaped the corner of Chief Librarian Ezekiel's mouth, and his entire body swayed.
His eyes reflected the scene in the Warp: a vast surge of bloodlust had engulfed the Warp of this star system, and above the veil of reality, the Blood God lowered his gaze.
And aboard the Blessed Lady, the distortion was even clearer. The Blood God's domain directly pierced into the material universe through Khârn, twisting the fabric of reality.
In an instant, the ship's interior intertwined with a desert of flowing red sand and blood. The ceiling seemed to vanish, replaced by a gloomy crimson cloud pressing down on everyone's heads.
And the figure clad in monstrous armor, seated on the Brass Throne, with blood constantly flowing from his thighs, appeared faintly among the clouds.
"Blood God." Lion gritted his teeth, staring at the monstrous figure in the sky, tightening his grip on his Sword of Loyalty.
But the drowsiness in his head was constantly surging. He shouldn't have woken up at this moment; Alexander had forcibly awakened him with bacteria.
And that bacteria could only awaken someone from long slumber for an hour. Now, the drowsiness was gradually returning, threatening to drag Lion back into his long sleep.
Khârn's expression was relatively calm. He stood at the juncture of red sand and the metal deck of the ship, looking up at the Blood God he had once served.
"Blood God!!!" Khârn roared, head held high, answering the Blood God's call.
The Blood God laughed madly.
Eighty-eight million war cries echoed from all directions, their sound pressing directly into Khârn's head.
+ You have slain the head you desired! +
+ You have completed your revenge! +
+ Khârn! Khârn! Khârn! +
+ You are complete! You are whole! +
+ But you still owe me a head +
These voices rang in Khârn's ears, transforming into shackles that continuously awakened his rage.
This was the price for the Blood God granting Khârn freedom, allowing him to seek revenge.
Khârn had promised to sever a Primarch's head for the Blood God.
This was, in fact, the Blood God's objective from the very beginning.
He had tried to corrupt many Primarchs—Sanguinius, Dorn, Leman Russ, Jaghatai Khan, and even Guilliman—
But he had failed. His only gain during the Great Heresy was Angron.
So the Blood God began to ponder: if corruption failed, why couldn't he create a Primarch of his own?
The fire needed to create a Primarch had burned out, but he could reuse the fire within other Primarchs.
He only needed to create a new body, kill a Primarch, and insert their fire into that body to obtain a new Primarch.
But this was extremely difficult. A body capable of containing a Primarch's power was no easy feat, and plundering the fire within a Primarch was even harder.
Yet, the Blood God found a way, a power strong enough to capture a Primarch's fire.
This power was rage—the boundless rage of all beings at the Great Heresy. This rage had accumulated for ten thousand years, constantly surging and rolling in the sea of the Warp, without the slightest weakening.
And Erebus was one of the instigators of the Great Heresy, the most hated person in the Great Heresy. Much of this boundless rage was directed squarely at Erebus.
Erebus was the specific object of that rage.
This was also why he had agreed to Khârn's request, allowing Khârn to seek revenge and kill Erebus.
Because Khârn's murderous intent and rage towards Erebus were so full and intense.
Khârn's rage was a representation of the rage of all beings towards the Great Heresy. Khârn could become the agent of universal rage, to kill Erebus and satisfy the rage that festered in the Warp.
The Blood God could use this to forge that rage into a tool for plundering a Primarch's fire, with Khârn as the vessel for this tool.
Thus, under the Blood God's design, Khârn's act of killing Erebus became a ritual. Erebus and Khârn's hatred for Erebus were the offerings, allowing Khârn to absorb the power of that rage to the greatest extent, enabling him to grow to perfection.
He cultivated not only Khârn but also Raum within Khârn, that greedy demon of the dissolving domain.
The Blood God sought to cultivate him into a hybrid of the domains of mindless slaughter and greedy dissolution, to help Khârn devour the Primarch's body and fire.
Of course, even so, Khârn and Raum wouldn't last long and would die. Such a forced integration could never be stable, and the Blood God didn't expect Khârn and Raum to hold on. But what if the Blood God ascended them to daemonhood before they died?
This way, he could use Khârn as a conduit to pull a Primarch's fire into his domain, creating and merging a new daemon Primarch that combined the rage of all beings towards the Great Heresy, Khârn, Raum, his own will, and the essence of a Primarch. This new Primarch would be incomparably powerful.
And now, the opportunity was at hand.
The Blood God could sense Lion El'Jonson's weakness, could sense the fluctuations and flaws in Lion El'Jonson's heart caused by killing Luther, and could sense that Lion was gradually sinking back into long slumber.
With the Blood God's blessing, Khârn had a chance to complete this challenge, to kill Lion El'Jonson.
+ Kill him, Khârn! +
+ Sever his head +
+ Kill him! Kill him! +
The Blood God's voice continuously echoed in Khârn's ears, urging Khârn to wield the bloodson in his hand against Lion El'Jonson.
Not only Khârn, but among the boundless rage of all beings towards the Great Heresy, some was directed at Lion.
Khârn vaguely saw some scenes—the memories and rage of the Fallen Angels closest to him.
A Dark Angel from Terra first saw his gene-father from afar, on Caliban, where Lion was slaughtering his brothers.
A recruit, raised on Caliban by Lion's command, donned power armor for the first time, but it was to face his own father. They were instantly killed by Lion.
And there were the planets destroyed by Lion, the innocents who died in orbital bombardments, the warriors marginalized by Lion—their rage converged and surged towards Khârn, urging Khârn to swing his axe at Lion, to challenge Lion.
These rages, along with the Blood God's rage, flooded Khârn's mind, almost drowning him.
+ Slay, my Saint +
The Blood God whispered softly, as if already seeing his victory.
But just then, Raum within Khârn writhed his incomplete body, igniting with the Emperor's fierce Psyker flames, burning away those rages and the Blood God's will, leaving patches of emptiness, temporarily protecting Khârn's will.
The Blood God's expression froze for a moment. After a brief pause, he realized what had happened.
Raum, Raum had deceived him.
Raum was no longer entirely a demon of the greedy dissolution domain; other things had been mixed into his body. His rage also did not belong to mindless slaughter.
He was—he was a demon of the encroaching dissolution domain, a demon of the Dark King, the Emperor's hidden piece!!!
He had been a trap left by the Emperor for the Blood God from the very beginning!
He could guide the Emperor's power into Khârn's body!!!
"Emperor!!!!!" The Blood God's roar reverberated throughout the Warp, boundless rage stirring up torrents of blood. In countless hearts across the galaxy, anger welled up out of nowhere, and they began to frantically destroy everything around them.
On the Golden Throne, the desiccated corpse, which had grown a little flesh, curved its lips into a slight smile.
The rage towards the Great Heresy came from humanity and had always been a heavy burden on the Emperor, constantly urging him to destroy everything and complete the Great Revenge.
Now, as Erebus was killed under the Blood God's plan, much of that rage and hatred was vented, and his condition instantly improved significantly.
Whether the Blood God benefited from his plan, he did not know, but the Emperor certainly gained immense advantages from it.
"The Blood God truly is a loyal person," the Emperor couldn't help but exclaim.
The Blood God angrily realized that his plan was on the verge of failure.
The Emperor had done almost nothing, merely secretly concealing Raum's identity as a demon of the encroaching destruction domain, and had easily disrupted the Blood God's plan, gaining huge benefits from it.
Meanwhile, the Blood God might suffer immense losses.
The worst outcome would be the Emperor's power, brought by Raum, washing over Khârn, snatching Khârn, the Saint, from the Blood God's grasp. Of course, this was almost impossible, as Khârn had been corrupted by the Blood God for ten thousand years, thoroughly marinated. Even the Emperor could barely hope to claim Khârn for his side.
But Raum was burning with the Emperor's fierce flames; he could at least ensure Khârn's complete destruction, ensuring that the Blood God would get nothing back, not even a speck.
The Blood God's eyes bulged, and he slightly extended his hand to grasp the massive Brass Greatsword beside the throne.
Such immense loss and humiliation! He desperately yearned to vent his rage upon the material universe.
But... but the wounds on his thighs still restricted the Blood God, leaving him in an incomplete state. In this condition, he could barely break through the Emperor's blockade to inflict true harm upon the material universe... unless he accepted the wound, accepted the destiny of eternally sitting on the Brass Throne, and recognized that wounds and disability were also inevitable results of war, thereby becoming whole again.
The Blood God's expression darkened, seething with rage. He growled, questioning Khârn:
"Khârn, is this your choice?"
"I do not abhor betrayal! But I abhor cowards!"
"Would you rather die completely than face a challenge?!"
Khârn responded to the Blood God's question with a cold silence. He gazed at the Blood God, and after about eight seconds, Khârn slowly spoke:
"No, Blood God, Our Lord, I do not refuse a challenge."
As his voice fell, Khârn slowly raised the axe in his hand, pointing it at the Blood God's head:
"I accept the challenge. I will offer you a Primarch's head."
"But it will not be Lion El'Jonson's, nor Guilliman's, nor Sanguinius'."
"I will challenge you, my father."
"I will sever Angron's head."
"Lord of Blood, do you accept my challenge?!"