Chapter 136 All Caged UP!

“Fulgrim! Face me!”

Ferrus’ deafening roar echoed across the warzone. Having ascended to the God of Iron and Mechanics, he strode across the battlefield like a walking dreadnought, ruthlessly hunting down the Phoenician. Any daemons or traitors foolish enough to block his path were instantly pulped into red mist by his massive warhammer.

“You weren’t this much of a coward ten thousand years ago, my brother!”

“Without your precious gods to hide behind, are you really this pathetic?!”

Guilliman, now wielding the divine authority of War, was also hot on Fulgrim’s heels, and his rage burned just as intensely as Ferrus’. During their duel ten millennia ago, Fulgrim had slashed his throat, forcing him into a ten-thousand-year coma. Now, it was finally time for some payback.

Beaten and humiliated, Fulgrim fled in absolute panic all the way back to Slaanesh’s domain.

But with the Dark Prince dead, the Realm of Pleasure was rapidly collapsing around him. Daemons were scattering in blind terror, completely incapable of mounting any sort of organized resistance. There was nothing left to slow down his two extremely pissed-off brothers.

Ferrus and Guilliman effortlessly carved their way into Slaanesh’s realm and cornered Fulgrim deep inside the Dark Prince’s crumbling palace.

“Let’s finally settle our old debts, Fulgrim.” Ferrus gripped his warhammer, glaring at his brother, his eyes burning like blazing stars.

“I completely agree, Ferrus. Fulgrim once arrogantly proclaimed that his master would conquer the universe, and that he had made the right choice.” Guilliman held his sword at the ready, his expression absolutely ice-cold.

“Now, his ‘master’ is nothing more than the Forefather’s prisoner, and he is finally going to pay the price for his treason.”

Flanking him from the left and right, the two loyalist Primarchs closed in on Fulgrim, weapons drawn.

“This isn’t how destiny is supposed to be written! You’re just a bunch of lucky bastards getting carried by an Outer God! If you only had your own strength, you never would have won!”

Now sporting a serpentine lower half and four arms on his upper body, Fulgrim hissed in fury. Wielding four venomous longswords, he desperately launched a preemptive strike.

“Oh, and you didn’t rely on the power of the Dark Gods?” Guilliman easily parried the flurry of strikes. “So it’s fine when you borrow power, but the moment we get some help, it’s unfair?”

“Without the Chaos Gods bailing you out, I would have killed you ten thousand years ago!”

“Why are we even wasting our breath on this piece of trash?!” Bellowing with rage, Ferrus brought his massive warhammer crashing down.

With the terrifying, catastrophic force of two colliding stars, Ferrus’ massive warhammer smashed directly into Fulgrim.

Fulgrim desperately raised his swords to block, but the sheer, overwhelming impact sent him violently flying backwards until he crashed directly into a distant wall.

Taking full advantage of the opening, Guilliman immediately charged in, unleashing an absolute flurry of devastating punches and kicks. He even swung his sword and cleanly severed Fulgrim’s serpentine tail.

Blood reeking of sickeningly sweet perfume immediately geysered from the stump, triggering an instant gag reflex from everyone nearby.

Fulgrim let out a bloodcurdling scream as he was ruthlessly double-teamed and mercilessly beaten by Ferrus and Guilliman until he was left gasping for breath on the floor, completely devoid of any strength to fight back.

Just like that, Fulgrim was thoroughly defeated, taken prisoner, and hauled off to be tossed into a cage right alongside Perturabo.

Angron, however, had undoubtedly suffered the fastest defeat of them all. Even before Khorne had officially lost, Angron had already been completely dismantled by Sanguinius.

In front of countless daemons, he had been shoved directly into a cage, making him undeniably the most pathetic Daemon Primarch of the bunch.

Perhaps as a direct result of Khorne’s total defeat, the Butcher’s Nails embedded in Angron’s brain finally lost their effect, fully restoring his sanity.

Unlike the other Daemon Primarchs who were currently screaming in utter despair, Angron remained completely silent. It was the exact same eerie silence he had maintained ten thousand years ago on the day he was dragged into the gladiatorial arenas and forced to become a slave.

Meanwhile, Mortarion, having been defeated by Jaghatai, was tossed into a massive vat of disinfectant located right next to Angron’s cage.

The official reasoning Jaghatai provided was that Mortarion simply smelled way too awful, so he desperately needed a bleach bath.

That specific excuse almost made Mortarion pass out from sheer anger; he screamed continuously that he was going to literally fight Jaghatai to the death.

As for Lorgar? That guy was definitively the absolute champion of running away in the entire Warhammer universe.

The absolute second he realized the battle was going south, he immediately bolted from the battlefield. In the blink of an eye, he was completely gone.

Unfortunately for him, the Emperor personally chased him down. The very moment they made eye contact, the Emperor immediately snapped all four of Lorgar’s limbs and proceeded to violently slap him with a massive psychic hand until he was left with only a single breath of life.

By the time the Lord of the Word Bearers was casually tossed into a prison cell, he looked absolutely no different from a dead dog.

“This is merely a minor reprimand for the grave sins of your past, Lorgar.”

“The absolute idiocy you committed will never be forgiven,” the Emperor said with zero emotion in his voice. “You will be brought before the citizens of the Imperium to be judged. You will be viewed as an eternal disgrace until the universe goes cold, until time completely stops flowing, and until all things finally reach their absolute end.”

“Father! I know I was wrong!” the completely broken and paralyzed Lorgar sobbed desperately, practically begging for even a sliver of the Emperor’s mercy.

But the Emperor simply turned and walked away without even looking back. The things Lorgar had done wouldn’t be forgiven even if the entire universe were to be destroyed and completely rebooted.

He ordered the Custodes to drag this absolute failure of a son back to Terra to face the judgment of humanity. Lorgar was going to spend the rest of eternity living in absolute humiliation and despair.

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OR