Chapter 80 The Fall of the Tyrant Vect

After utterly destroying the Kabal of the Ninth Talon, Vane enthusiastically threw himself back into the slaughter. The blade of Bloodletter [Carnage] grew ever more vibrant, practically dripping with a viscous, crimson light.

By the time this campaign was over, the blade was undoubtedly going to scale to an absolutely terrifying degree of power. Once he finished his conquest of the Warhammer universe, it would certainly earn a prime display case in his museum as an ultimate collector’s item.

Building a massive, over-the-top museum was the absolute obsession of any veteran Minecraft player, and Vane was no exception. His museum was already packed with incredible loot. He had an original Ender Dragon head, perfectly preserved specimens of Charged Creepers and Withers, a Trident enchanted with maximum-level Loyalty, and even a couple of extremely rare Villagers (one that traded 1 Dirt for 10 Emeralds, and another that traded 1 Emerald for a Mending book). In addition to those vanilla items, his collection featured the corpses of various titan-gods, cosmic beasts, and full sets of max-level gear from various hardcore modded dimensions. Some of those artifacts were so absurdly rare that he had to reset specific dimensions multiple times just to farm the drop.

Once he finished conquering the Warhammer universe, his museum would undoubtedly welcome a host of incredibly precious new exhibits. A display case featuring the severed heads of the four Chaos Gods, the actual Golden Throne, and fully taxidermied Tyranid bio-titans would really tie the whole room together.

“Lady Aurelia Malys of the Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue?”

Checking his mini-map, Vane spotted an extremely high-value target. Lady Malys was the former lover of Supreme Overlord Asdrubael Vect and had once been a core member of the Kabal of the Black Heart. Eventually, their relationship soured, they parted ways, and she founded the Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue to rival him.

The saying hell hath no fury like a lover scorned apparently applied even to the deeply twisted Drukhari. The two Kabals had been locked in a bitter, clandestine shadow-war for centuries. But the Imperium’s apocalyptic invasion had forced all the Kabals to temporarily set aside their blood feuds and unite against humanity.

The reason Vane was so interested in this specific Archon was because she possessed a fully intact Panacea STC.

The Panacea was a miraculous construct from humanity’s Dark Age of Technology, capable of synthesizing a cure for literally any disease or biological affliction in existence. Through a convoluted, multi-layered conspiracy, Malys had orchestrated a raid to steal the STC from an Imperial Forge World. Knowing that countless humans were suffering and dying while she hoarded a miraculous cure made her incredibly giddy. It was like a potent drug to her.

Considering the fact that he was eventually going to have to deal with Nurgle and his endless plagues, Vane decided he was going to take the STC back.

“You actually dared to steal humanity’s loot? Oh, you’re dead,” Vane muttered, following the mini-map’s waypoint straight toward the territory of the Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue.

“Dante, you stay here and process these rescued captives. I must protect the Forefather!”

Before Dante could even process the order, Sanguinius snapped his massive wings and launched himself into the air, rocketing toward Vane’s position.

“Wait…” Dante protested, but the Great Angel was moving so ridiculously fast that by the time Dante looked up, he was already a distant speck.

“I really, really don’t want to do logistical busywork,” Dante grumbled. He turned around, spotted High Sanguinary Priest Corbulo, and instantly hatched a plan.

A few minutes later, Dante and a squad of Sanguinary Guard were sprinting toward Sanguinius’s last known location, leaving a deeply exasperated Corbulo behind to manage the thousands of traumatized Imperial captives.

“The Primarch explicitly told you to do this! Why are you dumping it on me?!” Corbulo sighed heavily, watching Dante’s squad disappear into the distance. “I want to go fight too!”

—

Like a meteor strike, Vane crashed into the heart of the Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue’s territory. The terrifying kinetic impact shattered the ground, unleashing an apocalyptic shockwave. Kabalite Warriors who failed to react in time were violently thrown through the air like ragdolls.

Bursting from the dust cloud like a phantom, Vane lunged forward. With a single, fluid motion, he buried Bloodletter [Carnage] deep into the chest of a Scourge, instantly extinguishing its life.

“Forefather, I am here to assist you!”

Sanguinius plummeted into the fray, wielding his blade and spear. Moving like a god of destruction, the Great Angel carved through the Drukhari ranks effortlessly, leaving a trail of butchered Kabalites in his wake.

“For the Forefather! For the Emperor! For Sanguinius!”

Dante and the Blood Angels plunged into the battleline, roaring war cries as they unleashed disciplined volleys of bolter fire. The mass-reactive rounds detonated inside the Drukhari, violently shredding their slender, fragile bodies.

Faced with the combined fury of a Primarch, the Forefather, and the Blood Angels, the Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue stood absolutely zero chance. The Imperial forces effortlessly smashed through their layered defensive lines.

After casually decapitating a Haemonculus who had replaced most of his limbs with surgical blades, Vane followed the mini-map’s navigation directly into a sprawling, opulent audience chamber. Standing at the center of the hall was his target: Lady Aurelia Malys.

“Mon-keigh.” Malys turned, her eyes narrowing as she glared at the silhouetted figure of Vane entering the hall.

“I’m not in the mood for villain monologues, xenos. Hand over the Panacea STC right now, or I’m sending your soul straight to Slaanesh,” Vane said, pulling out the Slaanesh Idol and slamming it onto the polished floor. The intoxicating, horrific aura of the Dark Prince immediately flooded the chamber, causing the surrounding Drukhari to tremble in sheer terror.

“Not unless you swear an oath to spare all of us,” Malys said, staring Vane down, attempting to maintain her composure. “Otherwise, you get absolutely nothing.”

“If you hand it over nicely, I’ll allow your soul to enter the realm of Ynnead instead of Slaanesh,” Vane countered flatly.

“You spare us all, or you get absolutely nothing,” Malys repeated, doubling down on her condition.

Vane’s expression hardened. He slowly raised his crimson blade and pointed it directly at her. “I don’t do negotiations under threat. Hand it over, or die.”

“Then let us see if your bite matches your bark!” Malys leapt into the air, lunging at Vane with blinding, phantom-like speed.

The elite Incubi bodyguards stationed around the Archon instantly followed suit, swinging their massive Klaives in a synchronized, lethal arc designed to reduce Vane to minced meat.

“Idiots,” Vane scoffed at their sheer stupidity. He didn’t even bother trying to match their speed. He simply raised Bloodletter [Carnage] and stepped directly into their attack radius.

Relying entirely on the absurd defensive stats of his Reaper of Souls Suit, Vane literally walked through their attacks. Razor-sharp Klaives and lethally envenomed daggers sparked harmlessly against his armor, failing to leave even a microscopic scratch.

Meanwhile, every casual swing of Vane’s blade cleanly bisected an Incubus, spraying the opulent hall with excessive amounts of gore.

Shkkt!

With a sickening squelch, Malys let out a sharp, agonizing gasp as the hyper-sharp blade of Bloodletter [Carnage] effortlessly pierced straight through her chest.

“Your souls will suffer for eternity in the realm of the Dark Prince!”

Malys laughed coldly, coughing up a mouthful of dark blood. “Watch your precious salvation burn! You get absolutely nothing!”

The moment she spoke those words, a massive, catastrophic explosion detonated deep within the spire. A raging inferno of plasma and promethium rushed down the corridor, only to be instantly swallowed by the black hole generated by Vane’s Void Ring.

Vane walked over to the epicenter of the blast and found that Malys’s hidden, heavily shielded relic vault had been completely vaporized. The Panacea STC he had come for was nothing but a pile of scattered, charred fragments lying amidst the rubble.

Vane crouched down and touched one of the scorched fragments. A system prompt instantly popped up.

[Successfully Unlocked Crafting Recipe: Panacea STC]

“Man, it’s a good thing I’m a Minecraft player. Otherwise, I would have been completely screwed,” Vane muttered.

Opening his crafting interface, he quickly exchanged some EMC points for the required raw materials and literally slapped together a brand-new, fully functional Panacea STC right there on the spot.

Watching him magically reconstruct the destroyed artifact out of thin air, the dying Malys’s vindictive smile completely froze.

“Impossi—”

Before she could finish the word, her life force extinguished. The Slaanesh Idol immediately flared to life, violently snatching her soul from the air. Her spirit plummeted straight into the Realm of Chaos, her agonizing, despair-filled screams echoing faintly from the immaterium.

“Take this back to the Macragge’s Honour and hand it over to Guilliman,” Vane ordered when Sanguinius, Dante, and the Blood Angels finally cleared the outer corridors and entered the chamber. Vane tossed the Panacea STC to them before immediately turning to leave, eager to get back to the slaughter.

“Dante, I entrust this vital mission to you,” Sanguinius said, shoving the STC into Dante’s hands before snapping his wings and rocketing after Vane.

Given the absolute, critical importance of the artifact, Dante originally planned to personally escort it back to the flagship. But just as he was about to vox for an extraction gunship, he spotted High Sanguinary Priest Corbulo hurrying down the corridor, having just finished processing the captives.

“Corbulo! You are to transport this Panacea STC back to the flagship immediately! I expect zero mistakes!” Dante ordered, shoving the STC into Corbulo’s hands. Without waiting for a response, Dante signaled the Sanguinary Guard and sprinted after Sanguinius and Vane.

Corbulo just stood there, staring blankly at the STC in his hands.

I rushed over here the exact second I finished my work, hoping I could actually score a few kills! And you just dump MORE logistics on me?!

This is workplace bullying! This is blatant, textbook bullying! I’m filing a formal complaint! I’m going to tell the Primarch! I’m going to tell the Forefather!

—

The utter annihilation of Commorragh proceeded far faster than anyone could have ever anticipated.

The major Kabals desperately tried to deploy their ancient, world-ending super-weapons to halt the Imperial advance. But against a vanguard led by five Primarchs and a Forefather whose sheer power utterly eclipsed the God-Emperor’s, their efforts were entirely futile. If an alliance of Chaos Gods couldn’t stop this lineup, what hope did a fractured, decaying civilization of sadistic xenos have?

The spearhead forces led by the Wolf King and the Lion quickly tore through the final defensive perimeters, arriving at the Spire of Thorns—the absolute seat of power of Supreme Overlord Vect.

The Kabal of the Black Heart, the single most powerful military force in Commorragh, mounted an incredibly tenacious, suicidal defense. But in the end, it was of no use. They were systematically crushed by Vane, the five Primarchs, and the overwhelming might of the Imperial war machine.

As Vane finally strolled into the grand audience chamber, Asdrubael Vect sat completely still upon his throne. A flicker of genuine, unadulterated despair crossed the ancient tyrant’s eyes.

The Supreme Overlord, who had ruled Commorragh with absolute, unquestionable authority for thousands of years, knew the truth with absolute certainty.

His story was over.