Chapter 1001 - 1000: I Have Obtained Horus's Weakness

Torgun was a breath too slow in restarting the auspex array. His enhanced vision caught sight of the leader.

"Khârn!"

His face was twisted, with a long, gaunt jawline and a blunt, square chin.

His hair was shaved completely clean, revealing undulating scars.

His eyes were yellow like curdled milk. The skin at his temples was taut, and bulging blood vessels pulsed ceaselessly.

"It is very strange for Khârn to appear here."

During the Burning of Prospero, the World Eaters had not appeared on the battlefield. Now they had suddenly appeared and launched an attack on them.

Leading the World Eaters was Captain Khârn of the Eighth Assault Company.

"Indeed," Hasik said.

"So we need to feign retreat, then track them and find out what they are really doing here."

As he spoke, he raised his bolt pistol and pulled the trigger.

The diamond-tipped bolt howled out, "precisely" striking the sturdy helmet of the Mark IV Maximus-pattern power armor.

The lethal strike of "Cull" tore through the World Eater's helmet, exploding his head into a mist of blood.

Hasik and Torgun simultaneously retreated rapidly while continuously attacking the enemy.

"Conspirer" Torgun, following the guidance of his spiritual intuition, locked onto the enemy before the targeting array and fired his bolts.

Every bolt struck the enemy precisely.

The blue-white armor covered in brown-red filth exploded. The shockwave sent their bodies reeling.

The "Conspirer" constantly altered his movement trajectory, adjusting his center of gravity and changing direction before the surging firepower could lock onto him.

Lethal barrages grazed past his armor almost entirely. The occasional hit was deflected by the Cataphractii Terminator armor.

By the time they had retreated one kilometer, Torgun had already taken the lives of four World Eaters.

But he felt not the slightest pride in his kill count, because Hasik was even more terrifying.

Every attack of his was precise and lethal, reaping one World Eater after another.

Torgun's eyes suddenly twitched. For the first time, Hasik's bolt failed to kill the enemy.

The bolt struck Khârn's left shoulder pauldron. His body staggered. Blood splattered, striking his temple.

Blood covered the smooth skin, disrupting the row of regular nail marks fixed on his temple.

In another Legion, they would have symbolized long service. But among the World Eaters, they fixed implants into the skull.

Roar!

Khârn roared in fury, as if gasoline had been poured on a flame.

Adrenaline surged madly, driving the killing machine into a frenzy.

Khârn's speed suddenly surged. He left the other World Eaters behind, closing the distance to the two.

The "Reaper's" eyes took on an iron-black hue. In his vision, Khârn's humanoid form suddenly changed.

A blazing war hound roared as it charged.

Amid the flames, a crescent-moon wolf head howled in his chest.

'The weakness?' As the "Reaper" pondered, he aimed his muzzle at Khârn's chest.

Boom!

The blue-white armor exploded. Amid the spreading blood mist, the "Reaper" sensed something.

He shut off the auspex array. With his naked eye, he gazed at the falling iron pendant.

It was sculpted into a wolf head howling at a crescent moon, entirely black as if scorched in flames.

'An ornament?'

'No!'

'Khârn carries it with him, and my spiritual intuition was stirred.'

Hasik marked the pendant's falling direction on the tactical interface, then opened the communicator and said to Torgun.

"That iron pendant is very special."

"I will draw Khârn and the other World Eaters away. You retrieve it."

"Understood," Torgun answered.

Hasik closed the communicator. The full-fledged "Provoker's" mind flashed through the intelligence on Khârn and the World Eaters, then he shouted.

"Khârn, you and the World Eaters are like dogs, willing to be branded with the Butcher's Nails."

"What have you gained?"

"Does your father love you? Has he stopped slaughtering you?"

Khârn halted his steps. He was about to retrieve the Moon Wolf when he suddenly heard the piercing voice enter his ears.

"He is merely a butcher. He is inferior to Lord Nareth."

"The Legion he leads is hopeless. Admit it. You know it in your heart."

"World Eaters, you all know it."

Roar!

The Butcher's Nails in the World Eaters' brains buzzed like enraged insects. Their eyes turned blood-red.

Khârn's reason was swallowed by scarlet. His chainaxe roared.

He was the first to take a great stride, charging at Hasik.

The World Eaters followed on his heels, crossing over the pendant and pursuing the "Provoker."

Hasik retreated while continuously actively "Provoking" to draw the World Eaters.

His bolts "precisely" traced arcs, flying at Khârn.

Bang!

Hasik saw two more bursts of blood mist explode from Khârn's body. He had thought it would at least blast Khârn to the ground.

But Khârn's speed did not slow in the slightest. Instead, like a wounded, enraged war hound, he roared and lunged at him.

The "Reaper's" "precise" attack missed for the first time.

The bolt grazed past the blood-spattered bronze body.

Hasik gazed at the approaching Khârn and felt a faint, needle-like pain at his temples.

In the battle thus far, he had repeatedly used the spiritually taxing "Precision" and "Cull." Although they killed enemies swiftly, they also consumed no small amount.

As the "Reaper" pondered, over a hundred flame crows rapidly swirled around him.

With a thought, the fire crows shot up. Most of them attacked Khârn.

The front rows of dozens of World Eaters were drowned by the flock of crows. Over a dozen had their blue-white armor explode, their charred corpses crashing to the ground.

Boom-boom-boom!

A series of fire crows slammed into Khârn one after another.

Bang!

His bare bronze body crashed into the dust and ruins of Tizca.

"Sorcerer!" Khârn cursed in disgust.

Hasik did not reply. Torgun's voice came through his communicator.

"I have the iron pendant."

The "Reaper's" right arm swung. A spear of flame materialized out of thin air.

Hasik leaped onto the spear. The flame spear dipped, then exploded with a bang.

Like a flaming meteor, he rapidly left the World Eaters behind.

After Hasik rendezvoused with Torgun at the wreckage of a pyramid, he took the iron pendant from his hand.

The "Reaper" gazed at the crescent-moon wolf head, growing ever more certain of his judgment.

He had Torgun stand guard, then rapidly tapped the ground with his guandao, laying out the "Euclidean Rune."

Hasik held the iron pendant with both hands and prayed to the Black Emperor.

"My lord, I have obtained an iron medallion from Khârn."

By the third repetition of the prayer, black mist swallowed his body.

When he opened his eyes again, he had arrived in the mysterious kingdom of black mist.

The Black Emperor enthroned on high beckoned. The pendant fell into his palm.

"It is the Moon Wolf."

"It was once an ornament on Horus's armor. During the Battle of Barken, it happened to be shot off his pauldron by a stray shot."

"As a memento of that war, he gave it to Magnus. The latter used the sympathetic bond between the Moon Wolf and its original owner to try to stop Horus's fall."

Nareth gazed at the "Reaper." "Your feeling was correct."

"The Moon Wolf is indeed Horus's weakness. To prevent it from being exploited, he dispatched Khârn to Prospero to retrieve the Moon Wolf."

'I did not expect that helping Jaghatai come to Prospero would yield an unexpected harvest.'

'I have obtained Horus's weakness.'

'If I truly encounter Horus, I will have one more trump card.'

As Nareth pondered, memories related to Khârn retrieving the Moon Wolf flashed rapidly through his mind. His eyes suddenly lit up.

....

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