Chapter 1011 - 1010: Kurze: You Are Truly the Most Disgusting Weakling I Have Ever Seen

A radiance formed by phantom wings of psychic flame emanated from Lorgar Aurelian's shoulders, his armor glowing magnificently.

"Corvus Corax."

"Traitor!" Corax shrieked in reply, his jump pack belching flame as he lunged at Lorgar.

Corax dodged the crozius, activating his jump pack to soar over the hammer's sweeping arc.

Lorgar gripped the Illuminarum, forged for him by Vulkan, with both arms, swinging it upward with all his might, producing a resonant chime like a cathedral bell.

The warhammer's energy field blazed with brilliant golden light, knocking nearby Astartes to the ground.

Corax lost his balance and rolled to the ground.

"This golden psychic light... is nothing more than a crude reflection of our father."

He pressed forward immediately, his claws gripping the haft of the Illuminarum, sparks crackled, searing Lorgar's hands.

Lorgar's boots ground into the black sand.

"I am revealing the truth to humanity."

"You are destroying the Imperium; you are betraying your own blood!" Corax's pale skin radiated searing fury.

"Lorgar, I will kill you."

Lorgar had never seen Corax so wild. Even when Horus had suppressed him at Akum-Sothos, and his sons had suffered heavy losses, leading to their rift, Corax had been cold as ice, but had never displayed such savagery.

The claws pressed close to Lorgar, their deadly tips only a finger's breadth away.

Scorching lightning split Lorgar's cheek, charring his golden skin.

Pain surged, psychic flame burst forth in a blinding flash. Corax instinctively closed his eyes.

Seizing the opportunity, Lorgar raised Illuminarium to strike Corax, but the Lord of Ravens leapt up atop a plume of dark smoke and swooped down instantly.

Lorgar swung his crozius to parry the right claw, but Corax's left claw tore open his abdomen, piercing clean through his torso.

The tips of the blades emerged from his spine, their energy fields sawing inside Lorgar's body and chewing at his internal organs.

The Illuminarum slipped from his grasp. Lorgar reached out and seized Corax by the throat.

Corax paid no heed to his weak brother's hands, his claws twisted, hooking into bone.

"For the Emperor!"

He yanked his claws back violently, the spurting blood hissing as it was flash-dried by the power field.

Lorgar fell to his knees, blood gushing from his abdomen.

The psychic gale dissipated; the flames died. Lorgar, his face still like his father's, lifted his head and said: "Father… lied..."

Corax's pitch-black eyes remained completely devoid of emotion as his claws swept down mercilessly.

Clang!

Dark eyes clashed, pale faces reflected one another, and claws tore against claws.

"Corax." Kurze's corpse-like face was expressionless.

"Kurze." Corax spat the name like a curse, as if whispering to a twisted reflection of himself.

"Why are you doing this?"

He tried to pull his weapon free, but Kurze's claws held him fast.

"Little raven, don't be in such a hurry to fly away."

He lowered his gaze. "Get up, you coward!"

Kurze watched with disgust as Lorgar hauled himself upright, gripping Kurze's midnight-blue armor, and said contemptuously:

"You are truly the most disgusting weakling I have ever seen."

Corax seized the moment, activating the reserve fuel in his jump pack, wrenching himself free and fleeing at speed.

At the very moment Kurze laughed and pursued Corax, across the ashen valley, Raven Guards raced across the black sand in desperate flight.

Black smoke columns rose behind them from the Urgall Highlands. On the other side of the ravine, a squad of Night Lords swept in, crouching among the rocks.

Their blue-black armor glowed faintly; sharp eyes awaited their prey.

Among the rocks, a figure suddenly "grew" out of the shadows.

"Rose Bishop" Alastor Rushal melted like a candle, turning into viscous flesh that seeped rapidly into his power armor.

The Night Lord seemed to sense something, he whipped his head around, but only felt a cold wind blowing in his face.

He shook his head slightly, thinking it was just his nerves, too eager for the coming bloodshed.

The Night Lord shifted restlessly to the side, his left arm bumped against another suit of blue-black power armor.

Just as he turned his head in confusion, his swollen left arm exploded.

Clumps of flesh burst into a storm, sweeping outward in an instant.

The Mark IV power armor blew open, flesh burrowed into his body like living things.

Bang!

Another explosion, the Night Lord's body ruptured, viscous blood and flesh splattering outward, spreading rapidly.

The fleshy streams spread to the Night Lords' feet, rising over their boots.

Bang bang bang...

A volley of bolts turned the one-armed Night Lord into a sieve.

Boom!

The "flesh bomb" detonated, amid the rain of blood, flesh at the edge of the rocks suddenly surged up, climbing onto the Night Lords' bodies.

One Night Lord turned his head, but the flesh-stream had already spread, burrowing into his respirator grille.

Swoosh!

The fleshy stream poured into his mouth, a warm, slick sensation slid down his esophagus into his stomach.

The Night Lord tried to raise his claws, to tear into his own body and rip out the intruder.

But his arms were weighed down, stiff and unresponsive, he could not move them an inch.

Bang!

He lurched forward involuntarily, like a puppet on strings, walking toward a nearby Night Lord.

He opened his mouth, trying to call out a warning.

"Mmm…"

The sound stuck in his throat, never passing through his respirator.

He felt his flesh melting, flowing slowly within him, pooling in his arms, chest, and head, coalescing into four clumps of flesh-bomb.

His consciousness faded into darkness, and at the same time, his body detonated.

The four bombs claimed the lives of six Night Lords, coating the ground in viscous gore.

The Night Lords snapped to alertness, they turned their guns on the bloody streams and opened fire.

Bolts roared, blasting clouds of blood-mist into the air.

The Raptor Master's jump pack flared with flame as he soared upward, gazing down at the cascade of blood below.

Figures kept flickering within the gore, clumps of flesh exploding one after another.

Though the Night Lords had numbers, they could not tell where the enemy was hiding; it seemed as if every patch of blood and every shadow concealed an adversary.

He opened his comm channel: "I... have encountered the enemy..."

"Cannot confirm exact number, more than ten Librarians..."

"Requesting..."

Before the Raptor Master could finish, a streak of crimson flew straight at his face.

He lashed out with his claws, striking at the faint figure within.

His shrieking claws tore into a blanket of flesh, the disintegration field screeched as it tore away clumps of blood-mist.

The fleshy blanket was layered and exceptionally tough, his claws sank into a quagmire.

The blanket whipped aside, "Rose Bishop" Alastor Rushal emerged from his "Flesh Cloak," his claws swinging.

With a short crack, the Raptor Master's head exploded.

Nykona Sharrowkyn stepped out of the shadows, staring at Alastor standing amid the ground strewn with shredded corpses.

'A Raven this powerful?'

He looked at the infernal ground beneath him. 'Is this why our father despises those of Terran birth?'

Before Sharrowkyn could speak, heavy footsteps sounded behind him. He turned his head.

The former Chief Librarian, Balsar Kurthuri, who had shouted the warning not long ago, strode toward them.

Balsar nodded to Sharrowkyn, then opened a private channel and spoke to Alastor in Vostroyan: "We have broken through the traitors' interceptors. You must lead them out immediately."

"Are you not leaving with us?" Alastor asked in confusion.

"I must go and help our father and the other Raven Guard," Balsar said.

"Nor our Lord has not commanded me to leave, either."

....

If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.

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