Chapter 188: The True Fear of Death!
"We're only taking Lord Sanguinius away for the security of all. After all, his current condition isn't entirely clear yet."
"I assure you that if needed, no harm will come to Lord Sanguinius at all." A Grey Knight whispered, his voice oddly familiar.
However, Captain Raldoron's posture grew more solemn and firm, and the Blood Angels were already completely prepared. Their chainswords roared continuously and loudly.
"You can take our Primarch away, but you must step over our corpses first!" Captain Raldoron's voice was as deep as thunder itself.
"Then you have only yourself to blame for the consequences! Charge forward!"
The Grey Knights charged directly at them, both sides constantly shoving each other violently.
"Let your Primarch come personally here; otherwise, there's no way we'll let you take our Primarch away." Mephiston, Chief Librarian of the Blood Angels, roared loudly.
"We don't have a Primarch, and we don't need a Primarch either!" The Grey Knight roared back angrily.
"You don't even have a Primarch? Hah! How do you even call yourself Astartes? Get lost from here!" With that statement, a Gothic dialect emerged suddenly, and a chainsword directly struck the opponent hard. The scene instantly spiraled out of control completely.
Initially, the battle between the two sides was exceptionally fierce and intense. The Grey Knights' strength and psychic tactics put the Blood Angels in a dire predicament.
However, this time they were relatively restrained overall until a sudden mistake occurred. A Grey Knight's powerful weapon accidentally went out of control completely, and a laser beam struck several Blood Angels warriors directly, killing them instantly.
The wounded fell where they stood immediately.
"I didn't mean to do that. The weapon misfired just now accidentally..." Just as the Grey Knight was still desperately explaining, the enraged Captain Raldoron roared furiously.
"For the blood of Sanguinius!" Captain Raldoron's rage burned in his heart like a blazing fire intensely. His eyes deepened, and his golden armor reflected the light of fury.
Instantly, he charged toward the Grey Knights with scorching anger and unparalleled speed. His counterattack was as fierce as thunder itself. With his massive battle-axe and power sword swinging powerfully, the Grey Knights had no time to react at all.
Several Grey Knights were directly sent flying backward, violently spitting out blood with golden threads visible.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!" Captain Raldoron descended into madness completely. He saw it clearly! He saw Sanguinius himself!
Sanguinius was fighting alongside a black sun, and opposite them were several indistinct, blurry figures. Among them, a red figure kept reaching out to Sanguinius in desperation. Transforming into Sanguinius mentally, he instantly charged forward without hesitation!
The Grey Knights on the scene had no idea what was happening at all, only seeing Captain Raldoron slaughtering indiscriminately and wildly.
"Heretics!" Seeing this violence, all the Grey Knights also charged forward together.
Both sides no longer held back at all. But as more and more Imperial Assassins arrived steadily, the Blood Angels had to make a choice immediately.
Mephiston unhesitatingly rushed toward Captain Raldoron directly, pushing through a cloud of dust and bodies everywhere, and stood face to face with him closely.
Mephiston stood firm, resolute, his voice deep and completely resolute. "Captain Raldoron, calm down immediately! Our brothers have sacrificed too much already, and I believe the Primarch wouldn't want us to do this at all!"
Captain Raldoron froze suddenly. Rage churned in his chest violently. Yet Mephiston's voice pierced his heart like a sharp blade, causing him to lose his urge to attack entirely momentarily.
Mephiston continued speaking firmly. "You've done everything you could possibly, Captain Raldoron. Now it's time to lead us to retreat safely and find Francis quickly. He'll surely have a solution available!"
Under Mephiston's persuasion, Captain Raldoron finally paused slightly. Although he was still yelling to kill loudly, he was clearly much better than before, noticeably.
Mephiston quickly directed the other Blood Angels warriors to form a retreat formation properly, ensuring that the Primarch and every brother could safely withdraw together.
On the Abyss Howl ship.
Francis's footsteps echoed loudly in the empty corridor. When he arrived at the door of the isolation chamber, finally, he saw several Soul Drinkers standing guard there watchfully.
"How is Fulgrim doing?" Francis asked directly.
"Reporting, Lord Francis, we have prepared a detailed report regarding the overall changes in the Daemon Primarch." Upon seeing Francis approach, the Soul Drinkers' eyes immediately lit up brightly.
Hearing this response, Francis nodded slowly, and the Soul Drinkers immediately opened the Daemon Confinement Experiment Record Sheet carefully.
"After the first week of confinement, initially, the observed subject exhibited manic tendencies clearly, primarily characterized by frenzied roaring constantly."
"After the first month of confinement, the observed subject, following an initial period of mania, showed preliminary signs of silent depression. Primarily characterized by 80% of the time spent in mania and 20% in regretful depression, exactly."
At the sight of this data, Francis had a bad premonition and quickly continued reading.
"After three months of confinement entirely, the observed subject developed severe withdrawal symptoms heavily, primarily characterized by agonizing screams loudly, accompanied by strong manic tendencies. The most frequent phrase was: 'Kill me immediately!'"
"After six months of confinement, the observed subject experienced vivid hallucinations, primarily characterized by continuous, strange moans, accompanied by agonizing screams. The most frequent phrase was: 'Give it to me quickly! Quick, give it to me now!"
"After one year of full confinement, the observed subject fell into severe bipolar disorder, primarily characterized by alternating periods of madness and depression constantly."
"After a year and a half of confinement entirely, the observed subject began to suffer from dementia progressively, and developed Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, Capgras Delusion, Cotard Delusion, Diogenes Syndrome, Fregoli Delusion Syndrome completely..."
Seeing this list, Francis wore an expression like an old man on the subway perfectly. He had never seen such a complex medical condition before.
It was evident that being a daemon for too long indeed easily induced severe psychological illnesses.
Thankfully, he discovered it early enough. Perhaps there was still hope for a cure, possibly!
"Hmm! Excellent work, everyone! Your observations are highly significant for research entirely and can be published by the Imperium officially."
"Now, open the door first immediately!" Hearing Francis's praise directly, their hair stood on end with joy.
Hiss~
The isolation chamber door opened slowly, and the air inside was filled with a foul and decaying stench.
The walls were covered with thick mirrors, reflecting Fulgrim's image again and again.
Francis quickly walked to the center area, where a giant blackstone cage stood prominently. The cage's surface emitted a constant, distorting energy, causing extreme physical discomfort.
On each metal pillar, ancient runes and prohibitions were carved carefully. These runes emitted a faint green light steadily, as if actively resisting external disturbances.
Looking closely at Fulgrim's appearance inside the cage, he no longer possessed his original, perfect look at all. Pallor, deep hollows, and wrinkles covered his face entirely.
Fulgrim sat in the center of the cage motionlessly, his body slightly leaning forward, his eyes vacant completely.
"Fulgrim?" Francis said in a low, careful voice.
Fulgrim seemed to hear his voice faintly. His gaze slowly shifted toward Francis, and the original blankness and lifeless emptiness in his eyes vanished.
Instantly, he violently slammed into the blackstone cage hard, his eyes flashing with madness intensely, and he roared frantically and desperately. "Ah! Ah! Ah! No matter who you are! Come hit me hard! Come hit me now!"
"Please! Come hit me immediately! Violate me completely! I can't take it anymore at all!"
"AHHHHH!"
Francis stepped back cautiously, staring in silence. He was beginning to doubt if this could even be saved at all.
Francis casually drew a sword, quickly and gently pierced the other's body, and deliberately.
Fulgrim rolled his eyes back, his body twitching uncontrollably as he continued muttering incoherently. "Oh, yes~ Just like that! Just like that, exactly! Continue! Quick, continue now!"
Seeing Francis unmoved entirely, Fulgrim instantly roared desperately, "Hit me hard! Quick, hit me now!"
"I'll kill you! Hit me! Hit me NOWW!"
"AAGGHHHH!!" Seeing that the other's eyes were still full of desire completely, and he genuinely didn't recognize him at all, Francis sighed deeply and continued quietly, "It seems that treatment indeed needs to be intensified significantly."
With that statement, Francis pulled out the dark tech equipment UR-025 had prepared for him specifically: a plain Neuro-whip device.
This was a single-person weapon from the Dark Age of Technology, specifically, capable of not only destroying the physical body completely but also attacking others' consciousness directly and even Warp projections themselves.
Just as Fulgrim saw the whip and his face showed eager anticipation, the Neuro-whip, set to its lowest power setting, gently landed on his body. The moment it touched his skin, the joy on his face vanished instantly.
Instantly, his body was violently torn apart. Muscles and skin ripped open into a vast, grotesque wound.
It was as if countless sharp thorns pierced his body at once with the Neuro-whip. And not only that, physically, his soul felt no pleasure at all.
On the contrary, entirely, Fulgrim felt as if the whip struck his soul directly, instantly tearing apart his consciousness completely.
The immense pain contorted his face terribly, and he roared in agony loudly. "AGHHH, NOO, Dont do it, No, don't No more at all!"
"NNOOO!"
Francis looked carefully and thought clearly. Isn't this clearly an improvement?
"Let's intensify the treatment immediately!" He took a deep breath slowly, silently telling himself this was all for Fulgrim's own good ultimately.
Then he swung the whip down fiercely and hard. Its tail cut through the air with a piercing whistle, sharply, carrying cold pleasure and brutal power together.
The whip struck Fulgrim's body with a tremendous impact, as if heaven and earth trembled violently.
Fulgrim's mouth flew open wide. A tragic scream erupted from deep within his throat, desperately. Pain and despair coalesced into a tearing sound wave in his voice completely.
"AHH—!"
"STOP, stop hitting me! Stop hitting me now!"
"I'm going to die! I'm going to die! Ah!" Fulgrim's screams almost tore through space itself, filled with unbearable agony entirely.
That single whip strike made his whole body convulse violently. Blood gushed from his wounds like a fountain, heavily, crimson blood and shredded muscle splattering everywhere around.
His chest heaved violently and uncontrollably, and his distorted facial expression held unspeakable pain and terror completely.
That was the true fear of death itself!
[End of Chapter]