Chapter 14: It Is Broken. Beat This Devil.
The disturbance in the camp reached
Lorgar far faster than expected.
By the time Lorgar and Kor Phaeron
arrived, the scene was already underway.
A pyre had been erected.
Erebus sat before it on a simple
chair, his expression cold and distant, watching as Garulek tended the flames.
Bound to the stake was a young nun, her robes scorched, her body shuddering as
fire licked at her feet.
"Erebus!"
Lorgar's voice cut through the smoke.
He strode forward at once.
"Lord Lorgar, help me!" the nun cried
when she saw him. "Lord Erebus has lost his mind! I believe in the God-Emperor!
I am not a heretic!"
Lorgar raised a hand, halting the
guards.
"What is the meaning of this?" he
demanded.
"A daemonic infiltration," Erebus
replied flatly.
The simplicity of the answer gave
Lorgar pause. He did not immediately intervene. He knew Erebus well enough to
understand this was not cruelty for its own sake.
Still, the evidence troubled him.
Records were quickly brought forward.
"Aikaqi," Lorgar read aloud. "A nun
from Hull Town. One of the first converts. Exemplary conduct. Trusted by all.
At the time the summoning was discovered, she was asleep in her tent. Multiple
witnesses confirm this."
He hesitated, then looked at Erebus.
"Are you certain?"
"I know how this looks," Erebus said,
rising from his chair. "I wouldn't believe it either."
He walked slowly toward the bound
woman.
"Please," Aikaqi sobbed. "I swear by
the Emperor, I am innocent. I beg you."
Erebus turned to the gathered clergy
and officers.
"Pay attention," he said calmly. "This
is a lesson you will not find in scripture."
He faced the nun again.
"Tell me your true name, daemon."
Her tears fell freely now. Many in the
crowd looked away, convinced this was a tragic mistake, a show of authority
taken too far.
Then Erebus spoke again—his voice
suddenly sharp, cruel, and deliberately obscene.
"To prove your loyalty, I will speak a
blasphemy. You will repeat it."
"Yes," she whispered desperately.
"Anything."
"The Lord of Excess kneels to the
Blood God and begs to serve him."
The words barely left her lips before
she froze.
Her eyes widened in horror.
She tried to scream, but the sound
caught in her throat.
"No… no—" she stammered. "I can't… I
didn't—"
Lorgar's hand drifted to the hilt of
his sword.
Something was very wrong.
Erebus leaned closer.
"Repeat it," he said softly.
The nun's body convulsed.
Psychic energy exploded outward like a
shockwave. Several priests collapsed instantly, blood running from their ears.
Aikaqi's arms twisted grotesquely, bone and flesh reshaping into chitinous
claws.
One of them drove forward, aiming for
Erebus' spine.
He moved first.
With brutal speed, Erebus slammed her
head into the ground, burying it neck-deep in the earth. He spun, kicked a
Blood God cultist into the air, shattered a Nurgle devotee's ribs with a single
punch, and ignored the feeble psychic strike of a Tzeentchian acolyte as if it
were a breeze.
"Pathetic," he snarled. "This is what
you call devotion?"
Each time one of them tried to chant,
Erebus broke their jaws or crushed their throats.
"Lorgar!" he shouted. "Stop staring
and start fighting!"
Lorgar surged forward, blade flashing.
"For the Emperor!"
As he struck, Erebus barked at him
between blows.
"Don't just kill them—curse them!
Strip their gods of dignity! Faith cracks when mocked!"
Understanding dawned.
Lorgar roared his defiance, hurling
invective and contempt at the Ruinous Powers as he fought. The warp presence
around the daemons faltered, their movements growing erratic.
"Enough," Erebus growled suddenly.
He glanced skyward, sensing something
vast stirring beyond the veil.
Some insults carried too far.
The last possessed body—Aikaqi—still
twitched, trying to flee. She turned and ran straight into Kor Phaeron.
The old man raised a hand.
Psychic force crushed her mid-leap.
She screamed as Erebus seized her ankle and slammed her into the ground again
and again, like a living weapon striking stone.
At last, silence fell.
Lorgar stood amid the ruin, his sword
bent and dripping. The possessed lay dead, their warp echoes fading.
Aikaqi's body finally went limp.
Then, with her final breath, a whisper
escaped her ruined throat.
"Joy…"
Erebus stared down at the corpse,
chest heaving.
Disgusting.
But effective.
He wiped the blood from his hands and
turned away, already preparing for the next war—one that would not be fought
only with blades, but with belief itself.