Led by the Sons of Horus, Bruce and the others arrived at the most heavily guarded section of the Vengeful Spirit at present—the medical bay.
It had been locked down under Abaddon's direct orders. From the inner chambers to the outer corridors, every post was held by the strongest and most loyal Astartes in the Legion. Aside from members of the Four Kings Council, everyone else was strictly forbidden from approaching.
Naturally, that rule applied to Bruce and his party as well.
"Gentlemen, due to special circumstances, only a few people may enter the medical bay," Torgaddon said apologetically. "I hope you understand."
"That's fine. I understand," Bruce replied without objection. Then he turned to his own escorts and gave his order. "Other than Warfarin, the rest of you wait outside."
No one objected.
"Huh? I actually get to go in?" Warfarin looked honored.
"You're an apothecary. Who knows, you might have a method," Bruce said, treating her as one of his hidden cards.
If Doraemon's gadget did not work, then it would be time for Originium Arts to take the stage. Just in case medical techniques from another Terra really could save Horus.
On the other side, Lion made an even bolder choice. She ordered her Inner Circle knights to remain where they were and chose to enter with only Bruce and Warfarin.
If something truly went wrong, the ones who needed protection were her sons—not Lion herself.
"Thank you for your cooperation. Please follow me," Torgaddon said, visibly more at ease once he saw that only three people would be entering.
Three was still manageable, and one of them was an apothecary. Even if he had never heard anything impressive about the Night Lords' medical skills, a doctor was still a doctor.
After identities were verified and clearance granted, the medical bay doors opened and Bruce entered the next section.
Only after stepping through did he realize someone else was already there.
Several black-robed figures stood waiting outside the operating chamber, muttering in some unknown language. The strange cadence of it sent a shiver down his spine.
"Hm?" Bruce frowned and looked toward Torgaddon.
"Those are survivors Abaddon found on Davin," Torgaddon began. "He heard they practice a kind of sorcery that can save—"
Thud.
Before he could finish, Bruce and Lion shot forward like arrows loosed from a bow and drove their fists into the robed figures at the same time. Bone and flesh burst apart with wet, tearing sounds, and blood mist blossomed into the air.
"You—" Abaddon began furiously.
Then both Bruce and Lion looked back at him.
The words died in his throat.
The expression on their faces was terrifying.
If he had said even two more words, his head would probably have flown off too.
Torgaddon watched the scene in silence.
In a way, Bruce and Lion had done him an enormous favor.
Those rune-priests had looked suspicious from the start. He had been wondering how to deal with the problem, and now it no longer needed solving.
Crude, direct, efficient.
Not bad at all.
"Captain Abaddon," Bruce said, shaking the blood from his fist, "I can't believe you actually went along with this. Were you not afraid Horus would end up worse if you let these things near him?"
The absurdity of it left him speechless.
So the people of Davin poisoned Horus, and now Davin's mystics were supposed to cure him? What next—eat more poison because poison could also be the antidote?
"What else was I supposed to do?" Abaddon shot back, aggrieved. "The apothecaries couldn't save Father. The most advanced medical equipment aboard the ship was useless. We could only try this!"
"Desperation does not justify grasping at random straws," Lion said coldly.
So this was the caliber of the Sixteenth Legion's First Captain? Hard to believe. That such a man would become one of mankind's greatest threats in the future—Lion did not know whether to blame the future Imperium for weakness or assume Abaddon had yet to reveal his real strength.
"It was a last resort..." Abaddon muttered, though even he knew how foolish it sounded.
Right now, all he wanted was Horus alive again. Whether that salvation came through science, sorcery, or anything else no longer mattered to him.
"Wasn't Davin said to be infected with some unknown plague?" Warfarin asked as she bent to examine one of the corpses. "Why are these rune-priests fine? Are you sure about them?"
"They showed no sign of infection when they were brought aboard," Torgaddon answered.
When Davin's rebellion had first been reported, the planet was already lost, but a handful of survivors had been evacuated. Torgaddon had never imagined those people could end up persuading Abaddon.
To let a pack of cultists try some bizarre rune-ritual on Horus—it was absurd.
"What about the Librarians?" Bruce pressed. "Did they check these people for signs of Chaos corruption?"
At that, he finally understood why Erebus had been able to manipulate the Sons of Horus so smoothly in the original timeline, spreading his dark lodges so quickly.
The answer was painfully obvious.
No one here had any sense.
Honestly, Bruce was starting to think the Night Lords' circus of a command structure looked more competent than the Sons of Horus.
"According to the Edict of Nikaea—"
"Enough. I've heard enough," Bruce cut Abaddon off at once.
He turned to Torgaddon. "Captain Torgaddon, if you trust Lion and me, then dispose of every Davinite aboard this ship."
"Not one of them is to remain."
Then he added, "Because the information I received makes it clear: the people of Davin rebelled only after falling to Chaos corruption."
"This was a trap aimed at Warmaster Horus."
"I understand," Torgaddon replied, then glanced at Abaddon.
He had enough authority to purge every Davinite himself, but with Abaddon nominally in command, he did not want to make their relationship even worse.
"I'll handle it," Abaddon said at last.
"Good." Bruce nodded, then called to Warfarin. "Warfarin, stop playing with the bodies. We're going in to see the Warmaster."
"Coming, coming!" she said, hurriedly fitting the last piece of skull into place before scampering after them.
The operating chamber doors opened, and the group stepped inside.
The room was crammed with sophisticated instruments. Countless cables converged into a single point—into the giant lying on the medical platform.
Horus Lupercal.
At that moment, the Wolf of Luna, the Emperor's favored son, the Imperial Warmaster, the primarch of the Sons of Horus, looked terribly frail.
Were it not for the faint sound of his heartbeat, the pallor of his face and the wasting of his muscles would have made him seem like a corpse already laid out for burial.
"Wow... he's in this bad a state, and you still think he can be saved?" Warfarin blurted out, her expression turning grim.
Both Abaddon and Torgaddon slowly turned to stare at her.
"Can you shut up?" Bruce snapped, nearly punching her on instinct.
Whenever he started to think she deserved some respect, she would open her mouth and ruin it. Saying something like that in front of a patient's family took real courage.
"Sorry, sorry! I'll be quiet!" Warfarin immediately raised both hands in surrender.
"Horus... my brother..." Lion murmured, her voice laden with sorrow as she looked at the dying giant on the table.
Of everyone in the room, Lion was the most stricken. Through the resonance of blood, she could feel how much pain her brother was in.
It was not merely the agony of the rotting wound. His soul itself had been damaged in a way that could not be ignored. In some ways, his current condition was worse than death.
"Leave it to me," Bruce said softly, patting Lion's shoulder in comfort.
Though Bruce could not quite get used to the sight—Lion looking this shaken by Horus's suffering? Was he dreaming?
Then again, even without Saber's personality layered over her, the original Lion would not have taken this lightly either. If anything, the original might have reacted even more violently.
"How long has it been since Warmaster Horus was attacked?" Bruce asked, gathering what information he could.
"Three months..." Torgaddon answered gravely.
"In all that time, we tried every method we could think of, but nothing worked. If you two hadn't come, we were already preparing to suspend Father in a stasis field and transport him back to Holy Terra."
At that point, only the Emperor himself could have saved Horus.
In the original timeline, that instinct had actually been correct. But no one could have predicted Erebus would appear midway, persuade the Sons of Horus otherwise, and send Horus into the cursed Serpent Lodge. Once that happened, saving him had become impossible.
"The wound on Warmaster Horus is not an ordinary injury, nor a disease," Bruce said, staring at the festering wound in Horus's abdomen. "It is corruption from Chaos."
"Ch-Chaos?!" Abaddon froze. His mind had never gone there.
"Yes. Just as I told you before, Davin was a trap. Something filthy had its eyes on Warmaster Horus."
"They wanted him wounded first, then subjected to a corruption ritual. That's why I told you to eliminate the Davinites."
"If he had only been injured, that would be manageable. But if he had truly been corrupted, I can't even say what Warmaster Horus would have become."
Given a primarch's regenerative ability, even a mortal wound ought not continue rotting like this. Horus's side was practically decomposing away. If not for a primarch's biology, any other being would already have melted into a pool of foul-smelling corpse slush.
"Damn Chaos!" Abaddon cursed.
"Then can you save our father?" Torgaddon asked, pinning his last hope entirely on Bruce.
"Of course. That is precisely why I came." Bruce nodded and reached into a storage compartment on his armor, pulling out a small canister.
This was one of the gadgets he had squeezed out of Doraemon: Rapid Healing Spray.
Its purpose was exactly what the name suggested. Spray it on a wound, and no matter what the injury was, it would heal at once.
Now came the real test.
Which was stronger: Nurgle's corruption, or Doraemon's gadget? Or would the two simply cancel each other out?
Bruce was very curious to find out.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter116)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 118
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 111
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 80
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 112
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 95
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 89
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 53
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 61
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 65
Uma Musume: From Beginner 61
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 37
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin