Bruce was not surprised in the slightest that the Word Bearers were making a move.
After all, those bastards had only lured Angron to Nuceria in the first place because they intended to corrupt him.
Of course, there was still the possibility that Lorgar, that absolute piece of work, had genuinely meant to save Angron.
After all, when everyone else had already written Angron off as hopeless, Lorgar alone had still been trying to "save" him—by offering him up to Khorne. In a certain twisted sense, that did count as saving someone.
As for the movements of the Word Bearers, Bruce quickly learned that they had headed for several local temples. Those temples formed the pattern of an eight-pointed star, each positioned in one of the planet's eight directions.
The moment he learned that, Bruce gave the order without hesitation: Alfred was to take men and wipe them out.
Time soon reached eight in the morning of the next day.
Twenty-three hours had already passed since Bruce's agreement with Angron. That meant there were only eight hours left of the promised thirty-one.
And after a full day of bitter fighting, Angron's rebel army had successfully seized Deshya.
More than two hundred years later, he had finally won.
But the problem remained the same: Angron was a deeply twisted man.
The Emperor had a great deal to do with that, and so did the Butcher's Nails.
After personally cutting down the slavers' banner and raising the banner of his rebel army in its place, Angron did not feel satisfied.
On the contrary, he felt that none of it meant anything.
"Congratulations, Lord Angron. You completed the task in less than thirty-one hours."
Bruce offered his congratulations.
"And what of it…" Angron said in a low voice, staring at the cheering slaves in the streets below. "My comrades are still dead."
"They never got to see what I accomplished. Maybe I should have died there on the Fedanmor Mountains two hundred years ago, instead of being taken away by that damned slaver."
People often said that once you got what you wanted, it no longer felt meaningful.
That was exactly what Angron was experiencing now.
After going through all this hardship, he had finally achieved what he failed to accomplish two hundred years ago.
But then what?
He felt lost.
For the first time, he realized he had no one with whom he could share that joy.
All he could do was stand there alone, savoring it in solitude, and sink deeper into thought and pain.
"But this war isn't over yet," Bruce reminded him.
He pressed the button on his wrist and sent Angron a freshly intercepted intelligence report.
Angron received it. Thanks to the easing of his pain and the calming of his emotions, he could finally make use of what little of his brain he still trusted enough to read it.
The news of Deshya's fall had already spread.
The nobles of the other cities had assembled a coalition army of high riders as quickly as possible, and were now advancing at full speed.
It was obvious they intended to crush the rebels before the uprising in Deshya had time to recover.
"Heh…"
After reading the projection in his helmet display, Angron let out a cold laugh.
If this had happened two hundred years ago, he might not have had any answer.
But now? Things were different.
His fleet was hanging above Nuceria.
Did these people really intend to attack?
All it would take was one round of orbital bombardment, and they would all die.
"So this is just the Nucerian nobles making one last desperate gamble." Angron sneered. "That said…"
He turned to Bruce. "Why are you still holding back? In another thirty minutes, orbital bombardment will start risking civilian casualties. Are you really going to let that opportunity slip?"
Bruce sighed. "Angron, I already told you: this is between us. The uprising, the occupation of this city—this is our personal affair."
"If it can be avoided, we do not use the Imperium's power. Understand?"
"Heh. All these twists and turns. You hypocrites make me sick," Angron snapped.
Then he barked, "If you're worried about your reputation, then let my fleet do it! I'll take the infamy!"
"So you do care about this victory after all, don't you?" Bruce said. "Even if the comrades you keep talking about are long dead, you still care."
Angron fell silent.
A moment later, he leapt up to the highest point of the city hall.
From there, not only could he stand beneath the banner he had personally raised, but the people in the streets could all see him at once.
"Everyone! Our battle is not over yet!"
His booming voice crushed the cheers below into silence.
Almost instantly, the entire city quieted, all eyes lifting toward the free gladiator above.
"Armies from the other cities are already on their way here!"
"We must keep fighting! We must resist their attack! We must defend our freedom, our victory, and everything we've won!"
"Take up your weapons again! Follow me!"
Angron raised his axe and roared.
"For freedom!"
"Long live Lord Angron!"
"Defend freedom! Defend victory!"
The slaves, stirred once more, immediately rushed to action. They followed Angron to the city walls and accepted his defensive deployments.
Although thinking only made the pain of the Butcher's Nails worse, Angron no longer cared.
He did not want to fail a second time.
Even if his old comrades could no longer see what he was doing, he would still carry on—for the sake of the cause they never got to complete.
And so, under Angron's command, the slaves took their assigned positions.
But when he turned to direct the nobles and the high riders, he found that they were far less eager.
In their eyes, if the fight continued, there was a real chance they would lose.
And if that happened, wouldn't the noble coalition outside the city just brand them traitors and reduce them to slaves as well?
The moment Bruce realized what they were thinking, he made his move.
He pretended to summon the nobles for a meeting, claiming they would discuss surrender and negotiate better terms.
And once enough of them had gathered in one place, he detonated melta charges.
Then he publicly announced that the coalition outside the city had assassinated their men of vision—that they intended to wipe Deshya out completely.
The moment that news spread, the people of Deshya were thrown into shock.
Some suspected Bruce was the one responsible, of course.
But the narrative had already taken hold, and now there was only one road left: fight to the end.
After all, if Bruce was crazy enough to blow up even his own allies, then what made anyone think he would hesitate to kill a few troublemaking mouths?
With their leaders dead, the high riders no longer resisted Angron and Bruce's command, and together with the citizens, they turned to the defense of the walls.
Not only that, but when the slaves learned how those nobles had died, they abandoned their earlier thoughts of revenge.
Instead, they threw themselves wholeheartedly into defending the city.
Cold, arrogant nobles had, in death, become the bridge that united everyone.
In a certain sense, they had managed to provide some value at last.
As for Bruce's method of forcing everyone onto the same road, Angron thought it was utterly deranged.
To do something that vicious—just how exactly did Bruce's mind work?
"…Something's wrong."
Bruce lowered the telescope in his hand and frowned. "Why do I get such a bad feeling from that coalition army?"
"Hm?" Angron was still in a foul mood, but after Bruce said that, he grudgingly took the telescope and looked for himself.
What he saw was a sea of troops giving off a strange red aura, like bloodthirsty madmen.
He recognized the state immediately.
He had seen it many times before in the arena pits—beasts that could neither communicate nor reason, creatures driven by slaughter alone.
And now, the coalition army was filled with them.
Angron had once commanded slave troops against exactly that kind of monster.
It had been a brutal fight. If he himself had not intervened again and again, they would have lost at least thirty percent of their force.
And now the coalition consisted mostly of such creatures.
"It's probably connected to the local faith," Bruce said grimly. "Nuceria is definitely not as simple as it looks."
"So if you were captured and turned into a slave here, that really wasn't your fault."
"And back then, the reason the Emperor chose to take you away instead of staying to fight… this was part of it."
"What use is saying that now?" Angron suddenly grabbed Bruce and roared, "I'd rather die in this city with them than run away again!"
"If you're so worried about this and that, then stop meddling and go back to your warships!"
"In six hours, I'll have my Legion descend!"
"No one can stop me!"
If the old Angron had wanted only to destroy Nuceria, then now he wanted to kill these nobles and take the planet for himself.
And then he wanted to find the method Lorgar had promised him—a way to cure him and remove the Butcher's Nails.
Bruce sighed. "If even the Emperor couldn't do it, why do you think your Legion can?"
"It can because it can!" Angron shouted.
At that moment, from far off, Alfred's voice came through the communicator.
"Acting Captain! We've got a problem!"
Bruce's heart sank a little. "What now?"
"The Word Bearers have landed drop pods on the surface. Their targets are the temples."
Bruce fell quiet for a moment.
Then he said, "Understood."
Of course.
So they really had made their move.
Those filthy Word Bearer bastards.
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 165)
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 (Chapter220)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter125)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter250)
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 220
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 185
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/20
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 248
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 230
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/40
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 125
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 145
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 120
I Can Copy Unique Skills 115
Summoning an Evil God, but the 75
Supernatural Multiverse 110
My Harem Is Indescribable 100
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 105
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 80
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 85
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 78
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 80
Checking In in Demon Slayer 85
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 100
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 85
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 80
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 90
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 75
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 80
Why did they assign me to Uma 75
MYGO Beauties 70
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 70
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 80
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 80
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 57
The Uma Musume Who Became 55
I'm Definitely Not the King of 60
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
Naruto: I'm Konoha's Local Men 35
Honkai: World Modulation Mode 34
I, the Elden Sword Saint 27
Dio Brando Is Challenging FGO 24
No One Knows Pokémon Better 18
I, Sakazuki, Won't Go Down Tha 20
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