Bruce was not surprised that Lorgar had come out to interfere.
He had known from the start that this stirrer-of-shit would try something on him.
It was just that he had guessed the outcome, but not the process.
He had assumed Lorgar would show up later, when they were destroying the temples, acting like some final boss.
Who would have thought the bastard wouldn't follow the script at all, and would instead choose to appear at the exact moment Bruce was weakest?
Damn it. No wonder he was the second-greatest shit-stirrer in Warhammer after Erebus. Father and son, both of them were the same breed of smiling sharks with horns.
"Oh?" Lorgar smiled as he watched Bruce rise to his feet. "You want to fight? With me?"
In your current state, and you still want to fight?
Even at your peak, you might not have been my match. In your condition now, you've got even less chance.
"You can't expect me to do nothing, can you?" Bruce activated his blood-smeared lightning claws. "Dying like a coward isn't my style."
"Your father was a madman. And so are you," Lorgar said coolly. "At first, I had planned to let him embrace the gods of Chaos as well, to put an end to the torment in his mind. But unfortunately…"
"He disappeared. Truly regrettable."
"She didn't disappear," Bruce said. "As a psyker, you must have noticed it too, right? This planet—or rather, somewhere nearby—still bears her presence."
"There is…" Lorgar frowned.
"Predators usually lurk near their young. You know that much, surely?" Bruce said with utter fearlessness. "You didn't honestly think I broke out by relying on my own strength alone, did you?"
"And if I did? Even if Curze is here, there's nothing he can do. He's a primarch, and so am I."
Bruce sighed. "I really didn't expect you to show up here instead of Isstvan. I misjudged you."
At the same time, he activated the paper cup device, broadcasting the entire conversation to the Vengeful Spirit.
Based on Bruce's earlier calculations, Lorgar should either have appeared at the very end, or else already been on his way to Isstvan. And of those two possibilities, the second had seemed far more likely.
But who could have guessed he'd refuse to follow the script completely?
Was he not afraid of getting slapped with a charge of disobeying the Warmaster, prompting the Warmaster's command to stop pretending altogether and wipe out the entire Word Bearers Legion on the spot?
"Horus is a fool. Are you one too?" Lorgar said with clear disdain. "A trap that obvious? I saw through it long ago. Still, I should thank you. I was just worrying over how to deal with the diehards in my Legion who still worship that false Emperor."
"Thanks to you, I can let them be erased by your hand. And on top of that, your own strength is weakened as well. A very good outcome."
"So," Bruce said, "you admit you're a traitor?"
"A traitor?" Lorgar replied calmly. "We merely stand on different sides. You carry out Father's great cause, and so do I. Our methods simply differ."
"My goal is not merely to make humanity the ruler of the galaxy again. I want to elevate humanity beyond that—to make us true masters of existence itself."
"You alone?" Bruce asked. "I doubt you can manage it."
Lorgar spread his hands.
"For now, perhaps I am alone. But that will not remain true. More and more will join my cause. Besides, I have already received the blessing of the gods. What does it matter whether I stand alone?"
"You're that capable, and yet you still wanted Angron on your side?" Bruce glanced at the primarch lying beside him. "It's pretty obvious he has no intention of joining your cause."
"I hate him," Angron snarled, "but that doesn't mean I'll accept you."
Bruce almost laughed.
Not much, but still. Good. Better to hate them both.
"That's all right," Lorgar said serenely. "Once you've both tasted the greatness of the gods, your mistaken understanding of things will naturally fall away. Then you'll join us."
"You'll stand beside me and witness the dawn of a new age. An age far greater than this current Imperium. We will be blessed by the gods, favored by them, empowered by them. And with that power, we will crush all opposition and become the true masters of the galaxy."
Bruce snorted.
Unless it was truly funny, he could normally hold himself back. Once one became an Astartes, emotional control ceased to be much of a problem.
But Lorgar's words—his actions, his worldview—were so absurd that Bruce genuinely couldn't help himself.
If I weren't a transmigrator, I almost might have bought that nonsense.
You think worshipping the Four will make humanity master of the galaxy? Don't be ridiculous. Becoming their feedstock is far more likely. And where, exactly, are the Necrons in this fantasy of yours? Not to mention the Tyranids waiting in the wings.
"Why are you laughing?"
"I thought of something funny."
"Then it seems," Lorgar said coldly, "I really do need to teach you a small lesson."
The power maul in his hand—Illuminarum—flared to life, crackling with brilliant lightning that lit the night sky so brightly it even overwhelmed the firelight.
My brother can insult me if he wants. But you? A mere Astartes? How dare you humiliate me? Who gave you that courage?
Were it not for the gods themselves specifically naming you, I would already have killed you.
"Oh, please. Throwing lightning around? I can do that too," Bruce replied, equally unwilling to lose face.
Strictly speaking, neither Mercy nor Forgiveness had any flashy electrical discharge function, but Bruce could still overclock them enough to make them spit out stable, intimidating arcs of power.
Never mind whether the damage was real. The visual effect alone was what mattered.
Lorgar's brow twitched.
He poured in more psychic energy, and the golden crackling around Illuminarum became even more dazzling.
It was obvious enough who was winning this little contest. So, with the air of a clear victor, Lorgar advanced a few steps and swung the maul at Bruce.
The strike wasn't even especially fast. If anything, it held a trace of casual playfulness. But Bruce didn't dodge. Instead, he thrust both claws out to meet it.
The power maul and the lightning claws erupted in a shower of sparks.
After only a single exchange, Bruce was blasted backward several steps. In the next instant, the maul wreathed in light and electricity slammed into his abdomen.
The combined shock of physical force and surging current sent him flying, and he hit the ground hard.
"Well?" Angron barked. "Lorgar, you clown! Beating up an Astartes—what kind of achievement is that?!"
To Angron, a primarch striking down the weak was beneath contempt.
So what if you won? Did that make you glorious?
Bruce coughed, one hand clutching his stomach as he pushed himself slowly upright.
Well. Great. The rib plate he'd only just recovered had cracked again.
"Lorgar," he said through gritted teeth, "you really are disgusting. You actually think I don't have a way to deal with you?"
"You mean those fleets waiting in orbit?" Lorgar's gaze turned smug. "Do you think I wouldn't have anticipated that?"
The night sky suddenly blossomed with fire.
Shapes like falling meteors began descending toward Nuceria's surface—great masses of shattered metal, the remains of ruined warships.
"What did you do?!" Angron demanded, instantly understanding what he was seeing.
"Naturally," Lorgar said lightly, "I told your sons that you'd been abducted. Then, with a little guidance from me, they launched an attack."
"Your Legion has already become traitor. You no longer have a path back. The only choice left to you is to join me and rise against that false god."
"I'll kill you!" Angron tried to rise, but still could not manage it.
Rage, helplessness, humiliation—combined with the constant whispering in his skull—nearly pushed him over the edge.
It was Bruce who stopped him from losing himself completely.
"Angron. Leave him to me. A bastard as useless and vile as this will get what's coming to him."
Normally, Bruce would have said he was only half-confident. But there was no point hiding it now.
At this stage, what was left except to fight?
If not for the gifts from his dear fifteenth uncle—and the follow-up signal from the paper cup—Bruce would have genuinely been in danger here.
"Well, well. Trying to play the brave hero, Bruce?" Lorgar said, amused. "You still think you can do something?"
The truth was that after hearing Lorgar lay everything out himself, Bruce no longer felt nearly as anxious.
He had originally expected to struggle to reveal just what a sanctimonious pile of garbage Lorgar really was.
Instead, the man had simply exposed himself.
Revolting—but effective.
Everything Lorgar did always felt simultaneously outside Bruce's plans and exactly within them.
"Can I say something first?" Bruce asked.
"There is nothing left for you to say," Lorgar replied, already preparing another strike. "No father of yours. No Warmaster. No one is going to save you."
Bruce gave him an odd look.
Then he suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Fifteenth Uncle! Save me!"
Lorgar stiffened.
Then he laughed.
"Bruce, do you really think that trick will work on me again?!" He raised his weapon and strode forward. "Even now, you still think you can fool me?"
Bruce dropped into a crouch and covered his head with both hands.
"Fifteenth Uncle, save me!"
Lorgar didn't even bother checking this time.
What nonsense. What "fifteenth uncle"? Magnus was nowhere near here. And even if he were, how could he possibly arrive—
The maul stopped.
Mid-swing.
Completely.
Lorgar's eyes widened.
Something was holding it in place.
And only then did he feel it.
That presence behind him.
Huge. Towering. A psychic force so vast and oppressive that the moment he sensed it, his scalp went numb.
Slowly, almost mechanically, Lorgar turned his head.
And there, looming in the darkness behind him, stood a crimson giant with a single blazing eye.
Magnus.
"Lorgar," Magnus said, voice flat and deathly calm, one massive hand clamped around Illuminarum as if it weighed nothing at all. "What, exactly, do you think you're doing?"
"Magnus?!" Lorgar's face changed instantly.
Then Magnus punched him.
A single, brutally simple punch packed with psychic force.
Lorgar was hurled away, smashing through trees as the ground trembled under the impact.
More figures stepped out from the darkness behind Magnus.
Silver-haired, red-eyed girls in ornate attire.
The Thousand Sons.
The moment Magnus leveled his staff and began chanting an exorcism rite, the others spread out and joined in. A tide of psychic light swept across the clearing.
The Word Bearers accompanying Lorgar shrieked as the spell ripped away the illusion covering them.
Their red armor bulged and throbbed obscenely, flesh swelled under ceramite, limbs twisted—each one grotesquely transformed.
Their corruption was total.
Angron's eyes widened.
Then his expression became pure murder.
"Lorgar," he said, voice low and shaking, "you bastard."
He had tolerated Bruce's barbs. He had even, in his own way, accepted being manipulated.
But this?
This was different.
Lorgar had dragged him here, lied to him, plotted to turn him into a slave again—and all the while had marched alongside things that were no longer even men.
Bruce slowly lowered his arms from over his head and stood back up.
Well then.
Looks like his fifteenth uncle really had saved him after all.
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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