Bruce had prepared for the possibility that Lorgar would refuse to play by the rules from the very beginning.
That was exactly why he had fought so desperately to drag Angron all the way to the Phaedonmor Mountains.
Because he had made not one plan, but two.
The first was simple: if Angron still could not let go of his hatred and insisted on wiping out Nuceria, then Bruce would personally execute him. And if his own strength proved insufficient, Magnus would help finish the job.
Two against one. There was no way they could fail to kill a single Angron.
The second plan was for the opposite outcome: if, after thirty-one hours of chaos, Angron had begun to waver, if he was only one last push away from finally letting go, then Bruce would have Magnus release the souls that had already been purified.
Let Angron's comrades from a century ago be the ones to persuade this broken primarch.
Whether it would fully work or not, it would at least be worth something.
After all, the real problem on Nuceria had always been the slave masters. Most of the slaves and ordinary people were victims too.
That was why Magnus had always been Bruce's true trump card. With Magnus in play, Bruce could afford to prepare that many layers of backup plans.
The funny part was that once Lorgar jumped out and started grandstanding, he ended up solving two of Bruce's problems at once.
Thanks to his self-righteous meddling and his absurd ranting, Angron would now trust Bruce unconditionally instead of Lorgar.
Because even an idiot could tell what the Word Bearers had become just by looking at them.
You called those things Astartes?
Who were you kidding? They looked closer to xenos.
"Lorgar…" Angron's fury finally broke through all restraint. He forced his fist shut and tried to rise. "I'm going to kill you myself!"
Once he saw the state the Word Bearers were in, Angron felt two things in equal measure: fear and rage.
So this was how the bastard had intended to use him. Turn him into one of those things?
He really had the nerve.
If Lorgar didn't die here, Angron's hatred would never be sated.
"Magnus!" Lorgar, having smashed through who knew how many trees, kicked off the ground and lunged straight back into the clearing, gripping his powered crozius with both hands as he swung at his brother with all his strength.
Magnus didn't retreat. He met him head-on, staff raised, taking the blow directly.
Despite all the tales about Magnus, close combat had never been his specialty.
But then again, it was hardly Lorgar's either.
And what made things even worse for Lorgar was that Magnus's psychic power flatly suppressed his.
So the moment the two engaged, Magnus took the upper hand.
To everyone else watching, it looked like gods warring.
The two of them moved so fast that their figures and weapons blurred into streaks, while the storm of force radiating from each clash was strong enough to pulverize anything nearby.
Psychic techniques flew from both sides without pause.
Magnus's sorcery was ever-changing, layered, intricate.
Lorgar's, by contrast, was a single brutal principle—bright, righteous, overwhelming.
As the son who had inherited the Emperor's psychic nature and a shard of His divinity, Lorgar could unleash radiance like a miniature sun.
It was the part of him that resembled the Emperor most.
What a pity that power, which should have been turned against warp-spawn and daemons, had instead become the weapon of a traitor.
"Why are you here?!" Lorgar roared.
"Since when do I need your permission to go anywhere, traitor?" Magnus shot back, equally displeased.
For a moment, Lorgar noticed something strange—Magnus was shrinking. His presence and even his frame seemed to be diminishing, though not enough yet to fully understand what was happening.
So Lorgar immediately shifted tactics.
If he could not overpower Magnus, he would drag this out.
A drawn-out fight was his territory.
"Traitor? He betrayed us first! And humanity!" Lorgar shouted. "He is a god, yet denied all gods! He hid the path to divinity from everyone, hoarded the true secrets of the warp for himself, and never told any of us!"
Magnus snorted.
"Yes, yes, I know. You saw something beyond your comprehension and decided the warp must be wonderful."
He really looked like a college professor returning from abroad, listening to his little brother who had only just learned how to use a VPN rant about "seeing the real world."
It was maddening.
"You don't know a damn thing!"
Magnus sneered.
"Oh, actually, I do. I traveled the warp with Father long before you knew what you were talking about. Those four so-called gods? I've seen them. I even had quite an in-depth conversation with one of them."
"See my eye? That was the price."
Lorgar's expression shifted.
"Lorgar, do you really think the power they gave you was free?" Magnus continued coldly. "Impossible. One day, those four will collect every last drop with interest. You're nothing but a ridiculous puppet. Stop pretending you're anything more."
Then, sensing the potion's effects were nearing their limit, Magnus delivered his last line in a tone like the tolling of a psychic bell straight into the soul.
"It's not too late to turn back, brother."
The next instant—
Boom.
A burst of smoke exploded around Magnus.
Lorgar stared in astonishment.
His brother had suddenly shrunk down, small enough that he didn't even reach Lorgar's belt.
And Magnus took advantage of that instant of disbelief.
He slammed a vicious uppercut into Lorgar's abdomen.
Lorgar's face twisted as he was launched backward several meters, only stopping himself from plowing through another row of trees by jamming his staff into the ground.
He coughed, clutching his stomach, and glared at Magnus—now in the form of a small demi-human girl—with a mixture of shock, grief, and almost offended disbelief.
"My brother… you've become like this?"
Good grief.
This had to be Bruce's fault.
"Whatever I look like is none of your business, traitor," Magnus said disdainfully, hands on her hips.
Despite the enormous difference in height, the Crimson King still looked down on Lorgar as if he were trash.
This, in fact, was Magnus's strongest form. A smaller body, another world's magic, and mobility enough to catch Lorgar completely off guard.
As Curze had once put it:
"So what if you're tall? Smash your knees in and see how proud you still feel."
Lorgar's expression twisted.
"You've been turned into such a laughable creature, and you feel no shame at all?"
Magnus let out a contemptuous laugh.
Even Father hadn't minded.
Who exactly did Lorgar think he was to complain?
Naturally, Magnus had no intention of sharing that with him. The traitor did not deserve to hear it.
Lorgar reached toward the empyrean, attempting to resonate with the power he had prepared.
But the faith he had gathered would only be enough to force the sacrifice of one primarch.
The preparations had still been insufficient.
Otherwise, Magnus never would have escaped either.
"You disappoint me, brother," Lorgar said, staring at Magnus. "To think you would lower yourself like this for an Astartes. What hold does he have on you, to make you go so far for him?"
"Simple," Magnus replied, igniting both fists with flame and taking a ready stance. "I owe him."
That was all.
Given enough time, she could beat Lorgar to his knees with her own hands and drag him back to the Remilia.
In that sense, this wasn't just helping Bruce.
It was solving a massive problem for the Imperium—and for Father.
"Kill that Astartes!" Lorgar barked.
"At once!"
The Word Bearers immediately raised their weapons and turned on Bruce, who was still supporting Angron's body.
"I'm still on the menu?!" Bruce couldn't help protesting.
Seriously?
Your family drama is one thing, but what does that have to do with me? I'm just the outsider here!
"Move! Protect Bruce!" Magnus shouted back.
At once, a group of girls who had been lying in wait emerged, along with a few Thousand Sons Astartes.
One of them—a red-haired girl in a snowman outfit with twin tails—summoned a mass of elemental spirits and spun her spear in a protective circle in front of Bruce.
"Lord Bruce, just head for the next point. Leave this place to us."
"Good. I'm counting on you."
Bruce nodded, then hauled the still-fuming Angron away without hesitation.
"Bruce! Take this!"
Even while charging Lorgar, Magnus tossed him something like a crystal sphere.
Carried along by a perfectly timed gust of wind, it drifted into Bruce's hand.
He didn't even have time to figure out what it was.
Right now, all he could do was run.
"Bruce! Put me down! I'm going to tear that hypocritical preacher apart with my own hands!" Angron snarled, watching the Thousand Sons and Word Bearers collide behind them.
If he ran now, he'd be a coward.
That wasn't who he was.
"You can go back once the poison's out of your system! There'll be chances later!"
Bruce splashed another dose of perfume over Angron, dragging him onward.
At once, Angron calmed.
Reason surged back into him and told him a plain truth.
If he stayed now, he would only be dead weight. He would not be helping Magnus or anyone else—he would only ruin things further.
Because Lorgar's target had always been him.
If he escaped, then everything Lorgar had planned would be pointless.
And more than that, Angron suddenly remembered something else.
He had something he had to stop.
A civil war.
His Legion was attacking the Warmaster's command fleets.
That had to be halted.
If he moved quickly enough, if the damage was still limited, it might not be too late.
Otherwise, both he and his Legion would be branded traitors forever.
"Bruce! Is there any way to contact my Legion?!" Angron demanded, fully lucid now.
"I'm trying," Bruce said. "I had one earlier, but Magnus doesn't have time to care about us right now. We need to get to the extraction point."
"Extraction point?!"
Angron had not expected yet another contingency plan.
How many things had Bruce hidden away?
"I set it up for myself in case Nuceria went bad," Bruce said. "I was planning to hop in my fighter and bail. Might even have dropped a few missiles on you on the way out."
Angron managed a humorless chuckle.
Of course. Who else but Bruce would think of that?
They pushed through the forest, brushing aside the occasional beast that leapt out of the brush.
At last they reached a high ridge.
A fighter bearing a Remilia emblem was sitting there, waiting, camouflage net still fresh across it.
"What is that?" Angron asked reflexively, staring at the design in disgust.
Some demi-human girl? On a Legion insignia? What kind of desecration was that?
"Not important. Get moving."
Bruce was about to drag him forward when—
Boom.
Two blood-drenched axes plunged from the sky and smashed directly into the fighter.
The entire craft was destroyed instantly.
Bruce froze.
Then slowly looked up.
A towering daemon, over eight meters tall, floated above them. Its skin was crimson, its wings huge and bat-like, its body engulfed in flame, its heartbeat sounding like war drums.
"So it was you," Bruce said, voice sharpening. "You're the bastard who blew up my plane?"
He shoved Angron aside and bared his claws.
That wasn't just a plane.
That was his wife. His mother. His Remilia.
The World Eaters had never managed to do anything to her—what right did this thing have?
"You will go nowhere!" the Bloodthirster roared, yanking its axes back on chains before diving straight down.
It had come to offer its god two worthy skulls and two powerful souls.
And Bruce, staring up at it, only had one thought:
Damn it.
So this was the next contingency.
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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