Why had a Bloodthirster suddenly appeared out of nowhere?
Bruce very much wanted to know that too.
But with Nuceria already steeped in Khorne's influence, with Lorgar stirring trouble on top of that, and the entire planet locked in constant slaughter, a Bloodthirster descending was not exactly impossible.
Still, this thing had to be a weakened version.
Otherwise the boundary between the warp and realspace would have already collapsed. If a full-strength Bloodthirster could descend so casually, Khorne might as well have come down in person.
And that was exactly why Bruce dared meet it head-on.
The instant their weapons clashed, he confirmed his guess.
If this had been a Bloodthirster at full power, colliding with it would have been like being hit by a fully loaded truck at top speed. Bruce would have been flattened like a speed bump. But as things stood, his hands were only numb and aching, his ankles throbbing slightly.
That alone proved everything.
To trade blows with a Bloodthirster and walk away with nothing worse than dirty clothes… he was basically an S-tier Astartes now.
"So this is all you've got, and you still dare brag about taking both our heads?" Bruce snapped, throwing every dirty trick he had while they fought.
Hidden daggers sprang from his boots, and he sent knives flying in every direction.
These reserve "secret weapons" had originally been meant for Angron. Since Angron had unexpectedly turned over a new leaf and Bruce no longer needed them against him, they might as well be tested on this daemon.
"I'll kill you!" the Bloodthirster roared, enraged by Bruce's contempt. It endured Bruce's attacks and pushed forward with all its strength.
If it could kill this man, then surely the Blood God would notice it. It might even become His most favored greater daemon.
"Kill me? With you?" Bruce shot back, straining under the pressure. "You're weaker than Lorgar!"
"Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!"
The Bloodthirster bellowed its war cry.
At once its strength surged. It grew even more savage, even less rational. Bruce, caught off guard by the sudden spike in power, was blasted back with a single axe blow, the armor over his chest taking a direct hit.
Thankfully he adjusted fast, rolling aside through the pain to avoid the next strike, then drove his lightning claw into the daemon's abdomen.
His principle was simple.
Under no circumstances could he afford to come out losing.
"Oh, so you get blessings too? Big deal. So do I!"
Golden light erupted from Bruce as he shouted back:
"Blood for the Emperor! Skulls for the Golden Throne!"
He was empowered as well.
For the moment, Bruce and the Bloodthirster were evenly matched. The daemon still held the advantage in reach and raw size, but Bruce's precognitive flashes and nimble footwork compensated for it.
More importantly, while fighting the Bloodthirster head-on with his battle-spirit blazing, Bruce was receiving Khorne's favor too.
In fact, because he remained more lucid, more focused, more genuinely "immersed" in the joy of battle, the blessing he received was even greater than the daemon's.
"What is happening?!" the Bloodthirster thought in disbelief.
It could feel the Blood God's attention drifting more and more toward Bruce.
That made no sense.
It was the daemon fighting for Khorne, offering blood and fury at every moment—so why was the Blood God looking more favorably at this human?
"Just a forced, half-baked incarnation," Bruce said, pressing the attack. "Wait and see. I'll send you back to the warp soon enough."
The less fear he showed, the more thoroughly he suppressed the daemon from every possible angle.
That was how fighting Khorne's servants worked.
The more afraid you were, the easier it was for them to kill you. But if you were fierce enough, you could butcher them instead. In the end, it all came down to who was harder.
And there was another factor: a lone Bloodthirster was not nearly as terrifying without an army around it. Without a raging battlefield full of slaughter to feed from, it could not truly build momentum.
Bruce knew that.
Even more important, he still had something the Bloodthirster did not:
Reason.
He knew perfectly well that driving off a Bloodthirster by himself would not be easy, which was why all he had to do was stall. If he could just hold out, then once Magnus had a chance to free herself and arrive, a weakened Bloodthirster like this would be easy to handle.
"So tell me," Bruce taunted, "were you the one they picked because you're the weakest? The least favored? Is that why you got to descend into realspace?"
"Oh, poor thing."
"You thought doing this would finally win you your lord's attention and affection?"
"Hah. That's hilarious."
"Take a good look at me—see this blessing? Your precious lord seems a lot more interested in me than in you."
The Bloodthirster clenched its teeth in fury.
How could a human be this revolting?
It knew Bruce was right. That was what made it unbearable.
Only the weaker daemons had the chance to descend under the current rules. The stronger ones, no matter how eager, were too mighty to cross over.
That was the truth.
But even if it was true, Bruce had no right to say it out loud.
"Die! Die! Die!"
In the end, completely provoked, the Bloodthirster abandoned all thought and reason and began swinging both axes in a frenzy, turning itself into nothing more than a machine for slaughter.
Seeing it lose itself, Bruce didn't panic. He immediately turned and ran, deliberately drawing it away.
As for why?
Simple.
Angron, stripped of his fighting strength, was still back there.
Bruce could not maneuver properly with him nearby. If he could lure the daemon into rougher terrain, somewhere with more obstacles, then he would have room to work—and once he shook it loose, he could circle back.
That was Midnight Lords doctrine.
Curze had said it herself: if you can't win, run. Then come back and claw them to death later.
Their legion had never specialized in frontal fights.
What mattered in war was brains, not mindless bloodshed. Every battle had an objective.
Angron, watching Bruce draw the Bloodthirster away, felt utterly helpless.
At that moment, his mood was much like the burning wreck of the fighter jet nearby—exhausted, ruined, and quietly longing for death.
If he looked back over his life, it had been nothing but a chain of exploitation and betrayal.
It was wretched beyond words.
First he had become a slave. Then they had forced the Nails into his skull and made him kill his adoptive father. Then the Emperor had dragged him away and shoved him into the Great Crusade. Even the blood-brother who had claimed he wanted to save him—Lorgar—had only wanted to use him.
The world really was rotten.
Whatever he tried, it always ended the same way: pathetic, laughable, broken.
"AAAAAAAAAAAH—!"
Angron let out a scream of pure unwillingness.
The sound rose so far that it seemed to resonate even in orbit, mingling with the thunder of macro-shells and lance fire from the fleets battling above.
A hundred years earlier, on this very same ground, he had screamed just like that.
So in the end, nothing had changed.
He was still the coward who had to be saved by others.
"No…"
"Not like…"
"This…!"
Angron dug both hands into the earth and forced himself upright, dragging his useless body forward in the direction Bruce had taken the Bloodthirster.
If he had been given the option, he would gladly have burned away what little life he had left just for the strength to move properly again—to tear that Bloodthirster apart, then kill Lorgar too.
That way, he would owe Bruce nothing.
That bastard… what did he think he was doing?
Had Angron asked for his pity? For his help?
Angron had never wanted to live by clinging to someone else's mercy.
"Child…"
A strangely familiar voice, airy and distant, echoed in his mind.
It was a voice that instinctively made him recoil in disgust.
And yet, at this moment, he knew only that one person could truly help him.
"Help me…"
Angron ground out between clenched teeth.
"I don't want to be a deserter again."
"You can do it, can't you, you damned slave-master?"
"The chance… has always existed…"
"The choice… is yours… my son…"
Angron blinked, utterly baffled.
What kind of infuriatingly cryptic nonsense was that?
But then he suddenly realized that his chest was glowing.
Looking down, he saw a crystal sphere giving off a bright light.
It was the crystal Magnus had thrown to Bruce earlier—and Bruce must have slipped it to him without him noticing.
As Angron stared at it in confusion, specks of light began to gather around him.
Shapes emerged from the earth itself—figures forming from light, some clear, some blurred.
And the moment he recognized them, he froze.
His comrades.
The ones who had died a hundred years ago.
They had appeared once more.
So that bastard Bruce had…
"Lord Angron! Thank goodness! You really didn't die!"
"It's so good that you made it out!"
"You've become taller—and stronger."
"I knew it! I knew Lord Angron would come back one day and lead us against those damned slavers again!"
"Angron!"
The spirits gathered around him, talking all at once.
And in that moment, the frantic, restless thing inside Angron—his soul itself—finally quieted.
"I never wanted to abandon you," Angron said through clenched teeth.
He had wanted to say that for two hundred years.
And until now, he had never had the chance.
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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