The core of The Great Maelstrom.
A Daemon World completely enveloped in Warp energy.
In the distance, a gas giant; beneath its sea of clouds, a pair of enormous eyes loomed.
The star also flickered with strange, sinister light, illuminating a world filled with volcanoes and magma.
As the planet rotated, the side hidden from view revealed a hideous, massive mouth that spanned half the planet, constantly opening and closing towards the void.
And in such a terrifying star system, on a relatively 'normal' Daemon World, the orbit was crowded with a dense fleet of pirates.
Below the fleet was a magnificent altar, visible even from space.
Inside the palace within the altar.
Abaddon stood on the balcony, watching the statues of the Chaos Gods that towered into the clouds outside, and the offerings constantly being presented before the altar, each tailored to the preferences of the four gods.
Behind him, an Astartes clad in crimson power armor, with hideous claws on his right hand and an exaggerated giant axe in his left, was silently inspecting the spoils recently plundered by the pirates under his command.
He was also curious why Abaddon had been constantly looking up at the statues of the Chaos Gods ever since he arrived.
Since when had Abaddon become so devout?
Huron was puzzled, while Abaddon on the balcony confirmed once again that Sith had not yet arrived, finally letting out a sigh of relief and withdrawing his gaze.
He turned back to look at Huron behind him, seeing him busy, and instead of going over immediately, he looked at his attendant first:
"Does Vashtorr know that there is a shard in Sith's hands?"
The attendant nodded:
"The message has been sent out."
Hearing this, Abaddon's expression finally eased a bit, and he even took a deep breath for the first time in many days:
"Then all that needs to be done now is to hide here at Huron's, and wait for Vashtorr to come..."
"Uh, to rendezvous with me."
Abaddon paused awkwardly, carefully looking at his subordinates to see if they showed any disdain for his 'weakness'.
But after looking around and seeing that his subordinates were also visibly relieved, Abaddon finally breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, those who could follow Abaddon to this point were die-hard loyalists who had witnessed with their own eyes how 'unreasonable' Sith was that day.
So, surprisingly, no one felt there was anything wrong with Abaddon's behavior!
Feeling slightly more relaxed, Abaddon turned and walked back into the palace, facing Huron, who was frowning and puzzled at his subordinates, and even had the mood to show concern for the other's affairs.
"What's wrong? Are the recent gains not good enough?"
Abaddon sat down, and Huron showed the appropriate attitude toward the'senior' before him.
Waving his hand to dismiss his subordinates, the confusion on Huron's face did not dissipate:
"It's strange; I don't know why, but lately, I've lost seven or eight Warband leaders in a row."
"And from the information collected so far, it seems they were all taken out by a group of Mortals with no more than a dozen ships."
Huron said this without any shock, only deep confusion; he even looked at Abaddon without hesitation and voiced his question:
"I really can't figure out which Chaos God used an illusion to make my men all start telling lies."
Huron thought it was only natural; after all, a group of Mortals on a dozen broken ships taking out seven or eight of his Warband leaders?
When this thought appeared before Huron, the only thing he could understand was what kind of dark magic could be so powerful!
And Abaddon, who was being questioned, felt the relief that had just risen on his face instantly stall.
The smile that had just appeared was a bit awkward; he responded with a dry laugh and didn't dare to continue the conversation.
Only when Huron withdrew his doubtful gaze did he lower his head, a sense of relief emerging.
Fortunately, it wasn't his own men who died...
Abaddon prepared to continue brushing it off, but as another pirate leader under Huron hurried in, Huron, who had been full of confusion, suddenly looked up, his eyes widening as he stared at his subordinate.
"What?"
"There really are Mortals with a dozen broken ships?!"
"And they are in orbit right now?"
Huron looked at his subordinate, his face full of astonishment, while behind him, out of his sight, Abaddon, who had just been laughing dryly, stood up straight as if startled.
The sudden movement caught Huron's attention; he turned to look, and Abaddon, facing the gazes of the surrounding Red Corsairs, paused, then turned to fiddle with the throne behind him, speaking while doing so:
"Strange, why is this chair unstable?"
Baffled by Abaddon's strange behavior, Huron didn't have time to consider what kind of madness had taken hold of Abaddon; he just turned back to his subordinate and demanded more information.
As more and more information poured in, Huron, who had launched the second Astartes Great Rebellion, quickly reacted based on his outstanding strategic thinking.
He looked at the direction from which Sith had appeared, as well as the locations where his Warband leaders had been eliminated; he suddenly looked up, paused for a few seconds, and then abruptly turned to look at Abaddon.
And Abaddon was actually still facing away from Huron, checking what was wrong with the chair.
Huron froze, then turned back to directly request Abaddon's supply information; with just a casual comparison, it turned out that Abaddon's route completely overlapped with these Mortals!
This situation was actually not hard to deduce; one could even discover it with just a little attention.
But the problem was, who would think that these Mortals not only really killed seven or eight Warband leaders, but were also led in by Abaddon...
Thinking of this, Huron's eyes paused again, and then a thought, which even he felt was exaggerated, arose; he wanted to look at Abaddon again, but hesitated to turn his head.
This kid Abaddon...
Could he be being hunted?
Shock flashed in the depths of Huron's eyes, but he quickly cast this thought aside.
After all, in this fucked-up galaxy, the transmission of news was slow and distorted, let alone for the Red Corsairs hiding in The Great Maelstrom.
Huron didn't even know about the prophecy issued by the God-Emperor; his understanding remained in a normal world without Sith.
So even though this thought was the best explanation, Huron was still unwilling to believe it.
He just put aside this ridiculous thought, regained his respect for Abaddon, and spoke quite normally:
"Warmaster, these Mortals seem to have followed you in."
Abaddon was also a crafty one, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to gather the teams of the Chaos Gods, who all had their own ulterior motives, together.
Just by looking at Huron's performance, he knew that even if Huron had guessed it, he was unwilling to believe it.
Seeing this, Abaddon felt his heart relax significantly once again, and he showed genuine 'appreciation' for Huron on his face.
Then, facing Huron's question, Abaddon finally stopped paying attention to his metal throne and straightened up.
Then, after confirming again that Huron had deployed enough garrison troops on his home planet, he squeezed a brilliant smile onto his face:
"Look at this mess!"
"In a rush, I brought you a 'little tail'~"
Yet it had somehow escalated into a life-or-death race.
His legs were still tingling from it.
How could anyone not be angry about that?
Moreover, the main thing was, he had just broken down in tears...
What was even more hateful was that she had seen it... him crying? Hahaha?
Humiliating.
Infuriating.
Unsettling.
Listening to Mono's accusations, Six lowered her head.
Seeing this, Mono became even more enthusiastic in his lecturing.
Who told Six to laugh at him earlier? She deserved it.
Finally, he stopped.
The atmosphere suddenly grew quiet.
Six had, at some point, turned her body away, hiding her face beneath her hood.
Would she end up hurting those around her?
She didn't want to. She only wanted to protect Mono... But she hadn't expected to end up putting him in danger instead... The happiness she had felt moments ago from being cared about vanished.
Guilt and unease filled her heart, causing her mood to suddenly plummet.
"I'm sorry... If... it weren't for Six, Mono wouldn't have been in danger..." she said slowly.
After speaking, she fell silent once more...
The atmosphere sank into quietness...
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