Lucius stood right where he was. Hearing Paul's I'm giving you that chance, his face turned so dark it could practically drip water.
It wasn't that he was afraid of Gabriel.
Quite the opposite. As the Captain of the Emperor's Children Thirteenth Company and a man who proclaimed himself the greatest blademaster under the Primarchs, he had absolute confidence that he could defeat anyone in a duel.
Even if it was the First Company Captain of the Iron Hands and Commander of the Morlock Guard.
Everyone knew the sons of Ferrus Manus were famous for their overwhelming firepower; close-quarters combat was never exactly their strong suit.
But he was terrified of something else entirely.
This entire farce tonight had been orchestrated by him and Fabius acting on their own.
Now that Fabius had been dragged away by their father, leaving him alone, it was a glaringly obvious apology to Gabriel.
If he won...
Defeating an Iron Hands Commander—who had just been wrongfully accused and forced to watch a brother get vivisected—after he had demanded a sacred duel for his Legion's honor...
Where would that leave the honor of the Iron Hands?
If this pack of steel-brained meatheads went back and complained, how would the violently temperamental Primarch Ferrus Manus react?
My best brother sends his sons to support you, and you publicly humiliate them?!
With Ferrus's personality, he would absolutely grab his forge hammer, march straight onto the Pride of the Emperor, and demand answers directly from their father.
And how would Father punish him then?
Lucius shuddered.
He took a deep breath, forcing what could pass for a genuinely sincere smile onto his flawless face.
"Lord Gabriel, I honestly don't see the need for this battle."
He pointed toward the mangled body lying on the cot not too far away.
"Let's save the sparring for another time! Right now, treating this brother's wounds is the top priority!"
"We have our final, decisive battle tomorrow, after all!"
Lucius's tone was earnest, his posture humble, and his reasoning perfectly sound.
He made sure his words were watertight—giving the Iron Hands face by emphasizing how much they cared about their wounded, while also giving himself an easy out by bringing up tomorrow's battle to avoid wasting stamina.
The surrounding Emperor's Children nodded slightly in agreement.
In this kind of situation, any normal Astartes officer would have just taken the out and walked away.
But Paul wasn't normal.
He slowly raised both hands. The lightning claws integrated into the forearms of his Gorgon Terminator armor gleamed coldly in the night.
The hum of the disruption fields sounded like a beast's low growl.
A faint smile surfaced on his cold, hard face.
A smile tinged with... naked mockery.
"Lord Lucius."
His voice was calm, yet it carried clearly to every single Emperor's Children warrior present.
"You call yourself the greatest blademaster of the Emperor's Children Legion."
"And now..."
"Don't tell me... you're scared?"
The moment he said that, the surrounding Emperor's Children erupted into whispers.
Scared?
Lucius gets scared?
With his personality, who besides Father could ever make him yield?
But... it's not entirely impossible!
That's the First Company Captain of the Iron Hands and Commander of the Morlock Guard. He's definitely a powerhouse.
Lucius's swordsmanship is top-tier, but...
Lord Gabriel is totally egging him on...
Can Lucius swallow his pride here?
I know I definitely couldn't.
Amidst the hushed conversations, a cold voice rang out.
Saul Tarvitz stood with his arms crossed, leaning against a stone pillar by the camp gates. A blatant, undisguised sneer hung on his chiseled face.
He knew Lucius far too well.
This guy had grown up in Chemosian aristocratic circles.
The one thing he absolutely couldn't stand was being publicly doubted.
Let alone being doubted by a walking block of metal he completely looked down upon.
Tarvitz spoke up slowly. "Yeah, Lucius."
"Don't tell me you don't have the guts?"
"You were acting pretty tough when you brought your men to surround the camp earlier. Why are you suddenly backing down now that it's time for real steel?"
Lucius's face instantly turned bright red.
That bastard Tarvitz, twisting the knife!
He took a deep breath, suppressing the fury boiling in his chest, ready to find yet another excuse to back out...
But the gazes of the crowd around him had already shifted.
From initial observation, to scrutiny, and finally... to sheer disappointment.
Especially the Astartes from his own Thirteenth Company.
They looked at their captain, their eyes filled with complex, conflicting emotions.
The dignified Captain of the Emperor's Children Thirteenth Company.
The man who bragged endlessly about his swordsmanship.
After being asked straight to his face if he was a coward, he was actually hesitating?
He was still making excuses?
What the hell was this? There was no honor in this, and it certainly wasn't perfect!
It wasn't like an Emperor's Children at all. How was a guy like this their captain?
Feeling the weight of those stares, Lucius's heart skipped a heavy beat.
He knew that if he didn't accept this duel today, his reputation was completely shot forever.
From now on, everyone in the Legion would whisper: Lucius? You mean the coward who didn't even dare unsheathe his sword in front of an Iron Hand?
His fingers suddenly clenched tightly around the hilt of his sword.
Fine.
Since you want to fight, Gabriel, let's fight.
He lifted his chin. The smile vanished from his perfect face, replaced by an icy, absolute battle lust.
"Since Lord Gabriel is so graciously inviting me..."
"It would be extremely rude of me to keep refusing."
"Bring it on."
The smirk on Paul's face deepened.
That was exactly what he was waiting for.
--
Inside the Tenth Company's camp, the crowd quickly cleared out a massive circular arena stretching a hundred meters across.
Shattered coral debris was kicked to the edges.
Makeshift tents were hauled away, and the floodlights were cranked to their maximum output, bathing the impromptu battlefield in stark, cold white light.
In the center of the clearing, Paul and Lucius stood barely ten meters apart.
The silver-grey Gorgon Terminator armor gleamed under the harsh lights.
Directly across from him, the ornate, purple artificer power armor shone brilliantly, looking just like the main protagonist on a theater stage.
The clearing was packed three layers deep with spectators.
The Emperor's Children Astartes formed a semicircle, their purple power armor creating a unified wall of color.
Saul Tarvitz stood at the very front, complex emotions flickering in his eyes.
Vespasian had returned at some point and was standing right next to Tarvitz.
He clearly had no intention of missing this showdown.
After all, it was the First Company Captain of the Iron Hands taking on the Thirteenth Company Captain of the Emperor's Children.
This was guaranteed to be an absolute spectacle.
The Crimson Dawn players held down the opposite side, their silver-grey Iron Hands power armor lined up in strict, orderly ranks under the floodlights.
Although they maintained the cold, hard silence expected of the Iron Hands on the outside, their regional chat was completely blowing up with hype.
[Crimson Dawn Regional Chat]
[Selling Cola at the Terra Palace Gates]: "Here it comes, here it comes! Paul is about to absolutely wreck Lucius!"
[Dragon Bro Never Yields]: "Flatbread Bro, you still hanging in there? Think you can stay awake to watch Paul avenge you?"
Lying on a military cot, with the massive wounds across his torso quickly patched up by the other Emperor's Children apothecaries, [Selling Flatbreads at the Terra Palace Gates] replied in the chat:
"Yeah... I have to see that bastard get sliced with my own eyes..."
[Shinnosuke Eating Lemons]: "Flatbread Bro is a legend! Look at that willpower!"
[Have You Been Loyal Today?]: "Quiet down, everyone. Just enjoy Paul's performance."
[Have You Been Loyal Today?]: "The man literally soloed three Greater Daemons of Khorne. Wrecking Lucius is going to be a walk in the park."
[Abaddon Shines My Shoes]: "But Paul is masquerading as Gabriel right now, so there's a ton of his usual abilities he can't use, right?"
[Have You Been Loyal Today?]: "It'll be more than enough."
--
Over in the Imperial Auxilia section, Vance pushed his way to the front of the crowd.
Standing around him were several other Loyalist players sporting gold IDs: [Worthy of Sanguinius's Blood], [I Eat Tomatoes], and [For the Regent Yellow Guilliman] were all present.
[Worthy of Sanguinius's Blood] lowered his voice: "Who do you think is going to win?"
Vance stared at the silver-grey figure in the center of the arena and stayed silent for two seconds.
"I think [Paul Dawn] will win."
"But he's pretending to be Gabriel, so he definitely can't go all out." [I Eat Tomatoes] frowned.
Vance shook his head. "You guys haven't actually spoken to him face-to-face, so you don't know what it feels like."
He paused, lowering his voice even further. "That aura of pure pressure... it's stronger than any Astartes I've ever seen."
On the fringes of the crowd, several figures with black IDs were quietly blending in among the regular Auxilia troops.
They were Chaos players. Having just witnessed [Are You Sure This Melon Is Ripe] get diced into eighteen pieces, they were currently riding a rollercoaster of conflicting emotions.
[Konnichiwa Slaanesh-chan] sent a message in the Wings of Freedom channel: "Do you guys think Lucius can win?"
[I Just Like Sleeping In]: "Logically, he should take this."
[I Just Like Sleeping In]: "Lucius might be an arrogant prick, but his swordsmanship is top-tier."
[I Just Like Sleeping In]: "He easily ranks in the top three of the entire Emperor's Children Legion."
[Number One Handsome of the Soul Hall]: "Top three?"
[Number One Handsome of the Soul Hall]: "He can't even crack the top five."
[Number One Handsome of the Soul Hall]: "Fulgrim goes without saying, but Kaesoron, Eidolon, Cyrius, Tarvitz—which one of them isn't better than him?"
[Number One Handsome of the Soul Hall]: "And then you've got Akurduana, not to mention that old freak Fabius Bile."
[Blue Pigeon Knows Nothing]: "But it should be more than enough to handle a Crimson Dawn player pretending to be an Iron Hand, right?"
[Number One Handsome of the Soul Hall]: "Who knows?"
[Number One Handsome of the Soul Hall]: "That Paul Dawn managed to farm over 900 billion reputation points, the guy has definitely got serious skills."
[Konnichiwa Slaanesh-chan]: "Just grab some popcorn and enjoy the show. No matter who wins, it works out perfectly for us."
[I Just Like Sleeping In]: "Good point."
[I Just Like Sleeping In]: "If Lucius wins, Crimson Dawn takes a massive L."
[I Just Like Sleeping In]: "If Lucius loses, the Emperor's Children get humiliated, making them realize they aren't perfect yet. That will just push them to chase perfection even harder."
[I Just Like Sleeping In]: "Which makes them even easier to corrupt. It's a win-win for us no matter what."
Meanwhile, among those ordinary Auxilia soldiers, a single figure slowly squeezed his way to the very front of the spectator line.
He wore the standard Imperial Auxilia uniform, his average height making him completely unremarkable in the dense crowd.
But his eyes were dead set on the purple silhouette in the center of the arena.
Lucius.
A bizarre, twisted smile slowly crept across his painfully average face.
He had waited a very, very long time for this moment.