Warhammer: In the Name of Nirvana

Fifty years later, when Rana's sword was once again stained with the blood of his compatriots, he would surely recall that afternoon when he was trapped in a dark space: that was probably the worst afternoon of his life.

In the pitch-black darkness, there was a blasphemous sound of wind blowing against the armor, sending chills down one's spine with its eerie sound.

All I could see was darkness, a darkness that was impossible to exist in the real universe. It was not illusory mist, but real brick walls that blocked my vision and any possible light.

Even the most advanced optical imaging equipment on the helmet could only allow Rana to see vague outlines not far away: he seemed to be in a magnificent hall that had become ruins, filled with broken marble statues and shattered crystal chandeliers, and the thick dust was filled with the smell of corruption and decadence.

The smell was so strong, as if not long ago, this place was crowded with countless pathetic things: but when the Lord Chancellor looked around, he only saw Lucius standing in front of him.

That's right: he was certain that this man was not the Lucius he knew.

At least... shouldn't it?

Rana was a little unsure. Ever since he led his troops and got closer and closer to the alien nest called Larlan, his mental state seemed to be a little abnormal: So that's why he ended up in this situation?

The Chief Guard smiled, retaining his rare sense of humor. He needed this sense of humor to dispel the panic in his heart: after all, he seemed to be trapped in a place that could not be explained by the logic of the real universe.

Is this an illusion? Or is he crazy?

Or is it that there is actually a powerful wizard among the aliens that they are unaware of, and he fell into the trap without knowing it?

Unlikely: In Lana's hundreds of years of life experience, he has only seen his own Primarch Morgan and the Emperor possess this ability. He is not sure whether the Sigillite has it, but no one else can do it.

Once again, he wisely removed Magnus from his brain.

Since it was neither an illusion nor some psychic power, maybe it was just his bad luck: there should be an ancient teleportation device on the hilt of the sword, which sent him to this hellhole after being activated.

But how to explain the guy in front of him?

As Rana clenched his weapon, slowly backed away, and carefully observed the movements of the monster in front of him, he was also looking for the answer to the question in his heart.

Rana began to think.

…

404

"Grass!"

I should have taken a few more [Witchcraft and Psychic Protection Classes] earlier.

The real universe did not give Lana much time to regret. While he was still looking around, the assassin in front of him, or Lucius, had already started to act.

“Tsk…”

All the curse words accumulated over the centuries were not enough to describe the Dawnbreaker's feelings at this moment.

Seeing the guy in front of him with a twisting snake-like lower body, four arms holding four rugged and deformed sword blades, but with a gorgeous face of the Emperor's son, and even wearing bumpy Imperial Guard armor, Lana became more and more certain.

This is an illusion.

+This is not~+

The whispers echoed off the dark mountains around them, maddeningly sweet, more sickly than any sweet treat bestowed by the Primarch: they sounded like laughter, like a gentle breath, and like the sound of scales scraping against stone.

What a trouble! The owner of this voice seems to be able to see through his inner thoughts.

Rana opened his mouth, with thousands of questions clogged up in his heart, but the Dawnbreaker chose not to speak because he knew it was futile: However, he was at least certain that he was indeed trapped in a dilemma set by a stronger person.

Is it stabbing?

A frivolous voice interrupted Lana's thoughts again, but this time it did not come from the surrounding darkness, but from Lucius who was crawling on the ground: he giggled like a prostitute, and his cracked lips split open like a wound.

"The truth is right before your eyes. You have even seen it with your own eyes and touched it with your own hands. You know it is real and it existed: why should your mind deny the truth of things?"

“…”

Lana did not respond. He just tried his best to prepare for the battle and bent down...

Wait, bend over?

Where's his Terminator armor? Why is he only wearing a normal set of power armor?

Dawnbreaker froze for a moment, but his opponent did not miss the opportunity: Lucius rushed up like a winter storm, without caring about his own life at all. He crossed the distance of thirty meters in the blink of an eye, and swept the curved blade towards Lana's neck.

So fast!

Dawnbreaker admired secretly in his heart, then steadied his center of gravity and jumped back a small step with ease, avoiding the most fatal first blow as planned.

Then, he spun his fingers, and the silver blade left an afterimage in the air, accurately blocking the second blade in front of his eye sockets. With a slight force on his wrist, he removed the opponent's strength and pushed the edge aside.

Before the harsh sound of metal friction had time to torture Rana's senses, the Dawnbreaker's body center of gravity fell to the side while fighting with the opponent, and narrowly avoided the third sharp blade that attacked almost at the same time, and only had a few strands of hair chopped off.

And just as he bent down, his other hand reached for his waist and grabbed the second sword hanging there: Wait, when did he bring the second sword?

But there was no time to think, the chief guard drew his sword and struck with such force that the opponent's fourth sword flew away: When Lucius retreated in embarrassment, Rana's mind was filled with only one sigh.

It was a fine sword: he had never seen a sword that was so comfortable to use.

The Lord Commander of the Guards took a glance and realized that he had never seen it before: it was a graceful rapier, and although it did not have any eye-catching ornate decorations except the amethyst gem on the hilt, it somehow looked more and more pleasing to the eye.

Lana hesitated and wanted to throw the sword aside, but the howl of Lucius not far away interrupted his thoughts: the fourth sword that was knocked away happened to cut the flawless face of the Emperor's Son. After Lucius realized this, he knelt on the ground and cried in pain like a child.

The cry was so piercing, becoming sharper and bloodier, until Lucius threw all his swords to the ground, raised his four clawed hands, and grabbed his face in unison, tearing it apart frantically.

It was as if it was Lana's face.

“You don’t understand anything!”

He was howling, and his voice was filled with the sadness and pain that only humans could have. The crying was so real that Lana had to begin to doubt his previous point of view: Was what was happening before his eyes really an illusion?

His hands, tightly gripping the blade, were still trembling slightly from the fight just now, and the feeling of sweat running down his cheeks was not false: he was indeed standing here, with an imaginary son of the Emperor struggling for life and death.

“…”

Why would he be so calm about drawing his sword on a battle brother?

Even though he is... an alien?

"I'm not an alien!!!"

Obviously, Lucius could also hear what Lana was thinking: and the point of view just now greatly stimulated him.

He suddenly raised his head, and his four bloody arms stretched out in all directions, but they were nothing compared to that disgusting face: the original handsomeness was torn to tatters, and every inch of his facial skin was blooming like a rotten flower.

The silver hair was gone, leaving only a bald scalp, patches of dysentery and hideous scars: under the scars were a pair of snake-like eyes, a collapsed nose, a cleft where the lips were missing, and three rows of dirty yellow sharp teeth inside.

He roared, and his six tongues danced freely as if they had self-awareness. Tears rushed out of his eye sockets impatiently and danced freely on his face. His cracks either flowed out smelly blood or rolled with pus that emitted a strange fragrance. The sound was like a knife scraping thick glass.

"I! Am! Not! An Alien!"

He roared, cried, and rolled on the ground like a fart, with no dignity as a human or an Astartes warrior. His tongue was tangled in the dust on the ground, and he stumbled around spitting venom at Lana.

"I'm not! I'm not! I didn't volunteer! I didn't volunteer!"

"They forced me to do it!"

"Fabius! Tarvitz! And that damn Akudona!"

"It was all their fault, not me... not me..."

"I didn't do anything..."

"I obviously don't want to... wuu ...

With a whimper, Lucius' tears and blood flowed together. He curled up on the ground, crying silently under Lana's shocked gaze.

"They are all traitors... they are all bastards..."

"I'm not... I'm not..."

"I can't worship Him... They forced me to do it..."

"It's Horus... It's Fulgrim..."

"It's Luo Jia!"

"It's not me... It's not me..."

“Wuwuwu…”

Dawnbreaker took a deep breath. He really didn't understand the situation in front of him: how could Lucius, who was so at ease and mysterious a few minutes ago and confronted him head-on, become such a horrible state in the blink of an eye?

What could have made the iron spirit of an Astartes so fragile?

Or is he still dreaming?

Lana didn't dare to jump to conclusions. He clearly remembered that there was a third person beside him, hidden in the impenetrable darkness. He could feel the pairs of eyes staring at them: these pairs of eyes seemed to belong to the same thing.

Although he couldn't see, he could tell that the pupils were purple.

There was no reason: he believed the fact in an instant, as if someone had placed the answer in his heart.

Moreover, he also knew: the one who was silently observing their existence was looking at all this with satisfaction, just like a gourmet watching a drama.

He seemed...happy?

Rana's mumbling was drowned out by Lucius' increasingly frantic roar.

The Emperor's Son had degenerated into a legendary witch monster, his mouth full of incomprehensible noises and crazy talk. All kinds of unrelated sentences were sewn into a patchwork of rags in his mouth, which he waved back and forth in front of the Chief Guard, stinking badly.

"Don't you understand yet?"

"Haven't you seen it yet?"

"Are you still deceiving yourself?"

"Look... Look!"

"I'm right here!"

"You've seen mine! You know mine!"

"We've met before..."

"No! We'll meet later!"

"You saved me, you killed me!"

"No...no...you betrayed me!"

"That's right...that's right...you all betrayed me! Everyone is a traitor!"

"Everyone has betrayed the Emperor!"

"Horus! Fulgrim! Fabius and Ferrus!"

"And the Emperor!"

"He is the biggest traitor!"

"He should be hanged...hanged!"

He cried and cursed as he staggered to his feet: Lucius no longer had the demeanor of a son of the Emperor. He looked like a filthy alien, swaying from side to side as if he could not even stand steadily.

"This is the future! This is reality! This is our destiny!"

"I am Lucius! I am the Emperor's Son! I am the one who was betrayed!"

"The Primarch betrayed me!"

"The alien devoured me!"

"And those damn Word Bearers! They screwed everything up!"

"That damn Horus! A bastard who can only fuck himself!"

"It's all his fault! It's all their fault!"

"It's all their fault!"

"It's all your fault!"

"That's right! It's all your fault!"

Having said this, Lucius suddenly became energetic, as if the truth of the world was firmly grasped in his palm. He stared at the face of the Dawnbreaker in fascination, his mouth wide open to his ears, full of movable teeth.

He laughed, a loud laugh.

“That’s right…that’s right!”

"It's all because of you!"

"It's all your fault!"

"Why don't you surrender!"

"Why don't you surrender!"

"Why don't you accept Horus and His invitation!"

"It's all your fault! You treated us like pathetic replacements for yourself!"

"You shouldn't exist! You bastards screwed up everything!"

"You all deserve to die! You should just kneel down before Him. Nothing will happen then! We will win. We will win everything! That damn emperor will not destroy everything..."

Lucius twisted his body on the ground like a drug addict, crawling towards the tip of Lana's boots bit by bit. He looked at the chief guard fanatically, licked the ground with his tongue, and spit out a lot of laughter and curses.

"You can't escape..."

"No one can escape..."

"We... all of us... all of humanity are destined to become something that even the Necrons dare not mention..."

"They don't dare! They are afraid! We scared them so much that they ran away from the galaxy!"

"Like a dog!"

"Like a bastard!"

"Like your damn bitch mother..."

“Swish!”

Lucius' most filthy curse was destined to remain unuttered. The chief guard, who had remained expressionless, swung his blade coldly and ruthlessly chopped off the head of the emperor before hearing the words that he could not tolerate.

Maybe this really was his brother?

It doesn’t matter: I guess even if the person standing here is the Emperor’s son, he would do the same, right?

Lana was not sure. He had no time to think about this topic because as Lucius' body collapsed, the space around him collapsed at a speed visible to the naked eye. The confusion from not long ago swallowed him up again.

It was as if the big hand that dragged him in had achieved its goal, and the Dawnbreaker, who still couldn't figure out the situation, had lost his brief usefulness.

Maybe so…

But no matter what: he had to find time to visit Lucius of the Third Legion.

See if he's still alive...

Before his consciousness disappeared, Rana kept this question firmly in mind.

He must...

——————

"Rana?"

"Old man? What's wrong with you!"

"Ah! Ah?"

Rana opened his eyes, only to find that he was still holding the hilt tightly. He was surrounded by his battle brothers. Even the pitch-black light could not conceal the confusion on their faces: the man closest to him was knocking on his heavy Terminator armor.

"What's wrong with this thing?"

The man asked.

"You grabbed it and just stood there in a daze for about five or six seconds."

"I……"

Lana was stunned.

"I have no idea."

Damn it, what was he doing just now?

Why can’t I remember it?

The chief guard scratched his head, but ultimately could not come up with any answer. Although the Dawnbreakers around him were confused, they would soon focus on other things: for example, the divination instruments they carried with them finally detected where the trapped team was at the moment.

The rescue team began its operation, and Rana joined in. However, his mind was still a little confused. His most trusted adjutant came up to him at some point, raised his eyebrows, and looked at his superior's waist.

"Rana."

"When did you get a second sword?"

“This…”

"Didn't Lucius give this to me?"