As an Astarte warrior, Abaddon has been fighting for seventy years for the father of his genes, for the Lord of Mankind, and for the Empire.

Maybe eighty years soon.

Even among all the Astarte fighters, this is a long and highly decorated service resume.

But even Abaddon, the commander of a company of the Shadowmoon Wolf Legion, Horus's most trusted reckless heir, the backbone of the Council of the Four Kings, and a brutal killer who has endured countless bloody and bizarre wars, dares to swear to anyone he admires or believes that he has never seen anything in front of him...... Scenario.

Nausea, anger, and even fear that the Astarte warriors would not theoretically have: these emotions were very real at this time in the chest of the Shadow Moon Wolf.

Abaddon gritted his teeth, and on his forehead and neck, the green tendons were like thick tree trunks, and the proudest son of Horus now held a sword in one hand and an iron claw in the other, and both weapons were already dripping with blood, the black and scarlet blended with each other, emitting the same stench, making it impossible to tell whether it was the blood of the monster or the blood of the Shadow Moon Wolf himself.

Abaddon didn't have the heart to pay attention to these at this time, he was concentrating all his attention at all costs, sensing the clues in the darkness, he knew that in the darkness that even thermal imaging sensors could not fully detect, there were monsters that could kill Astarte.

The search for the original body had long since turned into a self-help for themselves: even the sons of Morgan did not question this in the slightest, and after discovering that the wriggling pieces of flesh were blocking all the roads, even Hector agreed to temporarily withdraw from the place in search of new reinforcements.

But they can't get out.

The path they had come to had been swallowed up by the wriggling mass of flesh, and in the unpredictable labyrinth of flesh and blood, one after another steel passages soaked in scarlet and pale continued to wash away their memories and cognitions.

All were trying to remember the path they had come, and pointed out the passage in unison: but there was nothing but an ever-expanding wall of flesh.

They had no choice but to embark on those new paths.

Then, they were attacked.

Although Abaddon's cries and warnings for battle had already been present, the first battle had not really begun much later.

In the intricacies and shifts of passages, they encountered monsters: a fusion of steel, flesh and power, strange creations that revealed some kind of technology and rational mind.

They lurked in the shadows, appearing in droves, greedily watching each Astarte warrior: the battle broke out the first moment the two sides discovered each other, and the Astarte warriors' bombs were fired mercilessly at the twisted monsters, and then they were met with the same counterattack.

These hardly human-like monsters not only possess insect-like hind limbs, steel-like armor, and sharp teeth that can hurt power armor: some of them wield blasters or wield chainsaw swords and chainsaw axes to skillfully pour out tongues of fire at Astarte warriors.

Their roars were irrational, beastly roars in their purest form, but with them were dense nets of fire and sharp swordsmanship: like some innate instinct or muscle memory.

Abaddon resisted these attacks, and a terrible thought could not help but spring up in his mind: he tried to deny it, because its mere appearance made the most reckless of Shadowmoon wolves feel their hairs stand on end.

The battle takes place in the dark, and it's a tough battle for the Shadowmoon Wolves and the Morgan Sons: they're forced to rush left and right in a completely unfamiliar dark world, trying to find the possible pattern of movement among the flesh and blood, while resisting a growing number of formidable opponents.

Every time they kill a monster, there are more, completely different monsters, roaring out of the shadows.

The damage was not long in coming.

Abaddon distinctly remembered that at the very beginning, six of Morgan's sons and forty-three Shadowmoon Wolves had walked into the vast underworld, fifteen of whom were the most elite Gastarin Terminators.

And when Morgan suddenly disappeared, they left ten remaining responders in the incredibly large underground hall to guide the reinforcements of the Shadowmoon Wolves: as early as the moment Morgan disappeared, Abaddon had sent an urgent message to his genetic father, believing that the wolf shepherd would lead the team in at least one Terra standard hour.

As a result, the remaining thirty-three Astarte warriors, including Abaddon himself, and all fifteen Gastarin Terminators, all entered this flesh passage: that was less than half a Terra standard time ago.

And now, they still have ...... Twenty people.

The remaining thirteen, including a few of the most elite Gastarin Terminators, have fallen under the minions of the terrifying unknown creations in the shadows: those seemingly savage creatures are not pure beasts, they wield all kinds of weapons, even plasma and individual heavy weapons, and it is these things, along with the narrow passage space, that kill the most powerful Shadowmoon wolves.

In the face of such casualties, the group finally came to another dimension: this was a large hall, which looked like a small assembly square at first, although it was not as wide as the previous Great Hall, but it was enough for the Terminators to open up the battle formation and exert their strength.

Twenty warriors didn't need any communication at this point, they rushed into the vast slaughterhouse, and gathered in the center of the emptiest square: the Terminators lined up, echoing from end to end, the remaining warriors hiding behind these trusty brothers while watching out for the opponents who silently infiltrated, and the only two psionics among the Morgan's sons were constantly releasing their psionic powers to bring light.

In the intermittent light, the screams of the beasts followed, and the greedy marauders followed in Astarte's footsteps: they crawled on the ground, fixed on the walls, and even dripping from the ceiling with their twisted claws.

It wasn't until this moment that Abaddon really saw the appearance of these monsters.

Although they are different, these creatures look much the same: they are even taller than Astarte, with human-like upper bodies and huge heads, and their lower limbs remind Abaddon of the dinosaurs he saw in books, and even have a spiky tail.

Unlike the disgusting flesh and blood around them, these monsters looked exceptionally cold and clean, they were wrapped in a black carapace, which actually had a sci-fi aesthetic, and their claws more than a meter long, or blades and weapons dissolved in their fingers, made them look more like some kind of broken soldiers.

When the Shadow Moon Wolf's gaze focused on the limbs and bones of these monsters, he had a strange feeling: he felt a certain familiarity with this monster.

He hadn't seen them, but he saw many traces of the past in them.

The chest and head seemed too similar to a human, but the arms had the same feeling as the Ran Dan alien he had just killed, and every detail on the hind limbs, the tail, and every body of the body.

They all seem to be part of the formidable aliens that were once hostile to humans......

A feeling of unease lingered in Abaddon's mind, growing heavier and heavier.

But he didn't have time to think, because these uncommunicative predators were scrambling to pounce on their battle formations.

There was no hesitation, no communication, and with the tacit understanding that had just been fought in the bloody battle, the sons of Horus and the sons of Morgan formed an unshakable line of defense.

Then, fire, fight.

——————

The battle lasted fifteen minutes.

There were casualties on both sides, but the monsters who didn't know how to cooperate in the battle were obviously the ones with the greater casualties.

Abaddon's relentless gaze wandered over the monsters that had fallen at his feet, and he felt more and more familiar as he looked at the tattered faces.

Just as he was wondering, a heavy breath slowly spread from the deepest part of the passage into the hall.

Abaddon looked up: the thermal imaging sensor was telling him that a behemoth was approaching.

Almost the next moment, the huge monster appeared in front of Abaddon, and he even needed to look up to barely see the monster's face.

And then.

A horror, a fear, an almost instinctive twist and howl, appeared on Abaddon's countenance.

"Sea ...... Sea ......"

"Heinz!"

Abaddon roared.

There was fear in his roar.

——————

Horus is on top!

The Emperor is above!

Damn it...... Whatever is on it!

That's Heinz!

That's Heinz!

Heinz of the Eleventh Legion! They used to fight side by side!

O Emperor!

What the is that!

It was a monster, it was the monster that Abaddon had fought and killed: this colossal individual didn't seem to be any different from the guys who had fallen to the ground, except for ......

On the blasphemous and twisted body, on the arms of the Randan, the alien legs and feet, the tail of the beast, and the neck of the monster of all the dark creatures of the galaxy......

It was an Astarte head.

Abaddon grew his mouth.

Even 10,000 years later, it was absolutely impossible for him to forget all this.

Emperor......

Horus......

These monsters, these ...... Stuff......

They...... Or which part of them...... It's Astarte!

By the time cold sweat dripped down the twisted flesh at Abaddon's feet, Heinz had unleashed its attack, an almost unstoppable slaughter: stronger and more terrifying than the mightiest of Gastarin.

It kicked Abaddon away, and it knocked Hector to the ground with a single palm: the monster, perhaps seven or eight meters tall, grabbed a Gastarin Terminator as its claws swung at random, held it high, and then easily shredded the Terminator's armor, stripping the Shadowmoon Wolf of flesh and blood away little by little.

It's like tearing down a paper doll.

Abaddon watched it all.

Everything he could never forget.

Everything he could never have mentioned.

He will always support ...... Erase everything.

And then.

He heard a sigh.

It was the sigh of the Lord of the Second Legion.

(End of chapter)