This was the first time since Ulanor that Perturabo had met Horus Lupecar, that is, the war commander.

This lofty position is quite attractive to Ferus Manus and Leon El Johnson, who are actually fully qualified to be war commanders, but so is Horus.

It is unknown why the Emperor decided to make Horus the commander, but he naturally had his own considerations. However, people also have their own supporters, so it inevitably caused some discussion at the end of the celebration in Ulano.

Perturabo was never involved in any of these things, and was more concerned with the meaning behind the Emperor's departure from the Great Expedition than in this matter. Moreover, he also believed in the determination and ability of Horus Lupecar.

At least that was the case.

But for now. He stood on the holographic projection table of the Iron Blood, staring at the giant in black and gold armor, his expression becoming more serious a little.

He was not blind, he could see the changes in Horus Lupecar.

The projection created by the holographic projector table is not as realistic as reality, but it is clear enough. He could see the changes in Horus, from his armor to his countenance, from the vanishing Aquila to the eight-pointed mark that replaced him.

And that smile that was so fake that it almost stabbed people's eyes.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, brothers." Horus smiled as the blue dots of light from the holographic projector were contaminated into pitch black, and his eyes were as terrifying as black holes.

"It's a beautiful word to come as promised, you guys are punctual. As a general, I couldn't be more demanding of such a unit. So, let's talk about the battle plan, shall we? ”

"What the hell are you?" Vulcan asked.

The expression of the Lord of the Fire Dragon was very ugly, he had prepared early in the morning, but it was obviously not enough to prepare alone. His figure floated to the left of Horus, and if it was a face-to-face meeting, Perturabo believed that the Lord of the Fire Dragon had probably begun wielding his warhammer.

"There's something strange about you, Vulcan." Horus looked at him in amazement. "I'm Horus Lupecar, or else?"

"Nope. You're not. Vulcan said. To answer my question, what exactly are you? ”

The smile turned into annoyance, and Horus frowned, glanced at Vulcan with a puzzled expression, then turned his head and began to seek the support of the fourth person present.

"Motarian, my brother, what's wrong with Vulcan?"

The Lord of Death looked at him in silence and did not answer the question. The voice of the respirator hissed, and he did not speak, but raised a weapon with one hand. The Scythe of Silence flashed and appeared abruptly in the holographic projection.

Horus froze, looking a little confused, but he quickly laughed.

"Looks like you've been warned in advance?"

The smile gradually turned to calm, and Horus Lupecar, whose eyes were like burning stars, asked slowly, "Who informed you?" Angelon, Vogrim, Corax? They wouldn't have collided with you so coincidentally, would they? ”

"What did you do to them?" Peturabo asked solemnly.

With his hands behind his back, his right hand was already behind him making two resolute gestures to his company commander, Frix. The Iron Blood's bridge then went silently busy, and its main guns began to warm up, so that the rear gun positions would be reloaded in the next two minutes.

At the sound of Perturabo's command, they will be launched immediately.

"You should ask, what did they do to me, brother. You should ask, what happened to my regiment, what happened to my ship." Horus's expression suddenly darkened. "They have slain my children, destroyed my ships, and even tried to kill me in my royal court."

"Where are they?" Peturabo asked indifferently, his expression becoming calmer.

Horus stared at him for a few moments before speaking slowly.

"I thought you could understand, Peturabo." He said.

His eyes were glittering, and the blue dots of light that made up his image began to dance wildly. There was a never-before-seen error noise from the holographic projection table, and several cables placed on the ground crackled and exploded.

"Can't you see the Emperor's lies? He came to Olympia and threw you into a war, without asking you if you wanted it or not. So you are far from your homeland, and the Empire begins to squire it."

"I heard it had a rebellion? This is the result of the lies of the emperor, who turns your homeland against you and makes your people loathe you, and then he himself can take his place. Open your eyes and take a good look, brother, and don't let it continue to be blinded. ”

"Olympia's business has nothing to do with you." Peturabo said. "As for the lies you tell, the emperor may have lied, but I still have eyes so that I can't fail to see the difference between you and him."

"He deceived you!" Horus roared lowly. "Think about it, why did he allow the Mechanics to treat him as a god while opposing all religions, and why did he allow Lorga Aurelian to preach within the Empire? A paradoxical liar, a hypocritical villain! ”

"I don't care about these things." Peturabo replied coldly. "I'll ask you just one thing, Horus. Do your words mean that you are rebelling against the Emperor and the Empire? ”

Horus Lupecar smiled slowly.

"So what?" He asked softly, seemingly affectionately.

Perturabo raised his right hand and swung it down in front of him.

"I look forward to the moment when you and I meet." Before the point of light dissipated, Horus said. "I'll dissect all his lies to you."

"Shut up, traitor." Said the Lord of Steel.

The deck trembled, the artillery rang out, and the fleet group began to exchange fire silently in a vacuum. The fleet, led by three Glory Queens, began to move slowly, and gunboats and assault boats came and went, being shot down among the stars of Eastefan, or landing on enemy ships as they wished.

Perturabo had returned to his podium, dozens of screens shimmering with chaotic data streams slowly rising in front of him, and one command after another was being issued in a timely manner, even down to a sergeant on a ship

The main bridge of the Steelblood underwent some kind of change during this time, with twelve large portholes becoming the crew's first way of observing the battle after the metal plates landed. Perturabo made some improvements to his boat, and this was just one of them.

The Iron Lord's face was illuminated by the cold light of the screen, and he stood on the command podium and waved at Fang Xuan, and the ships of Vulcan and Motarian were directly dispatched by him, as had been communicated long before the battle.

Of the three primitives present, Perturabo was undoubtedly the most gifted at multi-front combat, and he had already shaken off his reputation for being careless about human life many years ago.

"He's gone crazy." Motarian's voice rang out from within the communication channel, and Perturabo made a nasal voice indicating that he was listening.

But the Lord of Death fell silent as soon as he said this, and the bridge on his side seemed to be busy, and people kept chanting the name of the emperor.

"He's not Horus at all." Vulcan seriously repudiated Motarian's conclusions. "Have you ever seen Horus so hypocritical, so creepy? There was no emotion in his eyes when he spoke to us, and everything was unbelievable."

"It doesn't matter if he's a traitor or not, it's just death. Empires will not tolerate betrayal, and neither will humanity. Humanity is about to embark on a path of light, and I will not allow anyone to destroy it," said Perturabo.

With his head down, he moved to another screen. The stream of data and a massive star map quickly changed shape under his fingers, and within ten minutes of the start of the war, the Iron Lord had even begun to predict the location of a possible second battlefield.

His words were echoed by Vulcan and Motarian, who began to communicate directly on the communication channel.

It was not difficult for Perturabo to listen to an entire fleet of people while manually controlling them, and he had even immersed himself in the virtual world created by the display, ignoring the real world and devoting himself to the war.

He replied as he turned the bow of a warship to engage Horus's fleet - one thing was rather counterintuitive, Horus was only one man, but his fleet was not small, and even in the face of the combined fleet of three legions.

He has so many warships, which means that he may well have recruited quite a few ships on his way to István in the name of a warlord, or that he has a Forge World under his command.

Perturabo prefers the former.

His brow furrowed at his own speculation, but it seemed to be only the beginning of misfortune. A few minutes later, he discovered a separate data stream that was out of place on behalf of his own fleet group.

The Lord of Steel immediately found it and retrieved its information. In the dense text, Perturabo found exactly the information he needed most at the moment.

The Terminator.

Captain: Karas Typhon.

Destination Speculation: Combined Fleet Central.

Stance: Full speed ahead.

What does he want to do? Why do you want to leave your post without an order? These questions crossed Perturabo's mind, and before he could utter his words, Motarian's voice rang out in the communication channel.

This time, the Lord of Death's distinctive voice, hoarse from the respirator, was tinged with undisguised astonishment.

"Brother, the commander of one of my companies left the flank of the fleet with his ship."

"I know."

"I'm going to talk to him." Motarian said. "Maybe it's just—"

- No, not necessarily. Perturabo thought.

A brilliant explosion exploded in the central area of the Combined Fleet, sending shards of metal and human corpses billowing away, frozen into ice slag in a rapid spin. It was once a battle barge, but now it's just a dismembered wreckage.

A battleship ran over them mercilessly, continuing to rush at full speed towards the Iron Blood. Hundreds of assault boats whizzed out of its forked bow, and it slammed into the Iron Blood itself.

"Kalas Typhon!" Motarian roared in the communication channel. "Are you crazy?! Fire! Fire at him and stop him! ”

Perturabo turned his head and gave another order in silence. It's not a stop, it's a wreck. At the same time, another voice was heard from within the communication channel.

Apparently, Motarian had just linked to the Terminus and connected a person to their communication channel. It's stupid, but it's not incomprehensible given the relationship between Kalas Typhon and Mortarion

Peturabo took a deep breath and tried to make himself understand, but he failed.

He couldn't understand it.

"I'm not crazy, my primordial, my best friend." A hoarse voice spoke slowly.

"So what are you doing?!"

"It's just a sacrifice, Motarian. It takes some merit to turn into a butterfly, and I am no different. My form has endured mediocrity for too long, and I need to move towards a higher realm of immortality."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Motarian asked incredulously, his voice full of betrayal anger and a look of extreme hurt.

"I'm talking to you about the ultimate truth of the universe, the Primordial. Isn't your numerology calculated to this day? Seven out of seven" Kalas Typhon laughed hoarsely, and his laughter was very low, as if it was stuck with phlegm.

Ignoring the conversation between them, Perturabo instead issued several orders to Vulcan. The fleet of salamanders immediately began to speed up, and Perturabo could not let the tug-of-war that had already begun fall to Horus at this moment.

At the same time, the Iron Blood began to fire again and again, and the firepower that should have been enough to destroy the Finale hundreds of times passed by it, and none of them hit.

This extremely irrational scene made Perturabo's expression even colder, and he began to measure the distance between the Terminus and the Iron Blood.

Mortarian also yelled at Karath Typhon in the communication channel, saying that he would expel him from the Legion, but the latter did not care, even giving him a new name.

"I'm about to become Typhons." He said hoarsely. "I'm about to transform, Primordial, if you want to stop it, come on"

"Typhonse, huh?" Peturabo asked. At the same time, he stretched out his right hand and grasped a war hammer forged by himself. Above the hammer, the lightning shines.

"Yes, my lordship."

"You're going to die." Peturabo said.

He stared out the porthole at the rapidly approaching battleship, his expression calm to the point of disbelief - the Iron Blood was too large to avoid the impact of the battleship even if it accelerated, and he had already calculated it.

But he didn't care.

If you want to fight, come on. He thought. I'll kill you, and then I'll go and kill Horus.

I will triumphant

I'm not going to lose anyone.

And also.

It's late, sorry, rewritten many times.

(End of chapter)