Warhammer: Lord of the Endless Monster Horde [184]

"I am a sinner. I destroyed what should have been a mighty human empire. With my own hands, I dragged several of my brothers into the embrace of the Chaos Gods.

I killed the brother who was once my closest friend. I brought shame to the Imperium, to our father, and forced him onto the Golden Throne. I—" Horus rambled on at length.

But when he turned around, he found that the man opposite him didn't seem interested at all. The man just sat there, leisurely sipping a cup of tea.

"So, are you done?" Rhodes put down his teacup and asked casually.

"..."

Horus was bewildered. That's not how this is supposed to go! You bastard!

Since you've resurrected me, shouldn't you at least come over and say something to me?

Rhodes walked up to Horus, then pulled out a bolt pistol, a Pendanium laspistol, a power sword, and a chainsword.

"Come on, try and see which one feels best in your hand!

Just finish yourself off—put a bullet through your head. I've even prepared a bolt rifle and a Pendanium lasgun for you.

Don't worry! These things can blast a Hive Tyrant's head to smithereens in one shot. Blasting you shouldn't be a problem.

Or use this power sword of yours to chop your head off, that's fine too. If you're afraid of pain—

I can also get you some poison, but something potent enough to kill a Primarch is hard to come by.

You'll have to wait. But honestly, using these weapons will be quicker." Rhodes said.

Horus' mouth hung open, staring in disbelief at Rhodes.

"What's wrong, coward? Go on, do it!

Kill yourself, then go back whining to your daddy.

And tell him, 'I'm so scared!'" Rhodes sneered.

"I'm not a coward," Horus said, his face darkening.

After finally being resurrected, he—he just wanted to vent a little.

After all, being brought back at such a cost by his father, how could he possibly commit suicide?

He'd thought this brother Primarch would at least comfort him a bit! But this…

"No, you ARE a coward, a complete coward. Come on, say it with me: 'I am a coward!'" Rhodes said.

"Don't make me hit you," Horus' face was ashen now.

"Oh, I'm SO scared! The most timid, cowardly guy in the galaxy wants to hit someone!" Rhodes taunted mercilessly.

"I'll say it again! I'm not a coward." Horus shot to his feet. Nearly four meters tall, he looked like a small giant in front of Rhodes.

This body was Rhodes' latest clone, made with the purest Primarch gene-stock from the gene-vault and Emperor-taught Primarch techniques, secretly crafted by his own scientists.

It was a complete restoration of Horus' body.

Rhodes' body slowly floated up to match Horus' height, and he slapped Horus hard, making the giant stagger back.

This slap was strong—Rhodes used the berserk power of Red King, so even the physically terrifying Primarch was left with blood at the corner of his mouth.

"If it's a fight you want, I'm happy to oblige," Horus said, wiping the blood away.

"Come on, coward, let me beat you up," Rhodes taunted again.

This time Horus couldn't hold back and swung a fist the size of Rhodes' head.

He was blasted away by a crimson beam; Rhodes' chest emitted a super shockwave, Gomora's signature move.

The gene-Primarch took the hit and didn't get up for a while, but Rhodes didn't give him a chance to recover—raising his hands, he fired golden lightning at Horus again and again.

The freshly resurrected Primarch was blasted into a sorry state. After a round of bombardment, Rhodes came in for close combat.

He activated Red King's super strength mode and Gomora's brutal transformation, overpowering the Primarch in strength.

The Primarch's body was tough—he could tear apart Custodians barehanded without power armor.

But now, he was facing a human monster strengthened by three rounds of kaiju power-ups.

Red King, Bemstar, Gomora—any of them would be a top-tier brawler among monsters.

After the first power-up, Rhodes' physique already surpassed most Custodians.

The second put him close to a Primarch; the third, on par with a regular Primarch.

The only difference was height, but the monster abilities he gained closed that gap.

Bemstar's yellow lightning and Gomora's super shockwave were especially useful ranged attacks—super shockwave in particular was very lethal.

The battle was a messy brawl with no technique or experience. After an hour of cheat-level endurance, ranged attacks, and flight, Rhodes emerged victorious, beating the Warmaster into a pig-headed mess.

Rhodes didn't hit anywhere but Horus' face—every punch, every kick, was aimed squarely at it.

"Listen! I'm not your fucking father, nor am I going to treat you as gently as Brother Sanguinius.

I'm not going to coddle you. I'm here to give you a mission. If you don't want to do it, I'll beat you until you do.

Or else I'm just wasting time—you're just useless, a complete waste, and a coward.

The Emperor asking me to bring you back was a monumentally stupid decision. You're a motherless child.

Otherwise, you should go cry in your mommy's arms, sobbing like a little wimp," Rhodes said.

"Wubushinuofu," Horus slurred, wobbling to his feet.

His face was so swollen he could barely speak, but his body was so strong that the swelling was already starting to fade.

Horus was furious. This bastard's physique was freakish, his fighting style shameless, super fast, and worst of all—he could fly and attack from range!

Honestly, if he had power armor and full gear, he'd be confident of winning, but without any armor, he couldn't do anything to his opponent.

The bastard would just fly up high after a while, rain down attacks till Horus was dizzy, and then come back down to punch him in the face.

Every time he tried to adapt and fight back, Rhodes would just fly up again, unleash yellow lightning and red shockwaves, completely suppressing him.

There's no arguing with that—flight and ranged attacks are the guy's abilities; you can't exactly tell him not to use them.

A loss is a loss. Horus wasn't a sore loser.

"Shut up. Now, here's the Emperor's order: He needs you to return to Chaos and take care of your good son Abaddon.

Then repay the grudge—deal with those four bastards. Any questions?" Rhodes slowly descended from the air.

The Primarch's head was tough—Rhodes' fists even hurt a bit.

But with the recovery power of a Primarch, Horus' head was already almost back to normal.

"Are you certain I won't be corrupted by Chaos again? If possible, I don't want to accept Chaos power ever again," Horus said.

"The guy fused with you now is called Daram. He gave you his life. Once you fully recover, you two will be one.

Daram possesses incredibly strong dark power, very effective at resisting Chaos.

Your body can absorb Chaos power, but you won't become its servant again," Rhodes replied.

Horus was now Daram's human host and under the system's protection. To corrupt Horus, you'd have to corrupt Daram too.

That's the first difficulty.

Second: Daram has absorbed months of dark energy. When transformed, he's now 75 meters tall and weighs 80,000 tons.

By absorbing the Emperor's dark side, Daram's growth isn't just in dark energy, but height and mass too.

And all this growth didn't even use up Rhodes' power-up slots—a crazy bargain.

The Dark Emperor, after all, is also from the Warp and is no weaker than the four Chaos Gods.

So corrupting Horus now is very hard. He can absorb Chaos power but not be affected by it.

His demigod soul is only half left, but with Daram's fusion, it will recover over time.

"Understood! I will have my revenge, on those four bastards.

To atone for my past sins, I won't seek forgiveness from the people of the Imperium.

I'll pay for my crimes in my way," Horus said.

"That's more like it. The Dark Giant is incredibly powerful—communicate more with Daram, and you'll both get stronger."

Rhodes was looking forward to Horus and Daram developing new transformation states.

"I understand, thank you!"

"I've made you a new set of power armor, tailored to your size.

For now, stay on my ship and recover your strength.

When the time is right, I'll send you out," Rhodes said.

Horus nodded. He no longer had any doubts!

This new brother's way of persuading people was surprisingly effective.