Warhammer: Lord of the Endless Monster Horde [204]

The Ynnari had only just formed and lacked everything. The Harlequin donated some supplies, some Dark Eldar joined, and some Craftworlders as well. A few Eldar Corsairs who'd once followed Rhodes joined too, but they were all broke and had no industrial base—gear came from looting, Harlequin gifts, or donations.

Aside from using the Harlequin's Webway portals to get around, they couldn't do much. They didn't even have a proper starship—just an old Corsair ship. Truly down on their luck, though the monster warriors were powerful—superhuman physiques, freezing powers, and shapeshifting abilities that made them look normal when not transformed.

Most of the Ynnari's army, especially Dark Eldar, were fine with this sort of enhancement, as were Exodites, but the Craftworlders couldn't accept it. Gomora and the monster warriors were great resources, and Yvraine had her eyes on Rhodes' ship. The Death God had been observing Rhodes, and the Eldar gods weren't too averse to the Emperor since they were on the same side against the four Chaos Gods.

Yvraine knew Rhodes had a huge ship and his abilities, according to the Death God, were almost cheats, like conjuring things out of thin air. She had wanted to use the resurrection of a human primarch to make humans owe them and then grab some loot: maybe Gomora, or more potions, or even big monsters.

Sending her best friend was meant to use old ties for a deal—get discounts and more potions and monsters in the future. But she didn't expect her friend to immediately offer up her body and then get taken as an advisor, maybe even selling Yvraine out! Back in Commorragh, her friend's IQ was intact, but it vanished in front of this guy!

"Lady Yvraine, we're ready to leave," Rhodes said, waving at the Death God's great prophet.

Rhodes' Pedan ship arrived, opening its hatch. Standard crew: 3,000, but if squeezed, could fit over 10,000. The 2,000-strong Ynnari's army would fit easily.

Right now, they were truly destitute—just established, having suffered several setbacks. When Yvraine was a Corsair, her ship was destroyed in the Webway War. They'd encountered Ahriman, the Red Sorcerer, and fought fiercely—the Death God's power even resurrected Ahriman's Rubric Marines. After escaping, Yvraine pulled a trick: the revived Rubric Marines immediately died again, driving Ahriman crazy.

Maybe when visiting other Craftworlds, they'd get a free ship from relatives. Rhodes' situation was much better—after a trip to Holy Terra, he got over 400,000 troops, with guns and manpower aplenty. Soon, the Cadians he rescued would join him too—life was good.

Yvraine nodded, calling her Death God troops to board Rhodes' ship. It was huge, with med bays and FTL travel—useful in both realspace and the Webway. What a big spender—this was just one of his small ships!

At this moment, a pink figure flew toward them—it was Elena, carrying a pile of shattered Chaos Terminator armor and a headless body. She landed before Rhodes, shrinking from 3.6 meters tall to 1.7 meters, and excitedly waved a top-knotted head at Rhodes.

"Look, Lord Rhodes! I cut off Chaos Warmaster Abaddon's head! And I brought his body too!" Elena said, eager for praise.

Rhodes stared speechlessly at the head—was that Abaddon? The legendary Chaos Warmaster, dead? Taken out just like that?

He'd thought Elena would just wound or drive off Abaddon, not bring back his head! What about the Vigilus campaign? What about the Arks of Omen? A major boss ended just like that.

"That's Abaddon? You killed him single-handedly?" asked a Craftworld warrior in red armor.

Seriously? The harmless-looking girl had killed the Chaos Warmaster—one of the galaxy's top fighters!

"Elena, did you kill Abaddon? What happened?" Rhodes asked.

"I did kill him, but only his body. Here's what happened…" Elena sighed and explained: in the previous battle, with the help of a cosmic beast, she forced Abaddon into a corner, killed his Chaos sorcerer, and wiped out his Terminators.

Abaddon tried to run, but against the Cosmic Frost Leopard's speed, he had nowhere to go. Finally, he tried one last, desperate stand with his daemon sword, but it was useless. The Warmaster of Chaos went down, no match for the cosmic beast.

Elena was thrilled—she'd killed the Imperium's greatest Chaos enemy, the Chosen of the Four Gods. In his final rage and despair, Abaddon seemed to bargain with the Chaos Gods. Elena did cut off his head, but his soul was taken by the Chaos Gods. The cosmic beast had no soul-hunting powers, so she could only watch as his soul was taken away, and brought back his corpse and armor as trophies. His daemon sword, Drach'nyen, returned to its warp master, while the Talon of Horus was brought back as loot.

Rhodes was shocked—Elena had hunted down the Chaos Warmaster! The cosmic beast–transformed superlifeform was indeed powerful. Abaddon was the strongest under-Primarch, but not a Primarch, so not in the same league as a superlifeform.

"So, Abaddon must have accepted the Chaos Gods' gift and will return as a Daemon Prince, right?" Rhodes asked.

His body was destroyed, but his soul was preserved—the only thing the Gods could do was make him a Daemon Prince.

Poor Abaddon! Elena showed no mercy, beheading him outright. When she returns with his head, the Black Legion will be in shock.

"A Daemon Prince isn't a big deal. Next time we see him, we'll kill him again," Rhodes said, patting Elena on the shoulder.

Celestine nodded, and everyone boarded Rhodes' ship for the flagship.

...

"So pathetic, Abaddon," said the Chaos God Vashtorr as he looked at Abaddon.

It wasn't the Four Chaos Gods who saved Abaddon, but Vashtorr.

"I never thought you would be the one to save me. Are you going to make me an undivided Daemon Prince? I refuse to be a Prince of the Four Gods," Abaddon's soul said coldly.

"Daemon Prince? Heh, I have a new idea. I can make you even stronger than a Primarch. Want to try?" Vashtorr grinned.

"What else is there besides being a Daemon Prince?" Abaddon asked.

"I think you can become a Chaos Primarch," Vashtorr said.

"Chaos Primarch!" Abaddon was shocked.