My Life as A Death Guard
Chapter 496: Loyalty
"I am loyal!"
Lorgar suddenly lunged forward, trying to seize the sword from Fulgrim's hands. The move sent his head flying off, but his body continued carrying out the command, wrenching the blade away. The iron sword clattered to the ground.
+I believe you are loyal, my brother!+
Lorgar's roar echoed out. His body began convulsing violently. Pinned beneath Lorgar's headless body, Fulgrim turned his head in terror and saw that behind him, the severed head that had been thrown aside had its mouth and eyes stretched wide open in a silent scream. Brilliant golden flames erupted across the detached head.
"—AAAAAHHHHH!"
Fulgrim screamed, but the Phoenician immediately scrambled to his feet and stumbled toward it. With both hands, he picked up Lorgar's head. Golden flames raced up his arms. Without a moment's hesitation, Fulgrim turned and jammed the head back onto Lorgar's convulsing body.
+Thank you, my brother.+ Lorgar's voice sounded once more.
Unable to comprehend the Word Bearer Primarch, Fulgrim staggered backward and collapsed onto the ground.
Fulgrim noticed that even the warriors accompanying Lorgar were staring in shock at what had just happened.
Lorgar, who had been convulsing moments before, stood up. Raising both hands, he adjusted the head Fulgrim had violently shoved back into place, pulling it out slightly so that it could once again float above his neck.
The head slowly turned back toward Fulgrim.
The stitches that had been stretched apart by its silent shrieking had somehow returned, sealing its eyes and mouth shut once more.
Fulgrim lay sprawled on the ground, gasping heavily from terror and exertion. He raised a hand. The radiant golden flames that had burned him moments ago had already faded away.
"What... what is this?" Fulgrim asked.
The golden fire had caused him pain, yet he felt no revulsion toward it. Recalling Lorgar's earlier words, a thought surfaced in his mind—
+The Emperor's power.+
Lorgar spoke. Raising a hand, his crozius returned to his grasp.
+Do you believe I am loyal now?+
Fulgrim swallowed.
He glanced down at Ferrus's armor. In the corner of his vision, it seemed as though traces of the golden flames still lingered on his arms.
...No.
No, if this were an illusion, it would have tempted him with Ferrus—not with Lorgar.
And certainly not with... a Lorgar this horrifying.
Ferrus. Horus. Sanguinius...
But never Lorgar.
"Y-you... what does He want me to do?"
Fulgrim stammered. Then he quickly added,
"Aside from my loyalty, everything has already been taken from me. I'm not sure I have what He wants. I'm not sure I can accomplish whatever task He demands."
Fulgrim clenched his teeth until blood seeped from his mouth.
"I... if I can help Father... then I'm willing."
The filthy gray-armored giant before him seemed to sigh.
+Your very existence is a coordinate.+
Lorgar swung his staff. Golden runes twisted down from it, crawling across the ground before instantly encircling Fulgrim.
Fulgrim twitched uneasily, but ultimately said nothing.
Lorgar bent down and pulled him to his feet.
The Word Bearer Primarch turned his head, his sealed eyes facing the distant void as though confirming something.
+You are the chosen one.+
There was sorrow in the Golden Speaker's voice.
+I'm sorry, but I believe you need to know the truth. I trust in your loyalty, brother. Can you promise not to betray that trust?+
Fulgrim shrank back slightly. His gaze remained hidden behind tangled hair, never lifting.
In the end, he said nothing.
Lorgar continued speaking anyway, taking Fulgrim's silence as assent.
+She—Slaanesh—made a bargain with you because she desired a being sufficiently similar to herself. When the Lord of the Underworld enters the Palace of Six Desires, that being must be positioned far enough away from the palace.+
+You are the bait she chose.+
Fulgrim, who had kept his head lowered the entire time, suddenly began trembling violently.
"She wants me to lure... him away?"
The floating head bobbed awkwardly up and down, as if nodding.
"THEN WHY DO AS SHE WANTS?!" Fulgrim screamed.
Furious, he stepped forward and shoved Lorgar with both hands, but Lorgar did not move an inch.
Then Fulgrim seemed to realize something.
The Phoenician cursed loudly and began pacing back and forth like a trapped beast.
+Because she changed her mind midway through.+ Lorgar spoke as calmly as he could.
+She wishes to completely sacrifice herself... and use that sacrifice to detonate the entirety of the Warp.+
Whether this was a lie or not—perhaps yes, perhaps no. After all, no one truly knew what Slaanesh was thinking.
Not even Slaanesh itself knew.
+For Its own pleasure... It cast a portion of Its authority into the River of Death, abandoning that aspect of Its dominion.+
With his stitched-shut eyes, Lorgar's face appeared remarkably calm and benevolent.
+But that authority did not disappear.+
Fulgrim suddenly looked up.
"It—"
He fell silent for a moment before continuing forcefully,
"Based on my understanding, no Warp entity could possibly survive inside that black mass!"
Lorgar raised a hand and made a religious gesture before himself.
+Praise the Emperor.+
The Golden Speaker said, +The power closest to the Lord of the Underworld was the Emperor—our father...+
+He bestowed His power and, during Slaanesh's moment of weakness, seized part of Slaanesh's authority upon the River of Death.+
Fulgrim stared at Lorgar in horror.
"He intends... He..."
+The Emperor's authority and Slaanesh's authority are fundamentally incompatible—He cannot wield them.+
Lorgar struck the ground lightly with the tip of his staff.
Around Fulgrim, the golden runes began to glow with faint violet light.
Tears slowly flowed from Lorgar's stitched eyes.
Before him was Fulgrim, who had collapsed to the ground once more in utter terror.
+But you can, my brother.+
Fulgrim clutched his head desperately, tearing at his own hair in a frantic attempt to drag some fragment of sanity back through pain.
Was this an illusion?
"No... I am loyal," Fulgrim muttered to himself.
He had lost everything.
The only thing he had managed to preserve was his loyalty.
Lorgar remained silent.
His shadow loomed over the muttering, half-mad Phoenician.
Golden tears shimmered as they fell.
As the Golden Speaker who carried out His will, Lorgar wished he could comfort Fulgrim.
But there was no time.
He could feel the god's impatience.
Lorgar lowered his staff again.
Golden fire suddenly erupted from the runes, surrounding Fulgrim.
The black stitches sealing Lorgar's mouth loosened.
The Primarch opened his mouth slightly.
In a hoarse voice, following the god upon the Throne word for word, he obediently recited the divine decree.
"Fulgrim," Lorgar said, "If you truly wish to prove that you are loyal and pure, then offer up the last fragment of yourself."
"Even if you now possess no value at all,"
"A piece of bait does not need much value."
Fulgrim abruptly looked up.
He stared at the expressionless Lorgar as though something inside him had finally shattered completely.
"And after that," the Emperor said, "Find Malcador. I shall grant you the rest you desire."
Tears overflowed from the Phoenician's eyes.
Trembling, he spoke, gazing through Lorgar's body as though he could see the Emperor standing behind him.
"Really, Father?"
The only answer he received was silence.
Fulgrim breathed heavily.
He slumped inside the prison of layered golden flames and clumsily gathered Ferrus's shattered armor from the ground.
Lowering his head, he hid his face beneath his tangled hair once more.
His pale, withered lips moved slightly.
"Thank you for Your mercy, Father."
"I am ready."
He bit down so hard that blood seeped from his mouth.
Proudly.
Stubbornly.
Obsessively.
He guarded the last remnant of his loyalty.
Was I right, Ferrus? Fulgrim wondered.
Or was he merely unwilling to admit that his previous choices had been wrong?
Did his loyalty hold any value before Him?
Yet in the end, Fulgrim stubbornly refused to bow his head.
One final time.
Perhaps he simply did not want to bow.
Buried deep within his shell, the contract Slaanesh had left behind never activated—the pact that would have instantly granted the Primarch vast amounts of Slaanesh's power.
Among Slaanesh's contingency plans had always been the possibility that Fulgrim's loyalty would falter, causing him to unleash Slaaneshi psychic power and thereby lure the Lord of the Underworld back once more.
Upon the Throne, the Emperor's eyes were filled with complicated emotions.
Even in the end, Fulgrim refused to surrender his loyalty to Slaanesh… the Emperor thought.
But that also meant He would have to commit even more of His own power to compensate for the missing strength of Slaanesh.
And now...
The Emperor gazed with mixed emotions at the disheveled figure kneeling on the ground, clutching Ferrus's armor.
...Fulgrim... Fulgrim… the Emperor thought. Blood trickled from the corner of His mouth.
...There is no helping it...
Such a pure and loyal soul...
I suppose I must let it remain.
...Though poor Malcador is going to suffer for it.
The golden flames burned in silence.
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