Gabriel Angelos grabbed the scorching fury of khorne, pulling it out of the complex ritual.
The burning flames ceased abruptly, and the rage of the deceased Blood Angels, confined within, was released, quickly dissipating into the Warp.
Without the support of this rage, the ritual, which pierced through reality and the material universe, abruptly stopped and collapsed, and the raging flames within it vanished.
Gabriel Angelos marvelled at the scorching Khorne artifact from the Warp; his ceramite power armor was slowly melting under the intense heat.
He could clearly feel that the power of this artifact was far greater and more extraordinary than most of the relics stored in the Blood Ravens' reliquary.
Several other Blood Ravens who had infiltrated with him also quickly reached out, helping Gabriel lift this Khorne artifact.
As the ritual collapsed, the Bloodthirster of Khorne guarding the fury of khorne finally realized something was wrong.
The crimson Greater Daemon stared blankly at the collapsing ritual, extending a muscular arm and scratching his head in confusion, not understanding why the ritual had suddenly fallen apart.
He turned his head with intense bewilderment, and then he saw a group of Astartes in dark red power armor, all scrambling to lift the fury of khorne.
"Ah?" The Bloodthirster let out a bewildered sound.
In an instant, the Blood Ravens who were moving the fury of khorne all looked towards the Bloodthirster.
The Bloodthirster froze for a moment, then reacted, his blood rushing to his head, making his already crimson face even redder.
"Thieves!!!" The Bloodthirster let out a savage roar, picked up his roaring chainaxe, stepped into the blood pool, then leaped up, striking at the Blood Ravens who were moving the fury of khorne.
Gabriel Angelos stepped forward, his Godsplitter clashing with the Bloodthirster.
This powerful warhammer contained fragments of the Eldar War God Khaine's sword; as he swung it, a rage even more powerful than that of the Bloodthirster of Khorne seemed to roar, resulting in a stalemate with the Bloodthirster.
The Bloodthirster and Gabriel Angelos each retreated two steps.
"A worthy opponent! Again!" The Bloodthirster let out an impassioned war cry, having initially thought they were just a bunch of petty thieves, not expecting to find a skilled fighter among them.
"Good!" Gabriel Angelos roared, gripping his warhammer, seemingly also provoked into battle.
The Bloodthirster laughed wildly; he was already dissatisfied with his task of guarding this broken thing far from the battlefield, so now that someone was willing to fight, he was naturally very pleased.
The Bloodthirster leaped up, his chainaxe whirling, gnawing at the air, tearing reality, and heavily striking at Gabriel Angelos, who had a serious expression as if preparing for a deathmatch.
But at this moment, Gabriel Angelos, his elite Blood Ravens, and the Khorne artifact, the fury of khorne, were all covered by a dazzling beam of teleportation light.
Then, they all vanished from the cave in the blink of an eye.
The Bloodthirster's axe swung through empty air, crashing heavily into the blood pool.
The Blood Ravens' ancestral holy relic: the Ancient Teleportation Device!
The Bloodthirster was stunned again, then let out a string of curses that would make even Nurgle daemons cringe.
But the Red Angel cursed even more foully than the Bloodthirster.
He watched helplessly as the fury of khorne was stolen, the ritual collapsed with a bang, and the rage of Sanguinius' sons that had sustained him vanished, leaving him alone to face the Primarch before him, gleaming in gold and red.
Sanguinius looked down from the sky, gazing at the Red Angel in mid-air.
The Red Angel felt a bone-chilling fear.
The compassion Sanguinius had just shown was for his sons, for the rage accumulated by his sons over ten millennia,
and not for the Red Angel, the daemon fabricated by the Blood God upon that rage.
The Red Angel let out a desperate wail, then turned and fled, attempting to escape Sanguinius' will.
The collapse of the ritual was not entirely a bad thing for him; without the ritual forcing him to merge with Sanguinius, he wouldn't need to gamble on the minuscule possibility of Sanguinius being replaced by him.
He could escape, he could retreat into his own daemon body, and then flee into the Warp.
Sanguinius looked down at the Red Angel from the sky, saying nothing, nor did he pursue, merely allowing the Red Angel to flee.
As the Red Angel moved further and further away from the sky, the things around him gradually began to transition from the conscious to the material plane; everything in the Warp was receding, and the spirit gradually fell from its absolutely primary position, as the planet named Corinal began to reappear.
The Red Angel saw his body; the fire on his body was slowly extinguishing, and his skin was also shedding as the fire died down, turning into ash and dissipating in mid-air.
That appearance, once almost identical to Sanguinius, collapsed in the blink of an eye, revealing the fiery skeleton beneath.
That was the Red Angel's true form,
or rather, the body of the Apothecary named Meros, which was possessed by the Red Angel ten thousand years ago.
That body had been burned into this state by the Red Angel's flames over ten millennia, nearing its limit.
But the Red Angel was still overjoyed when he saw this body.
He was very close to Sanguinius on the mental plane, almost within reach.
But he was still very far from Sanguinius on the material plane; as long as he escaped into his body in the material realm, he could easily flee into the Warp.
A figure suddenly appeared, enveloped in flames, abruptly blocking the Red Angel's path.
The Red Angel was startled, retreating like a Dark Angel whose little secret had been stepped on, looking in terror at the figure blocking his way.
The figure wore white armor, but it was shattered; the figure was as muscular as an Astartes, but incomplete, with a handsome face now covered in burns.
Most of his body had been consumed by flames, his bones carbonized, his eyeballs dried and cracked in the fire, but the remaining half of his face still bore an unyielding expression, one eye staring at the Red Angel with hatred.
Apothecary Meros, who ten thousand years ago had thrown himself into the fury of khorne in place of Sanguinius, and whose body was seized by the Red Angel.
But this fellow's will had not fully dissipated even now; he often appeared, stubbornly obstructing the Red Angel's actions.
At first, he would cause the Red Angel a bit of trouble, but now his soul was so badly burned that his weak resistance at most only annoyed the Red Angel.
+Never. Yielded.+
+Never. Betrayed. Sanguinius' Blood.+
A fragmented voice sounded as Apothecary Meros stubbornly used his incomplete soul to block the Red Angel's path.
This made the Red Angel irritable; he couldn't waste time with this incomplete Apothecary.
The Red Angel waved his hand, his will crashing towards Meros.
Just then, another figure suddenly appeared beside Meros.
The Red Angel was startled, quickly retreating a few more steps, fearing that Sanguinius had caught up.
But the Red Angel looked closely,
and found that standing beside Meros was just an ordinary Blood Angel, even a bit youthful, with a somewhat bewildered expression on his face.
Rafen, a warrior of the Blood Angels' Sixth Company.
The Red Angel immediately recognized the identity of this Blood Angel.
Because Rafen's gene-seed came from Meros ten thousand years ago, and he was born from the same blood-coffin as Meros.
Therefore, some kind of superluminal telepathy existed between Rafen and Meros' spirits, an empathy that could even transcend the limitations of space and time to some extent.
In the past, Rafen had often resonated with Meros in dreams and illusions, especially when the Red Angel's or Meros' will fluctuated significantly.
Presumably, this time it was also for the same reason that Rafen resonated with the wills of the Red Angel and Meros.
But what was the use of that?
He was just an ordinary, rather worthless Blood Angel; he couldn't stop him.
A trace of fury surged in the Red Angel's eyes, and his scorching fire, carrying his will, crashed towards Meros and Rafen.
Meros' figure flickered, shielding Rafen with his broken body, attempting to use himself to help Rafen withstand the Red Angel's attack.
Rafen hadn't fully reacted to what was happening; he had merely slept as Saint Doraemon requested on the Red Tears.
Why had he appeared here in the blink of an eye?
An illusion? A dream?
He also inexplicably felt that this incomplete warrior before him was somewhat familiar.
In any case, the being engulfed in flames was clearly a daemon, clearly an enemy. Rafen drew the combat knife from his waist, moved around Meros' broken body, and together with Meros, met the Red Angel's form.
But just then, a ladder suddenly descended from the sky, plunging directly between the Red Angel, Meros, and Rafen.
This sudden sight made all three involuntarily retreat a step, creating distance from the ladder.
"What is it now?!" The Red Angel's face twisted.
Once, twice, this was the third time; he was truly getting agitated.
Although Sanguinius seemed to have no intention of pursuing him, the Red Angel's heart grew increasingly panicked, with an instinctive sense of unease.
He looked at the ladder before him with irritation, finding it very long, extending high into the Warp, reaching straight into the high heavens of Chaos.
The Red Angel's gaze moved upward along the ladder; he wanted to see what this ladder was all about — — — — — —
The sky turned blue.
The Red Angel stared blankly as the high heavens turned blue.
That blue was not the blue of Tzeentch, but a reflective, smooth, metallic blue.
The shiny blue made the Red Angel dizzy.
He noticed that the blue sky was slowly descending. Wait, that wasn't the sky?!
The Red Angel gasped, suddenly realizing what it was.
It was a huge, round, blue metal ass!!!