Bonar threw the unconscious Horus back at the Chaos Gods’ feet, drawing startled cries from all four of them.
Look at that.
This is what real power looks like.
The original plan had called for a whole chain of schemes and manipulation just to reach this point.
And it had been done this simply.
When you have raw power, who besides Tzeentch would bother with all that twisting and scheming?
None of their followers in the material world could stand face to face against a Great Crusade-era Astartes Legion, let alone snatch a Primarch away right in front of them.
“Tell me why you didn’t just kill him!” Bonar bellowed, fury undisguised.
The Allfather’s voice rang out once more.
“Child, we must give everyone the chance to correct their mistakes, must we not?”
Bonar wanted to argue.
He looked down at Horus lying unconscious on the ground.
“Fine.”
“Good.
Go and rest for a while, we will send you back to Terra shortly.”
“Mm.”
Bonar left.
The Chaos Gods turned their attention to the unconscious Horus and began their work.
The seeds of suspicion had already been planted by The Cursed One’s own hand.
What the four of them needed to do was simple.
Tell this poor wretch a one-sided version of reality.
He would do everything they wanted him to do all on his own.
They answered all of Horus’s doubts with patient thoroughness, and generously bestowed upon him a measure of their power.
But as they did, the original soul of Horus began to fracture.
Slowly, it started to splinter apart.
No one noticed that among the breaking shards, one small fragment slipped unintentionally into the Warp.
The Chaos Gods paid it no mind.
But that soul fragment moved as though drawn by a black hole, threading through the currents of the Warp, and finally found its mark.
Bonar stopped walking.
He had the distinct feeling that something had just entered his body.
He looked around.
Nothing.
…
The XVI Legion was still reeling in terror when they suddenly realized their gene-father had stepped back through the rift and returned to their side.
“My sons, do not be alarmed.
I have returned.”
Every soldier cheered.
They celebrated, rejoicing that the Warmaster of the Imperium had defeated a terrifying enemy and come home.
No one noticed that the soul behind those familiar eyes had already changed.
Horus looked up at the gleaming Imperial aquila emblazoned on a towering Titan and let out a cold sneer.
Ah.
But before he could act, there was one troublesome brother to deal with first.
Magnus.
…
Prospero,
“No — what has that daemon done!”
The red one-eyed giant cried out in horror.
Peering into the Warp, he had witnessed something unthinkable.
Horus was dead. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
The Horus walking around now was nothing more than a puppet.
Magnus the Red wanted to warn his father.
To alert him to this terrible truth, that the Warmaster had been turned.
But the raging Warp Storm had rendered the Astropaths nearly blind.
Even the warships that risked everything to carry the message into the Warp were swallowed whole, never heard from again.
In the end, Magnus assembled the most gifted of his sons and together they resolved upon a course of action.
They would pool the psychic power of the entire Thousand Sons Legion and let Magnus send a single, overwhelming psychic message directly to Terra.
A transmission of that magnitude could not be intercepted by any Warp Storm.
It would be loud enough, loud enough that his father would have no choice but to perceive it.
If there were any consequences at all, the worst outcome was probably accidentally startling his father awake from sleep.
…
Bonar found himself with a rare moment of idleness.
Honestly, this had been his first time deploying psychic power on such a large scale in the material world, and he hadn’t quite adjusted yet.
If he had to describe it, being in the Warp was like soaking in warm water, the whole body light and utterly at ease.
The material world was like living on the surface of a massive planet, fighting crushing gravity every single moment.
Then suddenly, he saw it.
A massive psychic shockwave swept past right before his eyes, propelled like a rocket through multiple stages of acceleration, and slammed toward the other side.
Bonar frowned.
Who was reckless enough to unleash a discharge of this magnitude out in the open?
Were they not afraid of blowing something apart?
…
“My brothers, all of us have been deceived.
Every last one of humanity has been deceived.”
“Our father, that bastard who calls himself the ‘Emperor’, is nothing but a man who intends to sacrifice all of humanity to fulfill his own ambitions of apotheosis.”
“I call upon each of you now, in the name of humanity: cast aside your blind loyalty to that false Emperor, and stand with me to uphold true justice.”
Horus looked at his brothers.
Angron, master of the World Eaters Legion.
Fulgrim, master of the Emperor’s Children Legion.
And Mortarion of the Death Guard.
“If what you say is true, I’m not the least bit surprised,” Angron said bluntly, with characteristic heat.
“I agree.” Fulgrim smiled faintly.
“I’ve heard some of the…
truth as well.”
Mortarion said nothing at all.
Horus gave a nod.
“Before we move, we need to purge the false Emperor’s lackeys from within our own Legions.”
“And then…”
He looked at three Legions that stood in their way.
The Ultramarines, hailed as the Sons of War, a vast Legion of terrifying logistical strength.
The Blood Angels, possessed of the formidable Perfect Angels.
And the mysterious First Legion.
Still, it was fortunate that the foolish false Emperor had seen fit to name him Warmaster.
Playing these fools was still well within his abilities.
…
Rogal Dorn was stunned when the news reached him.
“Horus has turned traitor?”
Even the Unyielding Stone himself looked shaken.
Before him, Captain Garro knelt weeping, sobbing without sound, as though mourning brothers already gone.
Sons of Horus.
Death Guard.
Emperor’s Children.
Three entire Legions turned traitor.
And they were now slaughtering the last loyal elements within those Legions on Isstvan III.
The most dependable, Ultramarines, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, all completely unreachable.
As if they had simply vanished.
Dorn made his decision without hesitation.
“Order the Iron Hands, Iron Warriors, Salamanders, Raven Guard, Night Lords, White Scars, and Alpha Legion to proceed to Isstvan and defeat the traitor Horus.”
“Overall command falls to brother Manus of the Iron Hands.
The rebellion must be crushed without fail.”
He had barely finished speaking when something crossed his mind.
“Actually — have the White Scars remain on Terra.
Send the Word Bearers instead.”
Whatever the case, when you totaled it up:
Seven loyal Legions against three traitor Legions.
The advantage was theirs.
…
“You are all damned traitors!”
Manus roared.
Behind them, the Iron Hands, Salamanders, and Raven Guard, three entire Legions, had been compressed into a narrow patch of ground and were being slaughtered at will.
Ahead stood the rebel army under Horus.
And at their backs were the ones who had stabbed them in the back.
Iron Warriors.
Night Lords.
Word Bearers.
Alpha Legion.
Four Legions who were supposed to fight alongside them against Horus.
All four had attacked, and their attack was directed at them.
Three loyal Legions had been driven onto a narrow strip of open ground on Isstvan V.
The traitor Legions brought every weapon to bear, harvesting their lives like cattle going to slaughter.
“My dear brother, surrender.” Fulgrim screamed across the carnage.
“The false Emperor is not worth dying for.”
“Never!”
Empowered by the blessing of a Keeper of Secrets, Fulgrim moved through that despair and chaos and severed the head of Manus, the closest friend Fulgrim had ever known.
And what little remained of Fulgrim’s own soul departed with it.
…
The last of the Imperium’s real strength had been eliminated.
The road to Terra stood open.
Warmaster Horus stood on the bridge of the Vengeful Spirit and surveyed the vast fleet arrayed before him.
Dark energy coiled around him.
The power of the Warp swelled and churned within his form.
“At last.
It has come to this.”
He gazed at the luminous world burning in the distance.
“I have returned, sacred homeland — Terra.”
“And I shall deliver you from the tyranny of the false Emperor.”
“In my name,”
LET THE WORLD BURN!