When Vorias’s psychic power touched that of the Eleventh Primarch himself, he felt an indescribable, searing pain.
His will was instantly yanked into the Immaterium.
His vision spun wildly as the deck of the Conqueror dissolved into the shifting, unpredictable currents of the Warp.
Then the searing pain vanished, replaced by a calm, soothing ocean, as peaceful and comforting as death itself.
+You are in pain.
I feel the pain of the Legion.
What has happened?+ An ethereal, hollow voice echoed from the void.
Vorias spun around, and when he saw what was behind him, he could not stop trembling.
It was a colossal eye, as vast as a sun, with a pale blue iris.
It gazed at him intently, meticulously, as if it could see through to his very entrails.
+I see…
abuse.+ Zelo spoke thoughtfully.
He had opened Librarian Vorias’s memory archives, skimmed swiftly past the irrelevant memories, and saw the Legion’s transformation through Vorias’s eyes.
A suffering Primarch, unable to find death, struggled within the Librarian’s memories.
The Butcher’s Nails in his skull hummed loudly.
Such a blasphemous creation.
He roared at the Legion, pouring his pain and rage onto the World Eaters.
Angron needed help.
+Angron…
is abusing you.+ Zelo spoke, and sifting through those painful memories made Vorias scream.
Zelo’s psychic control was not very refined.
The psychic skills he had used on Stoll Star were mostly broad and forceful.
Delving into a soul required delicate precision.
It was more like performing surgery than demolition.
He could not review memories and share the pain at the same time.
So Vorias had to endure the necessary agony for a brief while.
Having quickly reviewed Vorias’s memories, skipping those that were unimportant or that Vorias had specifically shielded with his psychic powers, Zelo believed he understood most of the situation.
No wonder Xynis of the Adeptus Custodes had been so evasive before.
Angron and his Legion were being tormented by immense pain.
The source of that pain could not be eradicated.
It came from the buzzing nails in the Primarch’s skull and his irreparable past.
Through Vorias’s recollections, Zelo discovered that Angron did not have long to live.
Perhaps in a few hundred years, the Butcher’s Nails would kill him.
Zelo thought he understood now.
This was why the Master of Mankind had dispatched him to the World Eaters Legion.
Zelo had come to end pain.
His purpose here was to resolve the suffering of Angron and his Legion, to grant them release.
He needed to meet Angron first.
If he could heal Angron’s wound, the unrest of the World Eaters would be resolved as well.
This was different from the suffering he had faced before.
Here, the victim vented his rage upon more people, and no one was spared by the vortex.
Zelo withdrew his psychic vision, preparing to return to reality and relieve Vorias of the pain he had endured during the rapid search through his memories.
But when Zelo’s vision returned to the real world, he found that a large crowd of World Eaters had gathered around him while he was unaware.
The others had stopped working too.
Now the landing deck was eerily quiet.
Zelo’s use of psychic power was self-taught and instinctive, so when he entered psychic vision, he could not perceive what was happening in reality.
On the landing deck, the passages leading into the ship’s interior were sealed by thick armored doors and blast doors.
Zelo saw soldiers hastily setting up barricades and sealing off areas.
Not far from him, eight World Eaters Librarians surrounded the unconscious Chief Librarian Vorias.
They channeled their psychic energy, shimmering power forming psychic barriers around them as all the Librarians watched Zelo warily.
Beside Mago, another World Eater now stood, his breathing somewhat unsteady, as if he had just rushed over.
“What is wrong?” Zelo asked, then glanced toward Chief Librarian Vorias.
He estimated it would take a few minutes for this Psyker, who had kindly told him the truth, to awaken.
Seeing Zelo look their way, the Librarians around the Chief Librarian braced themselves as if facing a mortal threat.
They clustered tighter together, blocking Zelo’s line of sight.
Zelo did not know that while he was rifling through Vorias’s memories, Vorias’s physical body had let out a piercing scream in reality.
Everyone had been startled by the Librarian’s agonized shriek, torn from the depths of his soul.
“Are we under attack?” Zelo asked.
The hearts of the two World Eaters before him began beating even faster when they heard that.
“My lord, forgive my impertinence, but if you are dissatisfied with the World Eaters, I offer you my sincerest apologies.” Beside Mago, Khârn, who had originally been buried in paperwork outside the Primarch’s chambers, spoke.
Khârn had not wanted to pay attention to this matter, hoping to show this new Primarch that the World Eaters did not welcome him.
But then a roar erupted from the Primarch’s chamber.
Angron, who had finally managed to snatch a brief sleep, had awoken and was now furiously smashing things in his room.
At the same time, a herald ran over breathlessly, reporting that the new Primarch was enraged, had punished a World Eaters Librarian severely, and had left him unconscious.
For a heartbeat, Khârn knew something was wrong.
He instantly understood: this new Primarch was not someone like Sanguinius or Guilliman.
The Eleventh cared nothing for reputation, or perhaps he was extremely volatile, extremely proud.
Could it be?
Could it really be?
A ridiculous thought surfaced in his mind.
Was this Primarch similar to their Father, Angron?
Khârn felt this was very bad, but perhaps it had just ruined the Imperium’s plan to have the new Primarch replace Angron.
A dark, secret glee stirred within him.
Khârn ordered the Conqueror to go to full alert as he hurried toward the landing deck.
“I am not dissatisfied, so you need not apologize.” Zelo spoke calmly.
He sensed the warrior before him suffering more intensely than the others, far more.
So he crouched down, meeting Khârn’s eyes at the same level.
“I saw your pain,” Zelo said sincerely.
“I want to help you.” He began to reach toward Khârn’s soul.
As the Primarch’s strangely captivating eyes fixed on him, Khârn was dazed for a moment.
Behind him, the Librarians surrounding the Chief Librarian seemed to say something, then ran toward Khârn.
But this time, Zelo was not rifling through memories, only sensing.
So he perceived them before the Librarians could try to stop him.
Zelo learned that the warrior before him was called Khârn, and that Khârn’s soul was the closest to Primarch Angron’s among the World Eaters.
He bore two burdens of pain within him: one from the Primarch, and one from the Legion.
+What a suffering child.+ “Let me help you and your Father,” Zelo said, then added considerately, “You see, my psychic ability is to share pain.” He snapped his fingers.
The light in his eyes glittered.
In that instant, Khârn suddenly felt an immense relief.
It was as if he had shed a heavy burden and become the glorious warrior he once was, fighting for honor and justice.
But then his senses returned, and the furious pain surging from the depths of his soul rushed back.
Khârn suddenly let out a roar.
By then, the Librarians had finally arrived.
They swung their force staves and erected a psychic barrier around Khârn.
Zelo stopped sharing Khârn’s pain.
Their refusal to cooperate complicated matters.
If the contact had lasted just a little longer, Zelo was sure Khârn would not have broken free again.
But now there were more pressing matters to attend to.
“No!” Khârn roared.
“Our Legion does not need help!
Do you think we are weak, my lord?” “No, I do not think you are weak.
On the contrary, I admire your resilience under pressure.” This left Khârn stunned.
He truly could not understand the Eleventh Primarch’s intentions now.
His words moved the warrior, but his actions were erratic, inspiring fear in the Legion.
“Now I am going to see your father, Angron.” Zelo spoke, blinking.
Angron was in too much pain.
He should immediately go help take on the agony caused by the Butcher’s Nails.
Only when the physical torment was removed could there be room for rational thought.
Zelo could not simply look away from someone he could help.
Leaving Angron to continue suffering was an atrocity.
Besides, there was no grand plan that required Angron to remain in pain.
But Khârn stood in his way.
He held firm before Zelo, denying a Primarch’s request in order to protect his Primarch and his Legion.
Khârn did not believe it would be good for the Eleventh Primarch to meet their Father.
Angron was strong enough to defeat his brothers, but the Eleventh Primarch was a Psyker, and Psykers made everything dangerous.
He might resort to witchcraft.
“No, my lord.
You cannot see our Father now.
Please leave the Conqueror for now.” Zelo was confused.
The Primarch could not understand why the Legion would not let him help Angron.
On Stoll Star, he had never seen anyone in such great pain refuse assistance, let alone bear hostility toward him.
Nearby, Xynis felt a quiet surge of relief.
Although he had no respect for these undisciplined madmen of the World Eaters, he thought Khârn’s suggestion was a good one.
The atmosphere between the Primarch and the Legion was on a knife edge.
They should meet again after everyone had calmed down.
“What if I say no?
I want to see Angron now.
He is in great pain.
As his brother, I cannot stand by and do nothing.” Zelo spoke with a smile.
He looked up, gazing toward Angron’s location.
Through contact with Khârn, he had already locked onto Angron’s soul.
Deep inside the Conqueror, like the Legion’s blazing, beating heart, that was where Angron’s soul resided.
“The Legion will stop you, my lord.
Please go back.” Khârn spoke.
Though confused and uneasy, out of his duty to protect Angron, he calmly and firmly drew his battle-axe before a Primarch.
This was the utmost disrespect.
Perhaps death awaited him next.
He was refusing a Primarch, drawing a weapon against a Primarch.
“Then try to stop me.” Zelo laughed.
His smile was warm and bright.
The next moment, his psychic energy erupted violently.
“He’s going to use psychic teleportation!
Stop him!” The Librarians, who had been on alert all along, shouted.
“Wait!
Stop!” Xynis, who had been standing by, also cried out sharply.
This was too reckless.
“Has my Father forbidden me from using psychic teleportation on my brother’s ship?
If not, then why stop me?” Zelo smirked.
His psychic energy erupted, and he vanished amid the deafening crackle of arcs.
“Full alert!
Move!
Back to the ship!
Protect Angron!” Khârn’s furious roar echoed across the landing platform.
The World Eaters were thrown into chaos.