Chapter 973, Divine Abomination
Chapter 973, Divine Abomination
The Marine Corps' sudden defection was clearly premeditated.
They were determined to do it.
All the previous cooperation and obedience were feigned.
However, if it's just a matter of turning against someone, the problem might not be so big.
With the navy now loyal, Robert's forces were enough to sweep across the planet's surface.
Especially now that his ground troops have established a foothold on the moon, he can continue to deploy more ground forces. With the support and assistance of a large Imperial Navy fleet, it wouldn't affect the overall situation if not just a single Marine Corps unit defected, or even if all the Moon Guards defected as well.
However, what is most concerning is not their betrayal itself, but the sacrificial array they stole.
What was that sacrificial circle for? Why was it worth it for those Marines to make such a huge sacrifice? The deaths were secondary; the more important thing was that they gave up a very good opportunity to infiltrate Robert's inner circle.
If they had remained hidden, they could have been among the earliest members of Robert's Holy Terra army to defect. Furthermore, as long as they could stay hidden, they would eventually betray him at a crucial moment and cause a major upheaval.
Especially after reading the reports from the front lines about the demons and Chaos cultists disguised as Marines, Robert, combining his crammed knowledge, was able to deduce that they were probably the so-called 'Tzeentch Cult'.
The followers of this evil god are always adept at intrigue and scheming. Given their nature, long-term infiltration is the best course of action.
The reason they didn't do that is probably only one possibility—the stolen magic circle itself represents a huge conspiracy to them, the so-called 'critical moment'.
While mobilizing his troops, Robert personally led his closest guards to set off to sabotage the enemy's operation.
Although he set off immediately, time was too tight, and he might not make it in time. On the way, he pondered what he would face next.
He was already considering the worst-case scenario.
However, when he actually faced this situation, he was still stunned and stood frozen in place, unable to believe his eyes—
It was a terrifying giant with a single eye, nine horns on its head, and demonic wings on its back. Countless evil magical eyes swirled around its reddish-purple skin...
How could Robert believe that such a terrifying being was actually one of his brothers?
Magnus... he actually turned out like this?
This emperor's son, once the son of gods and the genetic father of the Sage Legion, has now become a 'divine abomination'!
Robert knew that many of his brothers had betrayed him. He had fought many of them and seen their despicable nature.
No matter how much you hate their betrayal, the bond of blood ties still exists.
It is precisely because they are blood relatives that the betrayal seems so profound and so heartbreaking.
However, in general, when they first rebelled ten thousand years ago, even though their souls were already corrupted, they still looked somewhat like 'humans' from the outside.
Magnus was one of the 'brothers' Robert never saw after the betrayal. He never imagined that ten thousand years later, when he awoke from the stasis field, the first brother he would see would look like this.
His face was a strange mix of emotions: sadness, grief, hatred, and anger.
Magnus, however, greatly admired his appearance.
He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to greet his brother whom he hadn't seen for ten thousand years.
But what awaited him was a swift and powerful bombardment from Robert!
The regent didn't say another word to him, and charged forward while firing fiercely.
The so-called rationality, wisdom, and prudence that people have always praised about Robert... have all been thrown to the winds at this moment.
Grief and rage consumed his heart; all he could see and thought about was his fallen brother. The flames burning on the Emperor's Sword were the ultimate manifestation of his inner fury.
Similar things had happened before. Whenever he calmed down, he would always regret his impulsiveness, and he could always think of more reasonable and efficient solutions. However, in the moment, faced with things that could significantly alter his mindset, he always lost control.
Time and again, whenever he encountered something that could trigger his emotions to spiral out of control, he would sink into anger and grief.
It's commonly known as "getting hooked".
Once he gets carried away, he'll stop caring about anything else and just want to fight to the death.
His genetic offspring around him tried to dissuade him, but he wouldn't listen.
What else can we do?
His many children could only hastily follow suit.
As Robert charged ahead, his attention focused on his ascended brother, his offspring were paving the way for him, one after another.
Those demonic enemies who tried to stop him and overwhelm him with sheer numbers were met with a fierce counterattack from the Infinite Warriors.
And now, the 'divine abomination', the demon prince Magnus, seems to be looking forward to meeting up with his brother.
He took the initiative to go forward.
Halfway forward, countless subspace rifts opened up around him. Countless demons surged forth from them, charging towards the humans.
From an overhead view, the surging demons almost completely filled the entire area.
Robert rushed forward so far that he and his closest guards looked like a small boat going against the current in a sea of demons, appearing quite insignificant.
But though they are insignificant, no one can ignore them.
This was especially true when Robert wielded the Emperor's Sword and began to slay the demonic enemies who tried to stand in his way. No matter what level of demon they were, none could withstand a single strike from him.
What's most terrifying is that this Emperor's Sword can truly kill demons and completely shatter their warp essence.
This is terrifying for the demons.
After some died, the more intelligent Tzeentch demons became less willing to stand in his way.
It's neither useful nor costly.
Only those mindless, low-level demons either don't think deeply about such dangers, or they haven't been around for long and haven't heard of the Emperor's Sword, or they're forced by higher-level demons to be at the forefront and thus have no choice but to obey...
How could these low-level demons possibly stop Robert and his ever-victorious army?
They moved forward faster and faster, until—
They ran into their 'brothers'.
Robert encountered his own brother, Magnus, whose dark psychic power bombarded him. Even with his divine-level psychic resistance and the excellent defensive capabilities of his Armor of Fate, he still staggered.
And his genetic offspring, whether they were ever-victorious warriors or slightly more ordinary warriors from the Infinite Chapter, had also encountered equally matched opponents.
Magnus was once the commander of the Sage Legion. Although after his fall from grace, he no longer maintained full leadership of all the Sage Legions, and the Sage Legion, like many other rebel legions, split into numerous warbands of varying sizes. The majority of the Sage Legion itself remained, but was not entirely under Magnus's leadership.
Generally speaking, most of the 'sages' who pursue knowledge flocked to Tzeentch's side, becoming followers of the Lord of Change. Magnus, in turn, was Tzeentch's demon prince. Given the connection between the Father of Genesis and his offspring, it's perfectly normal that when Magnus emerged from the sacrificial ritual stolen by Tzeentch's followers into the real universe, tearing open numerous warp rifts and calling for help, his traitorous offspring clad in pink armor appeared alongside him.
Almost every one of the 'Sage' warriors, while possessing formidable combat skills as a Space Marine, is also an outstanding psionic user and a powerful Chaos Wizard.
In other words, the total number of the Sage Legion is almost the smallest among all the rebel legions. Otherwise, their power and infamy would probably be much more serious than they are now.
Nevertheless, the current victorious army and many infinite warriors have already experienced how troublesome these rare traitors are.
The number of sages is small, but it's not much less than the number of the Invincible Army currently deeply entangled in enemy territory. What's even more annoying is that these Chaos Wizards don't have much of a sense of honor as warriors. They disdain one-on-one duels with the Invincible Army; they often use psychic power to unleash Chaos magic, igniting terrifying psionic flames on the Infinite Warriors, or summoning pink, ethereal tentacles to suddenly grab the Space Marines' ankles from the ground. Even if they don't trip them up, they at least restrict their movements.
When the victorious soldiers aim their bomb guns or plasma guns at their backs, they use their psionic powers to pull over some Tzeentch demons from the side to use as shields and scapegoats.
When the Ever-Victorious Army attempted to charge swiftly and close in melee to the Chaos Wizards, it proved difficult. They not only had to break through numerous demons blocking their path, but often, by the time they actually reached them, the Chaos Wizards were already enveloped in a flash of light and teleported dozens of meters away.
That dangerous charge from before has to be repeated.
A large number of demons blocked the way, and the process was constantly disrupted by the spells of the sage wizards, making it extremely risky.
A few outstanding warriors did manage to accomplish this feat. The Chaos Wizards, however, were unable to teleport a second time in a short period. In close combat, they tried their best to resist with their magic swords, but they were often no match, their psionic shields shattered, and they were killed.
However, the victorious army could see that the slain 'sages' often had their armor completely disintegrated, with no blood or flesh inside, only quicksand flowing out from the gaps in their armor.
I don't even know if they're really dead!
Of course, whether it was a real death or not, in this way, one 'sage' has permanently withdrawn from this battle.
However, the victorious army that often manages to kill the 'Sage' at close range has actually penetrated too far into the enemy's formation. Even with the long-range fire support and cover from their comrades, making a successful retreat is still extremely difficult.
Often, they themselves are overwhelmed and can never come back.
The Infinite Warriors are losing numbers.
Although the rate of casualties is not fast, if this situation continues, facing the seemingly endless stream of demons pouring out from the warp rifts, they will inevitably lose in the end.
The real key to this battle still lies with Robert and his brother.
However, to make matters worse, Robert was also unable to gain the upper hand.
On the contrary, it is still a disadvantage.
Perhaps if Robert were given the chance to get close to Magnus, the Emperor's Sword in his hand would surely be able to teach this traitor a lesson from his own father.
However, that's actually quite difficult.
Powerful psychic energy and various forms of chaos magic were completely at Magnus's disposal. He simultaneously accelerated the tearing of several warp rifts to summon more demons while using his psychic power to suppress Robert. On top of that, he could even multitask, using a barrage of venomous words to taunt Robert.
This fueled Robert's anger even more.
This inner rage caused the flames burning on the Emperor's Sword in his hand to grow ever stronger.
Despite being far away from Magnus, he angrily swung his sword fiercely at the traitor, creating a flaming blade that covered a great distance and was about to slash Magnus across the face!
The Demon Prince was somewhat surprised, but he had countless ways to deal with attacks. In the blink of an eye, he summoned a psionic shield that appeared in front of him, much stronger and thicker than the shield he had used to withstand Robert's bombardment.
However, this flaming blade actually pierced through Magnus's psionic shield, only slightly weakened, but still struck him hard.
He cried out in pain as a charred sword wound appeared on his chest.
When he looked at Robert again, his eyes were filled with fear.
(End of this chapter)
