Chapter 343: Hades Keeps Struggling
Hades placed his hand on the doorframe, watching the last group of World Eaters depart. Even Lhorke—who by all rights should still have been unconscious—had awakened at the final moment and struggled over to see the Primarch.
Although, judging by Angron's behavior, it looked more like he was the one eager to check on Lhorke.
Hades himself had not been present for the reunion between Angron and the World Eaters; he deliberately gave them space—to avoid awkwardness on either side.
But truth be told, after everything they'd just gone through, the World Eaters had already fully accepted Hades. His courtesy was, in hindsight, a bit unnecessary.
Hades lazily watched Khârn help Lhorke down the corridor. The two top-tier warriors of the World Eaters now looked like a pair of old men leaning on each other… They had been through far too much in far too short a time.
When their figures finally disappeared, Hades snapped his fingers lightly. Leaning against the door, he watched as a servitor pushed in a catering trolley.
Following behind the attendant, Hades walked over to Angron's bedside. He pulled up a chair with casual ease and sat down, openly ignoring the stains on the sheets—stains that looked suspiciously like tear marks.
He looked at Angron.
Angron… seemed sorrowful?
"…Angron, are you all right?"
Hades asked hesitantly, picking a strawberry cupcake off the trolley and handing it to the Lord of the Red Sands. Angron's eyes were slightly unfocused; he caught the cupcake by reflex.
"I never realized that… their sorrow was this heavy."
Hades grabbed something at random to chew on as he once again checked Angron's vital status.
"Maybe it's because you can sense emotions without being trapped in rage now?"
Hades said offhandedly—but Angron slowly, firmly shook his head.
Hades paused mid-bite, suddenly serious.
"What did you feel, Angron?"
Angron stared at Hades. What confused the Primarch was that he could no longer sense any of those emotions from Hades—no sorrow, no faint scattered fragments, nothing.
That was why he had lost control earlier when the first World Eater, Khârn, entered. The overwhelming sorrow and joy had struck the Primarch's fragile neural state without any buffer.
The Child of the Mountain suddenly understood: he could sense the emotions of others.
A strange yet familiar sensation washed over Angron, reminding him of his distant past—those distorted, half-forgotten scenes in the arena, and the things he had once done for the other gladiators.
—Angron remembered.
He heard the cries buried deep within their souls.
He soothed their pain.
This was his innate gift.
A gift the Emperor had given him.
Now that the Butcher's Nails had fully ceased functioning, his ability had returned.
Angron glanced thoughtfully at Hades. The Primarch tried again to sense him, and aside from a trace of fatigue, he sensed nothing at all. Hades looked back at him in puzzlement, clearly starting to worry that something was wrong with Angron's head.
This shouldn't be…
Angron couldn't make sense of the situation, but he let it go quickly. Compared to the memories of his past, all he could do now was passively sense another's emotions—barely. He couldn't control it at all.
And anything more intense would make him uncomfortable.
"When the World Eaters came in," Angron paused, uncertain how to phrase it.
"I could hear the emotions of their souls… Is this because of the link between a Primarch and his sons, or is it my original ability?"
He watched Hades' eyes slowly widen. Angron added honestly:
"But I can't see yours."
Hades knew that, compared to the berserker described in canon, the Angron before the Nails was actually a semi-psyker Primarch—the Child of the Mountain had once displayed real talent in that area.
And once the Nails were implanted, the blasphemous device—designed to violently reject all psychic activity—had robbed Angron of that talent.
But now, with the Nails inert… was Angron regaining his psychic gifts this quickly?
Hades' mouth fell slightly open. Once again, he found himself stunned by the Emperor's Primarch technology.
"This is probably your natural talent, Angron," Hades said thoughtfully.
"But Primarchs usually do have a psychic link with their gene-sons. You could call in a crew member later and test it."
"As for me…"
Hades spoke slowly.
"Your gift likely ties into psychic perception, and I suppress psyker phenomena. So that's why."
He hesitated—clearly wanting to say more but thinking better of it.
Finally, he forced out:
"Angron, stop trying. I can feel it."
Angron let out a booming laugh and turned his gaze away from Hades.
"I'm just curious what goes through your mind, brother."
Seeing that Angron was fine, Hades stuffed another bite of cake into his mouth and mumbled around it:
"Mm… I'm thinking about how to avoid being executed by the Emperor and Malcador."
"Father and Malcador?"
Angron raised a heavy brow.
"Why would they execute you?"
He watched as Hades' wandering gaze slid down toward Angron's stomach.
"…Angron, since waking up, have you felt any urge to vomit or, uh… expel anything from your body?"
<+>
If you want to see more chapter of this story and don't mind paying $5 each month to read the latest posted chapter, please go to my Patreon [1]
Latest Posted Chapter in Patreon: Chapter 377: A Critical Hit from Your Dad[2]
Link to the latest posted chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/147364832?collection=602520[3]
https://www.patreon.com/collection/602520?view=condensed[4]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl
[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/147364832?collection=602520
[3] https://www.patreon.com/posts/147364832?collection=602520
[4] https://www.patreon.com/collection/602520?view=condensed