Chapter 329: A Way to Cure the Red Thirst
As the Thunderhawk landed, Dante, clad in golden power armor, strode down the ramp. Lucan and Mellen, accompanied by Gabriel, went to the landing pad to greet him.
Seeing Dante, Gabriel's face showed a hint of worship, but his eyes were constantly scanning Dante's armor. The legend of Dante was known to almost every Chapter, and the longer an Astartes served, the more they understood his greatness. To live for so long in this universe was not necessarily a good thing. To be able to maintain one's sanity after such a long time of high-intensity combat was a testament to his powerful will.
Lucan, looking at the Sanguinary Guard at Dante's side, wondered if he should get a cool-looking honor guard for himself. The Night Sentinels were a bit too plain. The Sanguinary Guard, in their golden armor with decorative white wings, looked truly magnificent.
Dante, in turn, was observing Lucan and Gabriel. Lucan looked unremarkable, but Dante could sense a danger from him. He had never sensed such an aura from a mortal before. And seeing the Chapter insignia on Gabriel's armor, he knew he was from the Blood Ravens, a Chapter whose reputation was... not the best. He also had the distinct feeling that Gabriel was staring at his power armor and mask.
"Gabriel, control yourself! Don't be embarrassing!" Lucan sent a private comm.
"Sorry, Lord Lucan... old habits, old habits."
However, before Dante could ask Lucan about the situation in the Cryptus System, one of the Sanguinary Guard at his side began to show signs of distress. His body began to tremble slightly as he desperately tried to suppress the turmoil within. Dante noticed his subordinate's abnormal state. He knew it was the Red Thirst. The recent battle with the Tyranids had triggered its onset.
This genetic flaw, known as the Red Thirst, caused the sons of Sanguinius to have an extreme craving for blood. It was rumored that Dante himself, in his youth, had drained the blood of several mortals due to the curse. Before Sanguinius took command of the IX Legion, the Blood Angels were even known as the "Eaters of the Dead." The Thirst would even cause them to devour corpses on the battlefield. But under Sanguinius's teachings, they had learned to suppress their craving for blood.
However, this was, in the end, just suppression. It was possible that while a Blood Angel was showing mercy and compassion to a mortal, in his heart, he was thinking of how to tear their body apart and bathe in their blood. As time went on, the Red Thirst would only grow more severe. The fact that Dante, after living for so long, could still resist the periodic need to drink blood to alleviate the Thirst was a measure of his incredible strength.
"Chapter Master... I request permission to be excused," the Sanguinary Guard said through gritted teeth.
Dante nodded silently. The other Blood Angels looked warily at Lucan and the others. The Red Thirst was a stain on the Blood Angels, something they did not want outsiders to know about.
Watching the Sanguinary Guard return to the Thunderhawk, Lucan guessed that it was the Red Thirst acting up.
"Chapter Master Dante, is your comrade alright?" Lucan asked.
"Lord Lucan, there is no need for concern. He is just... feeling a bit unwell," Dante replied.
"I hope so."
The Sanguinary Guard's condition made Dante even more eager to find Governor Augus, to the point where he temporarily set aside his desire to understand the current situation.
"Lord Lucan, where is the governor of this system?"
"Are you looking for Augus?"
"That's right. The Blood Angels need him."
"He has gone completely insane and has lost his own will."
"Insane?! Is he still alive?!"
Lucan did not answer directly. Instead, he walked up to the group of Blood Angels.
"He is alive... but Commander Dante, if you are hoping to find a cure for the Red Thirst through the governor's family bloodline, I believe there is no need for such a roundabout approach."
Lucan did not deliberately lower his voice. Dante and all the Blood Angels around him could hear him clearly. After bringing Augus back, Lucan had immediately sent his genetic information back to Agathos and had Pavian analyze it with the Panacea. The result was that the genes had merely undergone some mutations due to long-term exposure to the radiation of the Cryptus System's twin stars; there was nothing special about them.
Lucan's words made Dante and all the Blood Angels instantly tense up. Dante's body went rigid. "Lord Lucan, how do you know of our plan?!"
This concerned the fate of his Chapter. He would absolutely not miss any opportunity to cure their flaw. And this plan was known only to a few, including the Chief Sanguinary Priest! Yet this person, whom he was meeting for the first time, knew of a plan that many in his own Chapter did not.
"The Emperor told me," Lucan said calmly. "The Blood Angels should have already been in contact with Guilliman, correct? I assume he has told you some things about me. Augus's genes cannot help you. If you don't believe me, I can still hand him over to you. You will find out for yourselves that your plan is not feasible. But I have a way to completely cure your genetic flaw."
"You?! On what grounds?! Lord Lucan, this is a matter of great importance! Even when the great Emperor still walked among us, our genetic flaw was not solved. Why do you think you can do it? Lord Lucan, the sons of Sanguinius will not allow anyone to joke about this matter!"
"I never joke about important matters, Dante. Have you ever heard of the Panacea? Perhaps you do not yet know what happened in Commorragh, but not long ago, my forces and I took a little trip there. And as luck would have it, I brought it back from the hands of the Dark Eldar. If you provide me with a sample of your gene-seed, I will soon bring you a solution. Just give it a try. A single gene-seed won't cost you much. You shouldn't be short on one, right?"
"The Panacea?!" Dante had heard of this STC that had once belonged to humanity.
Hearing Lucan's words, Dante was finally beginning to believe. But what truly prompted him to agree was what Guilliman had told him: that Lucan had met with the Emperor in the Throne Room and had spoken with him. The fact that Lucan could emerge from that meeting safely meant that he could, at the very least, be trusted.
"Alright! I will have the Sanguinary Priest provide you with a gene-seed immediately!"
"Rest assured, Dante. My Tech-priests will have a solution for you soon. In the meantime, we should first focus on how to solve the problem in the Cryptus System."
Lucan led Dante into the command center and began to explain the situation. Using the "Emperor's revelation" as a pretext, Lucan told Dante that the system would soon have new guests. A portion of the Tyranid tendril was already approaching Peltar. As these bio-ships drew near, the alarm system of the Necron tomb world there would surely be activated.
"Are you saying the Necrons will also be coming here?" Dante had had a brief encounter with the Necrons before. Although they had not fought on a large scale, their level of technology had shocked him.
"That's right. And they will even try to cooperate with you."
Lucan then told Dante the "original" outcome of the war for the Cryptus System.
"Are you saying the arrival of the Necrons will help us activate the Grand Prism, an artifact that belongs to them, to detonate the gas giant and thus destroy most of the Tyranid bio-ships?!"
Hearing this, Dante even thought it was a pretty good plan. Even with his reinforcements, they could not destroy the entire bio-fleet. And as Lucan had said, even with the Necrons' help, they could not achieve a complete victory in the void. And outside the Cryptus System, more and more Tyranid bio-ships were still crossing the ice belt to enter. A quantitative change would eventually lead to a qualitative one.
"If this system were already lost, of course, we could do that," Lucan said. "But now? There are still tens of billions of humans in this system. Every single planet is still in our hands. If we do that, it would be the equivalent of issuing an Exterminatus on every planet in the Cryptus System. Even if we could hide on the dark side of the planets to avoid some of the impact, the ecosystems of these worlds would never be suitable for human life again. Dante, the Tyranids may be the enemy of all intelligent life in the galaxy, but the Necrons have their own selfish motives for doing this. While they are clearing out the Tyranids, they are also clearing out the humans in the Cryptus System. In their eyes, this galaxy is theirs, not ours, the newcomers."
Lucan explained his thoughts, though, of course, he did not mention that he needed the Grand Prism for himself. If it were used to detonate the gas giant, the Grand Prism would also be destroyed by the energy overload. The powerful shockwave would completely obliterate it, and at that point, not even the SCVs could repair it.
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