More than ten days later.
While commanding the front-line operations, Horus suddenly received alarming news:
Davin, a world that had only recently submitted to the Imperium, had risen in full rebellion—
led personally by its planetary governor.
Horus's first reaction was disbelief.
He suspected the report was faulty.
He had met that governor himself.
The man practically had the word "coward" written across his forehead.
Such people were the least likely to revolt.
As long as pressure wasn't applied, they would obey anyone.
But the video transmission that followed shattered that assumption.
The governor, trembling with fury, unleashed a stream of insults—
not only toward Horus, but toward the Emperor as well.
He declared that they were nothing more than dying suns, and that the Imperium they built would surely be destroyed.
Horus's brows knit tightly.
Something is definitely wrong…
Even knowing this, his pride as Warmaster made the insults difficult to ignore.
After some thought, he left a portion of his forces to continue advancing the Great Crusade, while he personally led the Sons of Horus back to Davin to investigate.
And when he reached Davin's orbit—
the sight below far exceeded anything he had imagined.
Through the ship's sensors, he saw anomalies everywhere.
Mountains, plains, and cities were crawling with grotesque xenoforms,
as dense as swarming ants.
And judging by the human traits still faintly visible on their distorted bodies, it was obvious what they had once been.
The human population.
As for Davin's once-ordinary human cities, they now resembled pulsating, amorphous flesh-masses,
their warped structures stretching and heaving like diseased organisms,
exhaling streams of black gas into the sky.
Horus frowned.
The work of a xenos species?
As one of the principal commanders of the Great Crusade, he had faced countless conspiracies across the stars.
Davin's current state clearly did not come from humanity.
Which meant this was almost certainly the doing of some alien corruption.
After a brief contemplation, he raised his hand and signaled to Abaddon, Captain of the First Company.
Abaddon understood immediately, and the fleet opened fire.
Tens of thousands of high-explosive shells rained down like a storm of molten meteors.
Red mushroom clouds blossomed one after another across Davin's surface.
The mutated monstrosities were vaporized before they could even scream, reduced first to charred husks, then to drifting ash.
The bombardment continued for over an hour before Horus signaled a cease-fire.
By then, the once-corrupted world had been scoured clean—
its surface blasted into a semi-transparent crystalline crust, a half-glassed planet.
Everything had been annihilated.
Everything except…
a single temple.
No matter how the fleet bombarded it, the structure remained untouched—
as though it existed outside the physical universe entirely.
Seeing this, Horus considered a moment before turning to Abaddon.
"Prepare for a ground assault."
Abaddon nodded without hesitation.
"As you command."
To him, Horus was not only his commander—
he was his father.
The most trustworthy being in existence.
---
Soon after—
Leading over ten thousand Sons of Horus, Horus ascended the temple steps, clad in his warplate and gripping his personal power blade.
He knew this place was unusual.
But there was no fear in him—only vigilance.
In this supernatural galaxy, fleets might rule the stars,
but individual strength decided the true outcome of battles.
As one of the most powerful figures in the entire Imperium,
Horus had absolute confidence in his abilities.
He could single-handedly destroy lesser xenos species—
and he knew it.
With steady steps, he entered the temple.
Immediately, he felt the world twist.
Before he could react, the distance between him and his warriors stretched into infinity—
as though reality itself had been peeled open.
A swollen, pustule-covered figure appeared before him,
oozing foul green ichor while clutching a blood-red dagger.
The transformed governor.
As Horus beheld the horrific creature, he recognized fragments of the man's face.
His expression hardened.
"How did you become like this?"
His posture shifted naturally into a combat stance, raising his blade.
There was real danger here.
He did not know what force could turn a weak, fearful administrator into such an abomination in so little time.
"Why?
…Because I saw the truth.
The truth of this world…"
The governor rambled, voice tremoring with mania.
"I did not choose this.
I had no choice.
Those beings—
those gods that existed before time—
they cannot be resisted…"
What nonsense…
Horus said nothing, but the look on his face said enough.
Though he possessed some knowledge of the Warp, the deeper truths were still beyond him.
The governor understood the doubt in his eyes.
His expression twisted with jealousy, hatred, and insanity.
He raised the dagger—the Calamity Blade.
"You have been chosen by those great beings. This is a fate you cannot escape…"
Then, roaring incoherently,
he lunged at Horus.
..
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