Warhammer: Don't Call Me the God of All Machines

Chapter 886 Kabanha: Then let the warp burn!

"I want to kill Angron completely."

Listening to the menacing Kabanha whispering in front of him, the Wolf King suddenly felt something go wrong in his mind.

"Um……"

"Um?!!"

In the heart of King Fenris, a feeling of absurdity was spreading and even beginning to erode his already limited rationality.

Ruth wanted to slap himself to see if he had unknowingly fallen into the false illusion set up by the Great Demon Tzeentch.

However, he couldn't bear the loss of face, so he could only think it over and over again, trying to see if he could spot any flaws.

"This is bizarre, so bizarre."

"Kabanha, how could a Khorne archduke say such a thing? These brainless bastards..."

Hearing the wolf king's mutterings, Kabanha immediately began to grind its teeth in dissatisfaction, producing a terrifying sound of brass saw teeth clashing and tearing against each other.

"Who told you we don't have brains? Your arrogance is laughable."

"We are born to fight, but most of the time the opponents we encounter are not even worth our time."

"Do you really think that the God of War's forces are all a bunch of brutes?"

However, Russ winked and gestured wildly in the direction of Angron.

This time, it was Kabanha's turn to fall silent.

Angron couldn't refute it. Even the Bloodthirsty Demon shook his head at this guy. He was originally the genetic prototype of the Cursed One, but after ascending to demonhood, he turned into this crazy person.

“No, he’s different from all of us,” Kabanha shook his head and then said.

“Angron’s anger is false; it is anger and hatred forcibly catalyzed under the torment of the Butcher’s Nail and the will of the Blood God.”

"I can also see that this guy is incredibly empty inside, like an hourglass riddled with holes."

"As soon as he stops being angry, the flaws in his soul will be exposed, revealing his weak nature."

“A true warrior shouldn’t be like this. He may be very strong, stronger than all of us, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is an unqualified warrior.”

Russ was amazed.

Before this, he had always believed that these Chaos Demons were just puppets driven by instinct and desire.

But now it seems that these creatures are just as complex as humans, except that there are too many differences between them, and the two sides simply don't have the opportunity to communicate properly.

"This is the first time I've encountered a Khorne monster like you."

"How about I split you open and see if you're actually hiding a cunning and ever-changing demon lord inside?"

Although the wolf king looks rugged, it has nothing to do with stupidity.

If throwing a tantrum and trampling on one's dignity could bring more benefits, then King Fenris would not hesitate at all, and would even be the first to trample on one's dignity with extra enthusiasm.

How could he possibly believe Kabanha's words so readily, especially since his words were so outrageous that even the Primarch's brain seemed to shut down?

Kabanha saw through the wolf king's probing. It was actually worried that the wolf king would agree without hesitation and then betray it the next second.

The two cunning old foxes, while fighting, were also testing each other's sincerity and bottom line. On this battlefield where humans and the Khorne army were killing each other, they seemed particularly out of place.

The battle between Kabanha and Lemanrus looked incredibly flashy, with scorching lava and frigid air currents colliding and clearing a clear area on the battlefield.

Both the vampire legion and the Iron Man army deliberately avoided this area to prevent unnecessary casualties.

However, if someone gets close enough, they will find that these two guys fought for a long time but didn't have many injuries, making it look like they were faking it.

"It's normal for you to doubt me."

“If you don’t doubt me, I’ll doubt why you don’t doubt me.”

"This is a treacherous, dark jungle of suspicion."

Kabanha exuded an aura rarely seen in the Great Demon Khorne; it was thinking, using its brain rather than its muscles.

"By doing this, you are essentially betraying your own colleagues. This is a despicable act of treachery. Will your Blood God allow you to do such a thing?"

“Angron is the Blood God’s only demonic Primarch. You know how important he is. Even though he is completely enslaved and controlled by the Butcher’s Nail, he is still the Primarch.”

"Especially after Tzeentch and Nurgle lost their Primarchies, this became an even more distinctive honor."

"Having a demonic entity and not having one are two completely different concepts. Are you trying to kill yourself?"

Leman Russ's mouth was faster than the twin-barreled Stormblaster, relentlessly bombarding Kabanha.

“Jealousy? Impossible. You don’t have that affected air about you, Slaanesh. You do hate Angron, but that doesn’t mean you want to kill him completely.”

"Yes, I am indeed jealous of Angron. This monster who turned from a human into a demon stole most of the Blood God's attention and favor. Even though he suffered repeated defeats, the Blood God did not change his attitude."

"But the real reason I want to kill him is because his existence is depriving me and my demonic brothers of our means of survival."

"As time goes by, there will be more and more demon princes transformed from humans, and the Blood God's favor is limited. The more they take, the less we get."

“I will never allow this future to happen, and besides, Angron is not worthy of it at all.”

Kabanha roared madly, its howls even disturbing beings like Angras and Angron.

What's wrong with Kabanha? It seems like he's gotten into a fight with Lemanrus.
Ryan silently gave Ruth a thumbs up in his heart. Although this brother seemed unreliable, he could still be relied on in critical moments.

"I made this difficult decision out of loyalty to the Blood God and to our great cause," Kabanha said with utmost seriousness.

"I have never been doing this for myself; my own death is as insignificant as a feather."

Kabanha's growl echoed across the battlefield where lava and frost intertwined, carrying a kind of almost tragic resentment that Lemanrus had never felt from a Great Demon.

This enormous, bloodthirsty freak, one of the oldest and most powerful warriors under Khorne's command, now denounces... the collapse of order before his enemy.

“Fair?” Ruth spat, his rugged face full of amusement.

"You, a Khorne archdeacon, are talking to me about fairness? This is even more absurd than the Fenris wolves, who don't hunt at all and instead hide in their dens knitting sweaters."

"Shut up, Fenris!"

"I'm not kidding!"

Kabanha's roar shook the air, and its massive demonic body spewed out even more scorching lava in its excitement.

"I am not lamenting the fate of the weak. Only the strong have the right to control their own destiny, while the weak are born to be controlled."

I am questioning the collapse of the rules, the might of our Lord Khorne, which is rooted in the ironclad law of the 'skull ladder'.

The strong live, the weak die; glory belongs to the bravest warriors. Every drop of blood, every skull, should be a stepping stone to the pinnacle of power.

“My brothers and I, Angelus, Skabrand… which one of us didn’t climb out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and prove our worth through endless battles before winning the favor of the Blood God?”

Our power, our status, are built from skulls, the purest embodiment of the will of the Blood God.

Its battle axe suddenly pointed at the distant area shrouded in pure, irrational violence.

Angron was wildly wielding his black sword, indiscriminately slaughtering any creature that approached, friend or foe, whether it was an Ironman or a Bloodletter.

Ryan wasn't fighting a Primarch-level enemy, but a Primarch-level monster.

His roar was so hollow; his anger was juice forcibly squeezed out by a butcher's nail.

Beneath his feet, there were no steps of glory, only a chaotic swamp of flesh and blood.

“Look at him!” Kabanha’s voice was full of contempt. “A pathetic soul twisted by implants, a fake forcibly elevated, he has never undergone the test of the ‘Skull Ladder’, never won the favor of the Blood God with the pure soul of a warrior!”

"He was given favor and power that surpassed countless great demons who fought bloody battles, simply because of his Primarch status. What is this? Isn't this a desecration of the 'Skull Ladder' itself?"

"Fair, fair, it's fucking fair!"

Russ also saw Angron's disgraceful behavior.

Angron's madness was indeed quite different from the fanatical fighting spirit of other Khorne demons.

It was a destructive urge driven by pain, stripped of the self, so empty it was chilling.

The string of "absurdity" in the Wolf King's heart began to vibrate violently again, but this time, the sense of absurdity was mixed with a trace of cold understanding.

“So, what you’re really jealous of isn’t the favor he receives,” Ruth’s voice deepened, tinged with a hint of probing. “What you fear is… the future he represents? The fear that the Blood God will shatter the rules he himself established, and then cause the divine realm to crumble?”

Why are you telling me all this? Just because you want to cooperate with me?

Kabanha burst into even more maniacal laughter.

"Fear? I prefer to call it a wake-up call. Angron is just the beginning."

That ridiculous 'Khorne Bride' Valkyrie, a mortal wielding a laughable weapon on the battlefield of the mortal world, there are far too many people like her.

Was it merely because the Blood God found her interesting? Or because she conformed to some twisted aesthetic? This woman was elevated to the status of a demon prince, gaining the power and position that we ancient warriors needed countless centuries to accumulate.

Does she deserve it? Does she understand the deepest truths of the Khorne Way? What can she add to the Blood God's great cause? Will she be unconditionally forgiven time and time again for her repeated failures?

"What's even more deadly is that Valkyrie, this kind of worm, has no martial virtue. She bullies the weak and kills innocent people indiscriminately. She becomes weak when facing strong opponents. What use is such a piece of trash to us?!"

"When rules can be broken at will, when power can be bestowed out of thin air, when the cornerstone of the 'Skull Ladder' is removed, what will Khorne's realm become? A playground filled with darlings who rely on connections, luck, and the Blood God's whims?"
Is that Khorne still the god of war and blood who reveres pure strength and the glory of battle, and insists on fairness?
Could such a divine realm still give rise to a war frenzy powerful enough to tear reality apart?

Kabanha lowered his massive head, close to Russ, his voice even lower as he continued to question him, his emotions growing more agitated.

"You ask me why I'm telling you all this? It's because among my brothers, who will support me and follow me?"

"They probably found out what I was thinking and immediately complained to the Blood God, so that the Blood God would kill me."

"They are not yet awakened and see me as an enemy, while I have awakened and see them as brothers."

"I, Kabanha, one of the oldest servants of my Lord, exist to witness, uphold and practice the way of Khorne."

When our Lord's own actions begin to deviate from this sacred, cruel, and only path of truth, when He is misled by these corrupt things... loyalty demands that I stand up and correct this error!

It points to Anglon.

"Kill him! End this symbol of rule-breaking once and for all."

With his destruction, with the true fall of a corrupted Primarch, he sounded the loudest alarm bell to our Lord.

I must remind Him where true power comes from and how true glory is obtained.

I must refocus Khorne's attention on the warriors who climb the 'Skull Ladder' using their own strength.

I must turn everything around; that is the greatest loyalty I can show to the Blood God!

Lemanrus fell completely silent.

His towering figure stood on the battlefield, his battle axe hanging low, and deep, icy blue wolf eyes churned with a storm of memories. Kabanha's words, like a cold key, unexpectedly opened the heaviest and most painful door in the depths of his memory.

Those long-forgotten images, those wounds deliberately concealed with alcohol and recklessness, suddenly came alive.

He saw Horus Lupecal—the once radiant wolf god, the proud warlord, the one among his brothers who was closest to his father.

Horus's smile was once so warm and infectious, as if it could dispel the darkness of the galaxy.

However, when did that smile begin to turn gloomy, and when did his eyes become filled with suspicion and resentment, igniting the fire of ambition?
“Father betrayed us, Ruth.”

In my memory, Horus's voice, carrying a sense of betrayal and sorrow, echoed on the bridge of the Vengeful Spirit.

"He created us, gave us strength, and made us bleed for him to conquer the galaxy."

But in his eyes, the most important people were still ordinary people!
Those fragile, short-lived ants that contribute nothing to our cause.

He will use mortals to rule and replace us, the true heroes!
The future of Astartes is the past of the Thunder Warriors.

What do our sacrifices and our loyalty mean to him?

What was my answer at the time?
King Fenris couldn't remember, because he then picked up the spear of Dionysus and fought Horus to the death, ultimately paying the price of serious injury by stabbing Horus with the spear.

But deep down, did he really have no doubts at all?

Watching the Emperor hand over power to the high lords, watching mortal bureaucrats try to interfere in the affairs of the Astartes Legion, watching the discontent in his brothers' hearts spread like poisonous vines... he also felt a cold sense of alienation.

Horus, who launched a rebellion that dragged the galaxy into an abyss of blood and fire, was it not because he firmly believed that the Emperor had strayed from the "right path" and betrayed those who had shed blood and sweat for the human empire, especially the Astartes and the Primarchs?
He wanted to prove the emperor wrong with iron and blood, to correct the emperor's mistakes through rebellion, and to reshape an order he believed to be just.

How similar.

At this moment, just as at that moment.

Does history really have a cycle, with similar events repeating themselves every so often?
Isn't this roaring Khorne the same demon accusing its "god" of deviating from the cruel and sacred rules in its heart?
Doesn't it also believe that Khorne's favor has been stolen by the "Unworthy Ones," threatening the status of these elders and the very foundation upon which the entire Khorne realm exists?
Its chosen method was also betrayal—killing Angron and awakening its god in the most extreme way.

If the Blood God remains obstinate, it will set the entire subspace ablaze.

Horus, in an attempt to correct the emperor, ignited the flames of rebellion, causing the galaxy to burn.
In an attempt to correct Khorne, Kabanhar conspired with the Primarch of the Empire to kill Angron.

Ruth felt his nerves being pierced by electric needles. He felt an absurd dizziness, as if the battlefield beneath his feet was no longer a physical entity, but a phantom where history and madness intertwined.

"Betrayal for the sake of loyalty..."

"Why did the right starting point lead to a completely wrong result?"

Ruth's voice was dry, as if it were being forced out of a hoarse throat.

He looked into Kabanha's eyes, which were burning with a complex flame, and it was no longer just simple hostility, but mixed with a kind of understanding that was almost like that of a fellow sufferer.
"What a fucking irony!"

Kabanha seemed to have keenly sensed Ruth's change in mood.

"I think you understand what I mean, human."

Ruth didn't answer directly; he was thinking about how to take advantage of Kabanha. This was an opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime chance, one that could even be described as a joke from the gods.

Internal strife is imminent in the realm of Khorne.

A powerful, high-ranking, and bloodthirsty demon, dissatisfied with the gods' favoritism and violation of the rules, is determined to kill the gods' most beloved demon prince.

This is practically the perfect script for the self-destruction of the Chaos forces. If this can be accomplished, or even if it is just that Kabanha's operation succeeds, then the Khorne forces will inevitably fall into enormous chaos and internal strife.

This is a godsend for the human empire.

Whether Kabanha's motives were pure, or whether his loyalty to Khorne was distorted, was none of Lemanrus's business.

Despite the apparent camaraderie he shares with Kabanha, he is a Primarch of humanity, while Kabanha is a Archduke of Khorne, making them irreconcilable enemies.

It might be a bad thing if Horus appears on your side, but it's a good thing if Horus appears on the enemy side.

He wanted results, he wanted the Khorne demons to tear each other apart, and he wanted Angron, that shameful traitor, to disappear completely.

"Kabanha, your plan... is insane, ruthless, and fucking hilarious! I love it!"

"Tell me, how do you plan to completely kill a Primarch? Especially one that your Blood Gods are 'taking special care of'?"
Don't tell me you expect me to just rush up and chop him to pieces with an axe. Even if that guy's chopped to pieces, he can climb back out of the blood pool at any time with a single thought from the Blood God.

Ruth's tone was full of suspicion, but his eyes gleamed with shrewd calculation.

He was testing the feasibility of the Kabanha Plan and assessing the trump card of this mad demon.

"Do you think I haven't considered this? Ordinary destruction is meaningless to us, let alone to Primarchs who are directly blessed by the Blood God."

Kabanha brought his massive head closer and lowered his voice to make sure only Ruth could hear him.

"The key lies in the butcher's nail."

Kabanha's tone carried a hint of certainty.

"That was both the shackles that bound his soul and the anchor of his existence. The Butcher's Nail distorted his essence, but it also became the connection between him and his past after he ascended to demonhood."

"It is not a simple implant; it is the embodiment of the curse, the source of his pain and power, and the key node in the flow of the Blood God's power within his body."

Russ's eyes sharpened.

He recalled Angron's horrific experience, where slave owners in Nukelia implanted the Butcher's Nail into his brain, a torment that continues to haunt him to this day.

He never imagined that this thing would play such a crucial role after Angron became a demon.

Could it be that the one who was actually upgraded to demonic possession was Butcher's Nail, and Angron was just a side effect?

"Wait a minute, tell me first, is this a solution you came up with on a whim, or did someone tell you about it?"

Ruth's eyes were sharp as he stared intently at Kabanha's ugly, twisted demonic face, his voice filled with disbelief and scrutiny.

"You? Kabanha, a Khorne archdeacon who revels in killing and beheading? If this is the method you came up with, I'm sorry, I can't accept it."

Kabanha wanted to argue, but he swallowed his words.

It is not good at lying, and hates lies and conspiracies, which are things that only those treacherous demons who reek of the dark aura of stinking sewers would do.

“You’re right. This plan comes from beings who understand the nature of Angron better than you, and even more than many Chaos Archdemons.”

“From the traitor among traitors.”

“Angoltai, and Kahn.”

Rus recalled information about the two Astartes in his mind; the Wolf King was not unfamiliar with them.

Angeltai, former company commander of the Sawtooth Sun Company of the Word Bearers Legion, and once a favorite of Loka Aurelion.

According to intelligence obtained from the rebels, Angertai assassinated Luo Jia when he gathered in Ulano and forced him to become a demon, banishing him to the subspace.

Kahn, the former commander of the Eighth Company of the World Eaters, the mad executioner who slaughtered his loyal brothers on the Istvan III like cutting melons and vegetables, also betrayed his own Gene Father.

In the final stages of the Solar War, Angertai and Kahn stabbed Peturabo in the back, creating an encirclement for the Lions in exchange for their withdrawal from the battlefield.

However, since then, they have disappeared without a trace and no longer harass the Empire from time to time like Abaddon did.

"They...in the end they all sided with Khorne?" Rus guessed, as the man in front of him, Kabanha, was clearly deeply connected to those two traitors.

"Seek refuge?"

"it's not true."

A rare hint of respect flashed in the eyes of the bloodthirsty maniac.

"They betrayed Loka Aurelion, who indiscriminately fawned upon the Chaos Gods, and they also betrayed Angron, who was completely twisted by the Butcher's Nail and reduced to a pure tool of destruction."

Even the gods cannot make them bow down, so how could they possibly submit to my lord?
What they sought was...balance, a balance between humanity and the warp.

"Balance?" Ruth chewed on the word. Talking about balance with Chaos, the mortal enemy of all life?

"Yes, balance."

Kabanha's voice lowered, as if repeating an idea that even it found unbelievable.

They believe that the essence of the subspace is chaos, while the foundation of the real universe is order. However, the two are not mutually exclusive, but rather eternal twins that depend on and transform into each other.

Unrestrained chaos will only lead to nothingness, while complete order will result in rigidity and eventual decay.

They believe that only by finding a balance point on the edge of these two conflicting forces, through constant conflict and fusion, can this impasse be broken.

“They’re all lunatics…” Ruth murmured, muttering under her breath.

Chaos is chaos because it can irrationally pollute, corrupt, and distort a person's mind and thinking.

Often, you think you can persevere and be immune, but in reality, this force has already seeped into your bones without you even realizing it.

He didn't think highly of Angelte and Kahn, but he didn't know if it was really impossible.

“Angoltai and Kahn both know Anglon very well.”

"Kahn, he was once Angron's sharpest sword and most loyal heir. He felt Angron's pain more deeply than anyone else."

It was not just physical torture, but an eternal torment in which the soul was nailed between madness and nothingness.

He witnessed his genetic father's ascension to demonhood not bringing liberation, but instead amplifying that pain to an eternal scale.

Kahn longed to save Angron, even if it meant giving him eternal peace and death in the cruelest way possible.

"Okay, okay, let's get back to the topic at the beginning. I believe that your plan wasn't just something you came up with on a whim."

Ruth swung his battle axe and stopped.

"If it was Angortai and Kahn who came up with a plan to target Angron and completely kill the demon principal, then it would be somewhat believable."

"They are at least more reliable than you."

"Since the key lies in the Butcher's Nail, how do we destroy it? This is Angeltai and Kahn's plan; can we do it alone?"

"I only know the method, but how would I know the specifics of how to do it?" Kabanha suddenly spread out his giant claws and shrugged helplessly.

"You!" Leman Ruston's eyes immediately turned red, and he was about to explode in anger.

"Look at you, so impatient again." The bloodthirsty madman seemed to derive pleasure from toying with the Primarch, and suddenly let out an extremely unpleasant and manic laugh.

Kabanha slowly raised his giant claw, his palm tightly gripping a black prism made of a special material.

The prism's surface was covered with twisted lines that did not belong to any of the four divine demon runes, emitting a faint but unusually stable eerie light, as if it could absorb the restless subspace energy around it.

“Angoltai said that only if the two of them went there in person, saw Angelon with their own eyes, and felt the pulse of his cursed soul, could they reveal the specific method.”

They needed an opportunity, a battlefield where Angron's pain and weakness could be exposed to their fullest extent, a chaotic vortex that could divert the Blood God's attention.

"And now, the time has come!"

(End of this chapter)