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

Chapter 896 Primarch Awakening and the Cruel Truth

Compared to Feralus, Vogrim, who has transformed himself into a warp creature, has much stronger physical resistance.

However, weakened by the Blackrock Anti-Psionic Matrix, Fulgrim's condition deteriorated significantly, making him unable to resist the deadly liquid in the dissolving pool.

If it weren't for the influence of the blackstone, Fulgrim could even use the dissolving liquid as bathwater.

Now, under the fierce corrosive influence of the dissolving liquid, Fugrim let out a blood-curdling scream.

In fact, many people have a distorted understanding of Slaanesh demons. They seem extremely perverted, and even when they are tortured and abused, they feel pleasure and excitement.

But this is not because Slaanesh demons are completely unafraid of pain, but because they have the ability to extract and transform pleasure and stimulation from pain.

Once the Blackrock Anti-Psionic Matrix suppressed the power of the warp, Vograim's conversion ability was immediately and significantly weakened.

It's like someone immersed in a dream suddenly having the fog removed from their eyes and witnessing the terrifying truth; naturally, they would feel terrified and uneasy.

At this moment, he finally tasted the bitterness of heartbreak once again.

If it were the Phoenix Lord of old, even the most cruel torture would not have caused him to lose his composure like this. However, after being mired in the Silver Palace of the Sixth Ring for so long, Forgrim's will had long since become as loose as mud and sand, crumbling at the slightest touch.

Fugrim’s agonizing and fearful screams grew weaker and weaker until they were finally drowned out by the hissing sound of the corrosive process.

Felus's figure had long since vanished, completely merging into the churning death solution. Only the occasional toxic bubbles produced by the churning proved that what had just happened was not an illusion.

The entire laboratory fell into a deathly silence, with only the chilling boiling and corrosive sounds of the dissolving pool echoing in the air.

The pungent acidic mist filled the air, masking the strong smell of blood, but bringing with it another nauseating aura of death.

Lemanrus lay on the cold ground, the Slaanesh poison gradually weakening due to the influence of the anti-psychic field and being metabolized and expelled by his powerful physique.

The superhuman physiques of the Primitive Genes are almost immune to most diseases and viruses, but unfortunately, the enemies they encounter are often only a very small minority.

He struggled to lift his head and looked through his blurry vision at the churning dark green pool water.

Ruth saw the ripples that were gradually subsiding, representing Fugrim's last struggle. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but he could only cough up bloody saliva.

Fabius staggered out of his hiding place, staring blankly at the still churning melting pool.

He spent countless hours collecting gene samples, and in collaboration with the Bloodline, he overcame enormous difficulties to clone the original, and yet another one was lost.

Including the second and eleventh prototypes that were just burned to charcoal, three have been lost in just a short time.

What made Fabius even more distressed and frustrated was that the Blackstone Anti-Psionic Matrix, which he had meticulously set up to defend against the warp demons, actually became the key to sending Forgrim away.

He did have a lot of opinions about Fugrim.

In the final moments of his battle with Felix, Felix was possessed by the Slaanesh demon within the Blade of Venom and beheaded Felix.

Upon learning of this situation, Fabius, Adoron, and other high-ranking members of the Sons of the Emperor immediately tried every means to help the Primarch break free from the control of the Slaanesh demon.

They tried every possible method, even resorting to many blasphemous means, to help Forgrim.

But in the end, they realized that Forgrim had already regained control of the body, and he was just watching his offspring frantically trying to do it out of a wicked sense of humor and curiosity.

This instilled in Fabius a wariness of chaos, and he no longer believed in anything related to it.

However, to be fair, Forgrim is still his Primarch, even after he became a demon.

Fabius was able to stand firm in the Eye of Fear not only because he could provide other Chaos factions with gene seeds and special potions, but also because he actually had Forgrim backing him up.

Forgrim no longer personally manages his legions, but he is simply no longer involved; he is not dead.

Fabius has effectively taken control of the Third Legion, replacing Vograim.

If necessary, this demon prince of Slaanesh will still make an appearance, and anyone else who wants to mess with Fabius will have to consider whether they can withstand Forgrim's retaliation.

Now that Forgrim has been indirectly killed by him, Fabius needs to consider whether the petty Forgrim will cause him trouble.

As an Astartes who fell into the Chaos Legion and refused to believe in Chaos, Fabius's position was extremely delicate. He needed to consider the balance of various aspects, like a master of balance walking on a tightrope.

Fabius snapped out of his daze and realized that the situation was out of his control.

If it were just Lemanrus, he could still find a way to subdue him, but now there's that damned Rogdorn, which is extremely troublesome.

Almost all of the elite swordsmen, sons of the emperor, whom he had brought were wiped out, and the few survivors lost all will to fight after witnessing the death of Forgrim and the heroic sacrifice of Feralus.

As for those cunning Bloodwalker allies, they had vanished without a trace the moment Forgrim arrived, leaving him with very few forces to rely on in the entire laboratory.

Fabius assessed the balance of power between the two sides: there were two awakened Primarch clones on the other side. Although they were unarmed, they were still invincible to him, who was better at scientific research than direct combat.

As for forcibly escaping or forcibly activating the reactor to overload and destroy the laboratory, there was simply no time to do so.

Given Dorn and Ruth's reflexes and speed of movement, he would be torn to shreds the moment the button was pressed.

Fabius forced down his distracting thoughts, took a deep breath, and tried to make his voice sound calmer.

“Rogdoryn, Lemanrus, I admit I underestimated you Primarchs. Even clones have incredible abilities.”

"Perhaps we should have a proper talk to avoid a lose-lose situation."

Dorn didn't speak, but Ruth spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.

"Now you're scared? The Third Legion is indeed a bunch of cowardly bullies who prey on the weak!"

"Forgrim's arrogance caused him to lose his last bit of vigilance. Did he really think that by ascending to become a monster, neither human nor demon, he would be invincible?"

Bayer shrugged casually and smiled as he spoke.

"Of course, you can easily kill me now, but what happens after you kill me?"

He pointed to the amniotic fluid reservoirs around him that were still in operation.

"Do you know how to safely awaken them? Do you know how to leave this laboratory located in the Eye of Fear? Do you know how many Chaos Warbands and how many demons are waiting outside to devour fresh Primarch souls?"

"Without my knowledge and help, you and these sleeping Primarch clones will only become nourishment for the Eye of Fear, or worse... playthings of Fugrim."

“You all know very well that although he has failed once, it doesn’t mean much. Given time, he will be able to recover and return. And this time he will be prepared.”

Ruth was about to retort, but Dorn's eyes flickered slightly, and he reached out to stop the wolf king.

Although Bayer's words were unpleasant to hear, they were not wrong; they were indeed like trapped beasts.

"So?" Dorn finally spoke, "What do you plan to do?"

“A deal,” Bayer immediately interjected, his speech quickening. “I, Fabius Bayer, and the rest of my men have safely left this laboratory.”

He pointed to the few distraught sons of the emperor.

"In exchange, I will no longer interfere with you. Control of the laboratory, the program to awaken other clones, and even the access to some of the reserve supplies can be left to you."

Whether you stay or leave, how you escape the Eye of Fear—these are none of my concern.

"I swear by my faith in knowledge and truth that I will leave immediately and never look back."

Dorn calmly examined the apothecary before him, assessing the feasibility and potential risks of the proposal.

After a breath, Dorn made his decision.

"Leave behind all core data access permissions regarding lab operations, the external environment, and the wake-up procedure." Dorn's voice was flat. "Now, immediately, take your men and get out of here."

"Deal!" Bayer said without hesitation, a huge weight lifted from his shoulders.

He immediately walked to the nearest control panel, ignoring Ruth's almost fiery gaze, and his fingers flew across the complex runes and biometric interface.

A few seconds later, a pale green rune indicating the transfer of highest privileges lit up on the main console, and a data crystal slot popped out next to it. Fabius took the data crystal that contained information about the clone's original.

"The core access keys and basic operation guide are all here."

Bayer inserted another faintly glowing black crystal into the slot, and the data stream began to flicker.

"The wake-up procedure requires extremely delicate coordination of biological signals. Forcibly and roughly waking up the patient could have serious consequences."

He glanced meaningfully at Leman Russ.

"As for the two of you, you're lucky; so far, there haven't been any aftereffects."

After doing everything he needed to do, Bayer quickly gathered the few surviving Emperor's Sons swordsmen and began to rapidly approach the evacuation route.

Fabius took one last, deep look, filled with resentment and greed, at the sleeping amniotic fluid chambers, especially those of Saint Gilles, Horus, and Guilliman, before turning away without hesitation and disappearing.

Even if it's hard to let go, once the decision is made, Bayer will resolutely carry it out.

"You just let him go like that?!" Ruth angrily questioned Dorn. He was unwilling to let any traitor go, especially a bastard like Fabius Bayer, a clone of the Primarch.

"We need time, and we need professional technology to wake up the other brothers."

"I don't think I need to tell you what's most important right now."

Dorn carefully, with an almost solemn solemnity, gathered up the two nearly unrecognizable charred remains.

He used the relatively intact cloak he had peeled from the emperor's son's body to wrap the remains of the two unnamed brothers and placed them in a relatively clean corner of the laboratory.

There were no words, no ceremonies, only silent actions, yet they were filled with respect for the departed brother.

After doing all this, Dorn returned to the console and began to operate the system.

A complex holographic interface unfolded before him, with countless data streams and biosignal maps flowing like a waterfall.

His resolute face was furrowed as he intently analyzed the information Bayer had left behind, especially the details about the secure wake-up procedure.

Ruth also came over. Although he wasn't interested in these technologies, it was rather awkward to leave Dorn to do all the work while he stood by and did nothing.

Dorn quickly operated on the console, unlocking all the deep sleep locks on the amniotic fluid tanks and initiating the preset gentle wake-up procedure.

The machine automatically injects gentle bioelectric signals and special hormones into the amniotic fluid tank where each clone is located.

The life-sustaining fluids in all the amniotic fluid reservoirs began to vibrate slightly, and the bubbles churned faster.

Light green amniotic fluid drained out of the drains in each compartment like the receding tide. The reinforced glass cover slid open silently, and then cold, bloody air rushed in.

"Time to get up, brothers," Dorn raised his voice slightly.

As Dorne's voice reached the Primarchs' ears, the first Primarch began to truly awaken.

Unlike Lemanrus's haphazard awakening, the Primarch awakened through normal procedures did not show much pain; instead, he seemed to be slowly waking up as if from a deep dream.

The first to open his eyes was Saint Gilles, the archangel who emerged from the somewhat crowded amniotic fluid reservoir.

He had pure white wings on his back that were exactly the same as his original body, but because he had been soaking in amniotic fluid for too long, these wings were stuck together tightly, making him look somewhat disheveled.

"Dorn? Ruth?"

The archangel spoke with a hint of confusion, and then a flood of terrifying memories began to be released.

Saint Gilles saw himself lying on the deck of the Vengeance Soul, his body smashed into a pulp by Horus, a demon-like monster.

Saint Gillespie was so frightened that she froze on the spot, her wings trembling violently, shaking off all the sticky liquid and causing her feathers to stand up.

"I'm not...dead, am I?" "Where are we? Are you all dead too?"

As Lemanrus listened to Saint Gilles's confusion, he immediately understood that his brother's memories were only from the time on the Soul of Vengeance.

Saint Gilles knew nothing about what happened after he was "killed".

Lemanrus's memories, however, were more complete. He even had fragmented memories of the Comoros War in his mind, a period of a full century after the end of the great rebellion.

“This is a complicated issue. You can calm down a bit,” Ruth reassured him, handing him a piece of cloth from the cloak torn from the Emperor’s son’s corpse.

Saint Gilles, having recovered from his initial panic, casually tied the cloak around his neck.
“I will go and see Horus,” the archangel said.

Saint Gilles strode to Horus's amniotic sac. The terrifying wolf god he remembered was now struggling to open his eyes, his smooth forehead even reflecting the light from the room.

"Sanguinius?"

The first person Horus saw when he opened his eyes was his closest brother.

For some reason, when Horus looked at the archangel before him, an extreme sense of sadness welled up from the bottom of his heart, as if he had done something to wrong Saint Gilles.

However, Lemanrus suddenly rushed forward, forcefully pushing Saint Gilles aside with his body and protecting him behind him.

He will never let Horus harm Saint Gilles again, never.

Although he had just awakened, Horus's extremely high emotional intelligence allowed him to clearly sense an undisguised malice emanating from the wolf king.

There was no respect whatsoever, only utter hostility, as if they were some irreconcilable mortal enemies.

"Riemann..." Horus was about to speak when he was interrupted by the wolf king.

"Answer my question first." Lemanrus, like a werewolf ready to devour its prey, bared his teeth and spat. "When did your memory end?"

"Speak! Don't try to hide it from me, you know I can smell lies!"

Although Horus didn't know why Lemanrus was so irritable, he still answered his brother's question first, without hesitation.

"Uh..." Horus touched his head. He felt that his memories were like a tornado destroying a parking lot, so messy that he couldn't make sense of them at all.

“I don’t remember exactly, but I think I was supposed to go to Devon Star, where the mortal governor Eugene Tamba claimed he had important matters to report to me in person…”

Upon hearing Horus's reply, the wolf king's hostility vanished instantly, replaced by a shout of immense excitement, bordering on ecstasy.

"Before Dai Wenxing? That's wonderful! By the grace of the whole family, this is truly wonderful!"

"Fuck Devonstar, fuck Eugene Tamba!"

Horus was completely baffled, while Saint Gilles wore a similar expression of mixed joy and sorrow.

Just as Horus was about to ask for more details, a voice that was both incredibly panicked and incredibly excited suddenly came to his ears.

"Horus! Horus is rebelling!"

"I must inform my father. Only I know this news. I must..."

In another amniotic fluid chamber, the crimson giant suddenly woke up, muttering incoherently as if in his sleep.

Upon seeing Horus so close, he was stunned for a moment in disbelief before unleashing a ruthless psionic spell.

"Why, why did you betray us, Horus!"

Magnus's scream was like a wake-up call, instantly waking up the other Primarchs who were not yet fully awake.

Mortarian woke up with a face full of anger, but his expression changed upon seeing his other brothers around him, revealing a strange and complicated feeling.

Shouldn't he have answered Horus's call and gone to Terra to attack the Throne World...?

Why did he awaken here? And all his other brothers are gathered together; during the Nicaea Council, none of the Primarchs were present.

Guilliman, Ryan, Chagatai Khan, and others were also awakened by the noise and crawled out of the amniotic fluid reservoir to observe the situation.

Koz, Luo Jia, Alpharex, the Omega brothers, Peturabo, and others also instinctively gathered together.

The once quiet laboratory was now a chaotic mess, resembling a bustling marketplace.

Forgrim stared in disbelief at the corpses of the Emperor's children scattered all over the ground. Although they all bore some distortions caused by the corruption of the Warp, the Phoenix Lord recognized his children at a glance.

"What the hell is going on? Why? Who killed my son?!"

Fugrim's anger was ignited, and his sharp voice even temporarily suppressed the voices of the many Primarchs present.

Lemanrus gradually figured out the situation.

Although these originals were cloned together, for unknown reasons, the time points at which their last memories ended vary greatly.

Like Felus who died again, his memory stopped at the battlefield of Istvahn V, because he was killed after that, so naturally he wouldn't have any new memories.

The memory of Feralus becoming the commander of the Emperor's Cursed Legion did not appear in the mind of the clone Feralus.

After all, the Cursed Felus has transformed into a special subspace entity, and the Felus gene sample that Fabius collected from the battlefield obviously cannot be related to this.

"Everyone, quiet down!"

The Wolf King roared, and all the Primarchs turned around, some understanding and some puzzled.

“Listen to me first, Ryan, Chagatai, Dorn, Saint Gilles, Guilliman, Vulcan, Corax, you all stand on my side.”

Ruth first selected the Primarchs who had remained loyal from the beginning and had them stand together. This would prevent the Primarchs from fighting each other because of the things they remembered.

"Of the remaining people, Peturabo and Koz, you two will stay together alone."

“Forgrim, Angron, Mortalian, Loka, Horus, and Alphareth, Omega, you stay together.”

"Now, each of you should state the time when you last remembered something. This is very important, as the time when each of us remembers something may be different."

Although Lemanrus didn't have that much influence among the Primarchs, under these circumstances, all the Primarchs felt that the Wolf King's suggestion made sense.

The loyal Primarchs, including Ryan and Guilliman, did not speak first. Instead, they stared intently at the group of Primarchs opposite them with wary eyes.

Horus coughed lightly, then stepped forward and was the first to speak.

"The last time I remember was when I went to Devonstar."

The next moment, all the Primarchs looked over, staring at Horus with equally complicated expressions, as if there was something terrible on his face.

Horus felt a sudden, inexplicable unease; he remembered Magnus's earlier scream of "treason."

He betrayed himself? Betrayed the Emperor? How could that be?!
Forgrim's face was extremely grim. He had finished examining the corpses of the Sons of the Earthly Emperor and noticed traces of chaotic corruption on their bodies.

"I am leading my legion to the Ral system to wipe out the alien races there."

Fugrim had a vague sense of unease, but he wasn't quite sure where it came from.

The faces of the dead emperors' sons on the ground kept flashing through his mind, causing him a strange sense of unease.

"I am in Nukaria, and also in Luojia."

Angron, who had been silent all along, spoke, his right hand constantly stroking his short-haired head, as if searching for something familiar.

"He and I launched the Shadow Crusade. We attacked Koss not long ago and nearly killed Guilliman."

Anglong's voice was not as excited as expected; in fact, it could be described as calm.

Horus's face turned ashen, staring at Angron in disbelief, unable to understand why he would attack his brother's kingdom, let alone harbor murderous intent.

As each of the Primarchs recounted the points in time from which they remembered, Lemanrus finally grasped the pattern.

Primarchs like Forgrim, Mortalian, Angron, and Loka all had their last memories of moments before they ascended to the Dark Templar realm.

After ascending to demonhood, their life form has changed and can no longer be described using memories.

Horus is even more special, since after his assassination at Devon, he was sent to the Temple of Devon by his sons and subsequently corrupted by the four Chaos gods.

Strictly speaking, Horus died after entering the Temple of Devon. What emerged from the temple was a monster that possessed Horus's body and soul and had endless evil power.

As for Lemanrus and the other Primarchs who chose to remain loyal, apart from Feralus who died at the very beginning of the Great Rebellion, all of them had at least experienced the Great Rebellion in their memories.

"Fabius's cloning technology isn't that great. I thought he could copy all our memories."

Lemanrus muttered something, and Forgrim, who was standing nearby, heard what he said.

"Fabius? What does this have to do with him?"

Seeing the bewildered and confused look on Forgrim's face, the Wolf King suddenly burst out laughing.

“What does this have to do with him, Fograine? Look at these corpses on the ground, look at this laboratory, and look at you and me.”

Ruth's tone was sarcastic, which immediately angered Fogrem.

"Speak plainly, you barbarian Fenris, what exactly do you want to say?"

"What rebellion? What fratricide? That's impossible!"

There was clearly something worried in Forgrim's eyes, but he stubbornly refused to say it.

"You've already guessed the truth, haven't you? You and I were both clones of that bastard Fabius Beyer!"

Ruth's angry rebuke silenced all the Primarchs present.

None of the Primarchs are fools. Even Angron, who was originally the least intelligent, has an incredibly clear and sharp mind now, and can think very smoothly because he was not implanted with the Butcher's Nail.

They all came out of the amniotic fluid reservoir, which means that the possibility of them being cloned is extremely high.

Is there really a way to knock out all the originals, capture them, and then stuff them into an amniotic fluid tank to wipe their memories? Cloning them would be far more realistic.

If all of this is true, then they have truly betrayed the Emperor, betrayed the Empire, and betrayed humanity.
This, this... this is absolutely terrifying!

Suddenly, Fugrim's legs went weak, and as if drawn by something, he rushed to the corner where the dissolving pool was still bubbling.

The pool was empty except for the churning liquid that emitted an astonishing corrosive power; nothing else could be seen.

But Fugrim sensed an extremely familiar aura—the scent of Feralus, and... himself.

The Primarchs have an extremely powerful sense of smell, which, combined with their super brains, allows them to recall past scenes with just a sniff.

Lemanrus walked up to Forgrim, his tone calm, but his words sent the Phoenix Lord's heart plummeting to the bottom.

"You, or rather your true form, killed Felus during the Battle of Istvaan V; you severed his head."

"Before we clones were revived, your original body and the clone Ferus fought a bloody battle again. With our combined help, Ferus and that disgusting venomous snake fell into the melting pool and perished together."

"It's a real shame you didn't wake up sooner, otherwise you could have seen how ugly you look."

"You may find it hard to accept, but unfortunately... the truth is often more cruel than you imagine."

(End of this chapter)