Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 746 "Corrosion" - The Butcher's Nail
In the central pharmacy, an operating table was used to lock Margot's head and neck.

Garland Surak, the chief pharmacist of the "World Eaters," shaved Margo's scalp clean, applied disinfectant gel and anti-pus solution, and put the skin in a sterile state.

The medical machine's prosthetic eye emitted a red laser to scan Margo's scalp, measuring and locating the exact position where the nails would be implanted, and then using laser beams to leave several shallow, almost invisible scar marks at the determined locations.

After the medical servants withdrew, Garland began the surgery.

The bone saw and drill in his hands hummed as they sliced ​​through flesh and bone. The chief pharmacist skillfully removed a whole piece of blood-streaked skull and placed it on the operating table.

[Praise be to my Lord.] Garan silently chanted, picking up the implant bestowed upon him by the Black Emperor and examining it once more.

The rope-like metal spikes, slightly shorter than the World Eater's palm, each spike has an interface at its end, with a braided electrical wire wrapped around its tip.

It seemed no different from when he offered sacrifices to the Black Emperor.

[My Lord commands me to offer sacrifices and then bestows gifts; there must be a deeper meaning to this.]

But I cannot fathom the power of my Lord!
Garland stopped trying to comprehend the Black Emperor's power and began the surgery.

The first pounding was clear and crisp.

The second time, the nail pierced flesh, producing a soft sizzling sound.

Next, the chief pharmacist's movements became slow and cautious. With a short, light tap, the nail was driven completely into Margot's skull.

As the cut and stitched connection ports lined up on the back of Margo's head, his fingers trembled slightly as the excruciating pain caused the Nukelia anesthetic to gradually wear off.

Several segments of cable extending from the tips of each nail were connected to a silver cable, forming a long metal braid at the back of Margot's head.

Margot's pulse quickened.

Tick, tick...

His facial muscles spasmed and twitched, and his head began to twist and tilt.

buzzing...

The noise from Margot made him extremely irritable, and his mind was filled with a bloodshot rage.

His nerves were on fire, his blood was boiling.

Margot snapped out of the thick smell of rust, and the roar that came from his throat was like the venting roar of a wild beast.

Garland caught sight of the beast's crimson color, a flicker of surprise crossing his eyes.

He never expected that the Butcher's Nail would drive even the composed Margot to madness.

He could only conduct experiments on the research results in advance.

The "Crimson Scholar" vanished in a flash, revealing a jet gun hidden within the adamantine shield.

He dragged his afterimage back to the operating table, already turning the dial and lowering the output frequency.

Garland aimed the gun barrel, which resembled a series of overlapping maws, at Margot's head.

Based on Nephilim technology, resonant sound waves, imperceptible to the Astartes, flooded into Margo's mind.

The buzzing subsided, and the crimson in Margot's eyes gradually faded.

His pupils reappeared in his eyes and slowly focused.

"Surak, what did you do to me?"

“Butcher’s Nail.” Garan’s voice came through the helmet’s communication grille, piercing Margo’s ears like a thunderbolt.

"No!" Margot roared.

"I will not become a beast like Angron!"

"Margo! Calm down!" Garan raised his hand and pressed down on Margo, the force so great that the World Eater could not move.

He raised the spray gun in his hand. "Think about it carefully. I just used this to help you regain your sanity."

As Margot recalled the words, she remembered the noisy, scarlet world and the clear, resonant sounds, and her body stopped struggling.

A hopeful look appeared on his face. "You mean you can quell the Butcher's Nail's rage?"

"Father……"

Garland shook his head. "I don't know. The one in your mind looks the same as him, but there are significant differences in their structure."

“I’m not confident I can control him,” he said in a low voice, following the Black Emperor’s orders, as he saw Margot’s eyes darken.

“Margo, be patient, there is still a way out.”

"Believe me!"

Garland's eyes suddenly narrowed as he saw a faint black mist.

“Okay…” Margot’s tone was soothing, as if she were asleep. “You’re right.”

[Black mist!] Garan seemed to be struck by lightning, and a thought flashed through his mind.

[Could it be... the great power that our Lord has exerted on the Butcher's Nail?]

Margot, who swore to fight to the death against Angron, the father of genes, and who tried to assassinate me… was she really persuaded by me just like that?
At the same moment, in the fourth level of the "Disordered Kingdom," Nimrod sat high on his throne. With no other major affairs at hand, he had been closely monitoring the progress of Garan.

This relates to his plan to divide the world-devourers with Khorne and Angron.

The situation developed even more smoothly than he remembered.

His intervention plunged Angron into a deeper sleep than he remembered.

Apparently due to the greater urgency, Margo was unable to mobilize a third of the "World Eaters" company commanders to join his failed assassination plan, as he remembered. Only he and Locke went to attack the apothecary.

Margot was not killed by Kahn as she remembered.

Kahn was not the first to implant the Butcher's Nail.

After seeing that Garan had successfully restored Margo's sanity, Nimrod was almost certain that he had completed his mission.

They developed a spray gun that could, to some extent, restore the sanity of the World Devourers.

The berserk Margo was awakened, but he did not go out of control and go berserk like Kahn did after the Butcher's Nail was implanted, and he did not go on a rampage on the Conqueror.

Seeing that Margo hesitated slightly, Nimrod spread his spirituality, leveraging the power of the source matter to influence the Butcher's Nail of "connection".

Having been "corrupted" to some extent, Margo followed the will of the master of the black mist, dispelling his last concerns and remaining patient.

"The plan to divide the world into three parts is basically without problems."

“Dregel and Margo, among other World Eaters, are not mindless and loyal.”

"Including the World Eaters who have been implanted with the 'corruption' gene seed, there are about 2,300 of them."

The number of genetic seeds he originally "corroded" was far higher than this, but some of them were tragically killed by Angron's tithe.

The fact that the "World Eaters" now number only around ten thousand is also due to Angron.

Although, apart from the First Legion, the Primarchs returned with legions ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 in size, Angron did not return until 899.

Terra recruited over 20,000 "war dogs" who had completed lunar terraforming.

However, the "World Eaters" were forced to quickly complete the Thirty-One Minor Conquest Orders, suffering huge casualties and being constantly subjected to tithes.

After Angron returned, the scale of the army decreased instead of increasing. Before the Butcher's Nail was successfully developed, there were only about 10,000 people left, just as he remembered.

The situation changed somewhat after Butcher's Sting was successfully developed, and Angron began to think more highly of the World Eater.

His frequent donations of gene seeds were one of the two key factors that led to the "World Eater" growing to a scale of 150,000 during the Grand Birthday Celebration.

Another factor was that Angron personally streamlined the recruitment and training processes, and continued to recruit new soldiers from the conquered feudal and barbaric worlds without considering their future.

Unlike Mortarion, who only recruited new soldiers from Barbarossa, he did not require the use of poison.

The fact that the number of World Eaters has increased to over 130,000 proves that as long as the standards are set low enough, a large number of new recruits can be trained.

The same situation also occurred when Loka, instructed by the four peddlers, dealt with the rebel threat during Dorn's birthday celebration after the "Eye of Fear" pilgrimage.

"Garland has successfully replicated the Butcher's Nail, and his power within the 'World Eater' will certainly be enhanced."

"With the support of Dregel and Margo, and being the chief apothecary, he should be able to sacrifice even more gene seeds and butcher nails, given his control over gene seed and butcher nail implantation."

"Of the 130,000 people to come, more than 50,000 will likely be 'corrupted' twice."

While Ninglu was pondering, he took a step out and arrived at the third level of space, where he picked up the prophecy die.

Information he knew about Valhalla flashed through his mind.

[Limited Starfield, Valhalla.]

It was once a verdant paradise world comprised of temperate forests and vast, fertile plains, but shortly before the end of the "Age of Conflict," a massive comet struck the planet, forever destroying this heavenly world.

……

The comet's main body collided with the vast ocean that spanned most of the planet. The scalding seawater, the dense vapor, and the dust that blanketed the sky caused the planet's temperature to plummet to freezing.
After Nimrod's mind flashed through all the information about Valhalla,

He quickly went through it in his mind and then silently recited it to himself.

[A star map leading from the Caligum Gate to Valhalla.]

[…]
After reciting it silently eleven times, he stretched out his hand and threw the prophecy dice in his hand.

After Ninglu noted down the star map and entered it into the data crystal, he took a step and returned to the fourth layer of space.

He spread his spirituality, touched the sphere of light, and pulled Adams, the lord of the Fourth Warband, into the "Land of Chaos".

With a thought, Ning Lu sent the data crystal flying to Adams.

"You shall immediately lead your troops to Valhalla, which will be the world of recruitment for your chapter."

Aside from the Beyonders of the "Death" pathway, whose bodies and emotions are cold, the Valhalla people, raised in a brutal environment, develop an attitude of indifference towards their own and others' lives, which allows them to better face death and adapt to the Chapter culture.

Of course, the attitude of ignoring death must still be kept within a certain range, and we cannot slaughter civilians and plunder friendly forces like "malicious soldiers".

“Follow Your will,” Adams replied respectfully, before being swallowed by the black mist.

(End of this chapter)