Gone Fishing

Magsnik wiped away a stray bead of sweat before he looked around and surveyed the fortifications he had been building for the farm. With scraps aplenty littering the plains outside the valley there was no shortage of metal for which he could make his walls with. Already half of the wall had been constructed as their jagged tops jutted out from the ground and the pile of metal he’d gathered had yet to shrink.

The wall might look half-assed, but he had used the broken plates of the ships above as construction material. The walls were thick enough for him to walk above the rampart and tall enough that he could raise his hand and nobody would see it. He cheated a bit by making the walls hollow and just filling it up with packed earth and stone because he wasn’t going to haul that much metal around.

“Fresh squeezed fruit juice, Master?” Offered the ever so elegant Molly while her companion painted the metal walls with flowers and trees. Dirt was also there as well, helping him by carting away the loose rock and soil for him to compost. Beel was currently sleeping away the day thanks to Molly’s and Emmy’s cooking.

“Thank you.” He replied as he grabbed the offered glass while the girl filled it up from a tankard larger than her torso.

He took a sip as he walked over to a nearby set of crudely made folding chairs; sighing out in content as he sat there, drinking the sugary treat while he rested his aching back. He closed his eyes and allowed himself a nap as the day was long and the task was yet to be completed. He could use a good rest before he decides to finish what he had set out to do.

Within the solitude of his mind, he was free from the distractions of reality. Slowly, the idle banter of Molly and Emmy faded away into background noise. It was soon followed by the sound of the forest growing fainter until even the very sound of the wind itself fell silent. For a moment, he found peace until a sharp pointy object made itself known in his shoulder before the sound of cheering could be heard from the forest.

“Master! Are you alright?!” Emmy shouted in distress as he heard her drop her bucket of paint and brush before he felt the girl clambering up to him to check on the superficial pin prick.

“You wretched hooligans! I’ll rip your guts out and use it to hang you all!” Molly roared out as he heard cursing mixed in with the sound of metal hitting flesh along with the sound of breaking bones.

“I’m alright. There’s nothing to be worried about.” Magsnik laughed it off as he refused to open his eyes, “I’m sure whatever problem comes our way, they’ll leave soon enough,” He assured her as he refused to open his eyes. The darkness he saw was quite relaxing and therapeutic even as he heard the guttural sound of the orkish tongue being spoken.

“The old gitz blind and dumb! Loot everything!” A raspy and high pitched voice declared before they left out a muffled howl of pain.

“But! B-but you have a spear sticking out of you!” The girl pointed out. He did have a spear sticking out of his shoulder but it was of no concern for him.

“It’s merely a scratch. Nothing to worry about,” He reassured her. He could barely even feel it as it only managed to pierce his skin.

“We also have intruders! Sure Molly is cleaning them up but please Master! This is serious!” The girl warned him and he let out a full bellied laugh at that. He reached to where he could hear Emmy before giving her a pat. He was a lucky ork to have both gynoids as followers.

“It’s fine Emmy, Molly has it handled,” He replied, knowing full well that he had nothing to worry about. Afterall, what he was dealing with were mere gretchins and snotlings. Tiny little runts that Molly was currently using as punching bags from what he could hear.

He was content to let Molly vent her anger at the gitz but one of them had to speak up. “Yuz!? Aren’t you Green? Stab the big one!” Screeched out one particularly annoying gretchin. He felt the psychic energy of the farm shift and he did not like that one bit.

“A-Aye!” Dirt, bless his pure heart, answered back submissively. Trully, Dirt was born to serve but, unfortunately, he can be a bit misguided. He cracked open an eye as he glanced down to look at Dirt who had just stabbed his foot with a spear.

“Dirt! What on earth has gotten into you!” Emmy scolded the gretchin as she pulled away the utterly confused gretchin as they struggled under the girl's vice-like grip.

He sighed out as he fully opened his eyes and looked around to see the carnage. Dead gretchins littered the ground as Molly was in the middle of pulling out the guts of a gretchin who howled in agony. She was surrounded on all sides by more gretchins who struck her with their crude weapons to no avail. Meanwhile, the git that had thrown the order kept yelling as he pushed his raiding party forward.

For a lowly band of Gretchin, they were actually well armed with standardized scrap armor and an assortment of twisted choppas and stabbas. The leader, who was the biggest Gretchin in the group, was no different as they sported slightly better gear and what looked like a primitive shoota. He would have given his compliments if it was not for the fact that these gits were attacking his farm.

“Dirt, that’s enough. Molly, stand down,” He commanded, letting his voice carry out to the field as the battlefield stilled. Dirt curled up on himself before Emmy dropped him off the group. Molly, on the other hand, stopped pulling the guts of the poor wretch beneath her while the rest of the small warband quivered where they stood. Only the leader stood there, looking around before turning and glaring at him with hate filled eyes.

“Y-yes Boss,” Dirt squeaked out as he dropped his shovel before crawling away.

Molly, meanwhile, just dropped the organ she was holding and stood up in attention, wiping her hands clean on her self cleaning apron, as she nodded and said “Of course, Master,” She quickly returned to her immaculate look as disheveled hair straightened and bloodied hands became spotless.

The Leader did not take his authority being challenged as it squealed out in anger. The high pitch squeak made his ears hurt but he ignored it as he watched the small creature throw a tantrum. “You’re no Bozz, You’z juzt a big git! You think you're tough? Gratznak will put you in your place!” the gretchin sneered out as they marched up to him, heedless of what they were getting themselves into.

Magsnik sighed and shook his head before he asked them with a tired and disappointed tone, “Are you done fucking around?”

One could hear a pin drop as the Gretchin stopped on its tracks as it looked up to him with bewilderment. “W-wut,” The grethin croaked out as they took a step back.

“I said, are you done fucking around?” Magsnik asked once more as he merely stared at things in pity. The gretchin tried to prove himself but Magsnik found him wanting as all he saw was gretchin strutting around like it owned the place.

“Y-you don’t scare me! I haz gun!” The gretchin threatened as it scrambled to pull out their weapon. The comically large barrel was aimed at him but the hand that held it shook badly. He almost felt bad for the poor thing, almost.

“Emmy, my maul if you please.” Magnsik requested as he held out his hand and the maid was quick to drag the weapon to him. The weapon dug a furrow behind it as the Maid of Iron struggled to lift it up for him. He grabbed it by the handle and felt its familiar weight in his hands. He lifted it up, feeling its heft in his hands, before resting it against his shoulder.

“Stayz back! I’m warning you!” The gretchin shouted as they waved their gun at him. Magsnik snorted with an amused grin on his face as he marched up to the gretchin who stumbled backwards. They fell to the ground as they backed away, trying to put some distance between them but Magsnik’s stride were longer than the pitiful crawl the gretchin made. The wretch whimpered as he slammed the butt of his maul beside their head before he knelt down and looked them dead on the eye.

“Oh? Where’s the bravado? Aren’t you the biggest and baddest there is? You know you can’t have that face on you when you're the bozz, right?” He taunted the creature as he barred his tusks at them. The scent that followed reeked but it had him bellow out in laughter. Was it cruel for him to toy with them? Yes. Was it amusing? Definitely.

“You know, tell you what. I’ll let you and your boyz…” He added, gesturing to the tiny raiding party that had been decimated by a single unarmed maid before he offered them, ”or what’s left of them run away. As you can see, we’re a little busy here so if you don’t mind-”

BANG!

He frowned as he reached for his chin and pulled out the flattened bullet against his skin. The only evidence he was shot was the angry purple mark that was already starting to fade away. The gretchin looked at his unharmed jaw before gazing up to the bullet in his hands. They gulped as he growled at them, annoyed and angry at the gall of this little shit.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Magnsink growled out as he pulled his hammer up and flipped it over, making the large head slam down on the ground. He pulled back, swinging it over his head as he aimed right at the little shit who dared raid his farm. The gretchin held up its arm in surrender as they begged for their life.

“W-wait! I didn’t mean to-!” The creature pleaded but he was not in a merciful mood now.

“Fore!” he shouted as he swung his hammer with all his might. Contrary to his expectations, the gretchin was not launched at the air like a ball atop a tee but rather exploded in a shower of blood, bones and gore. Now that the little shit was gone, the raiding parties morale broke as they made a run for the forest.

“Damn it, finding them all is going to be a pain.” He muttered out aloud as the girls wiped the blood off their clothes and grabbed a nearby cart to carry off the dead to the trash heap. Molly chopped the bodies up while Emmy carted them away. The spores being shed by these buggers were not worth the resource they’d eventually suck up from the ground if they’re allowed to spread. He then turned to his side as he heard Beel yawn out.

The daemoness looked like a mess. Her hair was all tangled up and the only clothes she wore was one his more well worn shirt which was a size or two bigger than she was. “What in the warp was all that ruckus, Magi?” She grumbled out as wiped the sleepiness off her eyes.

“Just a recurring problem that decided to show itself. We have a gretchin infestation in the forest. I’ll have to find the village and burn everything down,” He complained, venting out his frustration with a tired huff. He gazed up at the forest crawling up to the side of the valley walls. There was no longer any need for him to help the forest spread with how things were growing but that meant that he had a lot more ground to cover to find that pesky village.

“Hmmm… you know, I think you should keep them.” She hummed out as she squinted at the pile of bodies Molly and Emmy were carting off.

He turned to her with a look of disgust etched on his face. “Are you seriously thinking of farming gretchins to eat?” He asked her with disbelief, tinging his voice.

“What? No!” She denied that accusation vehemently as she looked up at him with a pout but he met her gaze with a flat look. She rolled her eyes before grinning up at him. “I mean, I heard Gretchins are tasty, though I have more than enough Ork with you around,~” She teased him as she reached up and wrapped her arms around his bicep before lightly nibbling at him.

“Surprisingly, yes, yes they are.” he commented, confirming her suspicion while he ignored her lewd and teasing ways. To feed her lewdness was to invite more in the future.

“Ohhh, but I was thinking more of using them as bait. I want to go fishing today, you see.” She clarified, making him raise a brow at her. His mouth hung open as he tried to come up with a reply but his mind stuttered at the very thought she had thrown into his head.

“I’m sorry, but what?” He asked as he couldn’t quite wrap his mind around what she just said. She wanted to go fishing? Where the hell would she fish and what the hell would she want to catch that she needed Gretchins to act as bait?

-x-x-x-

As it turned out, Beel wasn’t kidding when she said that she was going to use gretchins as bait to fish in the large rift above the farm. The gigantic tear in reality acted like a pool of water, reflecting reality in the unreality that was the warp. He could see the demons fleeing from the twisted reflection of his farm just as his gaze fell upon them. His eyes drifted to the deep dark hole at the center, stretching far deeper in the warp but he chose not to look any further as the sense of vertigo he felt staring into what felt like an infinite abyss was not worth the trouble.

“Come on Magi, quite down. You’re scaring them away!” She scolded him as she started setting up her seat in the bow of one the ships jutting out of the rim of the valley. It was a rusty looking water borne cruise ship mixed in with that of a space borne vessel. There was plenty of flat space for them to hang around in and an empty pool to toss in their catch.

They had everything needed for a day out fishing. From a pair of comically large fishing rods that used entire tree logs as a pole with thick ropes to serve as the line as well as a cage filled with Gretchins. They even had a basket filled with cookies and other sweet and savory snacks along with a picnic blanket to complete the ensemble. Dirt was tasked to carry everything, including the basket of Gretchins, as punishment for what he had done earlier. He nodded approvingly as his lone gretchin collapsed on the ground after hauling everything in.

“They’re far more scared of you than I am, oh great Devourer,” He fired back with a jab at her self aggrandizing title. He was not one to forget how proudly she declared her title and poking fun at her was something he couldn’t stop himself from doing.

“Oh haha, very funny. Now, mind helping me tie up these buggers in my line?” She answered back before asking for help with the gretchins. He shook his head as he reached inside the locked basket before pulling out a plump little fellow. He made sure to tie the rope around the thing's torso. If he had a guess on what they were going to catch, he needed to secure them as tightly as he could.

“This is not going to work. Daemon aren’t that dumb.” He commented as he checked the integrity of the knot as well how sharp the adamantine hook was before letting it go.

“While I do appreciate the compliment to my race, you overestimate the intelligence of your average daemon,” She remarked as held the gretchin over the edge. The unseen wind soon pulled at them from above and right at the pit. With a mighty heave, she launched the poor grot rocketing towards the rift into unreality.

“What are you going to even do with these daemons?” He asked her, wondering what use she’d have of trying to catch daemons.

“I’m going to cook them and eat them off course,” Beel casually replied, making him palm his face as his ears burned from the embarrassment.

“I should have seen that coming,” He muttered out as he dragged his palm across his face before looking up at the sky once more. Surprisingly, the gretchin looked fine even if they were screaming their lungs off from the looks of things. “Still, I have one more question,” He then asked.

“Shoot.” She replied as she stuck her tongue out while she stared ahead in concentration.

“Wouldn’t eating daemons displease your uncles and aunt? The pink one prefers to be called an aunt right?” He pondered, wondering if that would desplease them. Sure, daemons were uncountable but wouldn't eating them count as stealing from those four?

“Oh yeah, Auntie only prefers it if it came from me but she can be a bit of a gluttonous bitch who wants to chomp off my arm,” She recounted, laughing at the morbid comment of her cannibalistic aunt trying to eat her. He shook his head at that but she waved off his concerns with a smile, ”Anyways, to answer your question, no actually. Hey, if they’re dumb enough to fall for this, they’re better off being culled.” She snorted as he laughed with her. Well, she did make a good point there.

Nodding at that, he then grabbed the spare fishing rod Beel made before he sat beside her, “You know what, let me have a crack at this. Hey, who knows, maybe I’ll catch more than you will,” He mused out loudly making his companion turn to him with a feral grin stretching across her face.

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“Oho! Is that a challenge I hear?” She asked him as her eyes lit up with eagerness and excitement.

“Hah. As if there’d ever be a challenge. You haven’t even had a single bite all this time!” He retorted as he finished tying a gretchin on his own rod before tossing his line a bit farther away from where Beel casted her line.

“I’ll make you eat those words Magi!” She cheered out as he chuckled at her energy. She sure was a lively one for a daemon; if only all daemons were like her.

It wouldn’t take long before his line bobbed and something pulled at his line. The surface of the rift rippled as something grabbed on to the gretchin as blood muddied the warp. He planted his feet before he started reeling his catch in,“Hah! First one of the rounds and it’s a flesh hound!” he hollered as he fought with the dog-like creature. It nearly escaped several times but before long, he managed to exhaust it and out it came from the portal.

He made sure to grab it by the neck, breaking it as he felt the thing struggling under his hold. The thing fell limp and he unceremoniously tossed the corpse at the pool behind them.

“Oh come on uncle! Just throw me a bone here.” Beel complained at the portal as he waved her fist in the direction of her bait. As if right on cue, a skull came flying out of the portal and hit her squarely on the forehead. Her head rocked back as the skull was reduced to ashes leaving Beel with a large bump on the forehead, “I didn’t mean literally!” She cried out as he laughed uproariously.

He was quick to tie another gretchin on his line before tossing his line in quickly. As if luck was on his side, another bite quickly came his way while Beel was still left fuming and twiddling with her fishing pole.

“And here comes another!” he declared as he pulled and out came a screamer. True to its name, it screeched, but he silenced it with a quick punch to the mouth. With the manta ray looking daemonic creature dazed, he quickly finished it off with a punch on its head.

“Gods damn it! Father you shit, are you driving everyone away?!” She cursed at the daemonic god, demanding answers and getting none but the silence and stillness of the warp before her which had her screaming in frustration.

“Hah! Who’s scaring the daemons now?” He taunted, poking the woman on the ribs as her cheeks burnt red. She shot a glare at him as she let out a hiss anger, complete with snake tongue and all. He chuckled as he gave her a pat on the head.

“Shut it you,” The girl growled out without much heat as her scorn was focused upon the rod that barely twitched while his kept going off almost as soon as he take his eyes of it and even when he hadn’t!

“Hah, I know you love me,” He joked out as he tossed in another line before adding, “I kinda missed this, just me and a close friend throwing banter at each other.” He sighed out, smiling in content as he watched the warp heaved and roiled through the rift. As terrifying as it was, it was strangely beautiful to look at especially how things often popped out from the hole in the rift.

“Y-yeah but just shut up, I’m trying to concentrate here!” The girl stuttered out before turning away. He raised a brow at how the girl turned red but he didn’t think much of it as he focused on their little competition.

“Come on Beel, you know you can give up.” He poked at her side as he took a jab at her seeming inability to catch anything. Maybe it was just luck or maybe it was just daemons being scared off by her presence but whatever it was, it was funny as hell.

Still, her luck wouldn’t stay shit for long as her rod started bending with the wood creaking as something pulled on the line. With how much they stirred up the warp with their fishing, he couldn’t see what it was as all he saw now was the swirling mass of colors being pulled and spat out by the hole in the rift.

“W-wait! I caught something! Oh dear, it’s huge!” She exclaimed as she sat up and planted her feet. She stomped down hard, burying her feet in metal and even that barely helped.

“Holy shit. Oh fuck!” He laughed out, patting the girl on the back as he watched her wrangle with her catch.

“A little help here!” The girl shouted as the rod groaned under the strain. The rope went taut as whatever was on the other side pulled, fighting Beel every inch of the way. He made a grab for the rod and helped her. She stumbled a bit as his hands clasped the rod near her hands but she recovered as they started pulling together with her back pressed against his chest.

“Fucking hell Beel, what the hell did you catch?” He gritted out as his muscles ached and strained from the effort. Sweat started pouring down his forehead as he pulled even as his joints ached. He felt like he was pulling at a hub block with how heavy her catch was.

“I don’t know, but I’m eating well tonight!” She hollered out, whopping in joy at the fight they had in their hands. Even reality itself heaved with the wind howling from the presence of what was on the other side. They pulled and steered the mighty beast in their line, forcing them to expand more energy with every pull they made. It almost felt like an eternity but finally that great beast gave up as they were slowly reeled in.

“When I count down to three, we pull together alright!?” He hollered out, doing his best to speak up as the wind whipped around them.

“Got it!” She exclaimed as her hands shook from the effort.

“One, two, three!” he counted down and then they pulled. They shouted out, pulling with all their might as they finally hauled in their catch.

With a great big heave, they pulled together and out came the biggest fattest, ugliest and all sort of other-iest daemon that Magnsik has ever laid his eyes upon. It was a great big Unclean One with half its face bitten off and its head. The daemon was so big that he was stuck at the midway point. Great rolling folds of fat with huge bite marks were hanging upon the broken bones of the large half eaten corpse in front of them but the utter hate in its eyes told him that it was very much alive.

“Beelzebub! Found you-URK!” The creature roared out before it choked out as Beelzebub rocketed off her perch to deliver a earth shattering punch at the greater daemons throat. The Unclean one wheezed out before its head was rocked back by another punch to the jaw. The giant mass of fat and meat jiggled as its eyes rolled up to their sockets. Before Magnsik could even process what had just happened, the daemon was hanging limp as it slipped back into the warp above.

“Say fuck you to father will you ok big bro!” She taunted as she landed back on the ship while she laughed out at the sight.

“Wait, was that…?” He trailed off as he stared as the rest of the daemon disappeared in the murky depths above and with them came the rod…

“Yup, Ku’gath, the little turd. Annoying little shit keeps begging me for his flesh and power but like I’d ever give those back.” She snorted out as she reached out to grab only for the rod to slip off her grasp with Ku’gath dragging it with him. She bit back a curse as she stood there and stomped her feet in anger.

“You know, I kinda expect him to be dead,” He commented as he grabbed his fishing rod.

“Oh nah, I purposely kept him alive. Makes father mad knowing that I’m still around whenever he looks at his golden child. Hah, suck it Ku’gath!” She jeered out toward the portal with a huge smile stretching across her face.

“Hah. Still, you kinda let your only catch so far go.” He pointed out as he tied another screaming and gibbering gretchin on it. He specifically chose the diseased looking one as he didn’t want them spoiling the whole bunch.

“Please don’t remind me…” the girl moaned out in despair as the smile on her face slipped off before she slumped in defeat.

“Here, you can have my fishing line.” He offered to the daemoness who stared at the rod in surprise. He snorted as he pressed the rod in her arms before he teased her, “Hey, it’s not like I’m going to lose if I go down to fetch myself a new one.”

The girl looked like she was going to blow her top for a brief second before she let out a full bellied laugh that had her shaking and crying. Her energy was infectious and soon he was laughing with her as well. He wiped his eyes as the laughter soon died out with Beel smiling brightly at him.

”You know Magi, you’re really something else,” She sighed out with a fond smile across her face. He proceeded to poked the girl on the side who giggled as she batted at his arms. “I’m being serious here~! You just watched two greater daemons fight and all you can think of is getting another fishing rod!” She remarked with a light dusting of pink in her cheeks.

“Hey, A Warboss’s Retirement Plan is sacred. I’m going to stick to my retirement unless I am forced to fight. I’m not going to let some superficial detail like a daemon roommate get in the way of enjoying my life.” He nodded sagely, fully intent on sticking with his retirement. He had found his slice of heaven in this cursed world and he wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of it.

Beel walked up to him before suddenly hugging him. He froze for a bit before he relaxed as he rubbed her back soothingly, “Hey Magi, do you really mean that?” She whispered softly as they held each other. He did not know why she was getting so touchy but… it felt nice.

“Yes. I’m not going to kick you out anytime soon,” He reassured her as the girl giggled out. The look she gave him after that with that mischievous glint in her eyes had him firing out a condition to stomp any ideas she might have. “Unless! Unless you force my hands like eating all my sweets,” he explicitly added, making sure that the girl knew that there were lines she shouldn’t cross.

“Gods damn it,” She lamented as she looked longingly at the baskets of treats being guarded by a whistling Dirt who had some dusting of crumbs on his face. He was quick to give Beel a flick on the forehead before he pulled away from her.

“Curse all you want but that cookie jar will never open unless I say so. It’s been ages since I have had some good cookies. What kind of fucking dark future is this that there’s no more cookies?! I swear, this is one of the reason why everyone’s so fucking fucked all the time.“ He muttered out as he gave Dirt a light kick on the nads and gretchin collapsed wheezing and retching. Yes, orks had them even if they were only vestigial; they weren’t ken dolls after all.

-x-x-x-

“And that’s a buttload of daemons.” Magnsik smugly declared as he looked at the pool that had filled up to quite a degree. It wasn’t completely filled up but there was an entire layer of bodies down there. The Nurglings didn’t count as they smelled horrible and Beel was the one tending to them without so much a blink or gag. The rods still had one bait each but no more daemons were taking the bait so they just left it there knowing that there would be no more catches for the day.

“And all got was this stupid fury…” Beel mumbled out as she kicked the winged demonic looking monkey. It was barely bigger than the gretchin she used to lure it out.

He gave the girl a comforting pat on the shoulders as he said, “It’s fine Beel. we have more than enough anyways. Honestly, I don't know what the hell I’m going to do with these,” He admitted to her as he scratched the back of his head.

“Let me handle that for you. You can just throw the rest back in the rift.” Beel replied with a pat on her belly. He snorted as he hopped down the pool to find the juiciest looking daemons or at least what he thought looked juicy for her which most of the time was the biggest. He made sure to gather a wide selection before tying everything up for Dirt to drag. The gretchin sagged at the sight but he kept his mouth shut.

“Let me butcher the meat for you. I’m tossing the nurgling aside though. You eat those raw cause I’m not going to ruin a pot by tossing them in.” He said as he tossed the bundle of daemons towards the gretchin.

“As if you have to ask!” Beel mumbled in between mouthfuls of slug-like nurglings and huge flies.

Magsnik just shook his head as he eventually had to carry the bundle of daemonic beasts as Dirt couldn’t carry it all. It was all good in the end as they got home sooner so the meat stayed fresh. Overall, he was satisfied with the day. He even pulled out a cool looking knife out of a Flesh Hound.

It was wicked sharp and it cut through vegetables like a hot knife through butter. He didn’t even need to sharpen it after he used it to hack through bones and sinew. It had the symbol of the blood god on it and it was pointy as heck but hey, he loved the knife in the kitchen so in the kitchen it stayed. He wasn’t sure why Beel was laughing her ass off but he didn’t care cause he found a very good knife.

Still, even as he was butchering their catch and preparing a pot for Beel, he couldn't help but wonder if he had forgotten something.

-x-x-x-

The Triumph of Ullanor

There above the sky, two sets of ropes were pulled into the rift. There, they were sucked in the deep hole in the middle of the rift. It extended deep, punching out of unreality as well into the vast nothingness in between. The gretchins screamed and screamed as they were assaulted by unreality until their torment ended as they were sucked in a portal leading to a small but still familiar world. In the end though, they were nothing but burnt corpses but the rope they were attached too held firm.

An armored feminine figure with white locks swept back to reveal black horns walked up to the rope before gazing up at the sky. Even with her milky eyes, she still saw and there on the other side of the portal was quite the noble spirit, “Interesting,” She muttered out as she started climbing up the ropes.

-x-x-x-

On the world of Ullanor Prime, countless human citizens cheered as the Imperiums might was displayed in full force. No longer was the planet under the feet of the dreaded Ork Warlord, Magsnik Kogchewa, Thrice damned be his name, for it had been liberated and its governing handed to its human population. Now, was a time for celebration and there was much rejoicing.

For many of the countless masses, this was a triumph like no other as the full might of the Imperium were on full display. The Excertus Imperialis with their rank and file marched alongside the Legions of Mars. The very ground shook as the countless tanks made their way through the main procession way of the old ork Warlord while the sky turned gold as countless aircraft flew above leaving trails of yellow smoke. Walking with them were the warmachines of the Collegia Titanica whose mechanical constructs dwarfed even the giant buildings surrounding the procession plaza and to top it all off were the very angels of the emperor himself, the Legio Astartes; representation from all eighteen legions were present on this very planet.

For a man like Malchador, this was nothing more than a show of force to hide the disaster that happened there. He walked away from the balcony overseeing everything as he entered the room where all Eighteen Primarchs and the Emperor himself gathered around a refurbished holographic display discussing the current state of the imperium. He walked up to the large empty chair beside his friend and found himself sinking into the cushions that allowed him to stretch his aching limbs.

He had not seen such technology in ages but it was a welcome surprise from all the things that they had looted so far from the Warboss’s palace. For lack of better words, the Warboss was a big fan of human technology, “We should take this room and everything on it back to Terra. It would make for a great war room for the palace you’re going to construct,” He commented but his friend ignored him as he stared upon the flickering display before them

“The Orkish resistance had been stiff but they have retreated. We might have to pursue them at a later date but we have Ullanor effectively under our control, despite reports of purple orks from time to time.” Guilliman reported as he brought up videos of organized Orks commandos striking and disappearing as soon as they appeared.

“I will need a volunteer force to suppress and eliminate these orks but enough of them for now. How’s the transfer of power to the new government?” Revelation asked as he leaned forward.

“The current votes for the governor of Ullanor as well as who’d represent them in Terra have just been completed.” Guilliman reported as he brought up the image of the girl that would be the governor of the planet. From maid to that of governor, quite the jump he might say.

“Good. While I would have preferred for them to take a more centralized approach, a parliament does have its upside. Now the reports of the remnants of the Orkish horde?” Revelation asked with a frown on his face.

Malchador tuned out the droning of Guilliman as he reported the current situation of the Crusade as he looked around the room. The source of the current fuck up, Horus had forced himself in the room even if he was still on life support. The missing arm he sported drew looks of concern from the Wolf King who sat by Horus. Those weren’t the only ones that caught his eyes as he saw Curze of all people smiling.

It wasn’t a subtle smile or a hidden smirk but rather a full on maniacal grin as the boy stared at Horus. The look of disgust sent to him by Sanguinius who sat by the half crippled Primarch. There was also the look of hate and fear hidden in the stony faced Primarch of the Iron Warriors as they stared at the Eye of Terror. He made a mental note to talk to the boy about it. He might have been a bit too focused on Alpharius Omegon but there were other Psykers among the primarchs that needed attention.

Aside from that, it was business as usual with the Lion sneering at Horus, Magnus furiously leafing through a book titled Remote Viewing while he listened, Dorn frowning as he listened to Guilliman, Corvus sitting down his arms crossed across his chest while tapping his foot, Lorgar staring impassively at his Father, Angron looking like he was about to explode, Mortarion not so subtly sending glares at his friend and Magnus, Fulgrim and Ferrus making small talks while glancing over to Horus, Jaghtai staring at the map contemplatively, and Alpharius being his usual self. Only Vulkan looked calm but he looked worried about Horus as well. All in all, it was the ensemble that was the dysfunctional family that he was in.

Malcador reached for a glass of water and was about to doze off when Horus suddenly dropped a bombshell of a declaration on them all, “Father, I’m going on an extended leave from the Crusade. I need time to heal as well as find that blasted ork,” Horus suddenly declared as he stood up even as he had to use the stand holding his IV Bag up for support, interrupting Revelation just as he was about to speak up.

“And I’m going to go with my brother on his quest!” Leman then shouted immediately in support of his brother as he too stood up as well.

Malcador spat out his drink as the room devolved into Anarchy. Accusations of cowardice among other insults were thrown as the emotions that had been simmering had exploded, turning brothers against brothers as they derided and defended Horus' foolish quest. He sat there shaking his head and patting his friend on the back as the man just sunk into his seat and massaged his temples. Things had just gone from bad to worse.