Materium, Ichtar IX
Sanguinius
162.M32
Slowly, keeping his guard up, he lowered himself to the ground, landing gracefully, still keeping an iron grip on his psychic powers, ready to explode to attack at his one thought.
Especially since Fulgrim, or rather the monstrosity that used to be his brother, was on the verge of throwing himself at Sanguinius at any moment.
They were only a few meters apart, so he could easily see the hatred burning in the eyes of the servant of Slaanesh.
"I would say that it is good to see you, but that would be untrue. And you know that I abhor lies." The first one spoke; he did not intend to waste time. "They say that time spares no man, but I must admit that in your case it was exceptionally cruel."
Fulgrim would probably have thrown himself at him at that moment, if not for the iron grip of Magnus' red hand on his arm. The Champion of Changer of Ways remained unfazed by his words and confidently stepped forward, stopping just an arm's length away from him.
"You have changed as well, Sanguinius." He said in a surprisingly calm voice, though the Great Angel could sense the unmistakable emotions coursing through him. Was it anger, hatred, or sadness? He couldn't tell.
"Perhaps not outwardly, though you do seem even more transcendent than before. But your psychic powers, I must admit, have surprised me."
Sanguinius allowed a small smirk to creep onto his face. "I thought you would be especially delighted that I saw the potential to be a more active psyker?"
Suddenly his brother's demonic face darkened. "If this had happened before the civil war, I would have been over the moon and would have happily exchanged knowledge with you and delved into long discussions. But now that we are on opposite sides of the barricade, this is one of the last things I would like to see."
"Already without these abilities, you were the most powerful of us in battle; now you are a threat. You have become something whose continued existence is a threat to me and my sons. And that is something I can be happy about."
"Argghh. Shut up already. Let's fight. I'm tired of waiting." Fulgrim roared angrily, listening to their exchange with increasing rage and impatience.
But then both Sanguinius' and Magnus' eyes fell on him at the same moment, pinning him to the spot.
Fulgrim visibly quieted as two powerful auras of psychic power descended upon him in all their glory. Magnus 'he could still tolerate, but Sanguinius's luminous and radiant energy sent shivers down his spine and caused him almost physical pain. It was the complete antithesis of what he was now.
Now that their hot-headed brother had fallen silent, Magnus's gaze fell on him again, and he spoke, his voice dripping with curiosity, "How on earth did you survive? I was sure you died and your body was buried on Baal."
Sanguinius laughed lightly at that, though there was no mirth in it. "You surely don't expect me to give you that answer. We are enemies, brother. Why would I reveal my secrets to you?"
Magnus inclined his head slightly as if to acknowledge his point, then replied, "If you don't want to, then don't. I was just being curious. You know I like riddles and mysteries."
"Tell him, tell him," Fulgrim cackled, his snakelike body writhing with excitement. He looked at Sanguinius with maddened eyes and hissed, "Oh, we know how the Great Angel fell. From champion of humanity to collaborator with the long-ears and the orks. I would like to see Anathema's reaction to the betrayal of her most devoted son."
Sanguinius felt his irritation grow, not at the Daemon Prince's words, but rather at his irritating voice and his disgusting face, which was a caricature of his brother's. Rather than let himself be provoked, he decided to irritate the snake.
"I knew that serving that debauched god would drive you mad, but I have to admit I didn't expect it to make you stupid as well. I suspect I could have a more intelligent conversation with an ork than I could with you and honestly I can't believe how much you've regressed, Fulgrim."
Magnus thrust his hand out to the side, stopping the second time other Daemon Prince in a matter of minutes.
This time it did not stop Fulgrim, whose snake-like, lithe body simply bypassed the former primarch, and then, faster than the human eye, or even an Astartes, could register, he threw himself at Sanguinius.
The blades flashed, and a sonorous gong rang out, like the striking of a bell. Sanguinius was surrounded by a dome of golden energy of the Immaterium.
Sanguinius looked hard at the traitor, then said, his voice a strange mixture of sadness and mockery, "Brother, you had no chance a thousand years ago, and you have none now. Did you consider your transformation and becoming your master's dog as progress? I only see how weak you have become, and I wonder where that brilliant and insightful mind has gone."
Meanwhile, Fulgrim did not let up, attacking the barrier standing in his way with increasing strength and speed. His blades flashed the fierce violet of his psychic powers, and the sound of the blows became a cacophony of sounds without any rhythm.
But instead of weakening, and yielding under the onslaught of blows, the barrier seemed to grow thicker, more stable, and more durable.
Sanguinius held his left hand out in front of him and said. "You said that I am now collaborating with the Aeldari and Orks, so let me demonstrate to you what my new friends have taught me."
Sanguinius focused, closing his eyes for a moment, and opened his mind to the reality around him, to the intertwining rivers of energy. He clenched both his metaphysical and physical hands, as if he had grasped something, and began to slow down time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Materium, Ichtar IX
Magnus
162.M32
During the short exchange of words, he was unable to extract any information of interest from his brother's mouth; what's more, that fool Fulgrim had to attack him, provoked like some mindless daemon.
However, he had to admit that once again Sanguinius had surprised him. He had expected that the golden barrier, hastily created, that had grown between the brothers, would quickly give way under the blows of the champion of Slaanesh, but it held and with each passing moment seemed more and more solid and stable.
Once again it dawned on him that he had not known how strong his brother had become and how far his psyker abilities had advanced. However, what happened a moment later shattered all his previous predictions.
Sanguinius' outstretched hand tightened on something, and a moment later it began to tremble as if it were struggling with something.
And then he felt it. His thoughts began to slow down noticeably, as did his breathing and pulse. The same sound Fulgrim's blades made against the barrier became slower and slower.
He focused all his powers to try and resist Sanguinius's abilities, but all he managed to achieve was that, thanks to his mind being anchored in the Immaterium, he was able to perceive stimuli and reason in real time.
However, his body and his psychic powers succumbed to the effects of time. In the few seconds that passed, the entire world around them practically froze. Time continued to flow, but so slowly that even for beings of their abilities it was practically imperceptible.
Fulgrim's blades froze in place, moving perhaps a fraction of a millimetre per second. But not only them, but everything around them except the inhabitants of this planet is still fleeing to the warpgate in the distance. However, time did not spare the daemons on Ichtar IX or the newly arrived Chaos Marines.
The entire planet practically froze in time, and all Magnus could do was watch as Sanguinius lowered the barrier and slowly approached the Daemon Prince of Slaanesh.
While his left hand and, of course, psychic power held time in place, he placed his open right hand on Fulgrim's chest. The hand glowed with golden light, and time slowly began to flow again, faster and faster.
But it was too late for the Primarch of the Emperor's Children. One could say that he lacked time to react.
In the blink of an eye, the serpentine figure was surrounded by a hexagonal cube made of light itself, then it quickly shrunk, leaving only empty space behind.
There was no trace of the Prince of Pleasure's champion.
Time had already returned to its normal course, but the wasteland of Ichtar IX was silent. Mangus felt true fear for the first time in a long time, and even his faith in his own psychic powers wavered slightly.
Maybe the two of them would have a chance of defeating the Primarch of the IX Legion; he doubted he could do it alone. Not after what he had seen, not after what he had felt. He could do nothing against Sanguinius' time manipulation technique. And that worried him the most.
"I see you have indeed learnt a few tricks," he said, trying to get back to the earlier conversation. He was trying to buy time, wanting to understand what had happened to Fulgrim and what power Sanguinius had used against him.
But instead of answering, his brother suddenly looked to the west as if sensing something. Magnus felt it too a moment later. Bloodthirsters, three to be exact, set foot on the planet, driven by their master's will.
Apparently Khorne, having learnt that Sanguinius was alive, was eager to acquire his perfect champion. Magnus could imagine why. Great Angel and his Blood Angels, with their not small problems with Red Thirst and Black Rage, were the perfect servants for the Blood God.
Though he sincerely doubted that still applied to Sanguinius himself. He had a feeling about it.
"I have done what I wanted; now I think it's time for me to go." Sanguinius said as he rose into the air with a single flap of his wings, then added, "I would advise you to do the same. I have heard that the servants of Khorne and Tzneeth do not like each other, to put it mildly."
Magnus felt like breathing a sigh of relief, because after what he had seen, he had no desire to fight Sanguinius, especially since he had nothing to gain and everything to lose.
How should the Daemon Prince be reborn in the Immaterium even upon dying, for his essence always returned there, yet Fulgrim had somehow been captured, both his physical form and the one anchored in the Warp?
The implications of this were more than disturbing. Moreover, his brother was indeed right. There was just as much chance that the brutes of the Lord of Skulls would attack him as they would Sanguinius.
"I think you are right," he admitted aloud, "but what about Fulgrim? What did you do with him? Unless this is another secret? If so, forget I asked."
Sanguinius looked at him, his golden eyes seeming to pierce Magnus through and through. "I have plans for him and a theory I would like to test. However, I can assure you that Slaanesh will have to find himself a new toy."
Then he nodded slightly and added, "It was good to see you, although I must admit that it is hard to say, considering what you have become. But I do have a glimmer of hope. For there is more of the old Magnus in you than I could have expected. We will meet again, but I hope that I will not have to kill you then."
It took only one flap of his mighty snow-white wings for the Great Angel to disappear and reappear miles away, rushing the last of the refugees coming through the portal.
Magnus spotted the Bloodthirsters flying from the west, one of which he certainly recognised. Ka'bandha clearly wanted revenge.
However, by the time Khorne's Greater Daemons reached the evacuation site, there was no sign of the strange warpgates or Sanguinius himself. His brother had left a parting gift, though.
"I think it's time to make a tactical retreat," he muttered to himself, then teleported off the planet, the last thing he saw being a gargantuan explosion of searing light that engulfed the Bloodthirsters and then began to spread even further, racing like a wave of pure destruction across the planet's surface.