My Life as A Death Guard
Chapter 468: The Fool's Crimson Heart
The blizzard, wracked by the pain of betrayal, howled wildly. Sheets of snow slashed across vision, only to be flung into the boundless darkness beyond.
Above the raging storm, a pitch-black river of the underworld seemed to pour down, droplets of darkness splashing and reaching like greedy tendrils toward Fenris's white plains.
The entire planet trembled.
"—Magnus!!!"
The Wolf King wiped the blood from his face with one hand, gripping the Dionysian Spear tightly with the other. The golden shaft felt cold and merciless in his grasp, urging him toward judgment—toward the slaughter of a traitor.
He stared fixedly at the figure before him. White breath poured from Russ's clenched teeth.
Magnus—the damned crimson sinner—stood there.
Now, his form was nearly twice as large as before. Psychic energy shaped itself into light armor over his red skin. A pair of towering, ornamental horns arched from his shoulders. He gazed down at Leman Russ with arrogant contempt.
"Barbarian," Magnus said disdainfully.
He spread his arms wide, a wildly arrogant grin on his face. His crimson hair floated against gravity in the storm, and arcs of lightning crackled in each of his hands, tearing through the snow.
That eerie blue glow surrounded him.
At that moment, the Wolf King was certain that this brother of his had cast his entire fate into the abyss of change.
With a broken, furious howl, Leman Russ charged without hesitation.
The spear in his hand was as cold as his heart.
If I can wound Magnus with the Dionysian Spear, Russ thought, then at least he'll understand what madness he's committing!
Those pierced by the spear would, in an instant, receive vast knowledge from the Emperor—after which they would fall into unconsciousness.
Once Magnus was down, Russ would decide whether to kill this damned traitor.
Even if it meant death, Leman Russ would fulfill the Allfather's command!
He would never allow Magnus to commit another sin!
The wolf's howl, filled with absolute resolve, tore through the storm. The Primarch surged forward at astonishing speed, the spear's tip becoming a streak of golden light aimed straight at the crimson sinner.
Magnus scoffed.
Now that he was drawing power from Fenris and receiving Tzeentch's strength, he no longer regarded the Wolf King as a threat.
"I am right."
Magnus raised his hand. At his fingertips, brilliant lightning surged like a colossal serpent, piercing through the storm and snapping toward Russ's throat.
An explosion rang out, accompanied by the stench of burning.
Magnus smiled.
He felt wonderful.
His soul was being slowly immersed in that shifting ocean, filled to the brim, leaving him swaying as if intoxicated.
This was inevitable. Bargains were always like this—sweet and irresistible.
But it wasn't enough.
Not enough, Magnus thought greedily.
Like a traveler dying of thirst in a desert, he begged for more of that power—enough to crush Leman Russ beneath his feet.
Power…
He would kill Leman Russ, rebuild his Thousand Sons, and create a new home for them.
The vast, wondrous ocean enveloped him. He sank completely into his resentment and desire. Blazing blue light broke through the stormy sky like holy radiance, cascading down upon him.
From afar, those strands of light looked like puppet strings.
Above the storm, something began to chuckle.
It was already over.
It had completely grasped Magnus.
This small, knowledge-obsessed, greedy creature now belonged to it.
Perhaps he had once harbored his own intentions—but now, consumed by the Changer of Ways' power, he could no longer resist.
The two small figures continued their struggle, but it no longer cared for this trivial spectacle. Carefully, it lured the colossal entity away from the delicate "stage," guiding it to sense the far sweeter prize hidden beneath the planet.
Ah~ beneath that endless white snowfield, through the dark caverns, lay a perfect world of golden nectar and sweet wine.
Feast well, Lord of the Underworld
A crack opened in the cavern. The surging darkness extended its tendrils downward.
It tilted its head, listening with delight—
Listen… can you hear it?
From the far end of the tunnel—the roar of Terra.
The monster, of course, could not kill the Emperor—but it didn't need to. All that was required was for both sides to wound each other.
Humanity still had hope. These events would only unfold on Terra; across the rest of the Imperium, hope would endure. It was all to prevent their beloved Neoth from doing something foolish.
They would keep giving him hope.
The winds of the Himalayas howled. Beneath the Imperial Palace, at the trembling Webway gate, a pair of golden eyes blazed. Golden light flared, and the whispers of countless devout souls echoed. Arcs of gold slid across the helms of the Custodians standing ready.
The Emperor had already prepared to grapple with the monster. If the Deceased One truly broke into the Webway—then the first concern would not be the shattered Webway itself.
"My sons…"
A broken roar forced its way from Leman Russ's lips. Blood spilled from his mouth as he collapsed onto the snow. Deep crimson seeped from his back, mixed with gelatinous half-solid matter.
The ground around them looked as though it had been torn apart by countless bolts of lightning, savage scars etched across the snowfield.
"…Magnus." The name came out through gritted teeth, as if he wished to bite the crimson sinner to death.
Magnus laughed happily, as if savoring the moment when he had toyed with the Wolf King using psychic power.
Floating in midair, he descended, bare feet touching the ice.
"Russ, be a good first sacrifice."
Magnus began chanting a spell linking him to the Changer of Ways.
He walked forward casually, preparing to lift the fallen Wolf King.
But the Wolf King, sprawled across the snow, suddenly sprang up in an impossible motion. The Dionysian Spear burst with brilliant light amid the storm!
Magnus let out a roar of outrage at being deceived. He raised his hand in haste, trying to retreat—but he was too late.
In that slowed instant, Magnus clearly felt the spear pierce his skin. Cold metal broke into burning flesh. Drops of blood scattered into the air.
Joy flashed in Russ's eyes—the moment of success. A grin spread across the Wolf King's face, but the agony in his back twisted his expression into something savage. Believing he had succeeded, his body collapsed heavily back into the snow, sending powder flying.
Leman Russ bared his teeth, struggling forward through the snow. His vision was obscured, but his instincts drove him onward.
Pierced by the Dionysian Spear… Magnus must be down now.
He had to seize this final chance.
For… the… Allfather…
The Wolf King struggled onward. Once again, he would be the executioner—but he accepted it willingly.
At least he had fulfilled the Allfather's command.
Dragging himself forward, leaving a long trail of blood behind him—almost there—
"What the hell is this?" Magnus's startled voice rang out.
At the same time, a foot appeared before Russ's eyes—pressing down hard on the hand gripping the Dionysian Spear, pinning it in place.
In that instant, Russ's heart sank into an abyss of cold.
What… was happening?!
"Oh," Magnus said with a smile, "I see now. The Dionysian Spear—so the false Emperor gave it to you."
He bent down and wrenched the spear from Russ's hand, breaking his fingers one by one with psychic force.
"Barbarian—" Magnus mocked, "did you really think everyone would get dizzy from a little knowledge like you?"
The Dionysian Spear carried a portion of the Emperor's wisdom—but what the Wolf King did not know was that, during the punishment at Nikaea, the Emperor had already forced vast amounts of knowledge into the Crimson Sinner.
Which meant—
Magnus no longer feared the Dionysian Spear.
He clicked his tongue and casually tossed the spear into the snow.
It was almost over. The Lord of the Underworld was about to fully descend. Magnus could hear the Changer of Ways praising him. With the plan nearing perfect completion, the god allowed Magnus to indulge his desires.
After all, He already held Magnus completely.
A mad smile spread across Magnus's face.
Now then…
How should he reclaim everything he had lost from the Wolf King?
His lost sons. The scorn of others. The months of imprisonment…
And…
Magnus unconsciously touched the smooth hollow where his eye had once been.
One of his deepest obsessions—
His eye.
"Oh," Magnus thought, "this dog still carries one of my eyes."
Yet just as Magnus instinctively touched his empty eye socket, Leman Russ suddenly realized something.
The Primarch immediately reached for his waist. He found the single eye of Magnus that the Allfather had once entrusted to him. A low growl slipped between his fangs—
The Allfather had never told him what this eye was for. Nor how to use it.
Russ's small movement was instantly noticed by Magnus. The Wolf King was lifted into the air by psychic force, his feet dangling, suspended like a dog with its spine pulled out.
"You are unworthy to possess my eye—and so is he." Magnus spoke as he summoned his psychic power, commanding it to retrieve his eye. But immediately, the Crimson Sinner realized in frustration that his power could not approach it. The eye was shrouded in the Emperor's aura—because Magnus had once offered it to that tyrant.
Magnus dragged Russ closer, preparing to take the eye back by force. But even under crushing psychic restraint, the Wolf King revealed a defiant smile.
From the psychic perspective, Magnus was startled to see Russ resisting with everything he had—bones snapping one by one, twisting into grotesque angles.
Russ's violent resistance forced Magnus to increase his psychic output. But Fenris, betrayed by Magnus, was now doing everything it could to disrupt him.
Magnus cursed inwardly. Every time Fenris interfered, it was—ironically—strengthening Magnus's control over it.
But the enraged world-spirit didn't care. It lashed at Magnus with storms of ice and snow, making one final stand.
The two Primarchs struggled against each other.
Blood poured from Russ's eyes and ears as he fought with everything he had.
For… the… Allfather…
His fangs bared, the bones in his arm shattered into fragments, bursting through flesh and distorting his skin into grotesque lumps.
"…Traitor." Leman Russ spoke—and at the same moment, the hand gripping Magnus's eye finally reached his mouth—
"What the hell are you doing?!" Magnus shouted in shock, blood spraying from his lips. He broke free from Fenris's interference and lunged forward, trying to reach Russ—
Leman Russ shoved the eye into his mouth.
In that instant, Magnus shrieked. But the Wolf King bit down without hesitation. A faint golden light burst forth—Magnus's scream abruptly cut short into a sharp cry.
Boom!
Magnus's body slammed straight into the snow.
At the same time, freed from psychic suppression, Leman Russ also collapsed into the drifts.
…Did I succeed this time?
Russ's mind, blurred by the Emperor's psychic force, struggled to think. He spat out the eye, now split in two, slick with half-translucent, blood-tinged saliva as it slid down.
But…
He had failed.
Despair crept in, because even though Magnus had fallen, the catastrophe shaking Fenris had not stopped.
…Failed?
"Stupid dog," Magnus's calm voice sounded beside the ringing in Russ's ears.
The Wolf King forced himself to look up. Through blurred vision, he saw Magnus—
The Crimson Sinner staggered to his feet, feeling the surge of power granted by the Changer of Ways.
Yet his soul was utterly exhausted.
"I shouldn't have expected anything from your dog brain." Magnus spoke tiredly. Standing amid the frozen wastes, he took a deep breath and raised his hand into Fenris's howling cold.
The corruption of Tzeentch erodes the mind—even a Primarch is no exception.
If Magnus wished to deceive Tzeentch, then he had to fall. Completely.
He could not retain the ability to consciously restore his own clarity.
Dragged into an ocean of greed, resentment, and rage, Magnus sank into the depths.
He was being watched. His soul was entirely in Tzeentch's grasp—he was never meant to resist.
Therefore, Leman Russ had to remain pure.
Because in his hands was something that could grant Magnus a fleeting moment of clarity—
Magnus's eye.
Magnus knew nothing of the Dionysian Spear; to him, it had been nothing more than a trivial interruption.
The Crimson Sinner staggered, letting out a bitter laugh. He had said it long ago—his agency now lay in Leman Russ's hands.
And yet, even so, at this moment, aside from that small chthonic fissure in his soul, Magnus had already given everything of himself to Tzeentch.
That eye's function was nothing more than allowing "the Emperor's Magnus" to briefly take control of this body.
If Magnus had not already sunk completely into Tzeentch's river, perhaps there might have been hope. But now, it could only grant the Crimson Sinner a fleeting moment of clarity.
The Emperor had never trusted him—so this was all he had been given.
But a moment was enough.
He had thirteen milliseconds.
Magnus pressed a hand against his chest. His fingertips dug in, drawing beads of blood.
Magnus felt Tzeentch trying to withdraw its power—too late.
Magnus gathered his strength, the power he had stolen from Fenris, and seized Tzeentch's thread of fate tightly in his grasp.
Tzeentch's power writhed in his hand—but how could it escape, when it had already fused completely with Magnus's soul?
They were bound together utterly—because Tzeentch had needed to ensure Magnus would not betray it, would not choose to betray the Changer of Ways.
And that was exactly what Magnus had wanted.
A smile of triumph curved his lips. As Tzeentch stained Magnus's fate, Magnus had been staining Tzeentch in return.
He began to chant. The final spell flickered from his lips—
A crimson flower blossomed from his chest. Magnus seized his still-beating heart, feeling Tzeentch's presence with absolute clarity. He raised the heart high, aiming it toward that presence.
He did not need to resist.
Drenched completely in Tzeentch's power, he could not directly attack it with psychic force, nor could he offer himself to another—such as the Emperor. The Changer of Ways was cautious.
But Magnus knew what to do.
"O Changer of Ways—great being with whom I have made my pact—I have failed our contract. Therefore—"
"I offer to you my body and soul in their entirety. Take my spirit, my essence—along with the radiance of this winter star!" Magnus shouted. Blood dripped from the heart held aloft, running down from his empty eye socket.
He knew he was late. Too late. The Webway had already begun to crack with ominous fractures—
And yet, not too late. Not entirely. There was still time to save this.
At least, things would not fall to the very worst end.
He only needed—
Magnus trembled as he drew a breath.
He only needed to be a traitor.
He raised his heart as high as he could. The red flesh pulsed amid the roaring snowstorm.
He had seen it all before—so Magnus knew exactly what form of radiance would most entice the Lord of the Underworld.
In the Warp, Magnus blazed.
Like a newborn sun—crimson, burning, radiant.
So beautiful. So dazzling. So irresistible.
And upon it—there were even the familiar cracks, the fractures it would recognize. What a perfect embellishment.
Magnus poured his excess psychic power into it, rich and fragrant, letting it fall into that bottomless abyss.
The hungry, cold, Lord of the Underworld turned its gaze.
A faint smile touched Magnus's lips.
The final syllable was spoken.
He felt himself slip free from the heavy shell of flesh. He became light—truly free from the limits of the body—rising toward the heavens.
"…I am not a traitor." The final whisper fell upon the earth.
Magnus cast one last glance at the snowfield. He saw his shattered eye staring back at him in sorrow—and within it, a gaze that was not his own.
Magnus smiled bitterly.
He had never been trusted. And he had nothing more to say about that.
O Lord of the Underworld…
Please…
Magnus thought, trembling—
Grant me… at least this final dignity…
Please… please…
But Magnus knew this seemed impossible. His fate had always been so cruel—he was the fool, the object of everyone's scorn upon the stage.
—And yet he had no regrets.
Freed from his physical body, the obstruction of flesh and blood upon Magnus vanished. The Emperor's psychic awakening of him faded like fireworks in winter—brief and gone in an instant—Magnus returned to what he "was meant" to be.
To gain Tzeentch's trust, he had to give himself over to Tzeentch completely. That moment of "clarity" just now was more like a brief lapse of sanity after being eroded by Chaos.
Magnus watched in terror as the Lord of the Underworld drew closer. He let out screams of fury and unwillingness, roaring as he demanded of the Changer of Ways what he should do. Desperate, he rushed toward Tzeentch in a bid to survive.
Within the vast ocean, Magnus, carrying the chill of winter, hurled himself toward Tzeentch. Behind him, the Lord of the Underworld—its target changed—opened a gaping abyss toward him.
Magnus screamed in fear. He felt his soul shatter from that rift, like a sun breaking into pieces. In agony, he twisted, his overwhelming will to live driving him to rush ever more desperately toward the Changer of Ways.
The radiance of the Changer of Ways was so warm—and no sentient being would willingly fall into the maw of that monster! Magnus ran desperately toward Tzeentch, but at the other end, the Changer's power was rapidly waning—He had no desire to face it alone!
Annoyed, the Changer of Ways tried to shake Magnus off, but Magnus—already bound to Him, driven madly by his instinct to survive—was impossible to discard!
He needed the power of the other Three. His strength began to redirect toward Cadia. Behind Him, Magnus and the shattered fragments of Fenris scattered, spilling chaotically across the stars.
The fragments flew too far and wide—some were devoured, others were not. They drifted aimlessly through the galaxy, slowly tracing a path that pointed toward Cadia.
The Changer of Ways roared in fury: Change! Change! Magnus!!!
Behind Him, Magnus called out for Tzeentch's protection—the more he called, the more the Changer's speed slowed—the easier it became for the Lord of the Underworld to fix its gaze upon Him!!!
Magnus!!! Tzeentch's roar echoed through the Warp.
And elsewhere—
"—Don't abandon me!! Great Changer of Ways!!!"
The darkness pursued them.
. . .
+My child,+ the Emperor said calmly as He stepped toward the platform. The Webway had ruptured, but because of Magnus, it still had a chance to be repaired—the damage was not severe.
The Golden Throne stood there. Upon the platform, the Emperor sat, His psychic might descending, resisting the darkness leaking from the fractured Webway.
His gaze pierced across countless stars, witnessing that distant, absurd—unbelievable—scene.
He heard Magnus praising and pleading with the Changer of Ways.
+My pride,+ the Emperor said, +my fifteenth son, the Crimson King.+
A single, nearly imperceptible tear fell from the Emperor's cheek.
On Fenris, the storm subsided. The Wolf King's vision dimmed as he fell into darkness.
In his final moment, Leman Russ thought: Magnus… were you ever truly a traitor?
Before the Wolf King stood an ice sculpture of the Crimson King, holding aloft a heart. His crimson body had long since been frozen into a statue by the storm.
From beginning to end, every vision Magnus had seen had been true.
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Tn: I updated the story daily, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 490: Slaanesh Decides to Go Have Some Fun[1]
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