"Of course I know you. We are brothers."
Ferrus's voice was calm and steady, carrying a reassuring strength.
Mortarion's body stiffened slightly. His pupils dilated.
"We were born in the same place, and we were brought into this world for the same mission," Ferrus continued.
"Can you tell me everything you know?" Mortarion pressed persistently, desperate to know everything about himself.
Ferrus did not answer immediately. He turned and looked at Datch.
"Nameless Lord, may I speak about my origins?"
He was worried that careless words might affect Mortarion and the future of human civilization.
After all, they were now time travelers.
Many scholars still maintained a cautious attitude toward changing the timeline.
They believed that handling matters recklessly could cause unexpected changes.
To make a decision, he needed to consult the Nameless One.
After all, only the other party could guarantee his safety. He could not travel through time of his own will.
"That is certainly possible," Datch nodded, putting Ferrus at ease.
"My name is Ferrus Manus." After receiving permission from the nameless one, Ferrus began speaking to Mortarion about his origins.
"Just like you, I was created in a laboratory in the Himalayan Mountains of Terra."
"Our genetic sequences originate from the Master of Terra, the creator of the Imperium of Man — the Emperor. He used us as the core of twenty Legions."
"In a sense, the Emperor is our father. And the purpose of creating us was to have us lead twenty Legions of superhumans, conquer the galaxy, and build an eternally shining empire."
Mortarion listened very carefully.
Ferrus continued, speaking about Terra, the Emperor, and the Great Crusade.
He also recorded that the gene-laboratory had been attacked and destroyed by a Warp storm.
All the Primarchs were thrown into the depths of the Warp, scattered throughout the galaxy, and grew up on various planets.
"Now, His Majesty the Emperor has begun a large-scale crusade. Once His Majesty learns that you are here, he will find you, bring you back, and appoint you as the commander of a Legion."
Of course, Ferrus did not speak about what happened afterward.
Those were future events that had not yet occurred, and the current humans had no need to know them.
"I see. So that's how it is. No wonder I possess power that far surpasses the others."
"I've always wondered why I just couldn't fit into this world."
Mortarion muttered to himself.
When he learned the secret of his origins, he was somewhat bewildered, but he quickly recovered.
He did not reject his own mission and resolved to lead the people of this planet toward unification.
He would let the Master of Mankind, the Emperor, discover his potential.
The village chief and many villagers stood frozen, their faces filled with astonishment.
"Emperor," "Primarch," "conquest of the galaxy," "twenty sons."
The giant they had regarded as a monster was not a terrifying existence at all. He turned out to be the long-lost son of the great Emperor.
A hero born with the mission of saving humanity. A poor child abandoned by fate on Barbarus.
Just then, Pugh jumped down from Datch's shoulder and ran to Mortarion's feet.
He stretched out both hands and emitted a green light that enveloped the Primarch.
The healing light seeped into Mortarion's body, permeating his entire being and circulating through his blood vessels and nerves.
Wherever the light shone, the stubborn toxins adhering to the walls of the blood vessels completely dissolved and vanished.
Mortarion clearly felt his brain changing. It became clearer than before, and the suppressed, buried knowledge surged up violently.
Tactics, strategy, physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, metallurgy, ship operation, weapon maintenance, interstellar travel — everything was complete.
His body also changed. His pale face gained color, his dry hair became jet-black and smooth, several poison spots on his body disappeared, and he became a handsome and attractive man.
It was easy to imagine how much harm the nutritional intake his adoptive father had given him over the years had caused.
Seeing Mortarion's transformation, the villagers' last remaining fear of him completely vanished.
In its place were pity, guilt, and emotions so complex they almost tore their hearts apart.
When Mortarion first appeared in the village, the villagers had treated him like a monster, throwing stones at him, driving him away, and hurling every kind of malicious curse.
The other party did not fight back. He only looked at them with melancholy and sorrowful eyes, then turned on his heel and walked away into the toxic fog.
At the time, they had been very proud, believing they had driven away a monster.
In reality, Mortarion had been too kind and did not want to hurt them.
Ferrus remained silent and suddenly noticed that the foul odor that had been emanating from Mortarion had disappeared.
He recalled his previous life. Mortarion had been brought back to Terra by the Emperor and had always given off a faint foul odor.
The other Primarchs had always said he was careless about his appearance, but it seemed Mortarion had not been unclean.
Rather, Mortarion's body had been damaged by toxic fog over a long period, causing various problems and continuously emitting a foul odor.
Unable to gain the understanding of his brothers, Mortarion had finally given up and chosen to actively inhale toxic fog in order to increase his own physical resilience.
Out of pride as a Primarch, Mortarion could not admit to the other Primarchs that there was something wrong with his body.
In that sense, it would undoubtedly mean admitting that he was weak.
Therefore, rather than explaining himself, he chose to endure the rumors that he was unhygienic.
...
"Traitor…"
In a decaying garden in the Warp,
the owner of the garden angrily struck the massive cauldron.
The thick soup born from countless diseases and plagues boiled and was stirred under that brutal and savage act.
Damn Nameless One. Damn traitors.
That giant life-form named Pugh had once been the lowest-ranking daemon in the Garden of Nurgle — a Nurgling.
Now he had transformed into a powerful existence under the control of the nameless one and was helping the nameless one seize his own power. Was such an act any different from the act of a traitor?
The spoon in Nurgle's hand once again struck the rim of the cauldron with tremendous force, shaking the entire garden.
Mortarion being thrown onto Barbarus had been part of a carefully planned scheme.
The entire planet was a nursery meticulously crafted for Mortarion.
Otherwise, how could the most powerful alien warlord in the world adopt a child of unknown origin and devote all his efforts to raising that child into an outstanding person?
All the psykers and potential psykers on the planet had been corrupted by Nurgle in order to prevent the evil schemes of the cursed ones.
Now, Mortarion's fate had been interfered with by the nameless ones.
This fact filled Nurgle with despair. Against the nameless ones, Nurgle was powerless.
This meant that it was impossible to correct the plan that had already gone off course, and the overall strategy would undoubtedly be completely destroyed by the other party.
On the opposite side of the Warp, in a labyrinth made of countless crystals containing mystical knowledge,
Tzeentch, who had sensed the change and increase in power the moment Mortarion's soul was healed, muttered to himself.
The predetermined fate had changed, and countless uncertain futures had been born. When the final chapter closes, the uncontrolled fate will finally be redefined.
The more changes occurred, the more Tzeentch's power increased, but at the same time his anxiety and worry also grew.
Because the future was becoming increasingly complex, there was a very high possibility that it would fall completely out of control.
To be honest, Tzeentch thought it would be better if this change did not happen than for his own fate to fall completely out of control.
Conspiracy, schemes, and change should be kept within a controllable range.
Now even Tzeentch could not be certain about the future.
He had foreseen countless futures, but no one knew which one would become the true ending.
...
Over the next few days, Mortarion stayed in the village and showed goodwill toward the villagers through his actions.
The first thing he did was help the farmers harvest the grain.
This was something he had never done before.
While imprisoned in the mountain fortress by his adoptive father, he had spent his days hunting poisonous beasts in the toxic fog.
In his adoptive father's laboratory, he had again endured injections of poison.
Mortarion's first grain harvest was quite clumsy.
His strength was immense. Even a sickle used by ordinary people felt as light as a feather in his hands and would break with only a slight application of force.
Datch could not stand it and used "Golden Hammer" to repair it, increasing its thickness so that the work could continue.
Mortarion learned things extremely quickly and was surprisingly efficient. By the time the work ended, he had harvested the most grain.
Out of gratitude, the villagers who had received help gave Mortarion a piece of dried meat from an unidentified animal.
This was the best they could offer.
"Thank you," the village chief said. "I apologize for hurting you before."
Mortarion said nothing, but he showed a smile the likes of which he had never shown before, clearly enjoying that moment.
Over the following days, Mortarion helped the villagers in even more ways.
He repaired damaged roofs, drove away poisonous beasts that emerged from the toxic fog, and helped draw water from the purified water source deep in the canyon.
The villagers' attitude toward Mortarion also began to quietly change. They came to love and respect him, regarding him as their leader and pillar of support.
Datch and Ferrus welcomed this development and encouraged the villagers to make contact with Mortarion.
After all, the two of them intended to leave once the mission was complete.
Mortarion was the future ruler of Barbarus.
As time passed, Mortarion gathered more and more respect, and his influence also increased.
At this time, Mortarion's first friend came to visit him.
The other person was also a homeless wanderer, wearing simple protective gear and roaming the area.
The other group arrived at the entrance of the village, asked the villagers whether they had seen Mortarion, and were then guided into the village.
Datch checked the other party's profile and learned that the person was indeed Calas Typhon.
He was Typhon, who would later become the commander of the Death Guard, destroy the Hive, plunge the entire Death Guard into Nurgle's suffering, and ultimately cause them to turn to Nurgle.
This was a little troublesome for Datch.
When Mortarion had been alienated by the villagers, Calas Typhon…
This half-human, half-mutant wanderer had also been alienated by the villagers, but he had been the first to stand by Mortarion's side and encourage him to help humanity fight against the mutant warlords.
Without a doubt, this man was a very important person to Mortarion.
This placed Datch in a difficult position. There was a possibility that the other side would betray him, but that was a future problem.
At present, Calas Typhon was simply a young man who was half-human and half-monster with psychic powers, yearning to be accepted by the world.
They could hear Nurgle's whispers, but they had not yet made an irreversible choice.
If Mortarion were to eliminate someone simply because that person might betray him in the future, it would undoubtedly make him uneasy.
In the end, in the future he would become a filial son just like Calas Typhon.
Datch planned to continue observing further, change the plan if possible, and if that was impossible, cause an accident to drive the other party away.
As time passed, Mortarion gathered even more respect.
With the help of Datch and Ferrus, he began organizing an army to fight the terrifying alien warlords and unify Barbarus.
Datch brought out equipment from the Room of Requirement for the army to use.
The army provided advanced equipment such as laser guns and armored suits to the civilians who enlisted.
The interior of the Room of Requirement was truly a world of its own, inhabited by enough people to maintain a complete industry.
Providing these weapons and equipment was a trivial matter for Datch.
Datch also provided Mortarion with a full set of Primarch-grade armor and a scythe-shaped power weapon.
That weapon was astonishingly sharp and could easily cut through anything in the world.
Seeing Datch take out various items one after another, the villagers' respectful gazes toward him deepened further, and they came to regard him as an incarnation of a god who had appeared among humans.
They believed that he had guided Mortarion to save them.
Mortarion did not deny this view. On the contrary, he agreed with it.
Even Calas Typhon came to worship the nameless one and believed that he was the true god.
Mortarion's army soon faced its first battle.
That morning, the sentry at the village entrance rang the alarm bell.
Someone was beating a gong while shouting in a voice that echoed throughout the village.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Everyone, prepare for defense!!"
A weakened alien warlord was leading an undead army to raid the village and capture slaves.
On Barbarus, such things happened frequently.
To the alien warlords living in the mountainous regions, human villages were nothing more than resources that could be harvested regularly.
The villagers went on high alert and immediately prepared for battle.
Before long, a large swarm of zombies staggering and moving slowly appeared from within the toxic fog and entered their field of vision.
These zombies had once been human, but they had been invaded by a terrible disease, transformed into forms that no longer retained their original appearance, and ultimately become living corpses.
Their skin was ash-green, covered in moss like swollen corpses that had been soaked in water for a long time, full of blisters and pustules, with foul-smelling liquid seeping out.
"Plague zombies??" The moment Datch saw these undead, he realized the problem.
This was clearly Nurgle's handiwork.
I see. So the entire Barbarus is like a theme-park kindergarten that this otaku-like fat man made for Mortarion?
I thought you were the most honest and kind-hearted fat guy, but you were actually full of malice, so vicious that pus was seeping out.
Mortarion led his own army to confront this undead force.
They were fully armed with various state-of-the-art weapons, but they had no actual combat experience, and many showed signs of fear.
They had suffered for far too long from the terror brought by the alien warlords. Even with advanced armor and weapons, they unconsciously feared the other side.
"Let this war be the opening of the unification of Barbarus."
"We will definitely defeat all the alien races and reclaim this world that belongs to humanity."
"We are the Death Guard, the scythe of humanity."
"Let us avenge the dead and ensure that the living need not fear. Now, let the war begin."
Mortarion's voice was powerful and magnetic, instantly giving courage even to the cowardly.
The villagers who had finished their training began their counterattack against the zombies.
They quickly realized just how advanced and powerful their weapons and armor were.
The zombies could not harm them at all.
With the help of the great life-form Pugh,
the diseases and viruses that infected the living corpses had no effect on the corpses.
Without a doubt, this was a one-sided victory.
The villagers used their weapons to easily defeat the staggering undead.
Mortarion charged at the front. Bright lightning surged from his massive scythe.
With every swing, the undead corpses were severed at the waist.
Clad in armor and wielding a massive scythe, Mortarion was like a god of death, easily slaughtering the undead and alien underlings under the command of the alien warlord.
The warlords who had raided the village soon realized that they had invited a tremendous disaster upon themselves.
These humans did not fear plague or toxins and also possessed advanced weapons.
His subordinates were no match for them at all.
Therefore, this warlord composed of diverse forces firmly issued the order to retreat to the mountainous region.
The higher the altitude on Barbarus, the denser the toxic fog became, making it impossible for humans to survive there.
However, this alien warlord had not expected that the equipment the humans possessed had been specially designed for combat in extreme environments.
Its filtration system and internal breathing system could operate continuously for hundreds of hours even in the toxic planetary atmosphere without deteriorating.
Mortarion resolved to cut off the head of that alien warlord and charged forward.
The alien warlord, realizing that the humans were catching up, was driven by fear and immediately ordered the remaining troops to stop the pursuers.
Even when he saw the enemy turn back, Mortarion did not slow down.
The massive scythe was gripped in his hand, spinning at high speed, cutting down the enemies blocking his path one after another.
In the blink of an eye, he cut through severed limbs and arms covered in blood and closed in on the alien warlord.
Seeing Mortarion charging toward him, the warlord desperately drew energy from the Warp and tried to release a psychic spell to stop the attack.
However, just as he was about to gather a powerful torrent of psychic energy, Mortarion swung his scythe with tremendous force and instantly shattered the energy sphere.
Shock appeared on the face of the alien warlord. His pupils dilated, and the first thought that came to him was "This is impossible."
Ignoring the other party's surprise, Mortarion, in the next moment, sliced through the other party's neck with his scythe.
The alien warlord's head flew off, rolled across the ground, and his body tilted forward, slamming hard onto the mountain path covered in rubble and blood.
"This is only the beginning."
Mortarion stared intently at the dead alien warlord. An expression of disbelief still floated on that face.
Then he turned his face away and looked in another direction.
Thanks to his armor and the Primarch's own eyesight, even the dense toxic fog could not obstruct his vision.
Mortarion saw the highest peak of Barbarus. On its summit rose the fortress of his adoptive father.
"Father, I'll be coming to see you soon."
..
PS: Read at least 30 advanced chapters at patreon.com/AbsoluteCode