The strongest astral army in Warhammer 40K

The wreckage of the Dark Angels' warship floated in the cold void, and the eagle emblem on the burning banner was torn apart by some sharp weapon.

On the ground, blood stained the entire canyon red.

The corpses of a thousand Dark Angel warriors were arranged in a bizarre pattern—**a raven with outstretched wings, pecking at the heart of a lion**.

Chapter Master Azrael knelt in a pool of blood, his power sword broken, his shield shattered, and his breastplate pierced by five claw marks, blood gushing from the wounds. Before him, a tall, deathly pale figure slowly retracted its blood-stained claws.

**Coates.**

No, to be more precise—**clone Coz**.

His skin was even paler than in life, his eyes as black as an abyss, without a trace of white. A maniacal smile hung at the corners of his mouth, and his teeth were as sharp as a shark's.

"Ryan... Ryan..." he murmured, his voice like fingernails scraping glass, "Your little kitties meow so sweetly."

Azrael coughed up blood: "You...you...madman..."

Koz suddenly flew into a rage, kicking off his shoulder armor: "Madmen?! You're the madmen! You betrayed Father! You betrayed me!"

His roar summoned lightning, which illuminated the **thousand heads of dark angels** floating behind him—all torn off alive and strung together into a horrifying rosary.

"Tell Ryan..." Koz whispered in Azrael's ear, "I've come to collect my debt."

In the communications room of Terra Palace, Ryan Aljonson smashed a tactical table made of adamantite with a single punch.

In the holographic image, Azrael's mangled body lies in a medical pod, where a Mechanicus priest is urgently repairing his internal organs.

"Coz..." The lion's growl caused the temperature in the room to plummet. "I'll tear him to pieces with my own hands."

Guilliman's projection flickered beside him: "Calm down, Ryan. Kroncos is just a pawn of Abaddon, we must—"

34; No need! 34; Ryan's Imperial Shield suddenly erupted with dazzling golden light, 34; The blood debt of the Dark Angel can only be repaid with blood! 34;

Just then, a piercing static noise suddenly came from the communicator, and a distorted video abruptly cut in—

Koz's face filled the entire screen, with mountains of dark angel corpses piled up behind him.

"Guess where I am?" He chuckled nervously. "Hint: There are lots and lots of stones here..."

In the background, an ancient array of megaliths can be faintly seen—**the last remnants of Caliban**.

Ryan's pupils contracted sharply: "He went... to Caliban's tomb."

Russell's golden psionic energy sensed something amiss: "This is a trap. Abaddon deliberately led you there."

&34；我不在乎。&34；莱恩已经披上战甲，&34；召集所有黑暗天使，启动&39；天罚协议&39；。&34；

Vulcan's molten blood boiled in his veins: "I'll go with you."

"No." The Lion King's voice was as cold as iron. "This is a personal grudge between him and me."

His gaze swept over everyone present: "If I fail... tell my father I did my best."

As Ryan's flagship, the Unyielding Truth, leaped into subspace, observers noticed that the lion statue on the bow had somehow transformed into a tear-and-blood image.

On the ruins of Caliban, Klon Coz sits on a throne made of skulls, humming a distorted lullaby.

Suddenly, his singing stopped abruptly.

"Ah..." He took a deep, blissful breath. "I can smell you, brother."

The sky was torn apart by golden light, and Ryan's assault pod crashed down like a meteor! The light of the Emperor's Shield cleansed all shadows within a kilometer radius, and the Power Sword "Blade of Loyalty" was aimed straight at Koz's throat!

"This sword—" The Lion King's roar shattered the rocks, "For Caliban!"

Koz laughed as he met the challenge, his black fingernails clashing against the blade, the resulting energy shattering all the surrounding boulders into dust!

"You've finally arrived!" His voice was distorted with excitement. "Now... let's relive that unfinished ball from ten thousand years ago!"

…………

Lightning tore through the blood-red sky, and torrential rain washed away the bloodstains that had never dried. Ryan's Imperial Shield burned in the lightning, and every drop of rain that fell on the shield evaporated into a holy mist; Koz's jet-black fingernails, however, grew even sharper in the rain, cutting the raindrops into a foul-smelling blood mist.

Clang! ...

The claws and the blade collided for the thousandth time, the shockwave leveling the ruins within a hundred meters radius. Ryan's cloak was torn to shreds, revealing the battered adamantite armor beneath; Koz's pale skin was covered in scorch marks—the marks of the Emperor's Shield.

"Is that all you've got?" Ryan suddenly changed tactics, his shield slamming into Koz's knee. "Imitation!"

Coz staggered backward, his left leg cracking as if bones were breaking, but his laughter grew even more manic: "Hahaha! You're scared! You're scared of what's inside this body!"

Ryan's pupils contracted sharply. He recalled the duel ten thousand years ago—the clarity that flashed in the real Coz's eyes before his death, his plea, "Kill me, brother." But now, this clone's eyes held only chaotic malice.

"You are not him!" the Lion King roared in fury, his sword suddenly flashing with golden light. "You don't even deserve to be forgiven!"

Koz's fingers suddenly twisted at an inverted joint angle, gripping the blade in a posture impossible for a human, black blood dripping from the wound: "But I am a better version of him! More insane! More pure!"

His head suddenly spun 180 degrees, his spine stretched out like a python, and he bit down on Ryan's neck!

&34; Pfft! &34;

The edge of the Emperor's Shield sliced ​​into Koz's throat, black blood splattering onto Ryan's face, but was instantly purified by the golden light.

"It's over." The Lion King slammed his shield down, pinning the clone to the ground, "In the name of Caliban!"

Koz suddenly stopped struggling. His dark pupils began to fade, revealing a pale golden psionic mark beneath—the **Imperial Mark**!

"You think...you're the one who won?" The clone's voice suddenly became hollow. "Look at the sky...my dear brother..."

Ryan looked up abruptly and discovered that the blood rain had turned black, and tiny Horus's eyes appeared in every drop. The severed remains of the clone Coz were vaporizing, transforming into billions of nanites that rose into the sky, gradually coalescing into a gigantic face that covered the entirety of Caliban—

**Abaddon's sinister grin!**

"Thank you for helping activate the clone's final agreement~" Warlord's voice came from the clouds, "Now, the entire Caliban is my bomb!"

Ryan's communicator suddenly crackled to life with an urgent call from Guilliman: "Evacuate immediately! Subspace reaction in the planet's core..."

&34；不！&34；狮王一剑插入地面，帝皇之盾绽放出前所未有的光芒，&34；伏尔甘！罗素！启动&39；卡利班圣盾&39；！&34；

The "Unyielding Truth" on orbit suddenly disintegrated, and all the black stone armor plates fell like meteors, forming a massive sealing array under the guidance of Ryan's psychic energy.

"Are you insane?!" Guilliman's projection flickered in the turbulent energy flow, "This will drain your life!"

Ryan's skin began to crack, and blood flowed from his seven orifices, but his voice remained firm: "This is my atonement...for the real Koz..."

As the last black stone was driven into the ground, the entire city of Caliban was enveloped in golden light, and Abaddon's swarm of nanobots vanished in the holy energy.

As the smoke cleared, Ryan knelt in the center of the sealing array, the Emperor's Shield reduced to dust. Before him, a tender sprout emerged from the scorched earth—the first hint of green to appear ten thousand years after Caliban's destruction.

&34;So Father already knew…&34;He stroked the tender bud and smiled wearily,&34;Caliban’s rebirth…requires the blood of a lion…&34;