The shadows danced as Konrad Kur, the Night Haunter, once again succumbed to the Embrace of Darkness. This time, however, he sought the company of his brother, playing mind games and taunting him with his sardonic speeches. In an attempt to manipulate Lion El’Johnson, he asserted that he was as much a perpetrator of death as Kur himself, the Primarch of the Night Lords, was. He just didn’t want to admit it to himself.
El’Johnson, cold and stoic, responded in a way that only seemed to fuel Kur’s fiery passion, leading him to unleash tirade after tirade. But Kur, being the cunning and calculated character he is, wasn’t ranting aimlessly. His motive was to disorient the Lord of Caliban, to make it difficult for him to predict where the next attack would come from.
Yet, Johnson, having hunted the traitorous Primarch for so long, had managed to thoroughly study his tricks. He parried attack after attack, inflicting serious damage on the Night Haunter. But Kur was relentless, leading the Primarch of the First on a chase that ended in a climactic battle at the Crypt of an ancient Pagan Shrine.
It was there that Kur had prepared the main trap for his brother. He had rigged the basement with melter bombs, intending to bury the last deceased in the crypt when they detonated. But the Lion, ever the tactical genius, had foreseen this possibility. His warriors had predicted such a move and disarmed the crypt in advance. Kur’s plan had failed.
In a surprising twist of fate, it turned out that the Primarch of the Eighth Legion, usually the one laying traps, had himself fallen victim to a trap set by his opponent. When he realized the Lion had not arrived alone, Kur was driven into a frenzy. Overwhelmed by the hopelessness of his situation, he charged at El’Johnson in a fit of rage and fury, attempting to kill him before he could capture Kur.
Yet, after another swift skirmish, the Lion managed to break his enemy both morally and physically. The prolonged hunt ended with the broken spine of the Primarch of the Eighth Legion and his shattered claws. This completely deprived him of the ability to fight, which Johnson took advantage of. This time, however, he decided to play it safe by binding his hated enemy in heavy chains.
Within a short period of time, Kur stood before the tribunal of the triumvirate. The Primarchs were careful not to stoop to the level of their traitorous brothers, such as Fulgrim, who had killed Ferrus Manus. They wanted to lend this as much legality as possible and thus convened in the Legatus Collegium, a multitude of participants in the judicial process who were to act as both witnesses and prosecutors.
The trial began with Sanguinius delivering the accusatory speech. Kur, in his usual playful manner, began to turn the process into a verbal skirmish, throwing barbs at everyone his long tongue could reach. He knew his enemies’ weaknesses and did not hesitate to exploit them. His main target was, of course, the triumvirate and its unity.
His accusations, however, did not go unnoticed. Rabut Gillman and Lionel Johnson were thrown into a whirlwind of emotions as Kur claimed that the Lord of Caliban, with the silent consent of the Vengeful Son, had committed more atrocities than he himself had. This revelation sparked a chain of events that led to a heated confrontation between brothers, revealing deeper wounds and betrayals. Nothing was off the table in this trial.
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