The waves of the Warp beat against the wreckage of the "Maw of Blasphemy". This Chaos battleship that once made hundreds of worlds tremble was now floating in the gap between reality and illusion like a hollowed-out whale carcass.

The blasphemous runes on the hull flickered on and off like the pulse of a dying man.

Inside the battleship, the Chaos Priest Malcharion knelt before the altar, his dry fingers tightly grasping the blood-stained scripture.

Hoarse prayers came out of his throat, his voice trembling, and sweat mixed with pus and blood slid down his rotten cheeks.

The candles on the altar had long been extinguished, replaced by something darker - shadows seeping through the cracks in the bulkhead, wriggling like living things.

"Gods above... please protect your servants..."

His voice stopped abruptly.

The lights overhead flickered, then went out completely.

The corridor was plunged into darkness, save for the faint red glow of the blasphemous runes on the Chaos Space Marines' power armour. Malcharion heard something - not the whispers of the Warp, but something colder and sharper.

“Gah—”

A crow's cry came from the darkness.

The priest looked up suddenly and saw a pitch-black crow standing on the edge of the ventilation duct, staring at him with blood-red eyes.

It was definitely not a natural creature - its feathers were as sharp as blades and its beak gleamed with a cold metallic gleam.

"Fire!" a Chaos Terminator roared and raised his grenade launcher.

Flames spurted out of the muzzle, and bullets tore through the air - but they penetrated the crow the moment they hit it, as if it was just an illusion.

The next second, shadows gushed out from the bullet holes, transforming into countless pitch-black crow feathers, sweeping across the entire cabin like a storm.

“No! No!”

A World Eater warrior swung his chain axe wildly, but missed.

His movements suddenly froze—shadows penetrated his mouth and nose, and black veins spread under his skin.

He opened his mouth to scream, but only a squirming mass of darkness came out.

Then, his body collapsed like a tower of sand.

Malcharion stumbled back, knocking over the altar.

The rancid holy oil spilled on the ground, but could not ignite - some force suppressed the flames of the warp.

He heard screams coming from all directions, and Chaos Warriors were swallowed by the darkness one by one.

Someone fired wildly into the shadows, but the bullets passed through the void and shattered his companion's head.

Someone tried to summon a demon, but the spell froze into ice in his throat.

“Gah—”

Another crow cawed, this time it was close to my ear.

The priest turned and ran, his power boots slipping on the sticky plasma.

He stumbled through the corridor, hearing the groaning of twisted metal behind him.

When he looked back, the entire wall of the passage was collapsing inward, as if being digested by the stomach of some giant beast.

He rushed into the bridge, only to find that it had already become a slaughterhouse.

The captain was nailed to the command seat, a spear made of shadow piercing his chest.

The navigator's head was gone, leaving only a twitching headless body kneeling in front of the astrograph.

Dozens of Chaos Space Marine corpses were scattered everywhere, some of them were torn in half, and some seemed to have been drained of all liquids and were as shriveled as mummies.

“Come out!” he roared into the darkness, blood foam and internal organs spurting out of his throat. “Face me, coward!”

The only response he got was the crows cawing in the ventilation duct.

The sounds overlapped, sometimes like a baby crying, sometimes like the wails of a dying person, and finally all merged into a creepy chuckle.

The priest suddenly froze.

He saw his own shadow betraying him.

Under the pale light of the emergency lamp, the shadow projected on the wall suddenly raised a finger and made a "hush" gesture.

Then the shadow began to move on its own, twisting and standing like a puppet, slowly breaking free from the two-dimensional plane to become a three-dimensional entity.

When the shadow rose completely, he could see the pale face emerging from the darkness.

"Good evening, traitor."

Corax's voice was like a thousand feathers brushing against glass at once.

His figure was thinner than he remembered, with blue veins visible under his pale skin, and his eyes were two constantly spinning dark whirlpools.

The most terrifying thing is the way he exists - he is clearly standing in front of you, but it makes you feel that he exists in every shadow corner of the ship at the same time.

“Bang bang bang bang bang bang!!!!”

The priest's bolter fired first.

Twelve warheads reinforced by warp power pierced through the shadow of the Raven King, blasting holes in the rear bulkhead that glowed green with flame.

Corax didn't even frown, he just raised his hand slightly, and the flying shrapnel suddenly solidified in mid-air, then changed direction and shot back at a faster speed.

With the dull sound of metal tearing flesh, Terrax fell to his knees.

Six pieces of shrapnel penetrated his shoulders, knees and abdominal armor, accurately avoiding all vital organs.

The severe pain made his eyes go black, but what frightened him even more was the black lines spreading across the wound.

Those shadows moved along his blood vessels like living things, and his blessing of chaos was fading wherever they passed.

"You know what's the most ridiculous thing?" Corax squatted down, his crow feather cloak falling to the ground, "You cowards who surrender to the darkness are actually afraid of the real darkness."

"Just like my ridiculous brother."

"Traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor..."

"Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"

"Remember this feeling," the present Corax whispered, digging his fingers into the traitor's skull.

Then, darkness broke out.

His scream was stuck in his throat, his eyeballs melted first, followed by his facial muscles, and finally even his bones began to soften.

But the whole process was extremely slow, enough for him to clearly feel the excruciating pain of every inch of his tissue being devoured by the shadow.

When his vocal cords finally broke down, what came out at last was not a wail, but a clear crow's cry.

A human-shaped black shadow stood there, with its mouth open and shouting.

Corax blew a breath, and the shadow collapsed like a tower of sand, turning into countless crows that flew away.

The Lord of Shadows stood up, black liquid dripping from his pale fingertips.

The entire battleship has now become his domain, and the resonance of shadows echoes in every corner.

Through his Warp perception, he could see more Chaos fleets cruising nearby - the Black Legion's vanguard had already smelled something unusual.

“It’s time to say goodbye.”

He walked to the center of the bridge and placed his palm on the navigation system. The shadow spread along the metal lines and soon eroded the entire console.

Corax withdrew his hand and turned to the observation window. Outside the window, a new vortex was forming in the warp storm. It was the reconnaissance fleet sent by Abaddon.

Through the broken porthole he could see three raiders forming a siege formation.

The Raven Lord smiled.

He opened his arms, and his crow feather cloak suddenly grew longer, wrapping his whole body like a living thing.

When the Black Legion's boarding weapons pierced the battleship's hull, the entire battleship suddenly lit up with a faint blue light from the inside.

As soon as the first group of Chaos warriors boarded the ship, they were overwhelmed by the flock of crows as soon as they cut open the airlock door.

And Corax just stood in the shadows and taunted them.