Warhammer: The 11th Primarch - The Black Emperor Chapter 15: Howard’s Daring Decision

"My lord, the Boleslaw's spire lies in that direction."

Bukayo approached Nareth and pointed ahead to the right.

"My lord, my full na is Bukayo Arshavin. My family was slaughtered by King Boleslaw on false charges. In truth, he just coveted our family's printing business."

"I had no choice but to flee to the lower hive. If I hadn't t you, I'd still be starving."

Nareth gave a slight nod. No wonder the boy had a maturity beyond his years—he once lived in the upper hive and received a proper education.

The freight elevator quickly shuttled back and forth, transporting all 840 of Nareth's n to the upper hive. Just then, Nareth suddenly heard the sound of vehicles approaching.

He imdiately grabbed a nearby tal pillar and rushed toward the source of the noise.

Leaping forward with agility unfitting of his massive fra, Nareth darted through the cargo area, unimpeded by shipping containers and other obstacles.

He soared into the air and swung the heavy tal pillar, smashing the lead vehicle in the convoy.

The tumbling truck took out two more behind it.

When Bukayo arrived at the scene, he saw a dozen trucks crushed by his master.

Even though he had expected this, the sight still stunned him into silence.

Nareth realized he could wait no longer. His advantage wasn't numbers—it was ti.

Once the enemy responded, they could mobilize forces hundreds, even thousands, of tis greater than his own. Worse yet, they could call upon aid from the chanicus.

Nareth had no intention of burning all his loyal forces on just the conquest of Tetzwok Hive City—this was only the beginning.

He commanded orders to the hurriedly arriving Roslov, "Leave eight squads to guard the elevator entrance."

"The rest of you, attack the spire with ."

"As you wish, my lord."

Roslov responded without hesitation. A month ago, if soone had told him they'd storm a royal's spire hive with fewer than 800 n, he'd have thought them insane.

But if that soone was Nareth, this giant, godlike being, he believed it could be done.

No sooner had Nareth departed, a luxury car, bearing red with a golden lightning crest on its side, slowly rolled up.

Inside, Kaminsky, recently promoted from private butler to steward of the Fender family, lounged with eyes closed in a leather seat.

Suddenly, his secretary cried out, "Sir! Sothing's wrong at the freight terminal!"

"What?"

Kaminsky opened his eyes in irritation, only to see flas blazing ahead.

"Damn it, get us out of here!"

He silently thanked the fact that he had delayed his trip to prepare for the banquet and let the cargo convoy leave ahead of him. That delay had just saved his life.

Monts later, Howard received the news. He imdiately switched to the family's intelligence officer channel.

"The cargo convoy's been attacked. Find out what happened, now!"

He then switched to the security channel. "Mobilize all family forces."

After ending the call, he furrowed his brow.

"Brelon?"

"No, he's useless."

"Estupiñan, maybe. Or maybe the royals themselves are behind this. It wouldn't be the first ti they've seized businesses by force. The Fifth Arbitrator might just be Boleslaw's puppet on the surface."

The blonde noble youth rose and paced around his desk.

Just then, a beeping alert sounded.

Howard took a deep breath and answered the intelligence officer's call.

"My lord, we've reviewed the surveillance near the freight terminal. A force of less than a thousand n is rapidly advancing. They've already wiped out several hive security teams."

"Their target, our Spire Tower?"

"No, sir. Judging by their route, they're headed for the royal Spire Tower."

Howard froze, stunned.

"What?"

He thought he was hallucinating. Only a madman would dare attack the royals' Spire Tower.

He recalled from family history that one house had once mustered its entire elite, over 60,000 n, to storm a Spire Tower... and still failed to breach it.

This attacking force? Just a thousand.

"My lord, their leader is... unusual. I've never seen a human that tall. You should take a look."

Howard pulled out a data slate and watched the footage.

His azure pupils narrowed. He'd assud it was just a burly man about two ters tall. But compared to the footage, even the Ogryns were dwarfed by this giant.

When he saw the face, he slowed down, refined it, he suddenly felt a strange familiarity.

In his mind, the handso face of a youth overlapped with that of the towering giant. He gasped.

"Nareth!"

"How... how did he beco like this?!"

The blonde noble couldn't believe what he saw. The way Nareth fought was nothing like the calm, thoughtful boy he rembered.

He crashed directly into a speeding vehicle. The assault skiff shattered on impact, its tallic debris raining down.

He grabbed a security guard like a rag doll and hurled him into a drone ard with a logging gun.

Words flashed through Howard's mind: 'brutal, efficient, cold, ruthless, unstoppable.'

'Nareth wasn't just a man, he was a god of war.'

Howard snapped out of his awe. Now was not the ti to be amazed.

The key question: how should the Fender family respond?

'Even if Nareth's uprising fails, the Boleslaw family will suffer heavy losses.'

'And knowing how they operate, they'll shift the bla by seizing assets from other house, classic post-chaos intimidation tactics.'

'By tracing the attack route, they could connect this back to the Hantmann West Do. That could point to it to . Even my past defense of Nareth could be used against .'

Howard clenched his fists. He realized Boleslaw's house would likely fra him as a traitor, accusing him of providing Nareth with intelligence, even masterminding the attack.

The truth wouldn't matter. As long as the royals could cover up the fact that a lower hive force stord a Spire Tower, they could preserve their illusion of invincibility.

Howard clenched his fists tighter. He made a risky decision:

He would join Nareth's cause—and lead an attack against the Boleslaw family, who had long sucked the lifeblood from the Fender clan.

Nareth gave him the courage to act. In the re four minutes he had watched the footage, the giant had already carved a path through an entire street's defenses.

Only 5.2 kiloters separated him from the royal Spire Tower.

As Howard led the Fender family's guards in vehicles toward the Boleslaw Tower, Nareth encountered his first real trouble.

Four stationary turrets opened fire. Mortar salvos rained down on his troops.

The deafening blasts tore through the air. Dozens of battle-hardened gang mbers were shredded like sandbags, blown apart by the shockwaves.

"Spread out!"

"Find cover!"

Nareth roared, charging straight through the storm of bullets toward the turrets.