Hello everyone, thank you for joining me for another chapter of "A Monster Returned". It's surprising how quickly this fanfic has grown. I know it might not be that monumental for anyone else, especially not compared to some of the more popular Kuroinu fics like "Eostia Harem Quest", but it still means the world to me that some people would take the time to read what I have written, so thank you.
This probably would have come out sooner and I would have liked to make it longer but atm my life is the perfect cycle of desperately applying for work in a shitty run down town by day and distracting myself by painting and building warhammer/playing helldivers2 with the boys by night.
WARNING since this is a kuroinu fic expect themes of rape and other horrible things, and combining that with Konrad motherfucking Curze expect some extreme gore.
(Disclaimer i own neither kuroinu nor warhammer 40k both properties are owned by their respective creators/owners)
ruined village near the fortress city of Ur
Konrad remained at that village for some time thinking over his vision, it was strange had there always been multiple futures had he always had a choice? A traiterous part of himself said yes, that there always had been as sanguinius and father had told him.
No, he decided quickly. He was a monster as his father had made him. Sangunius and father had mearly lied to themselves. Every major outcome he had seen had occurred every death a certainty.
His musings were interrupted however, by another vision, five mounted knights arriving at the ruined village, all women, wearing skimpy armor. Mana armor, he thought, was one of the few things worth remembering from the orc he had consumed's memory; another was that they served the leader of this kingdom, a woman named Alicia Arcturus. A shield princess and high priority target of The Legion that the orcs had fought for before their desertion.
Konrad decided quickly waiting for these knights was a good idea, if he had a choice this time allying himself with the local forces was a good idea and would hopefully lead him to the outcome that led to a mountain of monsters rather then the one of men.
Konrad thought for a while about what he would do in this new place, maybe he could be a man of justice, he had filled that role in his time on nostramo, hunting rapists, murderers and worse
He soon realized the storm that had raged through the countryside had ended and the sun had grown low; so preoccupied with his thoughts. Thoughts that were brought on by an odd moment of clarity, stirred up by a feeling he might have never felt before: hope.
He heard them arriving long before they were visible, the tactical part of himself chastised the knights, night fighting for most Astartes legions was fraught with new dangers, it was even worse for normal humans. So for these knights to choose now to arrive, not knowing if there was a waiting force was foolish.
He rose from where he had sat near the center of the ruined village, moving to meet them near the broken wooden gate that had likely once served as the entrance, he could see them from here; five women, as his vision had shown him.
They rode in formation, with whom he realized was the Sergeant at the front. She was an older woman with graying black hair, tanned skin, and was missing an eye. He briefly evaluated the other knights, all of whom were unremarkable: young with no visible scars, rookies most likely.
"Hello" he called to them. He knew that while his night vision was perfect, (a side effect of living on Nostramo for so long), theirs wasn't and it was possible that they hadn't spotted him yet the muted light of their torches not reaching his position.
The knights dismounted as he drew near, keeping a tight grip on their drawn weapons. "Hold right there", the Sergeant commanded. Konrad did as she asked, though inwardly he bristled at being ordered.
"Step into the light slowly with no sudden movements" the sergeant barked at him. And he did just that.
Then, all hell broke loose.
He heard several gasps, even a scream, come from the knights. The weapons, once drawn but kept at their sides, were now pointed at him. "It's a demon," one cried. "You monster! You killed those villagers, didn't you!" The sergeant accused.
Konrad blinked in confusion, sure he had technically killed the survivors, but that was a mercy, and the knights wouldn't have known he even did it, so why were they reacting like this?
Then he looked down; he was caked in layers of dried blood. It turned out that mercy killings were hardly a clean endeavor, and the orcs, despite being monsters, still bled red. He had been quite visceral with them too; he hadn't even noticed with how used to being covered in blood he was. During his last days on Tsagualsa, he had practically bathed in the stuff. Probably didn't help how he towered over them like a giant.
Konrads attention was drawn back to the knights by a war cry, as one of them charged him with her spear he acted on instinct, stepping to the right, dodging a thrust before grabbing the shaft and using his primarch strength to rip it out of her hands, he quickly spun the weapon around before thrusting it straight into the exposed midriff of the knight, konrad felt a brief invisible resistance to his attack but it was unable to hold against his might and the spear went through impaling the woman.
Konrad watched for a moment as the woman grabbed at the spear trying desperately to pull it out, and he felt deep within him the familiar sadistic pleasure at the action.
The other knights, now recovered from their surprise, charged him as a group. Konrad stabbed the spear with the woman still impaled into the ground and rushed to meet the closest one to him.
He tore the knights apart with his bare hands; he hadn't even realised he had killed them until he tasted blood on his tongue; he had torn the sergeant's neck out with his teeth.
He had killed them and their horses had fled.
So ingrained was he in the art of killing that he fought on autopilot, his mind a blur,seeing slashing before they came, mistakes before they were made; it was easy he thought. Killing was easy.
It angered him honestly, that he had been made this way; he enjoyed dealing in death, and a part of him wondered sometimes if a younger Konrad would have chosen to hunt his older self, as he did to other murderers.
Then a startling thought of his new grand vision crossed his mind, had he damned himself yet again?, Had he cheated himself out of a better future?
No, he denied it. Instead of working with the Seven Shield Alliance, he would work alone.
Konrad would have to leave quickly because he realized. More would come and it would move him further from his preferred future if he killed them. He would move west he decided, to the border splitting this province with the neighbouring one.
There was just a one thing to do before leaving. Eating the sargents brain, knowledge was important and learning of nearby outposts and scouting routes would help in avoiding them.
The least important were the memories of a husband and two daughters living in the fortress city of Ur. They didn't matter thought Konrad, who quickly moved on to the more important information, such as the existence of a goddess reborn called Celestine acting as the High Queen of Eostia from her seat of power, Ken, or that the ruler of Feoh, Princess Prim Fiore, was visiting her cousin Alicia Arcturus and would be leaving today.
Turning west in the direction he now knew feoh to be Konrad started running into the wilderness, at speeds befitting of a primarch the peak of humanity modified to perfection.
It wouldn't take long to reach the border; Ur and Feoh, held little territory between them instead stretching further in every other direction, at the speed he was travelling it would take another hour at best, however Konrad's attention was diverted from his task by the sounds of conflict and the smell of blood.
Konrad changed direction towards the conflict mostly on instinct; he had fought wars all his life: first against the scum of Nostramo, then against the Xenos and Heretics who refused his father at the head of an army made of those same scum of Nostramo; then finally a war against his brothers and father. In all that time, he had never shied away from battle.
A large carriage seemed to be the main reason for this fight, a large number of knights lay dead on the floor mixed in with some dead orcs, two knights in pink mana armor were guarding its doors, fighting off a large creature.
The creature was large and fat; it had an ugly face with a single eye and two thick tusks, it had a thick hide and wore a worn harness on its chest, which it used to tie a dead-eyed woman to its pelvis, permanently impaled on its cock. It had her there both as a form of protection and pleasure, and was armed with a thick club. It was a cyclops Konrad gathered from his newly gained memories. A slow brute incapable of much thought beyond "fight, fuck, and eat" to a lesser man, such a beast would tower over them to Konrad however it was barely a head taller.
Konrad changed direction towards the conflict mostly on instinct; he had fought wars all his life: first against the scum of Nostramo, then against the Xenos and Heretics who refused his father at the head of an army made of those same scum of Nostramo; then finally a war against his brothers and father. In all that time, he had never shied away from battle.
It opened its mouth to roar a challenge, that roar turned quickly to a scream as a knife had made it's way into its eye, thrown by Konrad, panicking the beast began swinging its arms wildly in a vain attempt to hit anything, it staggered forward before tripping on a dead knight and falling forward with a sickening splat driving the knife into its brain, killing both it and the women it had been using.
Konrad bit back a grin he felt coming at the death rattle of the monster and continued his path towards the carriage.
Hopefully the two survivors would prove more hospitable then his previous encounters, surely they wouldn't attack their saviour? No, he decided quickly he had saved many in the great crusade with his brutality and he had been branded a monstrous lunatic by them and his brothers.
Konrad beat back the rage growing in him, as much as he felt the pull in that moment to further violence, to more bloodshed to quiet those unpleasant memories he knew the momentary sadistic pleasure would Pale in comparison to his new grand vision.
As he continues towards the carriage Konrad watches with disappointment as the remaining knights get over their surprise and both get into a battle stance ready to attack him.
Konrad braces for another pointless fight what he doesnt expect is the door of the carriage to burst open and a short girl with pink hair large breasts and horrible ineffective cloths to through herself forward at him.
Konrad ignores the cries of "Princess" coming from the guards and readys himself to retaliate to tear apart this new attacker
He expects an attack, a dagger to the ribs maybe somthing likely inconsequential to someone like him yet still painful.
But it never comes.
Instead of pain comes a gentle warmth, a warmth Konrad had never felt before.
Looking down to see what she had done to him he was met with kind blue eyes filled with an emotion he had never seen before.
He recognized her immediately from the memory of the Sargent, Princess Prim Fiore of Feoh, Alcia Arcturus's cousin.
"Are you my prince charming?" Prim asked, looking up at him with the same mysterious emotion in her eyes and a soft smile.
For the first time since his creation Konrad realises he is feeling a foreign emotion from her one of affection, of greatfulness.
All the rage and sadness at himself at his actions, even the voices mocking him seem to disappear in that moment, in that warmth.
It almost breaks him, Konrad scarcely even realises he has wrapped his arms around prim and lifted her to his chest.
He likes the warmth.
A/N:This chapter took me a while to be honest I wanted to introduce some changes to Konrad's character here while he is still insane and violent, he has found new hope in the vision he and Celestine shared last chapter, and a form of clarity brought on by a fresh start.
Not to mention I've introduced a character I see as potentially one of the most important in fixing our sad insane boi, remember Konrad has never been shown any love in universe, contrasting Prim who I imagine being super pure and sheltered, raised on stories about being saved by a prince charming and basically falling in love on sight, let's hope nothing bad happens to her.
With all that done I have a question for my readers. Do you play/paint/build Warhammer stuff and if so what army/armies do you enjoy?
End of Chapter 2
Please let me know any way to improve, and I'll make the changes as soon as I can. Thank you for reading!
Update log for chapter 2
Uploaded 6th Mar 2024 - At 5:15 am on zero sleep and a dream.
Updated 6th Feb 2024 - At 5:20 am forgot to add the update log whoops.
Updated 6th Feb 2024 - At 2:29 pm removed a repeated section of the story.