Travel to Warhammer 40K with Gray Wind.

Chapter 54 Mutation
After the environmental transformation of the Southern Continent was basically completed, Russell who returned to the Northern Continent unexpectedly learned of an interesting thing.

This matter is quite abstract. Generally speaking, the National Church and the Adeptus Mechanicus had some disputes and conflicts. The cause of the conflict was the giant icon of the Emperor being built on the outer orbit of the Falla galaxy.

In the construction drawing of the "Guider" emperor's icon submitted by Russell, the emperor did not wear his iconic golden power armor, but was barefoot, wearing a scholar's robe

And the Adeptus Mechanics brought a bit of smuggling into the construction of the icon—they added some eye-catching gear-like patterns to the scholar's robes worn by the Emperor, which looked like the red robes worn by tech-priests.

In other words, what they built was not the icon of the Emperor, but the icon of the Om Messiah.

The State Church and the Adeptus Mechanicus once again had a fight over this matter, and under the tense situation, there was almost an imperial infighting in Falla. Unfortunately, this time, Russell, who wanted to eat melons, did not see them fight. The dispute ended with the State Church adding money.

Russell even suspected that the purpose of the Adeptus Mechanicus was this from the beginning.

The archbishop, who was in a hurry, had to hand over a high-tech holy relic "Eye of Reality" that was handed down from the era of the Great Crusade, which was said to have been used by the Primarch, to the Mechanic Order in exchange for them to erase the blasphemous gears printed on the emperor's icon.

But if you want to ask which Primarch used the sacred object "Eye of Reality" back then, no one can give a definite answer, and the archbishop himself doesn't know.

The conflict that was quelled by the archbishop's flesh-cutting was just the most striking one among the many disagreements. Ever since the various forces of the empire gathered in Falla, various frictions between them, large and small, have never stopped.

Today's human empire is nominally a whole, but there is no authoritative ruler who can unify the forces of all parties. Each faction within the empire has its own interests and demands, and no one is willing to give in. The result is endless struggle and wrangling.

They are now able to maintain an apparent peace in Falla, and they can generally contribute in the same direction, which is already very commendable.

Stumbling along the way, in the 39th year of the 799th millennium, the statue of the "Guide" of the human emperor was finally completed in the outer orbit of the Falla star system under the worship of countless believers.

In the same year, the construction of the L-star gate sub-gate located in the core galaxy Nirvana was reported to be completed; Russell’s private fleet brought back the main components of the L-star gate built by Gray Wind from the critical base galaxy in batches, and began to assemble at the left hand of the emperor with the assistance of the Mechanicus.

To the average sailor and recruit of the Penitent Fire Chapter stationed at Falla, what is being built in space is but a component in the hands of the God-Emperor's Icon.They didn't understand why their chief would ask them to leave Falla, where they had been stationed for a long time, and to park all the troops of the entire fleet around the icon, in a defensive posture.

But the very few high-level officials who know the inside story understand what an important historic moment it is now.

Once the main gate is assembled, the first star gate route from Falla to Nirvana will be open for navigation, and a crack will really appear in the deadly chains that the evil gods have tied on the neck of the human empire for thousands of years.

It was also at this important moment that a sudden change occurred that subverted everyone's cognition.

The flagship of the battle group commanding the entire fleet, carrying the Cathedral of Glory, the main gun of the "Flame of Repentance" suddenly activated itself for some unknown reason, aiming the muzzle at the left hand of the L-star gate, which was approaching the final stage of assembly, the icon of the emperor.

The other ships in the surrounding area immediately went on alert, and the weapon system in standby was activated immediately. The captains of the ship kept sending communication requests to the Fire of Confession, wanting to confirm the reason for the activation of the main gun, but they failed to get any response.

Under the amazed gaze of the marines, a thick spear of destruction shot out from the muzzle of the Flame of Repentance, and the brilliant stream of light swept across the starry sky.

The two nearest Mechanicus forge ships responded immediately, trying to use their own hulls to block the fatal blow to the under-construction stargates that were not equipped with void shields. However, how could such unspecialized logistics ships move faster than the energy torrent fired by the flagship's main guns?
Seeing that the star gate that was about to be assembled was about to be destroyed, everyone's heart was chilled.

But suddenly, an incomprehensible scene happened again.

A thin layer of golden flame suddenly burned on the surface of the majestic icon standing in the starry sky, as if it was coated with a layer of gold leaf.

The human emperor dressed as a scholar held up the "lantern" in his hand, and quickly turned around, so this ferocious shot that should have completely destroyed the star gate with one blow finally hit the head of the icon.

In an instant, the human emperor's head was torn apart in the starry sky.

"What blasphemy..."

"The shooting just now came from the battleship Repentance Fire, the Repentance Fire Chapter has betrayed! Repeat, Repentance Fire has betrayed!"

"All ships immediately concentrate their firepower to eliminate the rebellion! Suppress the heresy!"

A cruiser's captain roared over the comm channel to announce the appalling betrayal, and without delay ordered his crew to attack the Repenting Fire immediately.

Even if the size of its own ship is much smaller than the large battleship of the fire of repentance, it can't stop the raging anger of the soldiers of the empire.

But after the command to fire was conveyed, the captain did not see the salvo of naval guns tearing apart the starry sky for a long time, nor did he hear the noisy movement and communication of people in the ship.

A trace of cold sweat dripped from the corner of his forehead, the captain turned around slowly, and what greeted him was an evil blade full of chaos power.

A burly giant wearing red and blue power armor and with a pair of curved horns growing out of the helmet quietly appeared behind the captain, and a vicious dagger pierced his heart.

The bloody battleship command room was full of lifeless crew members. Each corpse died in a different way, but they were all killed by one blow: some had their carotid arteries severed, while others had their spines broken. It can be seen that the murderer was carrying out planned killings following a law that ordinary people could not understand.

Dozens of dead crew members' corpses were carefully arranged in strange chaotic patterns, as if some kind of sacrilegious ceremony was being held.

The Chaotic Astartes who caused such a tragedy put on a robe over their spell-filled power armor, paced back and forth in the bloody cabin, and chanted the honorable name of the dark god.

Using this sacrificial ceremony as a link, he tore apart the veil between warp space and reality, and hideous and twisted chaos demons struggled to emerge from the pool of blood. The gloomy whispers echoed in the void, torturing the loyal machine souls serving this battleship.

"In the name of the Lord of Change..." the Astartes, clothed in Chaos energies, proclaimed.

(End of this chapter)