Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 471 The thread of conspiracy
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Generally speaking, the Siege Tyrant Terminator should be like:
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Finally, Bloodheart's gigantic, horned head, along with its unwilling roar and curse on Tolamino, dissipated into the earthly air from the place where it was shoveled away, like a piece of coal burned out by red flames.

Its huge helmet, which was changing from the iron color of the Iron Warrior to the black copper color, also fell to the ground with a clang, losing the agility and luster given to it by the original power of truth, as if there had been another will in this set of armor, and this will disappeared along with the expulsion of the demon - a reasonable idea.

But Samokan was a little confused as to why he seemed to hear the voice inside his body burping several times just now.

+What's wrong with you? Are you okay? +
+Burp—It's ok, kid, I'm fine. I hope you have a good appetite for lunch later. +
+Huh? Okay, thanks, I will. By the way...+
At this moment, someone from the newly arrived team below them shouted in surprise, interrupting Samokan's questions and attracting the attention of everyone who was still here.

The wizard lord Tolamino had landed from the sky and was standing on the shore of the half-dried blood lake. The ones shouting were the Yolan Dragoons who had come to help clean up the place again.

It may not be appropriate to call him the Wizard Lord now: some of the holes in the storm missile nest behind him are still emitting smoke, the ancient iron armor reflects the red light at the bottom of the Blood Lake and the yellow temporary lighting around him, he wears an ancient model of helmet, two bright red lights are burning in his goggles, he looks like a thick wall made of iron, blood and fire: it was once knocked down from the inside, but a new figure is gradually standing up on the ruins.

The dragoons, led by Lieutenant Colonel Leonid, pointed in surprise at a thin figure who was holding a head in Tolamino's huge iron gauntlet and shouted.

The mortal's flaxen hair was disheveled, tangled in strands around the Iron Warrior's cold, gunpowder-stained iron fingers, and his limbs drooped limply.

"383rd Regiment uniforms! These are our people!" Sergeant Elad shouted.

"Put her down quickly!" Lieutenant Colonel Leonid's eyes were fixed on the tattered and soot-stained uniform - underneath it, one could see the unique sky blue color of the Yolan Dragoon Regiment.

Tolamino's voice rumbled like a cannon, coming from behind his unique helmet visor. "Bold and rude ants! I will kill you..." He turned his wrist to the lieutenant colonel, and the muzzle of the wrist-mounted twin storm bolter began to point at these soldiers and lock fire.

“Stop! Tolamino! In the name of the Emperor… the Lord of Iron! You can’t do this!” Uriel looked around and began to jump down along the crumbling ruins on the side of the platform. Samokuan and Pasanius followed behind him. “They are our comrades!”

"I am the son of the noble Olympias! Who am I to be compared with this group of false emperors and mortal lackeys..." Tolamino's complaints were of course not continued, because he once again looked at the handle of the staff in his hand in surprise. "...Oh...what a painful and sweet admonition...I understand...Father...as long as it is your wish..."

The Iron Warrior siege master's voice suddenly became low. He shook the woman in his hand, then gently placed her on the ground.

The Yolans immediately surrounded them. Sergeant Elad held his gun and looked at Tolamino vigilantly, covering his superior who went over to check the situation.

Lieutenant Colonel Leonid knelt down beside the unconscious thin woman, felt her pulse, then fumbled to pull out her dog tag (Note 1) from her neck and carefully read the message on it in the dim light here.

Suddenly a beam of witchfire rose up, illuminating the name and rank etched on the grimy dog ​​tag in his hand.

"This is our Lieutenant Larana Utorian! She is indeed from the 383rd Yolan Dragoon Regiment," he announced proudly. "The reason why I am not familiar with her is probably because her area of ​​​​defense is far from mine."

At this time, Uriel also arrived here. He asked in surprise, "Is she one of yours? How did she suddenly appear here?"

Tolamino grabbed the bottom of his helmet with both hands. With the sound of a muddy unlocking jet, he took it off, revealing a pair of golden eyes. He shook his tied white hair and said, "Although I can't deduce all the processes yet, it seems that she should be related to Kroger's death."

"How to say?"

The Iron Warrior Wizard Lord pointed at the helmet and said, "She should have been brought here by this suit of armor. The owner of this power armor is Kroger. According to my intelligence and the condition of this power armor, he should be dead. Otherwise, he would not have taken it off so completely and let a mortal wear it."

"Is this possible?" Samokan walked over, half-knelt down to pick up the helmet, and walked back. The size of the Terminator helmet was very loose even for him. Lieutenant Larana's pale and thin head seemed to occupy only one-third of it at most. "She is an unmodified mortal woman. There is no way she can wear this armor, let alone move in it. Professor, did you make a mistake? After all, many power armors look similar."

+*weird laughter+
"That's right. This is the power armor of my former colleague Kroger." Tolamino motioned for Samokan to hand him the helmet and looked at it carefully again. "I'm sure."

"So sure?"

"I have aimed at this helmet at least a hundred times, Samokan. No one knows you better than your enemies."

"Uh, aren't you colleagues...Is there something wrong with what you said..."

+Ah, this is a real bad guy, yes, he is a cunning bastard who can lie, and he is also very narcissistic, vain, arrogant and can please most people if he wants. - If he is lucky enough not to die, I would consider recommending him to some acquaintances, they like this. +
+What the hell are you talking about? +
+Don't worry, I won't let you get in touch with those, they are still too low-level for you. Child, your talent should be worthy of more precious truth and true brothers. +
"If this was once a warsmith's Power Armor," Uriel asked, "how did she come into possession of it and bring it here?"

"It should be related to the Blood Heart." The Blood Raven Think Tank came over. "It was recorded in our chapter's library that the Blood Heart used the power gained from the Blood God's favor to build a unique set of armor for himself. The armor is intelligent, but I didn't know it could transform and carry people through the warp - incredible. I thought only the Omphalos evil spirit was good at this kind of space blood magic."

"Transformation is a clever way of practical application." Tolamino said, "I am very interested in learning about the little knowledge in your head, little wizard. You..." He shuddered, as if he was stabbed by something again, "...your knowledge may be worth a very good price. Perhaps when you are interested, we can make some deals on this."

Seraface turned his pale face to Tolamino and gave him a smile that seemed to be mutual, without making any comment.

"It seems that we still have to wait for Lieutenant Larana to wake up before asking her about the specific circumstances."

Tolamino nodded, and used his magic to summon some suspended steel plates and guardrails for the Yolans as they tried to make a simple stretcher. It was just a simple move, but the tension in the dragoons' body language began to ease. +Oh, how wonderful it is that this emotional change of human beings has always been so direct. Reminds me of the past...+
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"How's Lieutenant Larana doing?"

When Lieutenant Colonel Leonid entered Soltan's command room again, this was the first question he encountered.

The Yolans couldn't help but slightly curl up their lips. "She's physically fine, but her mental strength is severely overdrawn. We once thought she couldn't hold on - but we accidentally discovered that when Lord Samokan was by her side, he seemed to be able to stabilize her. Thanks to the merciful throne and the merciful him, now he will come to see her whenever he is free. I think she will wake up soon."

"That's right." Soltan nodded. "Because her testimony may be related to some... clues to the whereabouts of the person, so we hope that she can be conscious and clear-headed when the time comes."

"Yes, sir." The dragoon lieutenant colonel came over. "When can we officially dismantle this evil fortress? I think some of the things we found during the cleanup are enough to make this place subject to ten thousand extermination orders."

Tolamino glared at him, but the Yoranite puffed out his chest instead.

"So how are you doing, Lieutenant Colonel?"

"Cancer is eating me." Lieutenant Colonel Leonid was able to talk about this calmly, "It is also eating all my men. Thanks to Captain Eshara for discovering and telling us the truth during the last moments of his guard."

The Stoneforge looked at the lieutenant colonel inquiringly. "Then you will hate those who tricked you into taking a drug called an antidote, but in fact it was slowly killing you with cancer?"

"Why not, sir? I hate them, and I think they are guilty."

"Oh? But they are also part of the Empire. Your accusation here can be said to be a dissatisfaction with the Empire. As they always say, 'Sacrifice is the cornerstone of the Empire.' Hmm? As far as I know, if you are unwilling to sacrifice your own life and the lives of your subordinates and harbor resentment, you will definitely be tried and shot even if you survive, Lieutenant Colonel."

The lieutenant colonel raised his face, and his eyes, dimmed by illness, radiated a strong hatred. "I still love my hometown, the Emperor and the Empire. Your Excellency, but I also hate these Mechanic Cultists who deceived us. This is human nature!" His breathing became rapid, and his cheeks showed an abnormal and morbid flush. "Besides, we are not the first legion to be deceived, do you know?"

The Stoneforge nodded, "You know I summoned you here to ask about this matter in detail, because according to the ancient magic records that Tolamino found in the Kalan-Gol Fortress and brought to me, it is very likely that the construction and guarding of the Heart of the Hydra, the ascension of Barban Falk in that place, and the cancer that all of you have contracted are all part of a conspiracy that has targeted you and brought you here. I cannot allow any hidden conspiracies and the existence of the unliving in the gutter between where my father's palace is and where we are going to live for a while, so I have to clarify the details of the whole process as much as possible."

The lieutenant colonel's eyes flickered, and it was obvious that he was still struggling with some deep-rooted thoughts in his heart - after all, it was one thing to kill your enemy with your enemy's enemy, but when the common enemy disappeared and this enemy treated you well, the boundaries began to blur, and it was not easy to convince yourself to start telling the enemy some of your own dirty secrets in this situation.

"Of course," Soltarn added gently, "I assure you that the whole thing will be fully documented and, when the time is right, um, published, and the murderer brought to justice."

This sentence undoubtedly moved the lieutenant colonel who was slowly dying. He knew very well that he could not complete this revenge with his own ability. After all, even if they defended the fortress on the Heart of Hydra that day and repelled the attack of the Iron Warriors, what was waiting for the remnants of the 383rd Regiment? Only death, death after knowing the truth about why they died early.

"How can I believe you?" he said hoarsely. "The temporary chapel you built does not look so chaotic, and you do act like an apostle of the savior, but everything I have experienced makes me feel that you are not a member of the Emperor's throne."

"Indeed," Soltarn said, "but I am not a member of the Empire. If I were a member of the Empire, I dare say that you would suspect that the promises I made to you here were just false appeasement. I know the bureaucracy of Terra and the secret actions of the Mechanicus much better than you do, Lieutenant Colonel. Even after ten thousand years, I dare say that based on the current situation, the situation will only get worse, and the redundancy of the bureaucracy will only become more and more numerous and complicated, rather than a quick trial that will give you fairness and justice."

There was a hint of irony in his smile. "After all, my father and his descendants never experienced any fairness or justice back then."

The lieutenant colonel stared at him. "Can I trust you? You traitor who lives on a demonic world?"

Soltarn shrugged. "You can only trust me. Because, you are the only ones still alive in the Heart of Hydra incident. When you are all dead, no one will know the truth and the sacrifices. No one will know what happened there. I have a piece of news to tell you, Leonid. The team I sent out to check the situation has returned. They reported that there is no trace of Tor Christo Fortress in the Heart of Hydra."

This news undoubtedly crushed Commander Yolan instantly.

"What?" He was stunned and muttered in shock. "What?!"

"That's it. According to the traces, the Mechanicus came to this planet later, but they did not come down to clean up the mess or take away any survivors. They launched light spears from orbit to bombard and burn the fortress you were guarding and the surrounding ground, wiping it off the face of the earth. - So, only you can describe the truth of the time, Lieutenant Colonel."

"How dare they! How dare they! Liars! Scoundrels! Inhumans! Ah! Captain Eshara and his honorable brothers! And our legion! Our warriors! And millions of loyal warriors! Those legion flags in the honor room! Millions! Tens of millions of lives!"

Leonid raised his head and Soltann's eyes were fixed on him.

The lieutenant colonel knew that it was time for him to leave his own testimony for the universe.

He swallowed.

"At first, those mechanical priests told us who had just been transferred here that the air composition of this planet was harmful to the human body..."

(End of this chapter)