Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 545: The Great Sage and his correct opening remarks, but things have changed -
"And this," said the Grand Sage Belisarius Cawl, tapping the display board with his original finger proudly, "is my proof of this hypothesis."

It seemed like a lifetime ago that they last held a war meeting with such a full attendance, but in fact it had not been too long.

Kyle stood at the side of the conference hall, thinking, trying to sort out his memories and thoughts.

There have been so many surprises and shocks on Cadia in the past 48 hours that it is difficult for a mortal's brain to work as fast as that of the mysterious controlled demon champion. Perhaps Master Hongso is really a genius who has discovered the best way to imprison demons. Oh, no, the Inquisitors obviously have complaints about this, but at the moment, none of them can stop Hongso from their authority.

Now, there have been great changes in the participants themselves, but, fortunately, many of these changes were not due to glorious deaths or MIA. The only one confirmed dead so far is Ms. Zabien, the Supreme Political Commissar who bravely rushed to the front line, and Minister of Logistics of Conskavan who was too busy to die. Sven Bloodhowl rushed to the Blackstone Fortress with his Bloodhowl Company and the remnants of the 13th Regiment of the Cadian Internal Guard, and has not been heard from since.

Because people who came to help from different worlds suddenly emerged in the sky above Cadia like orc spores after rain in a short period of time, the conference table in the command hall had to be changed from an ordinary round table to a huge circular table. Even if some commanders in the sky were unable to attend and could only participate by phone, as the local host of Cadia and Creed's chief of internal affairs, Sergeant Kyle still had to arrange a new set of seats for them.

Fortunately, this new meeting was attended by several officers from the Imperial Fists and their successors who had heard Cadia's call for help and came to help. Creed's old friend Sage Klan was also very good-tempered and did not mind sitting next to Mercury, whom the Dark Angels were very bothered by but most other people were still a little bothered by. This made Kyle's job a lot easier.

Although Major Eleanor of the Temple of Santa Murica, one of the two maids appointed by Saint Celestine, was busy with battles and military affairs and could not attend for the time being, the representative of the order also included Major Sylvania who followed the Living Saint. These five companies of the Order of Our Martyred Ladies had been detained in the Warp for thousands of years with their ships without knowing it, and were led back to the world by the Living Saint at this point in time. The Major Sister was arranged to sit opposite Sage Klan, leaving enough space between the Astartes.

In addition to Baroness Vadus of the Raven family who had fought bravely in the local area from the beginning, there was also Baron Lewan of the famous knight family Taranis who had just escaped from the solar world of Maritus in this galaxy. This lucky and careful baron was also responsible enough to take the 51st Armored Regiment fighting near him with him when he retreated on board the ship.

In addition, there was the 5th Company of the Crimson Fists, which had rushed over from Fort Patuxent on the other side of the continent because a corner of the encirclement had been opened. Their company commander, Louis Tracinto, was here now, and next to him was the Imperial Fists liaison officer, Shanto, of the Phalanx. Now, it was unknown what the liaison officer had just said, but it made his own cousin's eyes almost pop out, while Owen Gaogan, who was nearby, was laughing with his ears perked up, and his eyes and mouth were crooked, while Baroness Vadus kept covering her mouth and laughing. It was obvious that the liaison officer's witty remarks and the support she received from the Phalanx and the heavy armored forces on the front line had restored her spirits a lot.

The last connected seats were occupied by Marshal Amaleki of the Black Templar, who looked very happy and quiet but a little dazed, Honsou, who spoke on behalf of the heavy armored force outside the city wall, Mercury, who was actually the main thinker of this war, monitoring and calculating the battle situation in real time, and the three latest large ships and fleet commanders. The great sage Belisarius Cawl, who came with his mechanical ark and skitarii, claiming to have "received guidance that cannot be discussed", was arranged opposite them.

Although the Archsage, who hurried in as the last reinforcement, did express a certain degree of simulated human surprise at the number and complexity of the members here, the three personalities he chose for this job unanimously agreed that a more urgent situation should be introduced to everyone present now - some important evidence related to the effects of the ancient alien ruins on Cadia that he had discovered on a planet that was permanently abandoned due to Abaddon's attack during the Fourth Black Crusade under the "guidance of some subtle coincidences", so as to prevent them from making foolish decisions in the upcoming battles that would lose sight of the places that should really be protected.

"Okay, the demonstration is complete. It's perfect." As the air was silent for a moment, Belisarius Cawl stood up his magnificent body and looked around the room. "Any questions?"

"Yes." Gao Gang Wolf Lord said, "So, respected great sage, what do you want to express?"

"Although I can't fully understand it, from what I can interpret, is this a warning?" Shangtuo pondered, "Perhaps we should be more cautious in exploring and using the alien ruins we are in. It makes sense, but it's also a cliché."

"At least the problem we are in now is not big. It is shallow and peripheral." A part of Sage Clan's thread interrupted here, "My laboratory area has been reconstructed and reinforced by me for hundreds of years..." He did not continue, because his biological and non-biological chips were frantically verifying and calculating what Kaul had just said.

"So which part did you not understand? You can describe it, and I will explain that part again." Cawl's processor began to make a noise of heat dissipation and high speed operation, and the tool claws on the tips of his two small appendages began to rub impatiently. "The research process of the Iliad VI ruins? The process of mathematically proving the hypothesis? Or the part of the argument that summarizes and describes the characteristics of the subspace? If you can't understand it at once, I can describe it more accurately-"

"You are using binary to explain your proof, so we can't understand it, venerable sage." Shanto politely interrupted Kaul's impatient chattering. "Although I understand a little bit, most people here don't understand the Martian language at all. And the venerable sage Klan, who was supposed to translate for us, did you just say that he is down? Do we need to find him some cold water or ice?"

"I understand. This is what our family members must learn from childhood." Baron Lewan interrupted.

"I can do that, too." Honso spoke up. Not only Shangtuo, but even Mercurys looked at him in surprise. "I don't think I need to trouble the Baron. The Great Sage's meaning is very clear..."

Caul waved one of his mechanical arms in irritation. "But the proof process described in binary language is as beautiful, complex and precise as the language itself! Crude and poor translation will cause great errors! You should still listen to me explain it to you in binary first..." "Oh, for the sake of the Father of Genes." Caul's words were cut off again, this time by the Master of Potion. "He said so much. To sum up, it means that, first, for some reason, he excavated, discovered and analyzed the remains of the Fourth Dark Crusade on Iliad VI, and found the remaining but destroyed tower grid giant structures underground. These structures were deliberately destroyed by the Black Legion; second, he then cross-checked all archaeological data from the first Black Crusade to the present that reported the appearance of the Black Legion, the bombing of the planet, and had black stone records. He found that such things around the Eye of Terror had appeared in many black expeditions. There were at least six confirmed devastating attacks on worlds with black stone tower giant structure remains..."

"Six times?" Shangtuo frowned deeply. "My intuition tells me that there is something wrong here."

"So Abaddon's attacks seem to have failed many times in the past nine thousand years, but he is actually covering up this kind of destruction in private?" Mercury spoke thoughtfully. His beautiful, clear voice, which was extremely inconsistent with his demonic appearance and had a slightly soft and noble ancient accent, startled several participants who had never heard him speak. Some of them began to check whether their Mark of Purity had any reaction to the demonic pollution.

"According to what you just said, is there a strong possibility that the Great Plunderer's Black Crusade was not entirely for the purpose of bleeding the Empire and tearing flesh from the Empire as he said? He used this seemingly legitimate reason to cover up his true intentions, so this is the reason why he fought again and again despite repeated failures?"

"Hey, are you not used to seeing such a person calling Abaddon in a very Imperial tone?" Gao Gang winked at Captain Louis, "But you will get used to it. He is amazing, definitely the best war calculator I have ever seen."

The Crimson Fist nodded noncommittally, and the projection of one of the ship's commanders seemed to move his body as if he wanted to say something, but was stopped by someone outside the screen.

"It's not over yet." Hong Suo glanced at the projected text on his medical goggles and saluted the great sage. "These planets with underground cave megastructures use their own black stone towers as units to build these megastructures, and they themselves become part of a larger megastructure—" He also said this with amazement in his tone, "Such a magnificent work, these planets are a rivet on a super-giant structure built with the galaxy as the size and the planets as points."

"Yes, thank you. You translated it very well. At the same time, you made me realize that many of my listeners are always more likely to understand unnecessary metaphors." Cawl sighed, and his metal tentacle appendages stopped rubbing, smoothed his red robe for him, and then retracted into the spherical machine nest bulging on his abdomen. "That's it, and the central point, keystone, knot of this super-giant structure - the key to various adjectives in various languages ​​is Cadia, because of its location and the number and density of black stone towers here far exceeds other planets with black stone megastructures, and all of these planets are members of the Cadia Gate defense line."

"But even so, what do they actually mean to us?" Shanto asked, "Why did Abaddon use such a deceiving reason to destroy them? Aren't they ancient creations of aliens? The Black Stone Ruins are much older than the birth of mankind. How can such an ancient thing be related to the traitors of mankind?"

Cawl took a very human breath from his nonexistent lungs and trachea. "Ohm Messiah's Oil! It's so obvious, don't you see?! It's obviously due to the polarity of the Warp and Blackstone!" He stomped the end of the long handle of his Ohm Messiah Axe on the rocky ground in annoyance. "Blackstone is a Warp-inert material! It is negative and repulsive to the Warp and psionics! And a cosmic-scale megastructure made of Blackstone and placed outside the Eye of Terror is obviously-"

"That's how it is! We have all been deceived!" Mercury's voice attracted the attention of others. The great sage stared at the arrogant man who interrupted him, breathing hot air from the heat dissipation holes and breathing mask. "I understand! The Blackstone Megastructure Network is the bathtub tarpaulin! And the Eye of Terror is like a bathtub leak that was broken many years ago! The matter and energy of the real universe will leak into the Warp from here, until finally all leak into the Warp Ocean! And a group of powerful alien races in ancient times made these things, like re-nailing the tarpaulin on the bathtub! Abaddon has been smashing all the nails that nailed the tarpaulin for so many years! And Cadia is the most important nail nailed right above the leak! He has pulled out the surrounding nails. As long as Cadia's is pulled out, a large part of the real universe will immediately 'fall' into the Warp - or, the Warp itself will rush out of the Eye of Terror like a 'flood', making it bigger and wider!"

"So," Creed's face wrinkled into a ball, and then the High Castle Lord added weakly, "This is why the Cadians have been able to live for so long on the world facing the Eye of Terror without going crazy or being corrupted. Although there have always been many evil cult activities here, there has never been a large-scale direct demonic tide, right? Cadia--" He paused, as if he had lost some of the strength that supported him in an instant, "As long as Cadia exists, we will all be protected by Blackrock Spire. Cadia must always fight, and Cadia must always stand firm."

"That's right, but don't forget my previous research results," Cawl straightened his upper body with satisfaction and pride, "Abaddon's past twelve expeditions have greatly weakened the number and resonance of the Blackrock Spire. The pressure on the Blackrock Spire in Cadia has obviously increased..."

"I see! No wonder my data keeps showing a downward curve in vibration frequency!" Sage Clan shouted excitedly, "That's it! It all explains it!"

"If that's the case, then based on the current military strength and situation, Abaddon's next move is almost inevitable..."

Mercury and Honso looked at each other, then turned their eyes to look at Creed. The High Castle Lord noticed his gaze and raised his head.

"The Erichion Stonehenge!" they shouted in unison.

(End of this chapter)