The Emperor’s Angel of Death

After spending a little over two weeks back in the human world, arranging some matters and presiding over two internal martial arts tournaments and tactical seminars within the White Templars, Soshjan had to rush back to the Royal Court again, as a pile of new issues had surfaced that required his attention and decisions.

Soshjan was now realizing that turning the Royal Court into a theocratic monarchy had dug a huge pit for himself.

But there was no choice, the pit was already dug, and he had to hold his nose and jump in. Fortunately, the White Templars Chapter had already begun new tactical simulation training against the Tyranid, with the company commanders taking charge, so Soshjan didn't need to do anything. There were no major issues within the system either, so he could spare the time.

Upon returning to the Royal Court, the first matter Soshjan had to deal with was the message from the distant Lynne Kingdom.

The investigation team sent to Haranshel had actually discovered a remnant of the World Spirit!

The entire process was not complicated. After the investigation team arrived at the desolate Haranshel, they quickly discovered faint signs of life in the underground world after careful investigation. From the ruins of the former capital of the Haranshel Kingdom, they found an underground entrance and delved into it.

As a once extremely prosperous wild world, Haranshel had a complete defense system. They built solid shelters under their cities, and if necessary, they could abandon the surface and retreat underground to hold their ground. To this end, they also prepared an altar for the World Spirit underground, which could be used to protect the spirit fire of the World Spirit.

The investigation team went deep underground and soon discovered plant growth in the underground city ruins, which meant that the world's vitality had not been completely destroyed.

But it was merely not destroyed. The solid underground city did not resist the invasion of the Hive during the Tyranid invasion, so the investigation team initially did not find anything useful.

At this time, Princess Cordelia of the White Deer played a role. Due to her long-term mental connection with the World Spirit, she keenly captured a weak consciousness, like the dying moan of a wounded beast.

Following her senses, she entered an inconspicuous crack in the underground city and found a hidden altar inside. The altar was surrounded by six dried-up remains, which, judging from their clothing, should be the world's past prophets or priests, and what they protected at the cost of their lives was the World Spirit in the altar, which was about to collapse at any moment.

In fact, the connection between the World Spirit and the planet had been severed. In a sense, it was already dead. Its survival was entirely dependent on the spiritual energy of the prophets. Cordelia immediately transmitted the situation back to the Lynne Kingdom.

Since Soshjan was not present at the time, Veronica asked Callus Tua to retrieve the World Spirit, as only this legendary Bonesinger Master possessed such ability.

And Callus Tua lived up to expectations, protecting the Haranshel World Spirit and moving it to the warship. His action not only completed the mission but also solved his identity problem—Soshjan had been troubled by how to reveal Callus Tua's existence to everyone.

But now it was no longer a problem. Veronica showed her shrewdness. After Callus Tua retrieved the World Spirit, she announced to the Royal Court that the Lynne Kingdom's investigation team had not only found the World Spirit but also found the long-lost Master Callus Tua. The reason why this master had been missing was that he had been silently protecting the World Spirit on Haranshel, thus avoiding the suspicion caused by his sudden appearance.

As for the truth, Callus Tua certainly wouldn't tell, Cordelia wouldn't tell either, so who would know?

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This was a major event, but the first to be shaken was not the Royal Court, but Callus Tua's original Craftworld, Kinshara, after all, they had been looking for him for so many years.

So, during the time Soshjan was away, the second major event was that the Kinshara Craftworld hurriedly sent people to find their master, but Callus Tua told them with a smile that he had accepted the position of Grand Artificer awarded by Veronica. This position was the highest-level title of the former Imperial Bonesinger, which meant that he had joined the Eternal Royal Court.

The Kinshara envoys were not surprised by Callus Tua's decision, and they then expressed their gratitude to Veronica. For Kinshara, knowing that their master was safe was enough. As for what this master wanted to do, they could not interfere.

But due to Callus Tua's lofty status, when he appeared and joined the Eternal Royal Court, many of his disciples chose to follow their mentor, which led the Kinshara high-level officials to finally make a decision—

Join the Eternal Royal Court, pledge allegiance and strength to Veronica as the supreme ruler, and become a territory under the protection of the Royal Court.

In this way, Kinshara also became the fourth Craftworld to officially return to the Eternal Royal Court after Lagnash, Yemlock, and Ibilias. From then on, the Eternal Royal Court could be said to have become the most powerful Aeldari force outside of Commorragh, only comparable to the former Biel-Tan and Iyanden Twin Stars Alliance, but this alliance had long since dissolved.

This matter made Soshjan both happy and worried. What made him happy was naturally that the Royal Court's power was stronger, and Veronica was gradually adapting to her role as an actual ruler rather than a mascot. What worried him was that at this point, it was no longer realistic to hide things. Perhaps the Royal Court had not yet been truly valued because of its fewer contacts and conflicts with the Imperium, but no matter how much the Ordo Xenos Inquisitors slacked off, they would eventually notice this "alien empire" that had become the actual strongest force of the Aeldari. At that time, a crusade might be possible.

It would be both ridiculous and tragic if Terra issued an order to him, asking him to organize an expeditionary force to crusade against the "aliens."

And this was what Soshjan least wanted to see, but he seemed to have no way to do anything about it and could only let nature take its course.

Now that the World Spirit had been retrieved, what Soshjan needed to decide was its use. In fact, the survivors of Haranshel were very excited after learning that the World Spirit of their homeland still existed. They still had nearly 20,000 people, which was the largest residential community in the Royal Court, and even had a seat in the Phoenix Council. They hoped to awaken the World Spirit and transplant it back to their destroyed homeland.

But Callus Tua made it clear when he retrieved the World Spirit that this World Spirit was too damaged to function as the planet's "engine" and "brain" in the past, and the ancient planetary structure left over from Haranshel was also destroyed by the Tyranids, so it could not be restored no matter what, even more miserable than the worlds bombarded by the Imperium with virus bombs.

Here, Lao Mo still wants to specially mention that Babu Dhaka's setting of using gene-seed to improve Thunder Warriors is an official setting. His persona, in addition to being one of the strongest Thunder Warriors, is also a genetic genius. In addition, he also found the wreckage of an ancient warship and the mysterious laboratory inside, which is how he cracked the defects of the Thunder Warriors in a very short time. It's not that I came up with the idea of smearing the Emperor's operation on a whim. Of course, this is indeed outrageous. Two Thunder Warriors solved the genetic problem with a few gene-seeds, so I additionally added this patch, which in a sense looks at least more reasonable.