The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Although this rather harsh system conflicted with Sothar's governance philosophy, he genuinely had no better options at the moment. Good policies and social structures require a significant amount of resources, but this place was not like the Neson galaxy. Even with control over the entire Diocese, the resources at his disposal were meager. Most resources had to be prioritized for the war effort. The lack of resources and industrial capacity was secondary; the most critical issue was that the local administration of the Diocese was largely makeshift. Many common Imperial institutions and departments were missing, and the number of administrative clerks with even the most basic qualifications was severely insufficient, with the proportion of administrative clerks per ten thousand people being only one-fourteenth of the average number in a hive city.

Without people, any management was impossible, and order could not be established.

Sothar sympathized with the refugees who had lost their homes and were displaced. He knew what suffering they were enduring, but at the moment, he genuinely had no other choice. Order was the top priority, especially with the threat of Genestealers. Only the strictest management methods could minimize the resurgence of the already suppressed Genestealers among the refugees.

Of course, while making these decisions, it was also necessary to give the people some morale, some confidence.

Therefore, over thirty thousand people were taken as examples. Among them were corrupt officials, local bureaucrats who had caused a negative impact, and heinous criminals such as human traffickers. They were not only publicly tried but also publicly executed. Sothar even rarely resorted to the Imperium's cruel tortures, from surgically removing the frontal lobe on-site to transform them into servitors, to the slow slicing that only ended when they died after being cut thousands of times, to injecting pain stims to torture them to death—it was said that the Imperium's standard torture manual was as thick as the Imperial Law. This time, people far on the edge of the distant Astronomican witnessed such a wide variety of execution methods for the first time, which certainly gave them a great sense of relief but also brought a powerful deterrent effect.

In addition, the Flesh Tearers actively participated in this event. They created a bloody cage, letting the criminals fight each other inside. The survivors had all their blood drained. As for what the blood would be used for, Sothar didn't ask and didn't need to ask.

Other Chapters could only express slight disapproval of this matter, but everyone knew what the Flesh Tearers were like. After all, this Chapter's serfs always ran out quickly, especially when the supply was stable. Every period, they would take tens of thousands of mortals into their dark decks. As for treating criminals as playthings, that didn't even count as anything.

Like Dante said, they were a bunch of bastards, but also the bastards the Blood Angels needed.

Only Malakim argued with Seth over this matter, but as always, there were no results. However, Sothar also felt that Seth had been a little too indulgent and flamboyant in these days under the protection of the 'Misery Company'.

Bloodthirst was understandable, but understanding and indulgence were two different concepts. The Flesh Tearers were already walking on a dangerous tightrope. If they couldn't restrain themselves well, problems would easily arise.

Sothar felt that he had to find a time to talk to Seth properly.

But he had to find a better opportunity. The great war was not over yet, and the Flesh Tearers had indeed shown valiant combat performance and had also made sacrifices.

Subsequently, Sothar organized several Chapters for a victory parade, displaying the bones of the Tyranid creatures that had been destroyed, highlighting the Imperium's invincible image—as for the issue of retreat, probably no one would be so tactless.

With the intervention of powerful forces, the chaotic situation was quickly contained. Although the strict management initially made many people feel uncomfortable, their tolerance greatly increased when supplies could flow more smoothly to the hands of various refugees. While reorganizing personnel, Sothar also sent out mortal troops to temporarily perform security and maintenance tasks.

However, these were only temporary measures, because the Tyranids would soon be approaching this star system. The people here would eventually have to be moved away. As for whether this temporary wartime system could be extended to the entire Diocese, it was still debatable. After all, the environment of the Achilles sub-sector was different from here, and simply copying it could lead to new problems.

During his stay in the Westeros system, Sothar was also thinking about the next strategy.

After suffering this great loss, the Tyranids were likely to react in three ways.

Either they would temporarily remain inactive and wait for more forces, after all, the scale of this Hive Fleet still could not be determined, because reconnaissance showed that some Tyranid warships entered the galactic range from the bottom of the star chart, meaning that what Sothar had seen might only be the tip of the iceberg of an even more terrifying Hive Fleet.

Or they would concentrate their forces and launch a fierce attack on Saint Kasparren, the most prosperous and crucial planet in the sector, using their unique narwhal-ship towing capabilities to quickly strike the star system, shattering the command heart and brain of the Diocese in one fell swoop.

Or they would take it step by step, continuing to slowly and steadily consume star systems one by one.

After thinking it over, Sothar felt that the first was the most likely.

Because since this Tyranid invasion, not much biomass had been obtained, and it had suffered a series of heavy blows, making its strength much weaker than when it first invaded. According to this Hive Fleet's relatively 'cunning' characteristics, it would not engage in any more 'rash advances'.

And step-by-step consumption was very inefficient, undoubtedly giving the prey enough time to prepare and escape.

So, the best way was to accumulate strength, allowing its size to expand to be even more powerful than before, and then divide into tendril fleets, ensuring that humans could not eat any of them, so that complete size suppression could ensure the minimum loss, while also increasing the efficiency of harvesting.

But this was not good news for Sothar.

Therefore, intelligence was very important in the next operation. He had to know what the Tyranids were doing at all times, and to do that, he had to use the power of the Eldar.

There were risks, but it had to be done.

And what they could do now was to accumulate strength and see how much support the Imperium could send, but Sothar didn't have much confidence in this matter, because the Diocese was too remote, and it took a long time for the news to reach Terra. The High Lords might not invest a single resource here, simply letting the 'Misery Company' solve it independently—this was very likely.

The only thing that could be certain was that the Ecclesiarchy should react, after all, the Diocese was strictly speaking one of the core interests of the Ecclesiarchy, but limited by the Edict of Pacification, the Ecclesiarchy could not provide strong military support, but personnel, supplies, and ship assistance should be available.

This was why Sothar had notified the Ecclesiarchy as soon as possible. Within the Imperium's system, without involving one's own interests, most institutions had little desire to act.

Since he had temporarily escaped the influence of the Hive Fleet's warp shadow, the astropath signals could be sent, Sothar then instructed the astropaths to send a message to the rear to transfer more transport ships to transport refugees, because although this star system was relatively isolated and not a suitable battlefield, Sothar still planned to stay here for a while to see what the Hive Fleet would do.

And the astropath who sent the signal also received a message that Imperial support troops had arrived, it was the guardians of the Storm region, the Buca fleet

One of its detachments.