The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Although he really wanted to resolve the matter of Ghomam as soon as possible, after realizing that he couldn't rush things, Sosiang could only return from the Imperial Palace to the Imperium, as disappearing for too long would be difficult to explain.

As soon as he returned to the Chapter, he received a flood of news from all directions.

The Victory Scars had completed their relocation, and now the various members of the Covenant of Sorrow were operating independently, some recruiting, others hunting down Genestealer Cults that had become active due to the Tyranid Hive Fleet invasion. The Relictors Chapter was showing great enthusiasm, hopefully they wouldn't cause more trouble.

The Loki Sector had been officially confirmed to be under attack by a Greenskin cluster, but no distress signal had been sent, suggesting that the Crimson Fists were confident in resolving the issue.

The fighting in the Archdiocese continued. After withdrawing most of the Space Marines and fleets, although the number of Hive Fleets had greatly decreased, the fighting had become even more brutal. The tenacious Faith Watch were being consumed like water every day, but the Sosiang-pattern tanks provided by Zhao-Arcadia had arrived in large quantities. These basic armored forces greatly helped the ordinary soldiers in fighting against the Tyranid's heavily armored beasts.

The Forge World Ryza seemed to have been invaded by Greenskins again. Ever since being marked by the Ordo Xenos as the sector where the Greenskin warboss Gorlaz was located in 925.M41, this world had not had much peace. Even when Sosiang passed by during the Great Maelstrom expedition, he encountered small groups of Greenskin pirates. Ryza had defeated this Greenskin warboss once, but clearly Greenskins are extremely vengeful creatures. Less than fifty years later, they returned on an even larger scale—this couldn't help but make Sosiang a little worried about Armageddon. After all, it had been forty or fifty years since the Greenskin warboss, Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, was defeated. At this rate, this surviving beast might launch another revenge attack on Armageddon in the future.

Griffon IV was still actively preparing for war. Their defense fleet had already begun to engage with small tendrils of the Tyranids. The Swords of the Astreus, or rather, the Crimson Swords, after receiving generous sponsorship from Griffon IV, had been restored to three companies and were currently assisting in the defense of the Griffon Reach, purging Genestealers, and seemed intent on making it their new home. Many in the Chapter were dissatisfied with this, and Sosiang's only comment on this was—'The sky is going to rain, and a girl wants to marry, let them be.'

On the eastern edge of the galaxy, there seemed to be signs of Tyranid invasion, but this had not yet been confirmed.

A Chaos warband called the 'Doom of the Imperium' attacked a sector near the Storm Warders, close to the Sol System, but they retreated before two companies of the Flesh Tearers arrived, taking millions of civilians with them to continue their evil ways—Sosiang had some memory of this warband. They had been mercenaries for the Red Corsairs during the last Great Maelstrom campaign and suffered heavy losses in the fighting, but clearly they had not been destroyed. These Chaos warbands are really difficult to completely eliminate.

News came from the Black Templars after a long time. Former High Marshal Kordhel had been killed in battle with Chaos traitors. The Marshals had voted to elect Helbrecht as the new High Marshal, but this astropathic message had been sent a long time ago. Sosiang wasn't sure exactly when, and could only lament the passing of old friends.

In the Great Maelstrom, it seemed that the Red Corsairs were stirring up trouble again. Huron Blackheart, who had been severely attacked by the expeditionary force and almost destroyed, looted an Imperial supply fleet with great audacity and annihilated the escorting cruiser squadron. Afterwards, he attacked a world of Endymion, plundering millions of people. It was said that the Red Corsairs had many twisted and strange evil engines in the battle. Zorg believed that if Huron was given a few more decades, he would probably return to his original peak state. The real problem was that after the expeditionary force left, the Great Maelstrom had entered a chaotic and disorderly state again. The nobles were vying for power and indulging in pleasure, the garrison was lax and vulnerable, and the limited Chapter strength could only put out fires everywhere, while also having to accept various orders from the Imperium.

What could Sosiang do about this?

It had only been a little over a dozen years since he left, and everything had begun to collapse rapidly. This sense of powerlessness was of no avail even if he had god-like power.

But in fact, when leaving the Great Maelstrom, Sosiang had some premonition, after all, under the unchanging underlying logic of governance, organizations like the Red Corsairs had enough room to survive. It was only a matter of time. Any remedy was just a delay, just like someone once told him, kill Huron, and there will be a second, or even a third.

The natural environment of the Great Maelstrom itself determined that it was destined to be a breeding ground for Chaos forces, unless the entire Great Maelstrom was turned into an iron net, an iron bucket, with an iron fist and a tight organizational structure, but this would inevitably lead to the emergence of a second Huron. The High Lords would not be able to grant someone such great power again.

So, facing Zorg's question, what should we do?

Sosiang's answer was only one sentence:

Only God knows.

In addition, regarding the White Templars, Terra had sent a call to Arash, requesting the White Templars to provide five companies to a key war zone in the Maelstrom Zone.

After reading the messages, he had to deal with them. After thinking it over, Sosiang felt that the Archdiocese was under too much military pressure, so he contacted Banguela and, after a brief consultation with the other party, obtained one-third of the Phantom Legion, who would go to the Archdiocese to accept Ustad's command. At the same time, a large number of weapons and equipment were also sent.

Ryza was obviously here for reinforcements. Sosiang had also promised that the Astral Knights would lend a hand if they were attacked, so after careful consideration, he decided to send a total of five companies to support Ryza: the Astral Knights' Fourth, Fifth, and Ninth Companies, and the White Templars' Second and Tenth Companies.

Although he really wanted to send a message of condolence to the Black Templars, they were too elusive, so he could only hope to meet them in the future.

The only thing that was more difficult to handle was Terra's order, because according to the current distribution of forces, the White Templars had already left five companies in the Archdiocese, and Sosiang had to send two more companies to Ryza. Although the White Templars had increased their numbers to 1721 after replenishment, using their forces in this way was also very tight. Sosiang asked Arash to bargain with Terra to reduce the support companies to three, and then send half of the Tenth Company, half of the Eighth Company, and half of the Seventh Company, and their leaders were all the company's adjutants, outwardly claiming to be company commanders. This was also considered a training opportunity for the officers. After they returned, Sosiang planned to expand the White Templars to 15 companies, and basically maintain this scale in the future. More recruits would be added to Luco's side.

After arranging a series of matters, Sosiang began to work on recruiting new soldiers. It had been a long time since he had participated in this, and he was even very unfamiliar with many of the Chapter's new recruits. This time, he personally handled a session when he had time.

Thanks to the development and construction of the system, the boys' physical fitness was getting better and better, so the focus of selection was basically on personality, mental health, and character.

In addition to recruiting new soldiers and presiding over daily training, Sosiang had to deal with the most administrative affairs within the system, but on the whole, it was relatively peaceful. He often went to the Imperial Palace to deal with state affairs, accompany his lover, and by the way, look at the new things sent by the Hearthworlders, as well as various new equipment. Occasionally, he went to the Flayed Temple to meet his Bone Lord, or went to the Floating Pagoda to listen to the teachings of Venerable Ananda. It seemed that he had found a balance point in his life.