How can a retired savior be considered retired if he drops to 40,000?

"I'm not 'Little Pigeon'! You can't keep calling me that just because I drew 'Pigeon' the first time I drew a card with you!" Fujimaru Ritsuka said a little annoyed, "And the Emperor won't appear in the shrine on the Storm's Edge now. He is more likely to project his consciousness onto the statue in the Cathedral of Tyros."

"Wait a minute, what's going on here?"

"Can we get down to business?" Ritsuka Fujimaru shouted angrily.

However, the actual effect of this shout was a bit funny: at the same time, driven by anger, she tried to stand up by slapping the table to increase her deterrence, but the actual result was that she forgot the size of the chair and slid directly to the ground again from mid-air, with only a pair of angry eyes showing from the edge of the table.

Guilliman forced himself to hold back his laughter, looked up, and pretended he hadn't noticed Curze's undisguised, gloating laughter. He was relieved that the victorious soldiers around him also remained silent, but he also wondered if Sicarius had secretly chuckled under the cover of Curze's laughter.

The angry Fujimaru Ritsuka simply jumped on the spot, propped herself up with one hand on the table, and let her knees climb to the edge of the table. Finally, she took two steps forward and knelt directly on the table. Then, she ignored everyone's reaction and resolutely turned on the projector in her hand, adjusted the focus, and projected the battlefield star map in the air at a size that everyone could see clearly.

"This is a battlefield forecast based on the news conveyed by the Emperor's Star Language, some real-time observation data, and Conrad's predictions." She declared loudly, trying to drown out Curze's laughter. "Taking various factors into consideration, after calculation, I think this scene will actually happen within two to five days."

Guilliman glanced at the star map with Parmenio as the center, and was immediately shocked and threw all the previous things out of his mind. He stood up from his chair and said, "How come Mortarion's fleet has doubled?!"

“Don’t ignore the edge of the galaxy.” Curze stopped laughing and said sinisterly, “I know that my descendants and I have been often ignored by the Empire intentionally or unintentionally since ten thousand years ago, but now, you should not ignore their existence.”

"——But Konrad will solve the problem of the Night Lords himself. Isn't that right?" Fujimaru Ritsuka turned his head, with a clear threat in his tone, "Regarding this part of the battle, as their Primarch, you should be able to solve it, right?"

"I can't promise." Coze's voice also showed that he was obviously provocative. "I am limited in the use of my prophetic gift. I can't see how this matter will turn out in the end."

"Oh? So you want to lift the restrictions? No problem." Fujimaru Ritsuka's tone became more threatening, "Then I will cancel the contract immediately, and you will face the side effects of the prophecy on your own."

Conrad Kurtz immediately raised his hands in surrender.

"Then, let's talk about the Plague Marines." Fujimaru Ritsuka dragged her Skyhawk Staff up from under the table and used it as a pointer to circle the fleet blessed by Nurgle on the star map. "The Emperor believes that the signs of this part of the reinforcement in the warp are extremely clear, so I think this can basically be regarded as a change that will indeed happen."

“Why do you think so?” Guilliman asked with barely concealed nervousness.

"This is some, uh, trivia about the gods of the Warp." Fujimaru Ritsuka explained. "Just like the Empire is always at war everywhere because of its huge size, the same is true for the realm of the gods of the Warp. The relationship between Nurgle and Tzeentch has always been almost mortal enemies. The latter will never let the former achieve such great results in the real universe so easily. Instead, while the former is conquering cities in reality, it will continue to harass the former's rear in the Warp, forcing the other side to divide its troops and not be able to concentrate all its efforts in reality."

"What about these extra fleets?" Guilliman asked. "Has the evil of the Warp won the victory?"

"It's hard to say, but Tzeentch did withdraw his troops." Fujimaru Ritsuka replied, "But He also has corresponding powers in magic and prophecy, and He can't possibly want Nurgle to win too easily, so while withdrawing his troops, He strengthened the Nurgle army's signs of the future on the battlefield in reality, making them clearer and easier to interpret. Although this is help from the enemy, at least in the short term, we can also use it."

Guilliman did not make any comment, but simply looked down at the star map, which showed a situation that was definitely not optimistic, and once again tightened his face.

Six o'clock (meow).

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 92: Honest People Are Terrible When They Get Angry

"The situation looks very unfavorable, but it's not all that bad. One thing you must pay attention to when fighting the Chaos Demon Army is that you can't always think about the whole thing too scientifically." Fujimaru Ritsuka commented.

Guilliman quickly calculated what kind of damage his fleet would suffer if the scene depicted on the star map came true, and what price he would have to pay to win. But he was also paying attention to what the outside world was saying, and even asked: "What does this sentence mean?"

"What it means is that these 'seemingly numerous' Chaos fleets are, in many cases, no more difficult to deal with than the same number of fleets that actually exist in reality." Fujimaru Ritsuka replied, "Since they appear in the physical universe, they must follow the rules of the physical universe to a certain extent, but they have been immersed in the subspace for too long, and their operating methods have obviously undergone subspace-like changes.

"At first glance, Chaos ships seem to be able to perform better than ordinary ships and cause greater damage, but in fact, in order to operate smoothly, they also need to be constrained by two essentially incompatible operating environments at the same time - the rules of physics and the rules of the subspace."

Guilliman thought he could partly agree with this theory: "If the Warp power on a Chaos ship could be blocked, then it would lose most of its threat. I agree with this view, but it is almost impossible to implement."

As the Regent of the Empire, he knew very well that the Empire was far from being so generous now. Every soul-killing missile used to fight against psychic energy was too precious and had to be used after careful calculation and ensuring victory. Guilliman certainly wanted to send soul-killing missiles to all the Chaos ships within his sight, but unfortunately, he couldn't do it.

"That's why I'm here," Fujimaru Ritsuka replied. "Imagine the process like this: the Chaos fleet appears in the real universe, but at the same time, in order to ensure that they can 'function normally', there must be a 'power pipeline' connected to the subspace. One end of this invisible pipeline follows those ships into reality, and the other end passes through the subspace rift and connects to the realm of their master."

"You mean you have a way to 'cut off' those 'power supply lines'?"

"That's too high of an opinion. The real universe and the subspace are two sides of the same coin. It is very difficult to completely cut off the connection between the two." Fujimaru Ritsuka said, "Think about it from another angle. Why not transfer the end of those pipelines in the subspace to the Emperor's domain and directly purify all the chaos?"

"...?"

This idea seems even more outrageous than the one of 'cutting off the energy supply'.

"I do not quite understand what you are saying." Guilliman's tone was not happy, "but I must reiterate: the Emperor is not a god, he has no divine domain."

"Of course the Emperor is not a god, but - don't be so narrow-minded. Some things are easy for 'God' to do, but that doesn't mean that only 'God' can do them." Fujimaru Ritsuka began to argue easily, "First of all, we all agree that the Emperor may be the most powerful psychic in the universe today, and in the past ten thousand years, his psychic power has become stronger and stronger. Is this part okay?"

Guilliman nodded with subtle reluctance. "It is true."

"Secondly, for psychics, it can also be seen as 'the stronger the psychic power, the larger the projection in the subspace'. Is this also okay?"

Guilliman turned to look at his think tank chief, Digris nodded: "Although the expression is not so rigorous, and the possibility of exceptions cannot be ruled out, but generally speaking, it can be considered a general rule."

"Again, we all know that the Emperor's psychic energy has special attack properties when facing Chaos. The flames on the 'Emperor's Sword' can cause real damage to Warp Demons. This has also been confirmed, right?"

"Indeed," Guilliman replied.

"Then - isn't it normal to transfer the Warp power of Chaos ships to the Emperor's Warp projection and purify them naturally with the Emperor's psychic energy?"

Faced with Fujimaru Ritsuka's self-righteous expression, Guilliman fell into a brainstorming session for a short while.

"So you see, although psychic powers seem irrational, they are not completely illogical in nature." Fujimaru Ritsuka said happily, "Uh... where did we get to this topic just now?"

Curze reminded from a distance: "'It's your job to deal with the Chaos fleet'."

"Oh. This is Chaldea's plan." Fujimaru Ritsuka turned back to the star map and pointed out a planet that was almost completely shrouded in the power of Chaos. "We have set up psychic nodes on Parmenio, pretending to hold on for a long time and engage in a tug-of-war with the enemy, attracting the enemy to send reinforcements through the warp. Then, we will reversely use the warp channels opened by the enemy to infiltrate small groups of troops. Before the Plague Fleet can really encircle the Empire, we will first push down the temple set up by Nurgle on Axes and change its direction to the Emperor in mysticism."

Guilliman looked at the star chart suspiciously. "I cannot agree with this battle plan. It is too unconventional and does not sound very reliable. No one can be sure that it will actually work."

"But there's no harm in trying, and it won't cost any extra resources." Fujimaru Ritsuka shrugged. "Anyway, we have to defend the city of Tyros on Parmenio. There are still civilians in the city."

"Wait a minute, they defended that city? Just relying on the Astra Militarum?"

"There are also battle sisters. Although there are some other factors... Anyway, I have secretly sent some dark angels to the surface to provide support. I hope there will be no other problems within the next 24 hours."

Guilliman glanced at Fujimaru Ritsuka subtly, then decided to let it go: "I understand, and I will revise the next battle plan and send support to this city as soon as possible. But I still don't think--"

"——I've discovered a problem, Robo." Curze, with a gloating attitude, deliberately addressed Guilliman in a very intimate way, "You obviously don't know my little warden well enough. She is not discussing this with you, she is informing you. You don't realize how stubborn she is in her plan."

Guilliman turned his head and glared at Curze, but the girl's voice at the table sounded softly: "That's not the case - although it's true."

Fujimaru Ritsuka's eyes wandered around uneasily: "I'm not 'stubborn about the plan I made', but 'this plan has been reviewed in front of the Emperor'. With the Emperor's endorsement, I think it's still possible..."

She shrank into a small ball guiltily under Guilliman's angry gaze.

No more (meow)

The fight will start peacefully tomorrow... (and the subscription will immediately die)

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 93 Mechanical Materialism is Unacceptable

The head of the Ultramarines think tank, Varro Diglis, felt that he had spent three and a half hours in a very mysterious way. Even though he was a master of psychic powers, the one who had the most in-depth and profound knowledge of the warp in the entire chapter, these three and a half hours were still too mysterious for him.

If there was a chance, he would still like to discuss with Fujimaru Ritsuka how to attack the Chaos Fleet from the perspective of the Warp, and what kind of prerequisites or materials are needed for similar psychic rituals. But these three and a half hours were obviously more mysterious to his Primarch, and after the meeting, Robert Guilliman really needed his opinion as a reference.

“She is a little girl who has been completely blinded by heresy.” In the quiet room where they had a private conversation, the Ultramarines Primarch insisted on making such an evaluation. “I admit that she must have some extraordinary qualities, otherwise she would not have been recognized by those overly proud Dark Angels. Even my brother Ferrus is willing to play along with her -”

Guilliman was stuck. The event of "the dead being resurrected" was too "unscientific". His logic had reached a dead end at this moment.

"If you want to ask my opinion, sir," Diglis sympathetically changed the subject, "I think there is indeed something 'unusual' happening to her."

"What did you find?"

"The first thing I confirmed is that Fujimaru Ritsuka is not a psychic." This was the conclusion that Diglis had come to when they first met, but when he mentioned this matter now, there was still an unconcealed surprise in his tone, "She is indeed different in some ways, but from the perspective of psychic power, her soul is not as closely connected to the subspace as ordinary psychics."

Guilliman frowned. "She is capable of some psychic tricks, though. We saw her psychically fling a cushion across the table at Curze."

"Yes. That's the surprising part," Diglis agreed. "Her psychic power is most likely not drawn from the Warp, but comes directly from the Emperor's constant supply, but this process is beyond common sense and almost completely skips the Warp. When she performs those psychic tricks, the ripples in the Warp are much smaller than they should be. I have to search very carefully to feel a little bit of fluctuation."

"Could this be some trick of the Warp?" Guilliman asked.

"I think the possibility is low," Diglis replied. "I used the Emperor Tarot to test it. It is believed to be a tool used by the Emperor to communicate with humans through psychic energy. If she carries any evil contamination, she should refuse to come into contact with it, because this contamination will definitely be pointed out by the Tarot's omen."

"What is Fujimaru Ritsuka's attitude towards this?"

"She treated the Emperor Tarot as if it were a game she wasn't good at - but that's not the surprising part."

Diglis once again took out the Emperor Tarot deck and activated the images on the liquid crystal sheet with his psychic power. This display did not involve divination, so all seventy-eight cards appeared with their original patterns - except for the "God Emperor" card.

"The card was supposed to show 'The Emperor Sacrificed on the Golden Throne,'" Diglis said. "But after Fujimaru Ritsuka pulled it out of the deck, the card changed."

Guilliman disliked the use of the word "sacrifice" in his description, which he saw as a religious diminution of the "great sacrifice the Emperor had voluntarily made for all of humanity", but his attention was almost entirely drawn to the image of the card, so he had no time to object to this.

He knew what the card was supposed to look like. Even though Guilliman had always stubbornly rejected all superstitious activities, he had also done some necessary research on the Emperor Tarot, which was considered to be an "auxiliary weapon" that should be kept in the think tank.

Even though he had only had a rough glimpse of these mystical tools, the primarch's never-forgotten pictorial memory still allowed the past scenes to appear vividly in his mind: the pattern on the "God-Emperor" card should depict a shriveled brown-black corpse on the golden throne due to time and torture. He didn't want to pay attention to the mystical implications contained in this picture. To Guilliman, it was just a clear indication of the result of the painful torture his father had suffered in the past ten thousand years. But now -

On the card that Digris used his psychic power to levitate in the air, the Emperor was wearing luxurious golden armor, wearing a laurel crown, holding a sword, and looking piercing. His heroic appearance was exactly the same as the Emperor's appearance ten thousand years ago in Guilliman's memory, making him feel as if he had returned to the Great Crusade - an era when everything was going well and everything was full of hope.

"In the Emperor Tarot, when a strong omen that needs to be revealed cannot be fully expressed by the existing cards, the pattern on the card will indeed undergo permanent changes. I have encountered similar situations, but no card has ever undergone such a big change." Diglis said, "This new omen... I can't say, sir. I don't think I have the ability to interpret it completely correctly."

"...At least we have come to the conclusion that we do need to be cautious about what is about to happen and keep observing to discern whether it is good or bad." Guilliman finally said.

The Primarch carefully touched the card that was suspended in mid-air by psychic energy, as if trying to touch a dream that would shatter at the slightest touch.

-

——But Diglis didn't expect that his genetic father told him to "always keep observing", which actually meant that he should follow Fujimaru Ritsuka, literally "always keep observing".

He and another temporary 10-man Ever-Victorious Army squad were forcefully stuffed onto the Stormbound by their Primarch, and would follow Fujimaru Ritsuka in the next operation in the name of security protection.

In addition, the three people who were originally sent to Macragge's Glory as representatives were finally sent back to the Lion's Mane. Captain Ravenwing naturally returned to the Dark Angels' organization, while Somni and Sevatar began to glare at this team of Ultramarines that appeared out of nowhere.

"I had a feeling that something like this would happen." Fujimaru Ritsuka himself commented helplessly.

DiGris briefly assessed the situation and decided to strike a pose first: "I understand that there may be many difficulties in coordinated operations in this mission. We will exercise restraint as much as possible."

Fujimaru Ritsuka shook his head: "No, you don't understand. You haven't realized what Conrad would think about this."

The Ever-Victorious were optimistic at first. According to the simple plan agreed upon earlier, the Storm's Edge would descend to the surface of Parmenio and join the offensive and defensive battle on the ground, but Konrad Curze and most of the Night Lords prisoners would leave the small ship and be temporarily detained on the Lion's Mane in orbit until Robouti Guilliman thought that the current situation really needed them. Therefore, the only person they had to endure during this process was probably a Custodian who claimed that he was not a Custodian.

But they didn't expect that after the Ever-Victorious Army boarded the Storm's Edge and briefly visited the Emperor's Shrine, which could become a famous tourist attraction in the future, and at the same time, the Black Stone handcuffs on Sevatar's hands were removed, the ten Black Armor Terminators that Conrad Curze had transferred over like a fight also arrived.

"No one really likes this mission." Sevatar, who had re-armed himself, said honestly. However, when he spoke, he was not looking at their protector, but at Cato Sicarius, who was temporarily in charge of the small group of victorious troops as the captain. "But our Primarch has spoken."

Combined with the hint in his eyes, no one would misunderstand what Sevatar meant by "not liking this mission". Sicarius narrowed his eyes dangerously, but before he could open his mouth to fight back, Fujimaru Ritsuka had already spoken:

"Shut up!" She complained bluntly, "I'm already annoyed enough about the war! I don't want to worry about these things and have to mediate your quarrels all the time!"

"But Miss, you have to let us have some fun while we are standing guard."

"The fact that you appear in the sunlight is the greatest pleasure in itself."

As a member of the rebel army, Sevatar, who even owns the copyright of the famous phrase "Kill the false emperor", certainly understands the fun of this matter: "Oh, this is a bit sad."

"Lies don't hurt people, the truth is the sharpest knife." Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't intend to dwell on this topic any more, and directly set the tone for the future, "In short, whoever starts the fight first will go to the kitchen to peel potatoes."

Surprisingly, although there were complaints among the Night Lords, no one refuted the decision. Even Sevatar made a zipper-like gesture on his mouth before putting on his iconic bat-wing helmet.

Then, the preparations went smoothly: other bats, including the Primarch of the Night Lords, left the Storm's Edge with their equipment, the Ever-Victorious Army also got to know Kellya, who had completed a physical examination and received a prescription (the latter was obviously too nervous when facing these cyan-gold Astartes, but for a teenage girl, she had performed well), and Somni returned to his favorite seat in the control room, preparing to make an imaginary dive and arrive directly at the garden of the atrium of the Taros Cathedral.

During this process, Cato Sicarius could no longer hold back his curiosity and quietly asked Fujimaru Ritsuka: "Excuse me, but I'm really curious, how did you subdue those... Midnight Lords?"

The word "Midnight Lord" in this question was obviously added later. It was originally replaced by some adjectives that were far from polite and closer to insult. Fujimaru Ritsuka heard this, but she didn't care much. She just quietly shared her experience in the same low voice:

"The key is to make them think you're on the same side as them," she replied. "In practice, if you can speak Nostramo, you're at the starting line. If you can gamble, you'll get ten extra points. If you're a great card player and a master of tricks, you'll be at the top of the food chain. Don't be fooled by the black-armored guards who look like decent people. In fact, if the merits they owe me were converted into enemy heads, they could be used to build a huge temple."

After hearing this, Sicarius looked at the girl, who in his opinion was definitely no older than 15, with a complicated expression. The latter shrugged nonchalantly, with a little pride, and easily accepted the other's gaze of "I didn't expect you to be this kind of person".

Meow (six o'clock)

In fact, the extra story about Guda and the Night Lord playing cards was about this matter (.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 94: The Hard Power of the Master of Keeping Balance

"Honestly, I think the security forces around me are a bit excessive." Fujimaru Ritsuka's voice echoed in the empty hall of Tyros Cathedral. "Twenty-two elite Space Marines and one Somni. I really don't need more guards. Please let your warriors play a role where they are more needed."

Lanmalok was obviously not very happy with this reply. If the situation allowed, he would have challenged the warriors of other legions (combat groups) without hesitation, but considering whose home ground this was, he restrained himself a little:

"The Ultramarines are worthy of respect," Lanmarok said unhappily. He obviously had some moral integrity, but not much. "But what effect can the Night Lords have? I have no doubt that they just want to skin and drain the tendons of everyone who needs to come in for a visit."

The Ever-Victorious Army was not happy about this, but they were not ready to start a fight. However, Sevatar's sinister voice first rang out half a step behind Fujimaru Ritsuka:

"According to the young lady's order before she left, 'the first to cause trouble should go to the kitchen to peel potatoes.'" His voice sounded a little muffled through the voice-changing mechanism on the bat-wing helmet. "I really hope there are still potatoes in the kitchen of the Lion's Mane."

"Alright. Sevitarion, I know you want to have fun." Fujimaru Ritsuka tapped the podium in front of him with his knuckles, which was originally used to place scriptures during sermons (now there is a heavy data board on it), and attracted everyone's attention with this crisp sound. "But Lanmalok doesn't know the rules we just set. Ignorance is not a crime. Besides, he and his soldiers have been holding on to the ground battlefield, fighting together with the local garrison to defend the city and people of Parmenio. In any case, we should not ignore the achievements of the Dark Angels here. And, Lanmalok, I know the feuds between the legions, but no matter what, we will fight together to retake the world of the empire. I ask you and your warriors to temporarily put aside your prejudices when you have to work together, and don't let individual grudges affect the overall situation of the war, okay?"

These words managed to level out the situation that was about to fall over. The three legions (combat groups) reluctantly took a step back and restored a peaceful state of mind where each did not interfere with the other's business.

The Ultramarines, who could understand the situation in which she was walking the tightrope, secretly admired her in their hearts.