Warhammer 40k: Shattered Steel Soul

Chapter 473 Blind Throne

"The Word Bearers are here," Fosestaka said, staring at the space in the asteroid belt ahead, trying to discern whether there was any part that was still moving by observing the movement of the debris. "The Word Bearers are dead. part of it is here.”

Hathor Mat nodded and acknowledged Fusistaka's words. The pre-set psychic spells glowed slightly in the scroll in his hand. This was in order to cope with Magnus's limit on the total amount of psychic energy per cycle. Ling Er's little trick - to imprint some power that is not usually needed into the storage device in advance, and then release it when necessary.

Magnus reluctantly allowed them to use the techniques he developed, and worked with them to learn how to increase the stability of the scroll.

"This is a battle," he said, sensing the ether floating in the air. The time when all this happened was not far away, "a..."

He paused, doubting the conclusion he had reached.

"A civil war," Ahriman said, his voice dry. "A civil war within the Word Bearers... some final quarrels before they entered the vicinity of Terra..."

He closed his eyes and reorganized his words, "Due to some unknown contradiction, the Word Bearers internally carried out a sect curse and expulsion near Terra. It is conceivable that after this process was completed, Lorgar... Aurelion led the remaining Word Bearers into the range of Terra... I think that's it."

Vsistaka breathed out, "Surprising." He shook his head.

"So," Not far away, Ancuenan stood guard at the door with his notebook, "Are we going to continue to Terra? I don't know, I suddenly - I think going back might not be a good idea. If the Emperor allows the Word Bearers to fight before his eyes..."

"With all due respect, either the Emperor's opinion of the Word Bearers has changed somewhat..."

"Will the Lord of Men retract his judgment of Lorgar Aurelion at the Council of Nicaea? No, I cannot imagine so."

"Listen to me, either that's the case, or the Emperor's sight is no longer blind to the strife at hand. Which means - maybe, I don't know, but I fear that Terra's voice has become the Word Bearers words..."

"So where are we going?" Ahriman asked, with some uneasy suspicion and a bitter taste that throbbed on his tongue.

"In this darkness, what choice do we have?" He continued, countless thoughts tumbling in his mind, countless worries and frustrations intertwined into a chaotic storm.

Terra's situation was anything but optimistic, and he could almost reach a conclusion. And if it had anything to do with the Emperor, it was no longer a problem that a Space Marine could solve... Even Magnus was gone forever.

"Except for Terra, except for the Throne World, we can't find any other signposts. And if the Throne World is different from the past, after all, our father is probably buried here because of the unknown incident..."

The second half of his words disappeared into the tide of star language, and the torrent of words was like a carved dark wave, crashing into the minds of the Suns of Thousand Dusts. Even though the sonorous voice was not harsh, it was powerful enough. Ancuenan screamed in a low voice, covered his ears, and dropped the notebook in his hand to the ground.

The voice was calm and quiet, and there was even a certain pride and nobility in it.

+ Terra welcomes you, Suns of Thousand Dusts, + the voice said with a smile, + If you are willing to submit to the light again, your father's faults will not continue in you. Thank you for the mercy of the God-Emperor, Azhak Ahriman. +

fault? What is he talking about? What slanderous accusation is he making?

Lorgar Aurelion.

Ahriman grasped the gilded porthole beside him, his mind roaring silently under the impact of the astral language itself, but that was all.

Perhaps the Truth-Speaker did want to give them a sudden shock, causing their will to waver in horror - he was more and more sure of this now, but the effect his posturing attempt could achieve was limited to this one time. A dull little torture.

If he was still looking down on Magnus' proudest students.

His fingers trembled as he grasped the edge of the window pane, as if grasping the dark gap in front of him that separated the Wan Zhang Ray and the Throne World. He tilted his head and glanced at his brothers. Bright Feather nodded vigorously to him, followed closely by Falcon.

In the eyes of his brothers Ahriman saw his own reflection, silhouetted against the window.

A rare sense of command arose in Azak Ahriman's blue-as-sapphire eyes. His tone changed.

"If the throne world is different from the past...it means we are one step closer to the truth."

"After all, as scholars and as our father's children, we must pursue the truth about our father's death," he said softly, "to pursue why the throne he dedicated his life to became the place where his existence died. I believe you also We can feel, brothers, the voice of truth calling within us.

"I said before that we have no way to go but to come to Terra. Maybe, but we don't have nowhere to go. We can leave the same way we came, we can disperse on the spot and turn into a thousand scattered grains of dust. Waiting for the day when the wind reunites us. Each of us is a master of psychic powers, and the only things that can bind us are the Emperor and fate.

"Yet we follow Magnus here because we know the truth waits here - it waits for us, full of malice, but here we come."

"Azhak..." Hathor Maat's handsome face flashed with a luster as bright as wings in the sun, "I remember that you were severely criticized by your father. You said that for the sake of truth, you would rather Ups and downs in the vast waves.”

"Ah, that's true. I don't mind if someone leaves here, Matt, but could that person be you?"

"Have you forgotten that I stood by your side to speak out for your point of view, and we ended up working together as librarians of the Tizka Great Library for a month—literally librarians?"

Ahriman smiled, and then his thoughts surged toward the source of Lorgar Aurelion's voice and toward the throne world of Terra.

+Of course, Primarch,+Ahriman shouted,+We also return to Terra in search of truth. +

——

Lorgar Aurelion knelt before the altar of the chapel, his body covered with whip marks, his lips cracked with thirst, and cracks spilling blood and fire spread all over his body.

As he responded to the words of the Chief Librarian of the Thousand Dust Sun, the psyker who carried his words and the God-Emperor's magic shattered around him, turning into black dust and accumulating in a swamp-like swamp. There is no wind here, but the whistling of the dead souls still blows around the bearer of the truth, murmuring in pain.

+ Return, then, to the Lord, His children. +

He sensed the hostility in Ahriman's words and knew that Ahriman did not like him and even doubted his loyalty and sincerity. Azak Ahriman never liked the Word Bearers, no, the entire Fifteenth Legion did, too, steeped in their stubborn arrogance and rigidity, boasting of the sun but never seeing its true light.

But Aurelion didn't care, determined to treat them with broad kindness and welcome them back into his light.

They had not yet seen the God-Emperor, so they were hesitant. Aurelion did not like to forgive these unfaithful people easily, but the God-Emperor enlightened him...

+Kill without restraint... only... to nourish my enemy... my son... my son. +

Ah, His warning was sent to his heart when he entered the Sun Star Realm.

He recalled the moment a few days ago when he had not issued the internal deregistration order, and recalled his mood and feelings at that time.

This seemed to be some kind of condemnation of the sacrifice he had made. For a moment, Aurelion felt like falling into an ice cave, almost reliving the humiliation he suffered at the Nikaea Conference.

Perturabo... He issued false edicts in the name of the God-Emperor, and now he is secretly lurking at one end of the galaxy. He is undoubtedly hiding from people's eyes and ears with some depraved plot. He didn't know that the God-Emperor had already arrived on the dark throne, but it was just that he had not yet entered the world.

However, the God Emperor immediately said the next words to him. This immediately calmed Aurelion's heart.

He said: + But those who...rebellion...will be punished...the disobedient...will definitely come...and will not be tolerated...+

His words were broken into a thousand spreading fragments, as if He was still getting familiar with the world in front of him, and still sensing His coming. But every word he spoke sounded so cold, as if all his past sadness and kindness had been dissolved in the prelude to a day of reckoning.

Luojia opened his eyes and looked into the distance.

He saw it. He saw Terra wearing a black crown, and the destructive lightning roared and swirled around the ancient planet. Occasionally, a dazzling bolt of lightning flew out from the screaming Terra, as an extension of darkness, piercing directly into the frightened and colorful ocean around... The darkness is surrounded by a faint light, and that light is like a small lantern in the storm, shaking and resisting being extinguished... What a foolish and blasphemous resistance...

He saw it. He saw that Terra was as peaceful as usual. The dissipation of the subspace storm allowed navigation in a small area around it to gradually resume. The shape of the spaceship, which was as light as dust, was blurred and lingered slightly reflectively around Terra's steely surface. The golden building is clearly visible even from orbit. The small-scale damage seems to have cast a light discoloration on the Terra Palace, but the main body's radiance remains bright.

He stood up, his will willingly delving into the darkness of Terra and accepting what the God-Emperor had to offer.

For a moment, his breathing stopped, and his mind was filled with millions of pictures, until time and place lost their meaning, and all physical laws and rules of reality were forgotten. He heard the words of a great being, heard the new hatred, heard the echoes of shapeless words and thousands of will residues... all of this was suddenly poured into Lorgar Aurelion's body when a black light flashed.

The cracked cracks in his armor came loose further, black blood and fire pouring from his dry skin.

He heard new ideals, a new world, a new city of God after destruction... The darkness was still expanding, with the smell of acid and sulfur, the shadow at the end of the charcoal fire, the scream of the sharp weapon being swung across the sky, and the trigger. A series of clicks, multiple lasers firing up hot steam in the rain.

Slowly, he felt a distant, huge and terrifying gaze, looking at him across light years. He wanted to scream, but the air in his lungs was filled with blood, and he became the remains of a soul locked in a charred body, a vessel for the echoes of death and destruction.

He fell to the ground and turned into ashes, into burnt charcoal, into dust on the windless ground. Blood poured from his eyes, ears, and mouth, and then he saw it.

He met the blind God-Emperor.

——

"Please come in, Your Excellency Sejanus." Amon's voice came, and he added an additional honorific.

Hastur Sejanus entered the gleaming Great Pyramid of Photep at Tizca with two followers, and waited in the foyer to be led to the meeting by a masked soldier of the Fifteenth Legion. living room.

This is not his first visit to Tizca. In peaceful days, it was not uncommon for legions to invite each other to each other - if they could find a suitable free time. He noticed a row of wine-making theory collections on the bookshelf, and even though the situation was so urgent, he couldn't help but have a flash of memories in his mind.

That was Azak's masterpiece.

Brewing... they hadn't discussed it in a while.

Sejanus threw off his cloak and sat down in front of a wide low table, observing the surroundings with his peripheral vision. Some warriors from different schools, mortal attendants and scholars, two mementos, and a scenery that is not out of the ordinary, with no space to hide conventional weapons, or force field generators that have no reason to appear...

At least it's better than outside the city. He smiled to himself in distress, relieving the tension in his heart.

Although it was difficult to detect, Tizca's psychic shield had been deployed, and Sejanus suspected that the people stationed in the countryside outside the city were not ordinary residents.

These subtle signs made him even suspect that he should not come to the surface with wishes, but should drop precise laser strikes and missiles from orbit towards Prospero's neat and bright buildings, lush forests and blue bays. Thermonuclear weapons.

"I am visiting Prospero in the name of Horus Luperkar, the father of genes. Lord Amon, don't I still have the right to talk to Lord Magnus?" He said in a low voice, "We are going to talk. It’s the emperor’s decision about the fate of Qianchen Yang. I come here with sincerity.”

"We are also sincere in allowing the Luna Wolves' fleet to approach Prospero's orbit. In fact, we do not understand at all why our fate will be judged, nor can we understand the 'punishment' you mentioned. Yours The arrival makes us angry, and I even have to appease the citizens of Tizca so that they will not be angry at your slander.”

Amon said that without the helmet, his hair and skin were as faded as parchment that had been exposed to the sun.

"You can argue, but it would be pointless to pretend that nothing happened. The Emperor will not arbitrarily pass judgment on an entire Legion. You should know that the Primarch Magnus is a beloved son of the Emperor. The Emperor would not have easily ordered an attack on his beloved Primarch without a far-reaching impact and serious fault.

"And we are willing to help you. In this process, I still hope to see your original body, Amon. Even if you are really staying out of the matter, the empire's unparalleled psychic master cannot be ignorant of the matter."

"You can't see him anymore, Sejanus." Amon spoke and replied quietly.

"What does this mean?" Sejanus asked patiently, listening to the small sounds in the quiet surroundings. Ahriman had told him that in this state his etheric light was half as hard and constricted as the moon's disk.

"This means that Magnus has left us." said the former servant of the Primarch. "This means that the Primarch you intend to accuse has passed away. What else do you want from the panicked and confused Prospero? , What can we take away from the Tizka people who mourn the departure of their monarch and know nothing about the future or the past? We have nothing left to give.”