[Everything falls apart, the center is separated.]
[—Guilliman quoting from The Second Coming]
On that day, Guilliman witnessed the collapse of an entire civilization, which collapsed to reveal its rotten core.
Before he had eyes to see, his brother had already raised his sickle.
——————
"It's an exciting and happy moment and I'm glad this day has finally come, even if there have been some misunderstandings along the way."
The two giants walked in the sunlight, and the white stones shone under their feet, neat and clean, like new snow.
Two small dots moved in the huge front square corridor.
The guards of the Ultramarines and the Death Guard were neatly lined up on both sides of the square. They just stood silently in the wind, letting the double-headed eagle flags in their hands flutter in the wind.
But compared to the Ultramarines who stood with their heads held high and their armor shining, the Death Guard exuded a more solemn and murderous aura. They seemed to be staring at everything with melancholy, ready to sing a elegy for this civilization.
Just like their Primarch who still dressed like a mourner.
Mortarion followed Guilliman slowly, he nonchalantly catered to his ignorant brother, the Primarch looked around the square, good, the Death Guard could control the whole situation in the first place.
Hades wasn't there, he was where he was supposed to be.
For nine days, under the pretext of ensuring the safety of the peace ceremony, the Death Guard deployed teams at various nodes in the main city, and tanks were parked in the streets and alleys, which naturally led to complaints from frightened civilians.
Those are not civilians, Mortarion sneered.
But in order to make things go more smoothly and prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the gap between them, the Lord of Death reluctantly went to Macragge's Glory in person to explain to Guilliman the necessity of the Vigilance Squad.
Through a half-crazy wizard that Hades had previously identified, Mortarion firmly grasped the truth that there was still a wizard here.
The Legion must be on alert, otherwise those crazy wizards will rush out and blow themselves up during the peace ceremony.
During his conversation with Guilliman, the Lord of Death displayed a rare eloquence. He cleverly used the Death Guard's participation in the peace ceremony as a bargaining chip and arranged the scene to his liking.
But Guilliman, whose ideas were slightly different from Mortarion's, misunderstood Mortarion's behavior. He believed that he had achieved a partial victory in persuading the Lord of Death, which at least made his brother less extreme.
Although the abrupt deployment of guard troops would indeed make the subsequent assimilation of this civilization more difficult, Guilliman knew that now that the rulers had completely surrendered, these setbacks were acceptable, and the price was the slightly softened attitude of the Death Guard.
As a result, the two of them were talking at cross purposes and managed to negotiate the matter into a way that satisfied both parties.
And now, it is time to reap victory, Guilliman thought complacently, it is a happy thing that a civilization has peacefully surrendered.
The Primarch looked up and saw the Queen standing in the center of the square, wearing a lake blue dress with silver patterns on it that emitted shimmering light.
The queen held the code of law that symbolized the governance of the country, and Absthu's ceremonial guards surrounded her.
The process of the ceremony was simple. The Primarch, symbolizing the outsiders, walked over, the Queen gave her speech, the history of Abstul, and their allegiance, then Guilliman took over the Codex and gave a speech on behalf of the Empire.
Guilliman had asked Mortarion subtly if he wanted a speech, and he had received a firm and decisive refusal.
Since Mortarion himself was unwilling, Guilliman would no longer make things difficult for Mortarion, although there was political suspicion here as he was the only one giving a speech.
Historians and recorders are in place, ready to record this glorious and honorable moment for the empire.
Mortarion was very dissatisfied with Guilliman's plan to arrange the historian. The Lord of Death approached Guilliman many times and asked him to remove these "useless people who will only hinder him."
Guilliman patiently explained to Mortarion the political necessity of propaganda, although he suspected that Mortarion had not heard a word he said. After Guilliman expressed his determination not to give in, the Lord of Death stared at him and slowly uttered a few words,
"Good. The Death Guard won't be responsible for them then."
Guilliman didn't know whether to laugh or cry. These were the historians following the Ultramarines, so the Death Guard were naturally not responsible for them.
The double-headed eagle flag was still fluttering in the wind. Soon, they would arrive at the center of the square, and the first part of the ceremony would begin.
Guilliman saw the hunchbacked queen smiling at them with satisfaction, and he silently expressed his respect to this lady in his heart. Even when facing them, this lady still maintained her noble self-dignity.
She also wisely chose the most correct path for her subjects. Sometimes, the biggest obstacle to peace talks was not the local people, but the rulers, because they could not bear the humiliation of suddenly condescending to others.
The Queen's early surrender further highlights the preciousness of this lady's spirit.
Guilliman sighed, the glittering glimmer of humanity would never be extinguished there.
Beside the Lord of Macragge, Mortarion stared at the witch in silence.
The witch gave him a smile of success, mocking the weakness of the Death Guard, who knew very well that this civilization was a cup of poison, but had to accept it out of concern for the Ultramarines, and then watched this cup of poison mixed into the rivers of the Empire.
Even when faced with provocations against the Death Guard Vigilantes, the Death Guards did not fire a single shot and responded to the insults in silence.
No, you are wrong, Mortarion thought silently.
The Death Guard will not accept the surrender of a witch, and will strip you of your disguise.
He vowed to bring war to this place.
The horn sounded, followed by the rustling of the wind. The Queen, wearing a lake blue dress, slowly stepped forward and began her speech with tears in her eyes.
"My subjects—"
Mortarion sneered beneath his respirator.
——————
Hades walked silently through the streets and alleys of the slums, followed by mecha soldiers and soulless people in mortal armor.
A vague sight flowed out from the cracks in the darkness, greedily licking Hades and his group.
Hades silently increased the concentration of the black domain to a higher level, which in turn resulted in screams and curses from the witch tied at the end of the team.
But soon the psychic's voice became quieter.
Hades ignored her and continued to move forward steadily.
Soon, the view became clear and a piece of open space appeared in front of them. In the narrow and crowded slums, there was an altar facing the palace from afar.
But it was obvious that this altar was the correct one. It had not been moved or destroyed. Broken glass replaced gems, rags replaced silk, and dried blood was smeared on the altar, with blasphemous words written on it that Hades could not understand.
Hades looked up and checked the place again. He didn't dare to use the black domain to cover the reconnaissance, otherwise this place would lose its due meaning.
Hades originally wanted to make these wizards reveal their true forms on the altar of the palace, but Mortarion stopped him.
[That is not a real altar.]
The Lord of Death silently wrote and drew on the map, muttering to himself. Finally, Mortarion circled the lowland slums that were symmetrical to the Highland Palace, and vowed to Hades that it was there.
Mortarion was gifted with psionics, Hades knew that.
But, looking at Mortarion's confident look, Hades silently swallowed his questions about [Numerology].
We’ll talk about it later, but Hades still repeatedly advised Mortarion not to take the initiative to contact the Warp.
During their subsequent reconnaissance, they did find the altar that had been wiped off the map by psychic power.
Hades completely retracted his black domain. He waved his hand back, signaling the soulless to bring the wizard up.
She was captured by Hades in the slums and played a role in Mortarion's attempt to persuade Guilliman.
However, according to the investigation of the Ultramarines, only the management of Abbus is present, and the royal family is the psyker.
No, they are wrong.
Everyone here is a psychic, men, women, young and old, and there is an ominous light flickering in everyone's soul. This place has long been completely corrupted, but for some reason, they have disguised themselves as a human civilization.
But under the black domain, no one can hide the truth.
The good news is that believing in the same [God] makes their soul fires become closer. You only need to light one and the rest will perish on their own.
The corruption in the slums was even more severe and bolder, and Hades stared in silence at the half-crazy woman whose face was exactly like the queen's, but one eye was blind.
"Not here! No--not here!"
Hades silently opened something like a black thermos, but there was no warm water in it. Instead, grayish-white powder lay quietly inside.
He opened his communication channel and gave the order.
In the distance, where Hades could not see, the guard teams deployed by the Death Guard began to act. The soulless people nimbly climbed into the tanks, opened the black stone jars placed inside, and then quickly retreated to a certain range.
The powdered psychic was among them.
The sky above Abstuo twisted slightly, but it didn't matter, the Death Guards' airdrop pods and torpedoes were ready.
Mortarion looked at the queen with amusement as she was still giving a speech. There was a pause in her big-talking speech. She was a psychic, so of course she realized it.
He finally felt that this face full of lies became a little less annoying to him.
Mortarion clenched his scythe and stepped forward to stand between Guilliman and the Queen. Guilliman looked at him uneasily and dissatisfied, as if asking Mortarion what strange thing he was going to do again.
Under the hood and mask, Mortarion smiled at Guilliman. It would be soon, soon, Guilliman would know everything, and he would shut his mouth that could only speak official rhetoric.
Hades dragged the wizard to the center of the altar and silently began to sprinkle psychic ashes on her body.
These wizards may not have thought that one day they would become the vessel that carries their [divine power]
Affected by the sudden surge in subspace concentration, mutation has begun, and dirty blue feathers are emerging from under her skin, stained with scarlet blood.
She began to beg for mercy loudly, calling for her master, and tearing her feathers with her bound hands, but the feathers continued to grow wildly out of control, they were everywhere, even squeezing out of her eye sockets.
Hades remained silent as he continued to scatter the ashes like a medieval villager piling firewood for a wizard.
Finally, as if realizing that her life was coming to an end, the witch finally gave up calling her master in a language Hades could not understand, and instead attacked Hades with a hoarse voice in Low Gothic.
"What did we do wrong?! You invaded us! Tear our flesh and blood! Destroyed our faith! And we did nothing, just lived the way our ancestors did!!!"
She cursed Hades loudly,
"Self-proclaimed righteous invaders! Trash! Scum! Tyrant!"
However, the only response she got was silence, and she suddenly realized that since she met Hades and was arrested by him, Hades had never said a word to her.
She laughed at the top of her lungs.
"You despise us! Are you not even willing or dare to talk to me?! Coward!"
What responded to her was Hades' retreating figure and the hissing sound of the grenade in his hand.
A blinding white light suddenly appeared—
Suddenly, she heard
"I'll find a better universe in my next life."
“His ...
Guilliman turned his head sharply. In the southern sky, a huge blue shadow flashed out of nowhere and uttered a sharp curse.
Guilliman's pupils constricted.
"Varied-"
The next moment, as if realizing something, Guilliman suddenly raised his hand to try to block, but Mortarion was one step faster than him -
Mortarion suddenly pulled Guilliman back with a loud clanging sound. Guilliman turned around again, and the scythe stopped less than an inch away from his nose, full of sharp blue feathers.
Opposite the giant sickle, there was a squirming human figure. The blue skirt seemed to have merged into her skin, and sharp feathers were faintly visible underneath.
That's the Queen, that's the Queen?!
Guilliman took a deep breath, immediately drew out the Akagi dagger, and began to command the Ultramarines.
When the Primarch turned his attention to the warriors outside, he found that the Death Guard had started to act a second before the accident. They raised their flamethrowers, changed their formation, and pushed the Ultramarines back from the outside.
There was chaos on the field, the Absdu people were screaming and growing feathers, and blood was spilled all over the ground.
The historians were horrified by this hellish scene and tried to squeeze into the ranks of the Ultramarines screaming.
There was a roar in the sky, and the Death Guard's Stormbirds had begun to circle low in the sky. A warning sounded on the general channel, [Sudden attack, the enemy has betrayed the Empire.]
All this happened in less than ten seconds.
Guilliman was completely confused. He didn't understand. In countless deductions, there was no backup plan for this behavior. The other party's actions were not in any interest, and this was not part of the plan.
But even so, Guilliman made the most correct decision after just one second of observation.
[My descendants! Prepare for battle! Cooperate with the Death Guard! ]
Compared to the Ultramarines who still don't know most of the information, the Death Guard are clearly more confident of victory.
Mortarion's voice rang out,
"I'm glad you said that, my brother."
Mortarion raised his gun, the light of stored energy lit up, and he shot the queen again, directly knocking off the queen's crown.
"I am glad, too, that you are finally showing yourself to be, Lady Circe."
The violent psychic fluctuations enveloped the queen, which made Mortarion dare not get close to her easily.
"How dare you?! How dare you?! Ridiculous monsters! Do you really think you can defeat us after awakening Abstuo!"
The queen cried out in grief, as if she were crying blood.
"You are nothing but scum, crude primitives!"
As if in response to the queen's scream, the blue figure on the horizon also let out a sharp scream, and the huge sound waves could almost be seen by the naked eye.
Mortarion raised an eyebrow, but continued his firing.
Guilliman swallowed his saliva. The Imperial Army was indeed in the upper hand, but - that shadow on the horizon? Why did Mortarion seem to ignore it
Even Guilliman could see that it was the monster that would decide the battlefield!
"You are the ones who are foolish and arrogant. You rely on the power of the warp, but mistakenly regard it as your own strength."
"When you kneel to the warp, the winner will be us."
The Lord of Death spoke his words softly as he watched the Queen struggle angrily. Her previously thin body had already become larger than the two Primarchs.
[Inside the tank, a red light rang out from the black stone tank, and the lid was automatically closed. A huge amount of black stone powder began to pour out, accompanied by a girl's roar.]
Hearing Mortarion's provocation, the queen screamed shrilly, the blue monster in the sky screamed shrilly, the people of Abstul wailed, and the historians screamed—
"How dare you—"
An indescribable giant of pitch black rose from the horizon, violent green lightning entangled in the dark clouds, and death came in an instant.
[Pluto] gazed at the corrupted land. The blue giant shadow before was just a moment in a dream.
The soul is trembling.
Everyone looked away in disbelief, and some people had already fallen down trembling—
Except for Mortarion and his Death Guard, Mortarion smiled and walked forward with his scythe.
Now, everyone was shut up, no screaming, nothing.
The Lord of Death was pleased with this.
Then, the green flames burned quietly.
Haha, I passed out while coding and didn’t catch up with yesterday… Just consider it as yesterday’s quantity, there’s still some left for today.
Some people were slow to react, so we sped it up, and some foreshadowing may be sloppy.
(End of this chapter)