Hades had not expected much from this meeting.
The Primarch had a strange temper, and Hades's act of inviting him to board the ship of the Order of Silence in order to investigate his loyalty was "a little" rude. Even before Finus responded to the Order of Silence, Hades was not sure whether the Primarch would accept his invitation.
So when Finus gladly accepted Hades' invitation, Hades was very moved.
And when Finus said there was no need to be polite, Hades thought that he could give Finus an Imperial Touching Award.
Time is running out, and the sooner we reach the Eye of Terror and find out the truth, the better. However, it is also necessary to gain the trust of the cooperating Legion. Primarchs like Finus who are willing to be trusted as long as the facts and the truth are presented are rare.
Logically, with the two science and engineering talents' minds clashing, what Hades needs to worry about next is how to make the Iron Hands warriors adapt to fighting against the subspace creatures in advance.
but…
What did Finus just mean
Hades looked at Finus hesitantly, and Finus, who had just been immersed in his memories, seemed to be aware of Hades' confusion and spoke directly. He stared at Hades,
[I have talked to the Lord of Death about some things…]
Finus frowned slightly, choosing his words carefully.
[Regarding the affairs of the subspace.]
Finus realized that Hades was staring at him in a daze, but then Hades spoke,
"What do you see, Fenus?"
Hades asked without hesitation.
"Mortarion would not reveal information to those who do not know it without reason... unless you saw something."
Finus's brows were almost frozen into a small mountain. He stared at Hades, as if evaluating whether Hades could know these things.
After a brief silence, Finus made his choice. The Lord of Medusa shook his head slightly and looked away.
[Mortarion trusts you, and I trust Mortarion.]
[I hope you are worthy of this trust, Hades, although I am confused by your existence. ]
Hades opened his hands. Finus was different from the other Primarchs. Finus had said that he was the Emperor's tool. Perhaps Finus and Hades had something in common in their positioning and cognition of themselves.
"I am responsible for humanity and the Empire, Fainus. All my activities are based on preserving humanity as much as possible. According to my current position, I will do my best to prevent the invasion of the warp into the physical world - even Mortarion, if he hinders the future of mankind..."
Hardy paused, his tone lighter.
"But that's why Mortarion trusts me."
Finus smiled with his tightly pursed lips, but soon he returned to his tense state.
[It looks like our cooperation will go smoothly, Hades.]
Finus swallowed briefly. As expected, he saw the red light flash in Hades' left eye, but his calm voice still trembled slightly.
[I saw a being similar to Fulgrim.]
Finus glanced at Hades' expression out of the corner of his eye. It was beyond his expectation, but also seemed reasonable. Hades did not react much.
[… You don’t look surprised. ]
Hades sighed and shook his head slightly.
"You already know this in advance, Finus. It will be much easier for me to explain other possible events later."
Thanks to Mortarion, Hades thought, and at the same time he was thinking about how to tell Finus. As for Finus's popular science, he originally planned to start from the Warp, but it seemed that Finus had made up for it in advance and jumped to the part of rebellion.
Finus was silent for a long time. Finally, his tense face moved.
What else might happen
Hades blinked.
"Bear my offense."
The next moment, Finus felt the same powerlessness he had when he first boarded the ship. At first, this feeling of powerlessness became stronger as he went deeper into the ship, but when he reached the strategic room, this feeling suddenly disappeared.
And now, they swept in again, like a sticky black ocean.
Finus took a deep breath.
[Is this your ability? ]
"Yes, it can offset some of the effects of the subspace on the physical world."
Hades said as he signaled the servant to bring over a chair and some water.
"It looks like this conversation will take a little longer,"
But now is not a waste of time. When Finus just said that he was happy to cooperate, Hades received permission from the Lord of Medusa. According to Hades' calculations, the fleets of the Iron Hands and the Order of Silence are now reorganizing their defense formations and preparing to continue sailing.
Hades said, handing Fenus a glass of water and smiling when Fenus glanced cautiously at the liquid inside.
"I suppose you have tasted the poisoned wine of the Death Guard?"
Finus sat down, took a sip of water from the cup,
[An unforgettable drink.]
He commented politely.
Hades sat down, his eyes fixed on Phenom.
"We both like to be straightforward, Finus, I need to know where your acceptance line is."
Hades watched as Finus began to drink water again. The Primarch needed some time to judge his mental state, so Hades had to give him this time. While Finus was drinking water, Hades kept chattering like he was chatting.
"The first person to know about these things was Mortarion... He was really scared at the time. Don't tell Mortarion what I said! But I think there is probably no one who would not feel panic and despair in the face of these things. I was desperate for a long time at that time."
"But it's easy to accept these things,"
Hardy paused.
"You just need to realize that this world is not as glorious as the empire promotes. Malice is everywhere in this world. If you don't feel that your life is being oppressed, then you probably haven't seen the string tied around your neck."
"Hmm..." Hades was silent for a moment, "Then the God of Death became indifferent because he was always on guard."
I understand him.
Finus spoke.
[Hades, I can accept the death of my brothers, regional rebellion, and the existence of violating the truth of the empire.]
He looked at Hades and smiled. A similar scene made Finus vaguely remember the time when Mortarion forced him to drink. His fingers holding the cup twitched uncontrollably, and he was thankful that there was water in it.
Hades took a deep breath.
"That's easy."
Hades said,
"Let me start with the battle we are facing this time, Finus. We are now heading to the Eye of Terror, also known as Cygnus-X1. This star field is a state where the Warp and the physical world overlap, which means that Warp creatures can appear in this star field more easily."
"The creatures of the Warp are not like ordinary enemies. It is not just a battle of gunpowder, guns, and swords. In their domain, emotions and minds are also battlefields. Specific emotions will provide strength for specific creatures of the Warp. If a person's mind is defeated in the battle with them, then this person will be more likely to mutate - he will become a tool and slave of the creatures of the Warp."
Hades glanced at Finus, who seemed to accept it well, but the existence of living things in the Warp violated the Imperial Truth.
Hades continued,
"And the creatures in the subspace also have strengths and weaknesses. The strongest among them..."
Hardy paused.
"At least stronger than the Emperor you know now, and there is more than one such existence in the warp."
The terse voice of Finus sounded,
[It is acceptable. There is also a presence on the battlefield of Ullanor that my father cannot match.]
In order to make Finus more deeply understand what they were facing, Hades hesitated for a moment, and finally chose to speak.
"My description is still not very accurate. What I mean is that these powerful subspace creatures are closer to the concept of "God" in people's mouths."
"and… "
Hades said slowly,
"In fact, apart from the Order of Silence and the Death Guard, most people who see creatures in the warp will directly choose to name them "Demons". Do you understand what I mean now?"
Fenus Manus remained motionless, like an iron sculpture, but Hades watched a drop of sweat flow down from Fenus's head.
Finus knew that Hades meant that in order to avoid panic, the official term was "subspace creature", but the truth was...
Hades coughed awkwardly.
"How are you?"
He asked tentatively,
"If you need any assistance... While I do not recommend drinking at this hour, I do have several bottles of Mortarion's poisoned wine in my personal stash, if you need—"
[No, I don’t need it.]
Finus immediately interrupted Hades, as if he didn't want to recall the unbearable past.
[Then why is Imperial Truth?]
Finus asked,
"Just now I said that certain emotions and minds will provide power to the creatures of the Warp. In fact, even if you are not in a war zone, the emotions produced by creatures connected to the Warp are providing them with power every moment, every minute and every second."
Hades saw that Finus was almost frozen, even his breathing had stopped. It was better to suffer a short pain than a long one, so Hades decided to finish his words in one breath.
"Knowing the existence of Warp creatures and actively trying to provide them with power is completely different from ignorance. The Emperor hopes to make all humans believe that there are no creatures in the Warp. This mental power will also have an impact in the Warp and weaken the Warp creatures."
Hades smiled bitterly.
"There's no need to panic. Thanks to the laws of this world, creatures from the subspace cannot easily cross the veil between the subspace and the physical universe and disrupt the physical universe."
Only then did Finus sigh slightly, and the Lord of Medusa said softly,
[If you put it that way... I understand why... ]
Hades was stunned.
"Understand what?"
[Why... Why did I see Fulgrim like that? What happened to him... If there really is a sub-space creature that can play with minds and is stronger than my father.]
Finus thought and drank a mouthful of water.
[Earlier, Mortarion only reminded me that our brothers could become monsters, and warned me to be careful of the warp, but he did not explain the details and principles.]
Hades smiled and thought to himself that it was already a great success that Mortarion did not teach you about numerology, so you can't force him to do that.
Although Hades thought so in his heart, he did not say so. Hades said it quite smoothly.
"He is on guard against the existence of the subspace. Intense emotions and certain phrases will attract their attention, so he cannot speak too clearly."
"But not here,"
Hades said lightly,
"I am a soulless being. In places where the veil is thicker, I can shield them. That's why we can talk about everything here clearly—except for the few words with the highest intensity in the warp, of course."
Finus paused for a moment.
[Besides the Soulless, is there any other way to avoid the influence of the Warp? The Iron Hands have collar technology to restrict psykers. ]
He watched as Hades' eyes lit up, and the Lord of the Order of Silence leaned forward.
"That depends on the internal principle, but I don't think you can have too high expectations on this matter. Currently, apart from the Soulless and Blackstone Technology, there is no more efficient means."
Hades reached out and nodded his head.
"For creatures with souls, the best way to resist the Warp is to have a firm soul."
Finus sighed deeply.
[I can do it, and so can he.]
Hades certainly knew who the "he" that Finus was talking about was. In response, Hades smiled politely.
However, Hades did need to confirm Fulgrim's situation, after all, the Emperor's Children were the legion closer to here.
"After you talked to Mortarion, did you go and warn Fulgrim?"
Hades asked,
Finus spoke, with some hesitation in his words.
[Of course I talked to him... I advised him to be wary of the warp and not to pursue perfection so much... I advised him to use less accessories that are only for decoration, and he was a little disappointed with me for this.]
Hades almost choked on a mouthful of blood. He could understand the first part, but what the hell was going on in the second part
Since Hades was so confused by Finus's behavior, he had to ask more questions.
“… Why did you advise him not to wear decorations?”
[Because I've seen that fake, it's very—]
Hades raised his hand.
"Okay, I understand."
"You were right to advise him to stay away from the Warp and not pursue perfection to an extreme degree, Fenus. Extreme emotions breed creatures of the Warp."
Finus was silent for a moment.
[I will give Fugen another piece of advice.]
"Now?"
Hades said,
"I need to remind you that the warp is already very unstable right now. The information you convey to him using the astropath may be lost, or worse, distorted."
What should I do
Finus asked stiffly,
Hades sighed.
"Trust him."
Hades spread his hands.
“It’s all you can do.”
He gazed at Finus earnestly,
"Every Primarch is subject to corruption. The only thing I can ensure is that the Primarch I follow will not be affected by the Warp, you see—"
Hades waved his hand casually, and the command board covering the entire wall was instantly filled with data.
Finus opened his eyes wide.
"In this plan for the fall of the Order of Silence,"
Hades said lightly,
"There is also a Death Guard share."
"but… "
Hades said that Finus saw two documents marked in red, one for the Iron Hands and one for the Iron Warriors. Hades waved his hand and the red mark on the Iron Hands was cancelled.
"Now we should focus on the Fourth Legion."
[… Perturabo.]
Finus breathed out the name softly.
Chapter 4.2, no more! {Waves} (Leaves)
(End of this chapter)