—The Age of Apostasy—
It began with Mortarion's assassination of Sanguinius, climaxed with Sanguinius's failed ascension, and ended with the mortals' mutual accusations and attacks. The Primarchs withdrew from the stage of history one after another. This was an extremely dark era. Ignorance and depravity were the main themes of this era. A thousand years of glory was burned to ashes, and what was left was nothing but the flies and insects called the corpse of the Empire trying to survive.
018.M33-
Assassination: Mortarion's failed attempt to assassinate Sanguinius.
Pope Sanguinius was seriously injured.
Mortarion, whose assassination attempt failed, did not flee. The Pale Lord, who was also seriously injured, chose to stay in the physical world. He stated to Guilliman and Angron the reasons why Sanguinius must die, trying to convince his former comrades in the Second Empire to kill Sanguinius.
Mortarion, who was controlled by the three Primarchs, knelt on the ground, emphasizing over and over again that the Archangel himself had long been contaminated by the power of the Warp, and that the Emperor himself had also been backlashed by the power of faith.
Even during his quarrel with Sanguinius, the Primarch had realised that something was amiss.
Mortarion even asked Angron if he knew about the Emperor's finger bone on Hades' neck - this was the best evidence that power could pollute a person's personality. That finger bone was not just a token to restrict Hades' actions, but also a tool used by the Emperor to cleanse the filth.
Sanguinius is corrupted, Mortarion said, sincerely.
The power of faith of such a span and intensity should have driven a Primarch mad long ago - but he didn't know - he didn't know why the Archangel had not yet shown any symptoms.
Perhaps, Mortarion suggested, a more horrifying reality is that Sanguinius was already tainted after the Heresy.
The archangel they came into contact with was the already corrupted Sanguinius.
The reason why they did not notice the abnormality of the angels was because the Archangels, who had spent the longest time with the Primarchs, were angels who had been contaminated.
He is the archangel who has been prayed for by the dark side of the empire for a hundred years.
During the Great Crusade, the only Primarch who was familiar with Sanguinius was Horus, while the rest of the Primarchs only had a vague idea of him.
And after the Heresy... Conrad Curze, Lion Jonson, and Corax, who had worked with Sanguinius for a period of time, all disappeared in a very short period of time.
Mortarion stated that, in fact, as the first Primarch to awaken the essence of the Warp, Mortarion found that as the power of the Warp he controlled became more and more complex, the more he fell into chaos and disorder.
Just like the four gods of the Warp were bound by their authority, the Primarchs who gradually moved towards the position of Gods were just repeating the same process.
After the Heresy, Mortarion was on the verge of losing control once, but with the intervention of the Death Guard, the Order of Silence, and the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Primarch regained his sanity.
Since then, Mortarion began to actively cut off his own concept of the subspace by summoning the underworld through the Soulless from time to time.
At the same time, Mortarion established the Cult of Hades in the Storm Star Region. Although there was a risk of his close friend Hades' power collapsing, Mortarion chose to use the power of Hades to offset the negative impact of the power of faith for the Emperor as much as possible.
None is immune—not even Malcador, not even the Lord of Mankind.
And now, Mortarion is certain that Sanguinius has long been corrupted - the Archangel himself has shown signs of sanctification, and the Emperor himself must not awaken now.
Mortarion tried to make Angron and Guilliman believe what he said. In fact, according to the development level of the state religion, Sanguinius has reached the critical point of [ascension to godhood] at this moment. Sanguinius can't move forward. If the archangel takes another step forward, mankind will face another monster of the warp.
Or worse, Sanguinius's [Apotheosis] will also lead the Lord of Humanity to the path of destruction.
In fact, the current situation of the Lord of Mankind is not optimistic.
But Guilliman and Angron no longer believed Mortarion's words. In fact, the two Primarchs did keep a close eye on Sanguinius for a long time - but apart from fatigue, Sanguinius did not show any abnormalities.
Facing Mortarion's accusations, the seriously injured Sanguinius did not speak. The archangel lowered his eyes, his long hair covering his bloodshot eyes, and remained silent.
In desperation, Mortarion pointed out another solution. Sanguinius could use the power of Hades to cut off part of the power of faith.
Only Hades - perhaps only Pluto - can save the day once again.
This proposal completely caused Mortarion to lose the trust of Guilliman and Angron, and the two Primarchs believed that Mortarion might have gone mad in some aspects.
He might be... immersed in the disappearance of his old friend and gradually going crazy.
Even though Mortarion himself had become more eloquent, more smooth, and more sincere over the millennia - his former comrades were unwilling to believe him in front of the seriously injured and bloody Sanguinius.
Guilliman and Angron simply stared at Mortarion with anger, regret, and disappointment.
Sanguinius also disagreed with Mortarion's views and proposals.
As well as the Death Guard, and their subordinate chapters.
At the instruction of the Pale Lord, the Cult of Pluto and the Cult of Mechanicus in the Storm Star Domain tried their best to hide at the edge of the Storm Star Domain, or on planets bordering the Extreme Star Domain, disguising themselves as normal planetary governments.
The Death Guards took the initiative to find the Blood Angels Legion closest to them and laid down their weapons.
According to statistics from the Empire, the number of Death Guards and their sub-groups who voluntarily surrendered alone exceeded 100,000.
During the period when the Empire was hunting down heretics in the Storm Segmentum, no major conflict broke out between the two sides due to Mortarion's advance orders.
However, small-scale conflicts are still inevitable. In the Storm Star Region, wars have broken out on countless planets. The joint forces from the State Religion, the Inquisition and the Assassin's Court, led by the young priest Gog Vandire, are judging anyone who is defined as a heretic.
As time went on and the Terran Primarch was preoccupied with his own affairs, Vandir's cleanup operations became more and more rampant.
At the same time, the Mechanicum of Mars took advantage of this action to begin the liquidation of the Forge World in the Storm Sector. Although the Imperial Regent Guilliman warned the Martian Cult, this group of academic lunatics still moved forward.
During the search for the Forge World in the Storm Star Region, the Martian Mechanicus discovered many extremely blasphemous clues.
The Empire's search is still proceeding slowly but steadily. If given time, the search from the State Religion will sooner or later reach every corner of the Storm Star Region.
However, the manhunt lasted only one standard Terran year.
Because a year later, people realized that Mortarion was right.
019.M33-
Due to the assassination attempt, Sanguinius, Guilliman and Angron returned to Terra urgently.
The Archangel realized that the damage from the Primarch Mortarion was continuing to disintegrate him, the poison and disease slowly eroded him, and the Archangel's power began to gradually decline.
At this moment, there are more and more events within the empire that indicate the revival of the Lord of Mankind.
Mortarion definitely has a backup plan, and now the gradually weakening archangel is the best proof.
At this time, the Primarchs who were still conscious realized that the moment Mortarion stabbed Sanguinius, the Pale Lord's goal had been half achieved, and the disease would ensure that Sanguinius would never return to his peak.
This is also the reason why Mortarion surrendered voluntarily.
He has accomplished his goal.
After four days and four nights of shutting himself in, Sanguinius emerged from his room, looking perfectly fine and barely visibly injured.
The three Primarchs held a brief meeting, and Sanguinius summoned Valdor to question the Custodes again regarding the Lord of Mankind.
After receiving a positive reply from Valdor that the Lord of Mankind's condition was recovering, Sanguinius decided to immediately begin the ritual of awakening the Emperor while his own strength was still intact and the power of the Ecclesiarchy was still at its peak.
During this ceremony, Sanguinius will act as Pope and attempt to communicate with the Lord of Mankind.
After a brief hesitation, Guilliman and Angron agreed to Sanguinius's plan.
It should be noted that Angron and Guilliman are not partial to one side. In fact, Angron and Guilliman have held private talks on this matter many times. In terms of politics, Robert Guilliman has reviewed it many times and believes that there is nothing wrong with Sanguinius.
After taking off the nails, Angron could directly sense the existence of human emotions. If Sanguinius really had any ill intentions, Angron would be the first to discover it.
It was Angron himself who chose to believe in the Archangel after he had examined Sanguinius several times and found nothing unusual.
So, after intense preparations, the empire finally welcomed that day.
December 25th.
All those who live in this era will remember this date, the day when the curtain of darkness was truly opened.
Since then, wisdom and courage have been lost, loyalty has disappeared, villains have taken over, and darkness has returned.
This day was not officially named by the Empire, but people in the folks call it the Ascension Day of Saint Guinius.
(End of this chapter)