"Are there any private rooms?"
Hades said with interest, Booth, who was leading him in front, smiled as they walked through the holographic camouflage barrier.
Behind multiple barriers, there was a space that was obviously more luxuriously decorated. Scarlet swan velvet sofas were placed on both sides. One of the sofas was the size of the original body and was obviously put in temporarily. A lamp emitting a faint soft light was hung in the gap between the two sofas, and underneath it was a strange painting.
There were desserts and wine glasses on the coffee table in front of the sofa.
Hades sat down and poked the Death Guard doll on the Primarch's sofa - he had brought it with him.
Buzz also sat down and smiled.
"Mingzi is not as stubborn as the Death Guard. We are here to discuss many collaborations, such as the Planetary Governor, the Forge General, the Imperial Guards... We can't take them to a place that is too simple to discuss. The atmosphere in Mingzi is similar to that of the Death Guard, which makes them feel uneasy."
Hades glanced at the black stone equipment around the small room, and he was sure that there was an anti-subspace force field here.
"Reasonable spending is always better than wasting resources and enduring hardships."
Hades said, "Shall I strengthen the anti-psychic power of this space?"
"please."
Buzz said, Hades saw Buzz's eyes light up,
"I have not yet seen your netherworld."
Hades released the Black Domain. Now his Black Domain can leave a hole. The Black Domain wraps around this space.
"…2B, hold out your hand."
Buzz held out his hand doubtfully, and Hades covered it with a thinning black area.
"How about it?"
Seeing that Buzz's face turned bad, Hades took back the black domain.
Buzz shook his head with a complicated expression, then nodded.
"It's similar to what Senior Karas said," Buzz said word by word, "fatigue, weakness, and... a strong urge to vomit."
Hades smiled.
"Low concentration is like this," he looked at the coffee table. The baklava on it looked good. Hades picked up a piece and put it in his mouth.
"Medium concentrations cause unconsciousness and high concentrations cause the soul to be devoured - but physical body functions will be maintained for a short period of time, and complete death will occur over time."
Hades said that Mingzi and he needed to get along with each other. To Hades, Mingzi was almost an army that would stand under his command 100% after he woke up.
... Of course, Hades knew that the Hades were also on guard against him - he also needed the Hades to remind him that something was wrong, instead of happily waaagh with him!
Buzz raised his glass, and Hades knew that he had understood.
"My father, have a drink?"
Buzz said, "This is the secret brewing recipe that the Death Guard taught the Chapter. It is said that it was made by Karas Typhon who copied the Pale Lord's poisonous wine - but the toxicity is much weaker."
Hades picked up the wine glass, looking embarrassed.
When did Mortarion's brew become something you can use to entertain guests? Do these Space Marines really love drinking this stuff
Hades pinched his nose to drink this kind of wine back then. In his memory, only Mortarion could "appreciate" the strange thing he brewed.
“… Do you like drinking this?”
"Generally," said Boots smoothly, "actually annoying - but without this specialty, how would visitors realize they were in the Death Guard's Son of Hades?"
The smile on Hades's lips twitched.
"Ahem," he said, "Back then, this wine was made because there was nothing on Barbarus, so Mortarion figured it out on his own and searched for a bunch of inedible things on Barbarus and made wine with them."
"As for why we don't use edible food to make wine, it's because we don't want to waste food."
Hades said with much emotion as he took a sip. It had a familiar taste and an indescribable soul-shaking feeling. This formula should have been improved countless times—improved to the point where mortals could barely stay awake after drinking it.
Hades picked up a piece of chestnut cake and decided to suppress the indescribable taste in his mouth.
"I strongly advised him not to waste food back then," Hades said with a complicated expression, while Buzz in front of him showed a mysterious expression.
"The Death Guard predecessors told us that this is a reward from the Pale Lord to those who have made contributions. It symbolizes perseverance and sharing weal and woe."
"That was later. I suspect his taste buds have mutated." Hades took another sip, feeling the torture Mortarion inflicted on his tongue ten thousand years later. "At first he simply wanted to find something to drink. You know, in Barbarus at that time, this kind of thing..."
Hades shook the glass and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no suspicious beetle fragments or spider legs in it.
“Very precious.”
Buzz drank the wine in his glass in one gulp, sat on the red velvet sofa, and asked tentatively,
"It seems we have misused the wine of the Lord of Death?"
Hades sighed.
"You can drink his wine recipe however you want. It's your credit that such a disgusting wine has survived for 10,000 years."
“Many beings have not disappeared even after ten thousand years.”
Buzz pointed at something. He filled his glass again, and a foul smell emanated.
"At least I still have to work - are the Death Guard, Faos, and Mingzi communicating with each other?"
Hades suddenly asked, he turned his head and looked at the duel cage where the duel was going on.
"Most of it is connected," Buzz said, "but I think Faros is not very clear about the current situation of the Empire."
Hades saw a beautiful shoulder throw, and he picked up a piece of cream pie with relish while watching.
"... I can see that Kirkland just talked to me mostly about technology and the Forge World. He was very restrained when talking about the current situation of the Empire."
"I thought he was a fanatic who would take credit for everything."
Buzz joked, he also took a few cakes,
"He always looks like a war madman in front of me."
Hardy paused.
"After all, he has lived for ten thousand years," he said, "and now... rather than being Kirkland, he is more like a fusion of Kirkland's main personality and Faos's Nirvana system."
Hades muttered,
"I don't even know if the Kirkland I knew back then is alive or dead."
But Hades looked relieved in an instant.
"As long as he lives happily."
Kirkland did seem happy, living a full and purposeful life, more than most people Hades had ever met.
"He's definitely very happy," Buzz said dimly, "You don't have to worry about being remembered by Hades for ten thousand years."
"… "
Hades thought what Boots said made sense, but the reward was that he would be remembered by Hades, which was weird no matter how Hades thought about it.
Is this what it feels like to be an idol
Hades suddenly thought of Neos back then... He began to understand why Neos wanted to avoid Lorgar.
But Hades is not the Emperor, he will face it!
Facing — hundreds of millions of believers!
Hades silently covered his face in his heart.
Perhaps he could understand why Mortarion dressed so carelessly... maybe because he was sloppy.
Hades sighed again. The dessert in front of him didn't look delicious anymore.
"Let's skip Sage Kirkland's personal issues for now..."
Hades said, "How much does the Empire know now? How did you know I was here - have you received any information from Barry the Lion and Imperial Citizen Tis?"
"Don't worry, Mingzi has already settled Tianshi and Tis."
Buzz continued, "We have kept the news very secret. Apart from the Death Guard, other forces in the Empire are not aware of the current situation."
"As for how we found you—Master Mortarion sensed you and then notified the Death Guard, and Senior Karas outsourced it to us."
Buzz spread his hands helplessly.
“Then I was shaken to work.”
“It’s not easy for you either.”
Hades raised his glass, Boots raised his glass, cheers.
Boots also sighed deeply.
"My hometown is Macragge."
Hades sighed, "I actually want to go back to Barbarus now... I wonder how Barbarus is doing now."
"Barbarus will welcome you, and so will Macragge."
"But I suggest you go to Macragge now," said Boots.
"How do you mean?"
"The main Death Guard force is now in the warp," Buzz said, and he also took a snack. As they chatted, Hades was about to clear the table.
"If you return to the Storm Star Region now, you will most likely not receive strong support. You need military power now."
"..." Hades said silently, "It seems that Mortarion has finally let go of his prejudice against the Ultramarines."
According to what Buzz said, he was sure that the Ultramarines would help Hades - this was definitely not based on the help of the Cult of Hades, otherwise why didn't Buzz let Hades go directly to Terra
First, we must seize military power.
After taking the military power, then move forward!
Cough cough.
As for why the Ultramarines are willing to help Hades, Hades can probably guess...
"The Ultramarines have always been at odds with Terra?"
“It should be that the Death Guard and the Ultramarines are on good terms,” Buzz said smoothly, “but after Lord Guilliman left, the Thirteenth Legion was indeed unwilling to have too many entanglements with the Solar Segmentum.”
"Is Roboute Guilliman still alive?"
"The Ultramarines proclaimed their Gene-Father dead,"
Buzz said, "But the true truth... only Lord Mortarion knows."
"Mortarion? The Death Guard don't know either?"
Hades asked, staring at the Macragge pancake with a smiley face on it on the coffee table.
Buzz shook his head.
"The matters concerning the Primarchs... perhaps only the Primarchs know clearly."
The atmosphere was silent for a moment, with only the noise of the Mingzi outside the room faintly heard.
"That means he's not dead."
Hades said confidently, pondering the wine glass in his hand. He remembered the potion that Mortarion gave him that year - unfortunately, that tube of medicine seemed to be taken away by Trazyn later. Guilliman was most likely in a state of suspended animation, or simply went to live his own life.
Hades once again thought about what happened before Guilliman's "fake death"... The High Lords... Terra...
Although Hades was unwilling to believe that the High Lords were so stupid, if he wanted to go to Terra, he must have an army that could threaten Terra's status.
Terra, Hades is a must.
No matter what, he had to go and see Neos.
"What do you think of the Ultramarines?"
Buzz smiled confidently.
"My father, I am a Macragge. When I was in power, I had a good relationship with them... The Ultramarines welcomed the Sons of Hades."
Hades waved his hand.
"There's no one else here," Hades said. "2... Buzz, maybe you could be more straightforward. Old people sometimes can't keep up with your thinking."
He could guess what Buzz was thinking, but Hades decided to take it easy on both sides - he couldn't just deny Buzz.
Buzz coughed twice awkwardly. Hades looked at Buzz. Mingzi looked normal. He was indeed a political creature.
"I indirectly approved the autonomy and independence of the Ultramarines' 500 worlds, as well as the Death Guard's - except for that... ungrateful combat senior, Karas. The Ultramarines owe me a big favor."
"After that, the Death Guard and Lord Mortarion also helped the Ultramarines to varying degrees."
"What's more," Buzz emphasized, "the Ultramarines are still extremely dissatisfied with Terra - in the past thousand years, Terra's rule has become corrupt again."
The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right
Hades pondered.
"I'm not sure about Terra's attitude towards me. What if the people of Terra line the streets to welcome me? Will the Ultramarines have any objections?"
Buzz paused for a moment, then he said cautiously,
"You... may have overestimated the High Lords," Buzz said, "Besides, the Ultramarines are not unreasonable people. Their current Chapter Master Marius Calgar is indeed a kind man. They are not driven by hatred."
"You mean they're willing to help me?"
"They will be delighted."
Buzz continued, he dipped some of the liquor and drew a line on the table.
First is the Five Hundred Worlds in the upper right corner, then the Phaos in the middle, and finally the World Devourer in the lower left corner.
"The five hundred worlds within the Extreme Territory are all close to Faos. We can go there to replenish our forces, and then to the World Eaters' home planet near Faos. Although the World Eaters' forces are not near Nukeria, there is also a garrison there."
"This is the fastest way to get a large number of troops when you can't warp."
Hades was obviously thinking too. He looked at Buzz's plan with great interest.
"Kirkland did talk to me about this. I can only rely on the slingshot to travel at the moment. Fortunately, there is a slingshot that is about to be completed in the nearby star field."
Measure the slingshot, the longer the range, the lower the accuracy.
After the probability calculation, Hades should try to go to the two closest slingshots.
On the route that Butz mentioned, the Ultramarines, Phaos, and World Eaters are all forces that deploy slingshots, and are very likely to unconditionally support Hades.
"Wait," Hades said, "the main force of the World Eaters is not in Nuthrea, so where is it?"
"Barr."
Buzz said, putting down his glass. "The remaining Sons of the Archangels were absorbed into the World Eaters, who were stationed near Baal for a long time... to suppress them."
"…suppress the archangel?"
Buzz nodded.
"Although there has been no unusual movement on Baal, the World Eaters never leave easily - this should be a direct order from their Primarch."
“I don’t know the details,” Buzz said, taking a sip of his wine. “But I assume that Lord Guilliman, who appeared with Lord Angron at the end, will know what happened.”
… Sanguinius showed signs of abnormality, and Angron suppressed it personally. The only person who knew the details of this incident was Guilliman, the Imperial Regent at the time, and Guilliman faked his death. If you want to find Guilliman, you have to find Mortarion.
Hades whispered,
"Sanguinius... Angron... Guilliman... Morta..."
It’s connected!
As if he knew what Hades was thinking, Boots spoke.
"Don't worry. From what I understand about the Death Guard... if Lord Mortarion escapes, he will come to you in person as soon as possible."
Hades pondered for a moment and realized that it was true.
Just like when he woke up the first thing he would do would be to check in with the Death Guard and Mortarion, and Mortarion would definitely come and chat with him as well.
The wine in the glass is bubbling.
"From Kirkland, I got a general idea of the situation in Sanguinius."
Hades took another sip of wine. This kind of wine paired with this kind of pastry was simply an insult to the pastry.
"Being bitten by the backlash of faith... Because of the legend of the Black Angel and the Golden Angel on Baal, Sanguinius himself did not show any abnormality before the Ascension Day."
"But after the Feast of the Ascension, it will be Sanguinius led by the Black Angel?"
Buzz nodded.
"The Archangels also took on some of the impurities of the state religion, either actively or passively, to ensure the purity of the Lord of Humanity. The treatment of the impurities afterwards was undertaken by the Pluto Cult."
initiative…
Hades nodded thoughtfully.
"Give it to me... At least the chance of me losing control is lower."
Boots stared at Hades and sat up straight.
"Father," he said solemnly, "how are you now?"
Hades picked up something like Boston pie and ate it.
"It's OK," Hades said, "I will rely on the Burner for energy for now."
He picked up the small star on his waist and showed it to Boots.
"Simply put, I need a huge amount of energy to drive the Star God part of me. If I drive it rashly, I might lose control."
"Don't worry about this for now, Mingzi. I'll leave it to Kirkland. Solve my energy intake problem first, and the probability of me losing control will be low."
Hades sent the plan he discussed with Kirkland to Buzz, who blinked to show that he understood.
"The path to becoming a god in the physical world?"
Buzz asked meaningfully, and Hades smiled.
"Tell me... Did Mortarion also behave extremely strangely in the later period?"
"Yes."
"As expected..." Hades said, "If an individual easily gains power, he will always be harmed..."
Now almost everyone is reminding Hades that Mortarion is becoming more and more abstract. Hades is curious about to what extent Mortarion can be abstract
But it seems that if he wants to save time, he can't go to Barbarus first.
Hades’ idea now is to go to the Extreme Star Region, obtain the help of two legions, accumulate enough troops, make a splash, and then go directly into Terra!
At the same time he needed to wait for the Death Guard to come to him.
The focus of the idea was actually on entering Terra. Hades was sure that he needed to meet the Lord of Mankind first - given his condition, the Emperor could not directly communicate with him in a dream.
And see if the current human empire needs Hades to descend from the sky.
Hades has absolutely no discriminatory attitude. If the human empire prospers, he will probably just find a place to live as a farm guest.
But it looks like... even if it's just the Tyranids, the human empire will face a disaster.
"So we stop in the Octareus Sector for a while, then go to Macragge?"
Hades blinked and stared at the coffee table filled with Macragge-style, or perhaps some other world-style pastries.
The only thing missing was Babarus's pastries - because apart from the glass of wine in his hand, Babarus had no snacks at all.
(End of this chapter)