"fine?"
"Not bad," Vox coughed. He felt his throat itchy and hoped that the worms in his esophagus had been cleared out by the pharmacists.
He still felt that the dry and clean reality was like a dream, but the vague feeling of disgust and the Ultramarines emblem on the ceiling reminded him all the time that this was not the Warp.
Just now, without Vox asking any questions, Hades took the initiative to tell him about his current situation. Now, the metal mask covering the lower half of Hades' face was flashing a cold light.
Compared to the anger he had heard from Buzz earlier, the half-decayed Death Guard felt a boundless melancholy.
Even Hades was not immune to corruption... although the curse he suffered was from the physical world.
But at least it was still Hades.
“… there will be a solution.”
Vox said, and Hades nodded.
"I am now able to temporarily stifle these powers."
Vox was silent for a moment.
"You're becoming pessimistic... Wraiths, I mean the permanent solution,... We could go to the Necrons."
Necrons
Hades thought that perhaps Trazyn would choose to help him, but judging from Trazyn's intention, this kind-hearted Necromancer would probably be consumed in the lawsuits between dynasties in the short term.
And... the next time they meet... I still don't know what the relationship between them is, what the relationship between the Empire and the Necrons is.
"The Death Guard have come into contact with other Necrons?"
Vox nodded.
"We have never given up... There is a special gravedigger team within the Death Guard. We also have some Necrons technology, but we have not announced it to the outside world."
"I guess Boots doesn't know either?"
"He doesn't know."
Vox explained,
"Before he fell asleep, he had been a key target of the Empire. We cannot expose him."
"This part of technology has been kept by the Death Guard Tech Sergeants as a possible response to the final crisis - if all the allies betrayed the Death Guard in the end."
"This time when we went to Corruption Heaven, we used some of the corresponding technologies."
“… But now that you’re back, we can speed things up.”
Hades nodded. Part of the technology of the Necrons was given by the Star Gods. With reference technology, he could try to quickly add some technology tree.
"... You have done a lot," Hades couldn't help but sigh, "Establishing a second religion, establishing autonomous regions, expanding infrastructure, secretly expanding the military... and even delving into Necron technology."
Vox smiled.
"It's not the technology of the Necrons, it's the technology of all alien races, Necrons, Eldar, Greenskins... He doesn't miss any possibility."
He meant, of course, Mortarion.
Thinking of this, Hades felt mixed emotions. The stubborn Primarch who couldn't be pulled back even by seven bulls, now seemed to have become much more mature.
What happened to Mortarion
"Mortarion..." Hades began. "What does he wish to do?"
"—Deicide."
Vox said calmly, but his heart was not at peace. Ten thousand years had passed, and only a few people knew about this plan.
No one can tell, no one will believe, no one understands.
"The Pale Lord sent me back..." Vorx said, "to explain his plans to you."
"Hades."
—————
He still hasn't grown.
Mortarion is deeply aware of this, and the deepest and most profound emotions that drive him are still hatred, fear, and despair...
But it doesn't matter.
He accepted the reality calmly.
Under the command of the Lord of Mankind, some Primarchs were keen on defending the territory, some were keen on maintaining order, some were keen on clearing out traitors... and he was keen on destruction and overthrow.
As Hades once said, he was a little extreme.
But fortunately, this vast galaxy is more extreme than him.
In the vast sea of stars, there is never a shortage of beings that need to be overthrown, exterminated, and beheaded.
False gods are also among them.
There was nothing to say. The torn galaxy had cast a shadow on his retina. Mortarion knew who was the greatest enemy and who should be destroyed.
Unless it was necessary, he would not care about the rise and fall of the empire, as there were others to take care of it. If all of this needed to be taken care of by Mortarion, then there would be no need for this huge empire to exist.
The empire established by the Lord of Mankind needs to learn to be self-sufficient rather than relying on one or two supermen to move forward.
For Mortarion, the Primarch had only one responsibility.
That is God-killing.
Or... instead.
The Lord of Mankind showed him the truth, and after a long breakdown, Mortarion began to deconstruct this unacceptable truth. Finally, he came to his conclusion -
Emulating the Pantheon of the Eldar, the Emperor wanted to establish a "Temple" for Humanity.
Mortarion sneered.
Perhaps he should not have been so careless in calling it a "temple". After all, the Lord of Mankind had emphasized countless times the fact that he was a human being.
It's just another name for diverting the power of the Warp.
And the essence of the original body is the existence of the subspace, so it is naturally the best carrier of the power of the subspace.
Mortarion raised his hand and stared at his skinny palm.
He couldn't help but think of the Lord of Mankind's previous webway plan, to move all humans into the webway and isolate the influence of human souls on the main subspace...
…As human faith disappears in the Prime Warp, Chaos will gradually weaken.
But the beliefs of the human race did not disappear directly. They simply moved from one place to another. They still needed a carrier - otherwise these beliefs would spontaneously form a new existence.
The new carrier is the original body.
The nineteen primarchs are enough to dilute the negative impact of faith.
Mortarion had enough evidence to believe that the Primarch was a being the Emperor wished to divert his own faith from.
But that was before.
Now they have Pluto.
But... Mortarion could not guarantee that his former comrades would always respond to them, and Hades' response continued to weaken...
He had hoped to find Hades first and then attack the Warp.
But the reality is not as we wish.
The Necrons were far more difficult than he had imagined. Attacking a dead race was much more difficult than attacking an enemy that he had already dealt with before. Over the long years, he was wearing out... He was running out of time.
Whether it was losing himself due to the backlash of his faith, or giving it his all before losing his strength or consciousness, Mortarion never hesitated.
He wants to kill God, he wants to devour the flesh and blood of the corrupted sky... He wants to take... but...
God is immortal.
Within the laws of the subspace, the rebirth of a god is exchanged for the death of another god.
"Consciousness" can be erased and replaced, but the dispersed authority must have something to carry it, otherwise the old gods will never die.
He might be able to throw Nurgle's power directly into Hades' realm, but in the long years when Hades became increasingly silent, Mortarion did not think that he could call upon Hades' blessing in the vast ocean.
After that, some changes occurred and Mortarion was exiled, but this made him more certain of his guess, until...
…until the Eldar found him.
Another candidate to devour corruption has arrived.
The opportunity Mortarion had been waiting for had arrived.
Every step forward from now on will be a step towards death.
Or perhaps it was a step worse than death, but Mortarion had no regrets. There was nothing to regret, even if his only sigh was that he would never see his old friend again.
Perhaps he should apologize to his old friend who kept shouting that he was a human for the dark churches that were now everywhere in the Empire, or he should apologize for using the Black Domain without explaining himself... Even though Mortarion knew that Hades would forgive him, the Primarch was still sad.
In the extreme reality, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, he made too many mistakes.
But Mortarion still had no regrets.
In this desperate world, he has learned to be silent.
First... through the Eldar method, a large number of Death Guard ships were sent into the Warp.
The Vast Ocean was surging, the bow of the ship was thin, seven times seven Nurgle Daemons were pierced by black stone spears and nailed into the deck. As a guiding beacon, the Endurance broke through the psychic ocean and rushed into the High Heaven.
He was not worried about other beings in the Warp intervening. The clues collected by the Death Guard told him that there would be beings who would stop them - perhaps the Emperor, perhaps the Emperor, it didn't matter.
Because only emperors or kings would be happy to see the fall of the old gods.
It is precisely those two existences that have been entangled with other subspace existences.
Even if the position of one of them is not clear.
Next, use the black stones that have accumulated for thousands of years to disrupt the garden's ocean currents.
The whistle sounded, the missiles took off, and billions of black bullets, which were as big as several people could hold together, fell into the garden like rain.
Dust exploded, and he heard a groan of pain from deep in the garden, like the wet earth cracking and a slug withdrawing its eyes.
… The negative psychic properties of the Black Stone were weakened within the Vast Ocean.
Mortarion listened attentively to His struggle, and he released his own mist, which rolled up in white, and the nearby black stones would be reversed by his psionic power.
The mist is rising.
Then there was the fight... the fight... the fight...
Save Isha, eat Nurgle... gain power... get out of here...
The contract he made with the Eldar was to rescue Isa, serve as a substitute for the "Eldar Death God", and kill the youngest queen.
The Eldar will fully assist him in killing the youngest queen.
The arrogant Eldar did not understand why he was obsessed with Nurgle... They even wondered why he was willing to agree to befriend Isha... He needed the authority of the [Rebirth]... and also needed the information of the Eldar Pantheon of the past.
Mortarion planned to obtain the secret of rebirth from the Eldar goddess Issa after leaving the Garden of Nurgle - as long as it was enough to deal with the Necrons.
At the same time, he needed to find another Primarch to share the burden of [Rebirth]. The Eldar God was just a stopgap measure.
But... yes and no...
The Eldar hope to use his name as the "human god of death" to replace the identity of the "Eldar god of death". If they want to hold his scythe... they will have to pay a price for it.
If Mortarion is fortunate enough to reach the final step, and Slaanesh falls under his scythe... Mortarion will ensure that the Eldar will no longer exist.
As the only false god among the Four Gods with a clear record of the time of his awakening, Slaanesh may not be as persistent as Nurgle. He is too deeply bound to the Eldar and was severely injured ten thousand years ago.
He is more powerful, but also more easily destroyed.
Mortarion has already made some preliminary plans on how to deal with Slaanesh, but this requires him to escape from Nurgle's Garden and gain the help of the Eldar.
And... on his way to facing Slaanesh, Mortarion thought... there might be another ambitious demigod he should be wary of.
… emperor.
And then... and then... nothing happened.
During the trek to the garden, there was a commotion among the Eldar. They mistakenly believed that Mortarion was not capable of continuing the fight, so they persuaded Isa to leave in a hurry.
Then they fell into eternal stagnation of the corrupt sky.
…
One breath, one minute, one hour, one year... a thousand years... until the verdant WAAAGH wind blew into the stagnant garden, and time started running recklessly again.
He should unite with the greenskins...
…not the Eldar.
But the old friend has returned—his former comrade, commander, logistics manager, cafeteria raider, spiritually glorious Macragge, eternal son of Barbarus... In short... that existence has finally returned.
To kill God.
To actually kill a god.
This was Mortarion's choice.
The construction will be done by future generations, and he only needs to create a stable world for them.
——————
"God-killing."
Hades said, he stared at Vox, a faint sense of oppression emanated from Hades,
"… Mortarion… did all this?"
Hades listened carefully to Mortarion's plan, the Primarch had almost completed his first step, Nurgle was indeed greatly weakened.
But Hades knew that Mortarion's plan was being carried out while the Empire was still in a mess and he was on the verge of losing control.
During the journey, Mortarion probably returned to the Empire to put out two fires.
Vox nodded heavily.
"My Lord, he has...changed."
Vox said wearily,
"After you left, too many things happened. The entire huge empire was truly weighed down on the primarchs. Even if the Pale Lord thought he would not manage the empire... but you know..."
Mortarion took care of it anyway.
Hades pondered, "Vox, what is the current situation of the battle in the garden?"
“It’s getting close to the end.”
Vox said, "Corruption Day has failed, and the millennia of preparation have not been in vain."
Vox smiled as if he had thought of something.
"Youhun, you don't need to take action this time. The Death Guard can handle the battle on their own."
It's just possible... Mortarion needs some time to "negotiate" with the Eldar.
"Can we just ignore Nurgle for now? Then Slaanesh is next?"
Hades asked, and Vox nodded.
"We can also solve your problem," Vorx looked at Hades with some concern, "Experience from ten thousand years ago tells us that you are the best person to kill Slaanesh."
Hades frowned. What happened ten thousand years ago? How come he became the best candidate
"Why do you say that?" Hades asked, "And the emperor... Emperor, emperor, what is the emperor?"
Vox's expression became complicated almost immediately. He looked pale.
"This is top secret," he said slowly, "only the Primarch can know... and the Emperor... This is the word written by the Pale Lord before he left. I don't know the whole picture... Don't ask me."
(End of this chapter)