The Emperor was angry.
He was angry and confused.
Once upon a time, He moved among various major forces, carefully manipulating His power, meticulously piling up every detail, billions of documents and billions of lies and truths, weaving a huge web.
This web had nearly ensnared the Lion, had pulled Guilliman from his seat of power, had buried Mortarion in the Gardens of Annihilation, and had strangled the very being on the Golden Throne...
But no matter what, the ultimate goal of this network is it.
It can only be it, and it is never blinded by the lies of chaos.
It never seeks petty gains. When faced with an uncertain situation, it will actively ask the Lord of Humanity. He can temporarily blind its eyes, but in the process of verbal debate,
The Lord of Mankind's playful gaze always penetrates everything and looks toward Him.
After another brief meeting, Malcador rubbed his brows again. He didn't want to hear words that would ignite his anger again.
"Can't,"
He said impatiently,
"I have reached the bottom line that I can allow the Ultramarines to reach. Beyond that... this is not something that a single legion can control."
He looked calmly at Hades in front of him,
"One level up, I allow the existence of the Son of Hades, but prohibit the Ultramarines from painting black. I know what you are thinking, Revenant."
Hades smiled.
That means the Death Guards are not prohibited from painting black - besides, the Son of Hades has always had the custom of recruiting soldiers from the Five Hundred Worlds, and Buzz is an excellent Macragge.
He couldn't just ban the Macragges.
Hades thought to himself as he advised Malcador,
"But such a large management scope... I reorganized the department again, this workload... Old Ma, can you really do it?"
"I have a plan,"
The Lord of Mankind spoke before the irritable Malcador.
"We can introduce the meditator Nirvana."
The Emperor said calmly, he saw Hades's face full of astonishment, his eyes wide open, and Malcador's expression of almost disbelief,
"The Thinker?!"
Malcador practically roared—
It had been a long time since the Emperor had seen Malcador lose his composure like this. In front of a psychic black hole, even the most patient Warp creature would subconsciously become irritated.
"This isn't just any thinker, is it?"
Makado was aggressive.
"Hate intelligence?"
There was a cunning light in his eyes, mixed with disappointment, as if he had realized on the first day that the Lord of Humanity had no bottom line.
"You can't do that," Macador sighed.
His voice even softened, "Lord of Mankind, you know what this means. Humanity must no longer sow the seeds of betrayal within itself."
The Emperor merely looked at Malcador calmly, sowing the seeds of betrayal within humanity? Perhaps Malcador should examine his current position.
"The false god of the abominable machines is dead,"
The Emperor said calmly, "There is no corresponding authority in the Empyrean. This is an opportunity, Malcador."
This time it wasn't Malcador who opposed him;
"etc?!"
Hades cried out,
"Old Huang, you need to understand one thing - Nirvana is a purely physical thing, what are you going to do with it?!"
The emperor got stuck.
"I can guarantee that Nirvana will never betray me."
In fact, as long as he is there, Nirvana will not betray him.
No matter, he had lived longer than them all, and he had never said he didn't lie.
The Lord of Mankind said in silence,
"You misunderstood."
He continued,
"I will cover it with my psychic energy, which can improve the performance of Nirvana and ensure its purity. The false god in charge of the machine is dead, and my psychic energy will not be polluted by too much warp. We don't have to worry too much, Malcador."
lie.
With just a little disguise, Hades, who does not understand psychic powers, will not see the truth of the soul inside. He is efficiency-oriented and practical, and will not say anything more after confirming loyalty;
Malcador, on the other hand, is worried about the Iron Men rebelling, but he can glimpse the truth through his psychic powers, and now it is not the Iron Men betraying that Malcador is worried about - it is the Fifth God.
The Lord of Mankind lowered his eyes. Ever since Sanguinius established the state religion, he has gained an endless stream of faith...
Most of them were used to repay the expedition ten thousand years ago, and a small part of the power of faith was lost on the day Sanguinius fell. He only has a little strength now, which still needs to be stored for emergency use.
His eyes flicked to Hades.
Sitting on the golden throne, he is just relying on the power of the tiger to bully others.
In the Warp, behind the Emperor, the light of the Astronomican covered the entire Solar System, illuminating the territory of the Empire.
From the perspective of the Emperor and other Warp creatures, the current Lord of Mankind is also very weak, but he is still evenly matched with them.
Thanks to Hades, they are declining together.
From Malcador's perspective, his attempt was more like his decision to embark on the path to godhood after Malcador destroyed the Ministry of the Interior - the Lord of Mankind began to absorb the power related to non-state religions for the first time.
The Emperor couldn't help but smile.
For Malcador, who has been blinded by the pursuit of power and ascension to godhood, this is such a dangerous thing...
From Malcador's perspective, He is now ranked [Fifth], and because the Lord of Mankind has always sat on the Golden Throne, the Emperor will not be able to ascend to deity for the time being.
But the Lord of Mankind was telling Malcador by this action that he could ascend to godhood and become [Four], thus blocking Malcador's path to godhood.
Malcador had never taken precautions against this before, because according to his understanding of Neos, Neos would never take the initiative to embark on the path of ascension.
But... then Malcador would realize that if he had betrayed their original intentions, then Neos could do the same.
Neos can also choose to ascend to godhood, and comes much closer to success than Malcador.
The Emperor never betrayed his original intentions - but he could make Malcador think that he did, and if he were to judge by himself, Malcador would think so.
He watched as Malcador instantly calmed down from the rage provoked by Hades and returned to his usual caution.
"This is not a good idea..."
Malcador uttered a few words through his teeth.
"Although the Lord of the Gears has passed away, if Nirvana is used on a large scale, you will suffer the backlash of the warp."
Backlash? It can also be called gaining power.
These powers would not be given to him, but to Fenus.
The emperor smiled.
"There's Hades."
He said, and Hades looked to be thinking, and nodded at the Emperor's words.
If Hades did not think deeply about it, then for him, this was just a question of whether AI could be widely used in the empire. The Emperor took the initiative to mention him in order to dispel Hades' avoidance of chaos.
For Hades, if there is pollution, he can just open a black zone... The scale of Nirvana is more than enough for him now.
But to Malcador, this was a veiled warning.
The Emperor simply looked at Malcador calmly, waiting for his consent.
When the Emperor makes a suggestion, he is already doing it.
He can lead to nirvana in countless corners that Malcador cannot reach.
Malcador merely looked at him, as though he had betrayed a vow he had made—a vow he had indeed made not to take the path to godhood of his own accord.
But he never betrayed.
The Nirvana draft was eventually passed.
Hades proposed to use the Ultramarines and Sage Phaos as temporary managers of Nirvana, but his proposal was not approved.
So he applied to become a maintenance upgrade personnel and was approved.
Malcador personally proposed to guard Nirvana - the Lord of Mankind naturally agreed, but in return, Hades recruited a number of blue space marines for Terra's Ministry of Internal Affairs again in the name of Malcador's energy being further dispersed.
Roboute Guilliman might be pleased with that.
——————
“He is back.”
In the Sage's secret room, Belisarius Cawl was talking to himself, and the personalities in his central thinking engine were resonating.
"No, not the former Lord of Macragge."
Caul said a little irritably, stroking the black stone sphere given to him by the great sage Jin-306, feeling a little uncomfortable. This unique piece in the galaxy could help him avoid the attention of the Most High.
"It was Him," he whispered, "the wrong existence back then... the false god who forced the imperial regent to abdicate."
Cawl remembered Robert Guilliman's last words of advice. The arrogant giant, clad in blue armor, sat tiredly in front of him, with graying temples and wrinkles creeping up the corners of his eyes.
He said,
[I will come back eventually, and by then, I will need a new legion - humans need a new legion, they need to be stronger and more loyal than the current legion...]
[At the same time, it has been hiding in the dark, unnoticed by any existence.]
Roboute Guilliman's jawline tightened.
[I will come back eventually and deal with Him myself. ]
———————
"Old Ma, take a break."
Hades said that he and Machado were walking in the corridor leading to another meeting. Machado was rebuilding the Ministry of the Interior at an incredible speed, as if he was afraid of being late.
Malcador smiled wearily.
"I still don't understand his plan to introduce abomination intelligence... blasphemy."
Hades blinked. "It's a helpless move, Old Ma. You alone cannot build an administrative department for the entire empire. Besides, it's only basic data processing and information classification."
As Hades, who applied Nirvana in Faos ten thousand years ago, he was not shy about the application of Nirvana. The only thing that puzzled him was why his pure physical machinery changed its polarity when it fell into the hands of Neos
But after checking around, Hades did not find any other tricks except for the faint and vague psychic energy.
The atmosphere at the time seemed like the Emperor was playing a game with Malcador, and Hades didn't want to get too entangled.
He could only comfort himself that the means of preventing Chaos had simply changed, from anti-psychic to psychic... It seemed that the Emperor wanted to seize the authority of the [Maleficent Arts].
Hades did not object, and even supported it. If they did not fight for some power, it would be occupied by other people with malicious intent.
But... Hades thought, what exactly is the Emperor's position
Whatever the case, while the Emperor and Malcador were at loggerheads, Hades added some Ultramarines.
Without knowing what these two were up to, all Hades had to do was expand his power, develop productivity, and retrieve the Primarch - the Emperor had already transferred the Primarch's power to him.
Furthermore, if the Emperor still keeps his original intention, he will gladly hand over power to Hades and then let Hades develop productivity.
Hades doesn't want to play with these two thousand-year-old foxes. The only real thing to do is to put more of his own people into the newly formed Ministry of the Interior and then debug Nirvana.
As an aside, because of the Regent’s wrath a thousand years ago, the Imperial Guards did not show up, so the Ultramarines Uchino had some doubts about this.
Malcador only had a mocking smile on his face.
"He is not omniscient," Malcador said. "He has made many mistakes..."
He looked at Hades, who still looked as if he was wandering in space.
"What... Oh!"
"I'd like to hear more about it," Hades said. "Well, I still don't understand why Neos changed my Nirvana for no reason."
"It is inappropriate to evaluate him like this,"
Malcador shook his head. "But... blind arrogance."
He looked toward Hades.
"Do you know anything about the First Legion?"
"Um?"
Hades raised his eyebrows. Why did he suddenly mention the Dark Angels? But it seemed that the Emperor's actions shocked Malcador - was Malcador trying to undermine his trust with the Emperor
On the premise that he completely trusts Malcador and has no psychic filter for the Lord of Mankind, Hades will actually listen to him.
But now, the two of them... Hades just hoped that he wouldn't be exposed in the end.
Not much hope.
"Is it related to the Lord of Humanity?"
"I don't know people well."
Malcador said calmly, "It's happened more than once that Nirvana wasn't a good idea, like the Lion King incident."
… … … …
"He trusted Lion Jonson."
The old man's voice sounded, "Just like trusting Horus Lupercal."
"So he handed over a treasure that could restore hope to the Lion Empire... the genetic fragments in the underground laboratory of the palace. The Empire could have a more powerful army."
… …
Far away from Terra, on the alien soil, sparse industrial wastewater was discharged. Between the densely packed shacks and abandoned buildings, tall mysterious men hurriedly walked along the path, their green boots splashing mud.
He walked carefully along the black lines that ran through the huge city. These intentional black stone lines of architecture were obviously younger than the city itself. They suppressed the soul and brought death.
Liked by foreigners.
It also provided him with a disguise to avoid Malcador.
… …
"I seem to have heard this," Hades said, "and then?"
… …
Thirty-five minutes later, Curze, surrounded by the Dark Eldar, was walking in the slum-like lair. He stepped into a long-abandoned house in an exaggerated manner. Inside the house was a cave... He walked in.
This is connected to a large tomb, but Koz, who has intelligence, will not get lost. He is like a bat living here and quickly finds his destination.
… is gone.
In the cramped space of the original body, there are operating tables, nutrient tanks, human corpses from failed experiments, and half-finished dead fallen angels... But these are not the point.
He came only for the treasures the emperor wanted.
Koz looked into the room. It was dug up, as if some huge column-like device had been inserted into it. There were traces of energy burning in the middle.
Now it's empty.
[It’s too late.]
Coates said without surprise.
… … …
"The Lion brought this technology back to Caliban, and the Primarch wished to study it - but he was too conceited... True to his heritage, this technology was tainted by Caliban."
There is a strange pollution on Caliban, and Hades knows about it. It is not only the corrosion from the Eye of Terror, but also seems to be affected by Ouroboros, one of the three artifacts.
The Ouroboros, the Tuchucha Engine and the Plague Heart are three artifacts that make up the artifact of the Old Ones. According to Hades' understanding, this artifact can dig webways and seems to have the ability to travel through time.
Malcador sighed, "When I got there, it was too late."
"That genetic data has been completely contaminated and needs to be destroyed, but Lion stubbornly believes that he will not fail and will not disappoint the Lord of Mankind's expectations. He used people from Caliban for experiments, and thus created a rift with some of the descendants of the First Legion."
Malcador raised his head and looked toward the ceiling, his sight seeming to travel through space and see the shattered Caliban.
"When I arrived, the First Legion had been completely split, Caliban was shattered. Unable to accept the split of the Legion, the shattering of the home planet, and the failure of the mission entrusted to him by the Lord of Humanity, Leon fled."
"… "
Malcador sighed.
"He shouldn't have chosen the lion. He made the wrong choice in many things."
It does sound a bit like the style of Lion King and Dark Angel.
Hades looked towards Malcador.
"Old Ma, when you went to Caliban, were there other things on Caliban, such as chaos, or existence other than chaos?"
… For example, Ouroboros.
In the original storyline, Caliban's destruction was the work of the Tuchucha Engine and Ouroboros, and the Tuchucha Engine has its own thinking.
Malcador just looked at Hades, his eyes were cloudy.
"No."
"I just saw a son who was crushed by his father's expectations," Machado said.
"besides… "
Machado continued,
"Beware of the lion."
Malcador didn't know about the Ouroboros on Caliban
Hades pushed open the door of the conference room.
It's strange, the three sacred artifacts are the devices that Vashtor tried hard to find in the original timeline, and they are also the powerful aids that the Lord of Gears hopes to use to ascend to godhood.
"I know that old yellow man is unreliable," Hades said, entering the room with Malcador, "but... it's a pity for the First Legion. They are a powerful and loyal legion."
"Don't think about that, Old Ma. The real thing is to just work hard and be content. Let's start the meeting."
Hades looked towards Malcador.
The three sacred artifacts... He shouldn't be unaware of this.
(End of this chapter)