Warhammer: I don't want to become a stinky can!

Page 715

But I still feel a slight disharmony.

Vulcan said earnestly, seemingly absorbed in the vial in his hand, oblivious to the sudden tension among the three Primarchs around him.

【What's the meaning? 】

"Killiman asked tentatively."

Vulcan remained silent for a moment, as if searching for the right words, then he clenched his hands, completely obscuring the light emanating from Elsa's Tears.

It's much gentler than I expected.

The Lord of Fire said calmly that Vulcan had grown again because of the Lord of Man’s wielding of psionic energy toward the Primarchs—and was still undoubtedly the largest of them.

He was about the same height as the Mortarion, or slightly taller, but Vulcan was almost five Mortarions tied together.

Vulcan now looks like a black dragon.

[New life is accompanied by labor pains; birds hatch, seeds sprout, and new minerals erupt from the depths of volcanoes—these are all extremely violent processes—not what I am experiencing now…]

Vulcan paused,

[A privilege bestowed upon those in positions of power?]

Seeing his brothers looking at each other blankly, Vulcan realized he might not have explained himself clearly, so he coughed and spoke again.

I mean that this force is more like a superficial life bestowed upon those in power by those in lower positions, rather than life truly emerging from suffering.

The Salamanders' culture originated from Vulcan's home planet, Nocturne, a geologically active planet. Initially influenced by this, Vulcan believed in the idea that fine iron was forged in flames.

【…】

I think this is where you differ from this authority.

In the silence, the psionic master Mortarian spoke, for he was, after all, the first person to be self-taught.

[Unless one is a great demon under the command of Chaos, the successor generally will not be completely compatible with these already formed and colored authorities—like me.]

Mortarian stretched out his hand, and a mist of ash rose between his fingers.

Negro's authority over death is always closely linked to decay; the death it governs always presents a scene shortly after the death of things.

The death I govern is closer to the eternal silence of the final moment, where flesh and blood are annihilated, bones wither away, leaving only a handful of ashes from the corpse.

This also aligns in some ways with the Eldar's death god's sense of annihilation and god-slaying, which is why Mortarion had previously successfully usurped power.

[Authors influence each other, just as different colors of water slowly dye each other. Chaos mixes the colors of the authorities they wield, so apart from newly created authorities, there is no pure and independent authority.]

The power in Vulcan's hands was also influenced by Aisha and Nurgle's other powers.

But once you wield this power—you can re-color it with your willpower and soul.

Motalian added, glancing furtively at Killieman, who was the perfect symbol.

The Lord of the Empire completely merged the lust for power from Slaanesh with the power from the Lord of Man, and due to Guilliman's excessively strong (or perhaps confused) willpower, this potentially terrifying ability was transformed into forced overtime.

And the ability to teleport your desk.

Even so, this is scary enough.

Mortalian believed he would never want to experience Guilliman's power again, nor did he want to see Guilliman evolve his abilities once more.

I see, thanks for clearing things up, bro.

"Vulcan said without hesitation. The Lord of Fire Dragons grabbed his hand and snapped the glass with a crisp, abrupt sound.

【Are you starting now?!】

Angron asked instinctively, and the Lord of Red Sand almost immediately lit up with a soft halo. The reason for calling Angron over was not to have him perform a double act with Guilliman, but to appease Vulcan's possible emotional outburst.

Guilliman came to sign a contract, guaranteeing that the warp of the Lord of the Fire Dragons would be connected to the warp of the Empire.

Mortarian came to provide psionic guidance—in fact, Mortarian had also brought some materials for drawing arrays, but Vulcan hadn't expected to start so decisively.

According to Mortalian's plan, they should still be in the pre-arranged argument phase, since their biggest guarantee, Hades, hasn't arrived yet; he went to the canteen halfway through.

【Relax.】

Vulcan extended his hand to Anglon, indicating that he was alright.

I feel I can completely tame this force—it's too gentle.

"Vulcan said softly, as if afraid of startling the authority in his hands," he said.

Mortarian remained silent, but a dagger and wine jug had already appeared in his hand, ready to be used for the ritual at any moment. The Pale Lord stared at Vulcan, ready at any moment.

But it is also possible... not all authority is aggressive and destructive. In this respect, Mortarian is particularly suspicious of the authority extracted from Aisha.

They saw droplets of faint, shimmering green liquid trickle from between Vulcan's clenched hands. The droplets fell to the ground, and in an instant, a patch of lush green vegetation sprouted. Glimmering points of light rose from the vegetation, floated upwards, and gradually converged into larger points of light.

Mortalian pupil earthquake.

He realized that the slowly forming point of light possessed a certain degree of consciousness.

This is quite common; sometimes, the aggregated authority has a faint consciousness, although most of the authority that Mortalian has seen has been torn apart and "killed" by Hades.

This was not good news. Death almost instinctively wanted to throw the dagger in his hand, pin that thing to the wall, shatter its intelligence, and then let Vulcan absorb that power.

Can this little guy from Elsa still have the will to fight?

Motarian inwardly scoffed, but he was ready for battle.

But as if sensing Death's thoughts, Vulcan abruptly raised his arm toward Mortalian and shook his head.

Then, the Lord of Fire Dragons looked at the ball of light floating in mid-air, which resembled an embryo floating in amniotic fluid, or a seed.

Vulcan cautiously reached out his hand to the regiment, a gesture he performed with practiced ease, for he had held the children many times before.

Yes, yes, I will protect you.

"Vulcan said softly," Mortarian said, "I'm certain the dragon has now established some kind of connection with this ball of warp energy, a connection that makes Death a little uneasy."

Then, to the astonishment of the onlookers, the ball of light circled Vulcan once before leaping into the heart of the fire dragon's chest and disappearing.

【it's over?】

Angron suddenly asked, and the Lord of Red Sand blinked sharply. Why did he feel that this was different from other people's spiritual sublimation rituals?

His response was that Vulcan shed tears, but his eyes burned with a fierce flame.

I think it should end here.

Vulcan said,

It's a gentle child—I promised it I wouldn't use it for destruction; I'll take it with me through the forging process.

【Wait a minute?!】*2

Mortalian and Guilliman shouted at the same time.

[It didn't sign a contract with me?!] / [You're just promising not to use this power for destruction?!]

boom!

The door was flung open, and to everyone's astonishment, Hades walked in with a grin.

"Haha, sorry I'm late—"

Hades then saw Mortarian and Guilliman staring at each other, wide-eyed.

"what happened?"

Hades asked, looking around but finding no trace of the ritual beginning.

"Hasn't it started yet?"

[It's over, and it went very smoothly.]

The fire dragon, its flames never extinguished, answered, sensing the final entrustment from the new life—Vulcan would gather all the new life.

In other words, he wants to liberate all the newborn powers of the filthy.

...This is completely different from how he obtained the power of "death" back then.

Mortarian thought to himself speechlessly, feeling quite annoyed.

Luck cannot be generalized between people.

Yay, it's gone!

Chapter 742 Rogdorn said

【Mountain Formation】

[If you think it's okay, you can start anytime, Vulcan.]

"They are standing in the Rock Chamber inside the Mountain Array," Killieman said cautiously. "Passing through deep, towering stone archways, beneath the carvings of angels and demigods, the candles cast a soft, warm glow that blurs everything around us."

Everything here, along with the still, static presence at the very center of the hall, has been meticulously and carefully preserved. Every stone slab that makes up the floor is spotless and shimmers with starlight.

Even so, Robert Guilliman keenly sensed something unusual—lurking atop the massive Mountain Array, he caught a faint, spore-like scent.

Since the Beast Wars, the severely damaged Mountain Array has only been able to restore some of its functions, while most of its other areas have been shelved and are in a semi-idle state.

In the history of human empires, after Dorne fell into slumber, the Imperial Fist experienced a brief period of decline, followed by a brief period of glory under the policies of Imperial Regent Guilliman.

However, after the fall of the angels, during the Apostolic Age, in order to maintain the stability of the Empire, Sigismund, the then commander of the Imperial Fist Legion, stepped forward and led the Imperial Fist to fight across the Empire's territory.

In that dark age, apart from the Death Guard, for whom the Primarchs had left behind countermeasures, most Legions and Space Marines fell into a state of passivity and chaos, but the Imperial Fist was clearly an exception—

Primarch Dorne left them with invaluable qualities, and under Sigismund's leadership, the Imperial Fists became the main fighting force that kept the behemoth that was the Empire from collapsing during that period.

However, with Sigismund himself disappearing after the Battle of Abaddon, a relatively peaceful era of two emperors arrived. The Imperial Fist, which had been severely weakened during the Apostolic Age, gradually faded from people's sight and began to focus on defending Terra and stationing itself on the important Imperial node planet that Dorn had instructed him to defend before going to sleep.

As of now, within the Empire's territory, except for key planets in the Storm Sector which are mostly guarded by the Death Guard, the rest of the territory is occupied by the sons of Robert and the sons of Dorne.

On even more desolate, remote, and strategically less valuable planets, people often see the bright yellow, shimmering gold-like legion paint scheme.

The Imperial Fists may not be mentioned by the Empire, but the Empire cannot do without the Imperial Fists.

This is Roger Dorne, and his sons Dorne.

Thinking of this, Guilliman took a deep breath; he missed his dear friend.

What the other Primarchs know little about is that, although Guilliman and Dorne did not interact much, the two Primarchs actually had a good relationship.

The cool, refreshing air entered his nostrils, and Killieman's eyelids twitched suddenly.

Although the Mountain Array had already been personally disinfected by the Pale Lord and the Death Guardians, and the Imperial Fist had frequently invited members of the Underworld Cult to disinfect it over the past millennium, Guilliman still keenly detected the faint smell of green spores.

It is no exaggeration to say that during the War of the Beasts and the period when the Mountain Array was missing, almost every inch of the Mountain Array's deck and walls were soaked with the blood of the Greenskins. The savage and crude smell of the Greenskins beasts permeated the place and influenced the Imperial Fists in some mystical way.

It seems necessary to ask Hades to come and carry out another round of disinfection.

Guilliman thought to himself that Hades was currently in the command center of the Mountain Array. Hades had come to isolate the warp to ensure the successful awakening of Roger Dorn.

But the moment Hades stepped onto the deck of the Mountain Array, everyone felt the behemoth shudder.

"Uh."

Hades paused for a moment, then looked rather innocently at the crowd that had turned to look at him.

"Obviously it's not because I'm too heavy."

Hades scratched his head. As the King of the Underworld, he naturally sensed something—something older, something more aligned with the subspace, existing atop the Mountain Array.

The true subspace side-machine soul accumulated through faith and time.

It was a pleasant surprise, but also somewhat expected.

I won't hurt you.

Hades raised his hand and emitted radio waves. This was the language of communication with the warp spirits. Hades didn't know it before, but later he found a voice pack from another warp spirit in the corner of his memory.

This memory packet seems to have come from Mars; Hades can barely remember it.

Hades rarely speaks with machine spirits that rely entirely on the warp; he prefers to devour them all, restoring the machines to their original state.

The "machine soul" he communicated with later was also built based on physical algorithms.

But Hades obviously couldn't just swallow the entire Mountain Array's machine spirits; clearly, the fortress's machine spirits were well-suited to the Imperial Fists.

Hades decided to test the waters before making a decision: to preserve it or to devour it? He needed to integrate the machine spirit itself with the will of the Imperial Fist.

“I mean no harm, I am merely an assistant sent to awaken Primarch Rogue Dorn, but I would like to speak with you for a few minutes—would you be willing?”

Hades was silent for a moment, then the entire deck they had boarded lit up. He heard people exclaim in bewilderment, raised an eyebrow, and smiled.