bookbashuk Page 663
Page 663
Robert Killman was sitting at his desk rubbing his temples.
Tiny fragments of psionic energy, like starlight, sprinkled onto his armor and crown, onto his thin, calm face, where the flame of reason burned quietly.
Guilliman was deep in thought.
The Primarch hesitated for a moment before finally taking action. Guilliman rose and walked toward the Nirvana screen behind the study. The Primarch had specifically installed the Nirvana's pivot hub on the Makrag's Glory.
Guilliman placed his hand on the screen, took a deep breath, and channeled his psionic energy.
A burst of golden light suddenly appeared on the screen. After a moment of surprise, Guilliman immediately stepped back and stared at the phantom that stepped out of the display screen.
Kiliman paused for a moment, then bowed.
Good day, Lord of mankind.
Good day, my son. What brings you here?
A voice emanated from a humanoid figure composed entirely of golden light: the current ruler of humanity is in Terra, and the speed of information transmission in the physical world could never reach such a speed—but psychic energy can.
The Nirvana system has thirteen pathways built purely from the psychic energy of the Lord of Mankind, illuminating the Empire through the light of the Star Torch.
Hades is currently largely unaware of this matter.
Excuse my intrusion, but where is Leon Johnson?
Guilliman rose and asked, his demeanor no longer as submissive as before; in fact, Robert Guilliman might have been more qualified as a monarch.
Comoros is still collapsing, and Killieman had hoped to find the lion among the ruins, but the lion did not appear.
As of now, the First Legion is still searching for Leon's whereabouts within the Comoros Web. In the midst of their busy schedule, Guilliman met with Luther, and the old knight looked even older.
Luther asks the Primarchs for help in finding Leon, and Corax repeatedly ventures into the crumbling ruins of Comoros, where they should have found something—but they find nothing.
Unable to refuse the plea of a foster father and an old knight.
Therefore, in the ward on the Resilient, Guilliman questioned Mortalian again. Death's answer was ambiguous, but he insisted that the Emperor was definitely involved in the matter.
Is this related to your upcoming plans, my son?
The Lord of Mankind leisurely posed the question to Guilliman, and began pacing back and forth in Guilliman's study.
I'm just worried about my brother.
Killieman felt his veins start throbbing.
I made a mistake here, and I don't want to see that tragedy repeat itself. If I can help Leon, then I think I'm willing to include Leon's mission in my plans.
A perfect answer.
The emperor stopped pacing.
Your current task is to build an empire, Guilliman.
My mission has always been to build an empire.
Guilliman calmly said that he thought the same way a thousand years ago. Thus, ignoring the brotherhood, Guilliman witnessed the tragedy: the angel, corrupted by psychic energy, fell, and the brothers once again clashed.
But I need to check on Leon's condition now so I can plan my next steps, Father.
Killieman assumed Neos would continue with his bland, unhelpful remarks, so he took a step forward.
Previously, Guilliman would never have been so rebellious, but millennia of contemplation and practice, as well as the precedent set by Mortalian, gradually led Guilliman to enlightenment.
The Lord of Mankind is far less perfect than they imagine.
A thousand years ago,
Killieman said calmly that he felt like he was tearing open his own wounds. Just now in Death's ward, he had tried to speak many times, but was repeatedly and casually interrupted by Mortalian.
Mortarion didn't want to listen to his brother's rambling, so the Pale Lord suggested that Guilliman tell Hades about it—that way, at least the King of the Underworld would know what really happened a thousand years ago.
You didn't remind us either.
Guilliman froze as he stared at the humanoid figure before him, then the flames burned even more fiercely, and the Lord of Man was staring at Guilliman.
Killieman felt his breath catch in his throat.
+It wasn't just Sanguiles who was corrupted by psionic energy, do you understand, Robert Guilliman?
Fine beads of sweat slid down his forehead. Not only Saint Gilles, but also Guilliman gritted his teeth and finally the Emperor admitted it.
Saint Gilles, Macado, and the beings who diverted the Emperor's psionic energy all went mad.
That's why...Guilliman realized that the Mortalians wanted to establish a separate religion.
[Understood, thank you for your answer. So, what can I do for you, Lord of Humanity?]
+Build an empire. +
【…】
Killieman took a deep breath.
[Is Leon's disappearance related to you? Is he doing well?]
+It's neither good nor bad, it's neither good nor bad.
Nios casually remarked that he realized why Guilliman had asked such a question; the fall of Saint Gilles a thousand years ago had left the Primarch with a deep-seated fear, and now he worried that history would repeat itself.
Leon will return to Caliban.
"The Lord of Mankind said, and laughed smugly,"
Robert, where do you think Slaanesh's cycle of reincarnation will end?
The fall of the Eldar Empire and the fall of the Comoros Empire were intertwined.
+Yes and no. +
Nyor said with ease that Slaanesh was now imprisoned within the timeframe defined by the beginning and end, and would never receive news outside of that time.
Now that they've suppressed all possibilities at the end, there's only one outcome: destruction.
+Leon has gone to participate in the god-slaying. Don't worry, Guilliman, we'll see him after everything is over. +
"Is there anything else? Or is he calling me?"
The golden humanoid turned its head, seemingly looking at someone who was nowhere to be seen.
[Father, do you have any suggestions for our upcoming trip to Baltimore?]
Guilliman has already dispatched a squad to contact the World Eater Legion, as well as the angelic bloodlines mixed among the World Eaters within the World Eater Legion. After cleaning up the battlefield in Comoros, they will set sail immediately.
No suggestions.
The Lord of Humanity waved his hand, and the light began to dim.
And the position of Imperial Regent has always been reserved for you, or some other position, whenever you wish, Guilliman—you are ready to take up the post at any time.
As the light faded, the study became much darker. Guilliman stood there, taking deep breaths again and again.
Regent?
No, no, no, Killieman wouldn't want to do it anymore, no matter who came.
This is a painful and irredeemable job.
He smiled bitterly. Ten thousand years later, would his father still be unwilling to have a deep conversation with him? Or would he insist on placing him in this kind of position?
Killieman felt a little regretful, but he didn't think much more about it. He had also smoothed out his rough edges and didn't need to worry about certain things.
………………
【sin……】
Conrad Coates crouched on the side wall of the net, his dark, slightly pale eyes staring into the distance.
Over there, the city and the heavens and earth fell together.
A huge, irregularly shaped mass of light floated in the space between reality and the subspace, slowly being drawn into the subspace by pressure.
【Great city of sin, filthy city of sin… The sun and the black star together wash away your sins, now you are shattered, overturned on the edge of reality and dreams, beneath the corpses of gods… How beautiful.】
Beside him, Guilliman glanced awkwardly at Conrad, while Mortalian, wielding a scythe, sneered, some of his bandages still on.
Koz continued humming, but no one paid him any attention.
Two dark figures rushed toward them from Comoros, one after the other.
Corax returned first, the raven folding its wings and standing right next to Coz, its all-black eyes fixed on Luther standing behind Guilliman.
Corax shook his head.
[Still no.]
Guilliman heard Luthor's deep breaths. Although Guilliman explained the Lord of Man's answer to Luthor, seeing Luthor's absent-minded expression, Corax still volunteered to search one last time before the final destruction of Comoros.
Still nothing.
As Corax comforted Luther, another dark figure crashed heavily to the ground.
"All right."
Hades said that the River Styx vanished beneath his feet.
“I have examined the whole place and found that Domination and Greed remain; Gluttony, Lust, Sloth and Vanity have been shattered.”
After Slaanesh died, the most active psionic energy was either captured by the Primarch or escaped into the warp. The remaining, heavier, more primal concepts remained there, slowly awaiting decomposition by the warp.
This was the first time humanity had faced the death of a god, and no one had any experience with it. After the war, Hades immediately sent Mortarian back to the medical ward, while Guilliman commanded the army and the Mechanicus to retreat.
Hades also recalled the Burner and Void Dragon that he had released. Before being contained, the Void Dragon screamed and cursed Hades, wishing him a terrible death.
After Hades first left Comoros, the physical world anchored by the Star God immediately began to collapse, and a large amount of psionic energy poured in, causing the corpses of the gods to be washed onto Comoros.
What is puzzling is that the fragments of Slaanesh's concept do not originate from the present warp, but from other times, are anchored by the death of the gods here, and then dissipate into the warp again as death passes.
After a brief discussion, the decision-makers agreed that they could not allow Slaanesh's corpse to flow into the Warp and breed new demons or demigods.
Hades shattered the currently unusable authority, and the concepts formed in the subspace were destroyed, transforming back into turbulence.
They waited for a thousand years to be extracted from the turbulence of the warp.
Even if shattered, these turbulent currents still possess power. In order to prevent the warp here from descending into chaos, the Empire will temporarily store a portion of the psionic energy using a large amount of black stone, which will be released or utilized later.
It cannot be stored in a pure state directly, otherwise demons will most likely grow directly on the Blackrock Storage.
But the authority and concepts that remain...
Everyone looked at Robert Killieman.
Hades spoke,
"The part about dominance and greed is much less—I guess it's because the emperor has grasped more, but it's only less compared to other powers. Do what you can, Guilliman."
Killieman nodded.
I initially thought the emperor had taken all the power and greed, but it turns out there's something left... that didn't originate from this time?
"That's most likely the case. Slaanesh's previous power has been transferred to the Comoros."
Killieman pondered for a moment,
Can you further separate these powers?
Hades shook his head and scratched his head.
"I can only devour those obviously malicious parts, or those that have recently merged and are still separable; these most fundamental concepts have already merged into one—"
You can imagine them as liquids of different densities. When they are first poured in, I can try to separate them, but after a while, they completely merge into one, and there's no way to separate them anymore; the only solution is for them all to be absorbed together.
This is different from the warp turbulence, where many concepts are fragmented and conflicting, while the concepts within the Slaanesh corpse are pure, abundant, and mutually supportive.
Hades' shattering of the authority was more like throwing in raw materials of different materials, which were then crushed by the grinding machine with a bang, mixing with other messy impurities flowing out of the subspace.
Guilliman nodded; it seemed that Hades had done his best.
Hades shrugged.
"What are you going to do next?"
Guilliman recalled the moment he took over power from the emperor; he had defeated the emperor, and the emperor's defeat meant his submission.
The concept of domination automatically became associated with Guilliman.
But... now there are only fragments without subjective consciousness here. Guilliman looked up, and a flash of light reflected in his eyes.
According to Robert Guilliman’s previous work, The Laws of the Psionic Forces, 6th Edition, he should now actively invoke these authorities through appropriate rituals.