bookbashuk Page 628
Page 628
John saw them being forced out of their bombed-out houses by missiles, huddled among the ruins, some of the smaller ones even hiding in the triangular shadows formed by the huge broken concrete slabs.
The bishop astutely observed that some of them already showed signs of corruption.
But through their eyes, John judged that this was due to the infiltration caused by excessive external spiritual energy, rather than the corruption formed by the soul's inner depravity.
He saw the fleshy growths on the child's face.
John struggled to his feet.
"I need to exorcise them!"
He shouted, only to be silenced again before the friars seemed to be trying to physically calm him down.
"Hey, what do you want me to do?!"
"Bless the little general's cannon!"
The mechanical sage said,
"The concentration of psionic energy is too high, interfering with its targeting system. I blessed and prayed for it, but it still couldn't be improved."
"Haha—you're not devout!"
“Om Messiah will decide, and since our Bishop John is so devout, then you shall come.”
The Mechanicus, mortals, and the Legion, as three-headed hellhounds under Hades' command, share a common faith, and the Mechanicus does not shy away from the methods derived from Hades' cult in this regard.
They climbed onto the city wall, which had been breached by bombs. The oilman used abandoned vehicles from inside the city to block the gap, but John knew that the wall would soon be breached.
They are now completely trapped like beasts, struggling and unwilling to die—
As long as the densest urban area remains unconquered, the ritual of chaos cannot be fully successful.
The Church of the Dead had taught John,
If chaos wants to completely corrupt a planet, it must have the planet's native inhabitants. Only the souls of humans who have lived on this planet for generations can be connected with the planet's essence, and only through them can the corruption of the planet be completed.
This is why the Church of the Underworld became a force focused on evacuating civilians, because they knew that the souls of every person could empower their enemies.
Of course, some people within the church do so simply to practice the doctrine of benevolence.
John turned his head, and his pupils reflected the distant battlefield. He saw the mountain of corpses of Imperial Titans, as well as human corpses, densely packed together. The red robes of the Faith Guardians mingled with blood, staining the earth red.
...Fortunately, he wasn't a bloodthirsty monster from the chaos.
John inappropriately recalled this hellish joke.
The good news is that the Mechanicus army, like the Hades, is protected from the corruption of chaos by their loyalty to Hades, so such a large number of deaths will not increase the strength of the enemy.
But what truly drove him to despair was the endless army of Eldar and Slaanesh in the distance, along with the elegant, slender, murderous Titans of other races...
This far exceeded the amount of troops Chaos had initially planned to deploy. Chaos was completely impatient—after John and the defenders had dragged out the battle long enough, He wanted to devour the planet immediately.
John felt a chill run down his spine.
"He seems to be in a hurry."
The great sage Lavey said,
"You need to hurry too, Bishop."
John sneered.
"One, two, three, four... I've seen at least four of those weirdos, but I only have two rounds of ammunition?"
"Destroying one is a victory, Bishop, you're even more pessimistic than I am."
John gave a wry smile. He stumbled out of the arms of the apologists and limped to the Great Sage's side, in front of the strange device.
On the platform of the city wall, the battering ram-like thing carried by the four tracks was waiting for him. John took out the last bottle of mixed powder of Soulless and Black Stone from his pocket and began to bless the little general cannon.
The Great Sage Lavie and the temporary leader of the Twilight Rebels stood beside him, both of them falling silent for the time being. Only in the distance of the city walls could one hear the last struggle of the Guardians, the Knights, and the Mechs.
It was precisely because of them that the Eldar's ranged firepower was held back, preventing it from being unleashed into the city.
And in the city, the sobbing and weeping of ordinary people could be heard.
But... the artillery fire won't come.
John smeared the ashes onto the little general's cannon, and for the first time, he uttered His true name with such devotion as Hades himself.
The cardinal knew perfectly well, he knew all too well, that Chaos only wanted the living.
He thought that his guards had all left him, and he had one last thing to do: to slow down the corruption as much as possible. He would go down into the city and try his best to prevent these souls from falling.
John wanted to ensure these souls left with as much dignity as possible.
He knew all too well that chaos only wanted to live.
John stretched out his right hand, wiped away his tears with his fingertips mixed with blood and dust, and wrote the prayer on the little general's cannon again.
“The Lord of the Underworld is merciful. Seeing the souls of the world drowning in the sea of suffering, He said, ‘I will let all people sleep in my domain,’ whether you are poor or rich, old or young, innocent or sinful.”
He certainly knew what Archbishop Samuel meant by those words.
After that, John spoke about the matter with other cardinals. The archbishop's words were obviously ridiculous. There might not even be true believers of the Holy Emperor within the state church, let alone the Church of the Underworld, which was known for its flexibility.
Without a sufficiently mature punishment and oversight mechanism, and with the emperor far away, how could the archbishops possibly guarantee that these cardinals would fulfill their doctrines and do their best to prevent chaos from invading when it arrives?
But then John learned the truth that caused him to have nightmares for seven days straight after he returned home.
It turns out he wasn't an exception; it turns out he was smug and thought the truth he had been covering up had long been known.
The truth is very simple—
Before they entered the Church of the Underworld, each cardinal had experienced a period of imprisonment and torture by Chaos.
After the blessing was finished, John stepped back, holding the remaining half-bottle of ashes, and calmly nodded to the sage.
"I am no longer of any use to you. Can I now go and bring blessings to the people?"
"Good luck."
The sage immediately rushed up to check the general's cannon, and the temporary battle commander also immediately stepped forward to discuss countermeasures with the sage.
John limped down the city wall. The Hades' armed forces could not be said to be the strongest. On the main battlefield, the Hades were the most exhausted force.
They are usually used for early warning and for exorcising demons for the public.
John's fingers trembled involuntarily as he recalled that past.
The story is simple: his parents were believers in Chaos and used their own children as sacrifices.
That day it was his sister's turn. John's sister gave John the wire she had hidden and her escape map—telling him to find a completely black building—before being dragged away by their parents.
He finally succeeded. After hiking for two days and two nights in the wilderness, he found the dark building. The priest of the Church of the Dead discovered him and immediately contacted the Silent Ones to handle the incident.
In the end, he was the only one who survived. He saw his sister, who had completely fallen into the path of filth, and finally asked the priest if his sister had found peace.
The pastor's answer was affirmative.
After that, he did not become a useless person because of the setback. He joined the Underworld Cult and began to study further.
On the one hand, fear drove him to want his own Silent Guard; on the other hand, as he studied in the Church of the Dead, he began to realize that he could prevent similar tragedies.
But John didn't say any of this. He protected himself with ambition and greed. As success became more and more attainable, John followed the Church of the Underworld's "Expansion Movement". He deliberately chose a star system far from his homeland, vowing to get rid of his unbearable past and not let himself be dragged down by it.
After that, he had his own army of silent warriors. He lay atop his success, needing only to ensure that there was no chaos within his territory—the rest of the power was his to pluck.
but……
……
“You know, John, I was surprised too—I thought nobody knew I had once been a chaotic slave gladiator.”
Another cardinal smiled wryly, his expression sorrowful.
"Perhaps that's why we are—we've witnessed the brutality of chaos firsthand, we've had countless opportunities to fall, yet we've survived and remain resilient—what does that have to do with Hades? We know perfectly well that he's just an excuse, a switch to some kind of spell."
"This is the true secret of how the Underworld Cult operates."
The cardinal said, laughing self-deprecatingly.
"Those who have truly experienced the tyranny of chaos...those who are truly compassionate...cannot bear to watch others suffer, because we have all prayed for someone to save us, haven't we?"
……
John took a deep breath and slowly walked up to a poor man who was wailing; the man's mouth had begun to split open.
He poured out some ashes.
"Don't be afraid, I'm here to help you."
John said, "Start praying, and we can save as many as we can... Even a futile effort is better than doing nothing; it's also a way to buy time."
“The Lord of the Underworld said, ‘Sing my name when you are in distress.’”
……
"There is no Hades at all..."
John said slowly,
"There are no followers of Hades within the Church of the Underworld, but we share the same faith."
His other colleague laughed.
"Perhaps Hades represents some kind of collective will within the cult of Hades, haven't you noticed, John? Even though we're both talking business—in the end—hahahahaha!"
The cardinal leaned closer to John and winked slyly.
“I think you breathed a huge sigh of relief the moment you gained the power to command the Silent Ones, because… so did I.”
John's eye twitched almost imperceptibly.
"I have another question: how did you escape back then?"
The person opposite him paused for a moment.
“A senior member of our team risked his life to save me—don’t laugh, he was almost corrupted to death by the chaos at the time, which is why I think he was so kind.”
He got it.
John thought to himself, "Damn the Cult of the Underworld, this is the Chaos Victims Alliance."
……
The bishop gently closed the deceased's eyes; his injuries were beyond saving.
Blood was still flowing from his broken leg, trailing a trail of blood. Some of the people in the blood gave him a look of horror, as if he saw a reflection of his former self.
boom! boom! boom!
The city walls had fallen. John listened numbly to the roars of the people on the walls. He simply bent down and gripped the little boy's hand tightly. Horns were beginning to sprout from the little boy's head.
John said hoarsely,
“Say to me – praise Hades.”
"Praise Hades."
These words made the boy feel a little sad, and tears seemed to well up in his eyes, but he knew John was saving him, so he continued to repeat after him.
"Praise Hades."
"Praise Hades."
"Uncle—does Hades really exist?"
John's hand trembled for a moment. At the other end of the street, Seneca neighed and peeked out, only to be slammed against the wall again by the charging warriors of the Warband.
Does he really exist?
Although people were spreading the word that he had returned, and even his superiors claimed to have seen the man with their own eyes, John had never seen him. This was probably another lie—and it certainly was. Gods don't exist; he was someone who saw things for himself.
"he……"
John said, trembling.
"Pluto exists—but we are enough. He is busy, child. Repeat after me, praise Pluto."
"Praise Hades."
"..."
silence.
John suddenly felt a premonition; he felt dizzy and then looked up instinctively at the sky.