bookbashuk Page 627
Page 627
"Bring the war into the city,"
John said,
"Whether they serve as fire support platforms or move into the city, their speed will slow down!"
"By Hades, we must choose Green City as our final resting place, though I still hope to acquire an Eldar Titan for research purposes."
There was a moment of silence on the channel from the Reverse Dead Chapter. John then heard the War Cry and the Plasma Chapter's voices. He hoped that this chapter would also enter the city, so that at least they could hold out for a while longer.
"Damn it," John cursed inwardly again. He had brought an entire unit: twenty-one well-trained, soulless Silent Warriors, fourteen companies of hounds, three companies of heavy vehicles, and a company of fighter jets—
Gone! All gone!
Although the heavy vehicles, combined with the Silent Warrior and the Blessing of Hades, allowed John's team to temporarily destroy one of the enemy's Titans, the result was that the Silent Warrior was left with only his guards.
Even though they had been informed by their superiors that the Eldar would make unusual moves—wasn't the simultaneous appearance of the Dark Eldar, Wild Eldar, and the Slaanesh army a bit too much?!
John frowned in anguish; the planet beneath his feet must not be lost.
He had examined the star map and found that, apart from this planet, the other thirty-five planets in the occupied zone had formed a strange pattern. Now, the pattern was only missing the one he was standing on!
John's early training in cult education taught him that, on a spiritual level, this planet is absolutely, positively important and cannot be lost.
But the situation is not optimistic.
With the shipping lanes blocked by Aida's ships, the planet is now an isolated star, and the three-week-long, high-intensity war has resulted in heavy losses for the defending forces.
Now, only three forces remain with any fighting strength. The native garrison, who have never seen Chaos, has little fighting power left, even though they are the most numerous. John has also equipped them with minor bishops to drive out Chaos.
First, the remaining infantry and vehicles of John's Hades forces;
Secondly, there was the Twilight Rebels Chapter. Because it was a sub-chamber of the Deathguard, and because the Bishop usually maintained good relations with the Deathguard chapters, only this chapter responded to Bishop John's call to defend this planet that could fall at any moment.
Although this chapter does not follow the cult of the Underworld or the god of death, its faith is in the God-Emperor, and the members' faces are more Terran in appearance.
Most legions and chapters have retreated to other planets.
Third is the Mechanicus, although the Great Sage and the Bishop are quite at odds—
Just like the usual relationship between the Mechanicus and the Hades, the teachings from the Om Messiah also kept these techies around. Perhaps the Great Sage stayed for the same reason as John.
"Sir, prepare to retreat."
The Silent One's voice interrupted John's thoughts; she scooped him up with one hand, causing the bishop to groan in pain once more.
The Silent Ones, a company of soulless individuals, differ from the Silent Sisters who are directly under the central command. They are typically assigned to various districts.
The cards are distributed by the Church of the Underworld on Terra. Cardinals with some reputation are assigned to a group, while those who have received commendations or are minor chaplains in key areas are assigned one.
"Withdraw! Withdraw!"
John shouted, and was immediately hoisted onto the Silent One's back. Taking advantage of a gap in the enemy's attack, they began to retreat.
Some soldiers were left behind to cover the rear. They leaped into the trenches, searching for ammunition from the bodies of their fallen comrades, preparing for the final battle.
"May you rest forever in the River Styx! My warriors!"
John shouted, and he began to utter prayers that most of the warriors could not understand, but only the Silent Ones knew that he was speaking Barbaros.
John put his fingers into his pocket, and when he pulled them out, his fingertips were completely black. As he spoke, he awkwardly smeared the garrison soldiers passing by him with black paint.
Good heavens, as John was drawing the underworld, he discovered that one of the minor bishops and the management were all gone—they were all dead!
John was in agony. He thought he might as well just die there, but he couldn't just die. There was a greasy guy and a space marine who couldn't think straight left. Who knew how long they could last?
From the very beginning, none of the three defending forces had ever considered winning.
They just wanted to stall—to stall until reinforcements arrived.
To other armies, they must be crazy. The entire star system is isolated, and the battle line has been pushed to even more distant places beyond this point—their defense is clearly unnecessary.
But perhaps they don't think so.
John's pupils dilated slightly again from the jolting during transport. He saw a sky full of pink mist, and to the naked eye, the eastern line where he was located was the area with the lightest mist—
Because the blood of twenty Silent Men has been spilled on this land!
Just thinking about it made his flesh twitch and his heart bleed. Normally, fourteen Silent Warriors of this strength could summon a small Netherworld, but because the concentration of spiritual energy here was too high, the Silent Warriors were also severely suppressed.
John thought about it, and then he was roughly shoved into the troop carrier sent by the Silent One. The Silent One patted his chest, then casually bit his thumb and wrote Hades' true name on his forehead with his blood.
"I'm leaving, Bishop. May Hades grant you life. I know what you want—may Hades grant you a promotion and a raise."
The Silent Man said that the figure grew smaller and smaller in the pink light outside the troop carrier.
"Wait—without my orders—what the hell are you trying to do?! Get back here! You bastard!!!"
"I'm going to be with them!"
The Silent Sister whistled, and John thought that this idiot chatterbox should be assigned to the Silent Sisters to teach her a lesson for her stupid talk!
"Come back!!!"
John yelled angrily, but the Twilight Retrograde kindly blocked his view.
“You should rest for a while, Bishop.”
The white-and-red Space Marine said,
"Her choice was right. No one would abandon their comrade. May the God Emperor protect her."
"She is the Silent One! She deserves Hades' blessing!!!"
John said angrily, because he was facing a Space Marine who could crush his head with one hand, so John forcibly swallowed the profanity in his mouth.
But these withdrawn, silent kids who were just like the Death Guard ignored him. No matter how much John yelled and cursed at them, they wouldn't listen. He then fell into a brief coma while burning with anger and fever.
So they retreated to face their final death.
....................................
"I feel... something's not right."
Hades said that Mortarian, who was flying while clutching the backpack on his armor, looked utterly speechless.
The Primarch wanted to speak several times, but didn't know how to say it, and finally could only speak in a suppressed voice.
Of course you'd feel something was off.
Motalian said he wanted to take a deep breath, but there was no oxygen in space, and they were all holding their breath.
The frost had covered their armor thick enough to stiffen Mortalian's wings, and even the skeletons on the inside of his wings looked droopy, as if rebuking the Primarch for mistreating them.
Yes, right now, Mortarion is soaring through the fleet of ships above Terra, clutching the backpack on the back of Hades' armor.
The reason for all this stemmed from Hades's suggestion—he wanted to conduct a Dark Realm inspection and blessing on the entire army of this expedition, and Mortarion naturally agreed to this suggestion.
One military parade is enough.
But the Primarch forgot that the entire army also included those flying in the air above Terra's orbit.
Hades then proposed that the Primarch take him for a spin in space, because Hades could not fly in space and Mortarion could fly much faster.
Mortalian had no idea how he had been so easily swayed by Hades's logic and ended up agreeing to do so.
All he knew was that he wanted to just throw the weight in his hand away and then go and happily fight Slaanesh.
Perhaps he simply didn't want to recall Hades's sophistry, as that would expose his own foolishness.
The Primarch's only last-ditch effort was to have all ships close their observation windows and briefly shut down the oracles.
"Do not……"
Hades said he had entered a state of mental detachment. Mortarion hoped that he wouldn't act as foolishly as Hades was now when he was caught in a psionic illusion—no, far too foolish.
"Someone is calling me."
Hades suddenly said firmly,
"I'll be going ahead in a bit, Moth."
Yay! That's it!
Chapter 673 Hades Above
Years later, Cardinal John of the Church of the Underworld would recall that midnight when he was ordained as a cardinal.
In a secret room of the Cathedral of Hades in Terra, the Archbishop of Hades, who still sported a Mediterranean hairstyle, handed him his new dog tag, which had been changed from "Church Deacon" to "Cardinal".
May Hades bless you.
The archbishop said earnestly that he also pretended to accept the dog tag. At that time, they all believed that Hades did not exist, but the ritual still had to be performed.
"John Fabian is determined to live up to Hades's expectations."
The archbishop then sprinkled a liquid mixed with the blood of the soulless on him, and the simple ceremony ended.
But the real highlight John wanted was after this ceremony.
The Underworld Cult is the only imperial institution that appoints only the virtuous and capable, completely disregarding the background and family circumstances of its members.
Using the connections of the Underworld Church, the Archbishop organized a small party for him, with other important forces in the Misty Starfield—to facilitate John's future actions in this starfield.
In the dim candlelight, while others lingered on the dance floor, Archbishop Samuel approached John, who quickly offered him a toast.
They chatted for a few minutes, then the archbishop's deep eyes fixed intently on John.
"Congratulations, John Fabian."
Samuel said, a playful smile playing on his lips.
“I’ve heard about your deeds. You’re a smart man. I don’t think I need to remind you how to make the Church of the Underworld great—you know, every few generations there’s always someone with a less flexible mindset.”
John smiled. He had already begun planning how to deal with the local caravans and the Mechanicus, while also assigning the Silent Ones he liked to the guard posts in the inner quarters.
“But you must understand that all your achievements are based on a reality, John—there cannot be large-scale chaos in your jurisdiction.”
John laughed. Large-scale chaos was impossible, at least not under his rule. He asked jokingly.
"What if there is?"
"Then use your life to pay for it."
John shook his head and continued to probe.
"Aren't you afraid I'll escape before you even get there?"
Samuel laughed too.
"No, you won't—I've seen bishops who have made far more foolish mistakes than you, and not one of them has chosen to leave. If you happen to be one of them, you'll know why."
"Because... Hades will punish me?"
John swirled his glass, but the archbishop just smiled, raised his glass, and left.
They were all quite happy at that time—after all, they naively believed that Hades was a lie.
Until... until that person actually appeared.
........................
“Bishop, you are in a much worse state than I imagined.”
The gruff voice of the oil enthusiast rang out, and John rolled his eyes.
"I'm all alone now,"
The cardinal said he felt his heart clench and that he had retreated with the warband's troop carriers—everyone else was gone. After that, the Eldar launched three more air raids.
"What? You've come to see the joke?"
"No, I just came to ask you for a soulless person."
"They're all gone, they're all dead."
John said, recalling the Silent One's departing figure, "Damn it, she left so gracefully, what was the point of leaving him alone? To preserve the church's independence? To prevent it from being swallowed up by the neighboring sector?"
"That's bad news—Bishop, can you then perform an exorcism and offer protection?"
"Of course you can, you're talking nonsense, you metal lump."
"Then come with me."
The Great Sage Lavie said that she commanded her vast army of apostles to carry John through the already ravaged city.
Almost all the remaining soldiers are here, along with the civilians from Safia who haven't had time to evacuate...