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Page 499
I can feel... the power of the warp is growing stronger... they are regaining their strength... someone needs to interrupt this process.
"And..." Mortarian said calmly, "I'm confident that the worst-case scenario is a draw—and I'll be doomed along with Him."
Callas almost laughed out of anger.
"So what is your ideal scenario, Mortarian?"
Motalian coughed lightly, as if mocking himself for Karas's taunt.
"Two false gods have fallen..." Mortarian said calmly. "Besides... I can also find the troublemaker."
But we know,,” Mortarian said, “that the death of a false god is the best that could be.”
Karas sneered, "Why don't you kill all four of them?"
Mortarian then innocently opened his arms.
[One Primarch, exchanged for two False Gods—this is my limit.]
Karas fell silent, and Mortarian opposite him also quieted down at the right time. Karas felt himself trembling. He didn't understand—why was he always the one left behind?
He can't even die peacefully!
As if sensing something was wrong with Karas, Mortarian blinked and said casually,
And you know... I'm already at my limit.
Mortarian casually raised his hand; it was definitely not a human hand. Mist and ash drifted from beneath the fragmented insect scales, tattered and broken.
Karas remained silent. "I've already reached my limit."
Mortarian waved his hand weakly. "I believe you, Karas," said the Pale Lord. "You are the only one among us who has endured such a long and difficult time."
"And..." Mortarian looked up again, as if searching for something, "I'm worried, he's reached his limit too."
"Him? That idiot?"
Karas let out a flippant sneer, "Even if the galaxy explodes, that idiot can still keep eating his food."
"No..." Mortalian shook his head. "I have some very bad hunches. Have you forgotten how I lost control last time, Karas?"
"You?" Karas choked. "What does this have to do with that idiot?"
My loss of control, the archangel's loss of control... More power isn't always better.
Perhaps I should have understood sooner why the Lord of Humanity didn't choose more power—he knew the cost.
No one can escape it...
Mortarian sighed, "I can still rely on the dead for help, but what about the dead?"
“He’s not like you,” Karas scoffed. “You think that kind of thing can obey the laws of the subspace?”
Mortarion simply shook his head. The Primarch remained silent for a moment before speaking again.
Karas, remember what I brought back from Mars?
If he comes back, remember to tell him.
Karas's expression changed, and in the end, he had no choice but to agree.
Why didn't you let those oil enthusiasts do it for you?
Those involved are often blinded by their own perspective; they are more easily misled...more easily subdued.
Motalian said he looked increasingly tired.
[...But if Hades' condition is not right...not the person you know...don't hand it over to him...conceal its existence...Karas...you decide for yourself...if necessary...tell the Custodians about it.]
Mortarian reached out and grasped Fearless's hand.
[Remember this... Karas... one of us must remain conscious... I must keep you here... remember what he truly looks like... just in case... only we can avoid being deceived by appearances...]
Vox trusted him too much... Only you can...
The face of the Pale Lord grew increasingly blurred, eventually fading into the river of memories.
Could it be...? Karas pondered, that idiot is no longer the person he knew?
Furthermore, Karas's memories began to deepen, and he recalled the Lord of Death's last words to him, about that thing from Mars...
In 132.M31, Mortarion, along with Angron, the Lord of Red Sand, traveled to Mars and defeated the fragment of the Void Dragon. Subsequently, the Lord of Death took the fragment back to Stormwind and imprisoned it somewhere.
Having been severely wounded in the battle against the Void Dragons, Angron fell into a deep sleep.
...Star God, the unfamiliar word popped into Karas's mind. He didn't know what the idiot had gone through, but judging from Mortarian's performance, it seemed to be something that made the idiot even stronger.
Similar to the power of faith.
But what if he's not in the right state—is it not him? What does that even mean?
Karas frowned deeply. Could Hades have also been affected by the backlash of faith? Could such a being be affected by such backlash?
But then he recalled the scene of Mortarian losing control, and cold sweat involuntarily trickled down Karas's head. In any case, he should be more cautious in this regard.
Karas paced back and forth, took out his government affairs board, and began to browse the current situation of the Death Guard and the Empire.
No, as soon as the idiot comes back, the Death Guard will immediately obey him, and even if Karas objects, it's just a futile effort.
The immediate priority is Mortarion. Karas is once again using numerology to calculate that the Pale Lord is summoning them, the Death Guard must set out, and allies they can trust must be notified as much as possible.
If that idiot is good, then he definitely wants them to find Mortarian; if that idiot is bad, then Karas must find Mortarian.
Moreover… Karas calculated that the power of the Corruption Heaven was already very weak, extremely weak… two of the three rings were missing… Mortarion had not failed.
Urgent footsteps echoed through the corridor; this time, there were many more people. Karas calmly looked up at the grim-faced Death Guard management.
“Summoning order,” Karas said. “Supreme command: Summon all sub-corps back to base. Legion, prepare to enter the warp for battle.”
"Notify Faos and Greière that their master is back—let those lunatics go find the idiots."
"Don't help Faos keep it a secret. Tell Huron to hold back and let Terra know what's going on over there."
"Ignore Terra—they won't send anyone to ask. If there are spies, don't bother with them."
A seasoned political veteran, Karas immediately issued his orders.
Karaston paused. No… he still needed someone who wouldn’t be misled by the so-called Primarchs, Hades, black holes, moth monsters, authority, and bloodlines to scout ahead.
Karas then began to grieve over Galo's departure.
"Contact the Ultramarines and tell them that the nearest warp space needs to be monitored,"
Karas said impatiently, "Also, tell them to release that brat Booz; we need the Death Guard."
"Tell that brat to wake up and get to work."
With hurried footsteps and the slowly rotating Barbarus, tonight is destined to be a sleepless night for the Death Guard.
The revived Karas stood on the Resilience with a complicated expression, staring at the dark starry sky... Where exactly is that being?
He's back, so why doesn't he contact Deathguard?
And... were Mortalian's concerns back then just unfounded worries?
The colossal giant slowly rose from the tomb, and on the dawning horizon, an unsettling restlessness was faintly present.
Just as Hades was unaware that the Greenskins were coming, he remained completely oblivious to all of this.
He casually tossed the Magnus stone aside and blew the head off the green-skinned man in front of him with a single shot.
“Well,” Hades said, “it seems that making the greenskins call me Hades doesn’t make me any more WAAAAGH… But… the feeling of absorbing the greenskins’ psionic energy is alright?”
He scratched his head, looked up from the pile of green-skinned corpses, and searched for the next suitable planet with his mechanical eyes.
“Black!” Hades shouted, “We’ll make some preparations, and then we’ll go to the next planet to spread the Mortarian cult!!!”
Hades raised his arms,
“WAAAAGH!!!”
Blake also raised his battle axe, but this time Mingzi held back and didn't shout out.
Finally, Hades decided to try the green skin before leaving.
Otherwise, he feared that he might lose control and swallow Magnus whole with the Dark Domain.
Yay! That's it!
Chapter 571 Manipulating the Dragon and Tiger Battle
If you want to wAAAGH with the green-skinned guys, then you'd better be just as green as them.
Or wrap yourself completely in powerful scrap metal.
Hades didn't want to keep painting with green paint, so he chose the latter.
Rough lines, lavish use of materials, and ferocious paintwork—abandoning the Empire's consistent mechanical aesthetics in favor of simple and brutal layering.
Perhaps the armor worn by the Lord of Mankind was also created under the guidance of this idea: gold is good, and big is beautiful.
He also casually added a bunch of really cool-looking gold pendants so that each of his sons would have one after they separated from the family.
...Ahem, I've digressed. Hades silently retracted his blasphemous thoughts.
In short, he crafted himself a green-skinned suit of armor with a matte black finish; the accessories, though their purpose was unclear, exuded a powerful aura.
For example, there's an iron chain strung with a bunch of green skulls, and metal pipes; the lightning claw is necessary, but it doesn't have an arc generator installed. Hades can use the Celestial Lightning to simulate the arc of the lightning claw on the power claw, so there's no need to install another accessory.
The helmets and boots were also modified to be thicker and taller, but not just to increase height. The added part was the spikes that could protrude on their own, so that after a kick, the spikes could cause secondary damage.
Although Hades didn't think it existed, it could cause further injury after taking a full-force kick from him.
At the same time, in order not to reveal the fact that he was human—and to make it easier to fool the greenskins—Hades chose a hood. After putting it on, the dark aura automatically enveloped him, and only a scarlet eye could be seen.
The only marking on the armor is the Death Guard's emblem, a six-spined skull.
To diminish his human aura, Hades even wore this outfit and feasted among the green scavengers for several days.
Hades is now fully armed.
Hades's gaze shone brightly as he looked at the remaining two.
Blake cooperated fully and became a smaller version of Hades, only this time wearing a helmet.
Magnus loudly condemned this behavior, but the Primarch was very conservative in his actions, vowing not to show himself.
At Magnus's strong will to survive, Hades gave up on the green-skinned Magnus.
Although he always felt that Magnus with a different paint job might be closer to the Greenskin in its essence.
After getting the new skin, Hades put Black in charge of keeping Magnus safe, fearing that he might not be able to resist.
The preparations allowed them to stay on this planet, which had been cleaned by Tutu, for an additional two weeks.
During this time, Hades was also trying to contact Terra. He used the Orks' equipment to build a signal tower, so that the ships would receive the signal as soon as they entered this star system.
To prevent the newly sprouted greens from damaging his signal tower, Hades also handcrafted a simple greens-cleaning system that automatically pulled out mushrooms.
Black and Magnus distanced themselves from Hades and tried to contact Mortalian again.
According to these two psychics, Mortarion had apparently noticed them after their first foray into the garden, and the Pale Lord was actively contacting them—telling them not to stop.
It seems that Mortarion isn't entirely without progress on the path of psionicism, merely preoccupied with playing with his own numerology.
These were Magnus's words after receiving the second message from the Pale Lord.
This may be the manifestation of the Pale Lord's numerology mastery.
Hades thought to himself silently, but he didn't say it aloud, because he also thought numerology was absurd.
It's outrageous, but it works.
Hades sincerely hoped that Mortarion would use numerology to strike Nurgle with a scythe, at which point he would become the most loyal supporter of numerology.
The good news is that, according to Magnus, Mortalian has most likely already begun contacting the Death Guard, which means that more reliable reinforcements are on their way.
Hades, however, hoped that the reinforcements would rescue him first, and then let him go to the garden with the reinforcements.
Even if the King of Figurines's instruction was to stay within this star system for a year, Hades could work with the Death Guards to come up with a more reliable solution.
In this godforsaken star system, aside from wahing with the greenskins or slaying the Tyranids, contacting Hades of the Empire is of little use for the time being.
No, Hades thought, he could also chop down Tyrande and have the Greenskins waaagh and send messages to Mortalion.
His first priority now is to help Mortarion as much as possible. Secondly, since he has already sacrificed himself to become a Greenskin for his comrades, which would be a breach of his principles, he might as well lead the Greenskins to fight against the Bugs.
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