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

Page 473

Mortarian has been searching for a way to maintain his individuality, and he hopes to find a real solution.

"So the Pope would fall into ceremonial depravity?"

Sevita asked,

【right. 】

Motalian said.

Amit gritted his teeth. "Can we stop the ritual before it happens? I don't want—I don't want—this to happen."

"No," Mortarian said, "I'm here to save the Emperor, not Saint Gilles."

"What—I don't understand, you're in T—"

Bang!

Just as Amit was about to shout, the Flesh Tearer collapsed and lost consciousness.

Sevita felt a bead of cold sweat slide down his forehead.

“I need to remind you,” Sevita said stiffly, “that Amit would report to Saint Gilles himself periodically, but the intervals between reports would not exceed one hour.”

"It's time to go," Mortarian said, slowly straightening up, looking extremely tired.

Sevita stared at Motarian. "I wish I were a sane person."

Motalian glanced at Sevita.

In this respect, you're nothing like Conrad.

Mortarian said, "You only need to remember one thing, Sevita, the warp is garbage."

And the power of the warp... is also garbage.

The negative power accumulated by the state religion on the Lord of Humanity must be released in part... There's no time... We must release some of the power to relieve the pressure as soon as possible... At this moment, Saint Gilles, who is still recovering from his injuries, is the best choice.

Mortarion will seal Saint Gilles at the moment of his fall, along with the chaotic power of faith.

It's a pity they didn't listen to Mortarian... If they had introduced Hades earlier, they wouldn't be facing this situation now.

The current strength of faith power above Terra... is such that the Soulless Ones alone cannot summon the Underworld or effectively divert its flow.

Motalian remained silent. Perhaps if he had persisted just a little longer, he would have succeeded...

But just as the power of faith is a double-edged sword for the emperor, will too much faith harm Hades?

Unfortunately, there's no turning back now.

Mortalian remained silent, though Angron and Guilliman were perhaps also affected... Saint Gilles shouldn't have included the Primarchs in the Codex.

“Wait a minute,” said Sevita, pondering, “if you’re not willing to answer me, then I have one more question.”

【ask,】

"How much do you know about the court, sir?"

"A bunch of guys who're always impeaching me," Mortalian said impatiently. "How would I know? This is Terra's business, Guilliman's not in my concern..."

Motarian's voice trailed off, and he slowly turned to look at Sevita.

[…Is someone targeting Killieman?]

Suddenly, Sevita realized a terrible truth: he felt himself almost losing his voice.

He grinned, a very unsightly smile.

“My lord, I mean—if you have no connection with the Inquisition and are completely unrelated to what is about to happen—is there any possibility that some forces are trying to remove the Primarchs from power?”

“Especially,” Severta licked his dry lips, “the removal of Lord Guilliman, who is the backbone of the entire empire.”

Motarian whirled around, grabbed Sevita by the arm, and in the next instant, Sevita felt a white mist envelop her.

"No, there's no time for that," Mortalian said somewhat irritably. "The most important thing right now is the Emperor and Saint Gilles. I don't think anyone can afford to play politics at this juncture—only a power-hungry madman would do that."

That's it! Great!

Chapter 548 Ten Thousand Years (6)

019.M33-

The Ascension of Saint Gilles: Led by Saint Gilles, Anglon, Robert Guilliman, and the Imperial Guard, they attempted to awaken the God-Emperor.

The ceremony took place at 9:00 a.m. As the sun slowly rose, everyone present, as well as those watching the broadcast, saw the archangel about to be sanctified.

Faintly, golden figures flickered around the altar, and many recognized them as human heroes who had returned to the God Emperor during the Great Expedition and the Great Rebellion.

The believers of the state religion are full of hope, waiting for the arrival of a new era.

However, as the ceremony was about to end, Saint Gilles suddenly became abnormal.

The broadcast was immediately cut off, but most of the people watching the projection saw Saint Gillespie with black feathers growing on his back in the last frame.

At the same time, along with the changes in Saint Gilles, the Blood Angels and their offspring suddenly went mad, with more than half of the Blood Angels falling into extreme anger and bloodlust on the day of Saint Gilles' ascension.

These irrational warriors began attacking anyone they could see.

On the day of Saint Gilles' Ascension, these once glorious battle angels were mostly invited by famous interstellar governors from nearby star systems, as well as Catholic priests, to spend the holiday with local nobles or commoners.

On those lucky planets, the Holy Blood Angels who have not yet succumbed to madness will either kill their own comrades or commit suicide before they are completely controlled by anger and bloodlust.

And on those unfortunate planets...

However, the Storm Starfield, including other starfields guarded by the Death Guard, was spared. The crazed Blood Angels attempted to break free of their cages and fight the imprisoned Death Guards, but with the help of the Mechanicus in a nearby starfield, the Death Guards subdued the Blood Angels.

Beside the main fleet of the Holy Blood Angels near the solar system, a Death Guard fleet emerged from an unknown region and attacked the Holy Blood Angels without hesitation.

Meanwhile, other legions also received warnings from the Death Guard. Space Wolves and White Scars were the first to respond to the Death Guard's warnings and immediately began to support the star system where Blood Angels were stationed.

On the other side, on Terra, all information about that day was deleted, hundreds of millions of people were forced to have their memories erased, tens of millions were executed, and three-quarters of the ships that came to Terra for pilgrimage sank forever over Terra.

At the same time, the Bible written by Saint Gilles was completely abolished.

In the fifty years that followed, the story of Saint Gilles and the Angel of Blood was erased as quickly as possible, and the authorities forbade people from mentioning it.

No document mentions this event. Later historians and conspiracy theorists could only obtain sporadic information from rare rumors and from the elders of the Mechanicus or the Death Guard.

Based on the reactions of Terra in later generations, scholars have deduced that:

These brief pieces of information suggest that Saint Gilles himself, during the ritual, was also gripped by a great deal of anger and bestiality.

Mortalian, who was imprisoned in Terra, appeared at the altar in time and, together with Guilliman and Angron, the three Primarchs suppressed Sangilius.

Mortalian was critically wounded—after the Ascension of Sanguielles, the Death Guard rarely held rituals to summon Primarchs anymore.

Robert Guilliman was seriously injured—the third Terran year after the Ascension of Saint Gillespie, and the Imperial Regent died in Macurag.

Anglon and Saint Gilles are missing.

The assassin Tingsevier has gone missing.

However, according to the Navigator family's records for that month, after the day of Sanguielles' ascension, Terra unilaterally organized a one-way fleet to Baal, and Primarch Angron and Sanguielles may have been on that ship.

Further supporting this inference is that Robert Guilliman visited Barr in 021.M33.

From a long-term, macro perspective, what happened on Terra completely reversed the situation of the human empire, but for humanity at that time, the Blood Angels who were slaughtering people around them were the real source of fear.

Many star systems were thrown into panic as a result. Amid Terra’s silence and the Blood Angels’ sudden madness, people began to question the legitimacy of the state religion, the Sanguis, the other Primarchs, and the Space Marines.

Meanwhile, the Black Legion, led by Abaddon, set out from the Misty Starfield and began plundering the Empire.

Those Chaos Space Marines from a more distant, darker era reminded humanity of the Great Rebellion that had been forgotten.

Originally, under the deliberate guidance of Imperial Regent Robert Guilliman, all records of the Great Rebellion, except for those in the secret archives on Terra, had been burned.

However, during this period, blasphemous materials resurfaced like mushrooms after rain.

During this period, whether due to the need to resist the mad Blood Angels, a loss of trust in the Empire, or a breakdown in the devotion to the state religion, countless planets declared independence.

On Terra, after hastily dealing with political affairs, Imperial Regent Robert Guilliman immediately issued an arrest warrant for the Blood Angels and their offspring. The entire Empire's army was mobilized to eradicate the maddened angelic offspring and fight against the Chaos Legion.

However, on Terra, those who witnessed Sanguis' "ascension" began to question Guilliman's orders.

The Ascension of Saint Gilles made people realize that the Primarchs were not perfect demigods, and that they could become even more terrifying beings.

A vast empire cannot be commanded and managed by the Primarch alone. Countless complex war communications, logistics systems, government departments, trade ships... are all parts that the Primarch cannot fully control.

Robert Guilliman has done as much work as he can on this endless mountain of politics, but it is far beyond the scale that a Primarch can shake, not to mention that in corners unbeknownst to the Primarch, there are players of a higher level than him entering the game.

Robert Guilliman was aware of the distrust from the people, but now, the most important thing was to stop the Blood Angels from wreaking havoc within the Empire and to defend against the attacks of the Chaos Legion.

020.M33-

Final Speech: After gathering all of Terra's high-ranking officials, Imperial Regent Robert Guilliman, despite his illness, delivered a passionate speech aimed at uniting the people and taking the lead in overcoming the current difficulties.

Despite the political turmoil, Robert Guilliman's abilities and prestige remained unquestionable, and the Imperial Regent firmly held military power.

The objections were temporarily suppressed.

After leaving a contingent of Ultramarines to guard Terra, Robert Guilliman ordered Sigismund to lead the Terran army to repel the Chaos Legion that emerged from the Misty Sector.

-

Strategic retreat: The state army in the Storm Sector, still carrying out Terra's orders, retreated to the Pacific Sector at Van Dill's behest after realizing the drastic changes on Terra, thus avoiding a counterattack from the Storm Sector.

021.M33-

Condition: After uncovering the truth behind the events of 019.M33, Robert Guilliman's health deteriorated further. The heavy workload, the suspicion and distrust from mortals, and the immense self-blame were about to crush this son of God who had been working hard for thousands of years.

-

Trip to Baal: In his spare time, Robert Guilliman traveled to Baal with the Imperial Guard. On the return journey, the Imperial Regent's health was even warned by the accompanying apothecary.

However, the malice lurking in the shadows finally revealed itself after Robert Guilliman arrived in Terra.

-

The real impeachment: Standing beneath the shattered statue of the God-Emperor, Vincent of the Tribunal, together with the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice, the Assassin's Court, and the Cult of Mechanics, launched an impeachment proceedings against Robert Guilliman.

The various high lords present used their own methods to broadcast the scene as widely as possible—so that more people could see it.

Due to the large number of articles of impeachment, only a few that had the greatest impact on Regent Robert Guilliman are excerpted here.

-

Interference with the Cult of Mechanics: The Empire and the Martian Cult of Mechanics were originally in a cooperative relationship, but under the interference of Robert Guilliman and a group of Primarchs, the Martian Cult of Mechanics was maliciously restricted.

General Forging of Mars spoke, facing Robert Guilliman, personally tearing up the religious agreement negotiated with Primarch Saint Gilles, and questioning the Empire for interfering with the Faith of the Mechanicus, leading it astray.

Since Saint Gillespie did indeed go astray, Robert Guilliman was unable to respond to this.

-

In order to expand the power of the Ultramarines, the resources of the other legions were maliciously reduced: according to evidence provided by the United Assassin Court, Vincent pointed out that the Dark Angels had their resources cut by Imperial Regent Guilliman for various reasons over the past five hundred years and were transferred to battlefields where the fighting was intense.

Because of his agreement with Cypher, and because it concerned his brother Leon Johnson, Robert Guilliman was unable to respond.

-

Protecting the Death Guard: For two thousand years, the tax evasion in the areas under the Death Guard's jurisdiction within the Storm Sector has reached an astonishing amount, but all the inquiries made by the Inquisition regarding the Death Guard have been rejected by Robert Guilliman.

The court has grounds to prove that, in order to protect his brother, Primarch Robert Guilliman condoned the Death Guard's actions, knowing they were harming the Empire's interests.

Robert Guilliman had given up speaking. The Primarch stood still, staring at the Highlords who had worked and discussed with him countless times before.

Guilliman couldn't understand what the High Lords' purpose was in coming here. Did they want to bring down a demigod? But given that he held most of the Empire's military power, this would be tantamount to suicide.

Regardless of the interests of these families or the pursuit of power, what exactly are they after?

The Primarch pondered for a long time, feeling only utter absurdity. He examined every line of interest and every person's character, but still couldn't understand why.

But at this moment, Robert Guilliman was still able to think and was not yet consumed by anger.

The High Lords presented countless pieces of evidence to illustrate the Primarchs' various atrocities.

While the shadow of the Ascension Day of Saint Gillespie had not yet faded, this testimony was more like a question posed by the entire empire to Robert Guilliman.

Finally, with the Mars Forging General withdrawing and no longer testifying for the High Lords, the remaining High Lords produced their final piece of evidence.

They unveiled a massive, ancient metal machine, and at the very moment of its unveiling, Robert Killieman suddenly felt a profound sense of unease.

As the machine operator demonstrated, after a horn blast, a panel fell off the machine; it was a very rudimentary electronic screen.

"This is a blasphemous creation we found in the wreckage of Belisarius Caul's ship."

The servant read it aloud in a calm and measured tone.