bookbashuk Page 471
Page 471
After the Great Rebellion, Conrad Coates, Leon Johnson, and Corax, who had worked with San Gilles for a time, all disappeared in a very short period of time.
Mortarion stated that, in fact, as the Primarch who was the first to awaken to the nature of the Warp, Mortarion found that the more and more diverse the Warp authority he wielded, the more he descended into chaos and disorder.
Just as the Primarchs, bound by their authority, are gradually moving towards the position of "gods," they are simply repeating this process.
After the Great Rebellion ended, Mortalion nearly went out of control once, but the Primarch regained his sanity through the intervention of the Death Guard, the Order of Silence, and the Cult of Asclepius.
Since then, Mortarion has begun to actively sever his warp concept by periodically summoning the Netherworld through the Soulless.
Meanwhile, Mortarion established the Hades Cult in the Storm Starfield. Although this risked putting his close friend Hades in a state of power collapse, Mortarion still chose to use Hades' power to offset the negative effects of the faith power for the Emperor as much as possible.
No one can escape it—not even Macado, not even the Lord of Mankind.
Now, Mortarian is certain that Saint Gilles has already been corrupted—the archangel himself has shown signs of sanctification, and the emperor himself absolutely cannot awaken now.
Mortarian tried to convince Angron and Guilliman of his words. In reality, according to the development of the state religion, Saint Gilles had already reached the critical point of "godhood" at this moment. Saint Gilles could not go any further. If the archangel took another step forward, humanity would face another warp monster.
Or worse, Saint Gilles's "Ascension" will also lead humanity's Lord down the path of destruction.
In fact, the situation of the Lord of Humanity is not optimistic either.
However, Mortalian's words were no longer believed by Guilliman and Angron. In fact, the two Primarchs had indeed been closely watching Saint Gilles for a long time—but apart from fatigue, Saint Gilles showed no abnormalities.
Faced with Mortalian's accusations, the heavily wounded Saint Gilles remained silent. The archangel lowered his eyes, his long hair obscuring his bloodshot gaze, and said nothing.
In desperation, Mortarian suggested another solution: Saint Gilles could use the power of Hades to cut off a portion of the power of faith.
Only Hades—perhaps only the god of the underworld—can save the situation once again.
This proposal completely cost Mortalian the trust of Guilliman and Angron, who believed that Mortalian might have gone mad in some ways.
He may have... been so consumed by the disappearance of his old friend that he gradually went mad.
Even though Mortarion himself had become more eloquent, more tactful, and more sincere over the millennia, his former comrades were no longer willing to believe him in the face of the badly wounded and bloodied Saint Gilles.
Guilliman and Angron simply stared at Mortarian with anger, regret, and disappointment.
Saint Gilles also disagreed with Mortalian's views and proposals.
Ultimately, with the Archangel's forgiveness, Mortarion himself was imprisoned in a stasis field, and the Stormfield, which had been intentionally ignored by the Primarchs, faced judgment—the Imperium began to purge the Cult of Hades and the Cult of Mechanism in the Stormfield.
And the Death Guard, and its subordinate groups.
At the behest of the Pale Lord, both the Hades Cult and the Mechanic Cult in the Storm Starfield have hidden themselves as far as possible at the edge of the Storm Starfield, or on planets bordering the Limit Starfield, masquerading as normal planetary governments.
The Death Guards then proactively sought out the nearest Blood Angel Legion and laid down their weapons.
According to Imperial statistics, the number of Death Guards and their sub-groups who surrendered voluntarily alone exceeded 100,000.
During the Empire's crackdown on heretics within the Stormfield, no major conflict broke out between the two sides due to Mortarion's advance orders.
However, small-scale conflicts were still inevitable. Within the Storm Starfield, war raged on countless planets as a united force from the State Church, the Inquisition, and the Assassin's Court, led by the young priest Gog van der Er, tried anyone defined as a "heretic."
As time went on, with the Terran Primarchs preoccupied with their own problems, Van Diehl's purge became increasingly rampant.
Meanwhile, the Martian Mechanicus took advantage of this operation to begin a purge of the forging worlds in the Storm Starfield. Although Imperial Regent Guilliman warned the Martian Cult, these academic fanatics continued their relentless advance.
During their search for the forged worlds in the Storm Starfield, the Martian Mechanicus discovered numerous extremely blasphemous clues.
The Empire's search continues slowly but steadily. Given time, the search by the State Religion will eventually reach every corner of the Storm Starfield.
However, this operation lasted only one standard Terran year.
Because a year later, people realized that Mortarian was right.
019.M33-
Due to the assassination attempt, Sanguis, Gilliman, and Angron urgently returned to Terra.
The archangel realized that the damage from Primarch Mortarion was steadily eroding him, the toxins and diseases were slowly consuming him, and the archangel's power was beginning to decline.
At this very moment, more and more events are emerging from within the empire's borders, signifying the resurgence of the Lord of Humanity.
Mortarion definitely has a backup plan, and the gradually weakening archangel is the best proof of that.
At this moment, the Primarchs, who were still lucid, realized that the moment Mortarion stabbed Saint Gilles, the Pale Lord had already achieved half of his goal: the disease would ensure that Saint Gilles would never return to his peak.
This is why Mortarion surrendered voluntarily.
He has achieved his goal.
After locking himself in his room for four days and four nights, Saint Gilles emerged perfectly, with almost no visible injuries.
The three Primarchs held a brief meeting, and Saint Gilles summoned Waldor to inquire again about the matters concerning the Lord of Men from the Imperial Guard.
After receiving Waldo's affirmative reply—that the Lord of Mankind's condition was improving—Saint Gilles decided to immediately begin the ritual to awaken the Emperor while his power was still intact and the state religion's power was at its peak.
During this ceremony, Saint Gilles, as Pope, will attempt to communicate with the Lord of mankind.
After a brief hesitation, Gilliman and Anglon agreed to Saint Gilles' plan.
It should be noted that Anglon and Killieman were not biased towards one side. In fact, Anglon and Killieman had discussed the matter privately on several occasions. Politically, Robert Killieman reviewed the case multiple times and concluded that Saint Gilles was not unusual.
After removing the nails, Angron can directly perceive the existence of human emotions. If Saint Gilles truly harbors ulterior motives, then Angron will be the first to discover it.
It was only after Anglon himself had examined Saint Gilles multiple times and found nothing amiss that he chose to trust the archangel.
And so, after intense preparations, the empire welcomed that day.
12 month 25 day.
All those born in this era will remember this date, the day that truly drew back the curtain of darkness.
Since then, wisdom and courage have vanished, loyalty has disappeared, wickedness has prevailed, and darkness has returned.
This day was not officially named by the empire, but it was popularly known as the Ascension Day of Saint Gilles.
Thank you to the leader of the [Plastic Marine Garbage Bags] group!
Holy crap, I didn't check the backend yesterday!
That's all for tonight, goodnight everyone!
Chapter 547 Ten Thousand Years (Special Issue: Before Saint Gilles' Ascension)
25.12/019.M33
Ascension Day of Saint Gillespie
[00:00 AM]
The leader of the Holy Blood Angels Squad, Meat Tearer Amit, exhaled a breath, coldly watching as the chill in the dungeon turned his breath into mist.
He stood silently, behind Amit in the dungeon where Primarch Mortarion was imprisoned.
In the heavily encrypted dungeon, the Blood Angels are responsible for guarding the innermost layer.
[00:05 AM]
The palace was brightly lit at that moment.
Above the towering dome, countless exquisitely carved angel reliefs are lifelike, with starlight falling upon them. The angels reach out and lift a crystal lamp that shimmers with light.
The beautiful choral ensemble was shut out by the door, along with the tense people. Saint Gilles leaned against the table, his head resting on his arm, his wings drooping limply.
The light from the crystal chandelier shone on the white feathers, making each feather shimmer with a faint golden glow.
You should probably rest a little longer.
Guilliman sat upright opposite Saint Gilles, who was currently holding a government affairs tablet and scribbling on it at an astonishing speed.
Unlike Saint Gillespie, whose face remained almost unchanged, or even more majestic and handsome, Robert Guilliman had aged, and his hair had taken on a white-gold transition—rather than the dazzling, even somewhat aggressive, gold of his earlier years.
Fine wrinkles crept onto the Imperial Regent's face, and thanks to makeup, Robert Guilliman's dark circles were no longer visible to Saint Gilles.
Saint Gilles sighed softly.
This is the final step; I don't want to fail.
Killieman's hand paused for a moment.
"Then you should change your guard," Guilliman said cautiously. "Amit isn't a very good guard; he... doesn't seem like a Blood Angel."
[This is somewhat excessively brutal.]
Saint Gilles blinked, shook his wings, and beside him, Angron, holding a large comb, cried out.
Hey! Watch out or I'll pluck your feathers, you birdman!
You should find a different hobby, Angron.
Saint Gilles said calmly, but he did not stop Angron’s actions, and the Lord of Red Sand combed his feathers in a rather rough manner.
The nails had long been removed, and the scars climbed up Anglon's head in a grotesque manner.
"Amit is very good; he is a qualified Holy Blood Angel," Saint Gilles said. "I have a feeling... it should be him."
Killieman didn't even look up; he seemed to have fallen in love with that government affairs board.
[Have you regained your prophetic abilities?]
"Never," Saint Gilles said with absolute certainty, "Conrad took away my prophetic abilities."
Then you should be more vigilant.
Killieman said he didn't look at his two companions the entire time.
The court has recently impeached Motalian against me again.
Neither Saint-Gilles nor Anglo spoke; Guilliman seemed to be talking to himself.
They have ample evidence that Mortarion has had dealings with the Eldar and another alien race known as the "Undead."
"That doesn't prove anything," Angron said, casually removing the gold and silver chain from his wrist and placing it on the archangel's wings. The teardrop-shaped rubies on the chain were sparkling.
"You've also used alien technology, Guilliman," Angron said casually, repeating it again, "That doesn't prove anything."
So I scolded them.
Killman said, "I told them to get to work."
Then, Guilliman sighed, "then they joined forces with the Interior Ministry and the Assassin's Court, submitting a total of 5,550 pages of evidence—including the use of the Extinction Order without sufficient evidence, misrepresenting the number of Chapter members, intercepting merchant ships, assassinating members of the Order, tax evasion, intercepting Black Ships, harboring Chaos members, harboring Xenomorphs…"
【…】
"Of course," Guilliman said, "the greatest sin was the assassination of the Pope."
When did Mortarion offend so many people?
Angron muttered,
"He did it from the beginning," Saint Gilles said calmly. "Before this—from the very beginning—I instructed my bishops to ignore all reports concerning Mortarian and the Death Guard."
The archangel shifted his posture, and as he raised his wings, a look of forbearance appeared on Saint Gilles' face.
The scars never healed.
In that nightmarish assassination attempt, for a few brief moments, everyone thought the tragedy of the past was repeating itself.
The three Primarchs were silent for a moment, then Robert Guilliman spoke.
Perhaps you should rest, Saint Gilles.
"Thank you for your kindness," said Saint Gilles, "but it's alright."
Saint Gilles looked at Guilliman and suddenly asked,
What has Sevita been up to lately?
Guilliman replied calmly, "The same old thing, do what he's supposed to do—he's been getting too close to the courthouse lately."
With a swipe of his hand, Killman crossed out the entire government briefing.
Do you have any new nominees, Saint-Gilles?
"No," said Saint Gilles, "it was just curiosity."
Guilliman shook his head, then nodded. "They're all good people, just a bit ambitious. Rest a little longer, Saint Gilles."
[01:15 AM]
Amit stamped his foot, gestured to his comrade on guard beside him, then turned and went to the dungeon to check on the prisoners.
After checking all three hysteresis field meters and confirming they were working properly, Amit stood in front of the hysteresis field.
Amit surveyed the dark room, looking at the suspended black stone structures—Terra had used anti-psy technology to imprison a psyker, ironically, technology that the Pale Lords had voluntarily shared with the Imperium during the Great Rebellion.