Chapter 330: Complete Break (2) |
The Book of Fate read as follows:
"When the God-Emperor resolved to become the god of humanity, the plan to destroy the Chaos Gods was already doomed to fail.
"We can only strive to force the galaxy into a delicate balance among all factions.
"The Imperium of Man must lose Malcador, just as The Emperor had to lose half his Primarchs—this is one of the essential prerequisites for achieving that balance.
"Guide Malcador and Lino into direct conflict. Let Malcador obstruct Lino's path to godhood at every turn, employing every conceivable method. When Lino grows burning with impatience and desperate to ascend, Malcador will die in an accidental turn of events.
"Lino may not be the direct killer behind Malcador's death—he might not even count as an accomplice—but the God-Emperor will nevertheless harbor bitter resentment toward him. From that point forward, peaceful coexistence between the Imperium of Man and the Palu Orks will become utterly impossible.
"Malcador's death will cause the God-Emperor's population relocation initiative to collapse midway. The Imperium of Man in the end times will gradually wane, eventually reaching a perfect equilibrium with Chaos, the Orks, and the remaining galactic powers.
"Malcador's death will draw the God-Emperor's direct gaze. As a result, Lino's ascension plan will be completely ruined. The Palu Orks will regress into an ordinary Webway xenos faction, no longer posing any threat to the Eldar, and will suffer prolonged, heavy suppression from the Imperium of Man.
"Balance represents the survival of life across all species.
"Minority species like the T'au will likewise mirror the Imperium, continually adapting and innovating through the crucible of conflict.
"The forces of Chaos will do the exact same.
"Only a galaxy structured this way will brim with enduring vitality and flourish. Chaos and the real universe are deeply intertwined; they will endure together.
"The Eldar will gain a vital breathing space, buying them the time needed to seek the next opportunity to eradicate Chaos once and for all."
Elina reread the revelations inscribed upon the Book of Fate again and again, nodding.
Previously, interference from the Chaos Gods had caused illogical passages to manifest within the Book of Fate, adversely influencing her judgment.
Now, the Book of Fate had returned to normal, and its revelations aligned with impeccable logic.
As an Eldar, Elina naturally chose to trust it completely rather than question it.
The Book of Fate was entirely right: once the God-Emperor consciously decided to become the True God of humanity, any grand strategy to eradicate the Chaos Gods was dead in the water.
Because once a True God of humanity emerged, the Imperium of Man's ruthless oppression and extermination of every other species would become inevitable.
To survive and resist the Imperium of Man, these other species would inevitably throw themselves into the arms of Chaos, endlessly swelling the ranks of the dark powers.
Backed by legions of devoted followers whose lineages would never die out, the Chaos Gods would have endless methods to wage war against the Imperium of Man. Any plan to annihilate them would naturally end in ruin.
Moreover, the earlier scheme to eliminate the Dark King by annihilating a sub-universe had been forced to a halt the moment the God-Emperor descended upon the age of rebellion.
In short, first forcing the galaxy into a stable equilibrium, then searching for the next viable opportunity to destroy the Chaos Gods, was the only logical path remaining for the Eldar.
Elina closed the Book of Fate and opened a portal.
To ensure the prophecy came to pass, it was imperative that she personally witness Malcador's death.
...
...
Meanwhile.
At the ascension site outside the galaxy.
Lino possessed the body of Shaman Boy Lino, maintaining the Warp projection technique he had pondered out from the Warp entities, patiently waiting for the projection to form its outline.
Beast ended his communication relay with Elina and Malcador and strode over.
"Boss, the pointy-beak boyz and the humies got together! The pointy-beak fleet is attacking the Webway gate right near us. Give it a few more hours, and the humie fleet's gonna join the scrap too."
Lino gave a slight nod.
"Notify Space. Tell him to activate the Universal Hall's offensive systems when necessary and wipe out the interfering pointy-beaks and humies. No mercy."
"Got it, Boss! I've been sick of looking at those humies for a long time anyway." Beast grunted twice, thoroughly delighted.
"They always write themselves up in their books like they're all cultured and polite, but nobody's harder on humies than humies themselves! The Shrimp Empire kills more of its own kind in a single year—plus all the ones worked to death at their posts—than all the casualties caused by xenos and Chaos put together! That so-called God-Emperor? I reckon he's just a Chaos God wearing a humie skin! I heard that during the end times, he even let the pointy-beak boyz eat humies! How's that any different from a rubbish thing? Us Palu stopped eating humies ages ago..."
Beast rattled on, yet Lino didn't feel the slightest bit annoyed. Everything the Ork ranted about aligned perfectly with his own thoughts.
The Imperium of Man in the Warhammer world was fundamentally a bleak, grimdark regime—morally bankrupt, ideologically twisted, relentlessly exploitative, and utterly devoid of hope.
This was a universally accepted reality, seen just as clearly by hardcore tabletop veterans as it was by cloud-hammer lore-readers.
Before coming into direct contact with the Imperium of Man, Beast's only understanding of them came from human classic literature, leaving his mind full of wild assumptions.
After interacting with the Imperium numerous times, he realized just how vast the chasm was between romanticized books and brutal reality.
By comparison, the Palu Empire looked far more like the utopian society described in those classic human novels.
A save-file briefing popped up in Lino's vision.
[Name: Black Knight-1.]
[Briefing:]
[Roughly two years ago, Lord Vugas, Governor of Epimet, traveled to Granite-5 to serve as interim governor. You entrusted Black Knight-1 to him to bring along to Granite-5.]
[Roughly one month ago, Granite-5 came under harassment from Chaos Orks and daemons. The Imperial Army reinforced the world in time, repelling several enemy offensives.]
[Just moments ago, for unknown reasons, the Imperial Army withdrew entirely from Granite-5, cutting off all military aid. The instant they departed, the Chaos Orks and daemons launched a full-scale invasion.]
[At present, Granite-5 is defended solely by the sector Space Guard and the Planetary Defense Force. The entire planet is projected to fall within hours.]
[Please attend to Black Knight-1's situation immediately to prevent the death of this simulated persona.]
Black Knight-1 was an early-model production unit; the beast-brain core inside it had never undergone optimization and possessed a total operational lifespan of only six months.
Fortunately, as long as the unit remained unpowered, the beast-brain's biological lifespan would not degrade.
Because of that, even after two full years had passed, Black Knight-1 remained functional and hadn't turned into scrap.
Lino scanned the briefing details and sighed. What was destined to come had finally arrived.
The ascension site here was fortified like an impenetrable fortress. The Chaos Gods, the Eldar, and the Imperium couldn't force their way in, leaving the Imperium of Man with only one option: strike at his human roots.
Lino had anticipated this long ago.
"Beast, I'm handing command of operations here over to you for a bit. I need to go deal with a tricky issue. Once I've sorted it out, I'll be right back."
"You got it, Boss! Go take care of business and don't worry about a thing. With me here, everything's solid!"
Beast thumped his chest.
Lino tapped open the simulation interface and transferred his consciousness directly into Black Knight-1.
...
...
Granite-5.
After two years of continuous reconstruction and infrastructure development, the scale of the planet's mining facilities had doubled, yet the miners' quality of life hadn't dropped from the heavy workload.
Facilities designed to purify water, scrub atmosphere, and process solid industrial waste had been systematically rolled out alongside the mining complexes, dropping common diseases, environmental hazards, and industrial accident rates to absolute minimums.
It was no exaggeration to say that following the total eradication of the rebel remnants, Granite-5 boasted the highest happiness index among dozens of surrounding mining worlds.
Tragically, all of that was about to become history today.
"Dalton, why did the Imperial Army suddenly pull out? Why would they completely abandon this planet without the slightest warning?"
Vugas was dripping with sweat, repeatedly wiping his forehead with a handkerchief.
The Imperial Army's departure had been decisive and abrupt, and the incoming enemy forces were ferocious, obliterating the planet's orbital node towers in their opening barrage.
If Dalton hadn't reacted fast enough to escort him down into the subterranean bunker, Vugas knew he would have died in the initial bombardment.
"My Lord, please maintain your composure. I am currently establishing contact with the Imperial Army," Dalton said, typing on the Cogitator array keyboard and glancing back at Lord Vugas.
His Majesty had previously channeled his psionic energy to possess Vugas's body on several occasions, speaking with Dalton face-to-face.
Dalton hoped to witness that sight again.
Yet he was destined to be disappointed. Vugas remained Vugas, showing no sign of transforming into His Majesty's likeness.
Beep! Beep! Beep! The vox-array hooked up to the Cogitator chimed with an incoming signal.
Dalton patched the transmission through. Both men hoped to hear the voice of an Imperial Army commander, but what poured from the speakers was devastating news.
"Lord Dalton... this is... bzzzt... this is the bridge of the Space Guard flagship... We've lost the line. The surviving vessels will overload... bzzzt... the reactor cores to take those damned bastards down with us! We will do everything we can... bzzzt... to buy Lord Vugas time to evacuate!"
Dalton shouted, "We need a shuttle for extraction!"
"Bzzzt—" The static spiked, followed by a deafening explosion. The man on the other end never heard Dalton's plea, shouting one final battle cry before he died:
"We... bzzzt... For the Imperium! For The Emperor! Detonate!"
Rumble—
Beep! Beep! Beep! The Augur Array blared a warning as over a dozen ship engine overload signatures bloomed in low orbit, the intense plasma storm clearing a small pocket of vacuum.
Unfortunately, Vugas was currently in the subterranean bunker, and the shuttles meant for evacuation had already been destroyed by the enemy.
With the Space Guard sacrificed, the only armed strength left for him to rely on was the weak Planetary Defense Force.
And, of course, Dalton.
"What do we do now? We're isolated without backup! Are we just supposed to sit here waiting for death, or pray the enemy leaves on their own? Is that even possible?"
Vugas clutched his chest, struggling to keep his composure. Veins bulged on his forehead as immense mental pressure caused severe physical distress, threatening to trigger an underlying illness.
Dalton pondered for a moment, a flash of resolve crossing his steadfast face.
"My Lord, since things have reached this point, we must prepare for the worst. There is an absolutely secure hidden room deep within this bunker. I will take you there now."
"What about you, Dalton? Are you staying here?"
"Yes, my Lord, I must. To prevent the enemy from discovering the hidden room, I never wired communication lines inside. I must stay here and contact the Imperial Army—only they can save us."
Without waiting for an argument, Dalton pushed Vugas out of the communications room, taking the lift further underground.
Behind them, several servitors followed closely, carrying a black crate.
"My Lord, you won't need to bring survival supplies; I've arranged everything in the hidden room. The space inside isn't large, so I'm afraid that crate won't fit."
Dalton pointed at the black crate behind them.
Vugas hesitated. "This is a self-defense device Lino told me to carry. He said that even facing extinction-level weapons, the contents of this crate can protect me..."
"Oh, is that so. Then let us see if the crate can squeeze into the hidden room first."
Moments later, the two men arrived at the door of the hidden room.
Dalton used a mechanical key to open the door, which was camouflaged as a rock wall. Vugas stepped inside, and the black crate barely squeezed into the cramped space measuring less than fifty square feet.
Dalton destroyed the mechanical lock.
By default, the lock remained permanently closed.
Once destroyed from the outside, the door would swiftly shut and lock permanently from the exterior, only able to be opened from the inside.
Vugas sat on the floor of the hidden room, his mind unsettled.
Dalton returned the way he came. Passing a certain room, his footsteps slowed, and he turned to step inside.
When he emerged, he was clad in a suit of light blue Power Armor embossed with a hydra.
This suit of Power Armor possessed far higher communication clearances.
Dalton linked the armor's vox-array with the base's vox equipment, using the Power Armor's authority to broadcast a communication request outward.
This time, Dalton received a reply.
Answering him was not a person, but a line of password-protected cipher.
The Power Armor's micro-computing unit swiftly completed the decryption.
The contents of the cipher energized Dalton.
"Operation Codename: Hook of Epimet. Operational Directive: Draw the net. Execution Protocol: Use Vugas and the others' lives as bait to lure out Lino. Authorization granted to use stasis devices to forcibly freeze and control Lino until reinforcements arrive."
They were finally drawing the net?
Dalton's entire demeanor shifted. The sharp, loyal intelligence director now exuded an aura of profound indifference.
He had laid low at Vugas's side for so long solely to coordinate with His Majesty and control this transmigrator, Lino. Now, he could finally complete the mission.
The former Dalton—or rather, Alpharius.
Originally, Alpharius assumed his undercover life would last for several more years. Now, it seemed Lino had done something to thoroughly enrage His Majesty, forcing the operation to wrap up early.
Acting alongside that old relic Vugas every day and bowing before a mortal—Alpharius had grown bored of it long ago.
So, how exactly was he going to lure Lino over?
Alpharius carefully recalled the intelligence His Majesty had shared with him.
Lino possessed a portion of Alphamega's Warp essence, allowing him to transfer his consciousness among Orks.
Lino likely wouldn't just watch his 'father-in-law' die.
Therefore, finding the Orks on the planet should lock onto Lino's location.
Alpharius activated the Augur Array, conducting a directional sweep for Ork life signals. Instantly, he obtained tens of millions of search results.
These search results pointed to Chaos Orks.
But so far, there was no intelligence indicating that Lino could transfer his consciousness into Chaos Orks.
Yet the search results showed no life signals for ordinary Orks or Palu Orks.
"Could it be..." Alpharius sharply turned his head toward the lift, remembering the black crate beside Vugas.
