Chapter 333: Malcador the Second |
Imperial Palace of Terra.
A second after Lino closed the system's backdoor, the figure on the throne slowly awakened and sighed softly.
"That damn Eldar death god's Chosen actually seduced Roboute Guilliman in the end times. Good thing I noticed in time, or those scheming xenos would have succeeded. That kid Lino doesn't give me any peace either. How did he know I left a backdoor in his system..."
The figure opened his eyes and froze upon seeing the corpse at the foot of the throne.
"Malcador?"
An Adeptus Custodes stepped forward and dropped to one knee.
"Your Majesty, Lord Malcador died a worthy death. He used his self-sacrifice to earn your gaze. I believe he must feel gratified."
'Self-sacrifice, to earn my gaze?'
The God-Emperor was left speechless.
The God-Emperor projected a beam of psionic energy onto the steps, condensing an avatar that slowly walked down, his voice deep.
"Malcador, my old friend, why did you do this? Just what happened while I was away?"
The Custodian bowed his head, drew a Dataslate from his waist, and offered it up.
"Your Majesty, Lord Malcador's last words and reports are all within the Dataslate. Please, take a look."
The God-Emperor swept his palm over the Dataslate. The psionic energy beam split into individual threads, directly extracting the digital signals from the device.
In just a few seconds, the God-Emperor grasped the whole story.
"Malcador fell for a trap."
"Your Majesty, Lino's insidiousness is obvious to all. His schemes will not succeed."
The God-Emperor looked down at the kneeling Custodian.
"Navradaran, do you believe Malcador's death is Lino's conspiracy?"
The Custodian nodded.
"Yes, Your Majesty. Not only did Lino force Malcador's death, but he also attempts to become the True Ork God, betraying humanity and the Imperium. I have no doubt he will lead a greenskin army to invade the Imperium's borders."
"Lift your head. Stand up."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The God-Emperor looked at the Custodian.
"Starting today, you will go to Calasta to guard the Webway. You are no longer my personal bodyguard."
The Custodian was stunned.
"Your Majesty?!"
"Leave. Your stupidity disappoints me."
"Y-Yes, Your Majesty."
The Custodian walked toward the Golden Gate with heavy steps.
The God-Emperor stood with his hands behind his back.
"Valdor, come see me."
A figure rushed from the Golden Gate, stopping steadily before the God-Emperor. It was none other than the Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes, Constantin Valdor.
"Your Majesty, your orders."
"What do you make of Malcador's death?" The God-Emperor pointed to the corpse on the ground.
Valdor's mind raced.
Judging from Navradaran being stripped of his position as a personal bodyguard, Malcador's death was likely not Lino's doing.
If not Lino, could it be...
"Your Majesty, was it an Eldar conspiracy?"
The God-Emperor gave a slight nod.
"Correct. And not just the Eldar, but The Cabal as well. I saw the residual psionic energy of both the Eldar and The Cabal on Malcador. It was well hidden, but fatal. He was bewitched while I was away. The Eldar and The Cabal executed a brilliant joint conspiracy. However, this does not mean Lino will escape punishment."
The God-Emperor turned and walked slowly toward the throne.
"Foolish Malcador fell for the schemes of the Eldar and The Cabal, actually deploying only mortal troops to stop Lino from achieving godhood. Did he really place his hopes in some illusory sense of guilt?"
The God-Emperor sat upon the throne, merging back into the skeletal husk resting there. His voice became grand and majestic.
"Pass down my orders. The Raven Guard, Space Wolves, Dark Angels, and Blood Angels are to immediately halt all military operations and head to the designated coordinates outside the galaxy. They will annihilate the Palu Orks and execute Lino. Also, open the laboratory I used to create the primarchs. Retrieve the legion enhancement blueprints belonging to those four primarchs and deliver them. I believe they will know how to utilize that precious technological data."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Valdor knelt on one knee in submission, though he added with concern, "Your Majesty, the four legions you just mentioned are shouldering a critically important military task in the Corridor of Pain. Without them, the front lines there will likely collapse."
"I know." The God-Emperor lowered his gaze, staring at the Captain-General of the Custodes. "I will summon a Warp storm to indefinitely seal off the Corridor of Pain. The daemons and Chaos Orks will be unable to leave. Once Lino is dealt with, the legions will return to eradicate them."
"A wise decision, Your Majesty." Valdor bowed his head lower. "I will have the War Council relay your decree. As for the Eldar... should we bring punishment upon them?"
The God-Emperor's eyes landed on Malcador's corpse, showing neither sorrow nor joy.
"The Eldar will be punished, but not now. We still need to borrow their Webway technology to transport the legions. Once Lino's matter is settled, I will settle the debts of the Eldar, the daemons, and the Chaos Orks all at once."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Truth be told, it was a rather awkward situation.
The interstellar travel methods of the Imperium of Man were simply too lackluster.
Even the God-Emperor couldn't drastically reduce the time spent navigating The Warp; at best, he could cut a journey of two or three years down to a few months.
Given the current emergency, if the four Space Marine legions traveled through The Warp to Lino's location, he would likely lead the Palu Orks back to invade before they even arrived.
Furthermore...
The light of the Astronomican was limited; it could not reach beyond the galaxy.
Faced with these two major constraints, the God-Emperor could only swallow his pride and continue borrowing the Eldar's Webway technology.
Captain-General Valdor left to deliver His Majesty's decree.
A few days later, the primarch of the Raven Guard, Corvus Corax—who had been closest to Terra—arrived at the Imperial Palace first.
Accompanied by Valdor, this Warhammer equivalent of 'Batman' with his long, straight black hair stepped into his birthplace.
It was a genetic laboratory buried deep beneath the palace.
It was here that The Emperor and Amar Astarte had jointly developed the primarchs and the Space Marines.
"Lord Corvus."
Valdor opened an adamantium safe, extracting a massive canister and a technological dossier marked 'Top Secret'.
"Please keep these two items safe. This dossier contains a genetic modification plan designed to augment the Raven Guard. His Majesty only permits the legion to utilize these records when the Imperium faces a severe external threat. The canister beside me holds the finished specimen corresponding to the data."
Valdor pressed a switch on the canister, releasing a hiss of pressurized air.
The side panel flipped open, revealing a physical body equal in height and shoulder width to Corvus himself, displayed right before the primarch's eyes.
At first glance, this body merely seemed taller and more robust than an ordinary Raven Guard.
But Corvus's keen intuition and observation told him otherwise. This physique boasted unimaginable muscular strength, alongside extreme durability and a significantly lighter weight.
Not only could it tank heavy bolter rounds with its bare flesh, but it could also mount even more tactical wargear onto Power Armor and Terminator armor without exceeding the weight limits.
In an instant, Corvus thought of several brilliant tactical loadouts that had previously been impossible due to weight encumbrance.
Now, with this drastically reduced body mass, those ideas could actually be realized.
Corvus's eyes gleamed with delight.
Valdor patted the canister.
"You may observe and study the specimen and the data here at your leisure. Once the other three primarchs arrive on Terra, a state funeral will be held for Imperial Regent Malcador."
"Malcador sacrificed himself?!" Corvus asked in shock. "When did this happen? Why?"
Valdor sighed.
"It was the work of the Palu Orks. Their leader betrayed the Imperium and assassinated Malcador. They are currently massing forces outside the galaxy in an attempt to destroy the Imperium of Man. As for the exact details, His Majesty will explain everything to the four of you once Lords Sanguinius, Leman Russ, and Lion El'Jonson have arrived."
"Damn it, I knew those greenskins couldn't be trusted. I'll make the Palu Orks pay the price." Corvus gritted his teeth in hatred. Everyone in the Imperium revered Malcador, yet the Imperial Regent had perished just like that.
Valdor made an excuse to leave, allowing Corvus's resentment toward the Palu Orks to fester.
Valdor knew that Malcador had been driven to his death by the Eldar and The Cabal, but...
Faced with a great foe, he had to weigh the God-Emperor's enemies against the allies the Imperium desperately needed. Valdor had no choice but to pin the blame for Malcador's death on Lino's head.
If he didn't, how else could he so swiftly incite the hatred of the primarchs and legions against the Palu Orks?
'Looking at the time, Sanguinius and Lion El'Jonson should be arriving this afternoon. I wonder how those two primarchs will react to the news of Malcador's passing.'
A hint of anticipation rose in Valdor's heart before he caught himself. Speculating like this felt like a disservice to Malcador. He suppressed the thought and prepared to welcome the arriving primarchs.
Meanwhile, at the ascension site outside the galaxy.
Lino had no idea he was taking the fall for the Eldar and The Cabal.
Even if he knew, he wouldn't care.
Right now, he only cared about two things.
The first was the cohesion progress of his Warp projection.
The second was the unique Ork standing before him.
This Ork possessed the genetic fragments of an ancient ork boy and Malcador. He could grow by stimulating his Psionic Field just like a normal Paru Boyz, but he was also as calm, wise, and fiercely loyal as Malcador himself.
His demeanor was far more restrained than that of ordinary Paru Boyz. His slightly flickering gaze revealed a profound depth that the others lacked.
Lino directed Beast, having him lead the Mad Doks and Painboyz to conduct a series of tests on this unique Paru Boyz.
His intellect was on par with Beast, and his emotional intelligence was even higher, though his emotional range and expressiveness were not as rich.
He had no psionic energy talent.
His obedience to the weirdboy and his reverence for Gork and Mork were noticeably much higher than Beast's.
This Ork, whom Lino called 'Malcador Boy,' would drop to his knees and worship the great weirdboy every chance he got.
Such devotion made even Beast feel inadequate.
Most importantly, though Malcador Boy didn't possess the real Malcador's memories, he exhibited unparalleled talent in tabletop war games, national policy formulation, and strategy planning.
That's right—talent, not experience.
Malcador Boy was self-taught. After listening to the test questions Lino posed, he only needed to think for a moment before delivering perfectly reasoned analyses.
From the nature of the problem, to methodology, to the risks and rewards of a plan, and even backup strategies and the weighing of different options—Malcador Boy's performance left Beast in absolute awe. Even Lino couldn't help but say in his heart:
'Malcador, you're a badass!'
"Beast."
"Boss."
Lino activated the internal comms and instructed:
"Bring out all the situations we've faced over the past two years, along with the decisions we made. Test his abilities using the scenarios we actually encountered. Compare his answers with our decisions, then compile the results into a report and give it to me."
"Got it, Boss."
Beast led Malcador Boy away.
Later that day, the Dataslate in Lino's hands received the test results.
Its contents made Lino's hands tremble slightly. Shock, excitement, and uncontrollable joy poured from his heart.
The Palu Empire had struck gold.
From now on, the empire would welcome its first Prime Minister.
The reason was simple.
The countermeasures proposed by Malcador Boy were far more reliable and efficient than the decisions Lino had made himself.
"Beast, bring the boy to see me."
"Right away."
A moment later, Beast walked in with Malcador Boy.
Sitting in the center of the spell formation, Lino stared at the Paru Boyz whose face bore a slight resemblance to Malcador, and spoke solemnly. "Starting today, your name is Palcador. Your role in the Palu Empire will be..."
Lino had originally intended to call him 'Prime Minister,' but felt the title didn't quite suit an Ork's vibe.
So, shifting gears, an idea came to mind.
"Your role in the Palu Empire is Brain Boy Boss! You can form a think tank to set state policies for the Palu Empire. When necessary, you can also serve as our diplomatic ambassador and chief tactician. Remember, your name is no longer Malcador. It's Palcador—'Pal' as in Palu. Understand?"
Palcador jumped in place, dropping to his knees with a crisp thud.
"Yes, great weirdboy!"
"Get up. We Palu Orks never kneel unless I give permission."
"Yes, great weirdboy!" Palcador stood up.
Lino gestured to Beast.
"When things here are finished, take Palcador to meet the important members of the Palu Empire. Then let him pick out some suitable boyz and grots to act as his assistants."
"You got it, Boss," Beast replied cheerfully.
Just then, the Dataslate in Lino's hand beeped.
The system's save file briefing popped up simultaneously.
Lino glanced at it, and his heart pounded violently.
[Save File: Blood Ravens Boss - Keluoen.]
[Briefing: Keluoen has been monitoring the movements of the knife-ears and humies for you in the Palu Homeland and realspace. Just now, he uncovered shocking news.]
[Terra is currently holding a state funeral. The deceased is Imperial Regent Malcador!]
[Captain-General Valdor has declared that the culprits who assassinated Malcador are assassins from the Palu Empire!]
[Effective immediately, the Palu Empire has been added to the Imperium of Man's enemy list.]
[The Dark Angels, Blood Angels, Raven Guard, and Space Wolves have gathered on Terra. Within three days, they are expected to arrive at the ascension ceremony site via the Webway.]
Malcador was dead!
The real Malcador was actually dead!
And no less than four Space Marine legions were coming to cause him trouble!
Lino's heartbeat quickened slightly.
It was time to mobilize the elites of the Palu Empire.
He would have the ordinary Paru Boyz fight the ordinary humies and knife-ears, while his elites handled their elites. He couldn't afford to get outplayed by mismatched strategies.
His gaze shifted toward Palcador, who had yet to leave.
Perhaps he should hear what this Brain Boy Boss had to say.
Lino narrowed his eyes, a sharp gleam flashing in their depths.
