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Page 428
Upon seeing this, the former commander of the Casting Battalion, with his extraordinary hearing, sensed some unusual sounds coming from inside the Holy Bell.
He tried to approach the somewhat eerie blood bell, and to possess the sacred object within the static force field.
[War Commander... Black Legion... Expedition... Zerg Hive Fleet... Heavy Losses]
[Is every expedition... a... victory?]
What exactly do these words mean?
......
Thankfully, the transport of the sacred object went smoothly, and it did not ring again during the journey.
Even the Plague Father, Kugas, did not appear in the ensuing battle—according to readings from the shipborne oracle transmitted back by Starfortress, the enemy appeared to be boiling its Plague Cauldron in a swamp near Pamenio.
Although Kasgar attempted to lead his Imperial army to destroy the enemy's demon legion during this period, Magnus would appear whenever he officially went out and caused some casualties, preventing him from continuing to eliminate the remaining Nurgle demons and expand his gains.
It was as if he was controlling the balance of power between the two sides to maintain a certain equilibrium—as a troublemaker, he was indeed extremely competent in his job.
As for the specific situation on the planet's surface during this period, especially in the Boiling Plague Cauldron Swamp where Kugas is located... perhaps because the corruption of the Warp God is so high that a considerable degree of reality distortion has occurred in that area—corrupted plants from Nurgle Gardens have begun to take root in the soil like maggots clinging to bones.
They are slowly but irresistibly transforming this once healthy planet into yet another corrupt Nurgle demon world.
“Go tell the Endless One that I have a deal with him to make, and tell him to be ready to release the people.”
After receiving the Blood Bell of Kadia, I can finally release my old friend Aqua Duna from ten thousand years ago.
"understood."
The person speaking to Kasgar is a mortal assistant of Tarasin, who, at his master's request, disguised himself as a crew member and joined the Phoenix Sons' fleet.
At this point, it would still be some time before we could contact Tarasin and get him to release the hostage.
"The war on plagues... what other solutions are there to break this deadlock...?"
Currently, Kasgar is being singled out and guarded by the demonic Primarch Magnus—in battle, he will only cause Nurgle and the human Empire to fight each other to the death.
Furthermore, given that these two Chaos forces will naturally join forces to attack Alteramar in order to deal with the combined might of Nurgle and Tzeentch's army, Kasgar will need another Primarch-level fighter.
—Motalian, who the hell are you?
Where did you go?
When Kasgar received the parchment, he didn't even need to use his psionic flames to rewind time, nor did he need to ask what the sender looked like; he could guess who was so obsessed with Aqua.
During the great rebellion ten thousand years ago, his fate was ultimately unknown, and he has never appeared in any of the Empire's current historical records since—Kasgar is unsure whether this means that Mortalian finally escaped from being kidnapped by Nurgle and reappeared on the battlefield of the Plague Wars ten thousand years later.
He also used Mathieu to convey to him a solution to break the deadlock—and it must be said that his method was indeed very imaginative.
Although Kaska is also one of the victims of Aqua's fandom, this thing really has the magic to ignore all rules. It can even kill a super bacteria that has been simmered in the Great Cauldron of Nurgle's divine artifact for forty-nine days with a single bite.
[Casgar...]
At that moment, he heard Fugrim's melancholy words coming from his right shoulder.
Do you also think... Aqua is better at cooking than me...? I understand...
It's because I haven't done enough... I'm not perfect enough. I will try my best to help you, Casca, wait for me!
Casca: "......"
Sister, you shouldn't get involved in this. It's someone else's talent.
Sometimes, when you can 100% mess something up, it means you can 100% do the opposite perfectly.
Perhaps, even the great apothecary Melusin couldn't figure out why Aqua's creations could poison everything in such an unscientific way.
Although it sounds a bit outrageous, upon closer inspection, it is Aqua after all, so it makes sense.
But... putting the plan aside for now, why doesn't Mortalian, who can even evade his psionic detection, just come out and help him out?
What about people?
Mortalian, where have you gone?
......
Several days later.
From the perspective of the Star Fortress in the sky, Kugas's position has remained unchanged these days.
"Is this ten thousand years in the future?!"
Aquaduna emerged incredulously from the stasis field aboard the Phoenix Son's battle barge.
"The Primarch has betrayed us... Horus? No, how could he..."
"How is the Human Empire doing now? What about the Great Crusade? As long as the Emperor is still alive, our Great Crusade can definitely continue—"
"...The Emperor is dead?"
"Not dead? Just on the Golden Throne, on the boundary between life and death... incomprehensible words, but thankfully the Emperor's son should still be—"
"..."
"Alright, but promise me, Casgar. If one day I return to Chemos as regent, I will personally clean house."
Aqua received an unimaginable amount of information in those few hours.
Whether it was his own survival after being rescued by the aliens, the final rebellion of Phyllis and Horus, or the changes in the empire ten thousand years later... each of these events could make this ultimate veteran, who embarked on the Great Expedition from Terra with the Emperor ten thousand years ago, feel melancholic and wistful.
Times have changed.
The deal with Talasi went very smoothly—as a memorial to humanity's perseverance in expanding the Eye of Fear, the symbolic significance of this Crimson Bell is entirely comparable to that of the others.
The premise is that this guy had no idea how destructive the crimson holy bell would become in his private collection room in the future.
whee.
However, seeing that Abaddon is eager to try again, it's probably not too long before the next Scarlet Bell is rung.
In the original timeline, it was this crimson holy bell that caused the earth to shake violently, directly blowing up all of his collection cabinets and causing all the collectors to run out.
"If that's the case, you paid a high price to redeem me from the aliens, surely it was for my swordsmanship?"
Having experienced many changes among the sons of the emperor, Aqua quickly adapted to the current situation.
Even when they had no Primarchs and the entire Legion was on the verge of being wiped out by the Blight, the Emperor's Sons still did not give up hope.
Although the Empire of Man is currently facing numerous crises, it still has Guilliman (in his loli form), Mortalian (who does not appear in public), and Vormrim (which is still in a state of division)!
Even Saint Gilles transformed into Saint Gillesno and became a true angel (Casca did not tell her the truth) to protect this human world besieged on all sides!
The Human Empire can still be saved!
Although it does sound hopeless, there is still hope!
"My sword is ready to serve you once again!"
After speaking with her old friends Casca and Rellano, Aqua knelt down on one knee in the direction of Casca.
In her view, with Fugrim gone, Kasgar is now the acting legion commander of the Emperor's Son.
"Speak, Commander Casgar, what do you need me to do? Instruct your new legion in swordsmanship? Or is there some troublesome enemy you need me to deal with?"
"No, this... um..."
Casca hesitated.
"Actually, it's so that I can get you to cook a meal... I hope you won't be angry that I'm telling you this."
Aqua: "?"
......
"The accompanying team and escorts have all been arranged... We will depart tomorrow."
Darkness fell over Pamenio—one of the few times they could see a clear night sky since Nurgle began to corrupt the planet.
"But you still came to me, deliberately avoiding the Emperor's incarnation's questioning—you still chose to believe me."
"If I were truly an envoy of the Emperor, how could he not know where I was?"
The tall, thin man seemed to be emitting some kind of unpleasant chuckle under the respirator, which particularly annoyed Mathieu.
In his view, the other party indeed possessed far greater foresight than he did, and his advice was helpful to the emperor.
"Say what you want to say quickly."
"Tomorrow we will go alone to that evil swamp to cleanse it of its filth in the name of the Emperor."
The one who carried out this suicidal mission was the priest Mathieu, who volunteered for the task.
He himself did not understand why he had taken on this mission, but it seemed to be his destiny, the guidance of the Emperor's Light.
His goal, however, is to completely destroy the Nurgle artifact, the Cauldron of Plague, which is guarded by the chief archmages, Kugas.
The mission was nearly impossible, but they were protected by an "artifact" blessed by the emperor while carrying it out.
It was a bag of cookies that looked rather strange—not as horrifying and disgusting as the plague-borne creatures, but clearly not food that a normal human being could enjoy.
According to the Emperor's incarnation, as long as this cookie is thrown into the Plague Cauldron, all the virus strains being boiled inside will be instantly disinfected.
Although I don't know the principle behind it, I believe in the emperor and praise the emperor!
"Alright, I wish you good luck with your operation tomorrow."
"However, there are a few more things I'd like to tell you."
"I am merely stating a point of view—whether you believe it or not is not my responsibility."
"I am not here to persuade you, but merely to inform you."
"You said."
"If I told you that it was all orchestrated by my old friend, who was using his own methods to impersonate an emperor, what would you think?"
You are lying.
"No, if he were truly an omniscient and omnipotent emperor, why would he need my guidance? How could he be unable to capture even his own rebellious offspring?"
"..."
“Mathieu, you knew from the beginning that the Emperor wouldn’t—”
"Shut up!"
Filled with rage, Mathieu interrupted the mysterious man for the first time: "What exactly do you want? Do you really want to make me a faithless person, to make me lose even this last means of protecting my faith, before you are happy?"
"what?"
"So you admit that the Emperor's faith is just a means for you to protect yourself?"
"...No. This is not a contradiction. The Emperor can protect me because he is a god, and he loves all of us humans."
"Therefore, it is not contradictory for us to believe in and venerate Him with our humble gratitude. I apologize for my slip of the tongue just now."
"What difference does it make whether an emperor is a human or a god?"
Or rather, the moment you realize that the emperor is human, the moment you realize that he is not perfect, you will stop following him.
"No! How could this be! My reverence for the Emperor has never changed because of any words!"
"Then why don't you believe that the Emperor, as a human being, a guy who can be quite a scoundrel at times, can fight for all of us?"
The struggle between gods is happening every moment, just like the open and covert struggle between Nurgle and Tzeentch at this moment, as well as the two remaining beings who are watching but have not directly participated.
But emperors are human.
He challenged the demon who called himself a god, in the guise of a human.
But a human being... although he certainly wasn't a good father, I don't deny that he... could be quite capable at times.
The tall, thin man sighed and leaned against the wall without saying a word.
During the Great Expedition, he did not like the Emperor.
Not only did he steal his head in Barbarossa, but he also kept setting increasingly heavy expedition KPIs for him. There was no affection between father and son at all; he treated him like a tool to be used all day long.
But the trials of ten thousand years, and the demons he encountered at the end of the Great Expedition, lurking in the shadows and whom he had underestimated...
If it weren't for his inherent perseverance, perhaps he would have ended up like those filthy, foul-smelling... well, those were actually his genetic offspring, nothing special.
This made him shudder.
That alone was enough to make him miss his golden-haired father.
"Ugh."