Chapter 308 The Rise of the Primarch: The End of the High Lords
To be honest, when I see my own statue standing in front of me, I always have a very strange feeling. Now Vito understands why the Emperor hates having statues of himself everywhere. The person who erected them probably doesn't feel anything. , I thought it was about respect and belief, but the person who was erected as a statue felt different when looking at it.
Vito stood in front of his statue with his hands on his hips. He looked at the majestic statue. He was holding a fluttering flag, pointing the battle flag straight into the sky, and holding a roaring chain sword in his other hand. He drooped beside his body and turned his head behind him, shouting something to the statues following him.
Vito looked at the face of his statue. He looked at the statue calmly, without pride, embarrassment, or any unnecessary reaction, because he did not know the person on the statue. The face was indeed his, but his expression The feeling revealed is completely different from Vito's.
He looked at the statue. The majestic and majestic statue was silent. Like all the statues of the Emperor and the Primarchs, it had been continuously added with human expectations for ten thousand years. They put their own expectations on All the fantasies of legendary characters are piled on these statues.
It is a statue that combines all the beautiful fantasies and desires of human beings. It is a god, a statue of a god they created, a person who has never existed. It is them who exist in people's minds, not themselves. .
Vito looked at the statue and let out a long sigh. This was not beyond his expectation. Although the Inquisition was much better than the statues built for him in the churches of the Ecclesiarchy and the Astra Militarum, at least the face was still his own. , instead of being infinitely beautified into an appearance that he himself would not be able to recognize without looking at the name of the statue.
But the Inquisition, during these ten thousand years, still kept their fantasies about themselves. In this dark galaxy, the Inquisitors faced all these terrible enemies and truths. Their hearts yearned for redemption and gave birth to a great hope. , a hope for their creator, a god who still walks the earth today.
All their awakenings, longings and desires for Vito were integrated into the statue. They longed for a majestic leader, one who was always right, who could, as shown in the statue, raise the Eagle flag high in the dark galaxy and lead the way. They were a great leader who pushed forward against all odds and achieved victory.
But that was not him. Vito looked at the statue and remained silent. He knew what the judges, no, humans, were longing for. They longed for a god, a god who never made mistakes and was always right. This statue is why Vito Because they have never directly ruled the empire for so many years, the self they long for is not the real self, and they cannot be like that, a god.
"My lord, don't you like this statue?" Angvar, the leader of the Tribunal, walked up from the side. He stood behind Vito and asked softly, his leader, the one who expressed his infinite enthusiasm and gratitude to all the judges. The leader of the faith turned his head, and Vito looked at Anguva behind him in silence for a moment.
He raised his eyes and looked at the inquisitors behind him. They were all wearing different clothes, some were wearing windbreakers, others were wearing leather jackets or loose coats, but everyone was wearing an Angwar and Anguva on their waists. The same Inquisition logo, the blood-red i letter logo.
Vito looked down at the Tribunal symbol on his waist. He raised his head after sighing silently, "Nothing, the statue is fine. Is this the person you think we need?"
Vito said as he walked down the steps in front of the statue. He walked up to Angvar and asked. The latter nodded affirmatively and looked at the judges in front of him, "Yes, sir, these are the ones currently in the solar system." The high-ranking inquisitors inside, as well as the Grand Inquisitors of the Inquisition stationed in Terra, I have told them your identity and your plan. "
"We are happy to help, sir, for you." A young inquisitor in front of Vito said excitedly with infinite enthusiasm. Vito looked at him with an almost fanatical belief in his eyes. He was very young, and Vito could tell that it had not been long since he joined the Tribunal. The fire of faith in his heart was still strong, and the flame turned into fanaticism because of his return.
Vito looked at the inquisitors here. They were all similar. Everyone's eyes were burning with the fire of courage and belief, just like the enthusiasm of the believers of the state religion when they died for the emperor. And that enthusiasm was exactly the same. This is what Vito doesn't like. They regard themselves as gods, a god who has come back to the world.
"I believe you will, Eva. It seems that you have brought all the big shots from the Assassin's Court." Vito smiled and looked at Eva, the current master of the Assassin's Court, to one side. The female assassin now looked directly comparable to The shabby projection screen on the Infinite Frontier is much clearer and more intuitive.
She was wearing a dark red tights, which adhered to her body like skin, and highlighted her perfect figure. Even Vito had to give her full marks for her figure.
But believe me, you won’t have any bad thoughts about her, especially when you see the two scimitars she wears on her waist. The sharp blades are hung behind her in a unique way. The two blades, which had a number of small single-hook serrations at the ends, were not inserted into the scabbards, but hung directly behind her through magnetic locks.
If Eva wants, the master assassin can pull out the cutting scimitar and chop off your head before your brain sends out the first reaction nerve, and before the neural arc completes the circuit. The sharp serrations on the blade are designed completely for killing.
Not only that, her arms are connected to several liquid hoses. Those small hoses filled with neural venom are connected to the sharp claws on her palms. The purple neural venom flows on the sharp blades of the claws, flashing a faint light that makes people's backs cold under the light.
This makes her whole body exude an uneasy aura, so you don't want to go to bed with her. If she goes to bed with you, she will also cut your throat when you are happy, and the latter will take out your heart and watch you die with a cold face and without any emotion.
"Yes, Master, all the masters of all the sects are here." Eva said, turning her head slightly behind her. The edge of the skull mask on her face was turning with tiny serrations, and the mechanical structure under the mask was running, making her red eyes particularly bright.
Vito followed her eyes and looked behind her. There were several assassins standing behind her. They were men and women, but they all exuded a creepy cold breath like Eva.
The assassins wearing different assassin costumes, masks and weapons stood in a corner of the hall. They stood very scattered. Some stood on the ground in the hall, and some stood on the narrow pipes or stone steps on one side with excellent balance. It seemed that they were considering the plan to disperse at any time and make the blood of the people here splash on the spot before any attack occurred.
They stood silently on the side, without any sound, just like phantom ghosts, but their existence alone was enough to make people feel uneasy, making the atmosphere here extremely cold and murderous.
Vito looked at them. Their masks were different. Each unique mask and equipment represented an assassin school. Through those masks, Vito knew that everyone was present. Callidus, Chulisas, Vindikar, Iverson, Wennum, Vanus, the assassin masters of the six major schools were all present.
"Very good, then I won't say any more nonsense. I think everyone knows what we are going to do, right?" Vito said and looked at the people in front of him. Everyone nodded to Vito silently. Without any nonsense, they all gave Vito a clear reply.
Vito nodded slightly, then looked at Angerwa beside him, "Tell me about the situation. What is the current situation of Terra?"
"Yes, Master." Angerwa said and waved his hand. Soon, as his arm waved, several servo skulls flew out. They surrounded Vito and Angerwa, and green fluorescent light shot out from their eye sockets. The projection light that intersected from different angles quickly gathered and formed a planetary hologram of Terra.
The three-dimensional Terra composed of light was suspended in front of Vito. He looked at the Terra hologram in front of him, put his hands behind his back and nodded to Angerwa on the side, "Let's start."
"As you wish, sir." Angerwa said, turning around and looking at the hologram in front of him. The inquisitors and assassins were standing around, looking at the huge planet image suspended in the center of the hall. As Angerwa's fingers clicked, the image changed rapidly.
"Then let's start from space, after all, that is Terra's first line of defense." Angerwa said and clicked on the hologram in front of him. With the touch of his fingers, circles of red rings appeared on the orbit of Terra. Fleets gathered on those red defense line signs, and countless small red dots gathered into the main body of the defense line.
Angerwa's fingers quickly clicked in front of him, and the names of those warships quickly appeared one by one from the light spots, and flashing nameplates appeared on the side of the warships. Vito looked at the warships suspended in the orbit of the planet, and he frowned slightly.
"The number of fleets is even less than I expected."
"That's right, sir. Although the high lord representative of the Imperial Navy tried his best to whitewash the situation and promised that the fleet to defend Terra was more than enough, our agents in the Navy reported that the number of warships needed to defend Terra was actually less than half."
Angvar said as he clicked his finger at a corner of the star field. As his finger gently pulled outward, the star map of Terra quickly shrank and converged at a corner of the entire holographic image. Soon, the coordinates of several star regions in the solar star field appeared on the entire image, and each star region was engulfed by the red color of blood.
The blood-red ocean almost covered the entire periphery of Terra. Layers of blood waves turned the entire solar system into an isolated island, surrounded by endless war on the innermost side.
"The main force of the Solar Fleet was all dispatched by the Navy when Chaos launched its outer offensive. Our insider in the department said that the Navy initially believed that Chaos' attack on the solar system must first capture several outer star systems and break through the defenses before entering the system, so the fleet was dispatched to support the outer war zone."
"But the embarrassing thing is that Chaos' main fleet directly warped and bypassed all the preset defenses to enter the solar system." Vito said as he stood on the steps with his hands behind his back. Angarwa turned his head to look at Vito and nodded silently. He turned his head and sighed as he looked at the blood-red star map in front of him.
"We don't yet know how the traitors did it, but they did catch the Empire by surprise. All the main forces of the Sun Fleet have left Terra, and the Chaos assault destroyed quite a few that remained in Terra. There are not many remaining battleships left after the first wave of attacks is over."
Angwa looked up at the outside of the star map. The blood-red battlefield of the Sun Star Territory was completely connected. It even covered half of the Milky Way. "The Navy and the Star Language Institute In desperation, they tried to contact the fleets fighting on the periphery. They asked the fleets to return to defense at all costs, but in fact this was impossible. Not to mention that the subspace storm had cut off all routes, and now the fleets on the periphery were also fighting against the Chaos army. Made a mess."
As he spoke, the current Grand Master of the Tribunal pointed to the star map above his head. Vito raised his eyes and looked over. A large bat symbol appeared on the red star map, which symbolized a terrifying traitor force.
"According to reports from the Inquisitors who are still fighting on the periphery and have taken over the Imperial fleet, the Night Lords rebel legions are out in force on the periphery of the solar system. Fortunately, the White Scars and the Raven Guard's hunting herds have also arrived. Once outside, the Space Marines are engaged in a cosmic-level pursuit battle with the traitors."
"But these terrifying bloodthirsty bat armies were massacred throughout the surrounding galaxies of the solar system. Planets were slaughtered one by one. Before we completely lost contact with the periphery, we got a list of more than a dozen planets that were massacred. ”
"The Night Lords are not just creating panic. In fact, the massacres are carried out in an orderly manner. They use orderly massacres at fixed points and cooperate with the Chaos Mages of the Thousand Sons to strengthen the subspace storm and create tens of billions of casualties. A super storm enveloped the entire solar system and even affected several sub-sectors, cutting off all connections between Terra and other parts of the empire. "
As Angvar spoke, he pulled the star map back to the direction of Terra. The hologram of the throne world reoccupied the entire screen, but now it seems that the planet is more like an isolated island surrounded by a large group of piranhas, and The kind that could end at any moment.
But the judges and assassins around Vito were quite calm, to an incredible degree. Everyone looked at the hologram without fear, calm and collected.
Vito stood among them. He looked at the star map with his hands behind his back and narrowed his eyes slightly, "So we are surrounded now, and the defenders are not strong enough at all. Chaos only needs to launch an attack and we may be finished." That situation, and food is also completely in short supply because of the lockdown.”
"Yes, sir, the situation is very bad, but it cannot be said to be completely bad, because we still have enough fleet and food supplies here, if it can still be counted as our own people." Angwa said and pressed his hand on the star. The picture was pushed suddenly, and the image of Terra was quickly replaced by the red Mars.
The home planet of the Mechanicum appeared in front of everyone, and a faint halo spread out from the surface of the red planet, shining on the faces of Vito and the people around him. Vito looked at the planet and held his chin in thought, while An Gwa looked at the planet and continued to speak calmly.
"According to reports from our agents on Mars, the Mechanicus has assembled a huge war fleet on Mars. In addition, the Mars Orbital Shipyard has just launched water and the number of semi-completed fleets. Mars has a fleet of sufficient size, enough to send part of it to To support Terra, even the fleet that has just been launched in the star port will be enough to strengthen our defense. "
"The Navy also requested this, but the Foundry General directly refused at the meeting. He refused to send any fleet to Terra, and he also knew that Terra currently has insufficient food and water and that famine may break out at any time. Refuse to send even one grain from the Martian inventory to Terra."
Angvar turned to look at Vito and frowned, "I'm sure that the reason for his refusal is definitely not because the Adeptus Mechanicus likes to eat. Those oil guys don't need so much food at all. With all due respect, sir, I think. "
"The Forge General rebelled, right?" Vito said calmly as he looked at Angvar. He didn't seem surprised at all. Angvar had no doubt that his respectable leader had already seen him when he arrived in the solar system. That terrible truth.
Angvar nodded calmly, seemingly not at all afraid that the force with the largest armed force in the solar system might have betrayed the empire and taken a step toward chaos.
"Yes, sir, this is the only reasonable explanation at present. I don't believe that the Martian guy's algorithm can't figure it out. If Terra falls, it will be a dead end no matter how many troops they gather."
"Unless they rebelled from the beginning and reached a private agreement with Abaddon, yes, Angvar is very reasonable." Vito looked at Mars in front of him and frowned slightly. He looked at the red planet and was silent for a moment, but soon Kuai raised his head again and looked at the planet with majesty and calmness like a real god, as if looking at an insignificant ant.
"Forging the General will soon be no longer a problem. The resources of Mars will be at our disposal. Now, return to Terra."
Vito's words made the surrounding judges look at each other proudly. Their inner excitement could not be concealed. At this moment, they all felt sincerely happy for Vito's return. Sure enough, everything would be achieved when Vito returned. fixed.
Angvar looked at Vito's extremely obedient bow of his head. He turned around and switched the star map back to Terra with a wave of his hand. Angvar pointed to the surface of Terra's planet, "Except for the insufficient number of battleships, Terra The ground forces on the ground are also seriously insufficient, because Terra has not faced war for many years, and the defense situation of the entire Terra is quite bad. Many defense systems and positions have been abandoned due to peace. Even though the Ministry of Military Affairs has urgently restarted a large part of it, the war What will happen after he wakes up is still unknown.”
"Previously, Terra's defense relied heavily on the Imperial Fists Chapter and the Phalanx for maintenance. However, when the demons raided the Phalanx before, intending to seize the Phalanx and then bomb the palace, the Phalanx was in order to defend Terra. He made an emergency jump into the subspace to ensure his safety, and his whereabouts are still unknown, causing the core of Terra's defense to completely collapse."
"In fact, Terra's surface defense is currently in quite a mess because of the shortage of food. In addition, the high lords have hoarded all the food in the palace for "centralized distribution". In fact, they prioritize ensuring their own survival. In addition to the food shortage, the entire Terra Various degrees of riots and riots occurred in areas outside the palace.”
Angvar clicked on the star map as he spoke, and soon countless red dots appeared on the surface of Terra's planet. Each of those red dots was a riot area. Vito looked at the ones that appeared one by one. Red dots, they almost immediately appeared in all the hive areas of Terra except the Royal Palace, one after another, overwhelming everything.
"Now, due to food problems, riots are breaking out all over Terra. Our people, the Ministry of Justice, and a considerable number of Astra Militarum troops are suppressing the riots everywhere, but they are unable to effectively restart the depleted orbital defense weapons and repair the positions. and deploying defenses.”
"And the high lords, that group of old idiots, either out of panic or out of self-protection, in addition to stepping up their collection of supplies and hoarding them within the high walls of the palace, they also ordered all the troops loyal to them to We retreated into the palace walls, hoping to rely on the powerful void shield in the palace area and the orbital defense array to survive the Chaos bombing and invasion, and wait for the imperial reinforcements to arrive after the storm weakens. "
"To put it simply, they gave up on everyone except themselves, used all resources and effective troops to protect themselves, and then prayed for the emperor's blessing."
After Angvar finished speaking, he looked at Vito, who made a disdainful sound. He crossed his arms and looked at the palace area of Terra, "Believe me, if the emperor can really show his spirit, his first reaction is to use Psychic slaps these old idiots to death."
"Of course, sir." Angvar nodded in front of the star map and said. He looked at Vito and waited for the order. The latter glanced at Angvar and then held his chin in thought.
"Angvar, are there any Space Marines stationed on Terra now?" Vito raised his eyes and asked, and Angvar nodded, "Yes, sir, there is only one Gray Knights unit stationed on the moon. They are not participating in the suppression, but are stepping up preparations and preparing for the Chaos attack."
"Gray Knights? Will they listen to us?" "Yes, sir, the Grand Master of the Gray Knights and I are old friends, and they themselves belong to the order of battle of the Tribunal, so they will obey your orders."
"Actually, my lord, if you appear in public and give a shout, the Grand Master of the Gray Knights will definitely support you without hesitation, and then lead the entire company back to Terra."
"One company cannot solve the problem, and the moon is the most important defense node in Terra's orbit. If the moon falls, the orbital defense will be finished, so let the Gray Knights continue to defend. Just make sure they support us at that time. ”
"As you command, my lord."
Vito touched his chin and stared at Terra's hologram and thought for a long time. Angvar stood not far away and looked at Vito silently. The judges and assassins around him were looking at Vito and waiting for them. The undisputed leader's orders.
And Vito didn't keep them waiting too long.
"Okay, here are my orders." After Vito said that, the surrounding judges all stood at attention, and the roar of military boots on the ground echoed throughout the hall.
Vito stood on the steps. He put his hands behind his back and looked at the people in the audience. "Since Terra is rioting, let's let the riot escalate a little. Angwa, send our agents to spread rumors among the crowd. The high lord increased the intensity of the famine after the grain requisition, igniting fear and inciting larger-scale riots. At the same time, he ordered our suppressive troops to turn a blind eye and let the rioters rush straight to the palace. "
"Sir, if this leads to uncontrollable fear, we have no way to solve the food problem after all. If the panic spreads, it will be difficult for us to suppress it later." Angwa said below, and Vito looked at him and smiled. , he looked at him with his hands behind his back and smiled.
"I said, Mars will be used by us. When the food from Mars is delivered, we don't have to do anything, and the riot will end naturally." Vito said, looking up at Anguva, who was getting With no further questions after his explanation, he stood at attention and awaited his leader's orders.
"Let the rioters attack the outer wall of the palace. No one of the troops under our control is allowed to move. Tell the Grand Arbitrator of the Ministry of Justice that I am back and ask him to obey my orders. No one of his people is allowed to move."
"As you command, my lord."
"Ilk." Vito looked to the side and said. Immediately, the Vendicare Assassin Master walked out of the crowd with an advanced sniper rifle on his back. He walked to Vito's side silently.
"Let your assassins enter the high-rise buildings and snipe the officers of the troops guarding the outer wall of the palace of the high lords, creating chaos and making them seek help from the palace in fear."
"Yes, Master." Master Ilk nodded and said, then retreated back to the crowd. Vito looked at him and turned his head to look at the female assassin on the other side. The female assassin master with a tall ponytail appeared silently behind Vito, like a ghost.
"Natalie, order your Callidus assassins to transform and disguise themselves as officers and generals of the palace troops. Let them order the troops in the palace to urgently set off to support the outer wall. I want the entire palace to be in chaos, so that all the garrison troops will be forced to give orders to leave the inner palace in the chaos."
Master Natalie nodded to Vito and turned away. She said nothing, not even a breath. She looked like a walking corpse, but the long knife behind her exposed in front of Vito would not make people think that she was just a corpse.
"Master Saik, I also have a mission for you." Vito said as he looked at Natalie who was walking away. Although I suspected that Vito might be looking at her hips swinging left and right, well, that's not the point now.
Behind him, the assassin master came up with cables all over his body and a mask on his face that was also plugged with countless signal converters. He looked more like a robot, a soulless servitor, but believe me, this servitor can kill you and everyone around you with the household appliances around you in a minute.
"Master." Saik asked in a low voice behind Vito, sounding like a messed up tune made by a weird tuner.
"Your Vanus assassins have attacked the palace's communication system and issued contradictory and confusing orders in the communication channel, causing the High Lords' Council and their defenders to fall into panic and chaos in the violent information frenzy, destroying their sanity. Give me a chance, and I will give you the access code for the palace network."
"As you wish, Master."
Vito turned and walked down the stairs. After he walked down the stairs, he walked past the crowd and then stopped in front of Eva. He turned his head to look at the leader of the Assassin's Court beside him, who also nodded gently to Vito.
"Lead your assassins and kill all the core subordinates and allies of the current high lord when I give the order. Don't spare any of them. If possible, help our troops who are taking over the defense of the inner palace to seize the positions and palaces."
"Yes, Master." Eva replied in a cold voice. Vito nodded slightly and looked at the tall assassin beside her, an assassin wearing a red spirit suit, taller than everyone else. He wore a silver skull mask on his head, and razor-like claws stretched out from his palms.
The assassin stared at Vito, like a dormant beast. The beast's low breathing sounded continuously behind the mask, and with his breathing, the tall and strong muscles continued to bulge.
"Kratos, you and your Iverson Assassins, go to the outer perimeter of the meeting hall where the High Lords' Council is located. I don't want to see any of the guards there when I arrive."
"I will make sure no one comes to disturb you, Master." The violent Iverson Assassin Master said in a terrifying voice that was enough to make anyone tremble. His voice sounded like a Khorne demon speaking, and what he was going to do was actually similar.
Vito nodded to Kratos, then walked to the star map, and Angerwa also stood beside him. Vito looked at the map of the palace in silence for a moment, and he put his hands behind his back and looked at the inner palace area where the High Lords were located.
"We need an army, an absolutely loyal army that can execute any order I give without any doubt, and it must be within the high walls of the palace, so that they can take over and control the entire inner palace area quickly while the defenders are in chaos."
"Such an army is not easy to find, Master." Eva walked behind Vito and whispered. Vito glanced at her, and then when he was about to speak, Angewa smiled and interrupted his conversation with Eva.
The leader of the Tribunal pointed to a building on the map, a tall building within the palace wall and very close to the inner palace, "No, sir, we have it."
Vito and Eva looked at the building that Angewa pointed to. There was a name floating on the side of the building, a name that marked the unit and title it belonged to.
Zhongsi Academy.