Chapter 179 24, The Son Follows His Father, It Is Reasonable

The fleet of the Primarch arrived on Mars on time. In the workshop of the Chief Caster, Dukel saw the Chief Caster lying on the machine tool and being repaired by several mechanical arms.

The current Chief Caster of Mars, Odia Raskian, was extremely large and much taller than the two Primarchs. Compared with a person or a machine, he was more like a building.

Dukel learned that this big guy even needed eight large cranes to cooperate with his travel when he was moving long distances.

No wonder the Chief Caster wanted to come forward to protect the Grand Master of the Inquisition before. Before he boarded the spacecraft, Dukel killed all the people.

Compared with the Primarch's efficiency of action like wildfire, he should also reflect on whether he is too bulky.

This is the largest mechanical sage Dukel has ever seen. Compared with him, both Cawl and Gris can only be regarded as small men.

At the same time, he also recalled the information about the Chief Caster provided to him by the mechanical sages in his mind.

There are many schools and factions within the Mechanicus, but from the perspective of the Primarch, they can be divided into three factions.

The radical scholars represented by Gris advocated the appropriate release of knowledge restrictions and the pursuit of more truth.

The neutral faction represented by Mina and Doron pursued the truth, but also their own interests. They not only lived in the cracks of various factions, but also played both sides.

Most of them were born as civilians, focusing on their own interests. Their poor background forced them to frequently obtain scientific research funds for their projects. This faction occupies a large number within the Mechanicus, and was also the main target of Duker's previous wooing.

The current chief caster Diaan is a conservative. They represent the orthodoxy of the Martian God Cult and follow the restrictions on knowledge imposed by the Emperor ten thousand years ago.

As for Caul, he is an extremist and he is a school of his own. Almost all the great sages think that Caul is too extreme, so some people even set up an "anti-Caul faction".

The water on Mars is very deep. According to the information obtained by Duker, the chief caster Diaan has average talent, mediocre knowledge, and no outstanding talent among the great sages.

The reason why he was able to ascend to this position is because he is "orthodox" enough.

Just relying on the name of orthodoxy, he won the support of the Titan Order and the Knight Family.

And this is not all the power behind him. The Guardian Order that guards the "Mars Dragon" and those old guys who are no less old than Cawl also support him secretly.

It is with their support that this mediocre great sage has firmly sat on the position of Mars Casting General.

But now, the ideas of the conservatives and the primarchs have conflicted.

Whether it is the Primaris Space Marines or the improved battleship macro cannons, they are all "cross-border" behaviors in the eyes of the conservatives.

In the face of this irreconcilable contradiction, the so-called justice seems unworthy of mention.

"My lords, old Dian's body has a malfunction. Please forgive me for not being able to greet the two lords." Dian took the initiative to speak, his words were respectful and humble, not like a person in a high position at all.

As the chief caster of the Mechanicus, even the emperor theoretically needs to listen to his opinions. In terms of status, he is not inferior to the primarchs, but even slightly higher.

But the current situation forced him to be humble and polite.

As the second son of the Empire, Ducker is about to succeed the position of Supreme Warmaster. As a Warmaster, his own ability is not to be mentioned. More importantly, it depends on whether he can unite the brothers who have returned one after another.

In this regard, Ducker has done a good job. The Primarchs who have returned are willing to support him.

And he also integrated all the institutions of the Empire in a way that no one had expected, like a blitzkrieg, and caught the dignitaries off guard.

All power is unified in Ducker's hands.

Today, the Emperor cannot step down from the throne.

The will of this Warmaster is enough to fully represent the Emperor.

Unfortunately, even though Ducker's power is no less than that of the former Emperor, he is not the real Emperor, so Dian is obviously not willing to cooperate.

He represents the conservatives and the "orthodoxy". Whether from the perspective of interests or morality, he cannot succumb to Ducker's will.

Dukel carefully looked at the Master Forger for 22 seconds, then shook his head slightly and looked at Guilliman beside him.

"Regent, did you notice that the Master Forger's body was faulty?"

Guilliman nodded.

"This was man-made damage not long ago, and the damage was very minor."

The Primarchs were all polymaths. Their attainments in mechanics might not be as good as the Great Sage, but they would not be fooled by such obvious traces.

Not to mention Dukel, even Guilliman did not believe him.

The two Primarchs were obviously aware of the Master Forger's attitude.

But in the spirit of the Emperor's kindness, Dukel finally gave him a chance.

"Diyan, I will not chat with you. We will obey His Majesty's will and start the second great expedition of mankind for the ideals shared by all mankind to reproduce the golden years ten thousand years ago. Are the Mechanicus willing to cooperate?"

Diyan's huge body made a "sizzling" sound of electricity, and his voice came from the huge, trembling sound transmission device,

"Lord Dukel, our Mechanicus's recent scientific research projects have made amazing progress. We have also found the possibility of repairing the damaged and mutated STC templates. In the star field controlled by our Mechanicus, the annual tax revenue is among the best in the entire empire."

Diaan's meaning was already very clear.

Dukel smiled, "So you are not willing to cooperate with us?"

Diaan's body trembled, as if a bigger malfunction had occurred. His voice was squeezed out with difficulty, "Lord, before the malfunction occurred, I had already issued instructions inside Mars to fully support your actions."

The smile on Dukel's face became more and more obvious.

Guilliman shook his head helplessly.

Even he couldn't be fooled by these words.

Before, when he and Lev communicated with Mars, he felt the perfunctory attitude of the Mechanicus.

And the words and deeds of the Chief Caster now also proved his judgment.

Even the attitude of the Chief Caster was so perfunctory, shirking responsibility, and even pretending to obey. How could the Mechanicus fully cooperate with the expedition?

"Diyan, the former Grand Master of the Inquisition and the Grand Marshal of the Ministry of Justice have been confirmed as heretics and received fair trials. You are an ally with them, an unbreakable alliance of interests, but you have never exposed them. I have reason to suspect that you are deliberately shielding them, or are you also a heretic?"

This sentence was not said by Dukel, but by Guilliman.

Obviously, he is trying to learn his brother's style, but he has not yet imitated the essence.

If it were Dukel, the crime would have been nailed to the Chief Caster.

Guilliman was still thinking about giving the Chief Caster a chance to return to the right path.

As long as Diyan can give up his persistence, today's conversation may still end peacefully.

When the Chief Caster heard Guilliman's words, he looked at the Regent with shock.

He knew the inside story.

Whether it was the Grand Master or the Grand Marshal, they might have committed many crimes, but they were absolutely loyal to the Empire and there was no possibility of them becoming heretics.

The fact that Duker dared to slander them directly had already shocked the Chief Caster enough.

Now the Regent actually wanted to frame him?

"Shh!——"

On the huge machine, hundreds of indicator lights flashed quickly at the same time, and boiling steam was released.

"Lord Dukel, Your Excellency the Regent, I am the Mars Casting General!"

Dukel looked at him calmly, "Who said that the Mars Casting General would not be a heretic? I clearly smelled the stench of chaos from inside your machine. This makes sense. Why does it take several days to repair a machine with only slight damage?"

Diaan was stunned: "Dukel, you want to slander me, are you crazy?! In the Olympus Mountains, your father and my predecessors made an unchanging treaty. The existence of the 'Mars Covenant' has closely linked the Empire and the Mechanicus for the next ten thousand years."

"Now you want to betray this covenant and interfere with the sovereignty of Mars? Do you know what this means? Terra and Mars, the Empire and the Mechanicus, this two-headed giant eagle that has been indestructible for thousands of years, will be split because of you!"

Dukel's face was indifferent.

There was no ripple in his heart, and he even wanted to laugh.

It is indeed ridiculous to say that after the Emperor signed the covenant, he began to interfere with the sovereignty of the Mechanicus not long after.

The Emperor listed a complete list, delimited the scope of the truth of the Mechanicus, and listed many knowledge and technologies as taboos.

At that time, the radicals, as the orthodox school of Mars, naturally opposed the Emperor's obstruction of their pursuit of knowledge. In response to them, the Emperor imposed restrictions on them at the cost of execution.

Therefore, a lot of dissatisfaction accumulated within the Mechanicus.

During the Horus Heresy, this dissatisfaction was also triggered, and the radicals were suppressed by the Empire.

After the demise of the radicals, the conservatives became the "orthodoxy" of Mars.

Now this conservative Mars Casting General is dissatisfied with Dukel's interference in the sovereignty of the Mechanicus.

The Mars Covenant has become the chief caster and the biggest confidence to dare to oppose the Warmaster.

This is indeed the case. In the eyes of Diaan and even the people of the Empire, it is precisely because of the existence of the "Mars Covenant" that Dukel dares to purge power institutions such as the Inquisition, but certainly does not dare to purge the Mechanicus.

What happened ten thousand years ago has long been swept into the sand of history. The Empire cannot interfere with the sovereignty of the Mechanicus. This is an unchanging truth in the eyes of the Imperials.

What a pity.

With Duker's character, the Mechanicus is destined to win again.

In terms of harming the Mechanicus, the Emperor was unkind first, and the Primarch was unjust later. It is reasonable that the son follows his father.

The smile on Duker's face gradually faded, as cold as before. The murderous intent that was no longer restrained made the whole room seem to be soaked by glacial water, making people feel cold all over.

"Iron waste, I have to remind you of one thing. The Mechanicus is not united. Even if I kill you now, the Empire will not be divided because of this. In the short term, there will not be many people who will seek justice for you."

The steam emitted from Diaan's body became hotter and hotter. "You dare not. If you do this, the meritorious nobles from all over the galaxy will come out to oppose you. Dukel, no matter how much power you hold in your hands, you are not the emperor after all. You control the empire in the name of the emperor, and the nobles will unite in the name of the emperor to conquer you. The wars in the territory of the human empire are all because of your sin today!"

"Heh." Dukel sneered, "Even if I don't kill you, those maggots will never show mercy when they conquer me."

The Primarch and the nobles have irreconcilable contradictions.

They have different positions and can only speak with grenade guns.

Although Dukel integrated the Terra regime at the fastest speed, it does not mean that all the nobles and powers in the millions of worlds will succumb to him because of this.

Those people did not disappear, but chose to lie dormant temporarily. Dukel never ignored them, but those people were hiding in the dark and not easy to clean up.

In fact, after Duker massacred the Terra nobles, the political body behind the Primarchs has been working on this matter, and this work will take a long time, hundreds of years.

If the Chief Forger is killed, that group of people will take the initiative to jump out. For the Primarch, this is not only not a disaster, but a double blessing.

"Diyan, the Regent and I have given you a chance, but you are still so stubborn. You would rather bet that we dare not take action due to the Martian Covenant than support the ideals shared by all mankind."

Dukele was also helpless, "I have killed too many people, and I don't care if you have one more or one less, but you only have one life, why can't you figure it out?"

Diyan was also angry, "Dukele, you want to shake the unchanged pattern of the empire with your own strength, you are not qualified! The Mechanicus is far from as simple as you think. The sages who have been in seclusion for thousands of years, the Martian Dragon Guardian Order, they all support my decision! Even our Majesty has sworn an oath on Mount Olympus that if you dare to take action against me, there will be no place for you in the empire! The great expedition you yearn for is a dream that can never be touched!"

Dukele bowed slightly and performed the Sky Eagle etiquette to the chief caster of the Mechanicus.

This made Diyan feel a little relieved in his heart.

Fortunately.

No matter how his logical system analyzes, Dukel can't be crazy enough to ignore the Martian Covenant and betray the Emperor's oath.

But before he could catch his breath, he saw Guilliman draw the Emperor's sword.

Golden flames burned on the blade of the endless glory.

The regent's eyes flashed with a firm killing intent.

His brother shouldered the burden of reviving the human race. Since the revival, he has been fighting against darkness in the galaxy. He has done enough.

All dangers cannot be imposed on Dukel because of his noble character.

If there must be a son of the Emperor who needs to bear the infamy of violating His Majesty's oath today, then let me be the vanguard general in this crisis!

Guilliman made up his mind to take this responsibility on behalf of Dukel.

"Guilliman, what are you doing?!"

Diyan roared. He didn't expect that he had just appeased Dukel, and Guilliman actually drew his sword directly.

"You think I will succumb to this."

With a bang.

The next moment, the huge body of the Master Forger, like a building, exploded instantly, and even his soul and countless copies were wiped out.

At this time, Guilliman's blade had just been raised above his head.

The Regent looked at Dukel in astonishment.

Dukel was still performing the Skyhawk etiquette to the remains of the Master Forger.

"Diyan, I don't hate you, I just feel sad for you. You were born too late and missed the glory of the Great Crusade. You were born too early and fell at the dawn before the brilliance of our race. As the manifest destiny of mankind to rule the most outstanding race in the galaxy, it must start with bloodshed. Thank you for your sacrifice. Later generations will step on your corpse and move forward freely."

Dukel has always believed that if you want to get rid of the darkness of the empire in the past ten thousand years, you must shed blood.

So he killed the Master Forger without hesitation.

If the Master Forger bleeds first, less blood will be shed later.

Dukel's actions were too fast.

So fast that Guilliman didn't react.

"My brother, you."

Guilliman suppressed his emotion and said helplessly, "Dukel, can't you give me a chance to take responsibility?"

He had made up his mind to take the blame for Dukel.

But his speed of action was too slow compared to the other party.

This was not his fault. Guilliman had received education in Macragge, so that even after spending several years with Dukel, he could not adapt to the other party's speed of action.

Guilliman was a Primarch who attached great importance to order.

This may be contrary to his innate rage, but it is even more precious.

Before Guilliman unified Macragge, his adoptive father Connor was killed by Archon Garlan.

In the last moment of his life, Connor was still using his remaining strength to hint to Guilliman not to be dominated by rage and to abide by order.

When he found the murderer of his father, Guilliman was filled with rage beyond words. But even so, he did not kill the weak mortal in his rage, but chose to execute him according to the law.

Even if he has made up his mind now, asking him to bypass the order and directly kill the chief forger of the Mechanicus is undoubtedly equivalent to shattering the regent's past outlook on life.

Such a thing is not as easy as imagined.

Guilliman's ability to draw the Emperor's Sword already meant that he had taken a big step forward.

But if he were to be like Dukel, killing people unscrupulously without any psychological burden, even if those people should kill Guilliman, they would not be able to do it.

So when Guilliman saw that it was still Dukel who took the lead, he felt guilty in his heart.

"Brother, I know very well that you don't want me to bear this responsibility."

Guilliman felt like his heart was enveloped by a huge warmth.

They are all thinking about each other, the brotherhood of blood and blood.

It was precisely because of this that he became even more moved.

The more well-behaved a person is, the easier it is for him to remember the good things others have done to him.

"Brother, no matter what kind of guilt we face next, I will bear it with you, I promise you!" Guilliman solemnly swore.

"Guilty? What guilt? Brother, if you can focus your divergent thinking like the Lion King said, maybe you will really become a better warrior." Duker did not understand Kiri at all. Touched by Mann's ego, he continued,

"It's just killing heretics, it's nothing. We don't need rewards. Loyalty is the best reward for loyalists. Of course, there is no possibility of guilt for this."