Chapter 67: Magnus the Flawless Planner

Chapter 67: The Infallible Magnus

Cawl’s avatar fell into silence.

After a moment, it spoke once more.

"You are becoming increasingly cunning, much like a vile hunter who has learned to set traps for his enemies."

"This is not cunning; it is wisdom," Guilliman said with a smile. "The warp is not the only realm capable of playing with conspiracies; we can do so as well. Envy and suspicion are deeply rooted within the hearts of those warp entities. They are the reflections of our inner selves, and with a little exploitation, they can yield miraculous results."

Among Khorne’s retinue was a greater daemon named Skarbrand, the embodiment of wrath and slaughter.

Also known as the Exile and the Wrathreaper, he had once been Khorne’s greatest general and the most powerful of all bloodthirsters.

This creature had been deceived and blinded by Tzeentch, one of the Chaos Gods skilled in the manipulation of plots, and had struck a blow with his axe against his own master, Khorne, ultimately resulting in his banishment.

This event proved that daemons were not infallible.

They were just as fragile and foolish as mortals, easily manipulated and deceived by conspiracies.

"Regardless, you are becoming more and more terrifying," Cawl’s avatar said. "However, this is humanity’s fortune; they need a leader who is both sufficiently cunning and powerful."

"Are there any other reports?" Guilliman paid no heed to the avatar’s assessment of him.

"The Wrath Colossus, built utilizing dead-star technology and Mechanicus technology, is complete. The Archmagos inquires whether it should be deployed into the battlefield."

"Of course, we need powerful weapons to strike a measure of deterrence into the alien races of the galaxy," Guilliman said. "Send a message to the Archmagos, and have Calgar dispatch the Wrath Colossus here. We need it, and I hope it will perform adequately in the coming battles."

"The relevant information has been encoded. Aside from the above, are there any other messages to convey to the Archmagos?"

"Not for the moment," Guilliman shook his head. "I hope he can put the technological knowledge I provided into practice as quickly as possible, and establish a sufficient number of talent academies to disseminate this knowledge."

"My lord, I must warn you, this is a severe violation of the Mechanicus tenets. Knowledge should not be scattered; it ought to be preserved and passed down by the Mechanicus," Cawl’s avatar said.

"Is this your opinion, or Cawl’s?" Guilliman asked.

"For now, this is merely my personal opinion," Cawl’s avatar replied.

"An Abominable Intelligence that seriously violates Imperial edicts hopes that I will not ask it to break the rules set by the Empire. Do you know what this looks like, Cawl’s avatar?"

"What does it look like?"

"It looks like a Slaaneshi daemonette preparing to turn over a new leaf."

Cawl’s avatar: ...

After a brief pause, Cawl’s avatar resumed speaking.

"Well, I admit you retain your humor as always, but that joke is not very funny. Furthermore, I am not an Abominable Intelligence; I am merely a severed personality of Cawl."

"Nor have I gone against the doctrines of the Mechanicus. The knowledge of the Omnissiah and the STC standard templates remain as ever the property of the Mechanicus; the knowledge within the talent academies is simply a collection I gathered ten thousand years ago."

"."

Cawl’s avatar chose to drop the subject; opposing the Primarch who wielded absolute authority over the Empire held no benefit.

"Is there anything else you need me to transmit?"

"Nothing." Guilliman shook his head.

"This dialogue has concluded. The relevant information has been encoded. Confirm transmission?" Cawl’s avatar asked.

"Send it."

At Guilliman’s command, the subterranean machinery once again emitted a deep rumble.

A massive surge of psychic pressure manifested, only to vanish swiftly.

Those severed skulls fell silent, and one indicator light after another gradually flickered out.

Guilliman departed the secret chamber and returned to his battlefield.

A new battle was about to begin.

Flames, thick smoke, and dust covered the earth.

The Space Marines, who had originally rushed to suppress the cultist activities upon hearing the distress signal, had encountered an unimaginable foe.

The terrifying traitor materialized from the warp, forged from sacrificed flesh and blood.

Leman Russ tanks were effortlessly flipped onto their sides by the enemy's potent psychic might, and the wreckage of gunships burned fiercely upon the ground.

Across the battlefield, the loyalists' fierce roars grew fainter, until they finally ceased entirely.

"You shall fail, daemon," a Space Marine staggered forward, the chainsword in his hand still spinning.

A gilded skull reflected the light upon his breastplate; with every word he spoke, he coughed incessantly, spitting out fragments of shattered flesh.

His arm was broken, and his shattered armor sparked with electrical fire.

His gaze burned with boundless fury as he forced himself onward.

The loyal angels of the Emperor never surrender, not even on the brink of death.

"Foolish mortal," Magnus looked down upon him with pity.

"For the sacred Primarch and the Em—"

The Marine roared, pouring his final strength into an attempt to strike down the demonic Primarch before him.

Before he could finish his cry, a massive wave of psychic energy hoisted him into the air.

"I do not like that name."

As the words fell, the psychic energy transformed into violent thunder, reducing him to charred ash.

The Space Marine collapsed, drawing his final breath.

Magnus put away his staff. He stood amidst the ruins of the battlefield, his Rubric Marines sweeping the area and administering coup de grâce shots to any Space Marines who still clung to life.

"My lord, why have we come here?" Phosis Tkar, holding a force staff, approached, saluting his master and voicing his confusion.

With the aid of the cultists' sacrifices, they had traversed a vast distance to manifest here in the Imperial Sanctum.

"The Corpse Emperor has lost his grand vision. I shall become humanity's new enlightener, granting them wisdom, pulling them from the mire of ignorance and superstition. I shall enable them to master the power of the warp and walk the sacred path."

His single, wise eye gazed into the distance toward the gigantic hive city. Magnus’s tone was filled with pride before his voice shifted abruptly.

"I obtained intelligence from those with fractures in their hearts: when Guilliman set out on the Charadon Crusade, he dispatched the Saint, the Marshal of the Black Templars, and a Grey Knight Mentor to Pharos, without ever explaining his reasons to anyone. Yet if one searches history for answers, a glimpse of the truth can be found. If we allow him to proceed unchecked, it will inevitably disrupt my plans."

"He has not even resolved the situation within the Empire proper, yet he dares to interfere with our operations in the Imperium Nihilus?" Phosis Tkar asked, uncomprehending.

"When my brother Horus betrayed the Corpse Emperor, using the screams of the dead in the Istvaan system and the power of the gods to raise the warp storm and divide the loyalists, a light appeared in the Ultima Segmentum—a light that manifested in the warp without the aid of the Emperor's power."

"This light allowed Lion and Sanguinius to ignore the warp storm and successfully enter Ultramar. And the origin point of that light was Pharos."

"If I am not mistaken, he intends to use this light to forge a beacon in the Imperium Nihilus, thereby helping Imperial ships navigate the warp. Those individuals he dispatched were undoubtedly meant to guard the apparatus that generates that light."

"If that is the case, this object must be of great importance." Phosis Tkar’s expression grew grave.

"My foolish brother—his attempts at plotting are always so clumsy, believing that sneaking about constitutes a strategy. Hahaha."

Magnus said mockingly.

"This time, our target is Pharos. I shall make him understand that under my infallible, meticulously calculated plans, all his efforts are in vain."

"Guilliman's wisdom naturally cannot compare to yours, but I still wish to know: what is your plan?" Phosis Tkar asked.