Staring at Ahriman, Lemont Icefang was a little shocked. He didn't suspect that Ahriman had snuck aboard; he didn't believe the Chosen of Tzeentch could possibly elude the eyes of that Lord.
However, Ahriman had little interest in him at the moment, continuing to scroll through the dataslate in his hands.
He had grown incredibly fond of this device, especially the access it gave him to the Thousand Sons' library.
"Ahriman, it's almost time for… hmm? Space Wolves!!!"
Just then, a Thousand Son bringing a meal walked in, only to stop and stare dumbfoundedly at a group of Space Wolves, led by a Dreadnought bearing the Trailblaze emblem, but…
BEEP BEEP BEEP…
In an instant, alarms blared throughout the entire battle barge. The moment they saw Space Wolves had snuck onto their ship, a massive brawl erupted on the spot.
Of course, this time no one used lethal weapons. It was all bare-knuckle boxing, flesh against flesh.
---o---
"Hehe, an Emperor Titan, an Emperor Titan."
On the streets of Macragge, a group of gearheads was cleaning up the battlefield. A Chaos Titan had been destroyed here, and while the main components had been collected by Zhou Ye's forces, some fragments were left behind.
Zhou Ye didn't care about these scraps. And so, the local gearheads had volunteered to clear the site. Nominally, they were cleaning up the desecrated remains of the Chaos Titan, but in reality…
CRACK.
As a large piece of rubble was slowly sliced in half by a power axe, a Magos's optical sensors glowed with excitement as he stared at a shard.
This wasn't a desecrated piece of the Chaos Titan, but a fragment that had been knocked off Zhou Ye's Titan. After Zhou Ye had repaired it using an STC template, the Titan had been temporarily moved elsewhere, but he had no interest in these scraps.
These Magi, however, were a different story. One of them carefully picked it up and quickly tucked it into his robes.
"Found it, found it…"
Just as the gearhead was about to properly store his new treasure, a dark shadow fell over him.
"This is a miracle of the Omnissiah! Put it down!!!"
BEEP BEEP BEEP…
Seeing a Magos of a higher rank than himself appear, the gear-boy who found the fragment immediately sent out a call for his own allies. Another Magos rushed over, and then…
"You blasphemer!!!"
CLANK. CLANK. CLANK.
With the sound of whirring gears, the two Magi squared off, ready to fight right there.
VWOOM…
Then, behind them, a Warlord Titan—similarly modified for melee—let out a deep hum as its blood-red optical sensors flared. The two gearheads immediately stood down.
This Warlord Titan was one Zhou Ye had left behind. They had genuinely started fighting over the fragments right here on Macragge, so Zhou Ye had simply dropped a Warlord here to watch over them. He didn't care about the scraps, but he didn't want to see these gearheads pulling some crap.
Now, feeling the Warlord Titan's excessively active Machine Spirit (AI), the two Magi instantly behaved.
They were truly envious of everything Trailblaze had. All their machine spirits were exceptionally lively; it was clear these spirits were living their best lives under Zhou Ye's care.
As for the Emperor Titan that had obliterated the Khornate Abominable Titan, it had been placed in a square on Macragge. It was now surrounded by flowers and incense burners, and countless citizens of Macragge were kneeling before it in silent prayer.
"Praise the Emperor! For the Imperium of Man!"
Elsewhere, a group of Word Bearers holding staves wreathed in golden flame could be seen giving impassioned speeches to the crowds.
Several Smurfs standing beside them were repeatedly rubbing the casings of their bolters. Their emotions told them these were blasphemous heretics, but their reason told them that if they didn't let these Word Bearers preach, they might have to shoot everyone in front of them. After all, these people had just witnessed daemons of Khorne and Slaanesh with their own eyes.
Many had even seen the two Daemon Primarchs. Although Zhou Ye had acted as quickly as possible and at minimal cost to banish both Daemon Primarchs, this was still the heart of Macragge.
Though the Word Bearers had already executed nearly all who had turned to Chaos, there were still some who had suffered minor corruption and needed to be dealt with. This was where Zhou Ye and Guilliman differed from the norm.
The two Inquisitors, Greyfax and Eli Morgan, had both proposed simply killing everyone. Then Zhou Ye had given them a single look, and they both shut up. They might be fanatical, even daring to be slightly disrespectful in front of Guilliman, but before Zhou Ye, they were as docile as lambs.
After all, the head of Fulgrim and the wings of Angron were still on display. To face two Fallen Primarchs in a single battle and successfully banish them both was a feat unparalleled in the entire Imperium. And that dazzling golden figure had been far too brilliant.
They always had the illusion of facing the Golden Throne itself. Since they weren't going to kill everyone, the only option was to overwrite the old corruption with a new one. But since this was Guilliman's home turf, they were using the Emperor's "corruption."
However…
"This is the truth personally written by the great Emperor himself, proclaimed millennia ago! The Imperial Truth, modified! We must believe in the objective laws of the material world, and the laws of physics…"
The Word Bearer leading the sermon eventually lost the plot and, as he spoke, pulled out a copy of the Imperial Truth—one that had, of course, been modified by Zhou Ye.
The three great toilet papers of the Imperium of Man were the Imperial Truth, the Codex Astartes, and the Lectitio Divinitatus. The strange thing was, the most useful and least toilet-paper-like of the three was actually the Lectitio Divinitatus, because it could genuinely resist corruption. The Codex Astartes was a problem because it was never meant to be used for so long; Guilliman himself never imagined it would be in use for ten thousand years. Of course, the fact that he wrote it so comprehensively was also a factor. As for the Imperial Truth, it was also a piece of crap, completely editing out the objective reality of daemons. So, seeing the Word Bearers preaching this nonsense, Zhou Ye had modified it for them.
He wasn't sure what to call it now, but it was better than the original version.
Just as the man was pontificating, suddenly…
"Brother, stop talking!!!"
Another Word Bearer from behind him immediately tugged at his long robe. The speaker turned his head, slightly annoyed.
But…
VWOOM!!!
A black shadow enveloped him. The sacred Dreadnought of their Word Bearers Legion had somehow appeared right behind him.
"V-Venerable Elder."
Staring at the massive Redeemer Dreadnought, the Word Bearer swallowed hard.
"You damn bastard!!!"
The next moment, the proselytizing Word Bearer was snatched up by the Redeemer Dreadnought…
Aruba!!!
"…"
The crowd of Macraggians below stared, dumbfounded, with no idea what had just happened. And in an even more secluded corner, a much larger Smurf was sitting on a set of steps, looking like all he needed was a cigarette.
This person was, naturally, Guilliman. He had been a bit worried. Fearing these Word Bearers would pull some stupid stunt, he had snuck over to observe. The very idea of Word Bearers preaching on Macragge was already an extremely abstract concept to him.
He was genuinely afraid they would slip in their own private agenda.
As it turned out, his worries were justified. The Word Bearers did indeed slip in their own agenda. But why the hell was this guy's private agenda the Imperial Truth? Wasn't that son of a bitch Lorgar the one who hated this thing the most? He'd burned the Perfect City to the ground because of it.
At this moment, Guilliman was beginning to suspect he had traveled through time into some bizarre, alternate timeline.
Word Bearers, on Macragge, preaching the Imperial Truth…
Guilliman felt like he understood each word individually, but when combined, they made him think the world had gone mad.
But soon…
"My Lord, everyone has arrived."
Calgar's voice rang out. The Chamber of Government on Macragge was now bustling with people.
If anyone were to walk in and see the scene now, they would be terrified. Marneus Calgar, the Lord of Macragge, stood with a large group of Chapter Masters from the various Ultramarines successors who had arrived late, after the battle had already ended. With them were representatives from the Imperial Fists, Black Templars Marshal Amalrich, Asmodai of the Dark Angels, and many others.
The moment Angron had crashed down, Calgar had sent out the call to assemble. Combined with Chief Librarian Tigurius's prophecy, he was already mustering the successor Chapters and mobilizing parts of the Ograman Auxiliary.
Mainly due to the terrible conditions in the warp, the fastest of their reinforcement fleets had only arrived nine hours after the battle concluded. The others were even later.
Now, these powerful Chapter Masters all stood there, while at the front of the chamber sat three massive chairs. On one side sat a man with deathly pale skin who looked like a ghost. Every Ultramarines successor who entered the room had the instinct to draw their bolter upon seeing this man, but fortunately, Calgar had had the foresight to have them disarmed before they entered.
In the end, they all glared at him with anger and disgust, filling the hall with a palpable tension.
As the focus of their glares, Konrad Curze didn't care at all. Instead, a brilliant smile spread across his face. To be honest, there was nothing dark or twisted about the smile, which only served to confuse the Ultramarines further.
They couldn't comprehend how the Imperium's greatest psychopath could possess such a smile. Standing behind him were two towering Space Marines, a large black bat emblazoned on their pauldrons.
But soon, their confusion deepened as they looked at the person in the centermost seat… a mortal.
He was 1.8 meters tall, which was decent for a mortal. But standing behind him were two silent Custodians. As for the man himself, he seemed to be lost in thought.
This person was, of course, Zhou Ye. To prove he wasn't a Primarch, he had simply reverted to his original appearance. But as it turned out, it had no effect. While it had surprised everyone, including Guilliman, when they first saw him, they all then adopted an expression that said, "Whatever makes you happy." Especially after the Ultramarines' Chief Librarian had said one sentence…
"Such powerful psychic energy, yet I cannot sense it at all."
That remark had nearly sent Zhou Ye into an existential crisis. Just this morning, he had been comfortably processing documents while eating breakfast and drinking spicy soup. He had just finished a few tens of thousands of files when Calgar had summoned him here.
But what made him even more suspicious now was that this scene reminded him of a picture he had seen in his original world.
The Imperium Secundus.
The Great Angel Sanguinius sat on the main throne. On one side was the Lord Commander of the Second Imperium, Lion El'Jonson. On the other was the Lord Regent and Chancellor, Roboute Guilliman. This was practically a perfect replica.
The only difference was that Guilliman had run off somewhere, he himself was sitting in Sanguinius's spot, and the Lion's throne was occupied by Konrad Curze.
"Something feels off…"
He muttered to himself. Just as Zhou Ye was contemplating freezing time in the room and slipping away, a massive blue figure sat down beside him with an expression of pure existential dread.
Excellent. The triumvirate of the Third Imperium is assembled. Now it's time to prepare for the Fourth Imperium.
"Father!!!"
At that moment, the group of Smurfs erupted with absolute fervor. Many were even shedding tears.
"You guys are really too much!!!"
Glancing at the two giants on either side of him, Zhou Ye couldn't help but complain internally. Feeling that the current aesthetic was completely mismatched, a flash of light emanated from him, and he transformed into a four-meter-tall giant.
"Ahem. I've called everyone here today primarily to discuss another matter: the Codex Astartes. Ten thousand years have passed, the Great Rift has torn the galaxy asunder, and the Codex Astartes is no longer sui—"
"NO!!!"
In that instant, with the exception of the small contingents from Trailblaze and the Space Wolves, who had no reaction, the entire hall exploded into a massive uproar. The Trailblaze forces, the Space Wolves, and the Black Templars all treated the book like a fart in the wind, so they didn't care.
But the reaction from the others, especially the mainline Ultramarines, was so violent it exceeded even Guilliman's expectations.
"The Codex Astartes is an ancient tradition! The laws of the ancestors are immutable!"
"I am your ancestor, and I wrote it."
"Even the ancestor himself isn't allowed to change it!~!!"
The last two lines were just Zhou Ye's inner monologue as he sat there, eating melon seeds and watching the show. But he was absolutely certain that he had captured the core sentiment perfectly.
---o---