"Emperor above... we're going to... pursue the Master of Mankind right now?!"
After Supreme Grand Master Kaldor Draigo declared that the Terminus Decree would be enacted, every Grey Knight present felt his heart shudder.
The contents of the Terminus Decree had already been heavy enough.
Yet before the Grey Knights had even had time to fully process it, the Throne had already undergone a catastrophic change.
They had not even been given time to prepare before they were forced to face the Emperor Himself, the Master of Mankind, who now seemed to be trying to leave the Throne.
From the Supreme Grand Master's return, to the unveiling of the Terminus Decree, to the upheaval at the Throne, to the immediate launch of a capture operation, one world-shaking event after another had erupted in rapid succession.
The weight pressing down on the Grey Knights was so immense that many of them could barely breathe.
So much so that no one responded to Supreme Grand Master Kaldor Draigo's oath.
They were hesitating, anxious, and even felt the faintest trace of fear.
The one the Grey Knights were about to confront was the creator of all the Primarchs and the Space Marines, the Emperor, the Master of Mankind, the mightiest of all humanity.
Psychologically, it was almost impossible to accept. Just minutes ago, the Grey Knights had been the Emperor's knights.
And now they were about to capture the Master of Mankind.
The difficulty level was simply hellish.
Mankind has reached the brink of life and death.
No matter what, the Grey Knights must complete the final command left behind by the Emperor.
Even if we are annihilated to the last man, we must bring that being back and force Him to continue bearing His duty upon the Golden Throne...
Draigo stared at the ranks of silver-armored warriors in the Chambers of Purity and thought this silently.
He said nothing more and simply waited for the warriors' emotions to settle.
If any other armed force of the Imperium had been handed such an impossible mission, they would have collapsed into self-doubt and despair, perhaps even losing the courage to carry it out at all.
The Supreme Grand Master believed that the Grey Knights possessed the will to accept all of this and execute the Terminus Decree.
"You may give the order."
"We will accept every command and fulfill that final mission."
"The Seventh Brotherhood stands ready for anything!"
Corwin and the other Brotherhood Grand Masters took a moment to steady themselves, then looked up at the Supreme Grand Master on the sanctified dais and said those words.
They knew the Grey Knights had no room left to retreat.
If they failed, no one would survive what was coming.
As the Grey Knights regained their resolve, an operation aimed at the Emperor, the Master of Mankind, formally began.
"The Throne is faltering. That magnificent machine is on the verge of collapse. A hateful soul-fragment from the Warp has already appeared around the Throne..."
The Prognosticars' eyes shone with a pale, corpse-white light, while their powerful bodies gradually withered beneath the strain of such intense psychic exertion.
They were overtaxing their strength.
The Palace had become an information void. No one knew what was happening inside. This was the only way they could glimpse anything connected to it.
"No... there are two hateful soul-fragments. One within the Throne. One outside it."
Another Prognosticar refuted the earlier reading and provided a more precise vision.
"Three Terran days.
"We have only three Terran days, or else the future of the Imperium and of mankind will be lost to eternal darkness!"
The last Prognosticar delivered that grim conclusion.
Inside the Chambers of Purity, psychic force blazed as dozens of Librarians poured vast reserves of power into the ritual, sustaining the Prognosticars.
That allowed them to complete their divination of the Palace's internal situation.
Within the Imperium, only the Grey Knights could use the Chambers of Purity and forbidden incantations to peer into the bedchamber of the Master of Mankind.
From the Prognosticars' fragmented words, the Grey Knights assembled a rough understanding of the Palace's condition.
A disaster of enormous scale had clearly struck the Golden Throne. That was the only reason the Custodes would have sealed the area, preventing forbidden information from spreading.
A soul-fragment of the Emperor, the Master of Mankind, appeared to have manifested. If it did something terrible, it might very well cause Him to completely leave the Golden Throne.
Kaldor Draigo and the others looked grim.
The situation was even worse than they had imagined.
They had to inform the Custodes and make them understand the severity of what was happening.
Then the senior Grey Knights would enter the Throne Room, seal the Master of Mankind's soul-fragment, and erect a Warp barrier around the Throne.
No one knew whether that would truly solve the crisis.
But it was the only method they knew that had any chance of slowing the coming darkness.
"Perhaps... we could ask the Savior for aid. That being would be able to help the Grey Knights carry out the Terminus Decree more effectively."
Thinking of something, Corwin made the suggestion.
The Savior possessed immense psychic might and powerful military strength.
If that being were willing to assist the Grey Knights, then stopping the Emperor from leaving the Throne would surely become much easier.
But Corwin's proposal was immediately rejected by the elders of the Chambers of Purity and several of the Grand Masters.
They did not trust the Savior, the Emperor of the Imperium.
That being was too deeply entangled with the Master of Mankind. No one could know whether he would accept the Terminus Decree and stand with the Grey Knights.
Or whether he had been too deeply influenced by the Master of Mankind to defy Him.
If that happened, then the Grey Knights' plan to pursue the Master of Mankind might be exposed.
Worse, it could be twisted by ignorant zealots into an act of treason, drawing attacks from other Imperial forces.
In short, it was best that no news of this matter leave the Palace.
"Corwin, allowing other Imperial powers to intervene now is not a good idea.
"This is the mission the Master of Mankind entrusted to us. We cannot place the fate of the Imperium and of the Grey Knights in someone else's hands."
Even Supreme Grand Master Kaldor Draigo shook his head.
His meaning was obvious.
The Savior, the Emperor of the Imperium, was an uncontrollable variable. He might cause the Grey Knights' mission to fail, and no one could bear the consequences of that.
At present, the best course was for the Grey Knights to act alone, punch into the Palace Throne Room with the speed of a lightning strike, and force the issue.
Then the Custodes would be compelled to cooperate.
If they refused, the Grey Knights would break through by force.
They would enter the Throne Room, invoke Malcador's remains in ritual, drive the Master of Mankind's soul-fragment back into the Warp, and then further reinforce the Golden Throne.
"It is a pity the Master of Mankind did not leave His true name in the Terminus Decree. Otherwise, we could execute this mission far more effectively," Corwin murmured.
The Grey Knights were masters of Warp esoterica. Weakening a Warp entity through its true name and banishing it back into the Immaterium was one of their greatest specialties.
"That would be a dangerous thing. I would rather that secret never be exposed," one Grand Master said.
For beings who used the power of the Warp, revealing a true name was incredibly dangerous. If the Emperor's true name were exposed, the Chaos Gods and all manner of fallen entities could use it against the Master of Mankind as well.
That could permanently deprive humanity of the holy sun's protection. It would be every bit as dangerous as the Emperor leaving the Throne.
"It is said that one of the Primarchs is searching for the Emperor's true name," Kaldor Draigo revealed, speaking aloud a secret almost no one knew.
He did not continue down that path and instead shifted the subject.
"The Emperor watches over us. Though we do not possess the Master of Mankind's true name, we do possess the Sigillite's bones.
"The ashes of those remains are enough to drive... to send back the Master of Mankind's soul-fragment that has strayed into realspace."
Malcador the Sigillite, the founder of the Grey Knights, had been weaker than the Emperor in psychic power, but he was still the greatest existence beneath Him.
His ashes were nearly perfect as a medium for Warp sorcery, able to produce astonishing results.
Hummm...
As the Supreme Grand Master spoke, the holy fire around him flared more fiercely, igniting the intricate stone ritual circle beneath his feet.
Inside the Chambers of Purity, one colossal sorcerous circle after another rose into being, steeped in silver-white psychic power, shaking the hearts of all who saw them.
Any psyker would immediately recognize them for what they were.
High-order warp-translation circles.
"This is the legacy that the Sigillite left behind for the Grey Knights.
"A special hidden route through the Warp, one that leads directly to the Throne Hall, and the very foundation upon which we can fulfill the final command."
Kaldor Draigo looked over the gathered warriors and spoke those words.
This was a secret inherited only by the Supreme Grand Master. In the past, he had never understood its true purpose. He had thought of it merely as a means of rapidly reinforcing the Palace.
Only now did he realize its true function was not reinforcement at all.
Its greater purpose was to let the Grey Knights bypass every layer of defense, strike straight at the Throne Room, and fulfill the mission the Master of Mankind had entrusted to them.
"Praise the Emperor!
"So the Master of Mankind did not leave the Grey Knights with nothing after all..."
The Grand Masters gazed at the intricate circles, their hearts full of awe.
They could all sense the aura of the Master of Mankind in the translation circles.
That meant these circles had been created jointly by Malcador and the Emperor.
With terrifying foresight, that being had already paved the road by which the Grey Knights would fulfill their mission.
At that moment, the Grey Knights' senior warriors found renewed confidence, and their morale surged.
This was it. It was all stable now.
They believed they could successfully enact the Terminus Decree and force the Master of Mankind to continue bearing that dreadful responsibility upon the Throne.
The Emperor, the Master of Mankind, had already left the Grey Knights the holy remains needed to establish the barrier, and had also prepared a path that would bypass every defense and carry them directly into the Throne Hall.
The elite Custodes guarding the Throne Hall were powerful, but they were few in number.
The Grey Knights were prepared in advance, and they would be striking through a hidden route.
That meant that whether the Custodes permitted it or not, they could swiftly bring down the Throne attendants, break into the Throne Room, and complete the banishment rite and barrier ritual.
It was practically a meal already spooned into their mouths.
If the Grey Knights still failed to fulfill their mission under those conditions, what greater disgrace could there be?
While Kaldor Draigo maintained the great warp-translation circle, the Grey Knights moved with utmost speed.
The Purifiers quickly brought forth Malcador's bones, while the Grand Masters of each Brotherhood led their Paladins and elite warriors into position, ready for battle.
The strike force for this assault numbered a full eight hundred warriors, the largest mission since the founding of the Chapter. More Grey Knights would follow in its wake.
It was, for all practical purposes, a full mobilization.
Together, they would channel the might of the sacred remains and all of their psychic strength into Supreme Grand Master Kaldor Draigo.
For a brief time, that would give him the power to contend with the Throne itself and perform the needed rite.
"Revered Sigillite, most loyal deputy of the Master of Mankind, you shall fulfill your final duty one last time..."
The Grey Knights looked upon the sacred remains, now fully borne out before them, their eyes full of solemn reverence.
Ten thousand years earlier, Malcador the Sigillite had sacrificed himself upon the Throne in place of the Emperor, saving the Imperium.
Now, his remains would once more help the Emperor and the Grey Knights fulfill their final mission.
After the ritual in the Throne Room this time, that great being would likely leave not even a fragment of bone behind.
What loyalty.
Corwin, too, looked upon the sacred remains with deep emotion.
And yet, for some reason, an uneasy feeling kept stirring at the bottom of his heart.
Such a severe catastrophe had struck the Himalazia Palace, and yet the Savior had not come forth to take command, nor had any word from him emerged at all.
Based on his past experience, that was extremely strange.
From the intelligence they had received earlier, the Savior, the Emperor of the Imperium, should have been within the Palace.
Could that being have been restrained by something, unable to appear? Corwin wondered.
The Grand Master of the Seventh Brotherhood was deeply worried about the Savior's condition. Something must have happened to him.
That was humanity's hope, and the Seventh Brotherhood's patron besides.
Nothing could be allowed to happen to him.
Yet just as he was thinking that, the warp-translation circle inside the Chambers of Purity suddenly changed.
The path that had originally been fixed on the Throne Hall seemed to slam into an unseen wall head-on, causing the translation route to deviate!
"Savior above, several weeks ago, that being made new adjustments to the Palace defenses, and those changes included a new Warp-disruption system!"
Only then did Corwin finally remember what he had overlooked.
"Stop!"
He halted abruptly and shouted a warning to everyone.
"There's something wrong with the translation routes. They're being interfered with by a new Warp engine!"
The senior Grey Knights immediately froze where they stood and barked orders for their warriors to do the same.
In truth, they had already sensed the change in the great warp-translation circle themselves.
If they entered the circle now, they would likely be scattered to other locations, suffer unforeseeable consequences, and perhaps even compromise the execution of the final command.
Although Corwin's warning came in time, one Brotherhood Grand Master and his eight Paladins had already stepped into the translation circle.
That was Grand Master Pedron of the Fifth Brotherhood.
He had never gotten along with Corwin, had long criticized his association with the Savior, and had even mocked him openly earlier in the Hall of Purity.
Before everyone's eyes, Pedron and his Grey Knights were translated away, their faces still twisted in surprise.
Their figures vanished from the Chambers of Purity.
But they did not arrive in the Throne Hall.
Instead, they emerged in another region entirely.
Kaldor Draigo, Corwin, and the others witnessed this and all frowned.
Trouble.
...
Imperial Palace.
Sanctified Nexus of the Inner Palace.
Pedron and his eight Paladins stood there in isolation, all of them slightly stunned.
They had been translated into an unplanned sector of the Palace.
Worse still, they had come face-to-face with an elite Custodes patrol led by the legendary Shield-Captain Macrinus.
He was one of the strongest senior figures beneath the Captain-General himself, the Custodes equivalent of a Grey Knights Brotherhood Grand Master.
"Why are you here?"
Macrinus fixed his gaze on the Grey Knights who had suddenly appeared before him and demanded an answer.
His tone was thick with menace, as though he would attack in the very next instant.
"We are carrying out a direct order issued by the Emperor Himself. This is the highest authority."
Pedron gritted his teeth and presented the Terminus Decree.
Since the warp-translation plan had already failed and their movements had been exposed, he might as well use this chance to test the Custodes' attitude toward the Decree.
To see whether the Custodes would obey the order and cooperate with that ultimate command...
(End of Chapter)
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