BOOM.
At that moment, a massive tremor ran through the Space Hulk. A multicolored rift tore open in space before the derelict, as if to devour it.
"That's a Warp rift! All personnel, evacuate!" Zhou Ye ordered immediately, grabbing the Super Raven Guard next to him. A dazzling light emanated from his body, and in an instant, every member of the Star of Trailblaze vanished.
Gone with them were the entire Titan legion and the group of black-armored Fallen Angels.
"???"
The forces left behind were completely dumbfounded.
They all had a strange feeling that their Lord had seemed... a little shy?
Chris cried out in astonishment. "Such exquisite control of psychic energy! Is this the application of psionics at a Primarch's level?"
As a psyker himself, Chris was utterly baffled watching such a large group of people teleport away in an instant. He glanced at the Flesh Tearers' Librarian, whose reaction was much the same. Neither of them had detected how Zhou Ye had managed to teleport so many people away.
But this was not the time to dwell on it. Multicolored transport ships were descending from the sky.
"MY LORD!!!"
Aslot let out a piercing shriek. He had watched in horror as the other four Dreadnoughts and the sacred relic in his hands were teleported away, leaving him all alone.
We're all retreating together, guess who didn't get brought along.JPG
"Ancient, His Lordship's intentions are clear. And don't be angry, we'll change your paint job back when we return."
Seeing the screaming Aslot, a few Lamenters neophytes were less than gentle. They hoisted him up in a manner that made Gabriel Seth's eye twitch, ran with him, and tossed him into an orange-yellow transport.
"Don't be angry, Ancient. We need to head back for resupply anyway. And you will always be a part of the Star of Trailblaze," Mario said, trying to console him.
As for Malakim Phoros, he was completely bewildered the entire time. He really didn't know this Dreadnought brother. Their Chapter's only Dreadnought was currently who-knows-where.
As for the others...
"Wait, I think I just saw the Ancient. Did he just leave?" Metaurus muttered as he ran. They had wanted to invite him back. A ten-thousand-year-old sacred Dreadnought must have seen his gene-sire. But the problem now was that he clearly had no intention of returning with them.
"AHHHH!!!"
But compared to the dejected Ultramarines, the Black Templars let out a piercing cry of their own.
"Return to the Eternal Crusader immediately! All sons of Dorn must know of this!"
If the Ultramarines were bummed, the Black Templars had exploded. This was the trouble with having their home Chapter destroyed. They had wanted to invite the Ancient back, but the Ancient had just run off with another Primarch. And before they could even say anything, the Dreadnought was gone. They had to return and inform all the successor chapters. They had to find that Primarch and bring the Ancient back.
But for now, it was best to return to their respective homes. A part of the Space Hulk had already entered the Warp. Looking at that multicolored space, no one wanted to go in and see what it was.
---o---
"Excellent. This is all part of the plan."
On the other side, although Zhou Ye had sent the others to the Hyperion, he himself had not gone. He was now hovering above the Space Hulk. He spared no expense, expending a considerable amount of energy to temporarily expand his Thousand-Person Theater to a terrifying degree. He was going to stuff the whole thing inside.
Then, when he had time, he could slowly process this massive Space Hulk. It would be a huge treasure trove.
Besides, seeing a whole crowd of people kneeling to him... he really couldn't keep a straight face. In that moment, he understood how the Golden Fiend felt. So he found an opportunity and slipped away.
"You thought it was Chaos, but it was me, Zhou Ye da! All according to plan!"
Watching the Space Hulk being absorbed, Zhou Ye turned and left.
Of course, this thing was a huge problem in itself. Who knew what else was lurking inside? Their battle had only been on the surface. This Space Hulk was the size of a planet. He had spent a huge amount of energy to expand the Thousand-Person Theater to such a massive volume. And it was filled with a whole host of ox-ghosts and snake-spirits that he would have to deal with slowly.
"They're all just little snacks, hehe..."
Seeing the Orks, Genestealers, and some Slaaneshi daemons still brawling inside, Zhou Ye let out a cold laugh. Let them fight for now. They would all be his little snacks later.
He then crossed the void in his physical body, using the Star Rail to jump away instantly. All three of his ships had already jumped and fled, but he still had a few loose ends to tie up. The three ships were his Hyperion, a flagship for the now-Third Company of the Star of Trailblaze (formerly the Emperor's Children) equipped to the same standard as the Lamenters' vessel, and Klein's mining ship. The Titan legion had arrived on that one; it was fitted with a large number of pocket dimensions, so it didn't look very large from the outside. Now, on Zhou Ye's command, all three ships had made a single jump and vanished, leaving the others to see nothing.
Of course, it wasn't over yet. There were still many things to deal with, such as...
(Cool music starts)
I fought in a super awesome war today,
(Energetic dancing)
Guess who didn't get invited?
YOU, Golden Fiend.
That guy had been played by him, tossed directly into Quintus Hive. He was probably fuming, crying, and rolling on the ground right now. Zhou Ye had a profound understanding of that guy's shamelessness. After all, he was a product of Great Britain. Given Britain's historical track record of inhumanity, it was all too normal. So, Zhou Ye had slipped away at the first opportunity.
Less than ten minutes after he left, a scorching golden flame erupted at the Space Hulk's former location. A squad of Astartes wreathed in fire charged out, only to freeze. Before them was nothing but the empty, endless void of space.
They all looked blankly at their particularly tall, flame-wreathed leader. He habitually rubbed his neck, then led his squad away.
Son of a bitch.
The intel was wrong. Even the Emperor could be unreliable sometimes.
Soon enough, inside Quintus Hive, Aiswei'er, who had been respectfully escorted into the Ecclesiarchy Cathedral, was surprised to find that the consciousness within her seemed to be stomping its feet in a fit of pique. It made no sense to her, but she said nothing.
At the same time, within the Imperial Palace on Terra, the Custodes, after a long silence, received another special message.
---o---
Elsewhere, inside the Hyperion.
"My Lord, I beg of you, grant me..."
The moment Zhou Ye returned, he saw the Super Raven Guard he had pulled over. The warrior had no intention of escaping. Instead, he wanted to enter the Warp again. But the problem was, that wasn't the Warp; it was his Thousand-Person Theater. Now, in the Hyperion's hangar bay, the Super Raven Guard had found Zhou Ye immediately. He longed for death, a glorious death at the hands of an Imperial Primarch.
"Your duty is not yet over. Corax is still adrift in the Warp. The lineage of the Raven Guard has been severed for a long time. As for the mutation in your body, I have a way to solve it." Zhou Ye said calmly. He then left, leaving the warrior staring after him in confusion. Zhou Ye had no intention of revealing the details. He already had a complete plan that would definitely suppress the Super Raven Guard's mutation. As for the so-called side effects, they could be ignored.
There were more pressing matters to attend to. For example, he hadn't walked far when he saw a room where...
"Aldrich, you're still alive?! We all thought you were dead! And how did you get into a Dreadnought?"
The group of Fallen Angels was talking with their Dreadnought. The conversation had barely begun, and it was already hard to watch.
"Can I be a bullsh... no, a fictional historian now? Ah, whatever, it's not a big deal."
Seeing the clearly struggling Dreadnought, Zhou Ye said nothing. Ai-chan had already warned him: if he dared to use Aruba on the ship again, she would shut him down.
"By the way, where are those other brothers? They disappeared as soon as we got on board. They were quite strong. Which part of the Six Wings were they from?"
"..." Aldrich fell silent again, but thankfully, they didn't ask how he got into the Dreadnought. "They are Chaplains of the Dark Angels. Their subsequent arrangements are to be handled by the Lord."
"Huh?" The Fallen Angels were dumbfounded, not knowing what to say.
On the other side of the ship, Zhou Ye quickly arrived at a sealed chamber. A group of little green men were inside. After returning to the ship, they had immediately changed their paint job back to dark green. But now, they were staring at their armor with strained expressions. They could clearly feel the displeasure of their Machine Spirits. These Machine Spirits seemed to prefer black.
Son of a bitch, I didn't realize you Machine Spirits were Fallen Angels too.
But before any of them could say anything, Zhou Ye, clad in magnificent black armor, walked in.
"Asmodai, come with me."
Zhou Ye beckoned to Asmodai, who followed him like a little attendant into the depths of the room. He could smell a secret, and he had already sworn to keep it, even if it meant death.
Soon...
"Asmodai, do you know something?"
"As the specialist in Exterminatus, isn't it unclear what kind of attack the Lion should have used?"
"!!!" Asmodai froze. He thought of the deep wound in the hearts of the Dark Angels. It was a secret that could not be spoken. His first instinct was to silence the source to protect the secret. But he quickly came to his senses. This person knew more than he did. What was there to silence?
"My Lord, are we... the traitors?"
The Lion had taken most of the veterans with him to the surface, and then their planet, Caliban, had been blown up by the cannons of their own ships. So they suspected that they themselves were the real traitors. This had led to a civil war within the Dark Angels, which was only stabilized after they all changed their livery. If...
"Those who remained on the ships were loyal. Those who went down to the surface were also loyal. Even most of the Fallen, at least at that moment, were the same. I am not here to help you distinguish loyalty. That is an internal matter for the Dark Angels, one that the Lion himself must decide."
"..." A look of relief washed over Asmodai's face. He had feared hearing the secret he dreaded most: that those on the ships were the traitors, who had blown up the planet the moment the Lion went to the surface.
"Have you ever heard of an artifact that can travel through time?"
"Huh?"
"It's like this..."
Seeing Asmodai's blank expression, Zhou Ye smiled. He then began to slowly recount a certain story, a story about a secret Dark Angels operation. At first, Asmodai was relatively calm, but the more he listened, the more something felt wrong. It was one thing for this person to know things from ten thousand years ago, but this matter... wasn't this one of their most recent operations? So...
But before Asmodai could process it, his eyes went vacant. Especially when he heard about the time artifact of the Old Ones, his face twisted even more. He knew about that mission. The participants included their current Supreme Grand Master, Azrael, and Ezekiel. And then...
"Wait, my Lord, are you saying that rift led directly to Caliban ten thousand years ago? That Azrael's shot, in fact, blew up Caliban and our Primarch..."
Hearing this, Asmodai didn't doubt it for a second. The details Zhou Ye knew were too precise. It was a secret Dark Angels operation. All participants were members of the Inner Circle. In other words...
"That's right. Azrael saw a vision. If you want to know the culprit behind the chaos that has plagued the Dark Angels to this day, it is, in fact, YOU!"
Zhou Ye slowly pointed a finger at the trembling Asmodai. The Interrogator-Chaplain's face went slack, as if his soul had left his body.
"Abba, abba, abba..."
"Well, he's broken."
Seeing Asmodai, completely shattered by the secret he had just dropped on him, Zhou Ye shrugged helplessly. These Caliban boys can't take it.
This was the ultimate insult to Asmodai, forcing him to hold a secret so massive that the mere thought of it could make him explode.
"My Lord..."
"Hmm?"
"Can you... erase my memory?"
---o---