Saint Celestine fell into a brief and eerie silence. She lowered her wings, her figure flickering in and out of existence, her gaze wandering as if she were half-asleep.
Reyna involuntarily looked at Saint Celestine. She could sense that the Warp nature on Saint Celestine's body was becoming more pronounced; she seemed to be descending into the Warp.
Reyna saw it.
She saw Saint Celestine's body slowly falling into the dim, yellow sky, falling into a battlefield and a morgue.
Countless skeletons piled up into mountains, and what made Reyna's hair stand on end was that every single one of those skeletons bore Saint Celestine's face.
It was as if every time this Living Saint died and resurrected, she would leave a corpse on this mountain of remains.
"My Lord!" Saint Celestine shook the twilight-orange-red sky and prayed loudly, "Please enlighten me!"
The remains began to squirm. Layers of flesh, internal organs, and bones, covering the entire world, stacked up, interlocking like a puzzle to form a statue of flesh and blood.
Reyna's body couldn't help but tremble slightly.
Watching those shriveled skin fragments gradually adhere to the flesh and blood statue, giving it form,
Reyna was thus able to discern the identity of this statue—it was a statue of the Emperor, a statue pieced together from corpses and death.
This sight made Reyna involuntarily think of the Dying-worshippers on Ashford.
How could the holy Emperor and the Living Saint appear in such a state?
Could it be that the Dying-worshippers' worship of the Emperor was actually correct?
Or, as Ms. Greyfax said, was Saint Celestine actually corrupted by the Warp?
The statue slowly opened its eyelids, made of human skin, and a pair of black, hollow eyes, like two dark, cold suns, gazed out.
Reyna vaguely heard the Emperor's voice:
"Original power."
"Doraemon."
"The triple will of the Omnissiah."
Doraemon?
Reyna was stunned for a moment, then her eyes widened slightly.
Alexander?!
But before Reyna could think too deeply, Saint Celestine, who was suspended in mid-air, slowly opened her eyes.
The layers of illusions also vanished before Reyna's eyes.
Saint Celestine looked at Belisarius Cawl, but her gaze held some hesitation, as if she herself didn't quite understand the revelation she had received from the Emperor.
"What did you see?" Inquisitor Greyfax's sharp gaze pierced Saint Celestine. "Those lasers, that inexplicable assistance that just appeared, is that the hope you spoke of?"
Saint Celestine was silent for a moment, then shook her head. "No."
"We received help, but it did not come from the Emperor, nor did it come from the hope I led you to pursue."
Saying this, Saint Celestine's gaze fell upon Belisarius Cawl:
"This help came from the one you worship."
"..The Emperor is the Omnissiah," Belisarius Cawl responded calmly.
As a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Belisarius Cawl had firmly believed for ten thousand years that the Emperor was the Omnissiah.
"Have you forgotten that the Omnissiah has a triple will?" Saint Celestine shook her head, asking Cawl softly.
Belisarius Cawl was clearly a little stunned.
Reyna had once heard Alexander mention that the so-called Omnissiah has a triple will, a trinity.
The Omnissiah is a void and abstract existence, a collection of all data, knowledge, laws, and technology, an unspeakable non-material existence.
The Omnissiah is the incarnation of the Omnissiah in the physical universe, overseeing the operation of all machinery and laws in the physical universe. Most Adeptus Mechanicus members believe the Emperor is the Omnissiah, or that the Emperor is partly the Omnissiah.
Finally, there is original power, an unspoken existence, the source of power for all living beings and machinery, the first impetus of the universe's birth.
In the illusion Saint Celestine had sunk into, original power, the flesh-and-blood God-Emperor, referred to Doraemon as original power.
In Reyna's memory, the strange name Doraemon seemed to have only been used by Alexander.
Could Alexander really be one of the Omnissiah's triple wills? This might explain the origin of Alexander's strange tools.
Also, is Alexander really nearby?
Just as Reyna was deep in thought, Archmagos Belisarius Cawl seemed to accept Saint Celestine's words and nodded slightly.
The blizzard gradually ceased. The Black Legion's ground forces had not yet moved towards the Expeditionary Force's direction, allowing the Expeditionary Force a brief respite to quickly advance towards the target Saint Celestine indicated.
Only Inquisitor Greyfax snorted, saying disdainfully, "That witch has again deceived the Omnissiah's servant."
Hearing this, Reyna, who was walking beside Greyfax, couldn't help but pause slightly. "What she said might be true."
"Perhaps it really was original power who provided us with aid."
Greyfax was momentarily stunned, looking at Reyna with a hint of bewilderment.
"You understand the Adeptus Mechanicus' faith? You actually understand the Adeptus Mechanicus' faith!" Greyfax looked at Reyna as if she were an Ogryn who could do arithmetic.
Reyna knew Greyfax meant no harm, but she still felt a sense of humiliation.
How annoying!
If Alexander was really nearby, she would have to ask him if he had any wondrous tools to boost intelligence.
If he truly was one of the Omnissiah's triple wills, making people smarter shouldn't be difficult, right?
Oh, Saint Doraemon above! Grant me wisdom!
Who the hell keeps nagging me!
Alexander couldn't help but frown. He vaguely felt something nagging him, and it was on this planet.
But he also felt that the person nagging him was somewhat familiar, a little foolish.
"My lord! Kaso brought that wizard boy back!"
Before Alexander could investigate who was nagging him, the Death Company Dreadnought "Cursed Kaso" walked up to Alexander, carrying a Black Legion Terminator wizard with a crushed head.
Alexander refocused his mind, looking at the ancient warrior who had once been in a state of madness.
Kaso had fought alongside Alexander on Ashford, together defeating the Tyrant sent by the hive mind.
In the later Battle of Baal, it was also he who held Angron in Angel Keep until Sanguinius was resurrected.
Since Sanguinius' resurrection, Kaso's mental state seemed to have improved significantly.
Now, one shoulder of his mechanical arm was painted blue, making him one of Alexander's twenty-two chosen Doraemon.
He wasn't equipped with many tools; simply by being boosted in speed by Alexander's Speed-up Clockwork, he became an extremely terrifying battlefield god of slaughter.
The Black Legion entrenched in this fortress experienced the terror of a Dreadnought as swift as an Eldar.
While stuffing the Terminator wizard into his four-dimensional pocket, Alexander looked at the surrounding buildings.
This was a fortress, but its style was completely different from that of humans, exuding a delicate and slender beauty. Various arches and spires, seemingly defying the laws of physics, intertwined among the structures.
This building was an Eldar relic.
The areas near the Eye of Terror were once the core of the Eldar Empire, and Ice Moon Krassus was one of its colonies.
However, when Slaanesh was born, the entire Eldar Empire vanished with it.
In Sanguinius' prophecy, the mountain Alexander now stood upon was called Morai-Heg in the Eldar language, which translates to the Mountain of the Old Woman in human language.
It housed the Webway gate, which once served as a transportation hub for the Eldar Empire, and the fortress where Alexander was currently located was a necessary stop on the path to the Webway gate, also a necessary route for the Expeditionary Force.
Abaddon had clearly noticed this place and had sent an Astartes wizard in Terminator armor to lead a squad of Black Legion to guard it in advance.
Logically speaking, this Eldar fortress was easy to defend and difficult to attack; even the Expeditionary Force would have to fight a bloody battle to pass through.
But while Alexander was constantly moving to shoot at the ships in orbit, he also had his twenty-two personal guards clear out this place.
The Astartes wizard was indeed troublesome. When prepared, he could even use his Psyker abilities to a certain extent to suppress the machine spirit, resisting Alexander's control over it.
But Alexander played a little trick, and with the help of his chosen Doraemon equipped with secret tools, he cleaned up the place in no time.
Most of the Black Legion corpses had already gone into Alexander's four-dimensional pocket.
However, Alexander still left one, placing it in the very center of the fortress, ensuring that the Expeditionary Force would see it first upon entering.
Alexander was not willing to be someone who did good deeds without leaving a name. This corpse was left here to specifically remind the Expeditionary Force that someone was helping them from the shadows.
This would make it easier for Alexander to gain their trust later. Of course, gaining their trust wouldn't be difficult in the first place.
He could simply let them meet Sanguinius, which would be easy.
However, Sanguinius staying out of the four-dimensional pocket for too long carried the risk of being noticed by the Four Gods, so they needed to have a basic level of trust first, willing to enter the four-dimensional pocket themselves.
"My Lord."
Rafen, with his Take-copter, leaped lightly from the watchtower, landing beside Alexander:
"They're coming soon."
Alexander nodded slightly, pulling out his anywhere door from his four-dimensional pocket.
When the Expeditionary Force saw the fortress, they had already prepared for a bloody battle.
Great Raider Abaddon was a general honed by ten thousand years of war. Although the past twelve Black Crusades seemed to have failed, Abaddon's command experience was real.
He would not let go of this fortress. Greyfax even vaguely saw figures already inside the fortress.
However, when everyone arrived at the fortress, the situation was somewhat unexpected.
They were not attacked. The fortress gates were wide open, as if welcoming them.
With caution, Greyfax scanned the fortress with her Psyker powers, finding no trace of anything.
Reyna also unleashed her vast Psyker energy, and the howling Psyker vortex directly twisted several slender spires.
But there was still no trace of any enemy, which made the members of the Expeditionary Force feel strange.
They warily entered the fortress hall, but the entire hall was empty and silent. There were a few traces of battle on the ground, suggesting a not-so-intense fight had occurred.
And in the very center of the hall, lay a Black Legion corpse.
Judging by the markings on his armor, he should have been a descendant of Lorgar Aurelian.
In Abaddon's Black Legion, lineage did not matter; any Primarch's descendant could join.
The Expeditionary Force fell silent for a moment.
A corpse, almost intact, and recently deceased.
His brain must contain a large amount of memories that could unravel the mystery of the current situation.
But the position of this corpse was too deliberate.
Abaddon couldn't have sent only one person to guard this place. Clearly, someone had killed all the Black Legion in the fortress, cleared out the other bodies, and deliberately left one corpse for the Expeditionary Force to obtain information from.
There was likely a problem here.
Seeing this, Greyfax frowned deeply.
"I'll go look into his brain—" Reyna began.
"No." Greyfax immediately interrupted Reyna. "You are a valuable fighting force."
Reyna's combat power was too precious to be lost.
Most critically, if there was Warp corruption involved, and Reyna lost control, the uncontrolled Alpha-level psyker could cause severe losses to the entire Expeditionary Force.
There were many in the team who could read memories.
Greyfax herself could, Archmagos Cawl could through certain technological means, and Captain Karlaen and his Blood Angels could also read memories from food genes through the neural sheath between the cervical vertebrae and spine. According to Inquisition records, the Blood Angels' organ seemed abnormally developed.
However, the Inquisition had a theory that the Blood Angels might be deliberately concealing their mutation, which might be related to a hunger for flesh and blood. Since the Inquisition had no evidence, they could not rule out the possibility of a related trap within this corpse.
Captain Karlaen and his Terminators were equally precious.
Considering this,
Greyfax herself was actually the least important one.
This made Greyfax involuntarily breathe a sigh of relief.
Her absence would indeed have the least impact, and the risk would be most controllable.
Reyna, the Archmagos, and Captain Karlaen, on the other hand, were all individuals whose sacrifice would affect the entire Expeditionary Force.
"I will probe his memories." Greyfax pulled off the Inquisitor's seal from her waist and threw it to Reyna.
Before Reyna could speak, Greyfax said, "If I show any signs of corruption, you must kill me immediately and then take over my duties as Inquisitor."
"This authority and duty shall remain until you deem it should cease, but if you wish to truly wield the power of an Inquisitor, you will need to travel to Terra later to report to the Ordo Hereticus and undergo scrutiny."
"Furthermore…" Greyfax glanced at Saint Celestine; she knew Reyna understood her meaning.
Reyna held the Inquisitor's seal and nodded slightly to Greyfax.
Greyfax showed a satisfied expression.
She walked to the corpse, slowly extended her finger towards its head, and points of Psyker light flickered at her fingertip.
"Warmaster, why have you come?!"