Hera Fortress, the home of the Ultramarines.
If the Blood Angels' Angel Keep was like an angelic city in the desert, a steadfast, sacred, and magnificent fortress, a holy dwelling visible from orbit, then Hera Fortress was more akin to an ancient Roman temple.
This fortress, designed by Robert Guilliman, was filled with golden domes, slender corridors, elegant balconies, mosaic floors, and spiraling staircases.
These designs were, of course, not merely for aesthetics; every structure that seemed to serve only beauty was actually a Primarch's ingenious creation, capable of transforming into weapon emplacements, firing points, battlements, bulwarks, and assault points when facing invasion.
Such designs were spread across seven leveled mountain peaks, forming this fortress-monastery.
But this monastery was silently infiltrated today.
An anywhere door suddenly opened and closed, then vanished from its spot, the entire process taking less than a second.
Alexander and Sylandri Shadowseer, wearing Blind Spot Stars, appeared there, standing on an exquisite balcony.
Even a Primarch's genius mind could not imagine non-existent things.
Robert Guilliman would not have anticipated the existence of two items: the anywhere door and the Blind Spot Star.
Of course, there was another reason.
Hera Fortress, built on seven mountain peaks, was too vast; the current Ultramarines Chapter couldn't fill it, making it seem especially empty.
Sylandri Shadowseer's expression was a little twitchy.
The item Alexander called the anywhere door could open a gate to any place just by speaking a name.
At first glance, this thing seemed much more useful than the Webway, leaving Sylandri Shadowseer a bit stunned.
Humans actually possessed this kind of technology?!
And Sylandri Shadowseer was certain that the anywhere door did not pass through the Warp!
What did this mean? Sylandri Shadowseer understood with a moment's thought.
My Webway is getting exploited!
Alexander didn't pay attention to Sylandri Shadowseer's mood.
He knew that with just his one anywhere door, it would still be difficult to exploit the Webway.
Without items like the size-changing light, the anywhere door couldn't transport fleets or large quantities of goods.
Of course, Alexander could transport small batches of fleets through the four-dimensional pocket, but there was only one four-dimensional pocket, and spare pockets in the Future Department Store were more expensive than the Time Kerchief.
Coupled with the ten-light-year limit per use,
For now, humanity still needed the Aeldari Webway.
This was also why Alexander had kept Sylandri Shadowseer; he was waiting for Cegorach to show up so he could enter the Black Library and secretly take the Webway map.
Alexander slightly raised his head, looking up at the sky.
Beneath the stars, a hazy violet light curtain enveloped everything, countless gunfire raining down upon it, stirring up ripples, and the roar of explosions echoed continuously.
In the distance, the renegade Titans were unleashing their firepower, but Hera Fortress, worthy of its past as the Ultramarines Legion's fortress, stubbornly withstood such a scale of attack.
Most of the Ultramarines stood on the city walls, resisting the Black Legion's assault.
But overall, the Ultramarines' situation was better than when the Blood Angels faced the Black Legion.
Hera Fortress was better preserved, the Ultramarines had not yet lost their void power, and they could receive support from several nearby planets, furthermore, the Ultramarines also had their own mortal troops, the Ultramar Auxiliary Army.
Although those mortals were nominally just the PDF of various planets, their combat strength was many levels stronger than the weaklings in Ashford.
Alexander withdrew his gaze from the sky and looked at the map in his mind.
There were a total of eleven blurred locations, a very large number, and Alexander speculated that some of them might be decoy areas.
But no matter what, one of them was Guilliman's Shrine, the Primarch's resting place.
Alexander only needed to investigate them one by one to find the exact location.
As he thought, he pulled Sylandri Shadowseer along, traversing Hera Fortress.
In a short while, they arrived at the closest blurred area.
The grandest building in this area was a Roman-style temple, its magnificent circular dome like a setting sun hanging on the horizon, and the corridors, towers, and halls extending around it formed a complex series of structures.
But to Alexander and Sylandri Shadowseer's surprise, the defenses here were not very strict.
Aside from a portion of the Ultramar Auxiliary Army and mortal attendants, there were almost no other guard forces to be seen.
If not for the imposing appearance of this building, they both would have started to suspect that this place was one of the decoys.
Relying on the Blind Spot Star's effect, the two almost walked through the main entrance into this magnificent temple.
Then, Alexander immediately understood where this place was.
Layer upon layer of bookshelves formed primitive geometric structures that ran through the entire temple; these labyrinthine bookshelves filled the temple with a dizzying, unique order, displaying books, scrolls, and data-slates.
These ancient texts exuded the rustic scent of paper and ink, mixed with the lingering aroma of incense in the air, making one feel as if they had reached the deepest part of humanity's labyrinth of history and knowledge.
Chapter serfs moved between the bookshelves, but their footsteps seemed to be absorbed by the surrounding books.
This was the Ptolemy Library, one of the largest libraries in the entire Imperium of Man, where all of the Ultramarines' historical and knowledge records were stored, second only to the grand libraries on Terra, and even containing many records not found on Terra.
For example, those concerning the Second Empire.
Alexander also quickly understood why there wasn't much protection here.
Because the people within this building were the best protection themselves.
Several Ultramarines Librarians moved through it, yet these warriors with powerful Psyker abilities were merely searching for and transporting texts for the one in the deepest part of the library.
Chief Librarian Tigurius of the Ultramarines, theoretically the strongest Librarian in the Imperium.
His strength was slightly superior to Mephiston, who had not yet undergone Primaris modification and had not merged with the Black Rage.
A psyker of Reyna's level would likely not last a few rounds against Tigurius.
However, this Ultramarines Chief Librarian was not famous for his combat prowess.
He was truly renowned for his extremely accurate prophetic abilities.
In Alexander's impression, Tigurius should have already foreseen the existence of Archmagos Belisarius Cawl and his group.
Tigurius was sifting through the intricate documents before him, trying to discern the guidance of fate within them.
A blue, round figure.
That figure would bring hope along with an Archmagos.
Tigurius hoped to find traces of that blue figure's existence within these documents.
But he searched extensively, yet found no clues whatsoever.
It was as if that figure had never existed in humanity's recorded history.
Tigurius had now checked records from the 30th to the 40th millennia that might be relevant.
Now he had even begun to search for records from the Old Night era, before the Emperor's appearance.
But even so, he still found nothing.
If the blue figure had ever appeared in human history, it must have been during the Golden Age or an even more distant era.
Tigurius had also tried to use his prophetic abilities to delve deeper into the blue figure's existence.
However, before the first attempt even began, Tigurius felt a bone-chilling cold.
The Emperor's warning came earlier than Tigurius' action; he warned Tigurius not to act recklessly.
Tigurius sighed slightly; he had read many records from Macragge's Old Night era but found no valuable information.
"My Lord."
A Chapter serf quickly walked from outside the library, bowing respectfully to Tigurius:
"Word from Raphais: Archmagos Belisarius Cawl of the Adeptus Mechanicus has appeared in Raphais."
"He is accompanied by Cadian Shock Troopers, an Inquisitor, Saint Celestine, and... and two Aeldari."
"Archmagos Belisarius Cawl claims to have an agreement with the Lord of Ultramar and is currently traveling to Macragge aboard the glory blade."
Tigurius' expression shifted slightly.
He had informed the Chapter serfs early on to report any relevant news to him immediately.
"Archmagos Belisarius Cawl."
Tigurius swiftly controlled his Psyker powers, pulling down several scrolls from the bookshelf.
He unrolled these scrolls and quickly found the information he needed.
The name Belisarius Cawl had appeared ten thousand years ago.
And this Archmagos had once served his gene-father, Robert Guilliman!
Tigurius' expression immediately became serious; he had to inform Chapter Master Calgar of this news.
This could greatly influence what judgment the Chapter Master would make.
"Where is the Chapter Master now?" Tigurius asked.
The Chapter serf lowered his head slightly and replied, "The Chapter Master is currently praying to the Primarch in the Sanctum of Purification."
Tigurius nodded slightly, immediately stood up, and walked towards the Sanctum of Purification.
Standing aside, Alexander and Sylandri Shadowseer, unseen due to the Blind Spot Star, exchanged glances.
This made things much easier; they just needed to follow Tigurius instead of searching one by one.
The two quickly followed Tigurius, who was walking alone towards the Sanctum of Purification.
Tigurius walked out of the Ptolemy Library; the cold night wind from the high mountains blew, sweeping across his face, slightly easing his mind, which was somewhat fatigued from work.
Fragmented, imperceptible visions appeared before his eyes, causing his eyes, filled with Psyker light, to faintly shimmer with specks of light.
Tigurius' steps imperceptibly slowed for a moment.
But he quickly adjusted his state and strode towards the Sanctum of Purification.