"Life is merely the Emperor's currency; no sacrifice is too great."
Kenmyo Isayama hadn't expected the first mission he executed after acquiring this body to be an Exterminatus.
As an Inquisitor of the Inquisition, he was naturally well-versed in the doctrines specifically written by the Inquisition for Exterminatus.
"The Inquisition tolerates neither the weak-willed nor the hesitant. Only through resolute action and unwavering faith can humanity survive."
This meant that, in the face of absolute loyalty, Exterminatus was a last resort that had to be exercised.
Exterminatus, a term in High Gothic, refers to a large-scale military operation to destroy an entire planetary biosphere and all life on that world.
This horrific, annihilatory massacre is only employed by the Imperium when the cost of holding or reclaiming a world is deemed too high, or when the threat of Chaos mutation, terrible plagues, and Chaos incursions spreading to other parts of the Imperium is too great to be contained by conventional means.
The final outcome is the complete destruction of the entire planet upon which Exterminatus is carried out.
The signing of an Exterminatus order requires the combined authority of high-ranking generals from the Astra Militarum, Imperial Navy, and astartes. The assessment process is meticulously careful, leaving no stone unturned for any hope of saving the planet, even if it means sacrificing human lives.
This is because these planets are Imperial territory, and the humans on them are Imperial citizens, their compatriots.
However, the Inquisition is an exception.
In the eyes of these most ruthless executioners of the Imperium, there is no room for sympathy. Even innocent civilians on a planet are treated equally and all are deemed heretics.
Just as Macarnus-Elfman's memory recalled the white-haired old man saying when he became an Inquisitor:
"Even if a hundred innocents die by the Emperor's wrath, it is better than one person kneeling before a demon and becoming a heretic."
The power of the Inquisition comes directly from the Emperor himself. These most brutal executioners in the Imperium, the Inquisitors of the Inquisition, can wield supreme authority in the Emperor's name.
Once an Inquisitor deems it necessary, he will remove the Inquisitorial Rosette, the symbol of his authority, and sign the Exterminatus order, initiating it by force without needing to explain to anyone.
An Exterminatus signed by an Inquisitor takes immediate effect. Nearby Imperial Navy fleets, Astra Militarum, astartes, and other warships are requisitioned to cooperate with the Inquisition fleet in a joint military operation.
Often, an immensely vast combined fleet is dispatched at once. These warships, large and small, will unleash dense artillery fire upon every inch of the planet undergoing Exterminatus, until nothing remains.
Inquisitors possess unimaginable power, a fact that even astonishes them.
Kenmyo Isayama's friend, the Daemonhunter Inquisitor Traviam Frost of the Sacred Hammer Chapter, whose body he now occupies, once joked while holding his Inquisitorial Rosette:
"I always carry my Inquisitorial Rosette with me. Though it's a small, inconspicuous item that looks unremarkable, with this, I can sign an Exterminatus and effortlessly consign billions, even tens of billions, of souls to their doom."
This terrifying power was also possessed by the original owner of this body, Macarnus-Elfman, as an Inquisitor of the Inquisition.
However, the original Macarnus-Elfman would have to be out of his mind to exercise the power to sign an Exterminatus, thereby burning his future prospects to ashes.
The consequences of an Exterminatus are not as simple as merely killing a village; it is a massacre that annihilates all species, hundreds of billions of them, on a given planet, utterly reducing it to a dead world.
Sacrificing an entire world and an incalculable number of lives, even for the ruthless Inquisition, which needs to explain its actions to no one, is not an easy burden to bear.
Especially the Inquisitor who orders such an extreme action via Exterminatus will henceforth be closely scrutinized by other Inquisitors and will generally not come to a good end.
If an Exterminatus ordered by an Inquisitor is later deemed unnecessary by an internal Inquisition assessment, that Inquisitor will pay a heavy price, be declared a heretic within the Inquisition, immediately arrested, and most likely executed directly.
This particular Exterminatus came from Kenmyo Isayama's superior, signed by Horst-Eisenholm, one of the Inquisitor Lords of the Inquisition.
This was the Inquisitor Lord, known for his aggressive and forceful methods, who personally assessed the SPO-2 Home World after arriving there and concluded that it was beyond saving.
As an Inquisitor Lord, Horst-Eisenholm was busy with many affairs, so he delegated the supervision of the Exterminatus to Inquisitor Macarnus-Elfman.
Macarnus-Elfman, in turn, was replaced by Kenmyo Isayama, who became the Inquisitor to pull the trigger on the planetary Exterminatus.
In the corridor of the Black Ship, the echoing footsteps of two people, one in front of the other, grew louder as they approached from a distance.
Coming into view was a tall man in a long black trench coat, with a stern expression. His sharp, sword-like eyes instilled fear in anyone who met his gaze.
Pinned to his collar, the Inquisition's iconic skull insignia, the Inquisitorial Rosette, signified his authority, granting him power that superseded all central privileged organs.
Tucked into his waist was a double-barreled boltgun with an Aquila mark on its stock, and the thudding footsteps of his sturdy leather boots were quite imposing.
It was Kenmyo Isayama's first day as an Inquisitor, but regardless, this imposing presence was essential.
Beside him was Battle Sister Elena, her face adorned with a faint smile. Her white nun's habit swayed gently as she walked, and Kenmyo Isayama could smell her pleasant fragrance.
She maintained a half-step distance, and the two walked one behind the other in silence.
The original Macarnus-Elfman was a man of few words, and he and Elena were old partners, just as the Inquisition and the Battle Sisters are inseparable companions.
Kenmyo Isayama glanced out the glass, where a fleet of dozens of massive Inquisition Black Ships had already assembled. These warships were not the usual Black Ships used to transport illegal Psykers within the Imperium to Terra.
Although both were called Black Ships, they were entirely different entities.
Inquisition Black Ships are a special type of strike cruiser used by the Inquisition, typically for special missions. These warships combine the advantages of Imperial strike cruisers and battlecruisers, possessing formidable firepower.
Due to the execution of Exterminatus, they were mostly equipped with high-power macrocannons and various weapons specifically for Exterminatus. Those terrifying weapons symbolized the Emperor's wrath, bringing death upon the heretics.
"When will the Imperial Navy fleet arrive?"
Kenmyo Isayama saw that in the black, boundless cosmos, the cannons of the Inquisition Black Ship fleet were already pre-charging, preparing for the upcoming battle, and so he asked.
"The Imperial Navy fleet is currently traveling through the Warp and cannot be contacted. They are scheduled to rendezvous at XX coordinates in one hour,"
Elena replied.
"Hmm, it seems our fleet will arrive first."
Kenmyo Isayama looked into the distance, where he could faintly discern a beautiful planet in the far-off starry sky, its surface a lush green land with blue oceans—that was the SPO-2 Home World.
However, according to the Inquisition's intelligence, Kenmyo Isayama knew that this planet was experiencing an extremely terrifying plague, which had already caused 65% of its surface life to perish, leaving corpses strewn everywhere.
This terrible plague could not be cured by the Imperium's medical technology, for it was the power of Nurgle, the "Plague God," one of The Four Great Chaos Gods.
If this planetary plague were allowed to continue spreading, it would become a plague world, eventually affecting surrounding planets and even the entire star system.
For this reason, Inquisitor Lord Horst-Eisenholm of the Inquisition signed the Exterminatus order, condemning this planet, along with its remaining 35% of survivors, to be utterly destroyed by the Emperor's wrath.