My Life as A Death Guard
Chapter 375: The Game
Hades held his cup and leaned forward to look. Upon the reception table, the map of the entire Imperium shimmered faintly.
The Emperor's hand trembled slightly, and a chess piece appeared in his grasp—a profound knight clutching a sword, beneath the helm a beastlike savagery glinting.
Hades muttered under his breath, "I'm a newbie at psychic stuff. Don't be so cryptic, Neoth."
"I will," the Emperor smiled. He lifted his hand lightly, and the map upon the table split into four sectors.
To the north, the Obscurus Segmentum; to the south, the Tempestus Segmentum; to the east, the Ultima Segmentum; to the west, the Pacificus Segmentum.
Of these, Ultima was the largest, Pacificus the smallest. Obscurus was still a region the Great Crusade had barely penetrated, while Tempestus lay calm and uneventful.
The Emperor raised his hand and placed the knight in the northeastern reaches of the Ultima Segmentum, near its edge.
"First, the Ultima Segmentum."
"The First Legion, the Dark Angels, are advancing toward the Ghoul Stars—both an expedition and a warning."
"A warning against what?" Hades asked, but he realized the answer almost at once.
The Emperor raised his hand again. A hunched vampire-like piece appeared in his palm, which he placed down to the lower right of the knight.
"The Eighth Legion, the Night Lords, have concluded their penitence crusade. The entire Legion is recuperating on Konrad Curze's home world. The Lion's presence is also to assess whether they are worthy of reclaiming their former glory."
Nostramo—Konrad Curze's home world—lay at the extreme northern edge of the Ultima Segmentum.
"Sending the First Legion that far out?" Hades said quietly.
The Emperor smiled faintly.
"Hades, don't be impatient. The knight's position alone is enough to deter several Legions."
Thoughtfully, the Emperor caressed another piece. This one was larger than the previous two: a platinum centaur raising a scepter, head held high.
"The Sixteenth Legion, the Luna Wolves, are active in the upper central region of the Ultima Segmentum."
He placed the centaur slightly below the knight.
"What is Horus doing there?" Hades asked.
The Emperor raised an eyebrow. Blood-red light flared at his fingertips, wings unfurled, and a great angel appeared, gazing downward in contemplation.
"He should have just concluded his visit to Baal."
The Emperor's voice grew a little more relaxed. Baal—Sanguinius's home world—lay in the central-eastern region of the Ultima Segmentum.
"The Council of Nikaea seems to have given my sons something to think about. After the council, Sanguinius began requesting leave to return to his home world to recuperate. I had Horus handle the matter, their relationship has always been good."
The Emperor placed the angelic piece upon Baal. Now the centaur looked as though it had just departed from the Ninth Legion's home world.
Hades pondered for a moment. The upper reaches of the Ultima Segmentum were now crowded—four Legions: two returning to their home worlds, two with their operational ranges yet undefined.
Dark Angels.
Night Lords.
Luna Wolves.
Blood Angels.
Hades committed them silently to memory.
"And then?" he asked.
He watched as two more pieces suddenly appeared in the Emperor's hand. One gleamed sapphire-blue, inlaid with fine gold filigree, flawless and immaculate. The other looked as though it had been shattered and crudely stitched back together with thick black seams, yet its dull crimson sheen instead revealed a jade-like luster.
The Emperor casually placed both pieces in the southernmost reaches of the Ultima Segmentum. The sapphire-blue king went to the distant southeastern fringe, while the dark-red gladiator was placed slightly closer to the Tempestus Segmentum.
"The Thirteenth Legion, the Ultramarines, have requested permission to return to the Five Hundred Worlds for rest and refit—approved. The Twelfth Legion, the World Eaters, have requested leave to search for new recruiting worlds—approved."
Suddenly, Hades realized what felt wrong.
"Wait—so fast? I feel like Nikaea wasn't that long ago."
"You need to account for warp travel time," the Emperor replied.
"Don't you think our fleet spent quite a long time on its way to Prospero?"
Hades let out a long sigh.
"It's just—fine. I haven't even had time to tell Angron."
The Emperor blinked.
"They'll take care of themselves."
Malcador, hunched at the side, swayed slightly. Hades looked at him in puzzlement. The Head of the Silent Sisterhood would never know the question Malcador had once asked the Emperor.
Hades stared at the map. Though all of this lay within the Ultima Segmentum, the Segmentum was simply too vast—its northernmost and southernmost reaches spanned nearly the entire Imperium. For the lower end to immediately reinforce the upper… that was hardly realistic.
Though he spoke as if indifferent, allowing two Legions to head off into remote regions, in truth the Emperor was offering them a choice: a path that allowed them not to take part in the coming strife.
In other words, unless they were specifically targeted, these two Legions—especially Roboute Guilliman's Five Hundred Worlds—would become the most important reserve forces during the great rebellion.
Hades pondered this silently. The question was whether the Ultramarines would even make it in time for the decisive battle.
"For the Ultima Segmentum, these are the Legions currently deployed," the Emperor said. He waved his hand, and the eastern Ultima Segmentum immediately dimmed, the chess pieces upon it sinking into darkness along with it.
"Next is the Obscurus Segmentum."
Hades drew in a sharp breath. The northern Obscurus Segmentum was the most unstable region of the warp, and even in the later stages of the Great Crusade it remained a war-torn frontier. The recently concluded Battle of Ullanor had taken place there, and the Rangdan home world lay at the extreme northern edge of the Segmentum.
In the Emperor's hand, a cold, iron glimmer appeared.
Resting quietly in his palm were two nearly identical pieces, as if both had been twisted from miniature steel bars and iron nails. The only difference was that the silvery one bore a severed hand, while the darker iron-black one had cables extending from its crown.
"The Fourth Legion, the Iron Warriors, and the Tenth Legion, the Iron Hands, are cleansing the remaining Ullanor holdouts. They should have just finished cooperating—or perhaps only just begun."
The Emperor placed the two iron generals in the lower-right region of the Obscurus Segmentum.
"…You're not sure about the progress of their war?" Hades asked hesitantly.
"Quite common," the Emperor replied calmly.
"On a map where even distances measured at the speed of light can span hundreds of years, you cannot expect intelligence to arrive with the regularity of a daily weather report. We once relied on Astropathic Choirs to gain a general sense of their movements—but as you know, the warp routes of the Obscurus Segmentum are unstable."
"…Alright."
Hades waved his hand, signaling the Emperor to continue.
Jewels and fragrance appeared together. A delicate purple phoenix spread its wings as if about to take flight, and the Emperor placed it in the northeastern reaches of the Obscurus Segmentum.
Hades remained silent. Because the Obscurus Segmentum connected to the upper reaches of the Ultima Segmentum, the phoenix's position lay quite close to the knight—and to the vampire as well.
At least they could watch each other's backs… perhaps.
"The Third Legion, the Emperor's Children, are advancing toward the northern Obscurus Segmentum."
After the perfect phoenix, a raven cawed hoarsely as it perched upon the Emperor's fingertip. He let it fly to the northwestern reaches of the Obscurus Segmentum, even more remote than the phoenix.
"The Nineteenth Legion, the Raven Guard, have been dispatched by Horus to the extreme northern front."
"…?"
A question mark practically appeared over Hades' head.
"Horus?"
The Emperor raised his eyes, looking at Hades with calm curiosity.
"What is it?"
Malcador coughed lightly.
"Hades, Horus is now the Warmaster. He is, by right, responsible for issuing marching orders."
Hades shook his head and slowly said that it was nothing.
Horus's relationship with the Raven Lord was not particularly good… The Wolf of the Luna Wolves, a believer in the creed of the greater Astartes, perhaps instinctively looked down upon his more labor-minded brother.
Hades felt a headache coming on. He thought of when he would eventually reach the Luna Wolves—how was he supposed to face the Legion's pervasive ideology of Astartes supremacy?
Seeing that Hades no longer asked questions, the Emperor lowered his gaze. The western Segmentum Pacificus lit up—yet the Segmentum Obscurus did not dim.
A weeping devotee knelt in the Emperor's palm.
"The Seventeenth Legion, the Word Bearers. They have just departed from their home world, Colchis, and are preparing to join the Great Crusade in the Obscurus Segmentum."
Colchis lay within the Pacificus Segmentum; just north of it was the border between Pacificus and Obscurus. The Emperor placed the devotee directly upon that boundary.
The Obscurus Segmentum dimmed.
From the Emperor's palm, a powerful steed burst forth, galloping across the Pacificus Segmentum.
"The Fifth Legion, the White Scars. People often overlook this Legion, and the Khan himself deliberately seeks out remote and desolate battlefields." The Emperor spoke calmly.
The Pacificus Segmentum dimmed as well—it had always been the smallest of the four.
The Emperor then picked up a slumbering fire-drake. The dragon slept within the southern Segmentum Tempestus.
And then the Tempestus Segmentum dimmed—
"Wait."
Hades raised a hand.
"The Tempestus Segmentum only has one Legion deployed?"
But as soon as he asked, Hades realized it made a certain sense. The Tempestus Segmentum was largely peaceful, calm seas and steady winds. However… the Death Guard's home world, Barbarus, was here, at the extreme southern edge of Tempestus.
The Emperor looked at Hades with mild amusement. On this particular subject, Neoth and Hades seemed to have found some common ground.
"You intend to have the Death Guard return to their home world, don't you?"
Hades thought it over.
In the foreseeable future, the northern Ultima Segmentum and the Obscurus Segmentum were very likely to descend into total chaos. But the Death Guard had long been active in the southern and southeastern regions of the Imperium. Sending them abruptly northward…
An unstable supply line, combined with the Death Guard's vehement anti-psyker stance, would almost certainly make them a prime target.
"Let the Death Guard hold the Tempestus Segmentum," Hades said.
Better to give the Death Guard some room to react. Hades believed that once the initial smokescreen dissipated, Mortarion would be able to lead the Legion in an immediate counterstrike.
Moreover, the Tempestus Segmentum had two major forge worlds guarding its northern reaches, and the warp routes from Tempestus to Terra were relatively smooth.
The Emperor smiled faintly. A reaper with a tattered cloak appeared in the far south of the Tempestus Segmentum.
"Mortarion has also submitted a request to return to his home world with his Legion," he said evenly.
Malcador chose that moment to interject, ill-timed as ever. The old man said with a dry sneer, "Less a request, more a notification."
The Emperor ignored Mortarion's temperament and turned his gaze back to the map. At its very center, the region around Terra lit up.
A golden guardian stood impassively upon Terra, as though it would never fall.
"The Seventh Legion, the Imperial Fists, will remain with me to defend Terra."
"Of course," the Emperor raised his hand again. A ferocious wolf bared its fangs, clenching a heart set with a single eye in its jaws, as if awaiting its master's command.
"The Sixth Legion, the Space Wolves, will first escort the criminals of the former Fifteenth Legion back to Terra. After that, I may send the Wolves back to Fenris."
Fenris too lay within the central regions, belonging to none of the four great Segmenta.
The Emperor clapped his hands. The entire map lit up and slowly began to rise.
Hades stared at the pieces in silence, counting each Legion and contemplating what might unfold…
The knight might come to blows with the vampire… perhaps even with the phoenix. But with the Wolf King positioned below them, and with Hades himself heading there in time, things should be able to hold—
"But, Neoth," Hades suddenly said, "what about Alpharius and Omegon?"
Malcador answered in the Emperor's stead.
"They are everywhere."
. . .
By the time Hades finished listening to the Emperor's rambling and staggered out of the hidden chamber, dizzy and overwhelmed, the dim corridor outside was already empty.
At first, the Emperor had been seriously and meticulously working through the many possible developments with Hades. But by the end, they had both come to the same conclusion:
As long as the Webway did not fall, even a few more rebellions wouldn't matter—the Emperor could still beat them into submission.
And so the Emperor began recounting Horus's past to Hades in detail. It seemed as though he was preparing Hades for his eventual contact with Horus—or perhaps it was simply that Neoth, the man called the Emperor, wanted to talk about him.
The tea in Hades's hand went cold again and again, only to be reheated each time by psychic power.
The Emperor clearly tried his best to describe Horus in a favorable light, yet through his words, a very different image took shape in Hades's mind: an extreme believer in Astartes supremacy, obsessively concerned with power, arrogant, terminally fixated on paternal approval, deeply sensitive about his ranking among his brothers, and utterly convinced that the Emperor ought to treat him as the most special of all.
If Malcador had not noticed Hades's increasingly sharp gaze and stepped in to interrupt the Emperor's reminiscing, the last remaining positive impressions Hades had of Horus would have been completely annihilated.
Hades let out a sigh and silently thanked Malcador. Only then did the Emperor realize that the three of them had been shut inside the secret chamber for far too long. Simply laying out all the data had already taken several days. Add to that the near-hysterical outpouring that followed—something like the last madness before the darkness—and Hades had proceeded to rant to the Emperor's face about every Primarch except Horus and the Angel.
After that, they spent another half day cursing Chaos and the Four Gods. Neoth pondered for five full minutes and came up with a set of "safe substitute terms" that would not provoke the warp.
That was good—but it also meant Hades missed the moment when the Death Guard fleet departed.
When he finally stood in that empty corridor, the restored channel crackled with intermittent static. The wake left by the Death Guard's last barge as it slipped into the warp had only just faded.
Hades heard the message the Lord of Death had left for him.
"Do not fear what must be done."
In the language of Barbarus, what "must be done" was death.
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Note: This ending is a bit rushed, because I genuinely couldn't write anymore. Honestly, I could've dragged out the preparations, the daily briefings, and the talking for a few more chapters if I wanted to.
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