The fourth layer of the Kingdom of Disorder.
Nareth sat high upon his throne, shrouded in the depths of black mist, listening to the reports of his four Lords.
"That's how it was," Thierry Viera said with feeling. "The grenade I threw failed to detonate inside its body."
Nareth recalled the scene of Alpharius and his team battling the Slaugth. He remembered the Chief Librarian of the Alpha Legion had sacrificed his life to unleash a psychic attack.
The Slaugth was stunned for an instant, and only then did Alpharius manage to shove a krak grenade into its body.
'Sacrificing a Librarian is still too high a price. There are other weapons that could achieve the same effect.'
With this thought, he spoke.
"The glass grenades. They will create an opportunity."
Thierry understood. "My Lord, You mean that when the Warp-brain worms collide with the worm-creatures, they will become locked in a stalemate?"
Howard Fender's eyes lit up at this. If so, he could hunt Slaugth more composedly, offering them to the Black Emperor.
As he pondered, following the Knight Lord's words, he continued his report.
"After I captured the Slaugth using the power You granted me, the Techmarines discovered advanced technology within the disc-shaped ship, drastically different from humanity's."
Nareth considered the expertise of his various Tech-Priests. Lian Ramilies, who had excavated the Ramillies-class starfort, was obviously the most suitable.
"I will have Lian take charge of studying the Slaugth ship."
"We will assist the Archmagos in completing the takeover," Howard added.
"After the Slaugth died, the Rangdan xenos seemed to fall into a desperate frenzy."
"We speculate that the Slaugth's death subjects them to severe punishment."
"After withstanding their mad attacks, we have now surrounded, divided, and annihilated them. Abyss Port is operational again."
"Excellent," Nareth nodded with satisfaction. "After you rest and refit, drive out all xenos that have invaded the Coronid New Zone."
The black mist engulfed the four Lords, returning them to their flagships docked at the four quadrants of the Ramillies-class starfort.
Over the following dozen or so days, Nareth accepted tens of thousands of sacrifices. These included potion materials and psychic reagents from Basemekanic, Cerabvores, Osseivores, and also beyonder characteristics from various Paths.
He summoned Honor Guard members who had passed their trials and bestowed beyonder characteristics upon them.
When there were suitable candidates, Nareth prioritized using beyonder characteristics to nurture or promote beyonders.
On one hand, these were his sons, loyal to him, people he cherished.
On the other hand, beyonders were more valuable than mystical items.
Though mystical items created from low-sequence beyonder characteristics possessed some wondrous abilities, most could be substituted.
Weapons forged from "Hunter" or "Warrior" beyonder characteristics were far inferior to those forged by Vulkan.
Divination foci made from psi crystals could achieve the same effect as a "Seer's" beyonder characteristic.
Moreover, mystical items created from beyonder characteristics usually did not possess all the abilities of the corresponding Sequence.
Depending on the creator's skill, they would have one or several beyonder abilities.
Most of Nareth's own mystical items were like this. The Bloody Chain provided him with powerful recovery. The Dice of Prophecy could only perform divination.
Only the gauntlet corresponding to the Hand of Order could use the beyonder abilities of various Sequences.
He speculated this was related to him being the chosen one of the Kingdom of Disorder, and that the "Justiciar" and "Black Emperor" corresponded to the same source.
As one batch of Honor Guard departed and a new one arrived, Nareth listened to Arsena's report in his office.
"My Lord, following Your orders, the eight Chapters have proceeded to Vostroya, Cypra Mundi, and Mordian to complete resupply."
"They will then transit through the webway gate to the Kalium Gate to await further orders."
After this report, the Arsena paused, then continued.
"My Lord, I believe the threat to Port Aquila warrants attention."
Nareth leaned back on his black throne, looking at Arsena with his silver hair flowing.
"Port Aquila?"
"Yes," Arsena continued.
"The Leader of the Astropaths received a plea for help fifteen standard days ago."
"The Planetary Governor reported that ships bristling with spikes and flails destroyed the starport and invaded the surface."
"Port Aquila is located at the convergence of several Warp routes. Five of these routes lead to the Vostroya Sector, two of them directly to Vostroya and Cypra Mundi."
'If the Rangdan xenos enslave the local human population, they could indeed obtain star charts and other information, potentially launching an attack on my territories.'
With this thought, Nareth decided to eliminate this potential threat before launching his counter-offensive.
"Dispatch the Twelfth Chapter. They will accompany me to Port Aquila."
The bridge of the Shadow's Sovereignty immediately became busy. Techmarines, acting as the engine prophets of other Legions, coordinated their assistants like conductors, following the rites of operation.
"Attendants, prepare the incense for the rituals to appease the machine-spirits."
"Senior Enginseers, recite the litanies and generate the current data reports."
Amidst the symphony of binary code, the Techmarines' mechadendrites plugged into the electronic throats of the cogitator guardians.
With a series of rune flashes, the data memory accepted new data.
The Warp sextant, amidst chanted blessings, updated its data and completed its calculations and planning.
After confirming the Warp engines were functioning normally, the Techmarines immediately reported to the Shipmaster.
"Ship Captain, the engine room is functioning normally. We can now transition to the Warp."
"Initiate transition." Diana stroked the hyper-psychic cat beside her as she issued the order.
After a journey of four standard weeks, the Shadow's Sovereignty emerged from the Warp.
Diana reviewed the summary of auspex data report on the viewscreen, then swiveled her chair towards the command throne.
"Lord Nareth, auspex scans display a fleet within the system."
"The ships' identification codes indicate they belong to the Dark Angels."
Hearing this, Nareth frowned slightly.
'Dark Angels?'
'The War Council authorized me to command the war against the Rangdan. I ordered all Legion task forces to assemble at the Kalium Gate.'
'Could the proud First Legion have disobeyed my orders?'
"Send a communication request!"
One by one, the black ships transitioned into realspace, assembling around the Gloriana-class battleship.
"My Lord, communication link established."
"Lord Nareth, Luther salutes you."
Nareth listened to the voice in his communication bead. He was stunned.
'Hmm? Wasn't Luther sent back to Caliban by Lion El'Jonson to train neophytes?'
Nareth knew that Luther, who had adopted the Lion, like Lorgar Aurelian's adoptive father Kor Phaeron, was too old to undergo the full Astartes implantation surgery.
He was placed among the Astartes, yet different from them. This troubled him, and he also grew jealous of the Lion, who completely controlled the Great Order.
In 848.M30, the Lion led the 22nd Chapter, breaking away from the expedition to proceed to Sarosh, relieving the patience-exhausted Star Hunters and overseeing the Terran officials.
The Supreme Grand Master refused to take a Stormbird, instead taking a Sarosh shuttle to the Invincible Reason.
When meeting the Lion, he activated a device, attempting to detonate the nuclear warhead loaded on the shuttle.
Luther, driven by jealousy, hesitated while trying to rescue the Lion.
Though ultimately persuaded by Librarian Zahariel to save the Lion, he was discovered by the Lion and subsequently sent back to Caliban along with a large number of Terran-born.
This second-in-command of the Great Order, along with numerous Dark Angels, remained on Caliban in what was nearly exile during the height of the Great Crusade.
The only subsequent campaign Luther and his followers, along with the Terran-born, participated in was the Zaramund Campaign in 970.M30.
Luther supported Horus and Calas Typhon in pacifying the rebellion on Zaramund.
At the celebratory ceremony, the Lion arrived, angrily denounced Luther for disobeying orders to remain on Caliban, and stripped him of his fleet.
'Luther still has a fleet now. He disobeyed the Lion's orders and acted on his own.
Resentment at being confined to Caliban?'
'For glory?'
The "Baron of Corruption's" eyes deepened. He couldn't help but think.
'Luther entertained thoughts of betraying the Lion in the past, and will betray him in the future. He can be "corroded." And he hasn't yet studied the chaos tomes confiscated from those knights.'
'Though without Chaos power now, his combat ability isn't high.'
'But Luther's comprehensive abilities are second only to the Primarchs. Without him, the Dark Angels wouldn't have reached their current scale.'
Nareth thought of Luther's excellent abilities, the possibility of corroding successive batches of neophytes after "corroding" him, and learning the secrets of the Dark Angels.
'Luther is the most valuable "corrosion" target!'
.....
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