Chapter 126: Thank You for Your Mercy
The moon was bright, the stars were few. The thick stench of blood lingered, and the blood in the craters had coagulated into dark masses.
A small animal in a corner, having finally survived the disaster, poked its head out from its hiding place. With the relief of a survivor, it prepared to feast on the bounty left behind by the disaster, and was then instantly poisoned to death by the excess of chemical agents in the blood clots.
A giant pyre burned, incinerating the fallen soldiers along with the weapons they had used to fight Chaos. The ashes drifted in the wind, carried towards the distance by the gentle slope of the Principality of Leinster. Countless people were still sifting through the ruins, looking for anything usable.
The night was deep, and the pyre still burned brightly. Aside from the lords who needed to communicate with the Angels, and the various work crews, most people were already asleep amidst the ruins. But there were still many who could not rest.
A citizen of the kingdom was searching frantically in the ruins. He vaguely remembered that this was once his home. When the war had started, he had placed his children here.
RATTLE—
Rubble poured down. He pulled a severed hand from the ruins. After a brief check to confirm it had no familiar features, the citizen tossed it aside and continued to dig.
The price of resistance was immense. The Principality of Leinster had gathered the last three million of its people, and in a brief melee, had lost more than half.
Seth came to the side of the commoner who was digging through the ruins, looking at this ordinary man, covered in blood. In the past, the survivors of a war like this would have likely become the Flesh Tearers' after-dinner snack.
"There are no living people here," Seth said, taking a deep breath. The intoxicating smell of blood was constantly urging him to satisfy his craving. His genetic instincts told him that this citizen's efforts were in vain.
"..."
Receiving the response from the Emperor's Angel, this devout servant of the kingdom, as if struck by lightning, collapsed to his knees, his strength gone.
"..."
Seth looked at the commoner with indifference, then walked past him to an area forty meters away and began to lift the rubble.
"Ah!"
A cry of surprise came from the ruins. Seth had directly snapped a load-bearing pillar that was embedded in the earth and had pulled a small child who was still shrinking into a crevice out by the scruff of his neck.
"I am an Angel of the Emperor. I have come to save you," Seth said, his tone not exactly polite, even a bit harsh. To prevent the civilians from doing anything irrational, they had been repeating this phrase throughout the rescue process.
But it was effective. Although the vast majority of the citizens in the Imperium were ignorant, thanks to the Ecclesiarchy, even the junk-rats of the underhive had heard the legends of the Emperor's Angels.
"Okay," the child immediately stopped crying. It was unclear if it was out of fear.
Seth lifted the child with one arm and was about to turn and leave.
"Papa?" the child suddenly said, making Seth pause.
The soulless citizen, as if his soul had been suddenly shoved back into his body, scrambled up on all fours and ran towards the source of the sound, only to be blocked by a towering figure that was like a daemonic god. To be honest, the caked blood on his armor was truly terrifying.
"My Lord—" the citizen mustered his courage, wanting to say something, but was interrupted by the child's words.
"Papa!" the child said happily.
"Central Plaza. There are medicae-Sisters there," Seth said. He placed the child in the citizen's arms, then strode towards the next section, continuing to search for survivors.
"Oh, my little Maria. My treasure." Holding his child, the citizen walked towards the Central Plaza, crying and laughing. It turned out he had been looking in the wrong place.
The senses of an Astartes were keen, especially for the Blood Angels, whose thirst for blood made their perception of lifeforms second only to the Space Wolves among the Astartes Chapters. By slightly relaxing his suppression of his instincts, he could quickly detect the living in the ruins, which was a great convenience for the rescue.
As for why these killing machines, who were like meat-grinders on the battlefield, were here... because an Angel was here.
Karna hadn't made any demands of these sons of the Angel. After confirming the war was over, he had just followed the medicae-Sisters back to the Principality of Leinster to save people. The doctrine of the medicae-Sisters was quite good, but unfortunately too "soft" to become mainstream in the Imperium.
And the other Blood Angels had followed his example. Anyway, they had nothing to do after the war. They weren't like the Black Templars, who liked to burn people. So they just followed Karna to save people.
"Inquisitor-Lord, is there any possibility of preserving the House of Gavin?"
In a reception hall whose dome had been blasted away by artillery, the Prince of Leinster asked Aglaia nervously. This calm old man, who had not flinched in the face of millions of his subjects and countless heretic enemies, was now like a student waiting for a teacher to announce his grades, nervous and anxious.
"After verification by the Inquisition, Gavin, an Imperial Knight World, had a pre-war population of 300 million. The current population is 1.22 million. It has suffered a Gamma-class Chaos incursion. The residual Chaos contamination on the planet is Level III. After receiving support from a crusade fleet, it still belongs to the territory of the Imperium. From this, we have come to a conclusion."
Aglaia handed over a report, her tone not one of discussion, but of notification.
"Within the Gavin system, all blood relatives of the dynasty who did not participate in the defense of the Principality of Leinster will be executed. With the exception of the Principality of Leinster, all towns must have any trace of their civilization erased. All heretical creations and mutated creatures must be exterminated."
"...The dynasty thanks you for your support. The dynasty is also grateful for your mercy, Inquisitor-Lord."
The Prince let out a long sigh of relief. At least the bloodline of the dynasty had been preserved. After such a major incident, which had almost led to the fall of a Knight World with several hundred Knight mechs, the extermination of his nine clans would have been a light punishment. He had not expected that the Inquisitor, after consulting with a Space Marine Librarian, would let it go so easily.
At the same time, he thought of Leonardo, who was sleeping with the squires by the fire outside. He didn't know how this kid, who had been shaking with fear before the battle, could be sleeping now.
"Hmm. If there are any other sudden incidents, I will notify you."
Aglaia looked at the surprised Prince of Leinster. If it had been in the past, to eliminate any hidden dangers, she would have definitely executed all of these Knightly high command and then had their relatives who were on off-world campaigns come back to take over the dynasty. But since she had the review and guarantee of Lord Ramesses, there was no need for her to take such an extra step.
She then turned around very directly and, holding a large pile of existing documents, went to write her mission report.
Sigh. Easy.
And the Prince, left behind, before he could indulge in the joy of his family's survival for too long, fell into another worry.
Unlike the Knight Worlds that had joined the Adeptus Mechanicus, they were proper Imperial vassals. They had had their own Knight mech production lines before joining the Imperium. But these production lines had always been kept in the capital, Gavin, to ensure the authority of the High King.
But now... aside from the fact that Gavin was already rampant with corruption before the war, and it was hard to say whether the production lines had been corrupted, the very presence of the Adeptus Mechanicus in space made him feel very insecure.
"Perhaps I should communicate with the Adeptus Mechanicus in advance?"
The Prince mused, beginning to worry about the future of his family. Without the Knight production lines, every Knight they lost was one less. Without the support of the Adeptus Mechanicus, their family would become ordinary Imperial nobles, and their final end would be to be completely lost in the vastness of the cosmos.
But the planet had just had a Chaos incursion, and it was a Slaaneshi heretical corruption that was centered on the House of Gavin. This was an unprecedented blow to the dynasty's reputation. The reason the Knightly Houses could independently possess Knight mechs was their unshakable loyalty to the Imperium. But now that the dynasty had launched a rebellion, it undoubtedly proved that they couldn't even do their own job well.
"Every time I see an Inquisitor, I jump out of my skin," the newly appointed regimental commander of the "Broken Swords," Colonel Mores, who had just taken over from Bushlin, muttered to his old friend.
"I think Lady Aglaia is quite amiable," Commissar Alexei said, looking unconcerned.
"If I had an Inquisitor to help me when I was getting stuck on equipment and reinforcements by the Munitorum, and she directly approved me for over ten thousand men, I would also think she was a good person," Mores continued. At first, he had thought the "Broken Swords" had suffered some major casualties to need twenty thousand reinforcements. But when he arrived, he found that it was the equipment waiting for the men.
A full set of void armor with its own recycling system and a series of armored vehicles. Twenty thousand men were thrown in, and they couldn't even form a single infantry unit. Fortunately, their combat doctrine was a joint advance with the Astartes, so they didn't have to worry about infantry-tank coordination.
As he finished speaking, Aglaia returned.
Mores instinctively lowered his head and picked up the military report he had already reviewed three times, covering his face.
It was a smooth, practiced motion.
Aglaia looked at him with a surprised expression, then said to the Prince, "After a review of the remaining Knight production lines of the House of Gavin by the Inquisition and the Adeptus Mechanicus, we have not found any traces of Chaos corruption. By the resolution of Lord Romulus, the House of Gavin may still retain their holy relics and continue to contribute to the Imperium."
"Thank you! Thank the Archmagos! Thank Lord Romulus!"
The words were like celestial music. The Prince of Leinster instantly felt that all his previous worries had been for nothing.
"May I ask if the lords have any spare time? The dynasty will hold the grandest victory ceremony for them."
Although only a million people were left on a planet, you had to believe in the idiotic level of Imperial infrastructure technology and the workhorse-like nature of humanity. They could definitely hold the grandest ceremony for the great Astartes in two days.
Aglaia thought that this so-called ceremony would probably not happen. In Romulus's plan, the crusade fleet's schedule was very tight.
"They still need to finish the war cleanup. Also, if you have any questions, you can communicate with Lord Romulus. He is responsible for coordinating the entire crusade fleet."
She dropped this line very directly, then went back to writing her report.
(End of Chapter)