Amidst the cheers of the crowd, another fanatic, defined as a Chaos heretic, was dragged onto the judgment platform.
Like the woman before him, he was tied to a metal pole.
The smell of burning in the air filled the fanatic with fear; he had witnessed the woman's death firsthand, and now, it was his turn.
"I am not a follower of Chaos, I have been wronged. My devotion to the Emperor surpasses everyone elses, you cannot treat me this way."
"Then why did you torture and kill those people? Why did you slit their throats and smear their blood on your face?"
The priest sternly questioned.
"I did this to redeem the souls of the faithless, so they could ascend to the Emperor's realm," the fanatic shouted.
"Absurd! You are merely using the Emperor's name to slaughter the humans He loves. You despicable Chaos traitor, in the name of the Holy Emperor, I declare your crime. Heretic, you shall be executed."
The priest's skull hammer struck the judgment table as he loudly proclaimed the verdict.
The priest's judgment made the crowd even more fanatical, all shouting things like "Execute him."
Such fanatical judgments were not isolated incidents.
They were happening all over Espandor.
Burnings, hangings, beheadings.
People were executing the fanatics who had been declared servants of Chaos, making them pay for their terrible past actions.
Some also questioned whether the Primarch's actions were correct.
After all, those being executed were fanatics, and their piety was evident to all.
This caused confusion in some people's hearts and even led them to doubt the Primarch.
Guilliman shattered this confusion with a single sentence and sent those who questioned him to the stake as well.
"There is a problem with the Ecclesiarchy. Those heretics are lurking among us, fooling the ignorant among you, just like the heretic Lorgar, who was once hailed as a saint and caused the deaths of thirty loyal space marine Chapters.
They disguise themselves as the Emperor's messengers, fooling and deceiving us. They appear pious, but in reality, they are leading us down the wrong path."
No one could deny Lorgar's crimes; this despicable heretic caused the deaths of over twenty thousand Space Marines.
Guilliman's words solidified the wavering believers' idea that heretics were hidden within the Ecclesiarchy.
The storm of scrutiny therefore became even more severe and terrifying.
Those radical priests and believers were subjected to harsh scrutiny, their books were burned, and some were even publicly executed under the name of heresy.
To end the madness and extremism of the Ecclesiarchy, Guilliman created another form of madness.
Believers eager for redemption and repentance sent hundreds of thousands of people to the stake in a single day.
Seeing that the situation was about to get out of control, Guilliman had to issue another order.
He ordered people to only target heretics who were unwilling to repent and not to strike excessively.
They must always remember the Emperor's mercy.
While the radicals were hateful, some of them were also misguided.
They should be redeemed, not eliminated.
Fortunately, Guilliman's order came in time, otherwise the entire planet would have smelled of roasted meat.
While the believers were scrutinizing the so-called "heretics," Guilliman was not idle either.
He had the bishops bring over the current scriptures of the Ecclesiarchy and revise them, defining the radical arguments and doctrines as heresy in the Emperor's name, and also defining a large number of books as forbidden, prohibiting believers from reading them.
Only books with moderate and redemptive ideas were allowed to remain in public libraries.
Guilliman also issued new command documents to the bishops, requiring them to go to various planets, spread the corrected distorted ideas of the Ecclesiarchy, and clear out the fanatics who had lost their minds and were committing cruel acts in the Emperor's name.
Any believers who did not comply with the revised scriptures would be declared servants of Chaos.
These despicable traitors would be hunted by the new Ecclesiarchy and Guilliman.
Guilliman stayed on Espandor for three weeks, solidifying his identity as the Emperor's sole representative and confirming the scriptures and main ideas of the new Ecclesiarchy.
A large number of fanatics were purged, and the extreme ideas of the Ecclesiarchy on the world of Espandor were forcibly corrected by Guilliman.
After dealing with the matters on Espandor, Guilliman returned to Macragge's Glory.
He could not stay on one planet for long; other places needed his salvation.
To consolidate his achievements, he required the bishops to report the progress of their missionary work to him regularly, as well as which worlds were not cooperating and needed him to mobilize the army to clear out the heretics.
Standing on the deck of Macragge's Glory, Guilliman looked out at the gradually shrinking planet of Espandor and couldn't help but sigh, "Things really are unpredictable. To think that I was the one who burned Monarchia back then, and now I am also the one who claims to be the sole representative of the Holy Emperor."
Fortunately, Lorgar, the Primarch of the Word Bearers, couldn't get out of the warp, otherwise he would surely be spitting blood with rage upon hearing Guilliman's words.
The Word Bearers Legion, Sequence Seventeen, were the earliest evangelists of the Imperium, and Lorgar even compiled the Lectitio Divinitatus to preach the Emperor's divinity.
The Word Bearers Legion could be said to be the most loyal legion to the Emperor during the early and middle stages of the Great Crusade.
Every world they conquered would undergo missionary work to ensure these worlds were pious towards the Emperor.
The most ironic point is that when the Word Bearers later rebelled, the worlds they had conquered became the Emperor's most loyal defenders.
Traitors often had to pay an extremely heavy price to conquer these worlds.
During the Great Crusade, the Word Bearers Legion built a perfect City of Faith called Monarchia to promote the Emperor's divinity.
Monarchia was filled with statues of the Emperor, poems praising him, and various scriptures.
This action completely angered the staunch supporter of atheism, the Emperor.
To punish Lorgar, the Emperor sent the Thirteenth Legion, which was the Ultramarines Legion led by Guilliman, and used orbital bombardment to erase the Monarchia.
And using his powerful psyker abilities, he forced Lorgar and the hundred thousand legionaries of the Word Bearers to kneel to him, Guilliman, and the Imperial Regent, Malcador.
After this incident, the Word Bearers and Ultramarines became enemies, and in the subsequent Battle of Sara, they retaliated against the Ultramarines, killing two hundred thousand Space Marines of the Thirteenth Legion, not to mention countless other ordinary soldiers and civilians.
Who could have imagined that after ten thousand years, the Emperor would sit on the Golden Throne, the traitor Primarchs would hide in the warp, and the loyal Primarchs would be dead or missing.
As the only active Primarch in the Imperium currently, Guilliman became the most legitimate representative of the Emperor, transforming into a symbol of the Emperor's divinity.
One has to say that fate is a cruel mistress.
"My lord, won't this approach cause problems? Religious differences can easily lead to war."
Sicarius looked at his master and asked with some trepidation.
"There will likely be some turmoil, but the problem should not be too great. To cure the tumor that is the Ecclesiarchy, there will inevitably be some pain," Guilliman said in a low voice, keeping his voice very quiet to ensure it would not be heard by others.
He could only say such things to his absolute confidantes like Sicarius.
If it were to spread, it would definitely cause a great disaster.
As the Emperor's representative, calling the Ecclesiarchy a tumor would inevitably cause countless believers to collapse and lead to great turmoil in the Imperium.
"My lord dislikes the Ecclesiarchy, so why not set about getting rid of it?" Phicris asked, confused.
"The roots of the Ecclesiarchy have already penetrated every area of the Imperium. Forcibly removing the Ecclesiarchy would instantly shatter the already precarious Imperium," Guilliman explained.
"We can only take it slow. By the way, transmit the order to Captain Brehek and have him correct the course. We are going to Talassa Prime."
"My lord, why are we going there? We haven't received any distress signals about Talassa Prime. That world should still be operating normally. The power of the Inquisition is still very strong, and daemons dare not easily enter their fortress worlds."
"I am not going to support them, but rather to make contact with the Inquisitors," Guilliman said. "I have a plan that requires their help to achieve. Of course, I may not find the right people, but I can first understand the current situation of the Inquisition and select some suitable candidates to work for me."
Guilliman had not forgotten that he needed a "white glove" for his plan.
He needed to find a few radical Inquisitors to help him develop some daemon spies.
The requirement wasn't high, just enough to have a general understanding of the movements of the Chaos Gods, otherwise, he would always be in the dark, waiting for the enemy to cause trouble, which was too passive.