I was still momentarily at a loss of words until it dawned onto me. In their perspectives, knowing that someone backstabbed me was simply something they couldn't tolerate.
Furthermore, they don't know what I did about Ollanius still being trustworthy. After all, he did confront the original Emperor and convinced him to not give in and become the Dark King to defeat the heavily empowered Horus.
In the next moment, both Valdor and Alpharius spoke and what they said confirmed what I now realized.
"My Liege," Valdor stated, with cold fury slowly building in his tone. "Allow me to lead the Custodes in full force, to hunt down and execute Ollanius."
Alpharius, whose body was rigid with anger said, "I agree. He dared to betray and stab you, such a person can not be allowed back at your side. If he dared to do it once, he will do it again and that is something we must not allow. He must die."
Jenetia, used thoughtmark and conveyed, "There are still multiple cadre's of Sisters of Silence, outside the palace who can be immobilized at once to track down Ollanius."
I sighed at their words, because what they said was reasonable, but Ollanius had to be brought back. He was an extremely experienced commander that I very much needed.
"He will not be tried for what he has done," I said to them solemnly. "Ollanius, is someone who strongly believes in humanity, he is invaluable as a commander, and I have faith that there will never be a time when he backstabs me again. I will resolve the issues between us and he will serve me once again."
"Father you shouldn't let sentiー" Alpharius began, but I cut him off.
"My son," I said in an assuring tone. "I appreciate your anger on my behalf, but this is a matter on which I will not change my mind. It was my own actions that led to what happened and I never once blamed him."
I then turned my head to gaze at Valdor, Alpharius, and Jenetia and said, "Let this matter rest, all of you… In time, you all will see the merit in my decision."
The three of them nodded their heads reluctantly.
I let out a sharp exhale and continued, "The guardsmen who served me during the Unification Wars, the Lucifer Blacks, will be repurposed into becoming a secret police. They will be enforcers that ensure the nobles of every world are brought into compliance, after the Great Crusade begins, knows their limits and kills whoever dares to cross the line.
The Lucifer Blacks will henceforth be known as the Inquisition and when I resolve the matter with Ollanius, he will lead them as the Grand Inquisitor. The Inquisition will only answer to the Adeptus Custodes, Sisters of Silence, Primarchs, Malcador, and I. As for Grand Inquisitor Ollanius, only Malcador, Valdor, Jenetia and I can command him. Any objections or questions related to the Inquisition?"
Only Alpharius indicated that he had something to say. I gave him a slight nod to signal to him to say what he wanted.
"I believe that the Primarchs should be allowed to command any of the Inquisition," said Alpharius, and I was stunned for a moment at his words.
Surprisingly, I was the only one stunned by this. Everyone else, especially Malcador, indicated their approval of what Alpharius said.
Malcador, who was currently looking at Alpharius with approval written on his face and said to him, "Let us hear your reasoning."
Alpharius nodded and continued, "Father, earlier you told us you saw a vision where half of your sons will betray you and start a rebellion. This implies that the worlds that they brought into compliance most likely sided with them or were forced to, which would bolster their forces over all.
Therefore, to prevent even the slightest possibility of this occurring, all Primarchs should be denied governance over a certain number of worlds and denied control over special forces like the Inquisition. In fact, the Inquisition should double as your ears, anything that the Primarchs wish to do to a world, should go through the Inquisition, then be forwarded to you or Malcador for approval."
After he made his statement, there was silence once again in the room as we all contemplated what he had said.
Honestly, I was surprised at how he managed to almost suggest exactly what happened in the first timeline with the original Emperor.
In that timeline the Emperor and Malcador had allowed the Primarchs to govern their respective homeworlds and the sector around it, but expressed their intent on not allowing any Primarchs or Asartes to have power over humanity in the post-war future.
As for the reason why?
They both viewed the Primarchs and Astartes as tools meant only to complete the Great Crusade.
Furthermore, transhuman rule wasn't suitable for governing humanity long term and the majority of the Primarchs and Astartes wouldn't understand a thing about politics and would expect ordinary mortals to be able to live just like them.
That's why the Emperor and Malcador were building towards phasing out the Primarch's control and bringing in civilians.
However, that is something I'll work my way around, that whole ordeal of Primarchs being denied governance over worlds they brought into compliance was one of the many things that drove some of them into rebellion.
I glanced to my right and saw Malcador practically glowing in approval of what Alpharius said. Across from me, Valdor and Jenetia also showed approval and looked at Alpharius in a new light.
I sighed aloud and said, "Your point is clear, but I can not do that. As an Emperor, I recognize that allowing the Primarchs to govern worlds will lead to undesired consequences. But, as a Father, I see children who simply need to be educated on certain matters. I will allow the Primarchs to govern and have control over certain forces under my command. Though, this privilege will not be given right away, every Primarch that is found, must stay by my side for 10 years to learn what they must know."
Alpharius's eyes seemed to sparkle a bit before nodding in agreement.
"With this settled, I will now address the final matter."
I announced it to everyone and continued.
"Amongst the missing Primarchs, there are four of them I must retrieve before it is too late. The 2nd Primarch Gideon Pyrrhus, 8th Primarch Konrad Curze, 12th Primarch Angron, and the 14th Primarch Mortarion. All of them will suffer in different ways, that will bind their fate towards eternal damnation and I will not accept that. No matter the cost, they must be found before it is too late."
I looked to my right at Malcador and said, "This will require me, you, and Erda to work together and create multiple warp rifts leading to where these four Primarchs currently are. When we succeed in retrieving these four Primarchs. We will have to defend against the four and the countless other chaos daemons trying to prevent our success and the closure of the warp rift we will open."
Next, I looked over to Trazyn and said, "This is where I will require your help in facing off against the four. Particularly if you possess a Blackstone Pylon, I'd like to borrow it to aid in closing the warp rifts. State what you want in return for your aid."
Trazyn looked at me and seemed to be lost in thought.
"I indeed possess Blackstone Pylons," Trazyn said, while using his staff to show images of the blackstone pylons he had. "But it really won't help you in repelling the warp after retrieving your spawns. Four warp rifts are beyond what my Blackstone Pylons can handle."
At that, I made an expression that greatly unnerved everyone present. It was a slight smile, but this smile didn't reach my eyes. This was a smile made from malice, malice that promised misery to whoever it was directed at.
In the next moment, I uttered two lines that greatly worried everyone present.
"I do not intend on using it to repel the warp, instead… I want the warp to be amplified. I will give them a greeting that they will never forget."
The room was once again enveloped in utter silence, everyone was staring at me with gazes full of shock and dread.
Trazyn was the first to break the silence with a grating mechanical laugh, "Ha HA HAA… Your hubris is truly the greatest I've ever witnessed. But, I am truly intrigued to see how you repel those parasitic warp contagions. Being able to witness your success or failure will be considered what I take in return for aiding you."
Hearing that made me feel satisfaction, it can now be confirmed that I have roped in Trazyn and all that I needed to do now, was to continue to build up our connections as allies.
I took a look at everyone else to see if they have recovered and I reached out to sense what their current emotions are.
To my right, Malcador was looking up at the ceiling, looking as if he regretted everything. From him, I felt annoyance aimed towards me. Which is fair considering everything I have done so far. I decided that I will find a way to give him a week vacation, he truly deserved a break.
Looking over to my left, Alpharius's eyes seemed to be sparkling even more and my instincts told me not to sense what he was thinking.
Jenetia was motionless and when I sensed her thoughts. Her thoughts were full of worry that I was going to end up injured again. This feeling of a daughter feeling concerned that her father was doing something risky again, was truly a great feeling.
Lastly, from Valdor I only felt conviction, he seems to have quickly accepted everything and is mentally mapping how he will lead the custodians and sisters of silence in this endeavor. As expected of Valdor, he can have little moments of emotion, then it's right back to being serious.
"With this," I said, while dispersing the warp field around us. "This meeting can be considered adjourned for until the start of the Great Crusade. Malcador and Trazyn, I require the both of you to stay for a bit longer."
After I said that, Alpharius, Valdor, and Jenetia all rose up from their chairs and started to walk out to return to their duties and begin their own preparations for what is to come.
Once they were all gone, I looked towards Trazyn and said, "I know of your fondness for "collecting" whatever interests you and due to our current alliance. It wouldn't be appropriate if you continued to try and collect everything from my species that interests you. But, I know that regardless you will still do so the moment I look away. So, I wish to propose a game between us, are you interested?"
Trazyn raised an eyebrow at this and a very unnatural smile formed on his face.
He then scoffed and said, "You are slandering me and let's say hypothetically, if I did do this "collecting" you speak of. Why would I simply stop it because we are allies and why should I entertain a game?"
I gave him a slight smile and said, "If I wished it so, I can collect your most precious collections."
All I got in return was a mocking smile from Trazyn who then said, "I have enough defenses in place that can even hold you in place for a single moment and that is all I would need to safely gather the items of my Museum of Solemnace and send it away.
Internally I laughed and thought, 'Heh.. Who said anything about your Museum of Solemnace? As a fellow collector I know for a fact you wouldn't keep everything of value in one single place.'
At that moment, for the first time in a long while I internally asked Big E a question, the collection of knowledge of the Emperor of Mankind from the 39,999 other timelines.
'What are the coordinates of Trazyn's secret vault, the one he has kept hidden from even Orikan.'
[On a heavily isolated planet in the Veiled Region, SOT 3827-XRS-🝯🝬🝘🝠🝖🝏🝞🝃🜶]
I repeated the coordinates to Trazyn and watched in amusement as his smile quickly faded and his face returned to being emotionless.
Trazyn let out a sigh and said, "Fine, let me hear the terms of this game of yours."
"Long ago there was a game called Cops and Robbers," I said while ignoring the stunned looks Trazyn and Malcador gave me. "We shall play a game similar to it, every year we will pick out one month, in which during said month. We still try to "collect" something from each other's vault. If I manage to catch you in the act, you must give me an item instead, still will also work vice versa. Do you agree to these terms and do you consent to me providing an example of this to you?"
All I got was two sighs after I said that, one from Malcador who seemed to be questioning whether he truly knew me. And the other was from Trazyn who was bewildered at the absurdity of this game I proposed.
A moment later Trazyn said, "That is preposterous, choose something else."
I replied, "I must insist that we play this game, consider it an icebreaker between a pair of future friends."
If Trazyn still had a body of flesh, his eyes would have bulged at hearing such nonsense, but all he did was scoff and suggest otherwise.
For the next half an hour, it was a constant back and forth between Trazyn and me, with him constantly refusing to entertain such a game and me repeatedly trying to convince him.
Meanwhile, Macaldor who was forced to sit and listen to all of this. Decided that he will just look out the window and pray that this farce would end soon.
Finally, after a while, Trazyn couldn't stand it anymore and glared at me with irritation glowing in his eyes and said, "Is this childish game truly important to you?"
"Indeed, it is," I affirmed, while using the warp to show a quick warp hologram of this game being played. "How about this? I will drop this matter if you consent to me performing an example of this game as the robber and you as the cop. I promise it will be worth your time."
"Fine, I give my consent, go ahead and play this utterly ridiculous game of yours," Trazyn said as he finally conceded, with exasperation in his mechanical tone. "Afterwards, we will move on to the real negotiation on this topic."
After hearing exactly what I wanted, without wasting a second, I immediately exerted immense psychic power and forced a teleport near Trazyn's museum.
Next, I forced my way into the museum and encountered one of Trazyn's proxies, necron bodies that he stores his consciousness in and can switch which body he possesses.
Looking at Trazyn, I said to him, "As I previously said, the robber has to take an item without the other catching them. This means the cop has to witness the robber with their own eyes steal the item or even items."
I pointed behind him, towards a lone Tyranid frozen in a stasis field and said, "It moved again."
Trazyn immediately turned around in alarm and using the warp, I grabbed hold of several xeno artifacts including a necron ship and a deposit of blackstone.
Then, I promptly teleported away before Trazyn could turn back around, I continued to teleport and dropped off my newest collections in the Dark Cells.
Once I handed them over to the Shadowkeepers, custodians in black armor who guard and maintain the Dark Cells. I teleported back to the room in Malcador's tower.
Back in the tower, Malcador was looking at Trazyn in confusion, because within mere moments, Trazyn had gone from calm to furiously cursing in ancient necrontyr language.
He didn't know that I pulled one of the oldest tricks in the book on Trazyn and collected some items from him.
Trazyn turned towards me, the optics in his eyes were flicking and he was making a strange clicking sound.
He was trembling in anger I never knew necrons could exhibit and he pointed a finger out at me and said, "You said it was an example and plus I was there to witness it. Return what you have taken, do you even know how long it took me to collect those particular items?! Moreover I can't allow you to gain access to necron technology just like that."
In response I scoffed at him and said, "I recall you explicitly giving your consent to me performing an example of this game to you. And I clearly told you that the cop has to witness the robber in the act. Tell me… Did you see me take anything with your own eyes? You gave your consent, I hope you're not the kind of necron to go back on their words."
Trazyn clenched both of his fists and slowly calmed down, then said in a defeated tone, "Using the pretext of a game, wearing down my patience, tricking me with an old trick. All to get what you wanted from my museum, are you truly a human and not secretly a shard of the Great Deceiver?"
I gave a light chuckle at that and replied, "If anything the Great Deceiver would be a fragment of myself."
At that, Trazyn just shook his head.
"In truth what I really wanted to say," I said to Trazyn, adopting a more serious attitude. "Is that I can tolerate you "collecting" from humanity, but I will not tolerate you "collecting" anyone of close relation to any of the Primarchs or the Primarchs themselves. If any of my custodians or sisters of silence are close to dying, I can even turn a blind eye to you "collecting" them. Certain items and beings in the Dark Cells are completely off limits. Everytime you "collect" I will note it down and I just may end up "collecting" things of equal value from you. Do you agree to this pact?"
Trazyn raised an eyebrow again and questioned me, "You would allow me to "collect" the custodians and sisters of silence? Do you not consider them to also be your children?"
I exhaled slowly and continued, "If being "collected" by you saves them from death, then it is worthwhile. Besides who says I won't just "collect" them back from you?"
There was a brief silence and then we both laughed.
"It truly is rare to meet a fellow collector, this was a nice evening and it seems I have much to learn when it comes to shamelessly "collecting."
I smiled and said, "Of course, you have been alive for a long time, but you've been far too conservative. That conservatism of yours allowed me to completely outrank you in experience in "collecting" what I want."
"You better always keep an eye open then, my friend. There will come a day when you don't realize what I may have "collected" from humanity."
Said Trazyn as he got up and made his way out.
"We'll see about that," I replied.
Once he was gone, it was now just Malcador and I in the room.
Before Malcador could ask, I spoke first and said, "I know exactly what you want to ask and don't worry. I'm not resorting to becoming the Dark King, I have something else in mind."
All Malcador could do was sigh again. This meeting has given him way too many shocks at once.
"For the next six months," I said to Malcador, while looking out the window in the direction of the Astronomican. "I will be working on phase 1 of my plan, which requires me to make some changes to the Astronomican. During that time, I need you to begin the induction of the Librarians and Chaplains. When I am free later, I will take over the training of the Chaplains. Also, deliver a message to Erda and Ollanius, that I will visit both of them soon."
After saying that, I teleported directly to the Astronomican to begin my work.
-To Be Continued...
(A/N: Pretty tired when I wrote this, wanted to force this out cause I won't be free again until Saturday. So there may be more mistakes than usual in this chapter.
Well, the 2nd Primarch is here and will be introduced later (Probably 6 chapters from now) along with my reason as to why he was "lost." His name may or may not give you a hint.
Also I posted all the information chapters along with images. Webnovel gave me an aneurysm when I posted the photos because I watched Webnovel in real time switch out images I posted with completely different images. WHY DOES IT DO THAT?)