Chapter 342: Hades Had Despaired, But Not Completely
"Desiring nothing… why?"
At last, a slightly relaxed voice sounded, as if telling Hysen not to be nervous.
Hysen trembled as he answered his deity:
"Lord Omnissiah, to wage holy war at Your side is already the fulfillment of our lifelong wish. As Your devout believers, how could we dare ask for more?"
He kept his head lowered, and felt the lord's eyes narrow slightly. A faintly doubtful voice followed:
"…So you mean that, to you, I myself am the reward?"
Hysen sensed something wrong in that question, but he didn't dare question the Omnissiah. He quickly replied:
"To serve You, to remain by Your side, that is the greatest blessing. We desire nothing else."
"That is good," Hades spoke. "I had thought you were without wants or needs. Magos, there is no true perpetual motion machine in this world. Even the Machine-God cannot comprehend a device that forever runs without fuel. I hope you understand that."
Hades paused.
"Do not blame yourself for any flaws that may appear in your words. What is your name, Archmagos of Salem?"
Hysen felt the burning gazes of the Magos behind him almost drilling holes through his back.
"Hysen, my lord. My name is Hysen."
"Good."
Hades fell silent for a moment, as if thinking.
"I grant the Forge World of Salem my trust. My true name is Hades, but a true name carries power. Unless absolutely necessary, I do not wish for you to use it."
Hades did not want this Forge World to end up accidentally linking itself to the Black Domain just by praying, and such an act would damage their souls. With the frequency these Tech-Priests prayed—like breathing—they would be dead within three days.
Hades patiently waited for the Magos before him to calm down from their new wave of ecstatic frenzy. This gave him a two-minute cooldown.
When Hysen's thought-engine finally became capable of processing again, Hades continued. Two minutes were enough for him to craft a decent explanation.
These Magos had already witnessed the Emperor manifest and Nightbringer being embraced, and remnants of Khorne's power still lingered on the ground. Hades could reveal to them some deeper foundational rules. This would aid his future plans—and also serve to warn the Magos early.
After all, this Forge World sat on the edge of the Maelstrom.
"Divinities act according to the rules and concepts that bind Them. Even false gods are shrouded by these veils."
Hades spoke with deliberate care, silently thanking Magos Yordan who had once forced him to memorize doctrine word for word. Hades recited a passage of prayer:
"The Omnissiah descends to the mortal realm; He is the presence that acts on behalf of the Machine-God, governing wisdom and truth—"
"That is correct, Hysen. Do you understand now?"
Hysen's logic engine automatically analyzed the vocabulary. He trembled as understanding dawned on him. He spoke softly, uncertain:
"My lord… do You mean that the path You walk is that of truth and wisdom?"
Hades nodded. As expected, the Magos automatically ignored—
"You have forgotten the most important point, Hysen."
"Hysen, I am the one who walks the earth as the agent…"
"Therefore, I act according to human rules."
From now on, whatever Hades said, he could pin the blame on humanity.
. . .
Hades sat silently in the hallway outside. On the other side of the door before him, a large-scale family-reunion scene was underway. This was already the third group of World Eaters rushing in to see the Primarch.
Hades had originally planned to take advantage of the momentum from tricking the Magos earlier and lay out all his intentions in one go. Unfortunately, he'd also realized that the Magos' thought-engines were about to overload. So Hades had no choice but to send them back to calm down first.
Hades still remembered how Archmagos Hysen had been so overwhelmed with excitement that he nearly collapsed. Hades had instinctively reached out to support him—only to then see, through a porthole, the Magos he had just sent away gathering in a dark corner… seemingly beating up the Archmagos.
Hades silently looked away. They probably wouldn't beat him to death. The Magos knew very well that changing their liaison was not a good idea.
He had already decided how to deal with this group. Since they considered serving the Omnissiah an honor… Hades would point them toward several "directions for advancement," disguised as divine commandments.
For example, digging up as many Necron Tomb Worlds as possible. Or developing their Forge World to the fullest and striving to become a dominant power of the Maelstrom. Or… researching methods of interstellar travel that did not rely on the Warp.
The Necrons indeed possessed navigation technology purely based on the physical universe, but those methods assumed that their passengers were sturdy enough to handle the stress. Humanity, obviously, could not survive the Necrons' brand of passenger-tormenting travel.
Hades slowly tried to excavate some "wisdom" from his mind, and he did find fragments. He could give the Magos these bits of knowledge afterward—but it was far from enough.
It was like knowing that a computer is made of chips—but first you'd have to know how chips are manufactured. And even if you knew how chips were made, without the proper processes and materials, you still couldn't produce the final product.
Physical-universe-based space travel involved thousands, even tens of thousands of foundational principles, along with unimaginable engineering and material requirements: assembly-line construction, mineral selection, worker training…
And for now, Hades could only tell them nonsense on the level of "a computer is made of a CPU, GPU, motherboard, memory, storage, and a power supply."
Maybe he shouldn't make things so hard for them. He needed to choose a goal that was a bit easier to achieve.
But in truth, ambitions had to be tied to reality.
And reality was that Hades currently could not leave the Maelstrom—"temporarily."
Because he had lost the Emperor-brand finger-bone Black Domain Suppressor. And the miracle he had hoped for—Angron helpfully spitting the finger bone back out the same way it went in—had not happened.
Hades wearily wiped a hand down his face.
He forcibly pushed aside the mental image of the half-digested finger bone flickering inside Angron's stomach. And over on the Emperor's side, the corresponding scene was probably an immersive VR gastric endoscopy (hopefully not a colonoscopy). Hades decided he would not think too deeply about it. Let someone else suffer.
Although he might, possibly, maybe, bear a tiny bit of responsibility.
But Hades maintained that the main responsibility was not his, and he had actively taken steps to remedy the situation afterward.
Unfortunately, he still could not locate the finger bone.
Ordinary scanning techniques were ineffective on a Primarch, and Hades obviously couldn't just cut Angron open.
And Primarchs apparently… didn't use toilets. Hades hadn't found anything like a "Primarch latrine" in the Death Guard or the World Eaters. And in all the time he'd spent with Mortarion, he had never once heard the Primarch say he needed the bathroom—
Hades suddenly realized why he'd always felt something was off. Mortarion had never once used "I need to go to the bathroom" as an excuse to escape paperwork.
What a pity. Paid bathroom breaks had once been one of Hades's signature talents.
Becoming a Primarch—and gaining enviably perfect digestive efficiency—had also cost them the perfect excuse for taking leave. Perhaps that was life: when you gain something, you lose something.
And when you lose something, you also gain something. For instance, upon realizing that the finger bone's final resting place was very likely Angron's stomach, Hades immediately sent Charon and Sister Nera to ask the Emperor what to do. He lost two capable assistants—but gained a long-missed tranquility.
He only hoped the Emperor's reply would come quickly.
And he also hoped the Emperor would not send Malcador along with the solution.
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