"So THIS is why you're crying on my leg like a damn fountain? I just lent my body to Saint Guilliman for a brief moment, and he managed to cause this much trouble?"
Emperor save me! I open my eyes to find an Astartes Chapter Master crying while hugging my leg!
Has Tzeentch blinded my eyes, or is the Emperor's black hand at work again?!
Let go of my leg! And don't wipe your snot on me, you bastard!
In fact, Saint Guilliman had withdrawn all his consciousness back into the fragment inside Sandilese's body as soon as he finished speaking his last word, just as he had mentioned—the time he could borrow Sandilese's body was limited.
This borrowing was merely a simple attempt. Months had passed, allowing his body to complete the integration with Saint Guilliman's fragment.
But the soul fragment's memories were vast. Without time to slowly digest them, he might have been driven insane by the immense memories lingering in the soul fragment.
However, when he regained control of his body from Saint Guilliman, he saw Malakim sobbing uncontrollably while hugging his leg.
Have you ever seen a seven-foot-tall man in power armor crying like a child while hugging someone's leg?
In that moment, Sandilese felt as if his eyes had been violated by some Tzeentchian daemon. How else could he be witnessing such a mind-shattering scene?
The shocking image had been deeply engraved in his mind—not even the most elite Inquisitor could erase this memory with a "Great Memory Deletion Technique."
"That was a misunderstanding. Everything you saw was nothing but a false illusion."
"If you can't lie properly, don't bother trying. Are you saying these wet spots on my pants are illusions too?"
Malakim could lie without even blinking, as if every word he spoke was truth.
Sandilese's gaze toward Malakim had already started turning strange. This guy wasn't just stubborn—from Sandilese's perspective, his face was as thick as a fortress wall.
You're telling me everything I saw was just a false illusion? Then how do you explain this wet patch on my trouser leg?
Don't tell me this is an illusion too.
If you dare tell me this is also an illusion, next time I'll have Saint Guilliman not say a single word to you and leave you abandoned in a corner like an unwanted son.
When everyone else can speak with their gene-father, you'll be thrown in a corner like a piece of grass, ignored by all, making you cry even more miserably than now.
You won't be allowed to attend Baal's father-son meeting!
"Ahem, let's not dwell on this matter. It's just a small incident. Weren't we heading to the spire?"
Although Malakim's expression remained calm, he was practically flipping tables in his mind.
Damn it! Don't make me stay here any longer—I'm losing all dignity as a Chapter Master!
Who knew this guy would regain control of his body so quickly? I didn't even have time to say goodbye to Father before the body's control was returned to Sandilese.
As a result, when I was crying at the end, I thought I was still hugging Father, but it turned out to be this guy!
And Sernai, if you keep snickering secretly, I'll stuff you inside a Dreadnought in the future!
After silently giving Malakim the middle finger behind his back, Sandilese recalled the route to find the remaining loyalists.
The overall situation on the planet Valentino was looking grim. The upper hive was essentially finished, with only the loyalists and those nobles who had been used and discarded remaining.
A small area around the elevator shaft in the lower hive was still under the control of the Planetary Defense Forces and the Lamenters Chapter, while the rest had fallen to the control of cultists.
Currently, only the middle hive remained relatively stable, though even there, the legal department's enforcers were still finding cultists who had infiltrated long ago.
"Follow me. I think I know where these guys are hiding. I must say, their hiding place is quite good. Without the route map, we probably would have had to search the entire upper hive to find where they're holed up."
Recalling the location shown on the route map, Sandilese's lips curled upward uncontrollably, as this was a place he was very familiar with.
The Ecclesiarchy's relic vault, storing all the precious relics the Ecclesiarchy possessed on Valentino, including an extremely valuable original printing of the Codex Astartes.
This was the codex written by the former Regent Guilliman to split the Astartes Legions, and also served as the tactical manual for Astartes in battle.
The Ecclesiarchy practically worshipped this original printing like an ancestral relic, but in his eyes, it was hardly different from toilet paper.
It restricted the flexibility of the Astartes Chapters, and parts of its content were no longer applicable in the current era. Ten thousand years was enough time to change many things—even a primarch-written codex couldn't remain useful forever.
The Ecclesiarchy's relic vault wasn't far from their current position. The vault was merely difficult to find, not located in some remote location.
After moving a large pile of debris that had obviously been deliberately placed there, a door barely over a meter tall appeared before Sandilese and Malakim.
"Untouchable bone powder? Those guys are using this stuff to suppress warp intrusion?"
Sandilese wiped his finger along the door crack. The grayish-white powder on his fingers was clearly bone powder, and upon contact, he felt his soul sink into silence, with only Saint Guilliman's fragment able to ignore this effect.
This was obviously the final gift left behind by some Untouchable after death.
"Is there a way to open this door from the outside?"
"There are plenty of ways to open it from outside—blowing it up counts as opening it too. But that way, we can't guarantee those Sisters inside won't rush out and give us a face full of melta."
In his memory, those battle-sisters from the Sororitas were a bunch of crazy women who didn't fear death. Once he had requested two battle-sisters to accompany him to the lower hive, but when they saw cultists, they charged even faster than he did.
From that point on, his overall impression of these Sisters changed from the gentle medicae and hospitaller Sisters to "the galaxy's battle-sisters."
Although he knew Sisters had different responsibilities, that was still his first time seeing these battle-sisters crush someone's skull with their biceps and chest muscles.
Speaking of these battle-sisters, don't they pride themselves as the Emperor's daughters? And that Van'dir once claimed they were the Emperor's wives?
Does our Emperor really prefer these battle-sisters?
Hmm, is the Emperor playing the field?
Sandilese felt that the moment this thought flashed through his mind, a powerful slap came from the distant void and struck his face.
In Malakim's eyes, Sandilese seemed to fly away out of nowhere. By the time he reacted, Sandilese was already half-buried in the debris.
"Quick, dig our father—I mean Sandilese—out."
In fact, even without Malakim's order, Sernai and the other battle-brothers had already rushed over and quickly removed all the debris from Sandilese.
"Damn it, some shameless bastard ambushed me."
The precise strike from the heavens above made Sandilese immediately understand who had delivered that slap.
Although the slap only made him a bit dizzy, his eyes now could see nothing except two figures—one gold and one red—pointing and gesturing at each other while sitting on chairs.
(Khorne: Last time the SSR was yours, this time give him to me!)
(Emperor: If you want it, come and take it yourself—you know how it works!)
Malakim was about to step forward to check on Sandilese's condition, but the vault door behind him was opened from the inside at that moment.
After aiming his melta pistol named "Interrogator" at the people in the vault, his well-used bloodied broadsword was also prepared for battle.
"Please remain calm. We are not your enemies."
"The Emperor has already bestowed His great will upon us. We will follow your orders."
Appearing in Malakim's field of vision was a young battle-sister, with a group of wounded personnel behind her.
Besides the Planetary Governor's guards, there was also a batch of other battle-sisters dressed identically to the one before him.
"Report your name. I need to know which order you belong to."
Malakim lowered his Interrogator, and the broadsword that had been half-drawn was resheathed.
Since the distinctive insignia on the battle-sister before him was missing, he couldn't determine which order she belonged to.
First ruling out the Bloody Rose—those women who rivaled the Flesh Tearers wouldn't hide in a vault. They would rather die in battle than retreat a single step.
"Alexia? I thought you had been transferred to another convent."
Sandilese's voice caught both Malakim and Alexia's attention. Supported by Sernai, he looked at Alexia and then told Malakim the name of the order.
"Order of the Martyred Lady. Alexia was one of the two battle-sisters who entered the lower hive with me back then."
"I'm greatly honored that you still remember my name."
Alexia gave a standard salute to Sandilese, though not the Aquila salute, but rather the Ecclesiarchy's ritual.
The Sisters of Battle were armed forces under the Ecclesiarchy. At the end of the Age of Apostasy, the High Lords Council stripped the Ecclesiarchy of its right to maintain armed forces, but uniquely left the Sisters of Battle intact.
This was because the battle-sisters first swore loyalty to the Emperor, and only secondarily to the Ecclesiarchy.
They could be the fighting force of the Ecclesiarchy, but they were also the Emperor's monitors, ensuring the Ecclesiarchy wouldn't stray from the righteous path.
"Are you all that's left of the loyalists in the upper hive? Where's Salazar? I don't see him."
"My lord, Salazar has been martyred."
Sandilese's eyes contracted slightly at this moment.
The Planetary Governor's guards are still here, but now you're telling me the Planetary Governor is gone?
Does that even make sense?
"How did Salazar die? That man wasn't like those spineless nobles who can't even tie their own shoes. He was nearly inducted into the Inquisition."
"Lord Salazar led the limited guards to the Astropathic Choir. At the final moment, he sent out a distress signal, but at the cost of Lord Salazar's life."
"Was he killed by cultists?"
"No, my lord. It was more painful than that. Lord Salazar had powerful psychic abilities. To ensure the distress message could be received, he ignited his psychic powers to strengthen the astropathic message's transmission range."
Only silence followed. Sandilese silently blessed his friend, hoping he would return to the Golden Throne.
His relationship with the old man Valentin and Salazar had been quite good. They were once known as the Trident of Valentino, but now only he remained to manage affairs.
"Can your people still move? We can't stay in the upper hive much longer. We need to leave for the middle hive."
"Most people can still move, but there are still some severely wounded who have lost their mobility. Moving them hastily would only end their last chance at survival."
Sandilese peered into the vault. Indeed, there were more than a dozen injured lying on the ground who could no longer move. The most severely wounded had lost a leg and an arm, with excessive blood loss leaving them hanging by a thread.
The situation of the other severely wounded wasn't optimistic either. Even the one with the lightest injuries among them still had wounds that were slowly bleeding.
"The situation doesn't look good... these people can't be moved."
Now a very realistic problem presented itself. If they were to leave, these severely wounded would have to stay behind. But if they didn't leave... well, not leaving wasn't an option, or everything they had done so far would be in vain.
"My lord, don't worry about us. Just take us to the elevator shaft to the middle hive, and we can still serve our final purpose."
"That's right. We won't become a burden, and we don't allow ourselves to become one."
"Take us to the elevator shaft. After you leave, we will destroy the shaft's operating structure, delaying the enemy's entry into the middle hive."
The severely wounded who could still speak were very calm. They did not fear sacrifice but were solely concerned about becoming a liability that might cause others to sacrifice themselves.
If they were to return to the Golden Throne alone, they would be filled with glory.
But if others were to die because of them, they would only feel guilty.
"For those we cherish, we die in glory."
"Sixteen years ago, a Chapter Master said these words to us when we were still in the military academy."
"And now, it is time for us to embrace glory."
Why does this creed sound so familiar?
Sandilese silently shifted his gaze to Malakim. If his memory served him correctly, this should be the creed consistently upheld by the Lamenters Chapter.
In fact, not only Sandilese but even Malakim himself was now looking in surprise at the severely wounded man lying on the ground.
The man had lost his left arm and leg but still faced the situation calmly.
Such injuries on an Astartes might allow them to be placed in a Dreadnought after the battle.
But on a mortal, they could directly cost them their life. Even if they miraculously survived, they would be left half-crippled for the rest of their days.
"That was sixteen years ago, at the Gasrilan Military Academy in the abandoned eastern district of Valentino. We were still studying military skills at that academy, and the arrival of that Chapter Master gave us a life-changing baptism."
"Now, meeting you again marks our eternal parting."
Malakim silently walked to the severely wounded man, then knelt down to examine his injuries.
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