Chapter 393

Vortex Space Gate's "lower right" edge, about over two thousand light-years away lies the Human Empire's widest range, with all colonies' "basic facilities" complete, territory almost the entire star region, even bordering the Devout Star Region adjacent to Sacred Terra.

And the core of that star region was originally the Limit Legion's Five Hundred Worlds, its capital planet was formerly the Limit Legion's homeworld, Makulage.

After Robert Jiriman was killed by the corrupted Angelong, the Limit Legion was then focus-fired by traitors and suffered utter annihilation, whereupon Luojia Aorui Lian and its Word Bearers Legion seized the opportunity to occupy the Five Hundred Worlds and gradually evolved into today's Devout Star Region.

And Makulage was personally named Edilos by Luojia.

Over the next two hundred and forty years, the Word Bearers Legion, with the aid of the Chaos Gods and Demons, and thanks to their eloquence, or through corruption, or by forcing human inhabitants, became the most steadfast and faithful followers of Chaos.

With faith and followers, Luojia and its Word Bearers, while extremely efficiently expanding steadily, also frantically undertook extremely unconventional construction.

Every hive world, agricultural world, and forge world has countless altars, temples, and statues of the gods (Chaos Gods), demigods (traitor Primarchs), and angels (Chaos Astate).

Therefore, the Devout Star Region has the most "garden" worlds; in other words, these colonies called "garden" are used for sacrifice and worship as "tourist" planets.

Naturally, the present Human Empire hardly has any citizens with the means and leisure to travel; most of the time, garden worlds are used by the Word Bearers to hold grand ceremonies and revelries.

At this moment.

Within the gravitational range of former Makulage, now Edilos.

Looking from tens of thousands of kilometers away, one can see that approximately 75% of the surface is covered by intersecting mountain ranges and frigid highlands, while the remainder consists of sparkling oceans.

Though the environment appears pleasant, in reality the entire planet has suffered severe corruption.

The mountain ranges are covered by various large, living, vessel-like plants; cities situated on the highlands and plains are further shrouded in a hazy purple-pink mist; as for the oceans…

Indeed it is sparkling, but not the clear blue kind; instead it presents a strange dark red, like a "blood‑sea".

After two hundred and forty years of desecration, Edilos is no longer the former "azure" and "emerald"; at this point it has completely deteriorated into the Human Empire's filthiest, most foul-smelling place, yet is revered by Chaos followers as the lifelong pursuit of a "holy land".

After all, as long as one worships the Chaos Gods and Demons, Edilos and the Devout Star Region are the most enchanting, yearned‑for sacred realm.

Furthermore, the Human Emperor Helusi Lupekarl, because the Devout Star Region provides taxes, resources, troops, and gene‑seed, accounting for about forty percent of the Human Empire, therefore he strongly assists his brother Luojia Aorui Lian in promoting the New Imperial Truth throughout the empire, causing more and more imperial citizens to believe in the Chaos Gods and Demons.

However, among the many traitor Primarchs, there are indeed some independent‑minded brothers, such as Conrad Koz, and the Dark Star Region even refuses to accept the spread of the New Imperial Truth.

No need to guess; one can see that Koz's relationship with Luojia is not close, and can be said that Koz is very unfamiliar with any brothers, even having had conflicts.

However, the Dark Star Region's tax revenue ranks second only to that of the Devout Star Region, and it actively cooperates with the empire's new policies aside from Chaos faith; therefore, as long as Koz does not overstep, Helusi will turn a blind eye.

But Helusi never expected that Koz would so easily surrender and hand over an important imperial star region.

In Edilos's low orbit and gravitational range, countless mutated warships and defense platforms are moored.

Roughly speaking, of the over thirty thousand warships, more than half have spikes protruding from the outer hull, bear Chaos symbols in their paint, and belong to the Word Bearers and human scum.

The remainder, although similarly mutated and twisted, likewise bearing Chaos symbols and paint, are actually enveloped by a miasmal oil‑green "haze", and upon close inspection one can see swarms of "mosquito‑insects" buzzing around.

Even in an environment filled with high‑intensity radiation or the cold vacuum of space, there somehow exists a "haze" and "mosquito‑insects"!!

This is clearly a unit blessed by the Chaos Gods, and very likely directly blessed by Nurgle, while among all traitor legions, the one whose personal "odor" is most despised is the Death Guard led by Mortarion.

According to the original battle plan, Mortarion needed to personally lead his sons to the Nuxia star system, prepare to join with Angelong and the World Eaters, then launch a strike against the main universe expeditionary force at the Vortex Space Gate.

However, no one could have imagined that those who had warp‑assisted travel, greatly shortening interstellar transit time, would be utterly defeated in speed when compared to main‑universe humanity.

The assault failed and they were beaten instead.

The World Eaters were utterly annihilated, Angelong was captured for study, and even without a retreat order from Helusi, Mortarion would have halted his legion's advance.

Afterwards, Mortarion and the Death Guard drifted through the warp for nearly six Shensheng Tala days, finally reaching the "god‑brother" Edilos.

At that moment.

A transport formation whose fuselages and wings were covered in pustules and living auxiliary mouths departed the legion fleet, swiftly entered Edilos's atmosphere, heading for the equator on the sunlit side of the surface.

Not long after.

The transport formation then passed through the thick cloud layer and arrived at a huge city built on the northern shore of the ocean, boasting numerous dazzling structures, towering obelisks and memorial towers, as well as an expansive temple and altar complex.

At a superficial glance, the city seems entirely lovely, with people walking the streets all kneeling in worship at altars and temples, dressed in fine garments, laughing and chatting as they move about, giving the impression that both material and spiritual life of the inhabitants are quite prosperous.

But these are merely surface appearances…

The flight squadron swooped low over the city, circled once, and finally landed in succession at the central landing pad.

Moreover, even though the landing pad is for military use, the Word Bearers and faithful have renovated it into an extremely luxurious model, with gold thread inlaid between the tiles.

The hatch opened.

The Death Guard, reeking of foul odor and surrounded by flies, disembarked from the flight squadron and set foot on Edilos's surface.

Though they should be a group of sturdy Astate, after attracting the Chaos Gods' attention and receiving the gods' "hard" Blessing regardless of their own will, the current Death Guard are all bloated, their ceramic armor strained by their bodies, and green‑yellow pus oozes from the joints.

Among this Death Guard are a hundred wearing what looks like soaked‑through Terminator armor, their skin, flesh, and even bones fused with it.

These are the "Death Shrouds", the Honor Guard of the OriginalBody.

At the forefront of his sons, the most conspicuous and massive figure is Mortarion, his body swollen to six meters tall, surrounded by corrupting plague flies and toxic fumes, wielding a scythe.

"Hah, a bunch of god‑bothers."

Mortarion sensed the false serenity of Edilos, and seeing the mortals kneeling before "them", he couldn't help uttering a thick‑nasaled scorn, seemingly quite displeased with the environment and atmosphere here.

After all, even before the rebellion, Mortarion had criticized Magnus for his use of Spiritual Energy, and he himself was one of the staunchest opponents of using Spiritual Energy, essentially loathing and resisting the warp as an OriginalBody.

However, the Death Guard legion and its OriginalBody were marginalized by the Empire, denied due respect and reward, which caused Mortarion to harbor grievances.

But this was not the direct cause of his choosing to betray; rather, it was due to the Emperor's various experiments with the warp and Spiritual Energy, combined with his attitude toward him and his fellow brothers, that made Mortarion feel betrayed.

When the corrupted Helusi exploited the brotherly bond between him and Mortarion, amplifying Mortarion's resentment and doubts toward the Emperor, Mortarion ultimately chose to overthrow the Tyrant, dismantle the Empire's existing regime, and prepare to establish a new order with Helusi.

However, the warp‑ and Spiritual Energy‑hating him was actually schemed against by his subordinates, causing the entire legion to suffer corruption, and he himself was forced to strike a deal with the Chaos Gods to save himself and his legion.

Although the deal included erasing the treacherous subordinates who had plotted against him, sadly he and his legion's progeny can never return to what they once were.

Once‑clean, shining armor has rotted and collapsed, the once‑fit, muscular physique turned into bloated bodies covered in pustules, and, ironically, after becoming neither human nor ghost, their weapons and power armor have been bolstered by Chaos power, making their combat ability far surpass what it was before.

Thus, the warp‑hating Mortarion, due to his bodily decay and inner torment, feels no fondness for the Word Bearers and the Devout Star Region; merely refraining from striking out, engaging in fratricide, and slaughtering the mortal faithful of Chaos would already be enough to save face for Luojia.

Furthermore, he clearly distinguishes right from wrong; at present all brothers and all legions must unite outward to jointly resolve the human invasion from another universe.

Only then did Mortarion and his retinue of veterans just leave the landing pad when a company of similarly mutated Word Bearers, their husks harboring demons, advanced to meet them.

Leading this company is a figure clad in exclusive Terminator power armor, with an aged visage and a deceitful appearance, who also shows an ugly smile and says, "Honored commander of the Death Guard, I am Kolphren, captain of the Word Bearers' First Company; Aurelian has been waiting for you in the Hall of the Gods for quite some time."

"…"

Upon hearing this, Motarian lowered his head and gazed down at the thing called Kefalun, remaining silent; due to his swollen face he could not discern the OriginalBody's expression, but from his fierce gaze it was clear he was very displeased.

Finally.

Motarian still ignored Kefalun, directly leading his progeny forward, toward the not‑far‑ahead Hall of Gods that covered a vast area.

As for the ignored Kefalun, he paid no heed to these details, commanding his legion to march on.

Soon, this bunch of depraved giants arrived at the square where tens of thousands of believers had gathered.

Afterwards, they accepted the believers' kneeling salute, passed through the square, stepped over the stairs, and reached the platform that led to the hall of the temple.

At this moment, Motarian signaled the guards and veterans to wait here; he prepared to have a good discussion with his brother Luojia, with whom relations were not great but still fraternal.

But that Kefalun actually wanted to come along, preparing to listen to the conversation between the two OriginalBodies?!

Then…

With a "Bang!", Motarian swung his scythe at unfathomable speed, using the back of the blade to control the force and flung Kefalun flying over thirty meters.

"Get lost, you have no say in what comes next, you disgusting thing." Motarian cursed.

Although Motarian's appearance is far more disgusting than Kefalun's, in mind and thought Kefalun is one of the galaxy's most notorious scoundrels; after all, it was this fellow, together with another renowned thinker, who first turned to Chaos, corrupted Luojia, schemed against Helusi, and sparked the civil war of the Human Empire.

It can be said that the deaths of countless billions of humanity, and the rapid swelling of warp power, among other things, all trace back to Kefalun and that other thinker.

Moreover, that utterly damned thinker, joining forces with the long‑vanished traitors, is what completely corrupted him and the Death Guard.

If it weren't for Helusi pressing down from above, and his reluctance to harm him and Luojia, and thus affect the relationship between the Death Guard and the thinker, Motarian might have actually slain Kefalun on the spot and then gone after the other thinker who was hiding from him.

After disciplining the impudent underling, Motarian passed through the thinkers who had heightened their guard against him and went straight to the temple hall.

He entered.

He saw that on both sides of the spacious, gilded hall stood towering statues of the gods, carved and crafted by the finest artisans of Edilius.

There were lascivious decadents, armor‑clad horrors, and dozens of other divine spirits.

In contrast, Luojia Aurulian — his brother whose skin bore the faintly glowing chaos sigils and markings, dressed in luxurious armor — was kneeling on both knees before the left‑hand statue, offering fervent prayer.

Seeing this, Motarian felt disgust but nevertheless approached Luojia patiently and said, "Luojia, my legion and I need a brief respite; moreover, I suggest you promptly raise Edilius's defenses."

"Don't worry, my brother." Luojia glanced at Motarian, then declared solemnly, "No enemy can breach our layered defenses — listen carefully, there is no…"

"Boom!!"

However, the tremendous noise from a crashing warship's emergency landing rang out, cutting off Luojia's words.

(End of chapter)