Chapter 246: Doraemon, Grant Me Wisdom! (4000 Words)

Serestine fell into a brief, eerie silence, her wings lowered, her figure flickering in and out of view, her gaze drifting as if caught between dream and wakefulness.

Leina involuntarily turned her eyes toward Serestine, sensing that the subspatial nature within her was growing distinct—she seemed to be sinking deeper into the subspatial realm.

Leina saw—

she saw Serestine's body slowly sinking into the ochre sky, sinking into the battlefield and the charnel house—

countless bones piled into mountains, and what chilled Leina was that every single corpse bore Serestine's face—

as if this Living Saint left behind one corpse upon this hill of the dead each time she died and was reborn.

"My Lord!" Serestine shook the twilight-orange sky, crying out: "Reveal Yourself!"

The corpses began to writhe; the flesh, organs, and bones blanketing the world layered upon one another, interlocking like puzzle pieces to form a flesh-and-bone idol.

Leina's body trembled involuntarily—

watching the desiccated skin fragments slowly cling to the flesh idol, giving it form—

and thus Leina recognized its identity: the idol of the Emperor, a statue forged from corpses and death.

This form stirred in Leina the memory of the Cult of the Dead on Asford.

How could the Holy Emperor and the Living Saint appear in such a form?

Could it be that the Cult of the Dead's worship of the Emperor was correct?

Or was it true, as Lady Grayfax had said, that Serestine had truly been corrupted by the Warp?

The idol slowly opened its eyelids, woven from human skin—two hollow, black eyes like two cold, dark suns—

Leina faintly heard the Emperor's voice—

Primordial Power.

"Doraemon."

"The Triple Will of Omicron Mithra."

Doraemon?

Leina froze, then widened her eyes slightly—

Zhou Yun?!

But before Leina could think further, the suspended Saint Serestine slowly opened her eyes—

and the layered illusions vanished before Leina's gaze.

Serestine turned to Belisarius Cawl, yet her gaze held hesitation—as if she herself did not fully comprehend the revelation granted by the Emperor.

"What did you see?" Judge Grayfax's gaze pierced Serestine: "Those lasers—was that mysterious aid you called hope?"

Serestine fell silent for a moment, then shook her head: "No."

"We received aid—but not from the Emperor, nor from the hope you have followed under my leadership."

As she spoke, Serestine's gaze settled on Belisarius Cawl:

"This aid came from the one you worship."

"The Emperor is Omicron Mithra," Belisarius Cawl replied calmly.

As a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Belisarius Cawl had believed for ten thousand years that the Emperor was Omicron Mithra.

"Have you forgotten that Omicron Mithra has Three Wills?" Serestine shook her head, softly asking Cawl.

Belisarius Cawl clearly hesitated for a moment.

Leina had once heard Zhou Yun say—

that the Machine God possessed Three Wills, three-in-one—

Omicron Mithra was a void and abstract entity, the sum of all data, knowledge, laws, and technology, an unspeakable immaterial existence—

Omicron Mithra was the embodiment of the Machine God within the material universe, overseeing the operation of all machinery and laws; most Mechanicus members believed the Emperor was Omicron Mithra, or at least partially so—

and finally, the Primordial Power, the unspoken presence, the source of all life and machinery, the First Impulse of the universe's creation.

In the vision Serestine had sunk into, the flesh-and-bone Emperor called Doraemon the Primordial Power.

In Leina's memory, the strange name "Doraemon" had only ever been used by Zhou Yun—

could Zhou Yun truly be one of the Three Wills of Omicron Mithra? This might explain the origin of his bizarre devices—

and was Zhou Yun even nearby?

As Leina struggled to think, Grand Sage Belisarius Cawl, as if accepting Serestine's words, gave a slight nod.

The blizzard subsided; the Black Legion's ground forces had not yet moved toward the expedition, granting the expedition a brief respite as they swiftly advanced toward Serestine's indicated target.

Only Judge Grayfax let out a faint scoff: "That witch has deceived yet another servant of Omicron Mithra."

Hearing this, Leina, walking beside Grayfax, paused slightly: "What she said may be true."

"Perhaps it was truly the Primordial Power that aided us."

Grayfax blinked, momentarily bewildered as she turned to Leina—

"You understand the Mechanicus faith? You actually understand the Mechanicus faith!" Grayfax's gaze at Leina was as if she'd seen an Ork who could do addition and subtraction.

Leina knew Grayfax meant no malice, yet she still felt humiliated.

So infuriating!

If Zhou Yun really was nearby, she should ask him if he had any magical items to boost intelligence—

if he truly was one of the Three Wills of Omicron Mithra, making someone smarter shouldn't be hard, right?

Ah, Holy Doraemon above! Grant me wisdom!

Who the hell keeps muttering my name?!

Zhou Yun frowned slightly; he faintly sensed something muttering his name—and it was on this very planet.

But the voice felt familiar, almost foolish.

"My Lord! Kasso has brought back that wizard boy!"

Before Zhou Yun could investigate who was muttering his name,

the Deathwatch Dreadnought "Cursed Kasso" trudged over, shouldering a Black Legion Terminators' wizard whose head had been crushed, and stood beside Zhou Yun.

Zhou Yun pulled his thoughts back, gazing at the ancient warrior who had once descended into madness—

Kasso had once fought alongside Zhou Yun on Asford, together defeating the Tyrant sent by the Hive Mind—

later, in the Battle of Baal, he had held back Angrenas within the Angel's Keep, enduring until Saint Guilliman's resurrection—

since Guilliman's resurrection, Kasso's mental state had improved greatly—

now, one of his mechanical arms was painted blue, making him one of Zhou Yun's twenty-two Doraemon-chosen—

he carried few devices, merely enhanced by Zhou Yun's speed-spring, transforming him into a terrifying battlefield god—

the Black Legion forces stationed in this fortress, who had once thought themselves as swift as the Eldar, had felt his terror firsthand.

Zhou Yun shoved the Terminators' wizard into his fourth-dimensional pocket, then scanned the surrounding structures—

this was a fortress, yet its style was utterly unlike humanity's, radiating delicate, refined beauty—arched domes and spires twisted through the architecture as if defying physical limits—

this structure was left behind by the Eldar—

the region near the Eye of Terror had once been the heart of the Eldar Empire; Ice Moon Krasus was one of its colonies—

yet when Slaanesh was born, the entire Eldar Empire vanished into dust—

according to Saint Guilliman's prophecy, the mountain beneath Zhou Yun's feet was called Morre-Heg Shan in Eldar tongue, translating to Human as the Old Hag's Mountain—

atop it stood the ancient Webway gate, once the Empire's transit hub; the fortress Zhou Yun now stood in had been the mandatory passage to that gate, and now the expedition's unavoidable path—

Abaddon had clearly noticed this place, dispatching a Terminators' Astartes wizard to guard it with a squad of Black Legion—

logically, this Eldar fortress was easy to defend; the expedition would have needed a bloody battle to pass—

but as Zhou Yun continuously moved positions to fire upon orbiting ships, he had also ordered his twenty-two chosen to clear this place—

the Astartes wizard was troublesome; he had prepared well, even using his psychic power to suppress the machine spirit and resist Zhou Yun's control over it—

yet Zhou Yun pulled a small trick, aided by Doraemon-chosen equipped with secret devices, and cleared the place in a flash—

most of the Black Legion corpses had already been stuffed into Zhou Yun's fourth-dimensional pocket—

yet Zhou Yun left one behind, placed at the fortress's very center, ensuring the expedition would see it the moment they entered—

Zhou Yun had no intention of being a nameless benefactor; this corpse served as a stark reminder that someone was aiding them from the shadows—

this would make it easier for Zhou Yun to earn their trust later. Of course, gaining their trust wasn't hard to begin with—

just let them see Saint Guilliman. That would be simple.

But Saint Guilliman risked being noticed by the Chaos Gods if he remained outside the fourth-dimensional pocket too long; first, he needed them to trust him enough to willingly enter the pocket.

"My Lord."

Laven leapt lightly from the watchtower with a bamboo propeller, landing beside Zhou Yun:

"They're coming."

Zhou Yun nodded slightly, pulling his Gate of Anywhere from his fourth-dimensional pocket.

When the expedition first saw the fortress, they had all prepared for a bloody battle—

Grand Raider Abaddon was a commander forged by ten thousand years of war; though his twelve previous Black Crusades had failed, his tactical experience was undeniable—

he would never overlook a fortress held by Grayfax—indeed, Grayfax had even glimpsed figures moving within the fortress—

yet when they arrived before the fortress, the situation was unexpected—

they met no resistance; the gates stood wide open, as if welcoming them.

With caution, Grayfax scanned the fortress with his psychic power—no traces found.

Leina unleashed her vast psychic energy; the howling vortex twisted and snapped several slender spires—

yet still, no enemy presence—this left the expedition uneasy.

They entered the fortress hall warily, yet the hall was empty and silent, with only faint traces of battle—suggesting a skirmish, but not a fierce one.

In the center of the hall lay the corpse of a Black Legion warrior.

From the markings on his armor, he was likely a son of Lorgar Aurelian.

The Black Legion of Abaddon accepted all origins; any Primarch's son could join.

The expedition forces fell silent.

The corpse was nearly intact, and had died only recently.

His brain must still hold vast amounts of memory, capable of unraveling the mystery before them.

But the corpse had been placed too deliberately.

Abaddon would never send just one man to guard this place; clearly, someone had killed every Black Legion soldier in the fortress, cleared away the other corpses, and left this single body for the expedition to extract information from.

This likely concealed a trap.

Watching this, Grayfax tightened his brow.

"I'll probe his mind—" Leina said.

"No," Grayfax cut her off immediately. "You are a precious asset."

Leina's combat value was too vital to risk.

Most critically, if this involved Chaos corruption, Leina's loss of control—an Alpha-level psyker's loss of control—could devastate the entire expedition.

There were others in the team capable of reading memories.

Grayfax himself could, Archmagos Belisarius Cawl could through technological means, and Captain Calien and the Blood Angels could read memories from the neural sheaths between the victim's cervical and spinal vertebrae. According to Inquisition records, the Blood Angels' neural sheaths appeared unusually developed.

The problem was, Archmagos Belisarius Cawl could not risk it, and Captain Calien's neural sheaths could extract only limited information.

Moreover, within the Inquisition, there was a theory that the Blood Angels had deliberately concealed their mutations—mutations possibly tied to an insatiable hunger for flesh—though the Inquisition lacked evidence to confirm it. This corpse might contain traps related to such mutations.

Captain Calien and his Terminators were equally precious.

When weighed against all this,

Grayfax himself was the least important.

This made Grayfax unconsciously exhale in relief.

Without him, the impact would be minimal, the risk most controllable.

Leina, the Archmagos, and Captain Calien—losing any one of them would cripple the entire expedition.

"I'll probe his memories." Grayfax unclipped his Inquisitorial Seal and tossed it to Leina.

Before Leina could speak, Grayfax said: "If I show any signs of corruption, you must kill me immediately, then assume my duties as Inquisitor."

"This authority and responsibility will last until you deem it should end—but to truly claim the full power of an Inquisitor, you must later travel to Terra and report to the Ordos Rebellis for review."

"Also." Grayfax glanced at Celestine; she knew Leina understood her meaning.

Leina gripped the Inquisitorial Seal and gave Grayfax a slight nod.

Grayfax showed a satisfied expression.

She stepped before the corpse, slowly extending her finger toward its skull; psychic light flickered at her fingertip.

"Warmaster, what are you doing here?!"

(End of Chapter)