Chapter 640: Check Your Loyalty

“Fine! Then go back to your Macragge and build your Second Empire.”

“How about you and Sanguinius go back to Baal and sell chicken paste?”

Vashthor watched as contradictions erupted in places most had failed to notice,

he glimpsed, in fragments of the future, a secret meeting between the Primarchs and Zhou Yun,

during which, before Sanguinius, Leman Russ, and Clone Fulgrim, a classified report was read aloud, accusing Zhou Yun of devoting too much attention to the Eldar and the Necrons,

especially the Necrons, whose numbers were converging en masse upon the Nephilim Sector, draining Zhou Yun’s focus and the Imperium’s resources alike,

Guilliman concluded the report by declaring: he hoped Zhou Yun would remember he was human, not a god to aliens, and warned him not to squander the Imperium’s wealth bestowing divine grace upon xenos.

Zhou Yun and Guilliman then engaged in a heated verbal duel; Zhou Yun rebutted Guilliman, claiming he saw no xenos at all—only psyker-specialized subhumans and Iron Skull subhumans,

according to the Emperor’s edicts, any being with a human skull was human; the Eldar and Necrons clearly possessed human skulls.

“If you’re going to check genes, believe me, apart from me, every single one of you is a mutant!”

“You’re not clean, neither is the one sitting on the Golden Throne—you all, one by one, can’t even pass the Departmento Munitorum’s mutant screening forms!”

“You’ll all have to put your hands behind your heads, scream that you’re a shameful mutant, and wait for the Commissar to burn you to ash.”

Before Zhou Yun’s words had even faded, Guilliman rose in fury,

declaring that the Emperor had visited him in a dream last night, revealing that Zhou Yun was no longer loyal to the Imperium of Man—that Guilliman had only raised these concerns privately out of trust in Zhou Yun.

“You’re questioning my loyalty?”

“Here you sit as Emperor of the Second Empire, Regent of the Second Empire, Warmaster of the Second Empire—think about what you’ve done!”

“How ambitious it is: Horus expended immense effort, only to die, his Dao shattered, his soul scattered; the Emperor himself fought to the end and became a dried corpse upon the Golden Throne—yet you, Guilliman, merely by being late, seized the entire Imperium.”

Zhou Yun’s words ignited Guilliman’s rage; the two nearly came to blows, but Sanguinius intervened to stop Zhou Yun, Clone Fulgrim stepped in to restrain Guilliman, while Leman Russ grew disgusted by the quarrel.

“You’d better decide quickly who is loyal and who is a traitor—so I’ll know whose head to cut off.” With those icy words, Leman Russ departed, strolling through the woods.

Guilliman and Zhou Yun eventually parted ways in bitter silence.

Guilliman left the Exorcism Deadlands to continue his Unyielding Crusade, with Clone Fulgrim following him.

Zhou Yun remained in the Exorcism Deadlands, continuing to dwell among the Necrons, with Sanguinius beside him.

But to Vashthor, a rift had quietly formed—and was widening.

More signs began to surface under Vashthor’s scrutiny.

First, a minor political storm erupted on Terra,

massive personnel changes occurred among the High Lords; many High Lords and Sub-Lords sympathetic to the Saint Dora-Meng faith were replaced, with only Forge Lord Uuuraan spared due to his unique status; the Supreme Mother of the Adepta Sororitas remained Mo Wen Val, yet the High Lord seat formerly held by a Sororitas representative was reassigned to an Imperial Archivist from Ultramar.

Then, Eos Ritra, the Ecclesiarch of Ultramar origin, declared: the Adepta Sororitas are the Emperor’s daughters, all Sororitas must believe in and worship only the Emperor, and must abandon the Saint Dora-Meng faith.

The next day, this Ecclesiarch vanished mysteriously; when he reappeared, he was a captive of the Sororitas,

the Sororitas claimed the Ecclesiarch had been replaced by a Chaos Daemon of Change, publicly executed him—and his corpse truly transformed into a Daemon of Change.

The incident sparked a massive uproar; the Sororitas began openly accusing the High Lord Council of corruption,

former High Lord and Merchant Prince spokesperson Kanya Danda declared that, until the High Lord Council proved its loyalty, the Merchant Princes would refuse to provide them any service whatsoever.