Chapter 170: Hades Good Friend (Bonus scene added)
Korklan had just made a jaw-dropping statement—one so outrageous it nearly scared Hades to death.
"Korklan— you can't just say that kind of stuff out loud!"
The last thing Hades wanted was to step out of his lab one day and find these oilheads crowning him emperor with a golden robe and all.
"Shut up, Korklan. Shut. Up."
He made sure to say it with as much sincerity as his voice could muster.
"First of all, I'm not a god."
"Second, I don't know if the Emperor's a god or not—but I work for him."
Hades fixed his gaze on Jin's monitor, fully aware he was staring at the Magos through Jin's eyes.
"…Understood, Lord Hades! Crystal clear!"
Korklan's voice burst from the speakers like an explosion. Hades wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Do you really understand?"
"Loud and clear, my lord."
Wait a minute. Why was Korklan suddenly so… chatty?
"I don't remember you talking this much before, Korklan."
"Jin's emotion-processing circuits were terribly outdated, my lord. I accidentally overloaded and fried part of them during my calculations. That's why I'm feeling so happy now!"
"You fried my No.5 neural line?! You damn lunatic!"
It looked like Jin was about to go head-to-head with Korklan again—
'Screw it.'
Hades gave up trying to mediate.
He took a deep breath.
"I'll try to separate you two—either that or get you your own body."
"Still… no matter what, welcome back, Korklan."
"Now, get back to work."
After everything that had happened, one thing was clear: when it came to anti-psyker technology, this resurrected Magos was still firmly tied to Hades by the waist.
A big, cheerful smile lit up Jin's screen.
"It is my honor. I couldn't be more thrilled."
After all, it was only natural that the Omnissiah, master of physical laws, would want to eradicate those chaotic, blasphemous forces of the Warp. Psykers would, in time, vanish beneath the radiance of divine logic.
Korklan understood that perfectly.
Now that the ghostly Magos had been properly pacified, Hades returned to his research.
In the center of his lab, he stared at a block of obsidian-black stone, lost in thought—pondering how to use it to generate an anti-psyker field.
Sure, he could imitate the ancient tech, cobbling together a crude blackstone obelisk with the simplest of circuit materials.
It'd work, technically… just not very well.
Worse yet, if the obelisk was mishandled, it could end up amplifying the powers of the Warp.
If someone placed one of these on Barbarus and a savvy psyker managed to reverse the effect—well, that would be catastrophic.
Hades fell silent, deep in contemplation. He stared at the stone—and for a moment, it felt as though the stone was staring back at him.
Resonance.
The principle behind blackstone obelisks was deceptively simple: they amplified a specific spatial field in the area around them.
The problem? He was short on the necessary materials to build even the basic circuit network.
Suddenly, realization struck.
He commanded the Black Domain to engulf the blackstone.
A low hum echoed through the lab—the stone vibrating gently, resonating in harmony with the void.
Hades felt it, clear as day.
This blackstone… had incredible synergy with the Black Domain.
Hades retracted the Black Domain.
Yet, even after the void receded, a faint aura still lingered around the blackstone—an aura that wasn't the Black Domain, but in some ways… surpassed it.
It was the law of the physical world, amplified to its absolute limit.
But the sensation didn't last.
After a moment, that overwhelming presence faded. The blackstone became, once again, just a plain, unremarkable rock.
Curious, Hades once more enveloped the stone in the Black Domain, then withdrew it. This time, he brought another, untouched piece of blackstone close to the first one.
And then—resonance.
It was faint, barely perceptible… but it was there.
Resonance.
The untouched stone responded to the affected one, vibrating ever so slightly in sync.
Then, it hit him.
The obelisks!
Of course!
One of their lesser-known properties was that their amplification effect varied depending on number and spatial arrangement.
The matrix mattered. The pattern mattered.
He understood.
Hades seized that gleaming fragment of inspiration.
He needed tests. Data. A lot of experiments.
"Jin," he called, already turning back toward the equipment. "Don't let anyone disturb me for the foreseeable future. I'll be staying here at least a month."
In the side lab, Jin's display flickered with a worried emoji.
"Everyone, sir? Including the Lord Primarch?"
Jin added the question out of professional paranoia.
"Everyone," Hades confirmed, without missing a beat. "Even those who want to come 'worship' me. Unless it's a literal apocalypse, no one gets in."
"Understood."
Jin executed the order with robotic loyalty. Step one: knock out Magos Korklan, who had tried to sneak in to see what shiny new invention Hades was building.
Fortunately, Hades had only thrown together a rough skeleton of a body for Korklan—stacked metal limbs arranged with perfect kinematic symmetry. The result was a crude frame of steel, sturdy enough to walk, and regal enough once draped in a crimson robe to resemble a proper Magos.
This made it trivially easy for Jin to knock him out… and then quietly delete that specific memory from Korklan logs.
Ironically, this may have been the first thing Korklan had ever done post-resurrection that brought Jin genuine joy.
Three months later.
A disheveled figure finally emerged from the lab—his coat wrinkled, hair like a bird's nest, eyes bloodshot from constant exposure to dim light and blackstone glare.
Hades.
He was surrounded by blackstone. He saw blackstone when he blinked. He dreamed blackstone when he slept—on the rare occasions he actually did.
The first sight that greeted him upon exiting was Jin—equally ragged—and Korklan, unconscious at his feet.
"…What happened?" Hades asked, blinking in confusion.
"Nothing happened, sir. Absolutely nothing," Jin answered weakly.
Up to this point, he had fended off:
The Lord Primarch, twice.
Thirty-two different Death Guard captains.
Countless Graia Forge World Tech-Priests.
Little Herila, forty-five times.
Had, six times.
That wasn't even counting internal incidents.
"And Korklan?" Hades asked, nodding at the collapsed sage.
"He got a bit too heated arguing with a group of Graia Forge World Tech-Priests and fainted," Jin replied coolly, his voice totally emotionless.
Wait, hold on. That sounded way too vague.
He didn't say anything weird again, did he?!
Hades rubbed his temples, mentally preparing himself for a fresh wave of headaches.
<+>
Bonus Mini-Theater:
1. Mortarion
Jin stood, head bowed, eyes fixed firmly on the floor. Korklan had already curled up in a corner and passed out, thoroughly defeated.
The sheer pressure coming off the Primarch was crushing—the toxin-laced aura surrounding him felt like a cage, each breath suffocating.
"It's been… two months."
A hoarse voice broke the silence.
"…Forgive me, my lord, but Lord Hades gave strict orders—no interruptions during experimentation."
Mortarion continued to stare at Jin, unmoving.
"…Very well."
The Primarch finally spoke, his voice like rust scraping iron. Then he turned and dragged his censer behind him as he walked away, the sound of metal clanking echoing like funeral bells.
2. Death Guard Astartes
CLAP!
A heavy hand landed on Jin's shoulder—hard enough that his servos whined in protest. It was Branka, the veteran. Behind him stood Vorx and Garro. Vorx trailed behind Branka carefully, while Garro leaned casually against the wall, arms crossed, keeping his distance.
"Kid, Hades still holed up in there?"
"Yes sir. He's not out yet."
Branka grunted, then thumped Jin on the head with a mock-threatening force.
"A good seedling like him shouldn't be stuck with you oily bastards. He spent a lot of time ignoring his training and just hang around you wrench monkeys all day."
"…Hades may not exactly be 'hang around,'" Vorx mumbled.
Branka shot him a glare. Vorx promptly shut his mouth.
"Tch. Fine. If he doesn't want to come out, we're leaving."
Another smack on Jin. This time he nearly stumbled. Vorx quickly reached out to steady him, giving Jin a small, apologetic smile.
"We'll come back later. If he shows up, let us know right away."
3. Armoury
The Armoury sent a query message.
Jin replied.
They went quiet.
4. Graia Forge World Tech-Priest
"True faith demands nothing in return!"
Magos Korklan pointed dramatically at the red-robed Graia Forge World Tech-Priest in front of him, his voice a thunderclap of conviction.
"You know nothing of true despair! You haven't seen true evil! You haven't surrendered yourself entirely to Him! You're just mesmerized by the god's shiny exterior!"
"Despair? Evil? You talk like you've been there. I believe in the Omnissiah with all my soul. How am I not devoted enough?"
Korklan narrowed his eyes. Of course he'd seen true despair—twisted flesh, corpses revived into puppets, skies blackened by buzzing flies. But Lord Hades had forbidden him from speaking of it.
"You open-source clown, what would you understand?!"
And just like that, the two tech-priests were locked in a monumental flame war. It would be a long and grueling battle with the winner being the one with the deeper lubricant reserves.
5. Fuller
Jin received a letter addressed to Lord Hades. It was from the headmaster of a school on the orbital ring, signed "Fuller."
Inside the envelope were a few crude, handmade bracelets—obviously children's work.
Jin had no intention of reading it.
But the letter was just a few pages stapled together, and with Jin's multi-spectrum vision, he saw everything instantly.
Greasy flattery. Subtle pleas. Scribbled messages in childish handwriting.
Jin wasn't interested.
He filed the letter away.
6. Little Herila
Little Herila patted Jin's side. Thanks to the Death Guard's nutrition and her brother sneaking her extra food, she'd grown taller. The outline of lean muscle was beginning to form under her once-scrawny frame.
"When will Brother Hades come out?" she asked.
"I don't know."
Jin answered honestly.
"…Lately, I keep dreaming I've left this place," Herila whispered.
She didn't want to go.
"I heard from Had that… I'll have to go to war someday."
Jin pulled her into a gentle hug.
It was the one habit he'd picked up after being possessed—briefly—by Korklan.
"Yes, you will."
"We all will. But don't worry, little one."
Korklan's cheerful voice rang out suddenly, from somewhere behind them.
"Worst case scenario, you would just die, but don't worry, it would happen in a blink!"
<+>
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