Chapter 172: The Black Ship Arrives — Free Recruitment
Massive industrial machines—specially commissioned from Graia—roared across the plains of Barbarus.
It should have been planting season.
But instead of neat rows of rice, the fields were a patchwork of choking weeds—wild, feral things breathing in the toxic air like it was nourishment.
The evacuation of Barbarus was proceeding in an orderly fashion.
The young and able who had stayed behind to tend the fields were now boarding shuttles bound for the Star Ring, all under the watchful supervision of the Death Guard.
Hades stood beneath the Black Tower, gazing into the distance.
The evacuees were mere dark specks now—soon, no humans would remain on this world.
No one, that is, except himself…
And the handful of strong individuals selected from among the Death Guard's Blanks—those rare few who could survive within an anti-psyker field.
Soon, Hades would stand alone beneath the tallest, largest Black Tower, and activate the Null Zone.
And the key to that Null Zone was Hades' own Black Domain.
From orbit, the towers might appear unfinished—crude, incomplete reflections of Necron blackstone obelisks. Their activation circuits were visibly broken. Only the central tower even had a partial ignition array.
Which meant, as far as anyone could tell, no one could activate them.
But in truth—they were already complete.
Hades had tested it: his Black Domain could power the Null Zone.
Once his domain fed power into the central tower, the vibrations it emitted would cause the surrounding blackstone towers to resonate. That resonance would ripple outward, forming a planet-wide null field—a psychic dead zone.
Why weren't the towers complete, you ask?
Partially, material conservation.
But mostly—security. Hades didn't want anyone else to activate the towers.
A fully operational blackstone obelisk, in the wrong hands, could amplify the Warp.
This design made that impossible.
These towers could only be activated from within a Null Zone—and only his was powerful enough to reach the activation threshold.
Once everyone had evacuated, the test activation would begin.
[Hades.]
Mortarion's voice crackled through the private comm channel.
?
[The Black Ship's here. They're asking for you—by name.]
?!
. . . . . . . .
Hades burst through the doors of the reception chamber.
The first thing he saw was a tall Sister of Silence, flanked by a Custodian.
They stood waiting for him in the center of the room.
The Sister wore the Black-Gold Vratine Armour, the ceremonial plate of her order.
From beneath the grille of her helm, a pair of crystalline blue eyes met his gaze.
Her features were Arabian—her head clean-shaven except for a single, towering black braid rising from the crown of her scalp. The rest of her skull was gleaming, bare, and ceremonial in its austerity.
The Custodian was clad in his radiant, golden armor of honor.
His face was fully masked, concealing any emotion.
A crimson plume rose skyward from his helmet, like a stream of blood in motion—a proud declaration of his Imperial authority.
Amidst the Death Guard's dreary bone-white and rotting green, the brilliant gold of the Custodian and the vivid red of the Sister of Silence made them appear almost alien—out of place.
On the other side of the chamber, Mortarion and Garro stood in silence.
It seemed the standoff had already lasted for some time.
Hades blinked.
This scene felt… familiar.
Only, last time, it had been Mortarion and Barasine.
But now, the former first captain of the Death Guard lay entombed in a Dreadnought, slumbering deep within the vaults—awaiting the day he would be called upon once more.
Garro and Vox had since taken up Barasine's former duties.
As soon as Hades stepped into the room, the Custodian—who had stood silent until now—spoke.
His voice echoed powerfully in the chamber, bright and full:
"Good day, Hades (Lord of the Underworld)."
Hades froze for a second.
Was he supposed to say hello, or good day back?
Unlike other Space Marines, the Custodians of today were essentially limited-edition figurines handcrafted by the Emperor Himself.
They weren't just warriors—they were also schooled scholars, refined and articulate.
Which made talking to them… weird, sometimes.
"Good day," Hades replied, swallowing slightly.
He had no idea how to address the figure before him.
The tall Custodian gave a small, satisfied nod.
It was as if, compared to Mortarion, Hades was far more agreeable to him.
"You may call me Charon," the Custodian said.
Charon—the first of his many names.
It evoked the largest moon of Pluto… and the ferryman of the River Styx.
When his master had assigned him to oversee Hades' affairs, Charon knew:
This was destiny, a trajectory laid out long ago.
"From this moment on, and into the future, I will be responsible for all liaison between you and Terra."
He would serve as the ferryman, guiding messages across the long, dark river—delivering the will of the Underworld to the lands of the living.
Unfortunately, Hades was not the kind of person given to poetic metaphors.
In his mind, all he retained was: Oh, he's called Charon.
Hades nodded, waiting for the Custodian to get to the point.
Let's see what you're really here for…
"My master requests that you surrender your blackstone technology," Charon said calmly.
"In a manner that conveys no knowledge to those who saw it."
There it is.
Here to pluck his wool, just as expected.
But oddly enough, realizing that the Emperor Himself had come to fleece him made Hades… relax a little.
Still, what did that last part mean?
Before Hades could react, there was a faint clang from Mortarion's side—likely the sound of his censer striking his armor.
Sensing the strange shift in the room's atmosphere, Charon added:
"You are not yet fully aware, Hades (Lord of the Underworld)."
What did that mean?
"Except for the soulless, this alien knowledge will cause the soul to boil."
When Charon said "alien," Hades could feel the weight in his tone, though it vanished as quickly as it came.
Then it hit him.
Ah… everyone knows.
You don't say it.
I don't say it.
Nothing happened.
But—
"Knowledge is like driftwood on the River Styx, but not all knowledge is ours to use."
"For psykers, such knowledge becomes even harder to endure."
"We must not bring poison back to Terra."
In other words—only the Blanks can handle this tech?
Then… What about Korklan and Jin!?
Suddenly, Hades recalled how he'd force-fed them scraps of knowledge before.
When he saw their twisted, agonized expressions after he did son, he had thought they were just struggling to study those advanced tech!
Turns out their very souls are boiling!
Why didn't they tell him?!
What Hades didn't know was this:
Korklan and Jin had been willing to risk the burning of their very souls to understand more.
Especially Korklan.
His soul was already so thin and worn that, paradoxically, he could endure more than most.
Fortunately, Hades had been cautious enough not to give them any core technologies.
So what Charon meant, then, about "acquiring blackstone technology without conveying knowledge"…
Hades thought for a moment, then carefully asked:
"So I need to encrypt my existing tech—break it into sealed, modular components—and give you the keys, along with operational instructions?"
Break the Blackstone Towers into blocks, and only explain how to assemble them.
Not how they were made.
Like lego sets made of dangerous, forbidden sand.
They could build, but never understand.
Charon nodded.
"Yes. Terra will not be responsible for R&D in this matter."
In other words—that's Hades' job.
"My master permits you to conduct limited-scale experiments and production—so long as other Legions remain unaware."
Now that got Hades' full attention.
"Agreed."
He answered immediately.
As soon as he did, the Sister of Silence beside Charon shifted slightly.
Charon turned toward Hades and made the introduction:
"This is Sister Nera."
"The Sisters of Silence have heard of the large-scale experiments you plan on Barbarus. At my master's behest, Nera and her sisters will assist with these tests."
"We will remain here for a time."
"The Sisters will also be entrusted with overseeing the Blackstone technologies you've given us."
Hades nodded.
They wanted to observe the effects of the towers? He has no problem with that.
He just hoped that Charon wouldn't run into those Graia tech-priests who spend their free time screaming praise to the Omnissiah.
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