My Life as A Death Guard
Chapter 438: He Deserved It
"Action approved."
In the outer Ultramar sector, a pale green planet shimmered faintly. Above its hazy, mist-laden atmosphere, fleets in sapphire blue and bone white waited quietly.
Like a swarm of insects, warships launched from the Endurance, their exhaust trails streaking with a soft blue glow through the void.
"Entering the atmosphere."
Frost crept across the glass of the ships. Even with anti-frost coatings, the white crystals spread densely.
Inside the well-sealed cabins, a foul stench seeped in like probing tendrils, stabbing at the pilots' nerves.
High above, the pale green of Yax reflected on Malcador's bloodless face.
The old man murmured to himself, as if waiting for the right moment.
"We've successfully entered the marked zone. Requesting bombardment authorization."
A buzzing, fly-like hum came through the channel as the fleet seemed to plunge into a region teeming with life.
"Approved," Malcador said. He swayed slightly, turned, and looked at Calas, who had been silent behind him.
The old man's gaze slid subtly past the long scythe behind the Dreadnought.
"Get ready. It's your turn, we'll see whether we can meet Mortarion."
According to Malcador's deduction, the Warp region where Mortarion drifted was not far from Nurgle's domain.
The Warp was, by nature, a space where concepts mixed. The authority held by the Lord of Death resembled Nurgle's; if Mortarion didn't deliberately distance himself, the two naturally couldn't be far apart.
And Mortarion…
Malcador thought the brat had probably slashed Nurgle once and fled, but he himself had already been at his limit, so he had no choice but to stop somewhere not far from Nurgle's territory.
Although Mortarion was close to Nurgle, the good news was… Mortarion might not be able to escape himself, but that didn't mean he couldn't call for "help."
At that thought, Malcador couldn't help but sneer.
Mortarion really seemed afraid Hades wouldn't die quickly enough.
With his conscious mind fallen into a coma, Hades could only mechanically respond to those who prayed to [Hades].
He couldn't distinguish any of the calls, although he hadn't been able to before either, he could have gradually learned.
Thus, the Black Domain that received Mortarion's plea rushed over automatically, successfully cutting off Nurgle's tracking of Mortarion's fate. Mortarion even managed to withdraw "half intact" with a portion of Nurgle's authority.
Why half? Because part of it had been cut off and thrown to Hades.
—Malcador took a deep breath.
Although the Black Domain wouldn't be in trouble for the time being—and might even continue to grow—Hades was another matter.
If the Imperium—if they—still wanted a "controllable" Black Domain, then Hades absolutely could not be sacrificed.
So they had to wake Mortarion from his current "slumber," make him regain consciousness and actively move away from Nurgle's domain.
Then they could call the Black Domain to another, safer place—though Malcador believed Nurgle was already trying to do just that.
And finding the Pale Lord in the Warp, and awakening him…
Malcador narrowed his eyes. Muttering to himself, he used his staff to sketch and write on the deck beneath his and Calas's feet.
Golden letters lit up.
On How to Summon a Warp Entity: The Pale Lord
First step: find a soul that has a fated connection with the "Pale Lord." The stronger the connection, the better.
Malcador had found Calas Typhon. As if afraid they wouldn't be able to locate him, Mortarion had even given part of his own power to Calas Typhon (previously Nurgle's).
Second step: it's best to have a token. Of course, if you don't, it can be ignored.
They got Mortarion Mistletoe, so this part is fine.
Third step: find an area where the veil is thin, preferably one conceptually linked to what you are summoning.
A Death Guard warship would actually be suitable, but Mortarion and Hades had previously arranged too many anti-psyker measures on it. For Malcador, that wasn't good.
On the Endurance, the veil between the physical world and the Warp was too thick.
Malcador suddenly found it amusing. Mortarion had once hated psykers to an extreme, setting up anti-psychic weapons everywhere—yet the final result was that he himself could no longer board his own ship.
That gave the weary Malcador, after many days of toil, a small sense of comfort.
Serves him right, the great psyker thought.
And because the Pale Lord had existed for too short a time, he hadn't yet had the chance to exert influence in the material world—in other words, this "weak" and "unlucky" Warp entity currently had no proper physical domain.
That didn't matter.
Malcador thought this as news came through the channel that the first round of bombardment had gone smoothly. Phosphor shells were dropped, igniting eerie, shimmering ghost-fires across the shattered forest.
"Drop the assault pods."
The old man spoke. Based on the precise coordinates transmitted by the ship pilots, Malcador began back-calculating the corresponding Warp spatial coordinates at this very moment.
The golden hawk sculpture atop his staff spread its wings as if ready to fly, glaring at Calas in the firelight.
"Seven minutes left," Malcador said to Calas. Fine beads of sweat formed on his forehead. The veil here was highly unstable, and so was the Warp—making the calculations far more difficult.
It had to be precise… otherwise they'd be taking a day trip to the Garden.
Even if the Pale Lord had no physical domain—it didn't matter. His Warp coordinates were very close to Nurgle's. On this point, Malcador made a decision similar to Mortarion's.
Freeload off Nurgle.
And without the slightest psychological burden.
Everything was ready. Malcador took a deep breath and looked toward a dark corner of the chamber, where several silver-grey-helmed giants slowly stepped out.
On their armor were pasted the revised Word Bearers prayers, written after the Burning of the Perfect City. Inside the armor, special psychic matrices were operating, projecting a warm presence to Malcador within the Warp.
The halberds in their hands shone with blinding white light.
Grey Knights.
From the already-disbanded Fifteenth Legion, the Thousand Sons.
Malcador stared at them, once again confirming their condition was suitable for battle.
During the earlier boarding action on the World Eaters ship, Malcador had not deployed them. These were experimental subjects—carefully selected Thousand Sons whose links to Magnus had been largely scrubbed away by Malcador.
They were not the strongest, but they were the most stable.
As for the other powerful Thousand Sons, Malcador continued to keep watch over them. Most still slept within stasis fields beneath the Imperial Palace on Terra, while some followed him.
Yet even the Thousand Sons personally confirmed by Malcador to be the most stable had shown varying degrees of unconsciousness and psychic instability during their previous voyage.
That was also why, when Malcador's fleet had first arrived in Ultramar, he had not brought them forward.
…Magnus had run into trouble.
By the Warp's chaotic reckoning of time, the moment was roughly… between Hades being sealed and the Astronomican going dark.
Malcador sighed.
His mystically linked sons had been affected by him during the voyage, even though he had repeatedly tried to weaken the connection between them.
The old man pondered this, then spoke: "Status?"
The massive silver-helmed knights before the hunched elder knelt on one knee.
"Ready to fight for the Imperium at any moment."
Malcador nodded, signaling them to rise.
"Then begin the teleportation."
<+>
Note:
For those that don't get it, Mortarion has become a Warp Entity that is known as the [Pale Lord], and since he had set up a lot of anti-warp measures in the Death Guard ship, he can't be summoned there.
<+>
Tn: I updated the story daily, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 460: Fenris Runs Deep — It's Not Something You Can Handle[1]
Link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/155930421?collection=602520[2]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/posts/155930421?collection=602520
[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/155930421?collection=602520