Chapter 366: Sons of Dorn
This year was supposed to be the year the sons of Dorn competed against each other once more.
The sons of Dorn who had joined the great war in the Veiled Region were now liberated. They would send their representatives again, carrying ten chosen champions, holding banners laden with honor and made unique by victory after victory, to the Phalanx, the place laden with the honor of the Imperial Fists.
They would wear scout armor, their only weapon a blade in the dueling cage, coated with neuro-paralytic toxin. As wounds accumulated with each clash, the toxin would gradually invade the body until one side fell unconscious, and the winner would advance to the next round.
Whether another great warrior like a meteor would break through countless obstacles, or the last glorious Chapter would break fate and win the championship again, in the gathering of opposing sides, the champions would once again raise their swords for honor, becoming the glorious guardians of the Sword of Dorn.
Exchanging feelings, settling grievances, venting inner resentment with swords, and passing honor to each other, the connection between the sons of Dorn would become tighter in each struggle.
But all this had little to do with the Soul Drinkers now.
An Astartes with a resolute face, but immersed in a melancholic sadness, sat upright on a bench. He wore shackles suppressing psychic power and hid his face in darkness, seeming to avoid the flashing lights of the dome.
The surveillance from various Imperial departments in the past had disappeared, and the restless figures of the Officio Assassinorum had also vanished.
As the Chapter Master of the Soul Drinkers and also the Chief Librarian, Sarpedon felt that empty feeling for the first time after the Chapter was accused. With complex feelings, he looked at Grimaldus sent by the Black Templars.
This Sword Brother, who possessed what every Astartes standard could call charming temperament, brought inspiring news ahead of the main fleet returning with the Primarch.
[Result of the Handling of the Tech-Heresy Case on Forge World Atlas]
[In accordance with the bill on the management and research of xenos technology personally defined by the Emperor, the Dawnbreakers, in conjunction with the High Lords of Terra and the Incaladion Sector Government, launched a 'special operation to trace the source of clues on the application of xenos technology and crack down on illegal research and violations in the field of scientific research'.
As of August 15, illegal research forces such as Forge World Atlas have been dealt with in accordance with the "Imperial Joint Technology Research Agreement (775.M41 Edition)" and other relevant regulations. The handling results are hereby publicized as follows:
From August 15, 780.M41, the rule of the Astra Supreme Council is terminated, and the Imperial Joint Technology Research Organization will take over.]
The entire operation lasted less than a week. Eighty-one military garrisons in the Incaladion Sector suffered two-dimensional strikes. Any resistance forces were forcibly flattened, ending with the dissolution of the Astra Supreme Council.
The full text did not mention the conflict between the Soul Drinkers and Magos Biologis Vitek. Even Vitek's name only appeared in the dense death list, as if the other party just did it in passing.
This made Sarpedon feel like he was dreaming. He seemed to see a roaring dragon circling in the sky of the Imperium, looking down contemptuously at this increasingly rotten galaxy, creating a territory full of lava just by breathing fire.
For a moment—
Really just for a moment.
Sarpedon also wanted to stand before the corrupt Imperium again, ignite his own flame, and accuse the Imperium of its current injustice.
But he didn't.
He was not a Primarch; he was just a Chapter Master.
The Imperium could afford to lose a Chapter. If it was gone, it was gone.
Fortunately—
"It seems my advice was correct, Chapter Master Sarpedon."
The Inquisitor who had been mediating between the two finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He had just been transferred from Terra a few years ago. Before that, he was just an apprentice in the library.
More than twenty years ago, Terra urgently recalled Inquisitors active across the galaxy, personally invited by the Custodes, on the grounds of face-to-face commendation for the tireless work and unwavering loyalty of various Inquisitors to the Imperium over ten thousand years.
And then there was no then.
In less than ten years, he was promoted three levels from apprentice directly to Inquisitor, taking over a fleet from some unknown Lord Inquisitor, and then kicked out.
As for why?
There was no one above him anymore.
Whoever became the Grand Master of the Inquisition died.
The Battle Royale on Terra, which continues to this day and is visibly set to last another century, made this young Inquisitor fully understand what bloody struggle means. Even after coming outside the galaxy, he had always been cautious.
Anyway, Inquisitors responsible for handling daemon and heresy incidents are now accompanied by the Officio Assassinorum, Grey Knights, and Sisters of Silence. He just handles business according to Imperial procedures, everything aiming to eliminate hidden dangers of war.
They can't fault him for this, right?
He looked at the delegation arriving with the Primarch's decree, rejoicing in the social skills he had honed in the Knight House. Those social etiquettes he once detested now honed his superhuman patience, giving him the capital to survive.
Now, behind that Black Templar Sword Brother followed a bunch of sons of Dorn in various colors, carrying banners and getting lost everywhere, meeting the envious, jealous, and hateful gazes of various representatives.
Obviously, they didn't take the previous Mechanicus accusation seriously anymore.
"Thank you, Inquisitor Heinrich."
Sarpedon thanked him sincerely.
He knew very well that if the Soul Drinkers Chapter made extra radical moves in this process, such as attacking other Imperial departments, then a new name might be added to the notification now.
"I only hope that when I encounter certain difficulties in the future, the Soul Drinkers can also respond."
He replied simply.
After getting along for a long time, he had figured out the characteristics of these Astartes deeply influenced by Dorn's character.
"Betting on the honor of the Chapter, I will."
Sarpedon replied simply.
"Sarpedon, I heard you had a little story with the Mechanicus."
A hand rested on Sarpedon's shoulder.
Looking back, he found it was an acquaintance from the Crimson Fists.
With so many Feasts of Blades held, there were many familiar faces among these Second Founding successor Chapters.
"Just a little friction."
An accompanying Tech-Priest from Agrippina couldn't help but speak.
He had endured all the way.
He could tolerate criticizing Mars or other worlds, but they couldn't criticize them all at once.
They participated in all aspects of the Imperium's construction as legitimate seat members of the Imperial Joint Technology Research Organization.
"Indeed a small friction, same for us."
An Executioner who came to join the fun couldn't help but say loudly.
"The fleet inventory of every Forge World is several times that of an Imperial sector, and normally, a ship graveyard should appear around a struck Forge World, but now there isn't."
Inquisitor Heinrich on the side smiled and stopped being a peacemaker, just watching the argument between the Tech-Priest and the sons of Dorn.
After knowing the Primarch intervened in this event, he completely relaxed.
Mm, theoretically, the Feast of Blades is held once every hundred years, but in the current 41st Millennium, it has been held more than eight hundred times.
Considering that the sons of Dorn are mostly like this, it is understandable.
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