Chapter 455: It's Been Three Minutes Since I Last Heard the Tale of the Warmaster-Class Ordinatus
"Hmph, that's quite something."
Ramesses looked at the volume of the Plague Legions and couldn't help but click his tongue.
"Seventy percent dead and there's still this many? Mortarion really breeds like rabbits."
And Master Romulus was truly outrageous, physically suppressing Nurgle's plague with pure administrative control. A victory for the nuclear-powered beast of burden.
"It's something, but not much."
Arthur rested one hand on the metal frame of the auspex array, examining the green blips symbolizing Nurgle's active zones.
"If this is really all there is, I believe we can stop him from even entering the Macragge system."
This was not an exaggeration.
It was a fact.
With three major Forge Worlds within Greater Ultramar and over a hundred Ultramarines Successor Chapters, as long as communication and logistics were secured, even a complete Legion like the Death Guard—possessing a massive fleet, Titan Legions, and over a hundred thousand Astartes—would find no purchase.
As for now, counting all the allied warbands, having a hundred thousand men would be generous.
Just wait for the main force of the Dark Angels to arrive, and the situation would turn one-sided in an instant.
The only thing to worry about was Nurgle being a sore loser. After all, if Khorne could drain Warp energy to forge a sword, Nurgle could certainly bleed Himself to dump His cauldron onto Macragge.
"This fight is much easier than the one with Perturabo."
Ramesses looked at the constantly updating casualty data on the tactical slate. Just looking at the ratio, it was much prettier than back then.
"It should be."
Arthur nodded slightly in agreement.
After all, over thirty, nearly forty years had passed. They didn't have to fight Chaos while arguing with the Mechanicus like at Cadia, dragging along a myriad of weird forces like the Imperial Navy, Knight Houses, and the Iron Hands into joint operations...
Logistics alone were a mess back then, not to mention coordinating with all sorts of abstract characters. Sometimes even the identity of a Primarch wasn't enough.
Those outrageous demands and reasons made one regret transmigrating to this world more and more. If the Dawnstar Sector hadn't been stable and improving at the time, everyone would have wished to rush to the front line and blow up with Perturabo.
Romulus must have smashed countless pens.
Oh, wait, Romulus didn't smash pens.
He didn't have time to smash pens and get angry.
Now he could actually smile. What progress.
When Karna called saying his childhood friend had gone crazy from working, Arthur was actually startled.
Arthur raised his hand and swiped gently on the star map interface. Ghostly blue light flickered in his pupils as he carefully checked their coordinates within the Webway.
The benefits of having the Laughing God join were showing. Compared to the maps held by other Eldar, the Laughing God's were complete, supporting ultra-long-distance navigation.
And with the current fleet strength of the Dark Angels, they didn't need to detour like the Eldar who lacked manpower to clear the Webway. They could crush through abandoned routes occupied by xenos like Dark Eldar or invaded by Warp daemons without leaving a ripple.
Ask and I didn't see it. Couldn't brake in time. We are all living life to the fullest.
"When we reach this exit, have Tigurius prepare a Warp ritual. You and the Lion take some Knights of the Round Table and the Eldar and go ahead."
Arthur tapped a flashing coordinate point, ordering.
Now the Warp was half their home field. The Dawnbreakers had plenty of sacrifices; holding a Warp ritual was simple. Plus, with the Lion's ability, rapidly transferring a small military force wasn't a problem.
Transmigrators had plenty of imagination. The Lion didn't learn backward traditional sorcery like meditation development methods; he played Brainstorm with Ramesses instead.
Currently, the plan was to first corrupt Caliban, a planet deeply connected to the Lion—
Wait, that doesn't sound politically correct?
Purify Caliban, see if it could be combined with the Planetary Fortress plan into "Lion's Moving Caliban", and let the Lion roam free. Then, urgent threats across the galaxy would have a handling method, no need to run around putting out fires like now.
Although Arthur personally rejected Warp powers, he had double standards, and happened to have the ability to enforce them.
Partners can use it; others can't.
"In such a rush?"
Ramesses' fingers paused, his fluid tapping on the console visibly slowing down, and his PUA on the "Park" Eldar slowed a beat.
"As fast as possible. Let Corax escort you. Bring the Apprentice and the Emperor's Sword to prevent Chaos interference."
Arthur stood in the center of the bridge with arms crossed, deciding thus.
"Got it. A gentleman does not stand under a crumbling wall."
Ramesses slapped his forehead, unable to help laughing:
"Waiting until the enemy hits our face to do this is indeed too extreme. If Guilliman's Warp projection wasn't impossible to hide, I wouldn't want to put him on Macragge. Thinking really needs to be opened up; it's our turn to set the questions."
"Why should we wait for Nurgle to fight slowly there, playing some destiny game? Does He think bleeding this little bit is enough?"
The cape behind him trembled, then rippled like liquid. Ramesses reached out and made a slashing motion over the Calth region.
"Bleeding won't kill Him."
Everyone around was infected by Ramesses' confidence, smiling.
"Lion, the operations in Ultramar are yours. Except for the Blood Angels, all other forces are under your command."
Arthur looked at the Lion, who had been analyzing seriously since earlier.
"Our goal is to ensure the stability of planets within the sector as much as possible, cut off the spread of Chaos corruption, prioritize the safety of human residents, and use Exterminatus if necessary. For Chaos corruption standards, remember to check Galahad's Pentagrammaton standards. The database open to Primarchs also has storage; you can check it yourself."
Do not employ those you suspect, and do not suspect those you employ.
Since the Lion could fight, let him fight.
This was also the consensus of the Dawnbreakers.
The reason why the Lion and Guilliman, a strong alliance back then, ended up in a mess was lack of consensus on strategic goals.
Guilliman wanted to preserve Ultramar's strength as much as possible to deal with the galactic situation more calmly. The Lion wanted to solve the hidden dangers within Ultramar as quickly as possible and lead the main force to Terra for investigation. Neither side couldn't convince the other; they simply didn't plan to talk.
Sanguinius was even funnier. He knew everything, but combining the lesson of Curze torturing the Blood Angels before the Heresy, he deeply realized that Primarchs were all weirdos who wouldn't listen to anything. So he peacefully acted as a mascot, joined the ranks of weirdos himself, and said nothing.
As for the Lion not listening to commands, that was easy to cure.
He used to be silent because no one praised him when he won, and he could only bear it alone when he lost, so naturally, he didn't care much about his brothers' opinions. It was different now.
"We trust your judgment."
The brothers never repeat themselves when PUA-ing people.
"I understand."
The Lion looked serious, thinking he must complete the task beautifully.
Having survived a calamity, the Lion, effectively a dead man walking, had no demands left after ten thousand years of torture by the Emperor, unlike his slightly unconvinced self back on Caliban. It was good enough that everyone trusted him.
As for whether to meet the Emperor far away on Terra...
The Lion's face darkened slightly, his wrinkled eyes revealing sadness.
Honestly, he dared not face the Emperor in his current state.
That was genuine killing intent. The Emperor had completely abandoned him as a son, subjectively believing that he, also a leader of the First Legion, had become an obstacle to the Dawnbreakers' cause. He wanted to clear away this obstacle hindering humanity's return to greatness, just like clearing away those two expunged brothers.
The Dawnbreakers' decision not to provoke the High Lords back then, instead establishing a kingdom in the Ultima Segmentum, dumping the burden for them to clean up while having no time to manage external affairs, was quite good. He happened not to need to go to Terra.
"If there are any problems, communicate with us more. We are always here. We will consider your opinions, and explain why we refuse if we do."
Arthur leaned forward slightly, looking like he was teaching life skills to an elderly person with dementia. Sincerity was mixed with some helplessness.
Similar things had happened many times. None of the Dark Angels were fuel-efficient lamps.
Arthur felt that if he went back to be a primary school teacher, he could at least be rated as a national model teacher.
The Lion nodded slowly. He wanted to say he actually knew these things, but it was indeed different coming from someone else's mouth.
"Don't be like in Imperium Secundus, wholesaling Exterminatus without notifying Guilliman, causing trauma to Greater Ultramar second only to the Shadow Crusade."
Ramesses added a sentence.
The Lion found he still couldn't hold his expression.
"Can we not mention this again?"
On the way, the Lion's life had been reviewed by everyone. He even learned that Imperium Secundus and the biographies of various Primarchs had been compiled into books and listed in the history textbooks of the Dawnstar Sector. It was arguably the second darkest moment of his life.
He was really anxious back then. Guilliman stood still, trying to stall him with Imperium Secundus politics. Could he not think about solving hidden dangers quickly to force Guilliman to deploy troops?
Who knew Guilliman really wanted to deploy troops too? As a result, his extreme methods caused open and secret conflicts between the two Legions, dragging down the progress instead.
"Is that so?"
Ramesses, who was selecting staff for Tigurius in "The Park" to reduce pressure, tilted his head.
"It's been three minutes since I last heard the tale of the Warmaster-class Ordinatus."
"..."
Rustling sounds surrounded them again.
Kay held down the Lion's loyal son Redloss who wanted to flare up, never finding Lord Ramesses so pleasing to the eye.
A Watcher in the Dark, checking equipment under the table, paused, put down its tools, and crawled out from the gap, meeting the Lion's lowered gaze, its bright red eyes curving into crescents.
Having a mouthpiece is just too cool.
"Sigh~"
The Lion's face changed for a while, finally letting out a breath, not refuting anymore.
Arthur handed over the paper list of troops.
As long as the Astra Telepathica completed communication, these troops would fully belong to the Lion, and Romulus would coordinate with his actions.
If after making a mistake, the victims only said "where did you go wrong" and "how to make up for it," and were still willing to trust him afterwards, then admitting the mistake and correcting it wasn't so bad.
Better than being wrong forever, finally dragging those who trusted him into an abyss of no return.
Ultima Segmentum - Kingdom of Greater Ultramar - Capital Macragge
"Tigurius!"
Macragge's sunlight was still gentle. Calgar walked on the broad corridor of the Fortress of Hera, his steps hurried.
"Tigurius!"
Calgar's hand rested on the library door, subconsciously restraining his strength to prevent the Gauntlets of Ultramar from blasting the door open directly.
He slowly pushed open the door. The movement pulling his facial muscles to tremble exposed his excitement, making this usually calm Chapter Master look radiant.
Excited. Of course he was excited.
As soon as he received Tigurius's message, he rushed back non-stop from the central command of the Fortress of Hera, from the side of their great father and Lord Romulus.
Just because of one piece of news.
The Dawnbreakers successfully found a way to resurrect Lord Guilliman, and even retrieved the Lion, currently on their way.
The Lion's return surprised him, and Lord Guilliman's imminent awakening made him ecstatic beyond measure.
This made Calgar's soul, exhausted from long battles, feel as if injected with a holy spring, rejuvenated.
He carefully controlled his strength and pushed the door open.
Whoosh~
Thick and cold air rushed out, making this supposedly glorious and sacred Great Library look like an ancient castle inhabited by vampires.
But Calgar wasn't worried.
The Complete Explanation of Psychic Phenomena written by Lord Ramesses stated clearly that this was a normal phenomenon for Librarians after conducting massive remote communications. Before Lord Ramesses constructed secure communications, similar phenomena would also appear within the choirs of Astropaths.
As Chapter Master, Calgar had also learned this common knowledge.
As a Chapter actively responding to the Dawnbreakers' military modernization reforms—modernization of military theory, army organizational form, military personnel consciousness, and weapons and equipment—the Ultramarines deeply realized that the popularization of this common knowledge could greatly improve the Chapter's combat effectiveness and prevent some laughable problems.
Of course, although the backdoor was opened wide for Successor Chapters, because of the Codex Astartes, the Ultramarines themselves didn't dare to truly expand.
But it didn't matter. If the Ultramarines didn't expand, other Successor Chapters would. Anyway, if following Lord Romulus's statement that Lord Guilliman was highly likely to abandon the Codex Astartes, everyone would probably have to paint themselves blue in the end.
Calgar scanned the surroundings.
Strangely, with Calgar's intuition, which could be called a peerless powerhouse among Astartes, he didn't feel any aura of life from within.
"Tigurius?"
He called out uncertainly again.
"I'm here."
An ethereal echo came from behind the library stacks, completely different from Tigurius's usual vigorous psychic transmission.
It was a weak voice.
Calgar held the door, looking around.
"I am here."
The voice reminded him, guiding Calgar's direction, becoming weaker.
Calgar's face changed slightly. Finally sensing the existence of life, he strode to the bench closest to the area where Tigurius rested and meditated, located in the dark area at the end of the library. Finally, he saw the Chief Librarian wrapped in grey robes.
A white-haired old man.
Mentally and physically exhausted, withered and haggard.
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