Chapter 53: Raging Omega in a Sea of Filth
With 777 elderly, 777 adults, and 777 children as sacrifices, and a xenos civilization-destroying artifact as the medium, a warp rift leading to the domain of Nurgle tore open in an area near the Grand Manufactorum, catching everyone by surprise.
A tide of Nurgle daemons poured out of the rift. Their bodies were a grotesque canvas of inflammation, phlegm, blood, and viscera; boils, rot, and pus; blisters and weeping sores. Accompanied by swarms of maggots and flies, the daemonic legion of Nurgle slowly, unstoppably, spread to every corner of the district.
They sang joyous songs of praise to the Allfather Nurgle, viewing the plagues as gifts and the cries of their victims not as pain, but as gratitude for the strength to overcome the obstacles of mortal life. They, like their father, wanted to benevolently and selflessly share this "gift" with more people, to let more people feel the greatness and mercy of the Allfather.
"It's over, it's over, it's over! I haven't even gotten used to being a second-generation heir, and now I'm going to be 'Raging Omega in a Sea of Filth'! I don't accept this!"
Hiding behind the multiple void shields of the Grand Manufactorum, Omega was terrified. His little face was pale. If he had to choose an opponent from among the daemons of the four Chaos Gods, he would have unhesitatingly chosen a daemon of Khorne. At least that would be a quick death. The daemons of Nurgle were something he could not accept, neither physically nor psychologically.
"There's a hundred percent a traitor. Otherwise, how could a rift open so close to the Grand Manufactorum without being detected? I have to tell the Archmagos, quick! If the traitor destroys the Grand Manufactorum's shields, it's really over!"
With this thought, Omega immediately turned and ran, simultaneously trying to contact the Archmagos through his comms unit, but he couldn't get through.
While he was pushing the "Omega" to its maximum speed to get back, Fabricator-General Veyl had already taken control of all the Manufactorum Magi who had gathered in the grand hall.
"I will now inspect each of your private laboratories. This is not a request for your consent. It is an order!" Veyl said sternly to all the Magi present.
The Magi immediately became uneasy. As senior cog-heads, who didn't have a few "little secrets" they'd rather keep hidden?
The Archmagos also knew what this meant to them, but if he didn't find the traitor, everything would be lost.
Magos Lyra was the first to step forward. "Archmagos, I think I know who the traitor is!"
"You mean that scum, Sakk? He's been unreachable. We can already confirm that he is the traitor!"
"Since..."
"But who can guarantee he doesn't have accomplices?"
"..."
"I will erase this memory after the inspection. No one will know your little secrets," the Archmagos promised.
"..."
The Grand Manufactorum was massive. By the time Omega got back, the Archmagos had already finished his inspection and had his memory wiped under the supervision of the other Magi. Omega, who only learned what had happened in his absence afterwards, now felt that his "wild father" had not achieved his success just by sucking up to the Regent. The decisiveness and resolve he had just shown were not something an ordinary person could possess.
Omega wandered aimlessly in the grand hall, muttering to himself, "I wonder how Magos Laust and the others are doing? Sigh. They've been with the army this whole time. They should be fine. I should be more worried about myself, surrounded by a sea of filth..."
Those who knew him knew that you could call Omega a coward, a chicken, but "giving up" was not in his vocabulary. He was the kind of person who could be a crying mess one moment, and then hug a bomb and take the enemy down with him the next.
Everyone in the Grand Manufactorum was busy defending against the Nurgle daemons' attack. Although no one had asked Omega to do anything, he was still there, trembling, with his Battle Automata, on the fortifications of the Grand Manufactorum.
Void shields could deflect ranged attacks before they overloaded. Even if they collapsed, they could be reactivated. But they couldn't stop close-range attacks. Ion shields, while powerful, couldn't be linked together to form a 360-degree, seamless shield like a void shield generator. And their defensive mechanism was to deflect attacks, which was also not ideal for close-range combat.
Therefore, solid walls and fortifications were indispensable. The Grand Manufactorum, as the central landmark of a Forge World, had been built with the highest standards of defense from the very beginning. This was why it could still hold out against the daemonic tide.
But even with multiple layers of shields to defend against the ranged attacks of the Nurgle daemons and their daemonic war engines, a large number of personnel were still needed to prevent them from breaching the walls. Once the walls were breached, the Nurgle daemons could pour into the Grand Manufactorum, and everyone would have to fight these plague-ridden, immortal daemons face-to-face.
Daemons cannot be killed, only banished back to the warp. After recovering their strength, they can reappear. The only weapon in the entire galaxy that could permanently kill or harm a daemon was the Emperor's Sword, wielded by Regent Guilliman, burning with golden psychic fire. If no reinforcements came to destroy the warp rift, Omega and the others were doomed to be swallowed by the daemonic tide.
"I can't kill a daemon, but I can kill you!" Omega, standing on the high wall, unleashed a torrent of fire on a Fallen Space Marine who was trying to breach the wall.
Under the concentrated fire of Omega, who had a severe case of firepower-deficiency-phobia and was always looking for ways to increase his firepower, the Death Guard didn't even have time to scream before he was reduced to a pile of censored gore.
"What are you looking at, you stinky plague-pigs?! Come up here if you dare!" Omega shouted at a few other Death Guard who were roaring at him (ಠ︵ಠ凸.
"When the Emperor was setting a fire in the sea of filth, your master didn't even dare to fart! Why didn't I hear you squealing then? Is all that talk of loyalty just to amuse that fat green one?" Omega, having rediscovered his inner brutish soldier in the heat of battle, continued to trash-talk the Death Guard.
(The Emperor: Hmm! Well said. But I only set a fire, I didn't urinate. And hurry up and show yourself so your Uncle Emperor can... protect you.)
The reason Omega only dared to mutter the Emperor's name and never spoke the names of the four Chaos Gods was that he was afraid of attracting their attention. Those conceptual-level gods could sense you the moment you spoke their names. To be noticed was to be influenced by their power. He was a loyal and devoted little cog-head. After death, going to the Emperor was his bottom line. Why the bottom line? Because Omega didn't want to be a workhorse even after death. To have his soul scattered was good! Very good!
Outside the Grand Manufactorum, Captain Ventris was trying everything he could to break through and provide aid, but with little success. He was currently discussing countermeasures with the high command and the accompanying Magi. Magos Laust was among them.
"Everyone, if you have any intelligence or ideas, please speak up," Ventris said.
"The airspace above the Grand Manufactorum is now affected by the warp. It can no longer be observed by the fleet's augur arrays. Orbital bombardment is no longer effective, and the affected area is rapidly expanding," Admiral Alaric reported.
Inquisitor Griffin added, "The empyric energy will weaken the veil between the material and the warp, putting the affected area in a state of superposition, neither fully in the material universe nor fully in the warp. Energy weapons like lance strikes will not be able to directly hit targets in that area from the material universe."
"Does this mean we have to attack from the ground, without support from the naval fleet?" a commander asked.
"We can force a breakthrough with landing craft," Griffin explained, "but the warp energy raging in the airspace is extremely dangerous. To break through safely, we will need a powerful psyker to accompany us."
"Understood."
"We don't know the situation inside," Ventris said. "A forced breakthrough is meaningless. We must establish a beachhead on the ground and then determine the situation inside and the location of the warp rift before we can formulate the next plan of action."
"The psychic influence of those daemons on the soldiers is too great. Many soldiers have already lost their will to fight."
It was then that Magos Laust spoke up. "We can provide a faith-enhancement device modified by Omega. This device can enhance faith and willpower without damaging the brain." He paused, then chose to reveal a little secret of the Adeptus Mechanicus. "The original version can brainwash a person into a zealot, greatly increasing their resistance to the daemons' psychic influence, but it will cause brain damage."
Inquisitor Griffin's eyes lit up. He had always known that the Adeptus Mechanicus had this kind of "physical faith method," and he knew about the side effects. You just had to look at the Skitarii to understand the consequences. Now, hearing that there was a "dumbed-down" version without side effects, his mind began to race. He decided to probe a little further before making a decision. "Can the target of the faith be chosen?"
"Yes," Laust replied.
"To what extent is the damage of the original version?"
"The average intelligence will drop by 20 points, but it does not affect the operation of simple weapons. The settlement has several thousand soldiers left behind by Omega. They were infected with the Plague of Unbelief, so they used the original version. We can bring them over. You can observe them and then choose which version to use, or not to use."
"Have the Worker-Soldiers all used it?"
"Yes. They have all used the modified version."
With the information he wanted, Griffin turned to the Space Marine Captain. "From what I understand, the mental state of the Worker-Soldier legion after seeing the daemons is far better than that of the Astra Militarum. After their initial panic, they quickly regained their combat effectiveness."