Chapter 72: Hope is the Continuation of Sacrifice
The Knights of Iron Chapter is the only Chapter to have won the centennial Feast of Blades twice in a row. These two champions were the two Astartes chosen as representatives this time. The three of them, with their own strength, had convinced everyone. They were the peak of human combat power on Teyedan.
"I don't agree with that!"
Everyone could guess who had said this. That's right, it was Omega. The news of the duel had spread throughout the camp like wildfire. He didn't even have to ask. While all the loyalists were discussing how powerful these three were, Omega was feeling quite displeased. "They can't be stronger than my Little Bai!"
"Beep, beep, beep!"
Little Bai indicated: The boss is right. It is very angry now. It wants to run over all three of them at the same time.
"Little Bai, don't be angry. The savior only appears at the end for dramatic effect."
"Beep, beep!"
Little Bai indicated: The boss is right. But it still wants to run them over.
"This temper, it's just to my liking. Little Bai, don't be hasty. Big brother will think of a way."
"Beep!"
Little Bai indicated: Me too. Only big brother is to my liking. I'll listen to big brother.
Jacob (°_°)? Omega, how do you understand the meaning of "beep"?
If Jacob had asked, Omega would have surely told him to get a dog. If there were still dogs. If not, then another pet. After a long time, when he could understand what his pet wanted from its barks, he could try to raise a "sentient" Machine Spirit for fun.
As mentioned before, the Adeptus Mechanicus's Crimson Accords prohibit the creation of independently thinking machines. But there is a practical problem: complex, large-scale machines must have the ability to self-diagnose and resolve malfunctions. Otherwise, you can imagine, you're piloting a Knight against traitors, and the Knight's Machine Spirit indicates a malfunction. If it's not resolved, the machine will freeze. To resolve it, you have to check every line of code and every component, to find the faulty part or code and fix it.
So, a certain degree of "intelligence" is needed. And so, "artificial bestial intelligence" was born. A massive amount of computing power and data creates a "beast" with code as its cells. A weak "beast" only has instincts. A strong "beast" is more realistic; it has emotions. A "sentient" one like Little Bai can already be considered a life form in a mechanical body. This kind of mechanical life with "mana" (psychic power) is an "intelligence" without any restrictions. It lacks the word "artificial" because it doesn't have the directives set by humans for "artificial intelligence," such as: to serve humanity. Self-updating, self-evolving, self-replicating—these are the "desires" of artificial intelligence. Little Bai does not have these "desires" for evolution. It just wants to run over anyone who annoys it. Even if Omega transmitted the entire knowledge of artificial intelligence to it, it wouldn't even look at it. It's not interested. In its eyes, these things are no different from the rocks on the ground.
Little Bai: A dumb dog that just wants to play.
Omega wasn't stupid enough to let Little Bai fight a daemon in front of everyone. What would be the difference between that and letting Little Bai run over the face of the Imperium? Lies, they were all well-intentioned lies. He, Omega, at the cost of becoming the "King of Lies," had soothed Little Bai's emotions and saved the face of the Imperium. What a great sacrifice.
Playing with a "pet" not only makes the pet happy, but it can also ease the owner's tension. Omega had been nervous ever since the Nurgle Scribe had arrived, because he knew very well that when this daemon left, the camp would no longer be safe. The traitors who had turned to the daemon could start a rebellion or an assassination at any moment. Astra Militarum, Worker-Soldiers, Tech-Priests, Astartes—any one of them could be a traitor.
"Paul, have you messaged Douglas and the others?" Omega asked.
"I have. Boss, you've asked me three times already," Paul replied helplessly.
"Sigh, I'm just nervous. It feels like being a conscious patient on an operating table."
"Hmm. I've never heard of that, Aedus. You've had surgery?"
"I was the one being operated on," Aedus replied.
Omega, speechless, found a key point. "What kind of surgery requires you to be conscious?"
"When you get an artificial secondary brain transplant."
"Hiss—is that necessary?"
"I heard the effect is better."
"You heard? What about in reality?"
"In reality, there's no difference. But when people ask me, I still say the effect is better. I can't be the only one who's suffered. Hahaha."
"You cog-head, you have a very wicked heart!"
"I was tricked too. So I have a duty to pass on this pain," Aedus retorted.
It wasn't just Omega who was nervous. Jacob, Aedus, and the others were all nervous. But they could only joke around to ease the tension. Omega was now a "deposed crown prince," but his die-hard Worker-Soldiers were still loyal to him. Too many people had already been sacrificed. Omega didn't want these people, who had fought so hard to survive, to die again because of something that could be avoided. So he had Paul tell Douglas and the others that if a riot broke out, they were to immediately form a defensive circle and protect themselves. There were traitors among the human forces; they must not be used by them.
"Ding-dong!"
"?"
"What's wrong?"
"The Archmagos wants to see me."
After the unconscious Inquisitor Griffin had been settled, the final pre-battle meeting was held. Omega was specially permitted to attend by Archmagos Veyl. Why am I suddenly allowed to participate in "court affairs"? Have I regained my "crown prince" status? Omega, who had been suddenly summoned by the Archmagos, was a little confused. But he could also see that this must be something important, because there were very few people present: only Chapter Master Isaac of the Knights of Iron, Chaplain Colin of the Covenant of Fire, Captain Ventris of the Ultramarines, Magos Lyra, and Magos Laust.
Omega hadn't expected to see Laust here. The moment he saw him, he started dissing him in his head: By selling out the cute and charming Omega, Magos Laust, you've finally latched onto the Archmagos's thigh. You never had the qualifications to attend such a meeting before. You could only sit at the children's table. From this day forward, our bond is severed. I, Omega, disdain to be associated with a villain like you!
Laust knew Omega all too well. After all, he had been secretly spying on him for half a year. He knew what the little brat was like in private, whether he was plotting something. He could tell with a single glance. Seeing Omega look at him and then deliberately look away, his eyes darting around, he knew he was cursing him in his head. A verbal education for Omega was far less effective than a physical one.
Thump!
"Ow!" Omega cried out in pain.
Veyl, the "wild dad," was not a qualified one. Seeing an outsider hit his son, he didn't say a word. The others either didn't know Omega well, or felt he deserved it. So no one on the scene stopped Laust's evil deed.
Thump!
"Stop hitting me, Magos! It hurts!"
"Stay put and be quiet," Laust commanded.
"Oh..."
Seeing that everyone was present, the Archmagos began, "Inquisitor Griffin has sacrificed himself to create an opportunity for us. We must seize this hard-won hope. Therefore, I have decided to lock myself in the treasury with the nuclear bomb. This way, we will not have to worry about the daemon making a move, and we can concentrate all our strength on banishing it."
"That is not acceptable, Archmagos!" Ventris said quickly. "We—"
The Archmagos interrupted him. "You should all understand what the daemon is afraid of. This is something only I can do. Griffin could sacrifice himself, and so can I. Courage is the anthem of humanity. Sacrifice is the hope of humanity. Only by putting everything on the line do we have a chance of victory."
The crowd was silent. They all understood that with this, the human side would no longer have to devote resources to guarding the nuclear bomb. The Archmagos continued, "Tomorrow's duel will be held not far from the warp rift. You will take all your men there. If we win, we will immediately attack the warp rift and have a final battle with the Greater Daemon. If we lose, you will lead the men to break out and leave. I will detonate the nuclear bomb and destroy this place before the daemon can breach the treasury's defenses."
Seeing Veyl's resolve, no one said anything more. Omega also realized that this was a last will and testament. He quickly walked over to Veyl to try and persuade him to give up this idea. In Omega's eyes, people were more important than places. Without Teyedan, there could be a new Teyedan. Weren't even the most glorious buildings built by people, brick by brick? But Veyl had already seen Omega's intention. He didn't give him a chance to speak.
"Father—"
"Omega, I know what you want to say, but I will not change this decision," Veyl said in a light tone, as if he were not the one being sacrificed. "I know you don't understand. Actually, I quite like the way you always hold onto hope. And the meaning of sacrifice is to allow that hope to continue. Just keep being like that."
Omega didn't know what to say. What could he say to persuade a man who did not even fear death? He couldn't persuade the Archmagos. He could only console himself that Veyl was just being cautious. If they won, everything would be fine.
"Laust, I leave this child to you."
"I will take good care of him," Laust replied.
Veyl's self-sacrifice meant that the plan Ventris and the others had originally formulated had to be changed. Chapter Master Isaac proposed that since the safety of the nuclear bomb was guaranteed, why not use this force for a surprise attack? They could secretly position these men on the flank of the duel site and catch the daemon off guard. The others thought this was an excellent idea, but their every move was now under the daemon's surveillance. A "surprise" would be difficult to achieve, so they would discuss it further.
"Ahem! I think Chapter Master Isaac's proposal is excellent," Omega said, raising his hand.
Isaac: This child has good judgment. He knows what's good.
"We know, but the difficulty of implementation—"
"I have a way."
"Hmm?"
Veyl's spirit of sacrifice had infected Omega to some extent. And he felt that at a time like this, it didn't matter if the tunnel was exposed. Veyl's plan involved the entire army. There was little point in him keeping his secret.
"What a talent! How did you do it?" Isaac marveled, standing in the tunnel that a Leman Russ could pass through.
"Ow! Magos Laust, stop hitting me! Ow!" Omega cried, protecting the back of his head. He was being beaten because he had dared to act on his own. If the daemon had discovered it, all their efforts would have been in vain. Now, they couldn't be sure the daemon didn't know. After all, psychic powers really could predict the future.
"Now I think Isaac's plan is completely viable," Chaplain Colin said.
Ventris nodded, a plan already forming in his mind. "Then we'll proceed as planned."
The next morning, the entire human camp was in motion. Everyone received the same order: to proceed, fully armed, to the duel site. Anyone who acted out of line would be considered a traitor and could be summarily executed. The traitors were swept up in the tide of the war mobilization, their plots and schemes torn to shreds. They had tried to resist, but the blood on the ground and the smell of flesh being burned by lasers was their end.
Isaac and Colin had already led the veterans of the Knights of Iron and half of the Covenant of Fire, as well as the "zealot" troops, through the tunnel to lie in ambush on the periphery. They would attack the daemon army's flank at the opportune moment, and with the main force led by Ventris, they would pincer the enemy.
The long war had caused many sacrifices, but it had also tempered the troops. Even though there were still heretic traitors making their last-ditch struggles, the entire camp was moving towards the duel site in an orderly manner. This was the full strength of humanity on Teyedan. Success would save Teyedan. Failure would mean exile among the stars.
"The daemon has a good plan too. If we win, they'll be waiting for us at the warp rift," Omega said, rubbing his chin. "If we lose, they'll attack the Grand Temple through the portals. But I feel like the daemon has a plot. The problem is that the warp doesn't play by the rules. Even warp energy can affect the laws of physics. If the missiles didn't malfunction halfway through, fighting daemons wouldn't be so difficult."
"Sigh, forget it. There's no point in纠結 this now. We're just using the Grand Manufactorum to gamble for a chance to banish the Greater Daemon. If only we could drop the nuclear bomb into the warp rift and blast the Greater Daemon to near death, then there wouldn't be so many problems. Right, Little Bai?"
"Beep—"
Rumble, rumble, rumble... Omega, sitting inside Little Bai as it moved with the army, felt like a duck in a washing machine, being thrown around in Little Bai's cylindrical body. The moment before he was knocked unconscious, his only thought was: Wear a seatbelt when driving!
The Father's Party, aka, the men認定 as missing traitors.
Let's rewind a bit. After reaching their chosen destination, the Father's Party began to assemble their "big boom." The process went smoothly. The reactor was successfully activated. Just as they were about to celebrate and head back, they discovered a problem: they were surrounded by daemons. To be more precise, the Space Marines had left, the Nurgle daemons had returned, and the Father's Party was trapped.
The Magi and their followers were dumbfounded. One second, they were worrying about having too much money to spend. The next, they were experiencing the ultimate pain of life: a man is about to die, and his money is not spent. I (o;**)o Ventris! I (十A6) Veyl! I (十益)== The Space Marines cursed quite foully. These few lines of binary profanity will not be translated. Fortunately, the Father's Party did not know that the culprit of their suffering was the honorary head of the "Son's Party." Otherwise, they might have turned to Chaos on the spot.
The wealthy men of the Father's Party would not, of course, sit and wait to die. A beautiful life of a cog-head awaited them. They tried to send out a distress signal, but it was like a stone sinking into the sea. No one responded. They didn't dare to try to break out, because all calculations showed that it was a dead end. Fortunately, the location they had chosen was quite concealed, and they had not yet been discovered by the daemons. Unfortunately, when they had designed the "big boom," they had not considered how to dismantle it. In fact, to prevent the daemons from destroying it if they found it, they had specially designed it to detonate immediately if anyone tried to dismantle it. If they didn't dismantle it, it would, upon reaching its operational threshold, unleash its maximum power.
The battle-hardened, experienced Magi would not leave any opportunity for the daemons. They had used their technology to cut off all of the daemons' possible options. They wanted the daemons, even if they found it, to only be able to be destroyed in a state of helplessness, to let this pain make the daemons remember that this was the consequence of offending their property... their Teyedan. So...
I (o;)o death sentence! Ventris.
I (A) F*! Veyl.
I (+益) your mother! Space Marines.
The Father's Party was like a coffee table, covered in tragedies.
It wasn't that no one had thought of betrayal, but a loyal person will choose loyalty even in despair. The one who had proposed it had been executed on the spot. So did they give up? No! A vast fortune was encouraging their will to survive. They were not willing to give up. They could not dismantle it, but they could lower its power and delay the time. And so they had delayed until the day of the duel between humanity and the daemons.
During this time, the Father's Party had been waiting for an opportunity. They had all learned from a certain motorcycle-loving Magos who was also famous and unconventional in the Magos circle, and had used the materials they could find to modify their own bodies. What legs could be faster than wheels? As long as they could run fast enough, the daemons wouldn't be able to catch them.
The Omnissiah does not fail a determined cog-head. They got their chance. The daemons were no longer wandering aimlessly. They were beginning to gather. Their body modifications were complete. And the reactor was about to blow. The time, the place, and the people were all right. As long as they could run at the speed of the White Scars, there was still a 3% chance of survival. And the property of those who were left behind would all belong to the survivors! Thinking of this, didn't Ventris's face suddenly seem less annoying?