Chapter 74: The War is Over, a New Struggle Begins
The cause of this scene was that Omega had discovered that Little Bai, which had been transformed into a flesh-monster, had not been completely twisted and corrupted. It was still resisting, and it still recognized him as its master.
How could he abandon Little Bai in this situation? Relying on his immunity to Chaos corruption, Omega, under the shocked gazes of the others, began to dismantle Little Bai's body. Daemons were his after-dinner snacks; this mere mutation caused by malevolent power was nothing to him. And he was right. The twisted flesh that had been transformed from metal, upon seeing him, was like a mouse seeing a cat. Those that dared to bare their teeth at him were slapped into a half-dead state, stunning the cog-heads who had come to admire the relic.
Seeing the growing crowd of cog-heads, Omega didn't dare to ask for their help. If they were affected by the residual malevolent power and became heretics in the future, triggering a "Chaos Invasion 2.0," the sin would be too great. But he didn't let them stand idle either. How could they just watch? This was the decisive weapon that had ended the Greater Daemon, a relic passed down for over ten thousand years, a Machine Spirit blessed by the Omnissiah. If you didn't kowtow piously, were you even a good child of the Omnissiah?
With the combined efforts of purification and kowtowing, Little Bai's condition gradually stabilized. But its body was no longer usable. After completely removing the Cogitator containing Little Bai's Machine Spirit, Omega patted it and said, "Don't worry, Little Bai. Out with the old, in with the new. Your talents are wasted on an excavator. Wait for big brother to build you a Titan with the power of the spiral."
"Whirr, whirr!": "I'll listen to big brother!"
"But you'll have to study. Your old set of skills won't be of any use. You can't be digging into the ground when you're piloting a Titan."
Omega patted the Cogitator again. "Speak up. I know you heard me. Don't play dead! Hmph! Every time I mention studying, you're like this. Why are you so lazy!"
"..." Little Bai: I'm dead.
The Archmagos ultimately decided not to interfere with Omega's business. To hide the strange Machine Spirit would be more suspicious than to simply admit that it was the grace of the Omnissiah. If it wasn't a blessing, how could it have run through a Greater Daemon and come out "unscathed"? From now on, it would be Teyedan's exclusive "anti-daemon weapon." A chief Greater Daemon had been pierced by it. If any other daemons wanted to cause trouble, they would have to consider if their backsides were tougher than the Rainfather's.
The war was over, but not completely. The warp rift had been closed, and the daemons were gone, but the heretics were still on Teyedan. Cleaning up these scattered rats was a real hassle, but they couldn't just be left alone to recover. Who knew what kind of trouble they would stir up next?
Fortunately, Ventris wasn't one to just leave after a fight. His mission was to ensure that Teyedan could continue to exist. The Knights of Iron and the Covenant of Fire, after clearing out most of the heretic traitors, also continued on their respective journeys. Especially the Knights of Iron; they were still on their penitential crusade and couldn't stay in one place for too long. The Covenant of Fire had to continue their original mission.
The burden of exterminating the remaining heretic traitors fell on the shoulders of the Ultramarines and the Astra Militarum. But it wasn't a big problem. The remaining rebels were no match for them. As for the Worker-Soldiers, they were, of course, sent to the factories to tighten screws...
Veyl was very busy. The ruined Forge World was waiting for him to patch it up. The spaceport needed to be rebuilt, the factories repaired, the workers replenished, and the priests trained.
Veyl was very annoyed. The backlogged product orders were waiting for him to delay them further. The nobles were pushing, the Rogue Traders were pushing, the Departmento Munitorum was pushing, the Space Marines were pushing...
Veyl had a massive headache. His own biological son was leading protests and strikes, stirring up the workers, the Tech-Priests, and even the Praetorian Guard.
"We have shed our blood for this world! Less work, less danger, less disease!"
"We have fought for this world! More knowledge, more time, more resources!"
"We have been loyal to this world! Better modifications, better treatment, better weapons!"
Omega led the massive procession, marching around the still-ruined Grand Manufactorum, shouting slogans.
The cause of this was that, to get Teyedan back into production as quickly as possible, Veyl had decided to stop being human again, wishing he could just inject everyone with stimulants and make them work. The result was that the workers and Tech-Priests, who had just been through a brutal war, finally snapped. If surviving meant facing another kind of hell, it would have been better to have died on the battlefield.
Soon, representatives of the workers and priests had come to Omega, who was busy designing a transitional body for Little Bai. Hearing that his wild dad was being so inhuman, he didn't hesitate to go and persuade the Archmagos to be a person. But the old man didn't give him, the "crown prince," any face. He wouldn't listen to his explanation and even threatened to beat him up if he interfered again. Omega, with his short temper, couldn't stand it. More importantly, he deeply detested this ancient cog-head work system of exploiting people into废人, turning廢人 into servitors to be further exploited until they broke down, and then turning the broken-down servitors into Corpse Starch to feed others.
So Omega temporarily put aside Little Bai's business and began to prepare for a "revolution." Now was the best time for change. Without breaking, there can be no making. The ruined, Magos-depleted Teyedan was fertile ground for reform. Just as the old vested interests had to be overthrown to liberate the exploited and oppressed masses, the civil war and the Chaos invasion had physically eliminated most of the vested interests, the senior cog-heads who controlled the resources. This gave Omega the courage to think and to act. Of course, the fact that his dad was the Fabricator-General was also a factor. At worst, he'd be put in solitary confinement. Would the Archmagos dare to kill him?
But to avoid being violently suppressed by the Archmagos from the very beginning, Omega had to use his title of "Son of the Omnissiah" to win over the old guard and the wavering factions among the Tech-Priests. As long as it was on this planet, the title was very effective. At the same time, for the less-intelligent Skitarii, Omega used a different approach. He went directly to the Skitarii Marshal and said that he had received an inspiration from the Omnissiah and wanted to convey a message to his loyal followers. He dared to say it, and the Marshal of the Skitarii dared to believe it. He had knelt before Omega on the spot.
As for the reason? Perhaps it was because Omega's performance had always been too miraculous. The Skitarii, though they didn't say it, had long been waiting for Omega to admit it himself. Or perhaps it was because Omega's targeted approach was too strong, a one-hit kill. They were modified believers. Omega had had a lot of contact with them during his time at the Grand Manufactorum. At first, it was out of curiosity, because he had always wanted to know the difference between a Skitarii and a servitor.
After some contact, he had discovered that although the Skitarii's brains had been modified, their piety to the Omnissiah physically engraved in their brains, and they genuinely believed themselves to be the tools of the Omnissiah and were proud of it, unafraid of death and unquestioning of orders, they still had a human self-awareness. As one of the three major armed forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus, they even had a different promotion system from the Tech-Priests. They did not pursue knowledge and technology; they pursued "usefulness," their usefulness as a tool of the Omnissiah. They sincerely hoped to be used by the priests of the Machine God, because an unused tool had no value.
Later, Omega, unable to hold it in, had asked the captain who had fought the daemons with him on the city wall what it was like to fight against the Temple's Skitarii on the battlefield. The answer was that it felt like nothing. In their eyes, as long as they were being commanded by the priests, it was enough. They were tools. Right and wrong had nothing to do with them. Their purpose was to be used, their only meaning of existence. More importantly, they should be called the "Praetorians of the Omnissiah." The ones on the Temple's side were just "Skitarii."
Omega: Omnissiah, this is so awkward. You all look so much alike. Is it my fault?
To avoid such an embarrassing situation in the future, Omega had used a combination of cuteness, stupidity, and shameless inquiry to find out from the now-deceased squad leader that the "Skitarii" and the "Titan Legions" were more or less connected to Mars and Terra. The "Praetorians of the Omnissiah" were completely loyal to the Fabricator-General of the Forge World.
Upon receiving this news, Omega's first reaction was that he had been fooled by his wild dad's bragging. What "Teyedan will have its own Titan Legion in a few years"? If they did, it would have been two against one. So, theoretically, the Praetorians, who were loyal to the Archmagos, could not be won over. Not to mention that the Dominus Magos who commanded them could directly take over their bodies. But Omega just wanted reform, not a rebellion. For these Praetorians, who saw themselves as the tools of the Omnissiah, he had designed a targeted approach:
I have received an inspiration from the Omnissiah. He believes that loyal believers like them should know that "death can be heavier than Mount Tai, or lighter than a feather." To die without distinction like them is wrong. They cannot blindly pursue the power of weapons. To be "poisoned to death" by their own weapons is too hasty. The old man Omnissiah does not like it. A good and durable tool is a good tool!
After hearing Omega's "good and durable" theory, the Praetorian Marshal had seen the light. He had knelt before Omega, repeating his words over and over, scaring Omega into thinking he would suddenly say, "Heh heh, Marshal, I've made it!"
And so, the scene of the parade above had occurred. Although Veyl had been the tiger of Teyedan for over two hundred years, the old guard had suffered heavy losses. The Magi who now had a little power in their hands all had some connection with Omega. They were more than happy to watch the father and son fight. If it weren't for the fact that the "Father's Party," which had just been rehabilitated, had been completely wiped out, Veyl would not be so passive now. The last survivor of the "Father's Party," after confessing everything, had finally gone to meet the Omnissiah, unable to fulfill his dream of monopolizing all the wealth.
As for Ventris, he had no intention of getting involved in the Archmagos's family affairs. And Omega had not given him any reason to. He had repeatedly stressed to the workers, Tech-Priests, and Praetorians: peaceful protest, non-violent non-cooperation. If the Archmagos did not agree to their demands, they would continue to protest.
And so, with a strike, Omega had forced Veyl to the negotiating table. "What the hell do you want, you little brat?!" Veyl roared, the moment he finally saw Omega.
Seeing Veyl lunging at him like a mechanical monster, Omega quickly ran to the side, using the onlooking Magi as a shield. "Archmagos," he said from behind them, "your methods are outdated. They are no longer applicable to the current situation on Teyedan. I am doing this to give it a new life!"
Veyl laughed in his anger. He stopped. "Fine. I'll listen to how it's outdated. If you don't convince me today, I'll beat you to death!"
Omega, threatened with physical violence, paid no mind to the Archmagos's words. He was not afraid at all! Not afraid at all! Not at all...