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"High-ranking Advisor?"
"When did the Legion get this official position?"
"Father just decided to establish it. He believes that every Thousand Son shouldn't waste more of their energy on daily affairs. We can hand those more trivial matters over to mortals to handle. Although this will lead to predictable inefficiency and corruption, it is tolerable."
"And high-ranking advisors, as the name suggests, will serve partly as a think tank and be responsible for handling matters related to mortals, such as compiling supplies, or serving as mid to high-ranking officers in the Spire Guard."
(Spire Guard, the Thousand Sons Legion's mortal auxiliary forces, known for being well-equipped and well-trained.)
"Then, we will have more time to gather and organize knowledge, and do truly great things."
"...That's actually not bad."
Recalling the hardships of these past few days, Hathor Ma'at stroked his golden long hair, silently praising the wisdom of his genefather. He truly did not want to communicate with those ignorant mortals anymore.
This swordmaster of the Bright Feather school was a perfectionist. He had felt a warmth like home during his mission to the Third Legion and had developed a habit of maintaining his perfect appearance even with psychic power. Along with this habit, he also developed a deep hatred for the various imperfections of mortals.
"Mortal matters should be handled by mortals, for only sparrows know the calls of sparrows."
Hearing this, Atharva, who was walking at the front, couldn't help but look back. The thought of refuting his battle-brother's idea flashed through his mind, then was extinguished.
Now was not the time for that.
As Hathor's declaration went unanswered, silence once again enveloped Atharva's squad. They quickly passed through the dense, swirling smoke and returned to the abandoned city of Zarzakhin: once the center of Dawnstar's technology and culture, with magnificent libraries and grand theaters everywhere. But now, the entire city was dead silent, like the graying corpse of a colossal beast, exuding a despairing stillness.
Along with the stillness came a thin mist. Atharva always felt as if there was a hollow laughter spreading within the mist, but when he focused his energy to listen, he heard nothing.
"Remember the Primarch's mission, everyone."
Before splitting up, Atharva emphasized his squad's mission one last time.
"We must gather as much lost wisdom and books in this city as possible. This world is about to face inevitable destruction, and before that, we must spare no effort to save as much knowledge as we can. This is the will of our genefather, and it is the greatest mission."
"As before, spread out and search. Report your status to me by serial number every five minutes. I need everyone to remain safe and in communication during the operation."
"Now, begin."
"This is..."
When the fourth safety report was successfully completed, Atharva involuntarily stopped. His gaze was drawn to a memorial monument on his left.
It was a towering, ancient stele, densely inscribed with various grand ambitions and visions of the future. But what Atharva focused on was not these, but the lifelike giant beast carved at the very top of the stele.
It had deer antlers, a camel's head, rabbit eyes, a snake's neck, a clam's belly, fish scales, eagle claws, tiger paws, and ox ears. Its body was slender, and its scales and claws soared.
"Dragon Nation..."
Atharva murmured softly. This magnificent, sacred, and majestic beast was hard to mistake. It successfully evoked some of the Thousand Sons' memories: before he followed the Emperor's footsteps into the stars, before he reunited with his genefather on Prospero, and even before the flesh-change afflicted the Thousand Sons Legion, he had once performed a simple task on Holy Terra as an ordinary warrior.
That was a land once named the Dragon Nation. It lay at the foot of the Imperial Palace on Terra and was one of the Emperor's earliest supporters. Upon it had once stood the greatest and most glorious empires in human history, leaving behind the richest ancient ruins and heritage.
Atharva had once been dispatched there to collect. At that time, he was a newly fully transformed warrior, but he could still clearly remember every detail. He could still recall the rich heritage left by that land, and the traces he saw while exploring those warehouses.
"Dragon..."
He whispered the name, then continued his journey of exploration, and soon found various crests in other corners of the city, identical to those he had seen in the Dragon Nation.
Laughter seemed to echo in the mist, but the Thousand Sons had learned to ignore such things.
Atharva was in the midst of his musings when, at that moment, his comm-unit chimed.
"Atharva, it's me."
It was Hathor's voice.
"I've found something interesting here, Atharva. A ship, an exceptionally ancient colonial vessel. It might be a relic from the Golden Age, just like the Spirit of Diligence!"
Even through the comm-unit, Hathor's joy and excitement were palpable, and Atharva could fully understand his battle-brother's lapse in composure: for he felt the same way.
A lost ship from the Golden Age meant infinite possibilities: precious scriptures and artworks, unique copies describing thousands of years of history and knowledge, and perhaps even more valuable things—such as STC.
Only now did Atharva finally understand why Magnus insisted on him exploring this ruin, even arguing with Perturabo over it—presumably, his genefather had already discovered this treasure but hadn't had time to excavate it due to the emergency of the disaster relief.
"Its airlock is sealed, Atharva. I'll have to use violent means to break it open..."
Hathor's urgent voice came through, and Atharva was already too preoccupied to care about much else.
"Stay there, Hathor! I'm gathering everyone to your location. We need to explore it together."
With that, without waiting for Hathor's reply, Atharva rushed off, leaving behind only a string of comm-calls to his teammates.
He was so hurried and joyous that he didn't even hear the low laughter in the mist.
"What did you say? Phosis?"
"It's Atharva, Lord. Atharva's squad hasn't contacted us for half an hour. That far exceeds your required communication interval."
"Doesn't sound good."
Magnus nodded. He looked around and saw only widespread devastation.
"But we don't have time for them now, Phosis. The situation here is more troublesome than I thought."
Phosis looked at his genefather, seeing the smoke continuously emanating from Magnus's body, and the wounds caused by artillery shells and energy blasts. He nodded silently.
In the beginning, they all thought this was a simple relief mission. Magnus led his sons to this inland city. He ordered his children to spread out and aid the Iron Warriors who were struggling to maintain order, while he personally went to find Governor Valga of Dawnstar.
The Governor possessed the ultimate command to activate and deactivate any location and any machine on Dawnstar. Perturabo's massive and complex evacuation plan would be impossible without his help and cooperation.
In the beginning, everything went smoothly. Tens of thousands of civilians were gradually gathered and evacuated with the combined efforts of the Thousand Sons and Iron Warriors. Magnus also found the unconscious Governor of Dawnstar in a severely damaged Rhino command vehicle.
But just then, the [Red Dragon] appeared.
The [Red Dragon] was not a beast, but Dawnstar's Planetary Defense Force, commonly known as PDF. Thanks to Dawnstar's prosperity and development, this Legion, though low in status within the Imperium's military system, possessed extremely large air and mechanized forces.
The [Red Dragon] that appeared in Magnus's sight was a sizable armored legion. The Primarch recognized war engines including Sword of Destruction, Executioner, Chimera, and Rhino. But just as he was puzzled as to why this army was only appearing now.
The [Red Dragon] opened fire.
The traitors' assault was exceptionally swift and fierce. Benefiting from the advantage of an undeclared war, a laser blast precisely hit the unprepared Magnus, leaving several wounds on the Primarch's body.
But everything stopped there.
Magnus raised a hand, and an invisible energy shield easily enveloped the entire city. The traitorous Red Dragon Legion furiously unleashed its firepower, but only left ripples like splashing water on the shield.
The Primarch gave his enemies no more chances or mercy. His immense power shook the sky and mountains. In an instant, mountains cracked, giant rocks fell, and the most threatening armored legions were either crushed by the sudden natural disaster or ground into ashes one by one by the enraged Primarch.
The Thousand Sons and Iron Warriors surged forth, systematically eliminating the last pockets of resistance, and even captured a few wavering prisoners for interrogation.
After a few minutes of battle, the Primarch first warned his brother in Carena City. Then, just as Magnus was attempting to treat the unconscious Governor of Dawnstar, he received news that Atharva's squad had lost contact.
This news only made the Primarch silent for a second, and he added the task of retrieving his sons to his internal memo. But before that, he still had things to do.
"What were the results?"
After ensuring that this crucial governor was no longer in life-threatening danger, Magnus turned his gaze to the Iron Warrior walking towards him.
"We have interrogated them, Lord."
The Iron Warrior saluted the Primarch, who possessed boundless power.
"All prisoners admitted to fighting for the [Sons of the Serpent], but none could clearly explain why they betrayed the Imperium. According to most descriptions, they were controlled by a voice in their minds and acted involuntarily."
"Then did they say where the other Red Dragon units went?"
"They don't know, Lord."
"Then bring them over. I will interrogate them myself."
"Uh... Lord, they have already suddenly died from unknown causes. The medical officer's preliminary analysis suggests it might be some kind of psychic timed bomb."
"...Alright."
Magnus rubbed his temples in slight pain. He currently had no one adept at mind control by his side. The Tzeentchian scholars were always skilled in this, but for safety, he had left them all in Carena.
He began to miss them, even missing Morgan, who was also a master of mind control.
"Phosis."
Magnus turned to his son.
"Are the investigation results out?"
"Confirmed, Lord. The Red Dragon units that attacked us came from at least thirty-three different warbands. We found all the markings to confirm this."
"Very good... How many warbands does the Red Dragon Legion have in total?"
"Uh... thirty-three."
"So, they all betrayed us?"
Phosis saw his father begin to think, and soon Magnus's expression turned grim.
"The loyalist forces that attacked us numbered at most fifty thousand, while the Red Dragon Legion... I remember it was in the millions?"
"Yes, Lord."
The Primarch glanced at the city, which was mostly evacuated. His voice was like a monologue, yet also like he was asking Phosis.
"This is already the last major city on Dawnstar besides Carena, and the forces the rebels committed here are so few..."
"Tell me, where would they go?"
Phosis was not a fool. Facing this not-at-all difficult question, he immediately understood. Subsequently, his expression also became exceptionally complex.
The Primarch took a deep breath.
"Phosis, re-muster the troops."
"We're returning to Carena."
"Quick... Quick! Quick! Quick!"