"Ahriman truly lived up to my expectations; he successfully sealed a Bloodthirster, completely resolving the core issue of the rebellion." Alex put down the latest battle report from the Inquisition, his nerves, taut for days, finally relaxing.
He leaned back in the high-backed chair in the command room, letting his weary body sink into the soft leather.
Immediately after the rebellion was quelled, the Inquisition sent him a formal notification via encrypted Astropath communication.
In that unusually polite letter of thanks, the Inquisitors openly expressed their gratitude for Ahriman's timely intervention—after all, these experts, who had dealt with Chaos for years, knew all too well the disaster a fully-formed Bloodthirster rampaging through a Hive World could cause.
The lingering fear evident in every line of the battle report made Alex feel the Inquisition's relief.
After all, the appearance of a Chaos Greater Daemon in a Star Sector Capital alone would keep the Inquisition busy for years with subsequent purification work and faith crises.
The holographic projector in the command room flickered, displaying the real-time battle situation on the Rostov front.
Alex's gaze swept over the fluctuating data; the timely suppression of the rebellion meant that the Star District's administrative system was still intact, which was crucial for the Expeditionary Force's logistical support.
He got up and walked to the strategic map, his finger lightly tapping the main supply routes connecting Rostov to the rear Star District.
"If the Star District falls into prolonged chaos..." Alex muttered to himself, the worst-case scenario appearing in his mind: delayed supply fleets, dwindling ammunition reserves, and frontline soldiers forced to conserve every single bullet.
Although Rostov's local military factories could provide some supplies, this production capacity was merely a drop in the bucket to support a full-scale war against a reawakened Necron Dynasty.
On the projector, the green light representing the Necron forces was continuously expanding.
Although their own defense line had firmly blocked their advance into Imperial controlled territory, it could not prevent the Necron forces from expanding into other areas within the Sub-Sector.
Alex knew that with his current forces, he might gain an advantage in local battles, but against a fully awakened Necron Dynasty, without continuous troop replenishment and equipment support from the Star District, a long-term war of attrition would be utterly hopeless.
Especially the precious heavy equipment—the support from the Titan Legion and Knight Family, as well as the Tech-Priest teams from the Forge World—all depended on the coordinated dispatch from the rear of the Star District.
This was also why, when news of the Star District rebellion first came through the encrypted Astropath channel, Alex unhesitatingly approved the Ecclesiarchy's request to recall the Holy War Army, and even proactively dispatched Ahriman back to provide support.
He knew better than anyone that this rebellion had to be utterly crushed in its infancy.
Any delay could lead to the paralysis of the Star District's administrative system, thereby endangering the entire logistical lifeline of the Expeditionary Force.
Now, Ahriman had lived up to expectations and completed the mission, and the situation in the Star District had stabilized again.
But Alex knew that the real crisis might have just begun.
In this galaxy, although Astropath communication usually required a specialized Astropath as a medium, for a Psyker of Ahriman's level, directly sending targeted Astropath messages was not difficult.
Moreover, Alex himself was a Psyker, so establishing a private Psyker communication channel between them was as easy as pie.
Therefore, Alex's intelligence channels were far more than just the official reports from the Inquisition—Ahriman would transmit everything happening in the Star District to him in real-time through their Psyker connection.
It was through this special channel that Alex learned of the Mysterious Man's existence the moment the Bloodthirster was sealed.
This news made his brows furrow deeply—an entity capable of accurately knowing a Greater Daemon's true name was by no means an ordinary being!
He completely agreed with Ahriman's concern; this suddenly appearing and mysteriously disappearing individual was very likely a greater threat than the Bloodthirster.
After careful consideration, Alex instructed Ahriman to formally report this intelligence to the Inquisition.
As expected, the Inquisition attached great importance to this and immediately formed a special investigation team.
However, the clues were simply too few; apart from Ahriman's sighting, there were almost no traceable signs.
Furthermore, with the rebellion just quelled, the Inquisition's manpower and energy were severely insufficient, making it very difficult for even the most elite Inquisitors to achieve breakthrough progress in a short time.
This also meant that even though the Inquisition knew about this person and considered the matter very important, it was difficult to find this person at the moment.
Therefore, Alex issued a command to Ahriman to remain in the Star Sector Capital, a decision made after careful deliberation.
On one hand, it was to have him continue monitoring the situation in the Star Sector Capital.
Although the main strongholds of the Blood Oath Society had been destroyed, there was no guarantee that some stragglers weren't lurking in the shadows.
These fanatical cultists were like weeds; a slight oversight could lead to their resurgence.
Moreover, no one knew if other Chaos cults might take advantage of the power vacuum to cause trouble.
Ahriman's presence, at the very least, could serve as a deterrent, not to mention his ability to forcibly seal Greater Daemons at critical moments.
On the other hand, and the most important reason, was to keep an eye on this Mysterious Man.
Since that brief encounter, this Mysterious Man had vanished as if into thin air.
But Alex had a strong premonition that since this guy could appear in the heavily guarded Star Sector Capital without anyone knowing, he would definitely appear again!
This premonition made Alex restless.
Alex was very uneasy about this Mysterious Man.
He even performed multiple Psyker divinations, attempting to find any trace of the other party.
But disturbingly, the divination results were blank; nothing could be seen.
This undoubtedly greatly deepened Alex's worries.
In the Psyker domain, being unable to be foreseen often meant that the other party either possessed powerful anti-divination abilities, or their existence itself transcended conventional destiny trajectories.
In either case, it indicated the Mysterious Man's unfathomable depth.
What alarmed Alex even more was that he wasn't foolishly divining the Mysterious Man directly—that would be too easy to detect—but rather subtly attempting to find traces left by the Mysterious Man by performing macro-divination on the future of the Star District, trying to find them in the fluctuations of the river of fate.
Yet even so, Alex's Psyker vision remained a complete blur.
The future of the Star District seemed to be completely obscured by some force, all possibilities vague and indistinct.
This discovery made cold sweat trickle down Alex's back.
An existence capable of influencing the destiny of an entire Star District likely possessed a power level far beyond imagination.
This further solidified Alex's determination to uncover this Mysterious Man.
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 40 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
[patreon.com/TripleCrown07]
Thank you so much for your support!!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"