That gaze seemed brighter than the stars, as if it could pierce through all things in creation.
And those blazing golden flames were, in truth, some incomprehensible and majestic power.
His figure was smaller and leaner than those of the Astartes, yet they sensed greatness from him.
Not merely spiritual greatness, but physical greatness as well. He seemed vast as the heavens, so overwhelming that they instinctively dropped to their knees and could only look up at him.
Although none of them had ever seen that great existence with their own eyes, in that moment, their minds produced the same realization.
They were being watched by Him.
At that moment, they also felt an excitement unlike anything they had ever known.
It was like meeting a long-lost loved one after countless years apart. The emotions it stirred were so powerful that some of them could not stop their eyes from growing wet.
That had absolutely been His gaze.
Only He could possess such godlike power, the power to overturn the established fact of their deaths.
Because of that, the reborn Astartes could all feel that they were different from before.
They had received the Emperor's blessing.
Some of them still felt as though they were dreaming, unable to believe what had happened to them. They could not help reaching up to touch their necks and tap their heads.
They were real.
"Silt, remember this. We must not speak of what we saw."
"I know."
The Salamanders squad captain and the Lamenters captain stared at each other in silence.
"Even if we say nothing, the Inquisitors of the Inquisition won't simply let this go."
The voice of one Lamenters battle-brother broke the silence.
From what the Salamanders brothers had told them, that person likely carried some special mission, and information about him could not be exposed.
That was clearly true. He bore some extraordinary mission, because they had felt the Emperor's blessing from him.
However, even if they did not speak of it, the Inquisition would absolutely come knocking, trying to learn what had happened.
And given the Inquisition's methods, they would stop at nothing.
"Simple. We ignore the Inquisition."
Aret, the Salamanders squad captain, said this plainly.
That was what the Archmagos had told them. If the Inquisition made a move, they would make a move as well. They were not to stupidly surrender and let themselves be captured.
As for how severe the consequences would be, the Archmagos had said he would handle it.
"Ignore them? I understand."
Silt, captain of the Lamenters, understood what the Salamanders captain meant.
Not only him. Every member of the squad understood.
Next, their squad would not return to its original posting. Instead, they would go with the Salamanders squad to meet the sacred Archmagos of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Belisarius Cawl.
Then Silt put on his helmet, because the Thunderhawk gunship they were riding was about to rendezvous with an Imperial reconnaissance vessel. The Thunderhawk would enter its hangar.
They would be transferred to the Space Wolves fleet.
...
On an agri-world, a planet that served as the heart of several nearby forge worlds and hive worlds.
After all, if there was no food, then no matter how powerful the weapons were, as long as their operators were human and needed to eat, the outcome was obvious.
A ghost ship silently visited this planet and arrived above what looked like a wheat-field agricultural zone.
Kain descended and looked toward a figure operating a machine, either fertilizing the crops or spraying pesticide.
Although the figure's appearance differed from the one he had seen before, the sense of familiarity was the same.
After seeing Kain appear, the other party stopped operating and adjusting the machine, instead letting it continue autonomously.
Once Kain drew closer, he could notice the abnormalities of the other party's body. It was like an android that had been used for far too long. Most of its skin was damaged, revealing the mechanical structures inside.
"So, which number Cawl-aemon are you?"
The question made the other party pause.
"Well... I suppose I'm Number 19,515."
"You made that many copies of yourself?"
Kain sounded somewhat surprised.
The Archmagos Belisarius Cawl's self-modifications had turned him into a "legion"-type Cawl.
To put it simply, he had copied his own consciousness and created different avatar personalities with separate "archives," to the point that he could not be described as only three people anymore.
Still, Kain had not expected him to create this many versions of himself. In his view, there should have been only a dozen or so at most.
As for why Kain had added the "aemon" suffix to the Archmagos's name, it was because the Archmagos could always satisfy many of the Regent's demands by pulling out all kinds of strange tools.
The Regent was basically Nobita. Whenever he ran into trouble, he went to Doraemon for help. Cawl would then find a way to make something to satisfy his request.
Because of that, he had been jokingly nicknamed Dora-Cawl, or Cawl-aemon.
As for why Kain had come here, it was because the Archmagos himself had sent a pager-like message telling him to go to a farm on this planet and hand the data he had obtained to a "farmer."
This time, he had not let the Salamanders squad carry it over, because the Archmagos believed the Salamanders were not safe enough and was worried the data might leak.
After all, this incident had caused far too much commotion. If they returned all the way to the Archmagos's location, they would encounter many obstacles along the way, so Kain had been asked to bring the data here instead.
This was also a place he had passed by before, so he came here directly with a quantum jump.
"Not that many. Some failed, and some were destroyed. The number of secondary personalities that currently exist is probably only a dozen or so. Disgusting."
The Cawl who answered him felt like a simpleminded farmer-type personality, and his tone was somewhat stuttering.
"That machine is your main body, isn't it?"
By main body, Kain did not mean the Archmagos's true body, but rather the real server of this secondary personality. He could sense something like emotions emanating from the large agricultural machine. The body in front of him was merely a wirelessly controlled shell.
"The main body was right. You really are interesting."
Kain shrugged and began handing over the goods. He passed over a universal STC data drive and let the other party download it.
Inside it were some of the gains they had obtained from the Necrons this time, including Necron phase teleportation technology.
To be more precise, it was human-compatible phase teleportation technology developed based on Necron phase teleportation technology. If the original Necron technology were used directly, the result of a human teleporting would be disintegration.
At present, this phase teleportation technology still could not compare to the Necrons' own. But with this technology, Imperial operations would undoubtedly be greatly improved.
In addition, there was technology designed to carry out targeted disruption based on Necron phase-shift technology.
Its relationship to phase teleportation was similar to that between a nuclear bomb and a neutron disruptor.
Of course, this did not mean they could casually seal off the Necrons' phase teleportation ability. From the looks of it, applying this technology would not be simple.
The manufacturing cost would be extremely high, and the equipment would also be large.
Finally, the third technology was the true centerpiece.
It was the Necrons'...
Celestial Orrery.
That terrifying technology, which could in some sense directly destroy the galaxy.
(End of Chapter)
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