The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Sorskyan was also quite puzzled by Mars's attitude. What was the point of desperately forcing people down the path of traitors? The Alathimos Forge World might have had traitors in the past, but they dealt with them themselves. If you want to list past crimes, how much better is Mars? Besides, that was ten thousand years ago. How many traitors in these ten thousand years have been bewitched by Chaos, and how many traitors have been created by the Empire itself?

Or perhaps it's more than that.

Ulan Huda, the sage who came with Sorskyan, made another conjecture. In the past, the Iron Ring spanned two star regions and had already become a behemoth in the Mechanicus system. If there had been no Great Rebellion, these forge worlds might have joined forces to attack Mars's authority. For Mars, a single powerful forge world is not scary, but a group of forge worlds united is terrifying, and the Iron Ring is such a typical example.

Therefore, after the Great Rebellion, Mars's sanctions and suppression of the Iron Ring were the most obvious. Whether it was the rebels or the loyalists, they were subjected to various political and economic exclusions. For Mars, the best way to prevent the emergence of an opposing group is to weaken them, making them extremely weak and even unable to protect themselves.

Apart from Grea, Alathimos is like this, and Urdersh is also like this—this forge world was not even allowed to rebuild its own Titan Legion after all its Titans were destroyed in the Great Rebellion, so that it was weakened to the point of being captured by cultists in the forty-first millennium, until the Sabbat Crusade liberated it.

But I have to say that this method seems to have become a common routine for the lords of Terra, and it can even be said to be path dependence. This is the case for the Astartes Chapter, for the Imperial Guard, for the Navy, and even for various planets.

本书由𝕥𝕨𝕜𝕒𝕟.𝕔𝕠𝕞全网首发

It seems that their only means of "balance" is to "weaken".

In this case, Sorskyan came forward. As the Astartes Chapter Master who rescued the forge world, he bluntly said to the ecclesiarch that if he had come a little later, then the Martian envoy fleet would have crashed into a star system full of Orks, and the power of the Orks after obtaining Alathimos would have doubled. At that time, the entire eastern Storm Star Region would not be peaceful. Now the western part has begun to cause large-scale Ork troubles. If the eastern part also causes trouble, who will bear the consequences?

As an Astartes Chapter Master, he spoke much tougher than the Forge Overseer. Although the ecclesiarch repeatedly stated that he was only conveying a message, Sorskyan sent him back and brought his letter to the Forge General, in which he would explain the situation in detail. Although it is impossible to completely eliminate the production quota of the forge world, reducing it by 20% is not a big problem, and it can also avoid additional dispatch.

And his righteous words also made the Forge Overseer and the sages feel his goodwill, but the most important thing was the power he showed, not only military power, but also political power. The Martian envoy was sent away as soon as he said so.

"Alathimos has been working diligently for the Empire and for humanity for so many years, and there is always merit. At the very least, there is hard work. I can understand your mood, especially as a descendant of the erased legion, I can understand this very well. The mistakes made by the distant ancestors have been repaid by the descendants for ten thousand years, but it is still not enough. This is unreasonable and unfair."

Walking in the completely abandoned old Titan factory, Sorskyan's eyes swept over the solidified furnace and the chains falling from the dark dome. It is hard to imagine that this dilapidated cave used to be able to produce all Titans except the Emperor class.

Beside him was the Forge Overseer, a huge figure in red robes, whose entire head seemed to have been completely replaced with equipment.

A row of flying cherubs swept over the heads of the two, and the smoke from the censers in their hands swirled and dissipated in the darkness.

"We have exhausted everything for the Empire, but what we have gained is only suppression, insult, degradation and restriction. We do not have enough resources and can only buy rare minerals from Rogue Traders at high prices, which has drastically reduced the quality of our Protector Guard, and Mars restricts us from selling our own products. It wants to starve us to death, destroy our legions, and reduce us to the same situation as Urdersh."

From the Forge Overseer's cold metallic tone, one could clearly feel an irrational anger. It is conceivable how long this resentment has been accumulated in Alathimos to make a sage-level Mechanicus priest produce emotions other than "mechanical rationality".

"Everything is because Mars is sure that we have no power to resist. Would it dare to do this to Ryza, or Yellow Spring Eight?"

Sorskyan smiled slightly.

"Overseer Christopher, I can understand your anger. In fact, this also proves a truth. There is no way out for fighting alone in the dark galaxy. From a race to an individual, the Naiton Star System already has the commercial power to radiate the entire star region. In the future, Alathimos will receive resource supplies from the entire star region, just like the former Nidilinar Sub-sector, it will also become the core of the new Iron Corridor."

Hearing this, the Forge Overseer suddenly made a very low voice.

"Chapter Master Sorskyan, what exactly are you doing this for?"

Sorskyan raised his head slightly, pondered for two seconds, and then turned his head and said:

"For humanity, for the Emperor, for the Empire... for survival."

"For survival, yes, we have all been forced to a dead end."

"Moreover, rebuilding the Iron Corridor is by no means for the benefit of me or the Eleventh Legion. Now the Storm Star Region has entered an eventful period. It is difficult to support only by the three forge worlds of Grea, Zhao-Akad, and Griffin IV, especially Griffin and Zhao-Akad, which are located on the edge of the star region and are in the dangerous area of the Tyranid invasion route. The Iron Corridor is the key material foundation for defending the Storm Star Region, and will become the core pillar to ensure the safety of the star region together with the Alliance of Suffering. And the Empire... obviously the Eye of Terror alone has already made the High Lords overwhelmed. Corresponding to the dark and barren Storm Star Region, they will not invest too much attention. We can only rely on ourselves."

The Forge Overseer nodded.

"I agree with your idea. We have also received the news of the Tyranid invasion. If the Alliance of Suffering had not intervened in time, I don't know how much the situation would have deteriorated."

Soon, the two walked to a huge platform, which was facing a huge metal skeleton, which was covered with thick dust, looking like some kind of unearthed cultural relic. From the outline, it should be a support skeleton of a Reaver-class Titan, which means it has been on the support for tens of thousands of years.

Since the civil war, this severely damaged Titan factory has never operated again. Although Ulan Huda's Titan factory has also been stagnant for a long time, it still has maintenance after all, but here, there is no maintenance at all, it is almost a ruin.