The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Although Illyan felt that Solaryan was being a little too nice to him, even excessively affectionate, he still gratefully thanked him.

"Thank you."

"Someone will receive you after you leave. Oh, right, you don't seem to have brought any servants?"

"I... I'm more used to being alone."

"Oh? And you're not married either?"

Illyan was speechless. Solaryan realized that asking such a question was a bit awkward, so he immediately changed the subject:

"Apologies, I shouldn't have asked such a personal question. Please, allow me to arrange some servants for you."

Illyan nodded, turned, and left the place and the Chapter Master who asked strange questions. For some reason, although the other party seemed a bit odd, he didn't dislike him very much. Instead, he felt that this person was quite down-to-earth. After all, whether it was the Dark Angels or the Ultramarines he had contacted before, most of the time they were 'holding themselves up,' and it was difficult to see emotions other than 'rigidity.'

Moreover, somewhat inexplicably, after talking to the other party, he inexplicably let down his guard, even feeling a faint sense of closeness.

After the puzzled Illyan left, a small door opened in the hall, and then Veronica and Viletts walked in. Viletts also unfurled a portrait, which was of Orod.

"Sigh, the nose and eyes really do look a bit alike."

Hearing Veronica's words, Solaryan looked at the portrait and then nodded.

"There is... a bit, but the timeline doesn't quite match up. He's younger than me."

Viletts then said:

"Could it be a descendant of Orod?"

"A descendant of Orod... But look at this person, his Eldar bloodline is obviously quite high. Most of Orod's descendants married humans, and the bloodline would only become more diluted. Could it be that it's a throwback to his generation?"

Veronica offered another guess.

"Then he's a descendant of Orod and some Eldar woman, and then he combined with a human."

"This... well, that's possible, but the question is, what circumstances would make him abandon his wife and children?"

"It's meaningless to guess here. Let's just test his genes. If he's a descendant of the Aleksey family, then he's definitely another branch of Orod's bloodline."

Solaryan pondered for a moment and nodded.

"That's right, have someone take a bit of his gene sample and test it. But the main point now is whether he's willing to admit it. After all, how should I put it, he probably didn't have a good life in the past. As a mixed-race, he must have suffered discrimination, and maybe he still harbors resentment. Let's take it slow... This time, let's just take him to Orpheus as well. The Randal's Land needs a void-seer supervisor anyway."

Just as Solaryan was assembling his forces and was almost done, a message from the High Lords of Terra also arrived.

The war on Orpheus was extremely urgent. Terra had already ordered the mobilization of a massive reinforcement force from the surrounding star sectors, including the Necromunda Regiment and the Krieg Death Korps, among other famous units. At the same time, the main force of the Barca Fleet would also be deployed in full force. It could be said that the safety of the entire Storm Sector was being gambled on.

Similarly, Space Marines would also be going to support Orpheus. The High Lords issued a call to the Astral Knights, demanding that Solaryan immediately lead the Chapter to assist in the war zone.

In addition to that, the Minotaurs Chapter would also be participating in the reinforcement, as well as other Chapters, but this was not mentioned in the message.

Solaryan was not surprised that Terra had issued a call. After the annihilation of the Soul Drinkers, the Astral Knights were one of the closest Chapters that could support Orpheus, but sending the Minotaurs was a bit strange. After all, Orpheus was so far away and remote, it shouldn't have received such attention from the High Lords, even to the point of sending their enforcers.

The only explanation Solaryan could think of was that the Minotaurs, like during the last Maelstrom campaign, were there to monitor the Astral Knights.

After all, the Maelstrom was still relatively far from the Storm Sector, but Orpheus was right under Solaryan's nose. If the Astral Knights succeeded in the rescue, this sector without Chapter protection might become a 'vassal state,' which was unacceptable to the High Lords. As Tyrion said, the High Lords must always consider the 'balance of power' rather than chaos and order.

Although the two sides had had conflicts and even clashes before, Solaryan, in all fairness, did not object to the Minotaurs coming to support them. This Chapter was indeed a bit unpleasant, but they were truly capable fighters. Last time in the Maelstrom, frankly speaking, their performance was better than most of the Chapters participating in the expedition, especially when facing an enemy of the level of the Necrons. Being able to fight was more important than being trustworthy.

This was why Dante repeatedly protected the Flesh Tearers. In the current messed-up era of the galaxy, a capable bastard was more important than a mediocre good person.

After confirming Terra's attitude, Solaryan accelerated the assembly of his forces. However, this malicious galaxy often crammed all the bad things into one's head. Bad news came again from the distant Victory Scar. Due to the High Lords Council's Cadian Martial Law, the Relictors Chapter had to end their penance crusade early and return to their homeworld to strengthen the defenses of the Cadian region. Although they would leave two companies behind, this was obviously not comparable to an entire Chapter, which led to a serious shortage of troops in the Archdiocese. The Penitent, who had not yet recovered, had to go to the Archdiocese to join the battle, and even the new recruits they had just recruited had to be taken to the Archdiocese for modification and training.

However, one piece of good news was that the Ranger warriors who had been out of contact for some time sent two companies to Victory Scar to assist the alliance. They had received the battle intelligence from the Archdiocese, but this still could not make up for the personnel shortage. At least, Orpheus could not count on the aid of the Suffering Alliance. Just supporting the battle in the Archdiocese and maintaining daily patrols and vigilance had exhausted the alliance's strength.

If this was a serious disruption to Solaryan's overall plan, then the following news completely disrupted all his deployments.

Arash directly sent someone to deliver an urgent message: the White Templars' original homeworld, Sanctuary, had received an order from the High Lords Council, requiring them to go to the Storm Sector to save the besieged Rynn's World, which was the Crimson Fists' homeworld.

Obviously, the High Lords did not know that the White Templars had secretly moved, but this news could not be ignored. In fact, Solaryan did not understand at first why the High Lords would transfer the White Templars, who were far away in the Sol System, to the Storm Sector to fight. However, he soon understood that the White Templars were probably in an 'idle' state in the High Lords Council. In other words, the Chapter had not participated in any military action after the Maelstrom Crusade, and the High Lords probably did not pay attention to the details of the Archdiocese war at all. They simply did not know that the White Templars had a battlefield here, which was very 'common' for the Imperium.

But this posed a problem for Solaryan. The White Templars could not refuse the High Lords' request, nor did they have a reasonable excuse. Although they could resist the High Lords' orders, Sanctuary was in the Sol System after all, not in some remote frontier. The High Lords would definitely send someone to hold them accountable, and even the Inquisition would intervene. At that time, the empty Sanctuary would be difficult to explain, so the White Templars really had to go, at least Arash had to go.