"So, they have located the Plaguecaster?" Atharion asked as he studied the battlefield display before him.
Currently, his forces were engaged against a warband made up of renegade Astartes supported by massive numbers of Khorne cultists.
The battlefield below was a sea of fire and blood.
Traitor artillery hammered Imperial lines while waves of screaming cultists charged through the ruined manufactorums, many dying before they could even reach the defenders.
Above them, Thunderhawks screamed across the dark sky while Predator tanks and Land Raiders advanced through burning streets.
It had been five months since the battle on Virtus.
During that time, more and more worlds had been reclaimed from the hands of the traitors.
Most had followed the same pattern as Virtus—the planetary capitals and key strongholds still holding out when Imperial relief forces finally arrived.
"Indeed," Orion replied. "The reconnaissance teams have successfully identified three possible locations for the Plaguecaster. Luckily, all of them are within the same system."
He reached toward the holotable and overrode the current battlefield display.
The burning manufactorum city vanished, replaced by a star system map showing three inhabited worlds orbiting a pale yellow star.
"Tri-Six," Orion said. "A frontier system located on the northwestern border of Camelarion. One of the first systems to fall during the initial traitor assault."
The three planets slowly rotated above the table.
Each was marked with warning sigils and contamination runes.
"All three are designated as hive worlds," Orion explained. "But due to their remote location and distance from the major warp routes, none of them ever completed the construction of their capital hives."
The display shifted.
The system map zoomed inward before splitting into three separate hololithic windows, each showing the surface conditions of one world.
Despite being different planets—
All three looked almost identical.
Endless swamps stretched across the surface.
The skies were dark and thick with poisonous chemical clouds left by the Malignant Plaguecaster. Massive half-finished hive structures rose from the wetlands like rusting mountains.
Green fog rolled across ruined cities and drowned manufactorums.
In several regions, the swamps themselves appeared alive.
The water moved unnaturally.
Rot Flies and Plaguebearers already roamed the surface, accompanied by massive hordes of poxwalkers that had once been the colonists of those worlds before infection by the Walking Pox transformed them into shambling horrors.
"We, the Masters of the Librarium, alongside Grand Master Thothrax, believe these three worlds are the Plaguecaster's attempt to create daemon worlds," Orion explained as the hololithic displays continued to shift across corrupted landscapes and plague-ridden cities.
He paused briefly.
"Though from the current condition of the system…"
Orion's expression darkened.
"He may have already succeeded."
Atharion said nothing at first.
He simply stared at the displays in silence.
Then the chamber doors slid open.
An acolyte stepped inside and immediately bowed toward both Atharion and Orion.
"My lords," the acolyte said respectfully, "my master, Inquisitor Castil, has arrived."
He hesitated slightly before continuing.
"With guests."
Atharion finally looked away from the hololith.
"Guests?" he repeated.
"Yes, my lord," the acolyte answered carefully. "They requested immediate audience regarding the Tri-Six system."
Orion and Atharion exchanged a brief glance.
"Who are the guests?" Orion ask.
The acolyte shake his head.
"My master didn't tell me, my lord, but she did inform me that they come from Ordo Malleus."
"Fine," Atharion said, "bring them to the side chamber, I will meet them there."
"Understood, my lord," the acolyte said as he give a final bow before leaving the chamber.
"Orion, continue to oversee the battle," Atharion turn towards the Master of Ordo Hexmortis, "I dont want any surprise."
"Of course," Orion nodded.
Seeing this, Atharion leave the Strategium chamber and move towards the side chamber.
As he approaching it, he can already see Inquistorial Stormtroopers standing guard outside the chamber, and true to the acolyte words, other than the symbol that unique to Ordo Hereticus, there's also symbol unique to Ordo Malleus upon those Stormtroopers.
Seeing him approaching, other than the Ordo Hereticus Stormtroopers staying still, the Ordo Malleus Stormtroopers immediatly put their fingers on the triggers of their Hotshot Volley Guns.
But, they immediatly stand down after a person suddenly appear from the shadow.
"Put down your weapons, the person in front of you are the Supreme Grand Master Atharion, the one that our master want to meet."
"Forgive our ignorance, Interrogator," the captain of the Ordo Malleus Stormtroopers said as he and his subordinate kneel down.
"Its not my forgiveness you should seek," the Interrogator replied coldly, glancing toward Atharion as the door behind him began to unlock.
"No forgiveness is needed," Atharion said while staring at the Interrogator, whom he already suspected to be one of the guests. "You were only doing your duty. No man should be punished for that."
The Interrogator smirked slightly.
"Thank you, my lord," the captain said as he and the rest of his men stood, though their heads remained lowered respectfully.
Atharion said nothing further and walked past the Interrogator into the chamber.
The Interrogator followed behind him and sealed the doors once he entered.
Inside the chamber, other than Inquisitor Castil and her retinue, another Inquisitor waited.
Interestingly, the man wore full artificer armor marked with wards and purity seals.
"Supreme Grand Master," Castil began as she rose from her seat and gestured toward the armored figure, "allow me to introduce Lord Inquisitor Tadig Kozh of the Ordo Malleus."
"Supreme Grand Master Atharion of the Dark Knights," Tadig said while remaining seated. "I have learned that the Archenemy has corrupted three worlds within your realm."
Then the Lord Inquisitor began speaking at length, listing his achievements throughout his long career along with many other details Atharion found mostly unimportant.
Still—
Atharion clearly heard the meaning hidden beneath the words.
That the current disaster existed because of Atharion's inability to prevent it.
And therefore, responsibility ultimately rested upon him.
Hearing that, Atharion had already begun wondering how Terra—and the Twelve—would react if a Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus suddenly disappeared alongside his entire retinue.
But before the thought could fully settle—
He noticed Castil looking directly at him.
Very slightly, she shook her head.
Then she revealed the rosette hidden beneath her cloak.
Not the one she received upon becoming an Inquisitor.
But the one bearing the sigil of the Camelarion Conclave.
A signal.
Proof that Lord Inquisitor Tadig Kozh stood on their side.
Suddenly, the rambling Inquisitor stopped speaking.
Even his expression changed.
Before, his face had carried the usual stern arrogance common among many Inquisitors.
Now, the arrogance vanished completely.
Only exhaustion remained beneath the sternness.
Tadig slowly leaned back in his chair and released a long breath.
"Good," he muttered. "At least you did not immediately attempt to kill me."
Castil rubbed her forehead slightly.
"You really should stop doing that," she said tiredly.
"Not like I can control it," Tadig replied.
Atharion remained standing, silently staring at the Lord Inquisitor.
After several seconds, Tadig finally spoke again.
"The daemon worlds are real," he said, all traces of mockery gone from his voice. "And if our information is correct, this situation is far worse than you currently believe."
"The Plaguecaster has been partially successful in his attempt to corrupt those worlds into extensions of the warp," he continued as the Interrogator stepped forward and inserted a data crystal into the hololithic projector.
A new display appeared in the center of the chamber.
The three corrupted worlds rotated slowly once more.
But now another image appeared beside them.
A towering figure clad in bloated Terminator armor covered in censers and bones. Thick green fumes constantly leaked from cracks in the armor while one hand held a corrupted staff crowned with a mass of rotting flesh and skulls.
"We have been pursuing Pestigor," Tadig said coldly, "a Malignant Plaguecaster serving within the Death Guard First Plague Company."
The hololith shifted again.
Images of ruined worlds appeared one after another.
Dead hive cities.
Oceans turned into sludge.
Mountains of corpses.
Entire populations transformed into plague-ridden horrors.
"For over five hundred years," the Interrogator explained while highlighting each destroyed world, "he has spread corruption throughout Segmentum Obscurus and the northern reaches of Segmentum Ultima."
"He rarely stays long in one place," Tadig added. "He arrives, spreads corruption, weakens reality, and leaves before Imperial forces can fully respond."
Another image appeared.
A world split apart by massive warp storms.
"This," Tadig said grimly, "was the first world where he attempted to create a daemon world."
Atharion narrowed his eyes.
"Attempted?"
"He failed," Castil answered. "Barely."
"The world collapsed into uncontrolled warp breaches before the ritual stabilized. The resulting disaster consumed both the planet and much of Pestigor's own forces."
"But this time is different," the Interrogator continued. "This time he possesses support."
The hololith zoomed back toward the Tri-Six system.
"This time, other than his rebuild warband, traitor Titan legion and the Dark Mechanicum that he trick to help him, he also able to gain help from a Great Unclean One."
"A greater daemon?" Atharion said, "how?"
"One can only guess," Tadig said. "but the converting three worlds into daemon worlds must taken the greater daemon interest."
"Then," Atharion turn his eye away from the hololith and towards Tadig. "you must have come to help us."
"Indeed," Tadig said as the hololith show new picture. "due to the circumtenses, I have resquested the help from the Grey Knights."
'Grey Knights,' Atharion thought. 'then the situation are more dire than what I think.'
"Right," Tadig shake his head a bit. "you must don't know about the Grey Knights."
"Even though I didn't know all about them, the main thing is they are a special Astarte Chapter that created by the Emperor and the Sigilite to battle the archenemies, Chaos."
"Most won't be able to access such information," Tadig continue. "but information of its existence is accessible to the Chapter Masters, though I doubt all of the existing Chapter Masters know about their existence."
He paused briefly before raising an eyebrow.
"Though someone with your… unique position would eventually learn of them regardless."
Atharion ignored the remark.
"How many did they send?" he asked instead, genuinely curious how many Grey Knights was willing to commit.
"A task force," the Interrogator answered. "One Interceptor Squad, two Purgation Squads, and two Terminator Squads led by a Paladin."
"That is all?" Orion would likely have asked had he been present.
But Atharion understood immediately.
Grey Knights were few.
Painfully few for a such big Imperium.
"And that," Tadig continued, "is already one of the largest forces they can currently deploy without endangering other regions of the Imperium."
The hololith shifted again, now displaying silver-armored warriors engraved with wards and sigils.
"Even a single Grey Knight is worth dozens of normal Astartes when facing daemonic threats," the Interrogator said firmly. "Do not underestimate what they bring."
"I never intended to," Atharion replied calmly.
Then his eyes returned to the image of the corrupted system.
"When will they arrive?"
Tadig's expression darkened slightly.
"If the warp remains stable…"
"Within two weeks."
Atharion didnt said anything at first, doing calculation within his mind to see if he continue his advance at this rate will be arriving at Tri-Six the same time as the Grey Knights task force.
After a while, he concluded that their advance will arrive about the same time as the Grey Knights.
"Good enough," Atharion nodded. "as long as we didn't encounter special situation, then we will arrive at the Tri-Dix system the same time as them."
"Good," Tadig said. "now, I have other things to deal with, I will leave my Interrogator with you, make sure you give me back in one piece."
He stand up and exit the chamber with his retinue and leave with Stormtroopers behind him.
"I will be at your service, my Lord." the Interrogator said as he bow towards Atharion.
"Your experience in dealing with Chaos related issue will be invaluable."
"I'm happy that it proceeded smoothly," Castil said as she stand up from her seat. "I also have things to do," she begin to walk towards the exit with her retinue behind her. "May the Throne bless you, Atharion."
"For you may need it."
Indeed