The Dark Side of the Imperium, a certain Forge World.
Steel covering the entire planet merged all continents into one.
A colossal annular furnace, spanning half the planet, with its orange-red molten iron, was clearly visible even from space.
Countless spacecraft formed hundreds of near-orbit rings enveloping the entire world, and the deep space was filled with large and small forge spaceports.
New merchant ships continuously departed from the docks, eventually joining the busy trade route connecting this place to the Imperium.
And in the even larger military port beside the trade route, a new sword-class frigate could even be seen slowly sailing into deep space under a grand Adeptus Mechanicus ceremony.
As the most important production base in the entire sector, this place also gathered numerous Imperial Navy and Adeptus Mechanicus fleet vessels.
The only significant difference from other Forge Worlds was the exaggerated number of its garrison fleets!
Even on the surface, countless gigantic fortresses stood amidst the endless factories, garrisoned by innumerable Skitarii, Astra Militarum, and even Astartes!
At this moment, next to an anti-orbital cannon as massive as a mountain.
Looking further up from the cannon, one could see that the top of the majestic building, which made the cannon look like a toy in comparison, was surrounded by Astropathic Choir communication ships so busy they formed a vast net.
The Astra Militarum glanced up, then boredly withdrew their gaze, preparing to continue dealing with the Adeptus Mechanicus synthetic rations that tasted like death.
Inside the Astropathic Choir, numerous scribes in long robes, their faces completely hidden in the shadows of their hoods, were constantly recording the inter-system communications received by the Astropathic Choir.
The Astropathic Choir is the Imperium's institution for galactic communication, primarily relying on Psykers to continuously transmit various 'images,' exchanging information through prophetic interpretation.
Or, to put it crudely, it can be understood as...
'Dream-giving'!
And at this moment, in this heavily guarded Forge World, amidst the continuous rustling of scribes' quills rapidly rubbing against parchment, came countless cries for help and warnings from the entire surrounding sector!
These pleas for help were even filled with a great deal of despair, even broken resentment and curses.
But facing these pleas from Imperial worlds, the entire Astropathic Choir merely recorded in silence; the only response to these worlds was the rustling of quills that could not be transmitted back.
Another cart of parchment was piled high. As two Servitors pushed the cart out, these dense, desperate pleas were compiled into a volume by a Tech-Priest, then directly thrown into a machine and casually destroyed.
Then the Tech-Priest placed the data onto a conveyor belt, watching this scroll of paper, carrying cold numbers, being sent to a higher level.
The data circulated, eventually landing in a magnificent and spacious hall.
A Penitent Storm Trooper belonging to the Inquisition glanced at it, didn't even bother to open it, and casually tossed it into a golden trash can nearby.
Further in front of the Penitent Storm Trooper, two Inquisitors in master-crafted power armor were elegantly serving fresh steaks with golden knives and forks.
And on these two, there hung numerous xenos and heretical artifacts, which in the outside world, merely seeing one would necessitate large-scale extermination on a hive-sector level.
One Inquisitor even had a weapon at his waist strikingly similar to the Skull Greatsword held by the Warp Bloodletter.
The other people in the hall, however, dared not express any opinion on this.
After all, as core members of the Inquisition, who could, with a mere stroke of a pen, send an entire Astartes Chapter on a Penitent Crusade, they possessed absolute right to know, and even control, all information within the Imperium!
But unlike their usual relaxed demeanor, this time on the massive, ornate long table, whether it was the Magos Dominus, the Astra Militarum General, or even the Chapter Master, all fell silent along with the Inquisitors.
In the entire splendid hall, there was only the sound of knives and forks scraping against precious porcelain from an Eastern kingdom of Ancient Terra.
Until the massive Magos Dominus, whose body, apart from a small amount of human skin remaining on his face, could hardly be associated with a human, slowly spoke in his mechanically dull electronic voice:
"This is a galaxy-spanning prophecy. Whatever information the Inquisition has obtained, it should be shared given the current situation."
As the Magos Dominus spoke, the Astra Militarum General and the Chapter Master immediately looked over.
However, the two Inquisitors opposite did not answer immediately; instead, they slowly finished the sauced steak in front of them, then picked up their wine glasses and slowly took a sip.
Then the two exchanged glances. Facing the leaders of this Forge World beneath their feet, the Inquisitor specializing in Warp Heresy, while burying his head to wipe his hands without even looking up, spoke:
"This prophecy offers no help or even influence on the predicament we face."
"Roughly, it's about a group of Mortals on another battlefield in the dark side, who faced daemons in the Warp for two months with their bare bodies."
"And in the end received... uh... the God-Emperor's blessing."
The last sentence paused slightly, as the thought of the God-Emperor and Khorne simultaneously blessing a single target was something that could never be uttered by an Inquisitor.
Moreover, although the general situation was stated, even this Inquisitor of Heresy was deeply shocked by the more fragmented details the Inquisition had desperately collected about this mysterious group of Mortals and dared not reveal them to these absolute upper echelons of the Imperium.
Although in an Imperium where inter-system communication relied entirely on 'dream-giving,' and especially in the dark side of the Imperium where the Astronomican's guidance was lost, the people here truly could not obtain more information about the Sith.
But even fragmented intelligence was enough to overturn the understanding of the entire sector, even the entire Imperium.
What was the Inquisition's internal saying?
This prophecy, in summary, was just a story about two thousand badass men rushing out of the Warp.
It was unknown whether it was the God-Emperor's intentional protection or something else, but even with all the Inquisition's methods, they truly couldn't find out where these strong individuals, along with their exaggerated officer, had been sent by the God-Emperor.
They could only send intelligence to all Inquisitors in the end, asking them to pay as much attention as possible to any strange Mortals in their respective jurisdictions.
However, facing this request, the Inquisitors were both shocked by the terrifying nature of the news and secretly cursed the strange request from above.
It wasn't that strange Mortals were hard to find; it was that in the Imperium of Man, where the number of Mortals was already incalculable, one could probably find hundreds of billions of strange Mortals with a casual search.
The Magos Dominus, Astra Militarum General, and Chapter Master were all dumbfounded by the Inquisitors' news; this news was even more terrifying than the enemies they had painstakingly guarded against having already broken out from within.
After dealing with these 'colleagues' they had to cooperate with, the two Inquisitors were about to get up and leave when a Penitent Storm Trooper brought over a report.
Seeing that it was more news from within, the Inquisitor frowned:
"Didn't I say you didn't need to send it to me anymore?"
The Penitent Storm Trooper respectfully handed over the report:
"It's not a distress call, but an Imperial sword-class frigate that exited the Warp and crashed on Omiya III's moon."
Hearing it was an outsider, the Inquisitor finally took a moment to pick up the report.
He quickly scanned it, confirmed it was just a normal sword-class frigate with a standard Imperial Navy designation, and then casually tossed it into the trash can.
"Warship?"
"Here, warships crash every day!"
"Instead of wasting time sending people to investigate, we should think about those badass men from the prophecy."
"Where could they be..."
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