Emperor's Bane

Chapter 652: Olpersong is resting

"What are you doing, Apocalypse?"

+Ah, Malcador, my friend! You have come just in time: come and give me a hand. +
"What can I do for you?"

+ I am searching my private vault for the guillotine I once collected. +
+It's the one that chopped me down: I think I really need it to find a new job now. +
"……what?"

The Sigillite was stunned where he stood: this ruling machine, which had just dealt with more than 400,000 volumes of urgent official business from Holy Terra and all over the Empire in his private office without even a glass of water, could not help but begin to doubt whether his priceless brain had not had a good rest for too long.

Are you hallucinating now?

That shouldn’t be the case: didn’t he just rest for three minutes eighty hours ago?
The Sigillite kept muttering to himself. He actually didn't want to deal with the troubles caused by the Emperor, because Malcador knew that once he dealt with them, it would be endless and time-consuming like before. If his luck was worse, the subsequent impact might even affect decades later.

This is not unfounded.

After all, there was a living example before his eyes: in the hundreds of years that Malcador had worked with the Emperor, the various messes and unfinished business that the Master of Mankind had thrown at him numbered at least four figures, but none of them was more dangerous than the danger posed by the Emperor's beloved son, the wolf-god Horus.

You know, the genetic father of the Luna Wolves brought danger to Malcador in the literal sense: Don't look at how the Sigillite showed off his power in front of Horus. He was able to force the powerful wolf god to his knees with just one arm, making him completely unable to resist. The life and future of the Primarch were in Malcador's hands for a while, and he could only look up to him and beg for forgiveness.

At least in the eyes of outsiders, and even in the eyes of Chagatai Khan who was present, this was the situation at the time: and those like Morgan and Alpharius who knew a little more about the situation would not be frightened like their brothers, but they would also have an extra layer of fear of the seal holder in their hearts.

But one's own affairs are known only to oneself, and no one knows the inside story and actual situation better than the Sigillite himself: Malcador will never forget how much strength and concentration he had used in order to achieve a decisive victory over Horus on the scene, in order to achieve his original purpose of using the most ruthless means to deter the arrogance of the Primarchs.

Looking back on his six thousand years of life, such a grand scene ranks among the best.

The Sigillite even somewhat forgot how he managed to hold on at that time. He only remembered that after Horus was dragged away by his brothers, he was unable to recover to his peak state for at least half a month. The violent psychic energy fluctuations brought some hidden injuries to his old body, which even lasted for several years.

It was also at that time that the Sigillite truly understood how terrifying these monsters created by the Lord of Mankind were: you have to know that he was facing Horus, who knew almost nothing about spirits, and he simply used his physical strength and mental will to withstand the psychic impact of Malcador.

The more powerful the psychic, the more aware they are of how outrageous this scene is.

The Sigillite knew very well that any Primarch who knew a little about the Warp, let alone someone like Morgan or Magnus, even someone of Mortarion, Leman Russ, Alpharius or even Lorgar's level, would be able to put the Sigillite in danger of his life.

what?
Theoretically, is Makhado stronger?

Who would entrust their life and dreams to a bunch of deduced numbers?

Theoretically, it only takes a Titan that is slightly larger than the Warhound class to kill a Primarch: the Great Crusade has been going on for so many years, and the human Empire has encountered Titan-level opponents as numerous as the stars in the void. The Empire's expeditionary fleet has also encountered those indescribable creatures that can tear Titans into pieces like snacks.

Weren't the vast majority of these powerful enemies finally eliminated by the Primarchs themselves, either by joining forces or by using tricks? After defeating so many powerful enemies beyond their limits, weren't the Emperor's dozen or so foolish sons still fat and strong, jumping around happily?

They are immortal. Even things that are theoretically capable of killing the Primarch are no match for these demigods in practice. As for how the Emperor's children destroyed all these monsters and demons that they were theoretically no match for, it is a scene that no one would believe even if it were written in a novel.

Take Fulgrim, for example: this galaxy-renowned swordsman once strangled an incarnation of Khaine in a fit of rage. The incarnation was essentially just a statue, and the fluid flowing in the body of this thing was not even blood, but magma.

Yes, he strangled a statue.

The Emperor's Children wrote in their battle report that Fulgrim had strangled the Eldar's god of war, Cain, by the neck, until he had squeezed the alien's pathetic life out of his body: After reading this report, Malcador picked and chose from his six thousand years of life wisdom, but could not imagine what the scene would be like at that time.

But a cloud of misfortune: the seal holder soon realized a truth.

The Emperor had explained this truth to him long before the Primarchs were created, but it took Malcador decades to truly understand that these seemingly human-like children of the Emperor were actually just a group of monsters in human skin, and the human elements in them were even lower than those of Malcador, the Eternal.

This makes the seal holder extremely fearful: he knows exactly how many types of people there are in him.

A being even less human than him...

Malcador felt a chill in his heart. He began to understand why he had been feeling such hatred whenever he thought of or heard the names of the Primarchs. It was the fear of something that was totally out of his control, the terror of powerful predators, and the madness when faced with something that he could not understand at all.

They are all monsters.

Even more monstrous than him.

At least the Sigillite was sure that he couldn't strangle a statue flowing with magma with his bare hands.

And now, his dear master threw him in front of these dozen monsters: whether it was the dirty truth about the disappeared eleventh Primarch, or the inevitable conflicts and contradictions between Holy Teda and the auxiliary Primarch kingdoms due to various issues after the Emperor concentrated on his Webway cause, it was enough to make the Sigillite the most unpopular person in the hearts of most Primarchs.

Even a death row list: there are definitely more people who want to kill him than those who want to save him.

This is obvious. The only two Primarchs who have some respect for the Sigillite are Alpharius and Leman Russ. Others like Jonson, Ferrus, Perturabo and Dorn respect him because of the Emperor's order. Fulgrim is hiding his inner disgust, and the Khan doesn't hide it at all. Vulkan has a desire to protect everyone. Corax is not sure whether the Sigillite meets the standard of a corrupt official in his mind. Mortarion will give him some respect when he needs him, and call him "old thing" when he doesn't need him.

On this point, Lord Barbarus and Morgan had an amazing understanding.

When it comes to the Lord of Avalon, Morgan sees Malcador more like a partner. She has no reason to abandon her own interests to protect Malcador. After all, the potential conflict between Holy Terra and Avalon is far greater than the existing interests. As for Guilliman and Konrad, they always follow the lead of the Spider Queen on this issue.

There were signs of this early on, although there had always been conflicts and struggles for interests within the Three Kingdoms of the Far East: hundreds of worlds and important resource points were switching sides between the Far East frontier and the Five Hundred Worlds, Avalon and Nostramo had never stopped fighting over the division of territory and power in the Salamas region, and some treaties related to people's livelihood and transnational commerce had always been the killing ground of the three-party political arena, and countless wandering merchants had their homes and wealth destroyed.

But all this is only internal: once the three Far Eastern princes turn their attention from internal disputes to the entire galaxy because of sudden events in the outside world or inquiries from other interested parties, the degree of unity among them is extremely astonishing.

This is not difficult to understand: it is precisely because the internal cultural unity and interest disputes have become so entangled that the three royal territories maintain constant fighting. There are too many issues worth their concern, and once the collective interests are damaged, this entanglement will become the unbreakable foundation between the three primarch kingdoms. Even if the genetic primarchs themselves have some small ideas, it is difficult to defeat the unified will of the entire country.

The three giants in charge of the Far East have even gradually divided their respective labor and responsibilities in decades of sincere cooperation: detailed route planning, heavy government affairs and various grand blueprints that take decades or one or two generations are all in the hands of Guilliman, the Lord of the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar. He is systematically responsible for most of the data, people's livelihood and planning in the entire Far East. Even the expansion and redevelopment plan of the business port as far away as Nostramo originated from Guilliman's idea.

In contrast, Conrad, who prefers to operate in the shadows, may not seem as important as his brother who sits firmly in the hall, but the area he is responsible for is also irreplaceable: not to mention the importance of Nostramo to the northern defense line and resource sharing of the entire Far East frontier, just the internal inspection and legal department led by Conrad himself, and actually managed by Sevatar and Orion, with the participation of all parties, has become a behemoth capable of radiating ocean-going combat capabilities to the entire Far East star field.

In fact, in theory, this department was just the police of the Three Kingdoms of the Far East used to capture smugglers and various pirates, until Conrad creatively incorporated battleships into the fleet of this maritime police force, and then equipped them with a marine corps, as well as corresponding fortresses and logistics bases.

As for the fact that Guilliman had added a small number of Ultramarines, probably a few thousand men, to this theoretical police force after the expansion, that was another story: Malcador's latest intelligence on this department was a military report on their successful security and defense of a small greenskin empire. As for Morgan?

That's more of a facade.

Conrad had realized eight hundred years ago that he seemed not very good at socializing with others, and although Guilliman was no longer so resistant to visiting relatives and friends, he soon discovered to his surprise: just because he did not resist others did not mean that others did not resist him.

On this basis, the external spokesperson finally pushed forward by the Three Kings was naturally the Spider Queen who was in charge of the entire Far East frontier and had a good reputation in the empire and was a professional counterpart: In the eyes of the outside world, Conrad and Guilliman have always been taciturn. They have completely handed over their will and interests to Morgan, and believe that their blood relatives will not sell out the interests of the other two countries for their own selfish interests.

In fact, that's exactly what the Lord of Avalon did: countless negotiations and standing firm made the Seal Holder admire the seemingly unbreakable, and in fact truly unbreakable, alliance of the Three Kingdoms of the Far East.

This was most evident in the case of the Archon Macragge: Malcador had tried numerous times to divide the Eastern Alliance, which had become too powerful to be eliminated, and his target had always been Guilliman, because he was probably the most flexible of the three giants. Honestly, Guilliman had been moved by the conditions offered by Malcador, but his ideas would always stay at the first step of reality.

That was the will of the people of Macragge.

Sounds incredible, right?
But in fact, after four or five generations of interest binding and mutual cultural output, the people of Macragge and even the entire Ultramar would express strong protest against any behavior that moved away from the Far East and closer to Terra. What shocked Malcador the most was that these protests would actually make Guilliman hesitate, and then stand with his people from the bottom of his heart.

Would he actually rewrite his own ideas in order to control the thoughts of mortals?

Malcador was shocked.

He somewhat understood why Morgan had allowed himself to come into contact with Guilliman.

When he thought about how much energy and benefits he had paid in order to gain access to the Five Hundred Worlds, so that Morgan could quietly plan for the entire Far East in other fields, Malcador felt his entire back of the tooth ache: when he reacted, the Sigillite realized that he had walked to the door of the Emperor's private treasury.

The few guards in charge of guarding him didn't even stop him.

Malcador stood there, hesitating for a final moment before knocking on the door. He could imagine that new troubles would be waiting for him inside. Perhaps it would be a better choice to turn around and leave now: but what would he face when he went back?

Let him think about it...

Oh, by the way: there are still 800,000 volumes of unreviewed documents in his office.

The next armed fleet carrying his documents would arrive in four hours.

"..."

Malcador was silent.

He was silent for so long that the guards next to him began to pay attention to him quietly.

After a few seconds, a guard who received the order walked up to Malcador.

"Do you need me to accompany you in, Master Seal Master?"

"Huh? No need."

Malcador shook his head.

"Did he rush you?"

"Not really."