Emperor's Bane

Chapter 944 Terrible Remarks
Ophelia felt like she was dying.

She's been dead for a while now.

Although her heart was still beating in her chest, her pulse was still pounding in her wrist, and she could even clearly hear the whispers of the Dawnbreakers and the roar of artillery fire from the distant battlefield, all of this seemed to be completely unrelated to her.

Ophelia could sense that she was in a very magical state.

She was either unconscious or simply in a peaceful, baby-like sleep.

At the same time, her mind remained highly alert, and her awareness of her limbs and body was even higher than usual.

In other words, she is becoming fully aware that she has fallen into a coma.

She could feel herself being placed on a somewhat uneven ground, beneath which lay cold steel plates rather than soft soil. The hurried footsteps of the Dawnbreakers were incessant in her ears; a few seemed to stop to check on her condition, but most did not stop for her at all.

They are all very busy.

Some were rushing to receive orders and leading one company after another to the front lines.

After all, the front line in the Comoros is far too vast for the Empire’s current forces: even the Dawnbreaker Legion, which exists as a reserve force, must be deployed as close to the front line as possible, otherwise it will be impossible to effectively support those positions that are in crisis.

Meanwhile, another group of Dawnbreakers remained with their Primarchs, serving as temporary staff and communications personnel.

In the past, such positions were often filled by a mix of Astartes trusted by the Primarch and mortal geniuses, but the situation in Comoros is somewhat special.

In order to enable her chosen interim governor, Rana, to better govern the entire Far Eastern frontier, Morgan did not bring her proud team of advisors into the Web, but left them almost entirely in Avalon to help the Grand Master of the Guard solve various problems.

It's important to understand that this was a trusted team that the Spider Queen had painstakingly cultivated and trained over decades or even centuries. Every member of this team had received specialized tutoring and advanced training from Morgan. Even the most junior mortal advisors within the team possessed the ability to coordinate several star sectors on their own.

Clearly, taking these highly skilled technical talents to the uncertain future of the Web or the Comoros is an intolerable form of technological murder: even the Spider Queen cannot be 100% certain that she can protect a single person, let alone an entire team, in a place like the Comoros, which is rife with treachery and intrigue.

Even though the probability of casualties is negligible, the Lord of Avalon has no intention of taking that risk.

Similarly, this is why the Emperor did not bring his elite mortal auxiliary forces into the Netpath and Comoros to fill the battle lines with their massive numbers: even the most experienced and elite mortal auxiliary forces would not have any advantage against the Dark Eldar, who had the home-field advantage. The result of the battle would basically be massacre, and the mortals could only use their lives to buy time and space.

It wouldn't be impossible in other situations.

However, considering that the Emperor has already withdrawn too many resources from the control of Holy Terra and transferred them to the Webway, if a large number of mortal auxiliary forces were also transferred away, then Macardo and Dorne in the real universe would really be unable to cook without rice when facing the Warmasters: although the Webway is far more important than Holy Terra, this does not mean that Holy Terra can be abandoned at will.

After all, compared to the online world which has practical significance, the sacred Terra, which possesses a certain metaphysical concept, is often more important.

Even the Lord of Humanity has no right to issue the order to abandon Holy Terra.

Or to put it another way: if the Emperor's army abandons humanity's home planet without firing a single shot, then whether he can still hold onto the title of Lord of Humanity is a question worth considering.

There is another reason.

Mortal armies are not like the Astartes or the Imperial Guard. To maintain their combat effectiveness, the logistical support required is far more complex than that of the Imperial Guard or the Astartes. The latter two can survive on any food and do not even need to eat, and they do not need any extra living supplies. But mortal armies cannot do this. No matter how loyal they are, they cannot fight on an empty stomach.

(Note: The original work does not describe any large-scale intervention of mortal armies in the cyberwar. In other words, the Emperor did indeed rely on the Imperial Guard and the Cult of Mechanics to hold off the seemingly endless demonic army. Although we don't know how these people filled the battle lines, the Emperor in this world would probably make the same choice: at least he brought more Astartes with him this time, right?)

This leads to a problem: if only a small number of mortal auxiliary troops are brought, they will be of little use on a battlefield like the Comoros. However, if a sufficient number of mortal auxiliary troops are brought, the Empire's own supply lines will be the first to be crippled. Don't forget, Terra can no longer supply the Emperor's Webpath Legion. Although the Lord of Man has abundant resources, they are running out of steam.

This is based on the premise that Holy Terra and the Council of Highlords had used every means at their disposal to plunder resources for the Emperor and the Webpath Legion over the previous fifty years, and the cost of doing so was enormous: apart from Dorn and the Wolf King, the reason why almost all Primarchs in the real universe were indifferent to Horus's rebellion was largely due to Holy Terra's previous tyranny.

The Primarchs witnessed Terra stripping the entire galaxy of its inhabitants into a barren wasteland, with many areas even regressing to a level worse than that of the Age of Discontention.

Therefore, after Horus proved that the Lord of Man was now missing, how could the Primarchs and Legions possibly remain loyal to Holy Terra? Even though they chose to remain neutral during the Rebellion, the Terran veterans under the various Primarchs did not react much.

The emperor was fully aware of these matters.

It was precisely because he foresaw that the Primarchs and Legions were destined to obey Terra's commands but not its orders that the Emperor decided to leave the elite mortal auxiliary forces in the real universe, replacing them with the more loyal Patronus Legion: although the most important task of the Martian team, represented by the Patriarch of Technology, was to help the Emperor complete his excavation and experimentation work, this did not mean that they did nothing else.

At least when facing the Dark Eldar, the Guardians' ruthlessness will be more effective than that of mortals.

Of course, these were questions that Ophelia, as a quiet nun, was unaware of, and were things she had no right to care about.

The only thing she noticed was that the Lord of Avalon and his offspring didn't seem to have a very good understanding when commanding the Dawnbreakers surrounding her. There were occasional interruptions and misunderstandings that even Sister Silent, an outsider, could clearly sense. However, these things did not bother the Primarch standing beside her.

Morgan adapted to working with her new team of advisors with astonishing speed, and her control over the entire Comoros Expeditionary Force increased at a visible pace: it was under the command of the Spider Queen that the iron wings of thousands of fighter jets cleaved through the relentless gales over the Comoros. They were all sacred creations of the Cult of Machines, each blessed by tens of thousands of machine gods, and could maintain maximum firepower even without pilots.

It is said that this was a secret bestowed upon them personally by the emperor.

The Silent Sister could almost see how thousands of iron wings cast countless shadows upon her.

Even though she couldn't open her eyes and her limited field of vision was filled with only colorful darkness, Ophelia could clearly perceive the vibrant world around her: because her hearing had become exceptionally sharp, she could hear not only the whispers and footsteps of the Dawnbreakers, but also the faintest sounds hundreds of meters away.

She heard the Imperial Guards and the Silent Sisters marching in orderly ranks into the battlefield of Comoros. The shouts of the World Eaters and Salamander Legions were irritating. The sounds of the Mechanicus's massive machinery and the army of protectors crushing the earth seemed to come from another dimension. The roar of the Titans' horns as they were fully activated made Ophelia feel a non-existent heat, as if she were standing in a scorching reactor.

But the clearest sound, the one that the Silent Sisters found most interesting, was a sound that wasn't noisy at all.

That is the original.

She is the Queen of Avalon.

Her voice was always clear and articulate.

It's like taking out a bottle of water that's been chilled overnight in a sweltering August room.

Although they only spent a very short time together—from the Emperor's meeting with the armies of the three Primarchs to the Webpaths officially launching their campaign in Comoros, the interval, by real-world standards, was probably less than five days—the Silent Sister had already made a deep impression on the voice.

She remembered their last conversation.

Just recently...

------

【Dear Miss Ophelia.】

"?"

I'm about to take action.

#nod.#
[Very good: However, there is one problem.]

"?"

The obstacles ahead of us seem to be more complex than I had originally anticipated.

Therefore, I might need to use a little more force.

"..."

Don't worry, I'll be very gentle.

Stand still, okay? It won't hurt much.

------

These were the last words Sister Silent heard before she fell into a coma.

The voice was calm and the tone was gentle: exactly the same as what she was hearing now.

[Bayar.]

"I'm here, sir." [Is our dear little nun still not awake?]

"Let me take a look..."

"..."

Ophelia felt as if someone had poked his face with their finger.

Seeing that she didn't react, the person seemed to be serious and silent for a moment, then reached out his hand again.

He stretched her braid.

“It certainly doesn’t seem to be reacting at all, sir.”

What a pity.

The voice was completely flat.

[I informed my father: Tell him to choose another one.]

"Then... what about her, sir?"

【Um……】

The Primarch seemed to ponder for a moment.

[Bayar.]

"What's wrong, sir?"

I remember that shells made from the ashes of untouchables had some kind of special effect, didn't they?

[It seems that, in terms of its function, it can break through the psionic barrier erected by psionicists?]

"..."

"!!!"

Let's leave aside how Bayar reacted to these words.

However, Sister Silent, who had been unconscious for a long time, suddenly performed a miracle in medical history: Ophelia leaped up like an agile monkey, stood up straight, and assumed a standard military posture towards the Primarch not far away.

"!"

Unlike Bayar, who raised his eyebrows, the Lord of Avalon simply smiled, seemingly unfazed.

Welcome back, Miss Ophelia.

How was your first time?

"..."

It's okay: I'll be gentler next time.

But first of all...

Morgan ignored her children and canaries.

The Primarch turned around; there were more important things to worry about.

I need to take care of some...minor issues first.

The Spider Queen snapped her fingers, and a huge map that looked like it was made of parchment appeared in mid-air in front of the Primarch. But upon closer inspection, it was clear that it was not a paper object at all, nor even something that existed in the real universe: the electronic pulses and mirror reflections that appeared on it from time to time made it more like an electronic projection than a real object.

But Morgan knew the answer was neither a physical object nor an electronic projection: the Comoros map that the Emperor had personally given her was more like a warp object, and the Spider Queen was using her psionic powers rather than technology to write and draw on this strange map.

This magical map reminded the Lord of Avalon of some fantasy novels Conrad enjoyed reading as a child: on the vast, boundless map of Comoros, the exact locations of the Imperial Guard and the various companies and squads of the three Astartes, along with the two Primarchs, were clearly marked, their real-time speed and trajectory were faithfully reflected on the map, and Morgan could refer to it at any time.

His father finally realized he needed to give him something useful.

but……

Morgan's gaze shifted slightly.

There was one thing that bothered her: there was actually a gap on the map.

However, the gap was not somewhere else: it was where the Mechanicus were carrying out their work.

This is very strange: since these mechanical gods are responsible for helping the Emperor carry out excavation and experimentation, and theoretically there is nothing to hide, why would the Emperor insist on erasing this corner?

Morgan frowned.

Her instincts told her that something was wrong.

After all, that was an emperor.

The only thing you can believe about him is that he is absolutely not trustworthy.

So far, the Emperor's demeanor throughout the Webpath Expedition and the Comoros Campaign has been far too normal and reliable: this is definitely not the father Morgan remembers.

He'll definitely mess things up: that's the norm.

【…】

Thinking of this, the Spider Queen silently glanced at the Emperor's obvious attempt to cover up his mistake.

She will remember this question.

And she will also find out what their damned father is hiding from them in this operation where they have all risked their lives.
But before that: the Spider Queen actually has something even more important to do.

It's not just about commanding the Comoros campaign: there are other things in the real universe that require her attention.

Morgan glanced at the battle lines in the distance.

Very good. Neither the Empire nor the Dark Eldar have yet entered the line of fire.

The war zone spans 380,000 kilometers, and even just getting to the front lines takes a long time.

Before that, the Spider Queen had time to deal with her little troubles in the real universe.

The emperor wouldn't care if she skipped his shift.

After all, this was a task given to her by the emperor.

and so……

Now is the time to contact her lioness.

------

I drove someone back to their hometown today. I left home around 5 a.m. and didn't get home until after 10 p.m. My mind is completely blank. I'll stop here for now and resume normal updates tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)