Emperor's Bane

Chapter 973 Damn it

The ruler of the Caliban has not received a truly good news in a long time.

It had been a long time since he had received any good news that could ease his mind and make him feel relaxed.

The last time it appeared was perhaps ten years ago, or even longer?

Anyway, he couldn't quite remember anymore.

Whenever he paused to work at his desk, Luther would sigh with melancholy over this matter.

Despite the fact that his desk was always piled high with documents and reports, stacked higher than the helmet of an Astartes warrior, all of which claimed to bring good news.

On the surface, that is indeed the case.

Reports of increased grain production, expanded green areas, increased population, rising living standards, the arrival of a new batch of Terra grants, approval of a new batch of infrastructure projects, the establishment of over forty new land routes for trade, and the imminent completion of the groundbreaking ceremony for two brand-new prestigious universities, all vying for his presence as their first guest.

Furthermore, the various servant worlds loyal to the Great Caliban order are sending their progenitors and students to the Dark Angels' homeworld for a duty handover every ten years: First Legion certification is the most important evidence for their future ascension to the throne of their homeland, and no one will make a mistake on this matter.

Once they seize power, they will, like their fathers before them, supply all the resources and wealth of their home planet to the Lion Kingdom in exchange for the protection of the Dark Angel Legion.

This master-servant relationship, which closely resembles the feudal fiefdom system, is heavy and rigid, but not harsh: except for the years when Terra collected the heaviest taxes, Luther always considered the difficulties of the world under his command.

As for those legendary worlds that were extremely exploited in the ancient ways of the East India Company: they did exist, but in small numbers, and each one committed crimes worthy of complete extermination.

Whether it's resisting Imperial rule, eliminating the Imperial governors and garrisons left behind, or refusing to obey the will of Holy Terra and the High Lords: Luther's every act of brutality has a good reason, and he would never do anything to tarnish the image of the Dark Angels.

If Johnson was Luther's favorite child, then the Dark Angels Legion was the second.

For them, the old knight could commit atrocities that would have astonished his former self without batting an eye.

Exploitation and forced labor?
It's disgusting, but he can tolerate it.

However, Luther was ultimately forgiving.

He did not force them to serve ten generations of hard labor, but rather to perpetuate their suffering while simultaneously driving them to extinction: he confined this suffering to a mere generation, and skillfully and ruthlessly seized the time of that generation.

When these disobedient laborers disappeared, the Great Caliban order had also survived its most difficult foundational phase: the suffering and hardship of these sinners became a mere understated mention of "primitive accumulation" in the glorious annals of Caliban history.

It was this initial accumulation that allowed Luther to pay the high taxes of Holy Terra while maintaining overall development under the rule of the Dark Angels: as the High Lords gradually lost their rule over various parts of the galaxy, Luther also reduced his own tax amount in a timely manner.

Fewer ships are sailing towards Terra.

The Caliban themselves naturally became much wealthier.

This is somewhat reprehensible.

After all, from beginning to end, even during the most difficult period for the elderly Lords, they did not give up on allocating resources to Caliban: even though the supplies brought over were only to strengthen the protection of the Eye of Terror, Luther's act of poaching from them still made this somewhat old-fashioned knight feel very bad.

However, he was also well aware that the overall prosperity of the Great Caliban order was equally important.

When the world is in chaos, the Dark Angels can only rely on their own strength.

Following this line of thinking, Luther did not devote all his energy to construction and development.

Based on his experiences on the Far Eastern frontier and the glorious traditions of the various knightly orders in Caliban, Luther established a mortal auxiliary army belonging to the Dark Angels: they would be named after the various knightly orders that actually existed in Caliban's history, but would adopt a completely modern military system. They would be an undisputed privileged class under the Caliban order, but would also have to endure rigorous Spartan-style training.

Under Luthor's leadership, no matter how dire Caliban's financial situation became, this mortal army always enjoyed the highest priority in supplies. However, at the same time, they had to constantly be tempered by the flames of war: since its inception, this army had never enjoyed more than a year of peace. Even when there was no war on their homeland, Luthor would send them to the battlefield even if they had to cross half the galaxy.

He had a premonition that this battle-hardened army had its purpose.

Incidentally.

In the process of rebuilding these knightly orders, Luther also took the opportunity to exonerate a knightly order called Sirius: this order was the only one among Caliban's many former colleagues who opposed Johnson's unification of the various knightly orders and the complete extermination of all the behemoths on the planet, and they thus became the Primarch's first target of the Grand Order.

However, just over a decade ago, with the intentional or unintentional reminder from the Lion of Caliban, Luther also discovered that the Sirius Knights were very likely to have suffered an injustice: since most of the people involved back then had grown old or become Astartes warriors who no longer cared about the world, it would not be difficult to exonerate these wrongfully killed people.

In comparison, what Johnson had vaguely revealed to him about the things in the warp was what Luther cared about more.

Unfortunately, Zhuang Sen did not explain it completely.

But these minor flaws do not prevent everything in Caliban from seemingly thriving.

Since the dawn of human civilization, Caliban has never been as prosperous as it is today. Each day is more magnificent than the last. The city dwellers and the farmers in the countryside live happily on their respective lands, and every child can freely choose to work in the fields or venture into space, according to their own preferences.

Never before have so many cities been built, nor so many forests been protected. Peace and the rule of law have replaced the legends of knights as the new themes of this once barbaric world: although it has not completely shed its former glory of war and conquest, no one would consider it the home of barbarians anymore.

Without a doubt, even with Johnson's presence, Luther is undoubtedly the greatest Caliban of all time.

It took a century for this old man, whom a Primarch personally rescued from the clutches of death, to set a benchmark for the entire galaxy: he found a true path between development and tradition, between city and nature; as a Caliban, he paved the way for the future of his homeland; and as a Dark Angel, he gave the First Legion an enviable homeworld.

Even the humble Luther himself could imagine what would happen a hundred years from now: cities, streets, festivals, warships, monuments, and even colonies would spring up in his name to commemorate him; more than three million cities would fly their flags at half-mast in his death, and presidents and emperors who ruled over billions of people would vie for the front row at his funeral.

As for the qualification to carry the coffin, they dared not even dream of it.

If Johnson doesn't show up due to circumstances, then it will only be four Dark Angels he personally selected: or perhaps, considering the past, a Dawnbreaker will be added.

And after that.

The traces of the Dark Angel will remain for as long as they remain in this galaxy.

What an enviable future!

If it weren't for so many other things to do, Luther would have loved to just sit there and die.

But not now.

The old knight rubbed his head in frustration: more than ten hours of intense work had left him in a daze.

He absolutely cannot fall at this moment.

The situation in the galaxy is becoming increasingly volatile. The war between Warlord Horus and the Holy Terra, who want to call each other traitors, is intensifying. Although the High Lords' forces are holding back the rebel forces in the eastern part of the solar system, they have not stopped Shadowmoon Wolves from continuing to penetrate deeper into the solar system. Even from a purely military point of view, no one can be sure which side has the upper hand.

For Luther, however, the situation is more complicated.

From their appearance, the Dark Angels appear to be crucial figures who could determine the fate of the entire galaxy: they are one of the most powerful legions closest to the main battlefields, and they possess an undeniably formidable army. Their entry into the fray could instantly shatter the balance of the war.

Whether it was Holy Terra or Warmaster Horus, the envoys and lobbyists they sent almost broke down Luther's doorstep. The promises and benefits they made were enough to leave even the well-informed Luther stunned, and at times he wished he could lead his army into battle.

On the other hand, Luther was also well aware of how weak Caliban was: the Dark Angels Legion was just an empty shell, with a force of over 100,000 that was barely enough to defend their territory, and their equally formidable mortal army was ultimately unable to change the course of the galactic war.

Not to mention, the entire Caliban sits on the time bomb of the Eye of Fear: more than half of Luther's military force must remain vigilant and ready for war at any moment beside this dangerous lair that the Emperor, the Sealholder, Morgan, and Johnson have all warned of.

Even so, Luther realized that their defenses seemed to have some weaknesses.

Because recently, especially after the outbreak of the Terra crisis, supernatural events have been occurring more and more frequently in the various worlds of the Greater Caliban Order.

At first, Luther thought these were just some folk tales that only children would believe, but he soon discovered that the situation was not as simple as he imagined: these supernatural events soon appeared in the reports of the governor and generals and were placed on Luther's desk, who stated with certainty that they could not be explained by any scientific point of view.

An entire transport fleet mysteriously disappeared while on a short-distance subspace journey: the last message sent by the Star Speakers was written in a messy, illegible hand, containing words such as demons and unknown creatures.

A prison world suddenly lost contact with all surrounding worlds. When reinforcements arrived, they discovered it wasn't the expected slave revolt: from the governor down to the lowest laborer, everyone was ecstatically skinning each other, creating bizarre works of art. Millions of corpses were arranged on the ground in strange, blasphemous symbols. A strange plague spread across several worlds, and all scholars who dared to study it in depth committed suicide in despair in their rooms. Several worlds were abandoned due to the intense viral plague, leaving their inhabitants to die from the disease to cut off its source.

Massive terrorist attacks have occurred on planets traditionally known for their safety, yet no organization has been willing to take responsibility until the terror spreads to mortal armies, forcing Luther to approve the addition of more military police.

But he soon discovered that this had little effect: the soldiers who suddenly lost control were often elite warriors with outstanding achievements and great strength in the army, and the destruction they caused in their frenzied killing was far greater than that of others.

There was even an incident where a soldier killed all his comrades in his camp at night, piled their heads into a tower, and escaped overnight.

But for Luther, the biggest problem actually comes from Caliban's homeland.

From Luther's perspective, although he followed Morgan's policy of religious freedom in Caliban, he never liked any superstitious or demonic concepts. He insisted on introducing scientific ideas into Caliban's classrooms and actively spread the teachings of Imperial Truth.

In the past, none of these things were a problem.

But for some reason, in recent years, a number of sects have suddenly appeared in the Caliban.

It is unknown what god they worship.

But the actions of these sects are no different from those of cults in the secular sense: from deliberate sabotage to mass murder, they have committed all kinds of evil deeds. They have tried to poison the most important water reservoir in the Kaliban and sent suicide bombers to infiltrate kindergartens and primary schools. They will hold crazy exhibitions involving flesh and blood art in private. But the most dangerous are those sects that infiltrate officials.

The Dark Angels once uncovered an "official cult" disguised as a reading club. These people had been active in the largest public library in Caliban for a long time under the guise of a club, but their real target was the secret archives not far from the library.

Fortunately, the Dark Angels successfully captured these cultists as they attempted to steal ancient records about Caliban, especially those concerning the mysterious beasts and ouroboros. They quickly and skillfully interrogated the mastermind behind the crime.

However, when the list was placed on Luther's desk, the old knight broke out in a sweat.

He discovered that this sect, which claimed to follow knowledge, had infiltrated the Caliban bureaucracy to an astonishing degree, with some senior members even coming and going from his office just yesterday. But what puzzled him most was the language used in their internal communications, which felt both very familiar and very strange to Luther.

It wasn't until he summoned the Dark Angels stationed on Cadia in order to capture these members that a Dark Angel who overheard the language was able to answer Luther's question: it turned out that these cult members were using the native language of Cadia.

As for why they did it, nobody knows.

But one thing is clear.

As Luther purges the bureaucratic system, he discovers just how deeply ingrained the sectarian taint is: thousands of officials, either in the name of pursuing knowledge, or fanatically pursuing their own aesthetic values, and some even foolishly believing in immortality, have joined the sect without hesitation for these reasons.

Luther was confused.

He knew many of them, and they had all made great contributions to the development of the Caliban. They were among the smartest people Luther had ever met. With their knowledge and experience, how could they believe such nonsense?
Despite his confusion, the old knight did not stop his relentless attacks. With the help of the Dark Angel, he methodically eliminated all the sects, regained control of Caliban, and prepared to reclaim all of the Dark Angel's territory step by step.

No matter what forces are behind these sects, they cannot resist the will of the lion.

At the same time, another piece of good news arrived.

It is said that a large army of Dark Angels is on its way back to Caliban: at least 250,000 elite warriors will greatly alleviate the manpower shortage.

This is the real good news that Luther has been longing for all along.

Unfortunately, Johnson did not return.

Otherwise, he could have discussed these sectarian issues with the Primarch.

Luther shook his head.

Out of a warrior's instinct, he felt that these movements were very strange. The sudden appearance of such a sect and the supernatural events that suddenly appeared around Caliban were all related to those warp beings that Johnson had mentioned.

It's even inextricably linked to the Eye of Fear.

After all, according to Kadia's report, the Eye of Fear seems to have expanded somewhat during this period:
Perhaps this time, he can ask more clearly.

Luther pondered to himself.

But he felt his head was hurting even more.

Damn it, he should have ordered a coffee.

Wait...did he ask for it or not?

Just as the old knight was doubting his memory, he suddenly heard a polite knock on the door.

There was also the voice of a young woman.

"Sir, here's your coffee."

"Come in."

Luther answered instinctively.

But it wasn't until the sound of the door being pushed open that the old knight belatedly realized what was happening.

Did he really want coffee?

Did he just make a phone call to the valet's office?

How come he... can't remember?

So why did this person come here?
Despite his confusion, Luther's hand reached for the gun in the drawer out of a soldier's physical instinct.

After confirming that he had touched the gun handle, Luther looked up at the waitress who was serving him coffee.

The decorations look familiar. The updo of her black hair looks fine...

and many more!

Luther's eyes widened slightly.

The Caliban...

Will there be blue skin?

As Luther was stunned by this, his gaze inadvertently fell on the newcomer's face: it was a face that Luther found completely unfamiliar, not only because of the color of the skin, but also because of the flippant expression on the face, and the chilling twist and madness in the golden pupils.

This definitely does not belong to a human being.

"..."

Luther did not hesitate at all.

He raised his gun.

On his opposite side, the seemingly pitiful Caliban maid tilted her head, pursing her lips in a way that evoked pity.

But in the pupils that are looking directly at Luther.

A two-headed eagle, baring its fangs and claws, screeching sharply.

It spread its blue wings, brandished its staff which shimmered with an ominous light, and pounced on the Primarch's foster father.

(End of this chapter)