Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 638: Trial (II)
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There are so many people and types of visitors here.

For here are not only members of the mortal nobility from each of Terra's most ancient and noble families.

The Space Marines were divided into small groups and sat in the stands according to their legions and companies. From the crowd welcoming the Primarch near the box, Dantioch also recognized several famous company commanders who often appeared in propaganda, including Eidolon, Vespasian, Radonon, Amit and others.

There are also a large number of priests of the Mechanicum here, who have undoubtedly followed the Martian Fabricator-General Kyber Har.

The Martian Forge Master himself was currently in the Emperor's stand, with only the Grand Marshal of the Guards between him and the throne.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guard, the Supreme Marshal of the Imperial Navy, the Chief of the Astropaths, the Chief of the Navigators and others surrounded the throne where the emperor sat like stars surrounding the moon.

Witness the scene in which the Emperor ordered his sons to stand up, and the Imperial Chancellor walked down to the theatre floor, asking the three Primarchs to kneel again in front of the Emperor's own Eagle Scepter, and place their right hands on the scepter to swear an oath. Finally, the white-haired, skinny mortal used hot wax and the Emperor's lightning eagle to press the slender oath scrolls onto the wrist armor of Magnus, Sanguinius and Fulgrim respectively, and then the three Primarchs returned to their respective boxes with their entourage.

Malcador slowly walked to the central wooden podium and unfolded his speech, squinting at it for a few seconds before announcing the start of the Nicaea Assembly, and more.

"...Some of our guests are already very clear about the theme of today's gathering, while some may not know anything at all. I apologize for this. However, yes, we are gathered here today to solve a problem that has existed since the founding of the empire. Yes, everyone, we are here to eliminate barriers and solve the biggest crisis at present. We are going to discuss the problem of witchcraft, or the think tank crisis."

After being awakened by the Primarch, Dantioch suppressed the strange feeling of being awakened by the Primarch and hid in the side of the box with them, watching the scene as an outsider. At the same time, he realized that the number of people watching this scene here exceeded his estimation.

If they counted the people from various factions they met in the control rooms, lounges and dark rooms on several underground floors, the number would probably increase - so many high-ranking officials and legion commanders left their posts and expeditions just to come here, just to watch the final judgment on the Fifteenth Primarch and the psychic warriors...?

Uh...? He's not urging the 124th, 125th, and other expedition fleets belonging to the Iron Warriors to conquer remote worlds like he did at this time? He's not mentioning the progress of the expedition, is he?

Hey.

But that's just to say.

In an instant, the Warsmith understood what his father had not yet said: if at the climax and critical moment of this Great Crusade, the brains, cerebellums, central nervous systems and even the mouthpieces of the human empire had to be brought here for a meeting - then this meeting would definitely have a very significant impact on the history of the entire galaxy and on everyone.

And if such an important meeting was to avoid leaving any obvious excuses, if a certain Primarch was absent for some reason, at least the "representative" of the legion must be present, otherwise such flaws would be easily pointed out. He remembered what the Father of Genes had just said during a secret meeting.

"Perfect procedural justice, or in other words, in terms of mysticism and symbolic concepts, he must form a complete trial process. I guess, this is the only way to suppress Magnus in an invisible way. Because you will never sentence a being like Magnus without complying with the 'rules'... In the old Earth era, the use of the grand jury system was a very famous practice for such a situation. Whenever the most serious crimes or other dishonorable crimes were to be publicly tried, they had to be examined by the grand jury first. You don't believe he would sentence Magnus to such a serious crime? Look at this, he could have made the decision directly, just like the Perfect City, but he had to gather at least sixteen legions of members here. Do you know why? To witness."

"In an unknown ancient concept, a grand jury must decide before an indictment can be made against a specific person. So, do you know the number of people required for a grand jury? The legal number is at least sixteen... and at least twelve of them must agree to the indictment. That's why he summoned at least seven primarchs here, but he also needs to summon more legion representatives. If there is no formal indictment, how can there be a legal verdict?"

If the Iron Warriors and their Primarch had followed their previous schedule, they would probably still be fighting the Hruds at the border and suffering heavy losses. Well, the answer is obvious.

It is highly likely that Barban Falk, who was summoned back for other reasons, attended this rally as a representative of the Iron Warriors.

But they haven't picked him out of the stone yet.

Because time was running out, the Primarch decided to go and talk to some people he thought were more important in person... Dantioch thought that some of the talks might have worked, but most people were more likely not convinced. However, the Iron Lord still maintained that crazy optimism - in fact, the Warsmith privately thought that those people did not report to the guards and were not convinced because they might think they saw hallucinations - an Iron Warrior Primarch with a relaxed brow, a smile, a friendly and mysterious appearance beside him! Who can think that he is not too nervous and has hallucinations!
But then again, why did he choose Barban? Although Barban was indeed capable, his rank in the Iron Warriors was only that of a warsmith. If they had to choose a legally justifiable representative of the Legion, it would be more appropriate to choose Frix as the First Captain and Chief Trident, right?
With such doubts, Dantioch continued to observe the Primarch.

Now the Imperial Chancellor had announced the reason for the rally, and the exaggerated exclamations formed a miniature howling storm in the black theater under the pink sky.

So when he began to ask who among everyone would be the first to speak and express their point of view, someone strode out of the camouflaged box opposite their box.

Ahaha, how come Dantioch is not surprised at all.

The warrior carries an eagle-shaped scepter on his shoulder and wears blue-gray armor that looks like clouds before a storm. His chin is shaved clean like his head, and wolf fur replaces human hair in these places. The fur of a giant wolf forms the warrior's cloak, and under the giant wolf's head, the Rune Priest Othrel Wildmark of the Space Wolves Legion is scowling.

"Hmm, there is no doubt about it, the loyal Wolf King and his descendants... They were originally suspicious of everyone and only prioritized the Emperor's wishes... The Space Wolves are now very easy to guide..." Dantioch heard the Gene-Father muttering, and at the same time he asked Thortan to find a way for them to eavesdrop on the conversation in the next box.

...Isn't this a bit too disregarding of other people's perception and the Emperor's protection power? Although Soltarn was able to let the three of them pass freely in the volcanic magma and avoid all searches and monitoring from the beginning, this itself is a very mysterious thing...

But what was even more unexpected to Dantioch was that Soltan actually did it.

After another indescribable, non-existent "wind" movement passed, he heard a legionnaire's regretful cry from the next box.

"…Oh! Throne! It's him! It's him! Such abominable betrayal! All lies! What have I done! What have I told him! I trusted him so much! Told him about our power and how it works! I thought this was an exchange of knowledge! Oh my God!"

Then they heard another unusually powerful voice speaking, asking the first speaker to calm down, saying that he had facilitated the communication and that the problem was that he might have underestimated his opponent's intentions and capabilities.

Dantioch didn't dare to speak, so he expressed his doubts with his eyes, but his genetic father spoke easily.

"We can have a normal conversation here... Trust your battle-brother's abilities, Dantioch. If Soltarn hadn't shown such talent, I wouldn't have dared to be so arrogant."

...Are you sure that Thortarn vor Bron can still be called "our battle brother"? Is he still human?
Dantioch looked at Soltarn, who was silent and seemed to be made of land and rock, and asked his father, who seemed to know everything, another question he wanted to ask. "That powerful man must be one of your brothers, and who is speaking?"

"Azek Ahriman." His gene father really showed that prophetic expression with a hint of wandering in the sky again, "Chief Captain of the Thousand Sons, Chief Instructor of the Black Crow School, and the most 'valued' offspring of Magnus. Obviously, this great scholar has had many dealings with this wild wolf, and was deceived by the other party's rough and savage appearance. He tricked a lot of information from him, haha."

They continued to listen, hearing the accusations of the Space Wolves Rune Priest: dark sorcerers, wizards with forbidden knowledge, unclean magic and abuse of sorcery. The other party swore that everything he said was true by his experience fighting with the Thousand Sons and the blood of the Primarch Leman Russ.

They heard a terrible silence in the Thousand Sons' box behind the rock wall. Dantioch couldn't help but imagine their expressions at the moment, was it disbelief or ashen faces?

"Wow. Look, all the spectators around are nodding in agreement. How unanimous."

Dantioch did notice, however, that there were apparently more people here supporting the Space Wolves Rune-Priest's sudden and serious accusations than he and the Thousand Sons had imagined.

This is a bit...

"Keep reading. If I'm not mistaken, Othrel is just an appetizer." The Lord of Steel said with a hint of weirdness in his tone, "Someone is impatient to make accusations."

Malcador raised the Emperor's scepter and struck the butt of the scepter against the black marble floor. The ethereal echo silenced the noisy whispers and discussions.

He was asking if anyone could support this serious charge.

The Rune Priest answered in the affirmative with his head held high. He had taken off his giant wolf turban and looked around proudly and savagely, like a cunning wolf that was finally about to drive its prey into a wolf trap after a long ambush and hunt.

Dantioch saw the undisguised hatred that the Rune Priest cast towards them. Even though he was not the target of that hatred, he could feel the naked disgust and aversion from that face covered with scars and wrinkles.

...I feel like I've seen this kind of disgust before...Is it when I met the Imperial Fists before...

"But wait?" His excellent logical mind inherited from the Lord of Steel made him ask, "My Lord? Aren't Rune Priests the psyker units of the Space Wolves...?"

"That's not the case. But they always mention free navigation when their own warships are sailing." The Lord of Steel replied with a somewhat crazy and irrelevant sentence, which made Dantioch's heart hang in suspense again. "Oh, look, it appears. One of the highlights is here."

As a tall, thin, smoky and hooded figure wearing bone-white and moss-green power armor emerged from another box opposite and walked towards the central podium of the black marble theater, Magnus next door finally couldn't sit still anymore.

The fifteenth Primarch stood up suddenly, his long blood-red hair flying behind him like a lion's mane. He strode out of the box (Dantioch suddenly noticed that the box of Magnus and his offspring did not seem to be obscured by the shadow?), and protested to the host in the theater, saying that he should know the identity of the accusers opposite him, instead of making him face cowards who covered their faces with disguises one by one.

However, Malcador still struck the ground with the Emperor's Scepter to stop the Red King's angry protest. He assured him that, firstly, the Emperor's orders were that no one's testimony should be distorted by fear, so some boxes were covered with shadows; secondly, he also assured the angry Fifteenth Primarch that this meeting would not only be about the accusers, and Magnus would definitely be able to speak freely afterwards. Before Magnus finished his speech in defense of himself, this meeting would never come to any conclusion.

"Did you notice that?" Dantioch heard his own Primarch whisper, "He actually made this promise in his own name to Magnus at first, and then he added that it was your father who made the promise to you. Combined with the pause when Malcador read the speech at the beginning... it's an interesting detail. We came here just to see this scene, Barabas."

...Are you here just to watch the show? Think about it! At this moment, all the important people are inside the crater. We just need to let Soltarn secretly destroy the Mechanicus's environmental stabilizer... With the 124th and 125th fleets... It may not be a bad idea for the Iron Warriors to recruit soldiers on Terra in the future... Father...

Unfortunately, the Primarch's attention was still on the theater, and he did not notice Dantioch's extremely eager gaze.

"If I were Magnus, I would have seized on this point and started to rage... Wait? How come Magnus was actually persuaded by Malcador's words? Ah, I really admire this ostrich. It's a good thing we didn't go to see him first. And did you notice?"

"Notice what, my Lord."

"Look! Mortarion walked exactly twenty-eight steps from his box to the podium! He was silent for exactly seven seconds before he spoke!"

"...You are very observant, father."

Soltan, who had been alert and silent since just now, suddenly moved and then stopped.

"What? Soltarn?"

"It's alright, sir." The Iron Warrior, who seemed almost to be made of earth and stone except for his pair of blue eyes that seemed to radiate misty light, replied, "Just now, the warp fluctuations on Azek Ahriman's body had a large fluctuation, but in the end, it did not break through the cordon set up here."

"Oh... then let us listen to... the wonderful speech that Mortarion is going to make."

The Primarch he mentioned remained silent throughout the confrontation between Magnus and Malcador. Judging from his posture and expression, it seemed as if this was just a brief test for him, and he was facing the unreasonable behavior of his ignorant and ill-tempered brother with a tolerant and forgiving attitude.
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"... I think it's understandable that Ahriman was a little angry and wanted to do something." Fulgrim Pallas held the white dove and used its mouth to open a snack nut, while commenting, "This Nikea Assembly was held like a super tacky eight o'clock retro court drama trial meeting, of course the scenery is very luxurious and thoughtful."

Just as the pigeon was about to say something, new nuts were stuffed into its mouth to shell them. "Crunch! Crunch!"

Magna nodded, and his synthesized electronic voice came out of the input amplifier grid. "According to the advice of my logical memory, I would advise you not to eat before listening to this speech, Pallas."

(End of this chapter)