Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 639: Trial (Part )
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*Motarion's speech cannot avoid the original text and has been paraphrased, so I would like to make it clear.

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And about a minute after Mortarion finished bowing to the Emperor and began his speech in the center of the amphitheater, Fulgrim Pallas knew why Magnar Dorn had just reminded him of his limited daily chat time.

"…In fact, these things are not so complicated. The root cause of all the disasters is the endless emergence of psychics in the world. Those unrestrained psychics, wizards, people who pry into dark secrets, and mutants all use evil magic to disturb the world, causing the lives of the people to be destroyed. The world is trapped in the slavery of wizards and the fear of deformed beasts."

"…and our Emperor, our beloved Father, created all sorts of devices, such as the Witchfinder, the Sisters of Silence, the Black Ships, etc., all to protect the common people from the harm of these uncontrolled psychics. You must know that this is the key - only controlled psychics, who are strictly trained and restrained by order, can use their power. People like Star Talkers and Navigators are authorized and qualified to use this power for the benefit of all, instead of the tragedy that I and my descendants have seen and experienced in the past."

"…If you were to describe the horrors of the Long Night, I'm afraid most people have never heard of them. Now I wish to tell you about the horrors that the Death Guard witnessed in the past."

Mortarion then used a brilliant narrative structure to describe for them the horrific story of how a civilization "with only swords and muskets from the barbaric era" delayed the conquest of the Death Guard for six months. The audience followed his low and vivid tone and imagined and looked at the wizard with disgust.

As he began to describe the lightning, fire and earth cracks that attacked him and the legionnaires after they landed, and how the blood temples and altars full of bones that they eventually found in the city were the source of sorcery, and that it was this evil and uncontrolled sorcery army that hindered the attack of the Death Guard, Fulgrim Pallas's hand that was cracking a nut with a pigeon gradually stopped.

"Wait a minute. Maybe I overlooked something before." The young Phoenix frowned. "But there are some things here... do they match?"

The pigeon closed its mouth, Perturabo BC glanced at him, and Magna's metal mask remained unchanged.

Mortarion continued speaking from across time and space.

"Those allies born of sorcery, like red hounds and mountain beasts, have repeatedly breached the defenses of my Death Guard." He hoisted the Mortal Reaper onto his shoulder and allowed the appropriate dramatic pause to last seven seconds, so that everyone in the amphitheater who could hear this sentence had time to think and just appreciate the profound meaning behind it.

Sorcerers and their hexic allies who are able to repeatedly breach the Death Guard's defenses.

"Although my warriors were extremely tenacious, it was extremely difficult to advance the front. Whenever we found a blood temple, we would fight hard to attack and destroy it. As the temples were destroyed one by one, the power of these wizards gradually faded. Although the situation was hopeless, they remained stubborn until we crushed the remaining troops they could send. However, their wizards still held on to power and refused to let go, nor did they have any intention of surrendering. From the elderly to the young children, they all fought like crazy to the last man. The people of the entire planet were exterminated because of the greed of a group of wizard monarchs who refused to give up power and witchcraft. To this day, seeing the destruction and power that wizards and their evil thoughts can cause in a world still makes my heart tremble. - I have tried my best to defeat the wizard army, but I am more afraid of discovering another one next to my own friendly army."

Then the three people hiding on the side of the Thousand Sons saw the Lord of the Death Guard walk across half of the theater when he said this, and at the end of the forty-ninth step he stopped in front of Magnus' box, raised his head and looked at his brother with burning eyes.

“Wow,” Pallas said. “He didn’t say anything, but his body language said it so clearly.”

"If you want to say that I accuse my brother and his descendants of such evil crimes, then I have to say that I have no such intention. No one is perfect. But a thousand-mile dam can be breached by an ant hole. The most monstrous crimes all start from the smallest evils. People's hearts are gradually corrupted because they commit small evils. People with good intentions often mistake small evils for great good, and the flaws do not outweigh the merits. But in my opinion, there is only a distinction between good and evil, not big and small."

"I remained humble about my previous proposal to establish a think tank because I believed that the other elders were wiser than me. I can only manage my own Death Guard Legion and ensure that the Death Guard will never be contaminated by the think tanks and psykers during my lifetime."

Dantioch could hardly believe that this eloquent man was the Lord of the Death Guard whom he had heard of.

"But now that I have fought alongside the Thousand Sons, compared the unholy magics of the sorcerers I have seen, and heard Brother Russ and Brother Lorgar speak of the worries they witnessed during the Battle of the Border Cluster, I feel that I can no longer sit back and remain silent. My love and concern for my brother is so great that it pains me to agree with the Space Wolves' accusation and try to save my brother and his Legion from the fall. Magnus, my brother, do not indulge in sorcery anymore! Return to your brothers! That is all I have to say. Thank you, Emperor. Thank you."

The audience at both ends of time and space fell into a kind of silence because of the Lord of Death's speech.

And Dantioch noticed the unusual fluctuations around them.

He couldn't help but glance sideways, and saw Azek Ahriman falling to the ground due to being overwhelmed by the scorching light emitted by Magnus.

"Hmm... Let's deal with Ahriman's problem later. There's no point in solving it now. - Thortarn?"

His battle-brother saluted and nodded. "It is Master Magnus's psychic energy. Very violent." Then he added, "Don't worry, it won't affect us here, my Lord."

...Does this make sense?
"Does this make sense?" Fulgrim Pallas turned his questioning gaze to the other Iron Lord beside them. "Is it really true that a soldier of the Iron Warriors Legion has this level of power? If the Iron Warriors are such a group of psykers, why have I never heard of them... Huh?"

The Lord of Steel seemed a little reluctant to explain this, but he still explained part of it.

"Yes, no one has ever noticed... There are no Librarians or Librarians among the Iron Warriors. Many people may think that this is because I don't like psykers, but that's not the case. And Soltarn is not a psyker. He is one of the very few among my descendants who has truly inherited a small part of my original power, so I have always kept him by my side, even if he was unwilling to be promoted to Trident or participate in other work. His power is by no means comparable to that of an ordinary Librarian, but after I suffered some... serious power drain and blows, I lacked the patience to teach him again, otherwise, Barban Falk would not have had such an opportunity."

"Wait, what does this mean?"

It was obvious that the other party was unwilling to go into detail on this issue.

"Hehe, you can ask him what Soltarn is most likely to be." Perturabo BC sneered, "As the 'father' and 'maker' of the twenty of us, he knows very well what he has put in our respective natures that should not be put in, and which may even shake the foundation of the entire empire and the Great Crusade." Pallas frowned and turned his gaze back to the pigeon in his hand.

“…Gugu.”

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The three people present at the trial in Nikaea had to patiently listen to the accusations against Magnus and the Thousand Sons Legion for three hours.

In the meantime, Ramizarn was so bored that he even ordered Soltan to make rock lounge chairs for each of them and found snacks and tea from somewhere. Dantioch served his father with a desperate but gratified look on his face, serving tea and water.

These accusations are actually examples of battles, citing photos, audio, video and other evidence taken from all sides of the Thousand Sons Legion, as well as more eyewitness testimonies.

With Wildmark, the Rune Priest of the Space Wolves, as the first speaker, and the Lord of Death as the public Primarch's support, the words used to accuse the Thousand Sons and Magnus were basically concentrated on words such as "heretics", "cultists", "sorcerers", "sorcerers", "virgin sacrificers", "sorcerers who eat children alive" and "a group of black magicians who abuse evil arts".

"I must say, my lord, Lord Magnus's rage has already turned the rocks around him into lava, but he has been able to endure it until now without any outburst."

"That is the illusion and natural self-persuasion and submissiveness brought to him by the promise just made and many other things... Well... He is very good at this. After all, for the philosopher he represents, 'When a person is dissatisfied with a system, he has no right to destroy it by resistance...' Hush, he is going to defend himself."

They watched as the Red King proudly rose from his seat, throwing his red silk tunic and golden chains behind him.

Magnus held his head high, like the noblest god and the most learned philosopher. Facing the difficult trial, he maintained the most elegant demeanor and the tolerance of a scholar. When he saluted before starting, he even did not forget to greet the wild wolf and the Lord of Death who were glaring at him.

His speaking style was different from the solemn and serious style of his brothers and nephews. Magnus seemed to regard this place as a place to spread his ideas, an academic theater to preach his philosophy. He walked around the theater with shining eyes and friendly words, citing various ancient examples from the old earth to prove the value of knowledge and the necessity of exploration.

He painted a picture for them of a beautiful future enlightened by knowledge, a perfect ideal country where scientists, philosophers and warriors coexisted.

At this point, Dantioch felt that perhaps the accusations against Magnus and his legion were too harsh.

But the following remarks gradually made this clear-minded war blacksmith frown.

"As long as everyone who tries to learn the truth can fully master what he learns, then I believe that all knowledge is legitimate and has its reason for existence, and the same is true for the pursuit of them..."

"Something's wrong, isn't it? Keep listening, Barabas. You'll soon discover why Magnus has been so hopelessly defeated from the start."

Then Magnus began to tell them a story about a cave. At the beginning of the story, the people in the cave lived their whole lives looking at the shadows of the fire, drinking underground river water, eating moss, and enjoying the joy of the dancing shadows beside the fire. Until one day, a man got up, turned around and went out of the cave to look for the source of the breeze. In the story, this bold explorer found something more glorious outside the cave entrance at the end of the cave. The sun outside the cave shone on him with a brilliance that could not be matched by the fire.

Moved and surprised, he returned to the cave, but was ridiculed and attacked by his companions, who called him a madman.

So the man returned to the outside of the cave, determined to show his companions inside the cave the beautiful sun and the whole world outside the cave, and he worked for one hundred years after another, digging at the top of the mountain where the cave was located, until he found a hole large enough for sunlight to pour from the top of the cave onto the fire.

Magnus also paused dramatically at this point, and his emotion infected every audience member present.

And Fulgrim Pallas remembered that he had learned this story from Magnar.

"I know the parable of the cave, and it's quite memorable, but why did Magnus tell it at this time? Didn't the man get killed by his terrified companions at the end of the story, and then the murderers took the fire and fled into the deeper caves to avoid the sun? The moral of the story is not to share the truth with narrow-minded people. Being too forward-thinking and trusting will only bring vain and life-threatening consequences."

"That's why he is Magnus," Perturabo BC finally sighed wearily. "That's why things involving him are always so difficult. That's why I'm so worried... I wouldn't be so worried if Ramezane had gone to Ullanor."

Magnus then continued to tell the story, and Pallas was shocked to hear a happy ending that was very different and even the opposite of what the story should have ended with. "They followed the man out of the cave in amazement, and were equally moved by the glorious wonders they saw. They praised the man who led them with all his heart and effort. They praised him for so selflessly saving his friends from the dark and doomed life. This is what I want to say, everyone. The Thousand Sons Legion is doing the same thing as I am doing now. Our duty is to save all of humanity from the invisible terror of ignorance. All the knowledge that the Thousand Sons Legion has collected will eventually benefit all of humanity and will be shared with all who are willing to learn it. I urge you to think about it, don't make your judgment today easily, because today's judgment will be a turning point in the history of the entire Empire, and your judgment today will affect the future of mankind. Think about it, everyone! Think about how you will be judged by future generations in future historical records!"

Magnus bowed gracefully once again to the surroundings of the theater, accepting the applause and other things he had won.

"Thank you," he said. "That's all I have to say."

(End of this chapter)