Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 693 All is Dust - Everything is Ready
Eleven weeks have passed since that amazing daytime fireworks ceremony.

Now, the atmosphere on Prospero was tense, almost to the point of being on the verge of breaking out at any moment.

Although the news was strictly blocked and anyone who knew about it was strictly prohibited from spreading it, to be honest, in a city where even restaurant waiters use mind reading as a common daily work tool, it is difficult for people to block the news of a really big event.

Especially when this matter is so important that it is difficult for the person who hears it to remain calm and not reveal his inner voice.

——Magnus, the fifteenth son of the Emperor, the Primarch of the Thousand Sons Legion, the Scarlet King, the most powerful scholar, suffered the same fate as his two sons. He fell into a coma that could not be awakened.

There were very few people who knew the details of the original body's coma and the circumstances of its discovery. They were difficult for ordinary people to contact or kept the information in their hearts more closely. Therefore, rumors and gossip spread privately like a plague for weeks, and never stopped.

Some say that this is because Magnus was knocked unconscious by the backlash of the witchcraft ritual he was planning to perform, and is now barely breathing, which is why his two brothers are so panicked, fearing that he would die under their supervision and would not be able to explain himself, and would not be able to return to Terra to report to the Emperor; others say that this was caused by a sudden conflict after the power struggle within the Thousand Sons Legion itself developed into a more intense situation, and Magnus was accidentally injured when he was trying to persuade the sons to attack each other with psychic spells; of course, a branch of this argument is that each of the remaining conscious Thousand Sons captains is very suspicious and is suspected of attacking their master and peers; finally, a rumor that is even more secretive is that this is the result of the execution of the Emperor's will on Magnus and the Thousand Sons on Terra, and that Magnus, as a loyal son, accepted the fate bestowed by his father, which was also a test for the Thousand Sons.

In the ninth week, a dazzling fire shot up into the sky from the top of the Fotep Pyramid, and then fell silent again. Then came the news that the fourth victim was sent to the pyramid's medical room - the captain of the fifth company, the temple lecturer of the Sky Owl School, Baleko Ushizar, who was recently considered the most promising person to use telepathy to slowly wake up the Scarlet King while accompanying him, was also seriously injured and unconscious - these rumors became even more rampant.

The Master of the Space Wolves, one of the two overseers of the Legion, was reportedly furious and issued a strict gag order to the inhabitants of Prospero, and sent more Space Wolves and Rune Priests to Tizca.

These warriors in gray-blue armor led their ferocious giant wolves and were deployed to patrol the streets day and night, restricting the use of psychic energy more strictly and examining anyone who talked about rumors.

This in turn caused the Tizca Prison, which was originally so empty that rats could starve to death, to quickly become overcrowded - well, this problem was quickly solved, because Lord Perturabo, the commander of the Iron Warriors Legion, ordered his warriors to start building a large number of qualified prisons or detention centers outside the city of Tizca. Well, every time one was built, it was immediately filled with political prisoners and unfortunate people who had not had time to go through the full interrogation process.

That is why the entire city of Tizca is now as quiet as a ghost town. People wear soft-soled sandals and wrap their hair and faces with scarves, walking silently through the beautiful streets with fragrant fruit trees and cool shade. They talk briefly in low voices and buy daily necessities and other things under the watchful eyes of the Fourth and Sixth Legion soldiers and Wolves. In the library, gloomy and frightened clerks and scribes carefully carry precious ancient books or scrolls under the watchful eyes of the Space Wolves or Iron Warriors patrolling every aisle.

Interstellar flights leaving and entering Prospero had already been halted as soon as Magnus was discovered, and a large number of anxious passengers and complaining merchants were stranded in the spaceport. They couldn't blame more people for this, because the Thousand Sons Legion's own fleet battle groups also crowded all the orbits and ports above Prospero, and were hurriedly accepting coordination and mobilization, and then leaving the port one after another.

In addition to the Foltep, His Majesty Magnus's own ship Queen of Glory was leading the escort fleet and cruisers, which were using ordinary engines to slowly sail towards the farthest planet in the Prospero system. The other three Thousand Sons battle fleets also received the highest level of alert code instructions.

These instructions were extremely illogical and strange, because they required their fleet to sail to the three farthest coordinates of the Thousand Sons territory, but as far as everyone knew, there was nothing special or special in those places, and although the subsequent orders had been given to them, the seal code on it stated that they would only be told the contents after arriving at that coordinate.

Considering the situation on the surface of Prospero, letting the Thousand Sons' battle fleet leave the home planet now is tantamount to giving up a certain power of life and death to everyone on the surface. It's not that no fleet commander has doubts about this, especially the fourth captain, Menes Kalliston of the Sky Owl School, but these instructions clearly mark the code from the Primarch himself, but if so, why has Magnus never appeared in front of everyone for several months?

The fleet finally obeyed, and the four fleets dispersed in four different directions, leaving only the Space Wolves and Iron Warriors fleets over Prospero.

On the other hand, the Imperial Guards and the Sisters of Silence have taken over the defense of Tizca and the School Pyramid under the protests of the Thousand Sons Captains. The rumors are not completely groundless. The irritable Aura Magma was the first to attack, and then Fusis Taka, Hathor Mat, and Phil Toren, who had also been suppressed by worry, grievance, and anger for a long time, attacked the Lord of Steel, the Wolf King, Constantine Valdor, and Gentia Kroll who came to announce this to them. Of course, under the suppression of the Sisters of Silence, the Rune Priests, and the Iron Warriors,

Even though the Thousand Sons captains had lost all the etheric energy flowing into their bodies, they still successfully started hand-to-hand combat with the Custodian Marshal and his men, proving that the strength of their legion was not in vain.

Ora Magma even rushed to the Wolf King, who was perched on the shoulder of his offspring and standing next to the motionless Lord of Steel. His power surged out like a raging tsunami of fire, rushing towards the black and white animal that now looked small, unarmored and powerless. At the same time, he rushed towards the Admiral of the Custodians who was ready with a power halberd in his hand. Fusis Taka, who felt his blood boiling because of the duel with such a powerful and prestigious warrior, roared in praise of victory to the Captain of the Eighth Company.

Ora Magma's Fire Phoenix skills had never been so superb and unreserved. The enormous psychic power was drawn directly from the Ocean of Aether, transformed into a raging flame that could melt everything and directed entirely towards "Leman Russ". Hathor Mat even saw the look in the eyes of the Space Wolf carrying the Wolf King, who was determined to accept his fate of being burned and not to take a step back.

Then the black and white sheepdog stood up on Bjorn's shoulder and glanced at the Lord of Steel. Their eyes seemed to meet for a moment, or maybe not.

Then they saw "Leman Russ" open his mouth towards Aura Magma who was rushing towards him.

The dog "swallowed" the stellar flame in one gulp.

Ora Magma collapsed like a burnt-out fire - as if all his essential strength had been gnawed away in an instant, and the Captain of the Eighth Company fell heavily into the dust at the feet of the Space Wolf like a broken red porcelain doll.

At this time, the individual standing shield of the Lord of Steel, who was so close, was not even opened.

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"What is that?!" Fulgrim Pallas, who had just returned from the armory, shouted, "Perturabo can be so strong when he turns into a dog?! Then why did he pretend to be just an ordinary dog ​​before?!"

Magnar Dorn glanced at the pigeons, and the King Pigeon nodded.

"This is subject to certain conditions. He didn't actually use his own power. He did... turn into an ordinary dog."

"Not only does this 'ordinary' dog you mentioned contain the soul of our brother, but he just ate the Chaos Flame in front of us. If I'm not mistaken, there is also a Tzeentch Horror in the flame!"

"That's it."

"What kind of power did he use? Can we..." "That's a bit difficult." Dove paced on the table for a few steps, tilting his head to look at his youngest son. "After all, according to his understanding, it is the Tengu, not the Phoenix, who can 'eat the sun and swallow the flames'."

"Perhaps next time there is an opponent that is targeted at the Phoenix, you can ask Ramizane if he can give you some similar power so that you can quickly gain an advantage." Magna suggested.

"He is powerful! But he is not so effective in this universe. I am needed!" The dove proudly puffed out its chest, and the golden laurel wreath was firmly worn on its white round head like a small ring. "It is I! I added my own secret technique! Only then can this power be materialized more safely in this universe!"

"So what's the flaw?" Magna asked calmly. The pigeon king seemed to choke.

"According to the analysis results provided by my personality mimicry database, all the secret techniques you use are by no means free of cost or without flaws."

"Goooooooooo."

"speak English."

"…It's similar to the flaws of making a wish, so it's not a big problem, right?"

"..."

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With the fall of Aura Magma, Phthys Taka and Hathor Mat were also captured after fighting with the Grand Marshal of the Custodes and the Queen of Silence, while Phil Toren fiercely suppressed the surrounding Space Wolves Guards to clear the battle for them - being completely unable to use psychic powers under the suppression of the Sisters of Silence did indeed allow them to burst out with their own specialties in fighting as Astartes.

The former was extremely brave and his fighting skills were remarkable. He was able to exchange three moves with the halberd-wielding Marshal of the Imperial Guards before his breastplate was cut by the halberd; the latter was about to defeat the Commander of the Silence Sister in a close sword fight - although he could only catch the movements of the Soulless Queen from the corner of his vision, Hathor Mat finally proved at this moment that the reason he was praised by the Phoenix Lord in a place like the Emperor's Children Legion, where there were so many swordsmanship masters, was not just because of his breathtaking appearance. His sword skills with the short staff and Prospero scimitar were superb.

Seeing that their connection with the Aether Ocean was completely suppressed by the Silent Sisters around them and there was no hope of winning, the two captains looked at each other and planned to use the essence of their own lives and souls to summon their respective guardian spirits to help them gain the last hope of resistance in this unfair and futile resistance.

But with a loud, soul-piercing howl, Fusis Taka, Hathor Mat and Phil Toren were all shocked and almost fell to their knees.

At this moment, the last bit of doubt in their hearts as to whether this black and white sheepdog was really Leman Russ himself was finally completely eliminated.

"Shrike..." said Fusis Taka before he was knocked unconscious. He remembered when he had heard such a terrifying howl that could make all psychic users dizzy. This was something Phil Toren, who had been staying in Prospero, had never seen before. The captain of the Seventh Company was caught off guard and fell into a coma caused by the shock before them.

Hathor Mat continued the second half of the sentence, "Phoenix Cliff Library..."

Before they were forced into a coma, they were convinced that it was the Wolf King and the Space Wolves, with the support of the Iron Warriors and the acquiescence of the Grand Marshal of the Custodians, who boiled the frogs in warm water and devoured the Thousand Sons Legion and Prospero under the guise of brotherhood - Emperor! Did you close your eyes!
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"Okay! Now let's see, is there anything else missing?"

Sitting on the new sofa in Magnus's private chamber in the Pyramid of Frotep, opposite Ramezane and Perturabo BC sat a mortal scholar with green eyes and black hair, who was holding a notebook and crossing out items from a previously made list.

"From the first to the ninth companies, the five school temple lecturers, each one has been arranged clearly, and each one can be entangled with their original lifeline... Well, a few of them don't look perfect, so it's okay." Utherma Atla curled his lips, "But as long as the strength is enough, nothing else is important now!"

"Being able to be used comes first." Ramizarn relayed Perturabo BC's words, and then asked himself, "What about Magnus? Is he okay? What about the others? By the way, you said that the Ninth Company has also been arranged. When will Amon..."

"Of course the Invisible Ones were stuffed into an invisible place silently - I know much more about this than you do, don't worry!"

"I can't be at ease just based on the Magnus adventure you had before!" Perturabo BC roared.

"I'm not worried, but I've done a good job, right? If I hadn't done it in advance, we wouldn't have had the luxury of time to review the event list here."

"Okay, okay, hey, he has good intentions, doesn't he? We've been apart for a long time, don't be so angry..."

"That's right, Perturabo. You should learn more from Ramezane." The green-eyed young man smiled and stuffed a handful of candied jasmine flowers fixed with pomegranate syrup into his mouth. "Now everything is ready. We just have to wait for the 'easterly wind' to come, light a fire and then..."

His face became serious and sad.

"Sing an elegy for Prospero."

(End of this chapter)