Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 696 Mortarion (30K version), found himself turned into a long-haired rabbit. (2)
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*I was originally going to take a vacation for the entire month of May and was sick for the first 10 days... I don't plan to resume the update length and frequency immediately. I'll just write some short stories about the background setting of this universe (`)-
So after inviting the god Mortarion into the flight box, with the blessing of Mr. Frix's irresistible polite request (and generous foster care fees), Mortarion's flight box was placed on the balcony of a librarian's house.

Of course, Ramizane was still very rigorous in separating the dog's living quarters and the rabbit's living quarters as much as possible, and installed a temporary plastic fence between the two rooms - although the rabbit had an airline box and the dog could actually jump over it, it was better than doing nothing, right?
The next day after all this was done was a meeting day, so after a burst of nagging of "Be good, I'm going to work, and don't do anything bad when I come back, Perturabo!" and the sound of the door being locked, Perturabo and Mortarion were the only ones left in this slightly leaky but still comfortable little apartment.

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"P.T. LA BO——?!!!"

If you don't see it with your own eyes, you will never believe what kind of grinding sounds a rabbit can make.

"It's me, what?"

Perturabo BC sat outside the rabbit's airline box with his head held high - the fence gate was no match for a sheepdog of his size.

The rabbit's eyes, which were gradually dimming with light, were flashing with astonishing madness and suspicion. "Wait a minute, this is you, which means that Nikea's is also--"

"It's me too, so what."

"You are such a cunning conspirator! You have evil intentions towards the Empire of Man and the Emperor. All the previous things—"

"Do you dare to say that you are very satisfied with the Emperor and have no other ideas?"

Rabbit - Mortarion was obviously not used to Perturabo or his speaking style, and he choked noticeably.

"Wait a minute! Who was that 'you' we saw suddenly appear in Nikaea?"

Perturabo BC's dark brown almond eyes stared at the rabbit's eyes that seemed vaguely indigo.

Mortarion saw the sunlight from the window reflected in the other's eyes.

"Of course it is..."

He said a name.

Although Mortarion was certain he had never heard the name in his conscious life, some part of his soul responded immediately to it.

The rabbit bit his lower lip.

"That's not our father's name."

he said at last.

Perturabo BC smiled, and on that face that seemed a little broad for an average sheepdog, a smile appeared that was hard to tell whether it was happy or sad.

"Yeah," he said, "you should realize that, right?"

However, the mind of the Lord of the Death Guard was obviously more stubborn than the Lord of Iron thought... and more logical. The long hair on the rabbit's face concealed Mortarion's look of doubt and confusion.

Finally, he asked cautiously, "What did you realize? Did you also see the tip of the iceberg beneath this seemingly mortal body, just like me?"

The sheepdog sighed in a very anthropomorphic way.

"Never mind," Perturabo BC said finally, "you want to go for a stroll before he goes home? First of all, you can't poop anywhere, and I won't mop the floor for you."

"Who would do that anywhere... anywhere!" Barbaros Rabbit felt extremely offended. He hissed and cursed, "I'm not like you who has no reaction to being a dog for this... such an ancient evil thing! I will find a way to change back and get the respect I deserve!"

The dog sighed again, stood up, and walked gracefully towards the kitchen. "I don't want to ask you what you saw, but if being a dog for such an existence can change the fate of the entire universe, there are many beings who want to take my place as a dog. And as time goes by, there will be more and more such people."

Mortarion stood there, frowning in thought.

Two cups of hot tea substitutes were placed in front of the two Primarchs, who had never sat down face to face like this in the war-torn era that had not yet come.

"Drink it," Perturabo said. "It's his tea bag, cooked in the microwave, because a dog's paws and height don't lend themselves to an electric kettle. But it tastes okay."

Mortarion sniffed at the pale yellow tea, which indeed contained some very mild herbs.

So he took a sip. Although the instantaneous warm current of water flowing into his stomach was of little use to the rabbit, it undoubtedly had a huge soothing effect on the soul of a "human".

After he felt calmer, Mortarion picked up his habit and asked Perturabo directly, "Is this the past of our galaxy, or another galaxy? Do you know that he could destroy this galaxy in an instant?"

"Yeah, I'm used to it." "What do you mean I'm used to it..."

"On average, he wants to or actually destroys the universe or kills all of humanity once a day. Sometimes, he does it more than once a day. You have to get used to this, even if you're not used to it."

Mortarion felt his throat tighten.

"So often...? Why? Could it be that there is some ancient evil witchcraft here..."

Perturabo sighed visibly.

"If that's the reason, it would be easy to deal with... No, in fact, they are all very trivial reasons. For example, when the people in the community he took me to stroll around disliked us crossing 'their territory' and said strange things to him or asked him to leave immediately in a not-so-friendly manner, he would explain in a nice voice at first, but then he kept silent, with only annoyance written on his face."

"He compromised? Humph, he is so weak despite having great power. His power can make everyone here worship him..."

"No," the dog looked tired and haggard, "he has no desire to be worshipped by others. This is rare, but it is the most difficult thing to deal with, you know? When he found himself too lazy to argue with them, his solution was that every time before taking me through the community, he would let all the people in the residential area be 'destroyed', and then resurrect them after we passed through."

Mortarion glared at him.

"Given that he can travel with me in any weather, that's it... He can annihilate the souls of a group of people, a city, a planet, or even a universe of intelligent creatures and reshape them... It doesn't require any thinking, learning, sacrifice, offering, ritual or cost... A thought, a glance, and even the annihilated people themselves won't notice... If the power is so strong that order cannot restrain it, it is a real miracle that he can maintain 'logos' and order. Now you understand why I must stay with him?"

"These people live and die every day like this and nothing will happen?! No, no, he can, he can so lightly defy the great cycle of life and death... No, no no no, he can actually... do it... No, no, no... You're lying!" the rabbit growled, showing his two front teeth, "heresy! Witchcraft! Is this part of the deal you made with him?! To gain the secret between life and death? To become his confidant?!"

"You're overthinking it. If the power of soul birth, death and resurrection happens to you every day, you will focus more on other matters. I still have to rely on him to repair the galaxy we are in. - Don't worry, maybe when these people come back to life, they will find that they don't know when they have a small scratch on their fingers, or find that the toilet is strangely not pressed to the bottom. At least there haven't been any major problems so far. You have to believe in his power and the self-salvation ability of a universe that doesn't want to be destroyed by entropy three times a day."

Perturabo taught earnestly, "We chose the animal form because he usually does not destroy the animals at this time. According to the verification probability, animals are not easy to touch his 'trigger mechanism'."

"Even so... this is simply indescribably evil...! Then how can you be so calm? Just ignore him? And even give in to him?"

"How can I control him?" Perturabo frowned. "It's already an ideal situation that I dare not ask for that he can maintain his current state and satisfy my needs. Who cares about him? Besides, after each destruction, he will restore everything to its original state as soon as he thinks about it. Since that's the case, I'll just get used to it."

"Will this really not have any impact?! You're crazy. Although you can control him to some extent, it would be easy for him to not want to be controlled by you!"

"That's right." The dog paused and said, "But no matter how small the brakes are, it's better than no control at all. At least this way we can have false comfort for the fear after everything is gone."

"But," he added, "if you must say it, it has an impact."

"For macroscopic things, the impact is actually very small. For example, when you press a button, even if it is slower than a thought, it will not cause any effect. The trajectory of a drop of water does not even have time to move to the next position. However..."

"but?"

"But at the microscopic level, because the time scale becomes relatively prominent, the consequences of his behavior may make the laws of physics seem very confusing to physical observers in this universe... It may make some media and constants seem discontinuous or their properties may be different from time to time... But in short, it's not a big problem."

"It messes up the numbers, which can lead to calculation errors, which is obviously a very serious problem."

"This does not affect the lives of most people, nor does it affect the existence and development of most things. It's not a big problem. Let those theoretical physicists scratch their heads."

"Since he possesses such great power, why didn't you let him pull our father off the throne and take his place? Even if reconstruction is much easier than destruction, for him, as long as you can coax him to rebuild, then destroy everything first and then revive everyone once. In the face of such a great power of cycle, what can stop him? What gods will not bow down to it?"

"...So I agree with Ramizane's point. My brothers, you should at least study, read, learn logic, think and examine yourself, so that your way of thinking is not so out of touch with the power you control. - God, for the ten thousandth time I can't figure out what kind of foolish generals and warriors the old man wanted when he created us."

"You are looking down on me again! Oh, I know that you have always looked down on me, a peasant without beauty and without the elegance of your nobles. Even you, Perturabo, who are not noble, still look down on me! You are no different from them, and even worse than them."

"...I said it was sunny and you said it was raining, I said it was thundering and you said you were raising the flag, right? This is the proof that the lack of your knowledge and training has prevented you from forming a logical mind that is open enough and capable of making judgments...Okay, listen carefully, Mortarion. If death and resurrection become so easy, simple, fast, and painless, then with a mind like mine, I can still understand the more basic and terrifying meanings and react to them with awe and caution. But what about those people in the feudal world? What about those people in the barbaric world? What about those people who are already on the edge of human ethics and are teetering on the edge of their faith in the Messiah of Om? What about those people whose minds are not as enlightened as yours? Have you ever thought about how absurd, collapsed, disorderly and immoral the entire universe would become if they all knew that death and resurrection could be such easy, simple, and casual things? What a chaos?"

"Remember," Perturabo said, "any chaos in our galaxy will eventually breed our adversaries. They fear the end as much as we do. But as long as that destruction does not come, we will always be adversaries."

"Hmph...! You are alarmist. Perturabo, a people who are patient, willing to endure hardships, simple and tenacious will not become like this. The people of Barbarus are just like this. You have never seen how tenacious my people are. How dare you assume that they can't withstand such a test?"

This time Perturabo studied him for a long time.

Until a trace of uneasiness began to grow in Mortarion's heart.

"I have seen it," he said at last. "Because I have seen it, Mortarion. The Warp is nothing like the real universe. When something happens that can no longer be covered up by the veil of the Warp being torn apart and the existence and temptation of demons, that is the true hell of mankind."

(End of this chapter)