Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 900 How convenient! It's hard not to love this feeling—Emperor Titan, easily obtained.
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"This is impossible! Om Messiah's scorching blood!"

Amidst the incoherent exclamations of the Imperial Titan's senior co-pilot, Mortarion appeared on Captain Itana Karonitz's command deck with his two brothers and a mortal.

Co-pilot Sule was welded to his seat, Captain Karonitz was convulsing from severe sensor synchronization pain, and the only person still able to move on the deck was Military Envoy Mr. Cahill Ashur.

"How...how did you get in?!"

He was holding Captain Karonitz's white armored body, completely bewildered, staring dumbfounded at the intruders, a precious tear even clinging to the corner of his eye.

This genuine affection, even on the battlefield, immediately made Alivia Suleka feel quite fond of Mr. Ashur. In his panicked and disoriented mind, besides recognizing a few names, she could also feel a jumble of emotions such as shame, love, anger, restraint, and regret. It could be said that his emotional richness even surpassed that of ordinary mortals, no wonder he could become a diplomatic envoy.

The Pale King glanced at her, and she immediately understood. She organized what she had just sensed, stepped forward, and tried to appear friendly.

“Your Excellency Ashur,” she said, “we mean no harm, but I think Ms. Karonitz needs to accept our help, immediately, right now.”

Despite his utter confusion, the man recognized Mortarian, and a look of alertness mixed with disbelief appeared on his face.

"No malice? You? Your cursed war commander just blew up our legion's fortress and all our comrades! If you want to do anything to Itana, step over my dead body first!"

Before he could draw his civilian gun and point it at them, Alivia immediately tried to calm Ashur down by appealing to his anxieties about Captain Karonitz.

"Titan and her injuries are very serious. Right now, only we can help you and her. Why don't we help you stabilize the condition of the Terra Exemplar first?"

“You…” A hint of hesitation immediately crossed the military envoy’s brow as he struggled to look down at the captain, who had fainted from the pain.

Pallas had already noticed the odd thing Ashur had noticed earlier. He quickly walked to the side display screen, and the electronically filtered voice came from the microphone grille of his helmet.

"These reactor damages should theoretically be brought under control quickly, but the way they're spreading precisely at critical points is clearly wrong! Someone on your team is sabotaging us!"

"What? But..."

Pallas frowned. "If this continues, the core restraints of Titan's reactor will truly break. At such close range, a plasma star explosion will turn us all to ashes! There will be no chance of escape! If we can't save you, we'll perish here too!"

"Isn't that even better! You traitor!" Ashur shouted excitedly, "Let's die together, that would be revenge!"

The Pale King glanced at Alivia again.

The feeling of being constantly threatened drove the immortal, who had always been wary of his abilities, to increase the intensity of his manipulation—being truly threatened by death meant that altering people's minds was not a sign of submission or betrayal, but simply human nature.

She guided Ashur's emotions to increase his trust in the people in front of him and to change his memory. This was not easy, because the military envoy's hatred and love were equally intense. She gritted her teeth and persevered until the other party began to look at them again with a confused look.

“Perhaps…perhaps you are right,” Cahill Ashur’s muscles relaxed slightly. He hesitated for a moment, then glanced at the pistol in his hand, as if startled, and immediately put it back into its holster at his waist.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean it… I’m not usually like this to kind people who offer help, but Itana’s situation made me lose my sense of propriety and proper manners. I hope you don’t mind.”

[This is unbelievable! I can't even smell a trace of witchcraft on this woman! It sends chills down my spine.]

Leman Russ muttered darkly to Pallas from inside his helmet.

I understand how you feel.

The senior co-pilot blinked frantically, trying to figure out what was happening, but when Alivia gently placed her hand on his shoulder, Su Le began to murmur in agreement.

"Then what should we do now?"

After quickly checking several key valve points around the reactor as instructed by Pallas and failing to reach senior supervisors, he anxiously asked, "We're about to reach the critical point!"

"First, stabilize the Terra Exemplar, maintain its basic operations and defenses, and all mortal engineers from Moro should be considered unreliable. We need to call upon the Titan's internal automated weapons and armed servants."

"But the captain has fainted from the pain and is currently completely out of control..."

Before he could finish speaking, Su Le stared in disbelief as one of the men following Mortalian removed two pieces of human remains from his back. As a senior member of the Titan crew, he immediately recognized what they were.

"Driver?! Where did you come from...?"

"They might not be able to handle the Terra Exemplar in mobile combat, but as twin pilots, they should be able to maintain stability, right?"

Uta-Dagon seemed about to say something more eloquent, but his sister, the more perceptive Utu-Lena, spoke up for him immediately.

“No problem. The loss of the Divine Machine belongs to everyone in the Cult of Mechanics. I understand this premise perfectly well, sir.”

She said that at the same time, Pallas was rapidly using the spare parts and tools available to connect the two of them to the main wiring of the pilot control console. His familiarity with the Titan and his daring use of tools to disassemble it made Sule gasp.

"We will do our best to maintain the Divine Machine's posture and begin releasing its internal auto-tracking turrets and armed servants."

“Very good.” The Pale King finally spoke. “Do your best to maintain order and make sure the destruction doesn’t escalate further before we arrive.”

They set off immediately, leaving Alivia to stay on the command deck with Ashur, to accompany Captain Karonitz.

As they split into three groups, with one Primarch responsible for clearing one group, they communicated in their respective squad channels.

[Why would they cause such destruction here at this time? Could there be a traitor within the Cult of the Machines or the Legion of Warbringers? But the Saboteurs themselves couldn't possibly have escaped an explosion of this scale, and they certainly couldn't use it to claim credit with the War Commander afterward. Why would they do this?]

Pallas asked, while simultaneously splitting the head of a servant who had just shot his superior in two with his battle axe, saving the wounded but still alive priest, and telling him in a few words how to quickly salvage the pipeline that was not yet completely destroyed.

[Mass brainwashing or pre-implanted triggered hypnosis? I saw the crest of the same family.]

Riemann Russ guessed.

The Wolf King strode through the inner corridor shrouded in red light and flames, accompanied by the biting winds of frost and Fenris. The frigid temperature swept across the ground like a pack of wolves as he moved forward. Clearly, the Wolf King hadn't been idle while drinking mead on the Destiny Steel every day; the Frost Armor's effects had been restored to about 70-80%.

He had just dealt with a group of traitors who had broken out and started singing and dancing on the corpses, leaving the place to the Christian Guards who were being dispatched, and then headed to the next location.

Those he killed were all wearing the same style of servant's robes, and many of them wore the crest of the same family.

[Same family?]

The Pale King immediately realized something. He described the Tiwan family crest to them and received an affirmative reply. "Then there's no doubt about it. It means that the cult spread by Fogrem and his master has already permeated the entire Tiwan family and the noble families within Dawn Castle. Many of their servants must have become cult members, so it's not surprising that they've launched an attack now. You know how crazy cultists can be when they go mad. Ruth."

[...] The Wolf King paused for a moment, "[That's how it is. Cults are always like a hidden cancer; by the time you discover them, they've already stabbed you in the back.]"

[In ancient times, breaking a cup was a signal to unleash five hundred swordsmen and axemen. It seems the Tiwan family has been lying in wait among the Titans with so many low-ranking servants, waiting for this very day.]

[If anyone from that damned family is still alive after this is all over, we'll have to settle scores with them properly. We can't just let this go.]

[Actually, well, based on the rapid-fire death sequence I just observed of Raven Tivahn, there's something I'm not sure I should tell you, Pallas.]

【What? 】

[Regarding Fugrim.]

[This mortal? Fugrim? Them? If it's some kind of filthy, disgusting scheme, then don't tell me, uh...]

[In fact. 】

The Pale King walked to the most severely damaged gap in the plasma reactor. The massive amount of radiation and heat leaking from the Titan reactor had burned most of the organic matter here, but it was still possible to vaguely see that the supervising priest was trying to organize people to plug the gap when the murder occurred.

The enraged plasma star is roaring from within, trying to break free of its shackles, and the solar winds generated by its jets are blasting everything around it at high speed.

"Looks like I'll have to do it myself... Let me try using numerology to see which button to press... Hmm, so many melted wires, which one should I connect? Never mind, seventh row, seventh column..."

【What did you say? 】

[It's nothing. I'm trying to get this place into the damage control team's fold—I mean, actually, Raven Tiwann didn't betray us, but he did encounter Vorgrim before he died, who came to tempt him. It seems the treacherous blade Horus used to ambush the Terra Exemplar was the Serpent Cult, and Vorgrim was there to initiate the temptation ritual and execute it precisely.]

Pallas made a sound that suggested he was just going through the motions and wanted to get the conversation over with quickly.

[Well, and then, in fact, Raven Tiwan, despite killing his father, framing his brother, letting his mother spend her days entertaining young guards, and fathering three sons with his own sister… refused Forgrim's physical advances and smeared a large amount of hot melted liquid on his face.]

【What? ! 】

"That's it." The Pale King's voice was flat. "He seems to think the Serpent Cult and Slaanesh are just for fun, not for real... He genuinely believes these things are merely toys, and anyone who believes them is a fool. So, Forgrim's first attempt at seduction failed, and he instead manipulated Aubard Tivann to escape and kill Raven and his wife, seizing control of the Tivann family. But this happened too quickly, too closely, and too secretly; the Imperial Command appears to be completely unaware of it."

I don't know what to say.

"It's alright," the Pale King said cheerfully, glancing at the plasma torrent and high-energy rays that were beginning to retreat eerily. Numerology had indeed worked; the intact force field generator had been reactivated and was now operational.

[I just wanted to tell you that Fulgrim was rejected by mortals and had his face smothered by a molten cannon.]

Thank you.

【You're welcome. 】

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Finally, amidst the despairing gazes of the Imperial army, the Terra Exemplar was seen suddenly speeding away amidst the continuous flashes of its reactor lights, heading straight for the nearest lake.

Then, it seemed to lose its balance and plunged headfirst into the depths of the lake. People could only see its side arms seemingly raised high towards the sky before it fell silent again.

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"It's finally over here, we need to get to the next event right away. I'll have the Death Guards keep the area around the lake separate."

Dr. Mortalian sighed, his voice revealing the deep weariness of cattle and horses.

"Why is there anywhere else to go? Where are we going?"

"I thought we should be figuring out how to smuggle the Terra Exemplar crew next! We can't carry that many people!" Pallas asked in astonishment.

"Next, I need to go to the southern front to meet up with the War Commander and make an appearance. After that, I should accompany him to that 'gate'. I think Ruth and Pallas can take her ahead, while I'll stay by the War Commander's side."

Alivia immediately became alert.

"Then we need to hurry to the door!"

"Ms. Suleka? Are you leaving?"

Captain Karonitz, who had just woken up, reached out his hand to her as if they had known each other for many years—an illusion of intimacy that Alivia had just instilled in her.

Despite their intense anxiety, the immortals knew that this was the perfect opportunity to intensify their mind control over Captain Karonitz.

She quickly crouched down and first touched Ashur, whose face immediately showed a happy expression. Then she reached out to Karonitz's mechanical body.

“Yes, Itana, we have so much to do. If you can wait here for us to return, that would be a great help.”

"That's amazing." The captain nodded, then sighed. "Your hands make me feel like I still have skin that can feel temperature."

"Then promise me that while we're away, you'll take good care of our companions who are staying here, okay?"

She pointed to the two Titan pilots who were still linked to the console.

“Of course, my dear,” Karonitz said solemnly. “We will regard them as our brothers and sisters, and the glory of the Fortified Legion will be etched in their names. Go forth. The God of Machines protects you.”

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The area around the crystal ball remained silent as Mortalian and Pallas began to split up on the screen.

"...At least she demonstrated to us very well the limits of an immortal with such primal abilities, and what they could easily do, didn't she?"

(End of this chapter)