Bronze door through time and space

Chapter 906 The Age of Five Gods
The Emperor and Primarch both disappeared, officially ushering in an era of mortal rule for the Empire. However, what followed was not a new beginning, but unparalleled chaos.

After the Emperors became mere figureheads and the Primarchs disappeared one by one, a huge power vacuum emerged in the Empire, and the Empire's rule nearly collapsed because there was no one left at the top.

It's like the pot has no lid on, but the fire is still burning underneath, and the popcorn inside is flying everywhere.

There was no way around it; the empire's power structure had been quite distorted before. Since the emperor was both an immortal being and the strongest psychic, he had never considered the issue of succession, just like he had never heard of the Jade Emperor having a crown prince waiting to succeed him.

Moreover, the Emperor not only unified Terra but also launched the Great Crusade. It can be said that the human empire was built by the Emperor himself, thus possessing unparalleled prestige and power. His words are like divine pronouncements, and no one dares to disobey them, only carrying them out with the highest efficiency.

In other words, only the Emperor has unquestionable ruling power; no one else can, not even the second-in-command of the Empire, Macardo. But he is also the only one who could take over the Empire after the Emperor's death.

Macardo, the Prime Minister of the Empire, the Emperor's close friend, and also an immortal and a psionic, personally created many of the Empire's powerful departments and was the founder of the Empire's political and administrative system. He possessed immense prestige and power, but because he sat on the Golden Throne for the Emperor for a single day, he was instantly reduced to ashes.

It's not a big deal that he died, but the key issue is that, like the Emperor, as an immortal and a powerful psychic, he never considered what would happen after his death. As a result, all the power departments he created lacked effective supervision and management.

Let alone government departments, even those responsible for managing toilet hygiene are at risk of causing problems without oversight. They might find themselves shortchanging customers on toilet paper or diluting toilet cleaner with water. Anything is possible.

The loss of these two was devastating enough, but then the Primarchs all went offline, causing the Empire's ruling class to collapse completely.

Previously, the Empire's entire focus was on the Great Crusade, and the Primarchs were the core executors.

Each Primarch is a minor deity, and their efficiency in receiving and processing information is on a completely different level from that of mortals.

Without artificial intelligence, each Primarch is equivalent to a highly efficient and powerful AI. It can handle massive amounts of affairs, including military, political, internal affairs, production, and transportation, in an orderly manner. It is not just about leading troops into battle. This is why it can rapidly expand the empire's territory instead of waiting for things to be dealt with slowly from the rear.

Most importantly, the Primarch's identity and status are undeniable. As the son of the Emperor, no one dares to easily disobey the Primarch's orders, which undoubtedly increases efficiency once again.

But now it's all gone. Moreover, Horus launched the great rebellion when the Great Crusade was nearing its end and before the aftermath of the war had even begun to be settled and stabilize the newly conquered territories. Coupled with his prestige being second only to the Emperor, many unsuspecting planets joined the rebellion, resulting in the Empire being in turmoil and plagued by war to this day.

This is the disadvantage of lacking high-speed navigation and convenient communication, a problem that the Empire has never been able to solve.

Although the warp storms have weakened, they show no signs of abating, turning navigation and communication into disasters and adding a hellish challenge to the Empire's rule.

Many things happened several generations ago, and Terra only just received the news. By the time it was dealt with and sent back, it was already questionable whether the planet even existed anymore.

With all these factors combined, one can imagine the extent of the chaos within the empire.

However, the mortal rulers who came to power did not deal with these first, because these did not pose a threat to their rule in the short term. What truly threatened them were the Space Marines.

Even without the Primarch, the Space Marines remain the Imperium’s undisputed strongest military force, independent of the Mortal Legions, and difficult to control.

The newly enthroned mortal rulers were neither Primarchs nor Emperors, making it incredibly easy for Space Marines to kill them, despite the numerous countermeasures the mortals devised.

If they were so easy to deal with, then all those alien civilizations encountered during the Great Expedition wouldn't have been wiped out.

Therefore, if the Space Marines wished, they could easily destroy their physical bodies and end their rule within a few days. Thus, the first thing a mortal ruler did upon taking power was to dismantle the Space Marine legions and reduce the Space Marine threat.

In fact, abolishing the Space Marines and letting them disappear like the Thunder Forces would be what they want most, but the Empire simply cannot do without the Space Marines now.

With such a mess, without powerful and efficient Space Marines constantly putting out fires, the situation would have been hopeless sooner or later. So Guilliman's Code of Astartes was implemented, breaking down the massive Legions and scattering them in all directions to ensure that even if the Space Marines rebelled again, they would not pose a threat to the Legions. Thus began the Space Marines' miserable life that lasted for ten thousand years.

The 21st and 22nd Legions also responded to the Empire's call to split up. In fact, they said they had the idea of ​​forming battle groups before, because smaller battle groups that could be deployed more quickly were more suitable for the Empire's current situation. Thus, the outrageous 10,000-person battle group was born.

It is important to know that both legions place great emphasis on mortal support troops. Even if it is just a single warband, it is a fleet of considerable size, including a million-strong Astral Army, a complete Imperial Poison Blade formation, and a large number of Lemanrustank. When necessary, they can even deploy Titan units.

This force is strong enough to fight Horus, but the higher-ups just pretended not to see it.

In fact, besides the fact that the two legions themselves have deep-rooted interests with the Imperial Nobles and the Mechanicus, there are two other important factors that contribute to this differential treatment.

First, their genetic material is very stable, with almost no mutations, and since the founding of the army, there has never been a single case of defection.

Secondly, one legion member was chosen from among highly educated individuals, while the other was chosen from among noblewomen. Naturally, they belonged to a completely different class from the Space Marine legions composed of violent thugs and criminals. Their styles were completely different, which perfectly suited the intentions of the newly established High Lord.

The High Lords needed Space Marines to maintain the Empire's continuity, but they also needed to divide and balance the Space Marines in order to maintain their power and rule. Therefore, the emergence of two legions with completely different styles was undoubtedly the best choice that suited their interests.

The other two legions also operate in a completely different manner from other Space Marines. Slaughter and extermination are never their first choice. Surgical precision strikes and efficient post-war reconstruction are what they excel at, thus preserving the Empire's vitality to the greatest extent possible.

The High Lords weren't stupid. While a devastating attack would be highly efficient, it would permanently deprive the Empire of that force. In contrast, the lost territories recovered by the two legions could quickly provide the Empire with resources and troops. So, the choice wasn't difficult.

This is also why the High Lords allowed the two legions to maintain such outrageous warbands. The two legions needed to quell rebellions on those rich planets and even star systems. Each of these planets possessed powerful armaments, and sending other Space Marines there would either plunge them into prolonged chaos or result in their immediate destruction.

Unfortunately, the Space Marines' problems have been going on for a long time, and it's all the Emperor and Primarch's fault.

The Emperor treated Primarchs as tools, let alone Space Marines.

So, urged on by the Emperor, and amidst the brutal and endless war, Primarchs and Space Marines began to adapt to a fighting style that disregarded both enemy and personal casualties, as well as a disregard for life itself.

Through repeated brainwashing and increased strength, the Space Marines subconsciously distinguish themselves from mortals as two different species. Even with the High Lords who wield great power and can decide their life and death, the Space Marines remain indifferent, which is precisely what the High Lords hate most.

Another reason is that the loss of the Primarch's protection, coupled with being split into chapters and chains, made it difficult for the Space Marines to withstand huge casualties. In addition, they could not obtain enough supplies from the Imperium, so they had to resort to more drastic measures to reduce their losses.

There's another reason: the Space Marines couldn't handle warp contamination. Once the contamination exceeded the limit, burning glass or destroying the entire galaxy became the best solutions.

The two legions are so efficient and different because they can use the power of the Evil Goddess Buddha Mother to refresh and reset their status.

In fact, the empire was also trying to solve this problem. Later, they discovered the holy book written by Loka, which was so glorious and righteous that the state religion was established.

The emperor, who had been stubborn his whole life, was forced to ascend to the throne and become one of the five great evil gods of the Warp. At least for races other than humans, the Warp was indeed one of the five great evil gods.

Although this action went against the Emperor's will, the God Emperor's power was indeed protecting the human empire, and thus the universe ushered in the Age of Five Gods.

However, in some unknown corner, the belief in the mysterious goddess Buddha Mother is also spreading, albeit in the form of a cat goddess, injecting a little warmth into this cruel and cold universe.

The first to benefit were the battle nuns, a group of country girls who had been fooled by villains before even leaving their primitive planet.

(End of this chapter)