Warhammer: Empire Reboot

The white-haired old man didn't turn around; he simply moved his shoulder, and the force generated by his cloak sent Marie, who was at the forefront, and two miners flying.

He controlled his strength, and the civilian fell onto the rubble without getting seriously injured.

Zabril hissed, "Don't come any closer!"

The white-haired old man stared at him with a complicated expression.

Just then, a hand reached out from the side and grabbed the white-haired old man's wrist.

Lawson's voice rang out: "Your Majesty, Lion King, spare our lives!"

P.S.: 1.4 words updated today.

Chapter 238 The Lion King and Lawson Have a Competition

The Lion King's wrist stopped.

He sensed the weight of that power, which was no weaker than his own.

The white-haired old man turned his head and looked at Lawson.

"You're going to stop me?"

Lawson released his grip and took a step back.

"Your Majesty, I have no interest in interfering in the First Legion's internal affairs."

He glanced at Zabril on the ground, then looked towards the valley.

"But even if we're going to clean house, shouldn't we deal with the chaos on this planet first? You're awake now, you have plenty of time."

The Lion King looked at him.

A few seconds later, he released his hand from the Zabril breastplate and stood up straight.

Zabril lay paralyzed in the rubble, blood seeping from his abdominal wound, his breathing rapid.

Marie tried to rush forward, but Zabril stopped her with a look.

The Lion King looked at Lawson again.

"who are you?"

"Losen, the mastermind behind the empire's dark side."

The Lion King's brow twitched.

"The dark side of the empire? What does that mean?"

As Lawson observed his reaction, he became certain of one thing: the old lion was completely unaware of the current situation.

"Your Excellency Lion King, is Camas the first piece of real universe land you set foot on after you woke up?"

The Lion King was silent for a moment.

The silence itself is the answer.

Lawson continued, "Then you may not know what happened. The Dark Side of the Empire is the side that the starlight cannot reach after the entire Empire was split in two by a warp rift."

The Lion King's expression changed: "The empire has been split in two?"

"Yes."

"Where is the Emperor?"

The question was asked very quickly, almost instinctively.

Lawson raised his hand, and a projection screen unfolded between the two of them.

Swarm intelligence has been organized into the most concise version according to the timeline.

“Your Majesty, you haven’t been asleep for months or years.”

Lawson looked at him: "You slept for ten thousand years, and I'll tell you what happened during those ten thousand years."

The projection begins with the end of the Horus Rebellion.

Lawson didn't start from the beginning; the Lion King knew about Horus's betrayal, the outbreak of civil war, and the destruction of Caliban.

His memory ended there, his home planet shattered, Luther fell to his own sword, and then came darkness.

The projection begins after the Siege of Terra.

Horus was killed by the Emperor himself, who was fatally wounded and placed on the Golden Throne.

An image of the Golden Throne appeared on the screen.

That was the highest resolution record the Empire had ever kept: a massive mechanical device filled with pipes and psionic conduits, with a withered body sitting in the very center.

The Lion King stared at the image.

Even though his muscles were withered, even though his skin was stuck to his bones, even though his face had been eroded by ten thousand years of spiritual energy consumption to the point that it was almost unrecognizable, he still recognized him.

That was his father.

The Lion King's fist slowly clenched.

The projection continues.

After the emperor was placed on the golden throne, the empire entered a long period of decline.

The Great Expedition has ended.

The Primarchs are either dead, missing, rebelling, or asleep.

The highest power in the empire fell into the hands of the Regent High Lord Council.

Then came the establishment of the state religion.

The Imperial Truth was abolished.

Loka Aurelion's "The Emperor's Proverbs," a heretical text that was personally ordered to be burned during the Great Crusade, became the sacred text of the Imperial State Religion.

The emperor was revered as the one true god, and the starlight was called the light of God. Priests replaced the officers of truth, churches replaced the academies of sciences, and the burning of heretics replaced enlightenment education.

The Lion King watched the projection of the Imperial State Church: a golden dome, thousands kneeling in worship, hymns resounding, and those who refused to kneel burning at the stake.

His lips were pressed into a thin line, and his eyes burned with anger.

The projected image continued to play.

The Age of Faith, the Age of Apostasy, a Thousand Years of War, the Black Crusade, the Thirteen Black Crusades, Abaddon emerged from the Eye of Fear time and time again, and Kadia was utterly destroyed in the Thirteenth Black Crusade.

The image of Cadia falling was projected for only a few seconds.

The planet shattered, Blackrock Fortress collapsed, and a purple storm surged from the rift.

Then there are the large fissures.

The Great Rift in the subspace tore the galaxy from one end to the other, like a wound that would never heal, splitting the entire Empire in two. The light of the Star Torch became faint or even invisible on the other side of the rift.

This is the dark side of the empire.

The projection finally stopped on Robert Guilliman's image.

"Your brother, Guilliman, was resurrected by the Eldar shortly before the Great Rift appeared."

Lawson continued, "He is currently the Regent of the Imperial Holy Face, overseeing the affairs of Terra."

The Lion King watched Guilliman's image.

Blue armor, the Emperor's sword—he stood on the steps of Terra's palace, with a row of kneeling imperial officials behind him.

He and Guilliman were never close.

The relationships between Primarchs are too complex to be described simply as "brotherly love." But at this moment, when the Lion King saw Guilliman standing there carrying half the Empire, the corner of his mouth twitched.

It was something he himself couldn't explain.

Projection off.

The mountain wind blows across the Grey Ridge Mountains.

The Lion King stood amidst rubble and corpses, his white hair billowing in the wind.

His greatsword was planted on the ground, its tip embedded in the rock.

He remained silent for a long time, his emotions churning within him.

Zabril lay not far away, with Marai and the civilians crouching around him, not daring to make a sound.

The combat formation is on the perimeter, while the cornerstone suicide squads are clearing the battlefield.

Lawson didn't urge him.

A primordial gene that had been dormant for ten thousand years was told, upon awakening, that the entire universe had been turned upside down.

He needs time to process this.

The Lion King's memory was fragmented; the last image in his mind was the sky over Caliban burning.

The vibrations from the planet's shattering traveled through the soles of my feet.

The walls of the fortress were collapsing, and the brothers were killing each other. His foster father, Luther, who was also his mentor and the one who taught him to speak, read, and use a sword, stood in the ruins and raised his weapon against him.

He remembered the look on Luther's face when he fell.

That face held madness, regret, twisted love, and something deeper than hatred.

The Lion King thought he would wake up soon.

After the battle, he would be in a coma for months, maybe years, until the Empire came to his rescue, his brothers would regroup, his father would give instructions, and everything would get back on track.

As it turned out, he slept for ten thousand years.

The father sat in a chair, his breath sustained by the lives of a thousand psychics, becoming a shell between life and death.

The brothers did not regroup.

Horus is dead, Saint Gilles is dead, Feralas is dead, Dorne is missing, Leman Rus is missing, Corax is missing, Vulcan is missing, Khan is missing, and Alpha Leus may or may not be dead.

Angron became a demon, Mortarion became a demon, Magnus became a demon, Perturabo became a demon, Loka became a demon, Forgrim became a demon, and Conrad Coz died.

Of the twenty Primarchs, only Guilliman remains alive, conscious, and still on the side of the Empire.