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Chapter 168: What to Do? Only Kill!
🕑 Added 2025-09-24 15:22:08 +0000 UTCChapter 168: What to Do? Only Kill!
Aboard the Silent Vow, Arthur threw an Alpha Legionnaire into a Warp rift, sending him to Ramesses's "park," then turned and left.
He raised a hand, his palm blocking a specific line in the background. Zabriel, who was still on a cleanup mission, immediately understood and led his team to high alert.
"Speak," Arthur said.
"Is the Alpha Legion dealt with?" Romulus asked.
Ever since they had entered the human colonies, the Alpha Legion had been arriving one after another. Because this particular Alpha Legion had a very deep infiltration of the charter fleets and the Imperial Navy, several of the Dark Angels had even hitched a ride on their ships.
But the results were not optimistic.
This Grand Company, which called itself the "Sons of the First," numbered 1,458. The number of neophyte reserves was unknown. Of the 216 who had boarded the ship, nearly two-thirds were tainted by Chaos and could not be saved. Nine of them were even possessed by daemons.
The internal Chaos faiths were also a complex mess, with almost every flavor represented. The most divine thing was that the leader of an Undivided cult was actually a loyalist, loyal to humanity and not to Chaos.
Recently, Arthur and Ramesses had been busy executing the Chaos-faction Alphas, selecting people to take over their intelligence systems, and relocating the non-Chaos Alphas. This was a very energy-consuming operation. After all, the fact that the Alphas had a hard time infiltrating the Dark Angels' system did not mean their professional skills were lacking. These agile Hydras were not easy to fool. It took a lot of effort to get them to honestly help with the work.
"I can get away," Arthur replied after scanning his surroundings.
The Dark Angels who had heard the conversation were instantly at ease.
"Deal with some people for me. Some of them may be quite far away and will require the assistance of the Ravenwing," Romulus said.
"Alright." Arthur nodded, received the list, and then, with a wave of his hand, several dark figures disappeared with him.
The arrival of the crusade fleet had brought an unprecedented victory, greatly boosting the morale of the members of the punitive fleet.
The soldiers who had been fighting on the front lines had finally lost a bit of their resentment. At least in the propaganda directed at them, their brave combat had played a considerable delaying role.
This was also true. After all, if this group hadn't held up Farsight despite their tactical blunders, there might have been nothing left by the time the crusade fleet arrived.
And in contrast to the joyful atmosphere of the rank-and-file troops, a bloody reckoning was underway among the various fleets and Rogue Trader groups.
"Anphion Fox, Master of the Fox Dynasty, from 743.M41.0121, has incited an Imperial civil war, indirectly... is now charged with treason and sentenced to be hanged."
"Emory Vasquez, Captain of the battleship Emperor's Edict, from..."
CRACK—
An exquisite watch face shattered. Blood dripped from the luxurious clothes, dyeing a patch of the deep red carpet black in the light.
In the grand hall not far away, on the streetlights that were meant to simulate the luxurious decorations of the surface, one corpse after another was hanging, swaying gently with the breeze created by the climate simulation system.
Rost was dragged before the grav-gallows, the Inquisitorial rosette around his neck digging a deep imprint into his skin under the great force.
His face was flushed red. He stared intently at the knight before him, a series of broadcasts echoing in his mind, his eyes wide with rage.
He didn't understand why the crusade fleet dared to arrest a naval noble, a Rogue Trader, and he couldn't believe they actually dared to lay a hand on the Inquisition.
How dare they! How dare they!
The Inquisition will not let you go! The second Month of Shame will surely come!
His body, its bones broken, twitched. Arthur expressionlessly hung him up, and at the same time, stuffed the words Rost had been about to spit out back into his mouth.
The Month of Shame was, in essence, a power struggle between the Inquisition and the Astartes, which had ended with the Inquisition's pants being pulled down. After that, the Inquisition's threat to the Founding Chapters had become exceptionally comical.
He couldn't be bothered to say it. This person didn't deserve to hear it.
Arthur let go. The grav-lock quickly pulled him up—
The Imperial high command all had body modifications. Ordinary hanging couldn't kill these people. Even the execution device needed to be a good one.
He then scanned the luxurious banquet hall, which could hold tens of thousands of nobles, and then looked at the corpses swaying in the wind, and nodded.
Thanks to the luxury of the Imperium. After hanging nearly ten thousand people, there were still streetlights left.
"..."
Countless nobles who were in the middle of the banquet looked at the scene before them nervously.
Some were terrified, praying for the Emperor's protection, that there would be no more problems, that their entire family would not be killed.
Some were shocked, wanting to grab a weapon in a frenzy, but were held down by their entire family.
And some were full of expectation, calmly raising their wine glasses, and looking out the viewport at the countless giant ships that were blocking the starlight.
The myriad states of humanity, difficult to summarize in a single phrase. The selected mortal representatives read out their crimes, and the Dark Angels, one by one, administered the appropriate punishment to these war criminals.
This was an execution aimed at the entire Imperial high command.
"Inquisitor Rost, member of the Ordo Xenos. From 742.M41.0908, has arbitrarily redeployed the Tyranid defense fleet. From 743.M41.0121, has intervened in an Imperial internal conflict, causing a vacuum in the mobile forces of the Ultramar defense line, leading to the fall of the Eastern Fringe, with over five hundred Imperial worlds directly facing the Tyranid offensive, and over a trillion Imperial citizens affected."
"In the punitive war against the T'au Empire, has repeatedly executed erroneous military decisions, costing a large number of effective forces, including 3 Warhound-class Titans, 93 Astartes, and 7 Astra Militarum regiments, leading to a complete lack of progress in the punitive fleet's offensive."
"Is now, for treason, dereliction of duty, and 13 other crimes, sentenced to the punishment of white phosphorus."
"Execute immediately!"
A faint flame fell from the grav-gallows and drifted onto the luxurious clothes.
Inquisitor Rost's entire body was trembling. He stared intently at the knight before him, but soon, the bone-chilling, heart-burning pain made it impossible for him to maintain his hatred.
Arthur didn't even look at his constricting pupils. He glanced at the surrounding nobles, and simply began to read the book in his hand—
The one he had gotten from the Alphas, which detailed a series of infiltration operation plans of the various Alpha Legion branches.
WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~
The white fire just burned, getting stronger and stronger, but after the gravity had confined the air, not a single sound could be heard.
The wanton man disappeared with the firelight, and finally, under the confinement of gravity, became a long-burning lamp.
It would eternally continue its silent burning, a warning to every person who looked at it.
The crusade fleet was stationed in the Damocles Gulf for nearly nine weeks. It had taken almost longer than it had to cross the T'au Empire's territory, but they had finally cleaned up the mess in this star sector.
And Romulus was the busiest person during this time. He had to pick up the power and communicate and coordinate with the various factions in the sector, and formulate a plan. For example, the recovery plan, and the development plan for the T'au Empire's territory.
Romulus was discussing the next development plan for the sector with the newly appointed Sector Governor.
Although the original Sector Governor had done a good job in the internal development of the sector, losing a dozen or so planets was an unacceptable crime. According to the law, he should also go through the normal execution process.
But fortunately, Romulus was willing to study those policies, and in the end, in the appointment of the new governor, he had chosen a political ally of the old governor.
"Thanks to Lord Romulus's help, my people and I were able to escape from such a disaster," the Sector Governor said, very grateful to Romulus. Not only had Romulus sorted out the mess of the Damocles Gulf, but the arrival of the crusade fleet had also saved the position of their noble alliance.
He was somewhat ambitious, and he was certainly not a fool. It was just that sometimes, the things they had to face were things that even they could not solve. After all, so many battleships... if the former Sector Governor, in order to maintain the trade routes, had not chosen to strengthen the orbital defense system, their entire family would have been turned to ash under the lances.
And Romulus had helped him solve these problems, and was even willing to assist them in managing the colonial planets. Although the demands were a bit much, the crusade fleet probably didn't look down on their poor sector.
Subsequently, with them as a base, the internal forces of the crusade fleet, including the Inquisition, other Rogue Traders, the Astartes, and the Adeptus Mechanicus, would focus on the development of the T'au Empire's territory.
He had heard that several of the Astartes Chapters did not have a Chapter homeworld.
Romulus also had a good assessment of this relatively moderate noble alliance. At the very least, they were much better than the two Rogue Trader dynasties and Inquisitor Rost. They could see the big picture, had the ability to develop the sector under certain conditions, and could also pay their taxes. You couldn't ask for more.
This was the limit of mortals.
Returning to the Dawnlight, Romulus looked at the "Northern Gulf Sector Development Plan" that had been completed through multi-party communication in his hand and let out a long sigh of relief.
The troublesome matter was finally resolved.
So now—
He stood up, stretched a bit, and placed his hands on the edge of the command platform. The gauntlets he had not worn for a long time were pushed to the side by his movements.
He could finally deal with the last, and most serious, problem.
Countless lines began to weave in his mind. Countless battlefields began to appear in the illusion.
The Hive Fleet.
(End of Chapter)
