Chapter 1017, The Key to the Evil God

Chapter 1017, The Key to the Evil God
Gu Hang has figured out exactly what the key he snatched from the Calamity Fleet is.

"It's about a terrible 'weapon,' that's how I would describe it."

"It's hard for me to say exactly what this weapon is or how it will work. But I'm certain that if it falls into the hands of our enemies, the Empire will face annihilation. This is not an exaggeration, but something that is already happening."

"That's not all. This weapon holds great significance for a Chaos God."

"That is the evil god known as the 'Creator,' named Bassol. He is the evil god of inventors, engineers, scientists, and craftsmen. Perhaps the beings in the real universe, at all costs, try to understand and enslave nature, ultimately exploiting it without limit through technology... These may be the source of his power. Countless wars and the endless arms race gave birth to him, and it is these desires that made him grow and become the embodiment of ambition to wage war using technology and machinery."

Gu Hang gave a brief introduction to the evil god Bassol.

Leon was unfamiliar with his name, but he didn't ask any questions and listened patiently.

"That 'weapon' is sealed in some unsearchable dimension. Only by obtaining the 'key' can it be found. And you may be familiar with this so-called key. There were at least two of them, which were once held by the First Legion—the Angels of Death."

As soon as he said that, Leon knew what Gu Hang was referring to.

A subterranean device located on the mother planet of the Angel of Death, Knight Star.

Many thoughts raced through his mind in an instant, but Leon remained expressionless and silent.

Actually, he didn't need to say it.

After becoming the Primarch, Martins' first battle was against a fleet of Calamity, from which he seized a fragment of a key.

This fragment has been in Gu Hang's hands for some years now. Although various major events have delayed his attention, he has maintained a high level of interest in studying this fragment and has invited many sages from the Cult of Mechanics to participate, including the Martian Great Sage - Kaul.

After decades of research, Gu Hang has gained a relatively deep understanding of this fragment and everything it represents.

He even glimpsed the moment when Knight Star exploded through subspace divination.

According to historical records, that was the battle in which the Lionheart disappeared, a civil war between the Angels of Death.

The Earth's core device located on Knight Star shattered into countless pieces in the explosion, and the fragments were scattered throughout the universe.
The largest of these pieces is located in the lair of the Angel of Death, the Stone Monastery.

The so-called Stone Monastery was actually the largest piece of planetary debris after the explosion of Knightsstar. It was captured, hollowed out, and transformed by the Angels of Death into their 'homeworld,' serving as a space fortress. It was equipped with various planetary engines, allowing it to move through space, even enabling warp travel or jump-travel via astral tunnels. "Bassol's search for the fragments of the key has been ongoing for many years. The Calamity Fleet, which has repeatedly appeared throughout the universe, bringing profound disaster to the Imperium, is a product of his collaboration with Chaos Warmaster Alchaton."

“A fragment of the key has fallen into my hands. I must say, Bassol truly possesses the most unparalleled technical ability, even in the entire warp, capable of turning the impossible into reality. I simply cannot figure out how to reassemble and reforge this fragment of the key. But Bassol can, and we cannot let him get all the fragments.”

"Unfortunately, by the time we discovered this problem, it was too late. Although our expeditionary force has been paying close attention to intercepting the Chaos Calamity Fleet throughout the universe, and we have also figured out how to use the existing key fragments to find other fragments, our progress is still far behind Bassor's."

“What’s worse, we might need to collect all the fragments and conduct a long study before we have any chance—just a chance—to recast the key. But Bassor shouldn’t need that. He only needs the largest and most essential pieces, and he’ll be able to fill in the rest and complete the recasting. That means that even if some scraps or small fragments fall into our hands, it won’t stop him.”

"He only has one last essential piece left to obtain, and I'm sure you know which one it is."

"The Death Angels Chapter has always been active in the southern border of the Empire, fighting fierce battles against various enemies of humanity. They possess more means and technology than ordinary chapters, and can even, to some extent, communicate and even cooperate with many sub-chapters across star systems in the context of the Cataclysm."

"After the establishment of the new Empire, the Imperial Central Government also made contact with the Death Angels. The Chapter Leader, the High Master Organron, recognized the Regent, the new Prime Minister, and endorsed the political reforms on Holy Terra. Furthermore, the Death Angels Chapter even accepted a batch of recruits of Original Forged Space Marines trained by the Imperial Central Government."

At this point, Gu Hang did not elaborate further.

There is some prior information involved, but Leon already knew it all.

When he was learning about the history of the period he had been asleep and the current state of the empire, a considerable portion of his attention was naturally focused on his genetic offspring.

Leaving aside the history, the current situation of the Death Angels Chapter is worth discussing.

They were among the most successful imperial forces, aside from the Alliance and the Infinite Starfield.

At the time of the Great Cataclysm, the Angels of Death, piloting the Stone Monastery through space, were roughly located in the southwestern part of the Empire's southern border, on the dark side of the Empire. Upon discovering the drastic environmental changes and losing contact with the Empire's central government, the Angels of Death decisively began to suppress the Empire's territory on the spot. When necessary, they would use their unique technology to contact their sub-clusters and call upon them to act together.

To date, the Angels of Death and their sub-groups control more than four star systems, occupying one-third of the world in the Nightless Space Region located in the western part of the southern border of the Empire.

If the Angels of Death and their minions had focused on managing their territory and expanding their influence, and hadn't encountered an exceptionally powerful enemy like the Blood Angels, their controlled area could very well be even larger than it is now.

Unfortunately, they were not willing to do so.

(End of this chapter)