"You killed the False Emperor." Loken rose to his feet as the storm's fury subsided, turning his gaze toward Abaddon.
"Yes." Abaddon inclined his head. "For humanity's sake, I personally slew the Emperor."
"What a dark, cold jest," Loken said with a slight shrug.
The campaign to dismantle the false empire proceeded with ruthless efficiency.
By the ti the rembrancers set foot upon the planet's surface, the resistance had been largely crushed. They docunted the Astartes' achievents and bore witness to the systematic dismbernt of the fraudulent regi.
Nurous local dignitaries were purged, and their wealth, accumulated over millennia, flowed into Imperial coffers.
The enforcent teams seized vast quantities of property and supplies. A portion was distributed among the populace to win their loyalty, while the remainder replenished the expeditionary force's depleted stores.
This thod of profit distribution had proven effective throughout countless campaigns of the Great Crusade, securing hearts and minds while sustaining the war machine's endless appetite.
Most of the populace cared little for their overthrown rulers. Grant them a share of the powerful's forr holdings, and they would embrace Imperial rule, even defending it of their own accord.
rsadie Oliton, an official rembrancer, secured an interview with the campaign's hero, Garviel Loken.
In the training halls aboard the Vengeful Spirit, rsadie learned the battle's full account directly from Loken.
"So Abaddon killed the Emperor?" rsadie repeated the seditious taphor carefully.
"Yes," Loken confird with a nod.
rsadie opened her mouth to continue when space itself suddenly twisted.
A Raven materialized from nowhere and descended before Loken.
"That taphor is far too obscure, both of you."
The Raven's sudden appearance sent a bolt of panic through both rsadie and Loken. His status was incomparably exalted, he was one of the Empire's supre rulers. If he took offense at the phrase "Abaddon killed the Emperor," many would find themselves in grievous trouble.
"If you'd said Horus killed the Emperor, it might prove more compelling," the Raven added mildly.
"Mr. Raven," rsadie and Loken said in unison, bowing low. Neither dared respond to such words.
"Don't be so tense. I'm rely jesting," the Raven said. "Such a harmless taphor will bring no trouble."
The Raven studied them both with keen interest.
These two individuals, in the predetermined tiline, were tragic figures whose fates intertwined throughout the entire Horus Heresy.
rsadie had been close friends with Sindermann, future architect of the Lectitio Divinitatus, and with Euphrati Keeler, the Living Saint.
They had witnessed Horus's ascension, his corruption of Davin, and his purge of loyalists during the Isstvan campaign. Eventually, Garvon Loken of the Luna Wolves' third company rescued them from Isstvan's slaughter.
Later, rsadie was imprisoned on Titan, where she encountered Loken several tis.
He wished to extract her from Titan's cells, but rsadie understood her imprisonnt was by order of the Sigillite, Malcador himself, and thus refused.
Toward the Heresy's end, just before the traitors reached the Sol System, rsadie was repeatedly drawn into dreams by Keeler, who begged her to deliver a ssage to Rogal Dorn on Terra.
When the traitors invaded the Solar System, purge protocols were activated, and all prisoners were to be executed to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. rsadie numbered among the condemned.
But Loken received her desperate distress call, arrived in ti to save her, and brought her to the 'Phalanx' to et with Dorn.
Yet all of it was a Chaos conspiracy.
The Keeler who haunted rsadie's dreams was false. Samus used her as an anchor to wreak havoc aboard the Phalanx. In the end, to stop the daemon, rsadie chose to cast herself into the fortress's reactor core.
"I know you have a story. I want it rembered by future generations."
"Which story?"
"Horus killing the Emperor."
That conversation from her first eting with Loken beca the final mory surfacing as she leaped to her death, beginning and end forming a tragic circle.
Yet sothing even more bitter lay within this tale.
Samus was a daemon born from Loken's own death.
In the final battle during the Siege of Terra, the Emperor confronted Horus. Loken witnessed the Emperor strike down the Warmaster and chose to stand vigil over Horus's corpse.
When Abaddon returned to the Vengeful Spirit, Loken and the First Captain had their final argunt. Loken pleaded with Abaddon to surrender with the Sixteenth Legion's survivors.
Instead, Erebus ambushed him, driving a cursed blade through his back.
Thus was Samus born, the daemon that would haunt the Heresy's entire bloody history.
The Raven conducted himself with warmth and familiarity, yet the vast gulf in status kept both rsadie and Loken deeply on edge.
They announced the Ravens' arrival to the entire Legion.
Soon, Horus arrived with the Mournival and nurous senior officers of the expeditionary force.
"Little bald head," the Raven said, alighting on Horus's shoulder and affectionately nuzzling the Primarch's face.
"Master Raven," ca the unified greeting.
The Mournival mbers, Abaddon, Tarik Torgaddon, Hastur Sejanus, and Serghar Targost, all smiled broadly and saluted the avian figure.
"Mr. Raven," Horus said, turning to Abaddon. "Please retrieve the gift I prepared for our honored guest."
"At once." Abaddon nodded and departed.
"I hear you eliminated the False Emperor?"
The Raven's words made everyone exchange nervous glances. Such things could be said privately, but having the Raven overhear was another matter entirely.
"Mr. Raven, it was rely a jest," Horus said carefully. "No disrespect was intended."
"I'm not reproaching you—I'm simply curious. It sounds like an intriguing story." The Raven tilted his head. "You don't need to be so anxious. Big Guy and I aren't particularly concerned with our authority."
"According to the Empire's current trajectory, its territory will expand to other galaxies and universes within the next few centuries. The larger the domain, the lower the administrative efficiency becos. Eventually, it will inevitably transition toward a confederation model. When that day cos, you'll each rule the universes you've conquered."
The Raven's words made many senior officers' eyes widen.
This was explosive intelligence, tantamount to confirming the Primarchs would eventually beco independent sovereigns.
rsadie quietly activated the mory device implanted in her skull.
This was an invaluable firsthand declaration. Even if it couldn't be published now, it would serve as crucial historical material for future generations.
"Naster Raven, please be cautious with such statents; you cannot simply announce these things freely," Horus said, before turning sharply to the others.
"You are absolutely forbidden from repeating a single word of today's conversation, or you will face a military tribunal."
"I'm not announcing it freely. I'm telling you specifically." The Raven's simple statent made Horus's lips curve upward, unable to conceal his satisfaction.
'See? I remain his favorite.' The Raven had even shared such confidential intelligence with him.
'Lion, what can you possibly compete with for now?'
Abaddon returned with servitors bearing all the fries and ketchup the Sixteenth Legion had recently procured, every imaginable flavor.
The Raven's eyes glead with satisfaction.
It seed Horus's ambition for advancent remained strong. 'A teachable child indeed.'
The Raven had co to the Sixteenth Legion simply for a visit, no specific mission in mind.
After Horus had the fries properly served, he led the Raven to the strategium, inviting him to observe the upcoming military action briefings.
With the False Emperor's fall and the collapse of the ancient centralized regi, organized resistance fractured into scattered bands of insurgents hiding in the Whispering Mountains, using the treacherous terrain to defy Imperial authority.
To solidify Imperial rule, Horus decided to dispatch Loken to annihilate them.
Loken, enhanced with the third-generation gene-engine, desperately needed to prove himself worthy of wielding such formidable power. He accepted the mission eagerly.
Taking the warriors of Tenth Company, he boarded a transport and headed for the Whispering Mountains.
Upon reaching the skies above, they leaped from the vessel, plumting earthward like teors wreathed in fire.
The wealth disparity in this world was staggering. The High City, where the "Emperor" had reigned, retained most of its Golden Age technology, flying vehicles, and grav-cars in abundance.
In the remote regions, however, people maintained primitive lifestyles.
In those distant villages and settlents, countless ignorant souls had been raised in a cultural environnt steeped in legend and superstition.
Thus, when they witnessed the Astartes descending from the heavens, they regarded them as divine beings made manifest.
Loken touched down and examined the tactical situation displayed on his helm's auspex.
The Whispering Mountains' entire geological structure lay mapped before him, hidden passages, concealed chambers, all clearly marked.
"Advance! Eliminate all resistance!" Loken commanded. "Bring them the Empire's enlightennt."
With the order given, the Tenth Company split into combat squads and entered the mountains.
Fighting erupted swiftly across multiple choke points and strategic positions. The resistance's firepower proved fierce, but Tenth Company's martial prowess was overwhelming.
They shattered the defensive positions with ease, their bolters roaring and chainswords shrieking as they carved through the insurgents, leaving trails of blood and corpses in their wake.
"Captain," ca Xayver Jubal's voice across the vox, one of the Mournival Guard.
[End of Chapter]
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