Corvus: “This Raven Is Pretty Creepy!!”

Kyler’s words made Loken and the members of the Poison Rose Squad frown.

If Juber’s affair were publicized,

it would deal an unimaginably heavy blow to the Sixteenth Legion’s reputation.

Their honor and achievements would all be tarnished.

The other Legions would see them as uncontrollable and unreliable allies.

In serious cases, the Sixteenth Legion might even face exclusion and malicious rumors.

The current Human Empire was not entirely ignorant of the Warp.

The Night Watch organizations and psychic academies established across various regions existed to deal with those strange things.

Terra, the center of Imperial power, would also lower its trust rating for the Sixteenth Legion.

It was highly likely that the Sixteenth Legion would be removed from the ranks of the main battle Legions.

The Poison Rose Squad members stood behind Kyler, blocking her retreat.

No matter how great the price, they would not allow the Sixteenth Legion to be disgraced.

"You can’t only shout about freedom of speech when it benefits you."

Realizing something was wrong, Kyler clutched her recording device tightly.

She shouted at Horus and Raven.

Horus looked at Raven, seeking his opinion with his eyes.

To be honest, Horus was more inclined to settle this with force. He did not want the Sixteenth Legion’s reputation damaged either.

"You make a very good point." Raven’s words left Horus, Loken, and the others astonished, though their expressions also turned grim.

Could it be that Raven supported publicizing what had just happened?

At that thought, Horus clenched his fists.

A helpless sense of betrayal rose within him.

He could accept betrayal from others, but he could not accept Raven or the Emperor making such a decision.

He loved them more than he loved himself.

If danger came, Horus was certain that he would willingly give his life to protect Raven and the Emperor.

A martyr’s sorrow rose in Horus’s heart.

If this matter were publicized, he would no longer be qualified to compete with the Lion.

People would favor the Lion even more, believing that he was the true firstborn.

Even knowing that they could travel to other universes in the future, he still wanted the title of firstborn.

The Wolf God was no worse than the Lion.

But Raven was the one making the decision now.

What could he do besides accept it?

And what would resistance even mean?

More than losing his honor, what pained him was Raven’s attitude.

A smile appeared on Kyler’s face. She thought Raven supported her idea.

"But some truths cannot yet be known by the Empire’s people," Raven added. "The people have the right to know the truth, but we also have the duty to protect them."

"The Astartes are the Empire’s elite. Guess what consequences would follow if the corruption and contamination of an Astartes were made public."

Before Kyler could speak, Raven continued.

"It would bring panic and unrest. People would become anxious and terrified, living every day in fear, until they finally fell into despair and could not pull themselves free."

"Do you think Samus is merely an isolated case? Do you think what you just saw is the most terrifying thing in this universe?"

Raven flew before Kyler.

Two streams of light flowed from his eyes and shot into hers.

He transmitted a portion of dark memories and truths into her mind.

Letting Kyler see a galaxy of unimaginable darkness and despair.

Unimaginable darkness lurked beneath the surface of the material universe.

The evil power of Chaos poisoned the entire Warp.

Nightmarish phenomena eroded the dream realm like erupting volcanic ash.

Sinister gleams flickered among the stars, filth crept through the veil, and drooling fangs and horrifying compound eyes peered into reality.

Those evil things possessed blasphemous and terrifying bodies, shrieking grotesquely every moment.

The little strength Kyler had just regained vanished once more, and she collapsed to the ground.

"Fear will make them lose their minds and ultimately throw themselves into the arms of the Great Enemy. I will not force you to do something you believe is wrong, but this world is not simply black and white."

Raven strolled through the air, his voice calm, as he opened a teleportation passage.

It led to Schindler, Mesati, and the other speakers and chroniclers.

The chroniclers looked at the opened passage with surprise.

They did not know who else was about to arrive.

One after another, they turned their cameras and gazes toward it.

"You may choose. Tell them the truth, or bear the truth alone until the Empire’s people can accept it."

Raven looked at Kyler. "Fate is in your hands, and so are the honor and disgrace of the Sixteenth Legion, Kyler."

"A chronicler’s duty is to seek the truth, protect the truth, and pass down the truth. But they also have the duty to secretly bear the truth and protect humanity from being poisoned by it."

Kyler took a step toward the teleportation passage.

Loken and the others instinctively moved, but Horus raised a hand to stop them.

Kyler wanted to leave and reveal the truth to the public.

But countless scenes of mountains of corpses, seas of blood, and shattered civilizations surfaced in her mind, making her hesitate.

The truth might be important, but was it truly more important than the interests of all humanity?

"Were those scenes real?"

Kyler looked at Raven, her tone filled with despair and helplessness.

The professional convictions she had upheld for years violently clashed with humanity’s future, tormenting her deeply.

"You have already witnessed Juber’s mutation. Do you think those things were false?" Raven said. "You have witnessed the truth, so why do you still question whether it is real?"

"I give you a choice, just as I will give humanity a choice. The future is forged by countless martyrs bearing suffering. Are you willing to become one of them, Kyler?"

Kyler withdrew the foot she had stepped forward with.

She handed her camera to an Astartes beside her, then silently stepped into the teleportation passage.

"Aren’t you going to erase her memories?" Horus walked over and asked. "That would be safer."

Raven shook his head. "She is a chronicler. From the moment she was born, she existed to record the truth."

"If she tells others about this, the consequences will be severe," Horus said. "We cannot take that risk."

"It is no great matter. Nothing can ever be perfect, and she will not speak of it. Otherwise, she would not have handed us the camera." Raven looked at Horus. "Stop always thinking about hiding the truth and using lies to preserve your perfect image."

"If one day you can no longer maintain that false perfect image, it will be very easy for you to fall onto the wrong path."

"Accept your imperfections appropriately. No one, not even a Primarch, can be perfect in every way." After speaking, Raven turned and flew toward Juber.

At that moment, the poor warrior had already been helped up by his companions and was undergoing a physical examination.

The mutation had vanished, and he had returned to normal.

"He is fine. He only needs some time to recover." Raven examined Juber’s condition.

Although Samus had corrupted him, Juber’s condition was not too severe thanks to the protection of his second-generation Gene Engine.

"Warp contamination is not something terrifying. It is easy to treat and prevent," Raven added. "After some time, I will transfer a Witcher unit to accompany the expeditionary force. They have extensive knowledge in this field."

Samus’s appearance represented that the predetermined fate line was still at work.

Raven had no choice but to heighten his vigilance.

The Chaos Gods, supported by those strange beings from the Void, would never surrender easily.

They would certainly do everything possible to drive the Human Empire toward destruction.

After being lectured by Raven, Horus did not dare argue and could only nod repeatedly.

"Take care of yourself. If anything happens, remember to tell me in advance. I’ll be leaving first."

"And do not do anything else about this matter. Humanity’s fate lies in humanity’s own hands. Your future is destined to be glorious. You will become a king who rules the universe, so there is no need to rely on lies to maintain a false perfect image."

"Even if you gained the title of firstborn through lies, would it truly be what you wanted?"

After advising Horus, Raven did not linger. He directly tore open a spatial rift and left.

Raven had originally planned to visit Russ and Mortarion first.

But after carefully considering it, he decided to retrieve Corvus first.

This task should have been carried out by the Adeptus Custodes, but the coordinates Raven had provided were not accurate enough.

The Adeptus Custodes sent out had not found the planet where Corvus had fallen—Lyssia.

A planet was like a grain of sand in the Milky Way. Even with vague coordinates, the Adeptus Custodes would need to spend unimaginable time and effort to find it.

They had found Number Eleven, who was currently being escorted back to Terra.

Raven decided to bring Corvus back as well.

That way, every Primarch would have returned.

Raven personally reviewed the information across the entire Milky Way and quickly captured Lyssia’s coordinates.

Kavah was a technologically advanced forge world.

While countless human colonies had fallen into decline due to Warp Storms and conflict,

it still maintained interstellar trade and preserved the technology and industry of the Golden Age.

The long Age of Strife had made the gap between rich and poor on this planet extremely severe.

The powerful and wealthy lived in Kavah’s spire buildings, enjoying fresh air, beautiful gardens, and natural, unpolluted fruit.

Meanwhile, commoners lived in the sunless lower levels, breathing air filled with toxins.

Those declared guilty, idealists who opposed the powerful, workers who failed to meet production quotas, and people who offended the elite—

all were treated as slaves and sent to Kavah’s moon, Lyssia.

Lyssia was extremely barren. Its surface was covered in rock, it had no atmosphere, and the temperature difference between day and night was immense.

Slave miners had to remain in the underground mines all day, extracting ore for their masters in exchange for the right to survive and receive supplies.

As an infant, Corvus had been abducted by the Four Chaos Gods and happened to fall onto Lyssia.

He was discovered by a slave girl—Nasturi Evreniya.

The slaves hid him away and taught him hand-to-hand combat, urban warfare, military strategy, and knowledge of politics and philosophy.

After growing up, Corvus became an all-around leader, uniting Lyssia’s workers through his charisma.

He secretly prepared an uprising and ordered the creation of five atomic mining explosives, intending to use them to destroy the slave masters’ army.

The day of the uprising was today.

The rebels hid their weapons and waited for the order.

Most of them were young people, filled with passion.

Thinking about what they were about to do left them exhilarated.

To ensure nothing went wrong, Corvus left his subordinates and carried out a sabotage mission alone.

He planned to first cripple the Black Tower that monitored the slaves and controlled the automated weapons arrays.

At the same time, he would assassinate the commanders, leaving the slave masters’ army without leadership.

Darkness surged between the flickering lights of the underground corridors and the searchlights cast down from the top of the Black Tower.

Corvus moved through the darkness.

His entire body was coated in a layer of black camouflage.

The camouflage was soot taken from the furnaces.

It could block technological detection methods such as thermal imaging and infrared sensors.

He skillfully evaded every watchful eye and swiftly advanced toward the Black Tower.

The Black Tower occupied a vast area, roughly twenty hectares. It was a majestic structure built entirely of massive black stone.

Its entire frame was reinforced with plasteel pillars. Sharp, barbed steel pipes were embedded along the outer walls, and blades had been installed in the windows.

Corvus infiltrated under the cover of darkness, using his superhuman mind to memorize every firing point, high ground, shooting position, and everything else he needed to know.

As he rounded a corner, Corvus sensed someone watching him.

After scanning the area, he noticed a lit window in a tall building some distance away.

A woman stood beside the window with her back to it, holding a noisy child and repeatedly patting his back to soothe him.

The child, meanwhile, stared at the tall warrior with innocent eyes.

I am not here, Corvus silently recited.

Confusion appeared in the child’s eyes as his little mind began losing its memories of Corvus.

A moment later, the child had forgotten everything. He pressed his cheek against his mother’s shoulder, looking content.

Corvus smiled, then silently departed.

This was an innate ability of his, allowing him to erase his existence from other people’s minds.

Using exposed plasteel pipes and protrusions, he climbed the building, running silently along the rooftops and gliding through the night like a bat.

He leaped from one building to another, passed above the guards’ heads, and advanced toward the Black Tower’s central district.

He leaped once more, swept through the smoke, and landed on a dark corner platform.

Corvus suddenly felt that watchful gaze again.

He looked around and saw a black raven in the distance.

Its eyes were exceptionally bright as it watched him.

For some reason, Corvus felt a little guilty under that gaze.

He kept feeling that this bird was strange. Its gaze was not like that of a bird, but more like that of some elder.

I must be crazy to think a bird is an elder!!

Corvus shook his head and mocked himself inwardly.

To be safe, he activated his ability once more, intending to erase his existence from the other’s mind.

However, the bird kept watching him, never once shifting its gaze, as though it was unaffected by his ability.

"What’s going on?" Corvus frowned, unable to figure it out.

"Quite an interesting ability," the bird said.

Corvus’s eyes widened, followed by indescribable terror.

His first thought was that this bird had been genetically modified and trained, one of those slavers’ spies.

Just as he was about to act and get rid of the bird,

the other party spoke again.

"Don’t be afraid. I mean you no harm, Corvus. On the contrary, I can help you."

"Of course, help doesn’t come for free. You’ll have to pay a small price."