The Plan to Enslave Daemons

Back when Guilliman was assassinated, the Word Bearers hermit loyal to the Emperor came to Macragge to pledge allegiance. He had mastered a great deal of the Word Bearers Legion’s Warp sorcery and possessed an understanding of the Warp far beyond that of ordinary people.

It could be said that, when it came to the Warp, he was the undisputed expert in the entire Ultima Segmentum.

At the time, Lox and Guilliman had proposed a hypothesis: summon daemons from the Warp, then exploit the fact that Untouchables could completely kill Warp daemons to coerce and entice them into betraying Warp intelligence and serving humanity.

For a long time, humanity had harbored grave misunderstandings about Warp daemons. Many believed that these monsters born from the Sea of Souls did not fear death. In truth, however, daemons feared death as well.

Killing a Warp daemon in the material universe did not harm its essence. It merely destroyed the vessel through which it had manifested in the physical world, banishing it back into the Warp.

Once enough time had passed and the daemon had mostly recovered, it would once again possess both the ability and ambition to invade the material universe.

This was an astonishingly audacious idea. Even now, humanity’s understanding of the Warp remained extremely passive and superficial.

How many factions existed within the Warp, what schemes they had laid against humanity, and how to effectively counter the Warp were all matters still being explored.

The rules for countering Warp daemons that Hill had once summarized were principles painstakingly derived from trial and error and battlefield experience. They might not apply to every situation.

Before the loyalists returned to defend Terra through the Webway, obtaining intelligence about the traitors in advance would undoubtedly give them an enormous advantage.

Interstellar warfare was, to a great extent, a war of intelligence. Whoever possessed information ahead of the enemy had already secured nearly half the victory. The traitor Legions were so troublesome precisely because the Warp stood on the other side, giving the enemy the advantage in intelligence.

Guilliman and Lox shared their idea with everyone present. In a sense, the people here had already formed a community of shared interests. They were all in the same boat, so there was no need to hide much.

Roboute even had the dark thought of dragging everyone into the water with him. Capturing and enslaving Warp daemons was such an extreme act of blasphemy that he might have had some reservations if he were the only one doing it. But if everyone did it, there would be no problem.

If everyone did it, then no one did.

Even if it were exposed one day, he could confidently say that Lion and Sanguinius had done it too. Why should he alone be singled out?

Uslan fell silent after hearing this. He began to understand that humanity sought Blackstone not merely to guard against Warp infiltration and corruption. They even intended to arrogantly launch a counteroffensive against the Warp.

Sanguinius, who had once banished a Keeper of Secrets of Slaanesh and a Bloodthirster of Khorne in the Signus system, tapped his own head. He was astonished by the outrageously bold idea of his seemingly steady and honest brother.

Only the Great Angel himself knew that, when facing those two Greater Daemons of Chaos, they had attempted to negotiate with him: so long as Sanguinius was willing to join Chaos, The Empyrean would completely cure the stubborn genetic affliction of the Angel’s sons.

Before the Blood Angels’ primarch had returned, they had been called ghouls. This was no baseless rumor. Every Astartes of the Ninth Legion possessed a bloodthirsty instinct, a genetic illness known as the Red Thirst.

This was Sanguinius’s deeply buried secret, as well as the unspoken taboo of the Blood Angels Legion.

In the Signus system, under the daemons’ temptation, he had indeed wavered and hesitated. Had Apothecary Meros’s sacrifice not awakened Sanguinius, the Great Angel might have abandoned hope and become another puppet of Chaos.

"Guilliman, your idea… is very bold. I ought to stop you, but I trust your wisdom. You are not Magnus, that fool who mistakes himself for wise. You excel at planning before acting and thinking thrice before proceeding. Since you have already considered it, then do it."

"But remember this: Warp daemons are full of lies. Or rather, every proposal they offer is partly true and partly false. Daemons will endlessly magnify the true part, causing people to lower their guard."

Sanguinius’s understanding response surprised Guilliman. He had originally thought he would need to spend more time persuading him before obtaining the regent’s approval.

After all, the Second Imperium now had a regent. Publicly and privately, Guilliman had to follow his judgment and seek his permission.

"And you, Lion?"

"What is your opinion?"

Everyone turned their attention to the Lion. The Lord Protector’s opinion was exceedingly important, since he now controlled most of the Second Imperium’s military power.

Upon hearing the plan, Lion could not help but marvel at Guilliman’s audacity.

Guilliman was a fucking genius. How had he not thought of this?

Enslaving daemons, interrogating daemons, squeezing them dry of value before slaughtering them… it practically coincided perfectly with what the Dark Angels had always done.

If Guilliman had not undertaken this, Lion would have secretly started Warp summoning experiments aboard his own ship. He had had enough of being constantly on the defensive.

It was only a matter of capturing some daemons for interrogation. The Dark Angels excelled at that.

But outwardly, he still did not wish to offer Guilliman too much praise. That man could be infuriating far too often. Giving him a pleasant expression would only make him push things further.

He had to restrain Guilliman. He could not allow him to act entirely without restraint.

"I have no objection. But when you do it, I must be present to supervise you and prevent anything from getting out of control. That is my duty."

"I am the commander of the Second Imperium. Every threat must pass through me first."

The Lion proudly stroked his sword. He had far too many questions that needed answers.

The three primarchs unanimously approved the resolution, which meant the matter would soon be put into action.

This brief meeting came to a temporary end. Guilliman dispatched his Chief Librarian, Titus Praetor, to the cell where the Word Bearers hermit was held, intending to fully release this key figure.

Now was the time for him to shine.

Lox personally accompanied Titus to the cell. The hermit had been tormenting himself here for years. This fanatical believer in the Emperor used physical suffering to ease the guilt in his heart, though no one here believed him guilty.

As a son of Lorgar, he had defied his genetic instincts and remained faithful to the Emperor. He was a loyalist worthy of respect.

When the hermit, covered from head to toe in anti-psychic shackles, saw Lox arrive, an expression of relief finally appeared on his face. At last, the time had come for him to atone.

The hermit held a quill in his hand. Even while burdened by heavy shackles and chains, he tirelessly copied Lorgar’s "Book of the Sacred Word," along with other secret knowledge of the Warp recorded only in his mind.

The hermit had to ensure that even if he died, the knowledge in his mind would remain behind to provide guidance and aid to the loyalists in their struggle against the traitors.

"You finally came."

The hermit had become extraordinarily gaunt, nothing like the physique an Astartes enhanced through extraordinary surgery should possess. His skin was deathly pale, and his eye sockets were deeply sunken, as though he had not rested properly in a very long time.

"If not for our conversation years ago, when you brought the God-Emperor’s decree that I was not to embrace death before fully atoning for my sins, I would have wanted to die long ago.

"Truly, after every brief sleep, all I see are those dead battle-brothers. They question me. My battle-brothers’ blood is on my sword. I failed the Emperor."

Lox could see the air of death around him. The hermit truly wanted to die, but he could not die yet. He still possessed irreplaceable value.

"We have found Blackstone. It is time to build a Blackstone fortress capable of summoning Warp daemons, and you will be the angler we have chosen. Come, pull yourself together. In the Emperor’s name, you must help us extract enough Warp intelligence from the daemons."

At those words, all the hermit’s shackles fell away. Even his surgically reinforced skin had been worn raw, revealing the implanted Blackstone carapace beneath.

He broke free of his restraints and walked out of the cell.

"In the Emperor’s name, as you wish."