"Inquisitor Aglaia."
Aglaia lost her footing, and even the dossier in her hand fell to the floor.
Had Sister Arabella not caught her from the side, she might have completely lost her composure.
"It's nothing, nothing, my lord."
She replied somewhat incoherently. Aglaia bent down and grasped at the dossier twice before finally picking it up.
She let out a long breath and used her psychic power to regulate her hormone levels, forcing her brain into a state of calm.
"How is your plan progressing?"
"After clearing out the Imperial Navy forces, the Seeker of Knowledge began transporting large numbers of people to Piaerde Prime. We do not know how he managed it, but we have a Webway there, so according to the terms of our deal, we will process those people there."
"Everyone in the Sector?"
"Everyone. The last time my fleet contacted the scouts monitoring the various planets, their populations had already been reduced to less than a tenth."
Tap—
It was the sound of a pen tip hitting the ground.
Aglaia raised her hand and punched the Archon in the face.
One punch, nothing more than a punch to vent her anger.
The Archon's already incomplete face was horribly distorted.
Had Cawl's mechanical appendages not held her down, Aglaia would certainly have thrown a few more punches.
"You damned swine, you idiots! Do you even know what you've done?"
Restrained by cold metal, Aglaia gave up struggling and began cursing furiously.
"The entire Piaerde Sector has nearly five trillion people. You just let that madman gather them all onto a single planet and send them straight into his sacrificial pit."
"And you idiots actually believed his lies. You swine are part of his sacrifice too. Do you know what will happen once all those people are sacrificed...?"
Aglaia did not even dare imagine it.
She had witnessed a Chaos disaster aboard a Black Ship before.
Just one unstable Psyker, after devouring the souls of more than ten fellow prisoners, had allowed Nurgle's plague to contaminate half the vessel.
The ship's steel rapidly rusted and decayed, then became covered in pustules. She had watched with her own eyes as utterly revolting Plague Marines emerged from Demon portals resembling cloacas.
The humans around them mutated the moment they came into contact with that aura. The microorganisms and tissues throughout their bodies began growing chaotically and merging together, before they walked toward the living with bizarre smiles on their faces.
Had the ship not carried the Emperor's Adeptus Custodes and Sisters of Silence at the time, she would not be alive now to lose her temper before these lords.
Five trillion people... Even allowing for losses of more than half, that was still two trillion. The population of four Hive Cities...
Aglaia's face was filled with despair.
That old bastard had truly gone mad.
For knowledge, he was willing to sacrifice so many people to Chaos.
"...Emperor, please tell me what I should do."
The young Inquisitor was at a loss. Even the stern expression she had maintained for the sake of dignity completely collapsed.
At first, she had simply believed she had found evidence against the old bastard. She had intended to use this opportunity to kill the old traitor to the Emperor and inherit his legacy.
After all, Inquisitors falling to Chaos was common within the profession, and Inquisitors being killed for that reason was just as common. From the moment she discovered that her mentor had begun dealing with Chaos, the thought had taken root.
She had even considered herself quite lucky at first, happy that she had been given the chance to take over this branch conclave just after becoming a full Inquisitor.
But—
That old bastard.
How could he make things this huge?
I only wanted to quietly get rid of the old bastard, stay away from Chaos for the rest of my life, spend a few decades organizing historical texts and submitting them to the conclave, then dump this endless mess and retire to Heaven World for a good life.
With stable biomancy psychic abilities, living for several centuries would not have been a problem for her.
She had already picked out a house on a Garden World. To secure a good location, she had even paid off the remaining balance.
Why did that old bastard have to make things this huge?!
Aglaia swore that if she survived this, she would never again study the Horus Heresy. Anything connected to Chaos was dangerous.
At worst, I'll just pick some Space Marine Chapter's homeworld. Macragge won't do because its records are too complete, and the Blood Angels won't do because there are rumors they are too deeply connected to the Warp. As for those with huge gaps in their history...
I'll study the Dark Angels, the model legion. That legion can't possibly have anything to do with Chaos, right?!
But was this the time to think about the future?
A voice rose from the depths of her heart.
Can I survive?
Aglaia asked herself.
She did not know.
She did not even know what one was supposed to do in the face of such a disaster. She had only experienced that one Black Ship incident; everything else she knew came from documents. She had no idea what the consequences would be if so many people were truly sacrificed to Chaos.
She was only a young woman who had not been away from the archives for long. Being shameless enough to bring in the Adeptus Mechanicus and an Expeditionary Fleet was already impressive enough. It was not as though she could also summon the Sisters of Silence and the Adeptus Custodes.
"Inquisitor Aglaia, can you confirm that the intelligence you obtained is real?"
Seeing that the young Inquisitor had withdrawn into herself somewhat, Romulus, who had roughly understood what had happened, spoke up to confirm.
"I can be reasonably certain."
Aglaia nodded. She had investigated her teacher for a long time.
"Because I knew the answers to the first three questions, and this Xenos's answers matched the information I possessed. That was why I formally transferred here. That old bastard's scheme has already succeeded. I don't even know what we..."
"Inquisitor Aglaia, I do not care about the filth within your Inquisition."
Romulus glanced around and immediately cut her off.
"You only need to tell us what we may be facing."
The most important question now was what kind of situation they might be walking into.
The Transmigrators did not fully understand what scale a sacrifice of five trillion people represented for Chaos. Because of Games Workshop's absurd mathematics, they remained skeptical of any numerical data they had learned before transmigrating.
"What? Cultists spread across the planet, Demons pouring endlessly out of the Warp, a corrupted Inquisition fleet... By the time we reach Piaerde, we might even find that the planet is being swallowed by the Warp. It's already over..."
Aglaia answered pessimistically. The more she spoke, the more it felt as though a shadow had settled over her soul.
"You—"
Marshal Orlando was about to step forward and have this witch who sowed panic taken away.
Romulus raised a hand, signaling that there was no need.
Marshal Orlando swallowed his words. After looking at the silent Imperial Fists, he stepped back.
Everyone simply watched Aglaia.
Karna remained as gentle and steady as ever, while Ramesses contemplated his own subject of study.
They gave the Inquisitor all the patience she needed. Anyone would break under such a burden when they had only just gone from intern to full employee.
The young Inquisitor lowered her head and pressed both hands against it as if trying to escape.
Arthur waited for a while, then could not bear to watch any longer. A faint pressure came through his shoulder guard.
He turned his head and saw Karna giving him a meaningful look.
The other two good brothers still seemed to be looking at the problem with the perspective of ordinary people.
Could you expect a deranged person shaped by such a deranged worldview to figure it out on her own? She'd probably only think herself deeper into heresy, then lose control of her psychic power and set off a Warp firework for all of us.
Clang—
So he decisively drew the Black Sword.
Before you continue