Intern Just Got Promoted and Already Has to Take the Blame!

"Inquisitor Aglaia."

Aglaia lost her footing, and the files in her hands scattered across the floor.

Had Sister Arabella not reached out to steady her, she might have lost her composure entirely.

"It is nothing, nothing at all, my lord."

Her voice was slightly disjointed as she replied, and Aglaia reached down, fumbling twice before she managed to gather the files.

She let out a long breath, using her psychic powers to regulate her hormone levels and force her brain into a state of cold, calculated calm.

"How is your plan progressing?"

"After clearing out the Imperial Navy forces, the Seeker of Knowledge began transporting massive numbers of the population to the main world of the Piaerde Sector. We do not know how he achieved this, but there is a Webway gate there, so per our agreement, we are concentrating these populations for processing."

"The entire sector's population?"

"Everyone. When my fleet last contacted the scouts monitoring the various planets, those worlds were already stripped of nine-tenths of their inhabitants."

Clatter—

That was the sound of a pen hitting the floor.

Aglaia raised her hand and slammed a fist into the Archon's face.

A single punch, thrown purely to vent her rage.

The Archon's already disfigured face was severely distorted by the impact.

Had she not been held back by the mechanical appendages of Archmagos Cawl, Aglaia surely would have struck again.

"You damn swine, you idiots—do you have any idea what you have actually done?"

Restrained by steel and metal, Aglaia gave up struggling and began to curse.

"There are nearly five trillion people in the entire Piaerde Sector, and you just let that madman herd them onto a single planet, sending them straight into his sacrificial pit."

"And you idiots actually believed his lies? You swine are just as much a part of his offering as they are. Do you have any idea what the consequences of sacrificing these people will be..."

Aglaia dared not imagine it.

She had witnessed the horrors of Chaos aboard a Black Ship.

A single unstable psyker, after consuming the souls of a dozen fellow prisoners, had allowed a Nurgle plague to contaminate half the vessel.

The ship's steel had rusted and rotted rapidly, then sprouted pustules, and she had watched with her own eyes as plague warriors, disgusting beyond measure, emerged from demonic portals that looked like cloacae.

The humans nearby who merely touched that miasma mutated on the spot; their microbes and body tissues began to grow chaotically, fusing together before turning toward the living with eerie, twisted smiles.

If not for the Adeptus Custodes and Sisters of Silence on board at the time, she would not be alive to throw this tantrum before these lords today.

Five trillion people—even accounting for a loss of more than half, that was two trillion, the population of four hive worlds...

Aglaia's face was a mask of despair.

That old bastard had truly gone insane.

To think he would sacrifice so many people to Chaos just for the sake of his "knowledge."

"...Emperor, please tell me what I should do."

The young Inquisitor was at a loss; the stern, dignified facade she had maintained for so long collapsed entirely.

She had initially thought she had simply caught the old man in a trap, intending to use the opportunity to eliminate him for betraying the Emperor and inherit his legacy.

After all, Inquisitors becoming tainted by Chaos was common in the industry, and being executed for it was just as common. Ever since she discovered her mentor had begun dabbling in Chaos, this plan had taken root.

She had even felt lucky, initially happy that she had the chance to take over this branch of the Ordo right after her promotion.

But—

This old man.

How could he make this so big?

I just wanted to quietly get rid of the old man, never touch Chaos again in my life, spend a few decades organizing the historical texts to hand over to the Ordo, dump this endless mess, and retire to a Garden World to live a good life.

With stable biological psychic powers, living for hundreds of years would be no problem at all.

She had already picked out a house on a Garden World and had even paid the final installment to secure a good spot.

Why did this old man have to go and make it so big!

Aglaia swore that if she survived this, she would never study the Horus Heresy again; anything involving Chaos was too dangerous.

At worst, she would just pick some Space Marine Chapter's homeworld. Macragge's records were too complete, and there were rumors that the Blood Angels were too deeply connected to the Warp—that wouldn't do either. What about the ones with massive gaps in their history...

I'll go study the model legion, the Dark Angels, that should be fine, right? Surely that legion couldn't possibly be tainted by Chaos!

But, is now the time to be thinking about the future?

A voice echoed from the depths of her heart.

Can I survive this?

Aglaia asked herself.

She did not know.

She did not even know how to handle a disaster of this magnitude, having only experienced the Black Ship incident once before. Everything else she had seen was in literature; she had no idea what the consequences would truly be if so many people were sacrificed to Chaos.

She was just a youngster who had not long left the archives. It had already taken a thick skin to summon the Adeptus Mechanicus and the expeditionary fleet; she could hardly be expected to summon the Sisters of Silence and the Adeptus Custodes as well.

"Inquisitor Aglaia, can you confirm that the intelligence you have obtained is authentic?"

Seeing the young Inquisitor retreating into herself, Romulus, having roughly grasped what was happening, spoke up to confirm.

"It is basically certain."

Aglaia nodded. She had been investigating her mentor for a long time.

"Because I knew the answers to the first three questions, and the replies from this xenos matched the information I possessed, I officially requested the transfer. That old bastard's conspiracy has already succeeded. I don't even know if we..."

"Inquisitor Aglaia, I am not interested in the filth within your Inquisition."

Romulus glanced around and immediately interrupted her.

"You only need to tell us what we might be facing."

The most important question now was what kind of situation they were facing.

The Transmigrators did not really understand what a magnitude of five trillion people meant for a Chaos sacrifice. Because of the magical mathematics of gw, they remained skeptical of any data regarding numbers they had possessed before transmigrating.

"What? Cultists covering the planet, daemons pouring out of the Warp, a corrupted Inquisition fleet—perhaps by the time we arrive at Piaerde, we will see the planet being swallowed into the Warp. It is already over..."

Aglaia replied pessimistically. As she spoke, she felt a shadow cast over her very soul.

"You—"

Marshal Orlando was about to step forward and take this bewitching witch into custody.

Romulus raised a hand, signaling it was unnecessary.

Marshal Orlando swallowed his words, looked at the silent Imperial Fists, and stepped back.

Everyone watched Aglaia.

Karna remained gentle and steady, while Ramesses contemplated his own subjects.

They all gave the Inquisitor enough patience, for any intern who had just been promoted would break under such a heavy burden.

The young Inquisitor lowered her head, pressing her hands against her temples as if to escape reality.

Arthur waited for a while, but finding it hard to watch, he felt a faint pressure on his shoulder armor.

He turned his head and saw Karna signaling to him.

The other two good brothers seemed to still be viewing the problem through the eyes of normal people.

Could one expect a person with such a deranged worldview in this deranged world to figure things out on their own? They would likely only become more heretical the more they thought about it, eventually losing control of their psychic powers and setting off a Warp firework for everyone.

Clang—

And so, he drew his Black Sword without hesitation.