Current Situation of Agathos

The waiting was agonizing. The intermittent reports transmitted back from Agathos let Gao Yi know that the situation was steadily worsening.

The hallmark of these Chaos Cults was rapid spread. Once corruption expanded fully, he would have no choice but to bombard the hive city even if he did not want to.

When the last Wraith was manufactured, Gao Yi immediately ordered the team to move out.

Meanwhile, inside the hive city of Agathos.

The Throne District was located at the spire.

Planetary Governor Rebecca remained within her gubernatorial residence, directing the loyalists in defensive operations.

Looking at the mountains of documents piled on her desk, Rebecca pulled an injector from the drawer and jammed it into her neck.

As these neuro-stimulants were injected into her body, Rebecca's exhaustion was swept away. She had not slept for ten days, and the effects of these psychostimulants were growing weaker and weaker.

The news of the Rogue Trader's return truly galvanized all the loyalists. At the time, they could see the fleet in orbit the moment they looked up, but at the same time, they also saw the planet's ground-defense batteries driving the warships away.

This made the loyalists' moods even heavier.

Rebecca had not expected this power struggle to escalate into all-out war. She and her family did not belong to the bloodline of the Mongert Dynasty; they had only joined after the dynasty was established and won the Rogue Trader's favor.

On the opposing side, however, the faction attempting to usurp power was led by the dynasty's blood kin. The glorious blood of the Mongert Dynasty flowed through their veins as well, yet they chose the path of rebellion, willing to resort to the power of the Warp.

Moreover, as a family that had existed since the establishment of the dynasty, their control and infiltration over the entirety of Agathos far exceeded Rebecca's imagination.

From the moment they decided on an armed coup, they instantly swept through every department of Agathos. The most fatal blow of all was struck against the primary armed force: the Planetary Defense Force.

From the moment the coup began, the armed forces Rebecca could mobilize were cut by at least half. Over the years of the dynasty's survival, the rebellious blood kin family had long since become a behemoth with a terrifyingly large headcount. A massive number of offspring from these families had entered the military, rising to become officers with the help of power and thereby allowing the rebels to control a considerable portion of the army.

At this time, the loyalists' combat strength was divided into four categories. First were the former enforcers, who belonged to the Adeptus Arbites; their combat effectiveness was even greater than the Planetary Defense Force under her command.

Not belonging to the Mongert political system, they had not been penetrated by the rebels and still maintained their combat capability. They continued to maintain order here just as before, participating in combat when needed.

The second category was the Planetary Defense Force loyal to the family, who also served as the backbone of the front lines.

The third part consisted of civilians temporarily conscripted from the refugees. Lacking professional military training, these people could only take up weapons at a moment's notice to join the brutal war.

The fourth part comprised the clerics of the Ecclesiarchy's Church of Saint Drusus.

This branch of the Ecclesiarchy worshipped the saint blessed by the God-Emperor, Saint Drusus. He was the pioneer of the Calixis Sector and the terminator of xenos. Rumors held that Saint Drusus's blood was even sufficient to banish a greater daemon.

When the internal political struggle of the dynasty began, the church personnel merely looked on coldly. They did not fall under Mongert's jurisdiction and held a transcendent position within the empire; as long as one still worshipped the God-Emperor, the right of who ruled this planet was entirely unimportant to them.

Yet when the armed coup began, and those cultists slandering the God-Emperor started appearing among the enemy soldiers, the nature of the conflict changed utterly.

Those priests, ordinarily gentle and mild-mannered, who spent all their time in churches leading the faithful in prayer, erupted with unimaginable combat strength when facing the cultists. They would not retreat, shouting the name of the God-Emperor to drive out all uncleanness. Although they suffered considerable losses, they stabilized the situation in the early stages of the turmoil.

It was precisely these priests who made people believe that the God-Emperor had not abandoned Agathos.

Furthermore, an Adepta Sororitas was stationed under the local Ecclesiarchy.

This force, composed of one hundred holy Battle Sisters, abandoned holding out in the upper hive and instead pushed directly down into the lower hive, seeking to unearth the source of the Chaos corruption and purify it.

At first, they could still be contacted after leaving the upper hive, but as they penetrated deeper, Rebecca lost contact with them as well. Rebecca could only pray to the God-Emperor for them.

Consciously, Rebecca had secretly stockpiled weapons, food, and various essential supplies from the start of the power struggle, always preparing for the worst. It was precisely thanks to the supplies accumulated over these past few years that she was able to continue holding the upper hive in her hands.

Yet as negative emotions continued to pile up, all sorts of problems began to emerge constantly. She could only pin her hopes on Gao Yi, the newly appointed Rogue Trader, to devise a solution.

Compared to the population of the upper hive at this time, the massive populations of the lower hive and even the deep hive served as a source of soldiers for that group of traitors. Even if only one percent volunteered or were forced to join Chaos, the numbers would be unimaginably vast.

Rebecca knew that they had no possibility of winning a war of attrition—not just because of the disparity in troop strength, but because the adversary was growing increasingly difficult to deal with and more and more deranged.

Psykers from the Astropathic Choir saw the shadows of the Warp beginning to encircle Agathos, and a great terror was imminent.

Those rebellious families naturally belonged to the upper hive, having spent more time there than anyone else. They were equally familiar with the various firepower deployments and secret passages of the upper hive.

Meanwhile, down in the lower hive of the Agathos Hive City.

Within the DT-31 factory district.

Factories that had originally produced various supplies for the dynasty were now converted into blasphemous workshops of the Dark Mechanicus.

Workers who once worshipped the God-Emperor now lay upon surgical tables with glazed, blank eyes.

Even as their bodies were being dissected alive, life-support equipment sustained their vitality. Priests who had devoted themselves to the Dark Gods were modifying their bodies with various heretical technologies.

They seemed to have completely lost their sense of pain, constantly murmuring among themselves, For the End of Dawn.

"Dawn, these combat servitors will soon finish retrofitting. In the next assault, they will help you break through the lines of those false emperor believers, and my priests will continue to control those ground-defense firepower assets to keep those fleets from getting close!"

"You are doing well. I will provide you with all the resources you need; there is no shortage of living people here for modification."

Looking at these human beings undergoing modification, the man known as Dawn was very satisfied with everything these Dark Mechanicus priests had done. Had those priests not helped him seize control of the defense batteries, and had the Rogue Trader's fleet actually arrived, the combat situation would not be as it was now.

He and these blasphemous priests of the Dark Mechanicus were merely in a partnership; they worshipped different Dark Gods.

Originally, these Dark Mechanicus priests merely provided them with weapons, but just a few days ago, they seemed to have received an oracle from the deity they worshipped.

They began to throw themselves into this war without reservation, even joining the fighting personally. He did not know the specific reason, but he was more than happy to see such a situation.

Just as the two were discussing terms, a soldier walked in.

"Patriarch Valentin, those sisters have raided another one of our strongholds!"

"I said it, I am no longer any Valentin Mongert! Address me as Dawn!"

"Y-yes, I am sorry, Lord Dawn!" Trembling with fear, the soldier's body began to shiver. He could not help glancing at the blasphemous modification scene nearby before immediately looking away.

Both Gao Yi and Rebecca had gotten one thing wrong: it was not that the rebellious blood kin family colluded with the cults, but rather that these people were the cult itself.