Information Exchange

Uh...

Rowan looked at the exceedingly respectful Inquisitor Sibyl, and a galaxy seemed to appear in his mind as he fell into bewilderment.

No, weren't Inquisitors supposed to be a bunch of lunatics in his impression?

Why had she changed her attitude so quickly?

Was she not going to keep doubting him a little longer?

He had thought that, as an Inquisitor, after Sibyl woke up and saw the scene before her along with all the strange phenomena from before, she would very likely regard Rowan, whose origins were unknown, as a potential Heretic. There would surely be a performance of the Imperium's traditional art—internal conflict.

Don't think Inquisitors were incapable of such things. The famous Living Saint Celestine had suffered at the hands of those crazies more than once.

Rowan had even prepared contingencies for it.

A Reality Warper's conversion ability created an extremely strong and distinct hierarchy between themselves and Converters.

After all, a Converter's Reality Strength was merely a part of the Reality Warper's, entirely derived from their abilities.

Just like before, the cultists and Heretics slain by Living Saint Lucia had also been directly counted by the abnormal phenomenon on him as kills made by Rowan himself. Their souls still could not escape Rowan's devouring.

If a Reality Warper wanted to attack a converted Reality Warper, their distortion ability could ignore spatial barriers and act upon the other party with extremely high efficiency.

That was why Rowan had converted the Inquisitor without hesitation.

But now...

Why had she surrendered before he even made a move?

This was absolutely not how it was supposed to go.jpg

Having also noticed the contrast between Sibyl's behavior and her identity, Leonardo—whose attitude toward Rowan had completely changed after personally witnessing the Emperor's manifestation—spoke up:

"Explain yourself, Inquisitor. Why do you call Lord Rowan 'the hope of humanity and the Imperium'? And how did you learn of this?"

"I already said that before arriving on this cruiser, I received an omen from the Emperor."

Sibyl immediately explained, "He told me that new hope would appear aboard this vessel, hope that could change all this decay. After seeing you and what you have done, I now understand completely."

"Because your appearance is an irreplicable miracle."

"An irreplicable miracle?"

Rowan was somewhat puzzled by those words.

Of course he knew he was unique, a visitor from an Alien Universe, but how had Sibyl seen that?

"Because you have no Warp reflection."

Sibyl patiently explained, "I can sense the existence of your soul, but it has no connection whatsoever to the Warp. If I relied on Warp perception alone, I would not even be able to detect it."

Upon hearing those words from a Psyker master certified by the Inquisition, even Leonardo of the Adeptus Custodes and Living Saint Lucia wore puzzled expressions. They both looked toward Rowan, clearly never expecting such a person to exist in this universe.

The Warp and the Real Universe were inseparable and closely connected. Even Blanks, who could suppress psychic power, still possessed Warp reflections like Black Holes. If a person lost their Warp reflection, would they not be no different from a walking corpse?

How could they still move about normally?

Rowan himself, however, was not surprised.

In this universe, every soul was directly connected to the Warp and formed a reflection within it.

But that rule simply did not apply to Rowan, who had not been born in this universe at all.

There were advantages and disadvantages to that.

The disadvantage was that Rowan could not directly sense the tides of the Warp like a Psyker, much less borrow the Warp's power and turn it into boundless might.

As for the advantage...

Rowan estimated that his resistance to Chaos Corruption was probably absurdly high.

"Just now, when I fell into psychic frenzy, I vaguely saw another omen from the Emperor."

Sibyl continued, "I believe you are the person I have been searching for, the one who can bring revival to this decaying Imperium."

Something about that did not sound right. Rowan paused slightly. "Are you an Inquisitor of the [Horus Faction]?"

The [Horus Faction] was a branch within the Inquisition. They believed that the powers of Chaos displayed by Horus, the traitorous Warmaster and great arch-heretic of Chaos, could be used to create a holy incarnation of the Emperor and lead humanity to greatness once again.

Anyone could tell at a glance that it was a pure lunatic organization.

"No, you cannot insult my honor like that!"

Sibyl frowned deeply, immediately wearing an expression as ugly as if she had swallowed a fly. "I am a Puritan Inquisitor. Do not put me on the same level as those Heretics."

"If I had to name a faction... I personally believe the [Anomorian Observer Faction] has some merits. Some merits, that is."

She emphasized the last point.

Fine...

Rowan looked around.

He had already realized that this was likely the arrangement and protection the Emperor had prepared for him, a Reality Warper whose true body was as fragile as any ordinary mortal.

A Living Saint, a Black Robe Custodes and former Blade Champion—something Rowan had only just learned—and an Alpha-level Psyker... This squad was extraordinarily powerful in the current Galaxy. It was more than enough to protect Rowan.

After all, this was not yet the era after the Great Rift opened, when Brother Guilliman declared, "The age of the primarchs is over!" and every race—even the T'au!—coincidentally brought out their own primarch-level combatants, along with armies so immense they had once been unimaginable, to ram into each other and wage war.

The profound longing displayed by a certain Big Gold One, along with his urgent desire to get off work already, was practically overflowing.

Rowan took a deep breath.

The burning gazes of the three people around him made him feel a little pressure.

They were all waiting for Rowan's declaration. They placed extreme trust and hope in him, even though the Rowan before them looked no different from an ordinary mortal aside from a few abnormalities.

Ten thousand years of faith in and blind obedience to the Emperor were enough to make them fully trust the Emperor's instructions, though naturally, a trace of doubt remained in their hearts.

Even if this man truly was somewhat extraordinary, compared to the Imperium of Man—whose territory spanned nearly the entire Galaxy and whose sheer scale was enough to make both those who wished to save it and those who wished to destroy it despair—he still seemed far too insignificant.

"My name is Rowan. I am a Reality Warper, and also the Emperor's Contractor. He is the one who brought me here. From this point onward, we will act together according to the Emperor's will and embark upon a glorious journey."

Rowan spoke solemnly to the three before him. "If you have any questions about the current situation or about me, I would be happy to answer them. Appropriate communication will also benefit our actions going forward."