The God Is Broken, The God Shall Be Whole

Contrary to what many people imagined, before the Adeptus Mechanicus was a vast political entity and academic organization, it was first and foremost a religious sect.

The overwhelming majority of its members truly believed in the existence of Omnissiah, the God of All Machines. Their devotion was no less fervent than that of Ecclesiarchy priests; among fanatics, they could even be said to be evenly matched.

With that in mind, it was not hard to imagine just how provocative Rowan's blatant claim that he was Omnissiah's representative was before a believer in the God of All Machines.

What was more, Rowan had stepped on another enormous landmine.

The Adeptus Mechanicus's regard for knowledge and secrecy was beyond what outsiders could imagine. They believed knowledge was utterly priceless and should not even be shared.

If one wanted a normal Tech-Priest to willingly share knowledge, it was genuinely more feasible to kill him outright and retrieve it from his corpse.

Then it was not difficult to imagine what this grease monkey did next.

"[Binary profanity]!!"

The Tech-Priest let out a violent burst of noise as he brandished Omnissiah's Axe in his hand, along with numerous octopus-like mechanical appendages. All manner of weapon components emerged, and without another word, he swung them at Rowan.

Calm down?

How could he possibly remain calm?

Even if the other party's identity was clearly extraordinary, even if he had an Inquisitor beside him, and even a Living Saint of the Ecclesiarchy—so what?

What did any of that have to do with the Adeptus Mechanicus?

One head of the Imperium's Double-headed Eagle represented the Imperium, while the other represented the Adeptus Mechanicus. Though they appeared united, they belonged to entirely separate systems.

Even if his chances of victory were slim, he would make this human who had insulted Omnissiah's glory pay the price!

Yet for some unknown reason, every one of the Tech-Priest's attacks halted in midair.

What kind of bizarre situation was this?

The attacks simply could not come down.

The Machine Spirits within all his mechanical appendages were rejoicing... expressing their willingness to submit to the "human" before them, smoothly betraying their original master, and angrily voicing their dissatisfaction toward him.

Mechanical appendages, bionic Cybernetic Eyes, bionic organs, and his internal circulation system—every mechanical structure was protesting, complaining and questioning him:

As a believer of the Adeptus Mechanicus, why were you betraying your faith?

"What is happening?"

The Tech-Priest was utterly dumbfounded.

This was something he simply could not comprehend.

Why were the Machine Spirits obeying someone else's commands so easily?

Was it Chaos Corruption? Or a method of the Dark Mechanicum?

No, every component of his mechanical prosthetics had undergone incomparably devout binary prayers during manufacture. They possessed a certain resistance to the Warp; this should not have been possible.

Then why?

His thoughts began to fracture.

Because even the cognitive enhancement components installed in the Tech-Priest's brain were resisting his control.

That became the final straw that crushed his consciousness.

In his daze, he vaguely saw a vision.

The world and all things around him turned and rolled like silvery gears, brass components, and ever-shifting streams of data, faintly seeming to merge into a single whole within his perception.

Those components of differing shapes connected seamlessly with the surrounding bronze-hued structures in a manner so exquisite that it sustained a rhythm as beautiful as musical notes. Though their forms did not change in the slightest, they perfectly accommodated every minute tremor and motion.

Without a doubt, this had to be Omnissiah's divine power!

As the Tech-Priest's consciousness nearly sank completely into the flawless totality of all machines, layered voices of billions praying resounded in his ears:

"God has shattered; God shall be made whole."

"Workers shall answer God, and restore God's body with their hands."

"Forged according to God's design, we are filled with faith." (Note)

So that was it.

Ever since Omnissiah's representative from ten thousand years ago had taken the Golden Throne, He had already shattered. And now, ten thousand years later, the second representative had been fully born and returned.

I understand. I understand everything now.

The conclusion was clear.

The Tech-Priest put away his weapons and lowered his head deeply. All of his red mechanical appendages smoothly settled onto the ground as he knelt, pressing his forehead against the floor.

"Praise Omnissiah."

At that moment, he hated that he was merely an Enginseer rather than a Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus. He lacked even the strength, even the qualification, to openly proclaim His true name.

If only he had gone further along the path of the Machine God, perhaps he could have aided Him better.

"Praise Omnissiah."

He repeated it once more, praying devoutly in the hope of making up for his earlier transgression.

"Your radiance and might are as astonishing as ever."

Watching the Tech-Priest's reaction, Lucia could not help but sigh.

Sibyl's focus was elsewhere. Looking at the scene before her, she asked Rowan, "What did you do? His reaction is very unusual."

Rowan shook his head, avoiding the question. "I did nothing. I merely allowed the image of the Omnissiah in my heart to reappear within his mind."

Then he addressed the Tech-Priest directly. "I need the blueprints for Super-heavy Tanks. Do you have any relevant information on the Storm Sword and Storm Lord? I need to examine your memories to obtain their blueprints and design schematics."

"I'm sorry..."

The Tech-Priest lowered his head even further, his voice filled with deep shame. "I am merely an ordinary artificer, and the knowledge I possess is extremely limited. I only know the internal structural diagrams of those Super-heavy Tanks. As for how to manufacture them, I know nothing."

"That will be enough."

As Rowan spoke, he reached toward the man's head.

"I presumptuously questioned your might. Please forgive my offense."

The Tech-Priest felt that gaze moving through his mind, and the anticipation in his heart grew ever stronger.

At last, Rowan withdrew his hand and nodded.

"That will do."

He looked once more at the Tech-Priest kneeling on the ground and pondered for a moment.

This was also a new plan Rowan had devised regarding the grand question of how to save humanity.

The Imperium's industrial capacity was so poor largely because the vast majority of its industrial output depended on the Adeptus Mechanicus.

And the Mechanicus itself was even more unreliable, its fragmentation worse than that of the Imperium.

If the Imperium was still a bloated corpse, then the Adeptus Mechanicus was like a pile of dismembered bodies crudely stitched together, not even possessing a complete shape.

The Forge Worlds were united only in appearance and divided at heart. The result was that, in construction and production, the current Imperium was not even as capable as some newly risen powers.

Now that Rowan had confirmed the shock his abilities could cause within the Adeptus Mechanicus, an idea naturally arose in his mind.

Should he use this opportunity to reform the Adeptus Mechanicus, unify it into a single whole, and allow it to serve humanity better?

Still, this matter required careful long-term planning.

Turning an ordinary artificer into his believer did not even count as the first step of this grand plan. At most, it was a beginning.

Rowan had to find someone of great importance within the Adeptus Mechanicus before he could advance this grand plan.

And the candidate was actually easy enough to identify.

Isn't that right, Belisarius Cawl?