"I didn't even want to condemn those Inquisitors who sent teenagers onto the battlefield on moral grounds."
Vanessa heard that voice echoing in her mind, solemn and dignified to her ears, like the ceaseless hymns of an Ecclesiarchy world.
But in truth, the Emperor's human side was merely speaking calmly.
"Even the Lord of Tyran, who once hated Inquisition personnel enough to kill them on sight, acknowledged that the Inquisition was a necessary evil."
"They made the most correct decision available at the time."
"We all did what we could."
The Emperor's words left Vanessa feeling chilled and astonished. In her memory, this Emperor, whom she had been fortunate enough to serve as a vessel for, had always been cynical and furious. Whenever she passed through Ecclesiarchy worlds, Terra, or any other rotten corner of the Imperium, the Emperor would curse without end.
Sometimes, he even cursed his own sons.
Yet whether by habit or reason, Vanessa had to admit that the Emperor was not wrong.
Everyone had done what they were supposed to do.
An emergency mobilization order and a terrified Governor alone could not rally the militia into battle in such a short time.
The Emperor's human side was not particularly powerful to begin with. Being able to use humanity's emotional resonance to summon a few cursed warriors was already the limit of what he could manage.
The powerful Emperor who had come to aid them during the Golden Crusade was now isolated beyond the Veil.
If the Baron System had failed to hold against the Necron invasion, the emotional resonance generated by the slaughtered masses could have torn open the Reality Membrane and the Veil, allowing a portion of that powerful Emperor to enter the Real Universe.
But what would be the point of his arrival by