Ecclesiarchy Surrenders

Huron recalled Old John's background record.

As a common laborer in the Underhive, Old John had demonstrated astonishing will and perseverance, standing out in the first cohort of Auxilia training.

The reason there were ten "Outstanding Auxilia Representatives" at the graduation ceremony was because there needed to be ten people, not because Old John was on the same level as the other nine.

If Old John's performance served as the benchmark, few people to this day had been able to reach that baseline within two months of training.

What was even more commendable was that in subsequent assignments and advanced studies, Old John still maintained astonishing perseverance and will, constantly pushing past his own limits and leaving quite a few Astartes in awe.

Coupled with the fact that neither the Librarian nor he himself—watched over by the true God-Emperor—had any reaction, it indicated that Old John was uncorrupted by Chaos.

Faced with such exceptional talent, it was only natural to pile on the responsibilities heavily.

Thinking up to this point, Huron wore an encouraging expression. "Because everyone has seen your performance with their own eyes, Old John, the Astral Claws look forward to you becoming our Battle-Brother. This appointment is only the beginning; you are currently learning administration by following Odinson as a subordinate. Later on, we will develop the Badab System, and by then, the burden of Badab Primus will rest upon your shoulders."

Old John was speechless for a moment, and could only secretly resolve never to let down the Chapter Master's expectations.

"Are there any other questions?" Huron scanned the hall.

No one raised any questions.

This government formation had been discussed in advance, and the appointments at all levels had been discussed privately with the individuals beforehand to ensure there were no opponents.

Problems were to be solved privately, because raising a fuss at the general meeting meant elevating it to a matter of principle.

Seeing no opposition, Huron issued the order to dismiss the meeting.

Everyone quickly left the venue to busy themselves with their own tasks.

With five batches of Auxilia deployed so far, the number of grassroots administrative personnel had already exceeded one hundred million.

However, excluding the Ecclesiarchy's core area, the counted population of the entire Hive City had already reached around twenty-five billion. In particular, the knowledge level of most Auxilia was limited, and they were severely lacking in professional management expertise.

If the Planetary Government wanted to rely solely on the Auxilia to build an administrative system with sufficient execution power, it would still fall short.

Therefore, all government officials were busy solving this problem, though fortunately, with the wholehearted assistance of the nobles, the issue was not too severe.

Many smart devices had been unearthed from previous asset seizures, including a large number of weak artificial intelligence management systems.

The nobles had been squandering heavenly gifts, using high-performance artificial intelligence as mere butlers—it was simply abusing those devices.

Armenius brought Techmarine along to reboot these artificial intelligence management systems, and paired with a large amount of high-performance personal communication equipment, they set up a small-scale electronic office system.

Relying on this office system and the assistance of the weak artificial intelligence, the Auxilia maintained order throughout the entire Hive City without causing any major chaos.

However, there were still quite a few problems across the Hive City, and the biggest among them was the Ecclesiarchy.

During the previous Underhive census, they had obstructed the registrars from carrying out their duties, leading to a significant discrepancy in the actual population figures.

Now, having gained control of the entire Hive City, Huron discovered that the Badab Ecclesiarchy was truly one of the major landowners; from the Spire to the Underhive, their properties were everywhere, and their land footprint was not small either.

Without resolving this issue, any overall planning for the Hive City was out of the question, and it posed a severe obstacle to Huron's plan to remodel the entire Hive City.

Therefore, Huron had the Master of Sanctity of the Chapter Reclusiam, Damian Lux, take several Chaplains to have a heart-to-heart talk with the Bishop of the Badab Ecclesiarchy.

Weren't you devout in your faith? Now the God-Emperor's angel had come in person to test whether you were devout or not.

As for how to test it? Naturally, by seeing whether you obeyed the call of the Astral Claws or not.

If you obeyed the call, reformed the Ecclesiarchy organization, and brought it under the rule of the Planetary Government, then of course you were devout. If you did not obey the call, put up stubborn resistance, and opposed the God-Emperor's angel, then the Salome Family—branded as heretics—would serve as a cautionary tale.

Originally, the Bishop did not want to agree; as someone who had cooperated with the Spire nobles for a long time, his own hands were naturally not very clean.

Given the current methods of the Astral Claws, he would undoubtedly face death even after surrendering.

However, the previous public trials, followed by the subsequent judicial courts at all levels, had been exceptionally effective. The Astral Claws appealed to believers in the identity of the "God-Emperor's angel," and a massive number of believers had participated.

Coupled with the infrastructure projects over the past half-year that had left almost everyone in the Underhive well-fed, most Ecclesiarchy believers naturally chose to believe in the God-Emperor's angel.

This resulted in the Bishop now being unable to muster anyone to confront the Astral Claws, save for a few religious fanatics.

As for dealing with these fanatics, the Planetary Government was by no means soft-hearted; Auxilia wearing riot exoskeletons marched straight in, and fully charged shock batons were applied directly to the fanatics.

Those who put up further stubborn resistance were executed on the spot.

Most of the Ecclesiarchy's private domains had actually been seized by the Planetary Government, and the remainder already had bolters pressed against their heads.

Under these circumstances, faced with Damian—who wore Terminator Power Armour and truly resembled an angel—the Bishop could not even summon the mindset of a cornered beast making a final struggle, and was forced to compromise to survive.

After all, if he could really remain steadfast unto death for his faith, he wouldn't have colluded with the nobles and treated Ecclesiarchy believers as a business.

Although dying sooner or later amounted to the same end, dying a little later wasn't bad either.

Thus, at Damian's demand, the Bishop made a public broadcast throughout the entire Hive City, calling on all Ecclesiarchy believers to turn over a new leaf and embrace the fold of the new "Badab Cult."

With the Bishop taking the lead in surrendering, coupled with practical temptations, a massive number of Ecclesiarchy believers naturally turned toward the Badab Cult, which was endorsed by the Astral Claws.

As for the few who failed to see the reality of the situation and were completely deranged religious lunatics, they were naturally killed, arrested, tried, and sentenced as fitting.

When Damian transmitted the news back via the Chapter channel, Huron was discussing how to remodel the Hive City with Odinson and personnel from the Administration Bureau.

"Hmm? The Ecclesiarchy issue is resolved? Well done, Damian." Huron expressed his praise with some delight.

Damian replied, "To serve the God-Emperor is my honor."

The others in the conference room watched Huron with curiosity as he stopped speaking.

Huron then announced the good news to everyone: "The plan to absorb the Ecclesiarchy has been completed ahead of schedule, and most areas of the Underhive are now under our control."

"Using the currently controlled areas of the Underhive as a foundation, let us thoroughly discuss how to balance the living environment and production capacity of the Underhive."