Looking at the Psyker who had been reduced to ash, Iax turned his mechanical body toward Guilliman.
"First, I need to open the Webway, Guilliman. Obtaining the Emperor's own diary is a prerequisite for activating the new protocol."
Guilliman carefully folded the robe in his hands, then held on to it.
"To open the Webway, we'll need the Aeldari's help. Perhaps we can find an Aeldari faction and strike a bargain."
Iax shook his head.
"That skeleton. I detected Webway readings in that room. We should be able to enter the Webway there."
Guilliman hastily shook his head.
He knew exactly what Iax meant.
The Emperor had taken his place on the Golden Throne precisely to seal the out-of-control Webway gate behind him.
Entering through there would mean the Emperor had to leave the Throne. That would kill him.
After Guilliman explained the actual circumstances of the Emperor's presence on the Throne, Iax did not press the matter.
Although he could not accept the Emperor's living-dead state, that did not mean he could kill a Creator through indirect means, even if that Creator's makeup seemed highly complicated.
As for the Webway, he could simply take a detour.
Iax did not care in the slightest.
If necessary, he would fill every stretch of the Milky Way's Webway with mechanical bodies.
After all, the data collected so far suggested that humanity was not the only species weakened by tens of thousands of years. The Aeldari had suffered the same fate.
The Aeldari had once enjoyed the protection of numerous entities born of belief, known as "gods," and had demonstrated a vast array of supernatural powers.
But something had clearly changed since then.
Otherwise, given the Imperium's current strength, the Aeldari should have been the dominant power in the Milky Way, not humanity.