Warning

The Universal Museum was a landmark built by the people of Calth. More precisely, it was a massive pyramid, each of its three corners resting upon a smaller pyramid. Constructed from squared stone and plaster, it was the crystallization of Calthian engineers' wisdom and craftsmanship.

From ten kilometers away, the Universal Museum came into view. It was a vast and magnificent complex, and Lox's group soon arrived near the astonishing structure.

By the time they arrived, the Ultramarines who had gone ahead had long since vanished from sight.

Along the avenue before the Universal Museum, countless banners hung in the air and danced in the wind. Their emblems depicted the Imperium, Ultramar, or the Ultramarines. Beneath them lay lush, beautiful gardens, where rainbows formed by the mist from fountains made the area as lovely as a fairyland.

The moment they entered the inner courtyard, mortal attendants clad in Universal Museum uniforms hurried forward and relayed Ventanus's message.

"Everyone, Lord Ventanus asks that you proceed to the inner halls of the Universal Museum immediately upon arrival. Please follow me."

Within the inner halls of the Universal Museum, Ventanus had already set every attendant and staff member into urgent motion. He declared a wartime state and ordered the spaceport administrators, who had been in a meeting, to mobilize at once and report the Word Bearers' latest movements to him.

"Abut, Dario, and Chief Etwin, return to your posts immediately. Notify Ultramarines forces in other regions as well and have them assemble at once."

"Send a level-one alert to the Orbital Platforms and surface Watchtowers. Have them warm up their weapons systems."

"Send an alert to the Ultramarines Legion warships in the low-orbit spaceports. Have them start their engines and remain on alert."

A series of orders was issued in an orderly fashion. Ventanus even abandoned the courtesy and calm the Ultramarines had always maintained toward mortals. Everything was meant to set the entire system in motion as quickly as possible.

"My lord, the group you requested has arrived, along with two Ultramarines," the mortal attendant reported softly as he approached.

Ventanus walked toward Wayland, Tassa, and the others. He warmly shook their hands in thanks, and to Lox's surprise, the Ultramarines captain also thanked him amid the crowd.

"Honored friends, the news you brought is far too valuable. At present, two hundred thousand Ultramarines of the XIII Legion are assembling. Most of the warships, including Macragge's Honour, are docked at the orbital spaceports. I scarcely dare imagine the terrible consequences if the Word Bearers launched an attack while we were utterly unprepared."

Ventanus addressed those words to Lox. Guilliman's son was also highly accomplished in politics, and he had long deduced the position this seemingly ordinary mortal held in the hearts of the two brothers.

Clearly, he was the one making the decisions.

"No thanks are necessary. I have my own mission to fulfill." Lox did not feel much pride. Tempered by ten thousand years of time, he had long reached a state where neither favor nor disgrace could disturb him.

No matter what, he stood with humanity. Whether the enemy was xenos or humans who had chosen to serve the Warp, they were enemies.

Before a display platform, a kneeling figure that resembled a statue stirred. The servo systems in his power armor hummed softly as they supported the body, even more imposing than Ventanus's, as he rose to his feet.

His masterwork power armor was adorned with gilded wings and eagles, and he stood there like a mountain.

"My lord Champion," Ventanus said with a respectful salute.

"I have heard your orders. Well done." Lamiad, the Champion of Macragge, smiled as he praised him. Compared to the stern-faced Ventanus, he appeared far more composed, possessing an unshakable air.

The Four Champions were a special rank within the Ultramarines Legion's administration. They represented the four worlds of Saramanth, Konor, Ocruda, and Iax under Macragge's rule. Their authority and status surpassed those of Chapter Masters and planetary governors, second only to the primarch.

Lox noticed that the right half of the Champion's face possessed breathtaking beauty, while the left was covered by a ceramic mask. Even his mechanical eye had a pupil-like liveliness as it watched the crowd.

"The Legion stands at the edge of crisis. Fortunately, we have been warned in advance."

Lamiad bolstered their morale. He had seen the unease and tension in Ventanus and the others.

"If the Word Bearers have truly chosen shameful betrayal, then we will burn the Perfect City for a second time!"

Orbital Watchtower.

Servitor Hurst, clad in scarlet Adeptus Mechanicus robes, worked busily within Calth's mind-space. More than ten thousand people worked in this Watchtower, and the complex flow of personnel moved back and forth through its command station, handling the astonishing number of starships moving through space.

Calth's orbit had never been so busy.

Whether it was the bustling spaceports in orbit or the endless streams of transport convoys on the ground, all required the Watchtower's data support. Due to the Imperium's hard-line stance against Abominable Intelligence, these Adeptus Mechanicus tech-priests relied on the Cogitator System to process the data.

At Hurst's side, sixty highly skilled tech-priests assisted with data processing. Closest to him, a tall woman who had undergone extensive augmentation noticed the sudden spike in Hurst's adrenaline levels.

"What is it?" Senior Tech-priest Tauren transmitted a string of binary code to Hurst. This was how members of the Adeptus Mechanicus communicated. To them, code was more precise and efficient than ambiguous High Gothic.

Ordinarily, Hurst would have offered a greater response to the Senior Tech-priest for whom he harbored affection, but at that moment, an order from Numenus had driven his thought modules into high-frequency operation.

"Is it those junk codes? They have troubled us for a long time, and we still have no effective means of dealing with them." Tauren's fingers danced over invisible keys. Not long ago, the tech-priests had discovered inexplicably appearing junk codes within Calth's mind-space.

A trace of extremely subtle, diseased information lurked within the mind-space. They were not viruses or anything of the sort, yet they were certainly not benign. The filtering systems could not remove them, and they remained stubbornly rooted in the information streams.

"No. It is a combat-readiness order from the Universal Museum. Captain Ventanus reports that of the two Legions currently assembling above Calth, the arriving Word Bearers Legion has been flagged as highly dangerous. Lord Champion and Captain Ventanus have ordered the fleet assembly halted."

The servitors' duty was to ensure that the complex orbital movements in space proceeded in harmony. Such a sudden change in assignment was enough to leave them scrambling.

"Whatever happens, connect to Macragge's Honour immediately and report this information," Hurst ordered. "And our other warships as well. They are all docked in the spaceports right now, with every engine shut down for repairs and maintenance."

Yet just as the servitors prepared to transmit the information through the mind-space, eight names that had entered the network through sacrificial rites—the Eightfold Path brought forth by Chaos cultists—finally revealed their true nature.

They were the junk codes the tech-priests had deemed harmless yet impossible to remove. But now, like an activated disease, they displayed the traits of corrosion, spread, and indelibility.

The power of the Warp spread through Calth's four-dimensional space.