Smashed

(Bonus chapter for the great author Hino Haruya from Stone Fortress)

"Report: We discovered a Temple during our attack."

"Temple?"

Listening to Lucius's report, Fulgrim sensed that things were not so simple.

A Temple could still exist amidst such a dense barrage of Micro-Exterminatus.

This sounds suspicious no matter how you look at it.

"Father, should we dispose of that place?"

"Not for now. Notify the joint operations teams of the 15th and Seventeenth Legions to prepare to take over the Temple."

For something to survive under near-absolute physical bombardment, Fulgrim absolutely refused to believe there wasn't something fishy going on.

Regarding anything suspected of being Warp contamination, Fulgrim firmly believes that professional matters should be handled by professionals.

Coincidentally, after that secret meeting between the brothers, the Imperial Army's joint squads, based on the Warrior Lodge, began to operate.

According to the plan at the time, the Twentieth Legion, as intelligence experts, had personnel stationed in each Legion, while the 15th and 17th Legions, as experts in the field of Psychic Power, also had personnel stationed in each Legion.

This not only facilitated the operations of the various Legions, but also made it easier for the 15th and 17th Legions to implement the Dawn Protocol.

Soon, the joint task force of the two Legions took over the Temple.

Almost the instant they entered the Temple, they sensed that something was wrong.

They then immediately activated their Psychic Power talents, using Psychic Power spells and related Warp- locking techniques to investigate.

The entire Temple was washed inside and out.

After all the foul odor in the Temple was removed, they saw a sword in the very center of the Temple, a sword made of Mithril.

"Upon contacting the Third Legion Primarch, we discovered traces of Warp contamination."

After receiving confirmation, Fulgrim mustered his troops and went to the Slaanesh Temple, where he saw the sword.

"How's the situation?"

"It's very strange," said the Space Marine from the Word Bearers. "We can sense that there's something terrifying lurking here, but it's very well hidden, and we don't know exactly where it is."

Fulgrim nodded, and looked around. The sword in the very center was still stuck there.

"Soldiers of the Salamanders, cooperate with the soldiers of the Seventeenth Legion, and smash that sword."

"Clear!"

The Word Bearers then immediately enchanted the flamethrowers in the hands of the Salamanders Legion warriors.

Immediately afterwards, the Salamanders combat squad intensified their firepower, searing the sword.

Roar!

Almost the instant the empowered flames touched the sword, a Daemon phantom emerged from the blade, emitting a painful howl.

"I knew it! The Exterminatus practically turned the earth's crust into glass; how could this Temple possibly be intact?"

"The Warp God, truly a persistent ghost."

"Those Word Bearers, go and give it a taste of its own medicine!"

"Clear!"

Immediately afterwards, each member of the Word Bearers's combat squad took out a copy of the Evernight Code.

Almost the instant they produced the Evernight Code, the Daemon phantom was burned to ashes.

But the matter didn't end after the phantom disappeared.

The light emanating from the Evernight Code, along with the empowered flames, scorched the sword, quickly turning it rusty and obscured its former beauty.

The sword, on the other hand, was engraved with countless blasphemous patterns.

Soon, the sword rusted away completely.

The sword then broke in two.

But when the sword broke, a disgusting Daemon crawled out of it.

"The Great Primarch..."

"Get it!"

Before the Daemon could finish speaking, Fulgrim immediately gave the order.

Led by a joint operations team from the 15th and Seventeenth Legions, the other military personnel advanced steadily, focusing their fire on the only Warp monster in the entire Temple.

Before long, the Daemon was riddled with bullets.

But that's where the real trouble lies. Compared to the Veil of ten thousand years from now, the current the Veil is actually quite sturdy.

It's not easy for Daemon to get out, and once it's out, it's not easy to send the other party back without a specific method.

This precisely demonstrates the necessity of joint action among the Primarch.

As the two Legions that signed the Dawn Protocol, every Space Marine now carries a Tiger Tally.

And those two Legions happen to be the ones with the most extensive and thorough understanding of Warp.

According to the Imperial Truth, all matters concerning the Warp are forbidden to be discussed.

However, during the Father of Night's Anti-Corruption campaign, he was forced to return to Nostramo, and before he left, he entrusted some of the books to Lorgar.

During the three years that the Father of Night was away from Terra, Lorgar Jia thoroughly studied that set of books.

It is precisely for this reason that the Seventeenth Legion became the first Legion in the entire Imperium to officially acknowledge the existence of the Warp and its creations.

And they began to study these systematically.

The Thousand Sons followed closely behind.

As one of the most culturally advanced Legions in the entire Imperium, the Thousand Sons quickly recognized the advantages and disadvantages of the Warp.

Over the past decade or so, their actual combat capabilities have not been particularly impressive.

However, their research on the Warp, and on Warp life, was at the forefront of the entire Imperium!

This is the moment to test their research results!

"In accordance with the provisions of the Evernight Code's Homeland Security Act, you are hereby sentenced to exile!"

"In accordance with the Evernight Code Xenos Management Regulations Heretic Punishment Measures, you are hereby sentenced to Death Sentence!"

"Condemn all crimes, submit immediately!"

Coax!

The temperature and intensity of the flames became incredibly powerful at that moment; in less than a minute, the sword was reduced to molten iron.

And that Daemon, at this moment, was nothing but a pile of ashes.

The Third Legion, witnessing the combined operations team's achievements, came to understand for the first time something beyond the Imperial Truth.

"What is that?" Lucius asked, his voice slow, clearly quite shocked.

"That's Warp Daemon, brother."

"But the Imperial Truth..."

"Brother, the Imperial Truth promotes science and reason, so use your reason to think about what should be done," the Word Bearers said.

"We must look at everything dialectically, my brother. Where there is reason, there will naturally be superstition."

"Based on fundamental theoretical research in Warp, the existence of these things is inevitable."

Listening to the story told by the Word Bearers, Lucius looked at the warriors of the Thousand Sons.

"Brother, perhaps after this war is over, I'll need to go to Prospero for some further studies."

"You're welcome anytime, brother, but being too weak might make you look down on."

The warrior from the Thousand Sons struck another bodybuilding pose as he spoke.

Um... that's weird, but oh well, I'm used to it.