Chapter 33 Time to Resurrect the Great Angel Bonus

— The Beacon City’s colossal pillar of light pierced the infinite void, tearing through the suffocating darkness of the Warp and providing a stable navigational anchor for the entire sector.

Mephiston and his Librarius immediately dropped into deep meditation, projecting their astral forms into the Immaterium to assess the beacon’s metaphysical impact.

What greeted their psychic vision was a blindingly pure, hyper-dense pillar of light.

Its intensity vastly eclipsed their memories of the Astronomican, and if they focused, they could even hear faint, strangely upbeat, blocky music radiating from the beam.

A few moments later, the Librarians snapped their astral forms back into their physical bodies.

“Well?” Seth asked Chief Librarian Abigor.

“Can this Beacon actually replace the Astronomican?

Can it guide Imperial vessels through the Warp?” “Yes,” Abigor replied, his scarred face alight with genuine excitement.

“It projects a completely stable navigational pillar.

The moment a ship translates into the Warp, their Navigator will instantly lock onto it.

It is entirely capable of replacing the Astronomican for localized Warp jumps.” “Is this true?” Dante turned to Mephiston for confirmation.

“It is, Lord Dante,” Mephiston nodded, his own eyes reflecting the same profound excitement.

“The Forefather’s Beacon illuminates the entirety of the Imperium Nihilus.

It even pierces deep into the Halo Stars—regions of the galaxy previously untouched by the Emperor’s light.” The original Astronomican, anchored on Holy Terra, possessed an absolute maximum operational radius of roughly seventy thousand light-years.

Any region of the galaxy existing beyond that radius was officially designated by the Imperium as the ‘Halo Zone’ or the ‘Outer Dark’.

Because the Emperor’s light could not reach there, these regions were considered spiritually cursed and infinitely treacherous.

Only the most fiercely independent Rogue Traders, desperate explorers, and exiled Space Marine Chapters (like the Carcharodons) ever dared to venture into the Outer Dark.

The vast majority of Imperial citizens firmly believed that entering the Halo Zone without the Emperor’s blessing invited absolute, catastrophic doom.

Lord Solar Macharius, universally regarded as the greatest Imperial Guard commander and Living Saint in Imperial history, launched the Macharian Crusade and conquered thousands of worlds, pushing the Imperium’s borders right to the very edge of the Astronomican’s reach.

However, the moment he ordered his armies to cross into the Halo Zone, his generals and soldiers outright mutinied, refusing to march into the unblessed dark.

The greatest Crusade since the Great Crusade was violently halted by sheer, superstitious terror.

Broken-hearted and deeply depressed, Lord Solar Macharius fell ill on the return journey and died shortly after, aged only forty-four.

The sheer terror the Halo Zone inspired in the average Imperial citizen was absolute.

If even a commander with the prestige of Macharius couldn’t force his men to enter it, no one could.

But now?

The Forefather’s Beacon City actively illuminated the Halo Zone.

Thanks to Vane, the catastrophic death of the Astronomican—an event that should have completely shattered the Imperium Nihilus—had ironically just provided humanity with the logistical capacity to expand into the Outer Dark.

“It illuminates the Halo Zone?

Then we can finally bring the Emperor’s light to the deepest fringes,” Tyberos murmured, instantly grasping the strategic implications.

The Carcharodons Astra operated almost exclusively within the Outer Dark, so they possessed intimate knowledge of the region.

The truth was, the Outer Dark wasn’t nearly as terrifying as the Imperial Cult preached.

Countless lost human colonies had taken root out there and were actually thriving.

If the Imperium possessed the navigational capacity to safely launch Crusades into the Halo Zone, they could drastically expand their territory and cement their absolute dominance over the galaxy.

General Dhrost stared at the colossal pillar of light.

While he felt profound relief, a deep, gnawing anxiety also settled in his gut.

“The manifestation of this Beacon is guaranteed to draw the attention of every major faction in the galaxy.

Drawing the attention of Imperial loyalists is excellent…

but the forces of Chaos are absolutely going to notice this as well.” “The Cryptus System is inevitably going to become the new Cadia.

The Traitor Legions will hurl everything they have at us to destroy it.” “You need not fear,” Dante replied, his voice ringing with absolute confidence.

“When Hive Fleet Leviathan first threatened the Baal System, I sent Astropathic distress calls to every single Blood Angels Successor Chapter.

The vast majority answered the call.” “Those Chapters are currently en route to Baal.

When they arrive, I will personally coordinate with their Chapter Masters and re-deploy a massive garrison force here to fortify the Cryptus System.” “I shall also invoke the authority of the Order of the Sacred Rose to formally petition the other Sororitas Orders for immediate reinforcement,” Canoness Amity stepped forward, her voice filled with absolute conviction.

“We shall expend every last drop of our blood to defend this Beacon City.

No matter the cost, we will never allow this system to suffer the fate of Cadia.” “The survival of the Imperium Nihilus depends entirely upon this Beacon.

It absolutely cannot fall,” Seth declared.

“The Flesh Tearers will permanently garrison a strike force here to ensure its safety.” “The Carcharodons Astra will also detach multiple battle companies to permanently defend the Beacon,” Tyberos stated, his voice a low, threatening rumble.

Thade and Malakim Phoros immediately pledged the exact same commitment.

They would defend the Beacon City to the last man.

“Forefather, what occupies your thoughts?” Dante approached Vane, asking respectfully as he noticed Vane staring off into space.

“I was just figuring out the exact mechanics of how I’m going to resurrect the Great Angel, and mentally designing the blueprints for the water tank you and Mephiston are going to guard,” Vane casually replied, flashing a shit-eating grin over his shoulder.

Dante: “…” Mephiston: “…” Forefather, please!

For the love of the Emperor, please stop bullying us!

“Forefather, have you truly determined a method to resurrect the Great Angel?!” Seth eagerly stepped forward, completely ignoring the reservoir joke, his voice trembling with sheer, unadulterated hope.

If Sanguinius could genuinely be resurrected, it would be the ultimate salvation for the Blood.

The catastrophic psychological and genetic burden of the Black Rage and Red Thirst would be massively alleviated, and the fractured sons of Sanguinius would finally unite under their true father, restoring the glory of the IX Legion!

Dante, Mephiston, and every other Blood Angel immediately perked up, desperate to hear the Forefather’s tactical breakdown of the resurrection process.

Even Dhrost, Amity, Phoros, and Tyberos stared at Vane with intense, burning curiosity.

If they could personally witness the literal resurrection of a demigod Primarch, it would be the absolute defining moment of their lives.

Honestly, staying alive as long as possible is starting to sound like a great idea, they thought.

“I have a few ideas, but I haven’t decided exactly which mechanic I want to use yet,” Vane rubbed his chin, deep in thought.

He genuinely possessed dozens of reality-breaking mechanics capable of resurrecting the dead.

From the magic modpacks, he had the Divine Golden Apple (capable of reviving the recently deceased), the Chrono-Watch (capable of violently reversing localized time), and the Orb of Genesis (capable of resetting reality to a specific save state).

From the tech modpacks, he had the Digital Resurrection Matrix and the Causality Re-weaver.

Every single one of these tools could easily force a dead entity back into the physical universe.

Resurrecting Sanguinius wasn’t the hard part.

The hard part was that every single one of these reality-breaking endgame items cost an astronomical amount of EMC points to craft.

Recently, he had been aggressively burning through his stockpiles building massive automated factories, orbital shipyards, and outfitting literal armies of broke space-hobos.

He was actually running relatively low on liquid assets.

If he crafted the necessary resurrection item for Sanguinius right now, it would effectively zero out his current EMC reserves.

I’m bleeding resources too fast.

I need to get Steve to massively expand the mobile fortress’s automation.

I need a dozen new mob farms and an industrial-scale resource generator array.

As Vane muttered to himself, he discreetly pinged Steve over their mental link, ordering his nuclear-powered workhorse Stand to immediately begin aggressively expanding the mobile base’s resource-farming infrastructure.

“The exact method of resurrection can be determined later.

Should we not set course for the Baal System immediately?” Hearing Vane confirm he possessed the means to resurrect the Primarch, Dante literally could not suppress the massive, joyous smile breaking across his face.

He didn’t say it was impossible; he just hasn’t picked WHICH impossible method to use yet!

We need to drag the Forefather to Baal immediately before he gets distracted by something else!

“That’s a solid plan.

We’ll head to Baal and run a diagnostic on the Great Angel’s corpse,” Vane nodded in agreement.

“But before we jump out of system, I need to clean up the trash.

I can’t have those lunatics sabotaging my Beacon while I’m gone.” Vane was hyper-aware that he couldn’t personally babysit the Cryptus System forever.

He had a galaxy to conquer.

But with the Beacon City anchored here, the Cryptus System was guaranteed to become a prime target for the Chaos Gods’ cults.

Before he left, he needed to aggressively purge the localized Chaos Cults to ensure they couldn’t launch any terrorist attacks against the Beacon infrastructure.

Fortunately, he had already laid the groundwork.

He had previously disguised himself as a Champion of Tzeentch to aggressively gaslight a bunch of local cultists.

Now, it was time to cash in on that setup.

If you want to absolutely obliterate a cult, the most efficient method is to join it, climb the corporate ladder, and violently detonate it from the inside.

Chaos Cults were notoriously brilliant at asymmetric warfare and remaining hidden.

They operated on strict cell-based organizational structures.

Every single cell was heavily compartmentalized and operated completely independently.

Even if the Inquisition successfully raided and executed one or two cells, the overarching cult structure remained entirely untouched.

Once a cell successfully brainwashed enough recruits, it would intentionally fracture, sending out ‘seeds’ to establish brand-new cells, perpetually expanding their localized influence like a localized cancer.

This decentralized, viral structure was the exact reason the Holy Ordos of the Inquisition had spent ten thousand years completely failing to eradicate Chaos Cults from Imperial worlds.

The cultists were simply too good at hiding.

The only way to truly map and dismantle an entire planetary cult was to ascend to the absolute highest echelons of their leadership, granting access to the master ledger of every active cell and operative.

But no matter how vast an Inquisitor’s resources or authority were, they could never truly infiltrate the upper echelons of a Chaos Cult.

Ascending to the rank of Cult Magus practically guaranteed direct communion with actual Daemons of the Warp.

A baseline human Inquisitor couldn’t fake their way past a literal Daemon’s soul-reading capabilities.

Even if they managed to capture a Cult Magus alive and torture them, the intelligence extracted was almost always hyper-fragmented or deliberately fed to them as a trap.

But Vane?

Vane could completely ignore the corrupting whispers of the Warp and could casually spoof the API to demand divine blessings directly from the Chaos Gods.

He was the perfect sleeper agent.

Vane planned to use this opportunity to aggressively farm the Idols of the other three Chaos Gods to see exactly what kind of broken buffs they provided.

Once he had all four, the next time he ran into Abaddon the Despoiler, he could literally put his hands on his hips and shout: “Hey, topknot!

Let’s see which one of us is the REAL Warmaster of Chaos!” He was absolutely guaranteed to give Abaddon a catastrophic existential crisis.