Chapter 38 Showing the People of Baal What Infinite Water Looks Like

The journey through the Warp was incredibly violent and turbulent, but thanks to the Gellar Fields, they survived without any major incidents.

By the time the Blade of Vengeance finally translated back into realspace, Vane had been tossed around so violently he felt completely nauseous.

The miserable experience aggressively cemented his resolution: I am absolutely building a high-speed Nether Highway through the Warp.

The second I get back, I’m setting up an automated Obsidian generator, farming a few trillion blocks, synthesizing a mountain of magical catalyst materials, and paving a road straight through the Immaterium.

Upon breaking back into realspace, the fleet immediately set a direct course for the Baal System’s primary world.

The Baal System was a standard single-star system.

Baal itself was the only terrestrial planet; the rest of the celestial bodies were gas giants.

Baal was the sacred homeworld of the Blood Angels.

Since time immemorial, it had been a hyper-arid, radiation-blasted desert world constantly ravaged by catastrophic sandstorms.

Aside from the Blood Angels and their Chapter serfs, the planet’s only inhabitants were horribly mutated scavengers, localized deviants, and highly lethal, irradiated wildlife.

The baseline mortal population of the system was exclusively relegated to Baal’s two moons: Baal Prime and Baal Secundus.

During the Golden Age of Technology, human colonists had utilized hyper-advanced terraforming technology to transform these two moons into flourishing, paradisiacal garden worlds.

Tragically, during the Age of Strife, the populations of both moons had engaged in a catastrophic, apocalyptic civil war.

The ensuing exchange of horrific biological, chemical, and radiological super-weapons completely annihilated the biospheres of both moons.

To this day, thousands of years later, the people of Baal were still paying the agonizing price for their ancestors’ madness, forced to survive in a blasted, irradiated, hyper-arid wasteland.

The Blade of Vengeance and its escort fleet first approached the massive orbital tether-station: the Angel’s Fall Spaceport.

The sheer scale of the orbital station was staggering.

It was a planetary-class megastructure that seamlessly integrated a massive commercial spaceport, orbital shipyards, deep-void docks, and heavily fortified military bastions into a single, cohesive complex.

The moment the fleet entered the docking perimeter, Vane was immediately struck by the sight of a colossal statue.

Towering over thirty thousand meters tall, the statue depicted the Great Angel Sanguinius holding a massive sword, gazing solemnly out into the void.

Vane genuinely felt a profound sense of awe.

Standing before a monument of such incomprehensible scale instinctively made one feel microscopic in comparison.

These ‘Angel’s Cubs’ definitely know how to build a proper wonder.

Vane mentally took notes.

When I build the central hub for the Nether Highway, I’m absolutely building an even bigger statue.

I’m going to make sure these Space Marines and the rest of the Imperium’s citizens are thoroughly, overwhelmingly impressed.

Guided by the central command tower, the Blade of Vengeance smoothly docked into its primary berth.

The moment Vane stepped off the assault ramp and onto the pristine decking of the spaceport, Dante immediately approached, bowing respectfully.

“Forefather, shall we proceed directly to the Fortress-Monastery on Baal?” “Let’s take a tour of the two moons first.

We can resurrect the Great Angel after we’ve seen the sights,” Vane decided after a moment of thought.

I might as well do some sightseeing while I’m here.

“I shall assign First Captain Karlaen to serve as your personal guide and escort, Forefather.

While you tour the moons, we shall finalize the necessary preparations on Baal.

Once you have concluded your visit, we will escort you to the Fortress-Monastery.” Dante was actually incredibly relieved by Vane’s request to delay the resurrection.

Resurrecting a Primarch wasn’t something you just casually did on a Tuesday!

They needed time to meticulously prepare the Fortress-Monastery, assemble the honor guard, and clean the place up!

Furthermore, the delay perfectly aligned with the arrival schedule of the Successor Chapters.

While the Forefather toured the moons, the Chapter Masters of the Blood would arrive, allowing the entire lineage of Sanguinius to stand united and personally witness the miraculous return of their father.

Escorted by a heavily armed honor guard of Blood Angels, Vane boarded a Thunderhawk Gunship and descended toward Baal Secundus.

His first destination was naturally the settlement of Angel’s Fall.

According to Chapter mythos, this was the exact location where the nomadic tribes of the Blood had first discovered the infant Sanguinius.

It remained the primary population center on the moon and the traditional proving ground for Blood Angel aspirants.

As the Thunderhawk punched through the atmosphere, Vane looked out the viewport and saw the settlement completely smothered by a dense, suffocating cloud of red dust.

The ramshackle hab-blocks were entirely obscured by the crimson fog, but a massive statue of the Great Angel pierced through the storm, standing tall like a legendary titan anchoring the sky to the earth.

The Thunderhawk set down heavily in a cleared landing zone on the outskirts of the settlement.

The moment the ramp lowered, Vane practically bounded out, striding casually toward the distant hab-blocks.

“Forefather, please, wait for the escort!” First Captain Karlaen and his Terminators hurried down the ramp, quickly forming a protective perimeter around him.

Due to the intense red dust storm, the streets of the settlement were practically deserted.

The few pedestrians out in the open were wrapped from head to toe in heavy, ragged cloaks, moving with frantic, hurried steps, appearing suddenly from the crimson fog and vanishing just as quickly.

No one willingly lingered in the red dust.

The air tasted of iron and radiation; breathing it unfiltered felt like inhaling microscopic razor blades.

Seeing Vane and his towering Astartes escort, the local inhabitants immediately dropped their heads and scurried away even faster.

On this brutal, unforgiving world, strangers equated to danger.

“Water!

Does anyone need water?!” A hoarse, desperate cry caught Vane’s attention.

Following the sound, he approached a meager, incredibly pathetic-looking stall.

An old, rickety wooden cart was parked on the side of the street, lined with dozens of crudely fired clay jugs.

A dangerously emaciated man stood behind the cart, accompanied by a young boy who looked somewhat mentally slow, and a heavily hunched, elderly woman.

“Water!

Does anyone need water?!” The man continued to shout, desperately hoping to attract even a single customer.

As Vane approached the cart, the man immediately slapped on a deeply subservient, desperate smile.

“My Lord, do you require water?” “Business has been terrible today.

I’m offering a steep discount!

Please, my Lord, have mercy and buy a jug!” Vane glanced at the clay jugs.

The water inside was heavily clouded with sediment and visibly impure.

However, for the desperate mortals living on this irradiated, hyper-arid moon, even water of this quality was a priceless luxury.

The man stared at Vane with desperate, pleading eyes.

He absolutely had to make a sale today.

He owed a massive debt to the local enforcers who controlled the market district, and if he didn’t pay up, they were going to beat him again—or worse.

But the moment First Captain Karlaen and the towering Blood Angels emerged from the red fog and took up positions behind Vane, the man’s subservient smile shattered into absolute, paralyzing terror.

“M-My Lords!

Forgive me!

I did not realize you were— Bow, you idiot!

Bow!” The man frantically dropped to his knees, violently bowing so deeply his forehead scraped the dirt, aggressively yanking the slow-witted boy down beside him.

“What’s your name?” Vane asked, looking down at the young boy who was awkwardly, clumsily attempting to mimic his father’s bow.

“Honored Lord, his name is Teils,” the father stammered, his voice trembling with sheer terror.

“Please forgive his clumsiness!

He used to be a brilliant, sharp boy.

But during the Angel’s Trials, he suffered a severe head injury.

It…

it left him simple.” “I swear upon the Emperor, he means absolutely no disrespect!

He is just slow and doesn’t understand proper etiquette!” “Teils?” Vane actually recognized the name from the lore.

“And you are?” “I am Ugi, my Lord.

Ugi the water-seller.” “And who are you?” Teils looked up at Vane, his voice timid and utterly devoid of fear or comprehension.

Hearing his son ask a direct question of the armored giants, Ugi’s vision literally went black.

He nearly passed out from sheer panic.

Is this idiot boy trying to get our entire family executed?!

This man is personally escorted by the Angels of Death!

He is clearly a high-ranking Imperial noble!

If he is one of those arrogant, easily offended aristocrats who demands absolute respect, we are all dead!

Looking down at the simple-minded boy, Vane simply smiled.

“Child, I am your Forefather.

I am an ancestor born in the Second Millennium.” “Come here, child.

Perhaps my gift can heal the damage to your mind.” Vane casually opened his inventory, pulled out a standard Golden Apple, and handed it to Teils.

“Eat this, and you will be completely healed.” “Father…?” Teils looked hesitantly at Ugi.

Ugi was terrified and deeply suspicious, but he didn’t dare refuse a direct order from a nobleman.

He nodded frantically.

“Since the Lord has gifted it to you, take it and eat it!” Teils took the Golden Apple and took a hesitant bite.

His eyes instantly went wide, and he ravenously devoured the rest of it in three massive bites.

He was just about to say how delicious it was when he suddenly felt a profound, blazing warmth erupt in his stomach.

The heat rapidly spread through his veins, rushing directly to his head.

In a matter of seconds, the dull, sluggish fog that had clouded his mind for years violently dissipated.

His cognitive functions snapped back to their original, brilliant baseline.

Simultaneously, he could feel a surge of raw, unnatural vitality permanently reinforcing his physical body.

“Father!” Teils’s voice was no longer slurred or timid; it rang with absolute clarity and excitement.

“This golden apple possesses miraculous magic!” Seeing the dull, vacant stare completely vanish from his son’s eyes, replaced by the sharp, intelligent spark he had lost years ago, Ugi burst into hysterical, disbelieving tears.

“Thank you!

Thank you, Great Forefather!

You have healed my son!” The commotion at the water stall had drawn the attention of the few brave pedestrians on the street.

Witnessing the undeniable, instantaneous medical miracle, the locals began whispering frantically among themselves, unable to hide their profound shock.

Suddenly, a rugged, heavily scarred man stepped out from the crowd and dropped to his knees before Vane.

“Honored Forefather!

If you truly possess such miraculous power…

could you help us as well?” “What kind of help do you need?” Vane turned, genuinely intrigued.

“This entire settlement is dying of thirst.

Water is more precious than blood.

Can you…

can you make it so we never lack for water again?” the man asked, his voice trembling with desperate hope.

“Oh, that’s incredibly easy.” Vane smirked, casually pulling an Iron Bucket out of his inventory.

Alright, time to show the people of Baal the absolute, reality-breaking shock and awe of an Infinite Water Source.

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