Chapter 85 Long live the Forefather!

“We’re saved, my Lord. Just hang in there, I’ll get someone to patch you up right away.”

Interrogator Luce Spinoza, acting as the Inquisitor’s assistant, held the dying Inquisitor in her arms, her voice choked with grief. During the Hollow Mountain incident, the Inquisitor had been critically wounded by the psychic blasts of Leops Franck, Master of the Astronomican. Before having any time to recover, he was forced to investigate the Dark Throne conspiracy. Overworked, exhausted, and sustaining even more injuries in the recent firefight, he was completely out of gas.

“Well, looks like the younger generation needs a little help from their elders.”

Vane appeared right in front of the despairing Spinoza. Meeting her bewildered gaze, he casually pulled out a Golden Apple and handed it over.

“Have the wounded eat this. It’ll fix him right up.”

Spinoza hesitated for a split second before taking the Golden Apple from Vane and bringing it to the dying Inquisitor’s lips.

The Golden Apple had absolutely insane healing properties. The moment the juice touched his lips, the fading Inquisitor began to bounce back. Swallowing the first bite, strength flooded back into his frail limbs. By the time he finished the whole thing, he was practically ready to do backflips, bursting with renewed energy.

“What an incredible Golden Apple…” Spinoza stared in absolute shock as the Inquisitor jumped around, checking his perfectly healed body. Vane then passed out more Golden Apples to the wounded soldiers, getting everyone back to full health in record time.

Witnessing this literal miracle, Spinoza, the Inquisitor, and the rest—who had never interacted with Vane before—were instantly filled with overwhelming reverence for him.

—

“What’s the situation on Terra?”

Guilliman sheathed the Emperor’s Sword and walked over to the Fabricator General and the Custodian Tribune for an update.

By now, Fabricator General Raskian and Custodian Tribune Navradaran had already gotten the full rundown from Inquisitor Greyfax about why two Primarchs were here, along with all of Vane’s legendary exploits.

“Terra is an absolute mess right now. The Astronomican went completely dark, riots are popping off everywhere, and the Golden Throne is on the verge of total collapse.”

After answering the Primarch’s question, the Custodian Tribune turned his gaze toward Vane in the distance.

“Is he really the Forefather of humanity? This isn’t some elaborate Chaos plot, is it?”

Guilliman shot him a bitter smile. “If the forefather wanted to be the Imperium’s enemy, we’d lose spectacularly—even if the Chaos Gods teamed up with us.

“So, stop digging into his identity. Regardless of who he is, he’s on our side right now.

“Besides, his next move is heading to Terra to heal the Emperor and bring Him back to us.”

“What?!” Raskian, the normally emotionless, completely stoic Fabricator General, blurted out in pure shock. “He’s going to heal the Emperor?!”

“Yes,” Sanguinius said as he landed next to Guilliman, stepping in to answer for his brother.

“The Forefather is going to heal the Emperor and put a permanent end to this war between humanity and Chaos.”

“Can he actually do that?” Fabricator General Raskian asked.

Having finished healing the wounded, Vane used the Void Ring to teleport right next to Sanguinius. He arrived just in time to hear Raskian’s blatant skepticism.

“When the Big E wakes up, I’m gonna tell Him to make you go guard the water cooler on Mars,” Vane said.

Raskian looked at Vane, the gears and servo-motors in his neck whirring loudly.

“I am the Fabricator-General of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Even if you are the Forefather of humanity, you have no authority to fire me.”

“As of today, you aren’t anymore.” Vane turned his head to look at Archmagos Cawl. “Little Cawl, do you support my decision here?”

“Respected Forefather, I support every single one of your decisions! From this day forward, Raskian is no longer the Fabricator-General of the Mechanicus,” Cawl replied, his voice practically dripping with flattery.

Whether being loyal to the Omnissiah had any perks, Cawl didn’t know. But being loyal to Vane? Oh, the perks were massive.

“Cawl, are you planning a full-blown rebellion?!” Raskian glared furiously at the Archmagos. No matter how vicious their factional politics got, that was internal Mechanicus business. The fact that Cawl dared to support an outsider interfering with the Cult Mechanicus was utterly unforgivable!

“No, no, no. You’re the one rebelling, Raskian.” Cawl shook his head. “The entirety of Mars will support the Forefather.”

“Bullshit!” Raskian figured Cawl’s circuits had completely shorted out. Sure, he had a lot of opposition, but his faction still had massive support.

If Terra dared to meddle in Martian internal affairs, it would mean all-out civil war. Worst-case scenario, they’d blow the Sol System to hell and nobody would win.

But a second later, Raskian, Navradaran, and everyone else witnessed something utterly impossible.

Using what looked like literal magic, Vane started pulling out various STCs entirely out of thin air.

H-he’s hand-crafting STCs?!

Could this mortal standing right in front of us be the true avatar of the Omnissiah?!

They had all heard the myths of the Emperor’s miracles as the Omnissiah from the older generation. But they were seeing this man’s feats with their own optical sensors, and honestly? The Emperor’s legendary tales paled in comparison to the live show this guy was putting on.

After conjuring up a massive pile of STCs, Vane shouted at the Magos and Tech-Priests standing behind Raskian.

“Don’t be shy! These STCs are a little greeting gift from the Forefather. One per person, there’s plenty to go around!”

Hearing that, the optical lenses of every Magos and Tech-Priest lit up like Christmas trees. They instantly started chanting in unison:

“Long live the Forefather!”

“In life, we belong to the Forefather! In death, we are the Forefather’s corpses!”

They screamed their praises while sprinting toward Vane, absolutely terrified that if they were too slow, they’d miss out on the STC of their dreams. In the blink of an eye, Raskian was left standing completely alone.

“You…”

Watching his former subordinates shamelessly flatter Vane with every breath, Raskian’s synthetic mouth twitched violently. Sure, I couldn’t give you guys STCs, but you didn’t have to be this spineless! I’m so mad my cogitators are frying!

Raskian glared fiercely at Vane and his spineless former crew. Even if they tore him apart with servitors and completely obliterated him, he would absolutely never yield.

“Whatever. You’re all my juniors anyway. The punishment stands, but I still gotta hand out the gifts. Here, you can have this STC.”

Vane tossed a gear-shaped Rubik’s Cube that seemed almost alive—constantly expanding and contracting—right at Raskian.

After a quick scan, Raskian downloaded the specs of the gear cube.

It was an automated Mecha-production STC. As long as the cube was fed enough raw materials, it could autonomously expand into a full-scale factory and set up an entire assembly line for building massive mechs.

“Praise be to the great Forefather! I deeply and completely agree with your brilliant decision.”

“From this day forward, I am no longer the Fabricator General. I am simply your most loyal servant.”

Raskian happily pocketed the STC, his tone instantly shifting to maximum brown-nosing.

Gotta admit, this feels pretty damn good.

—

Bailing out the Fabricator General, the Custodian Tribune, and the Inquisitor was just a minor side quest on their pilgrimage. Once the battlefield was swept, the crew hit the road again, making a beeline straight for Terra. Before long, the pilgrimage fleet arrived at the Impossible City.

The Impossible City was a massive Webway hub packed with countless branching paths that could take you to almost any planet in the Sol System. It was also the very last bastion of the Webway War that took place ten thousand years ago.

After Horus went traitor, an incredibly arrogant Magnus tried to use his psychic powers to send a warning to the Emperor.

When Magnus approached the Imperial Dungeon through the Warp, he was completely blocked out of the Webway by the Emperor’s psychic wards. So, what did this idiot do? He tapped into the power of the Chaos Gods, forcibly smashed the barrier to pieces, and gave the Emperor a masterclass in how a well-meaning fool can do way more damage than a scheming villain.

The painstakingly maintained wards were shattered. The workers building the Webway suffered catastrophic casualties. The Golden Throne sustained irreversible damage, forcing the Emperor to sit on the Throne and dedicate every ounce of His willpower just to hold the Warp at bay.

The Custodes, Sisters of Silence, and Mechanicus forces originally tasked with expanding the Webway were suddenly forced to fight off an endless, apocalyptic tide of demons, taking horrific losses in the process.

The Imperial Webway forces lost ground day after day, ultimately falling back to make their last stand at the Impossible City.

After holding the line for a while, the demonic tide grew to absolutely absurd proportions, and the Impossible City was finally breached. Custodian Tribune Ra Endymion ordered a full retreat, and the surviving forces were relentlessly hunted by demons in a brutally tragic withdrawal.

In their most desperate hour, the Emperor sacrificed a thousand psykers to briefly stand up from the Golden Throne. Single-handedly, He drove back the demonic horde and covered the retreating survivors. Deep in the Webway, the Big E faced off against Drach’nyen, the “First Murder.” Unable to kill it, He used Ra as a living vessel, sealing the demon sword inside him. Following the Emperor’s final order, Ra, impaled by the demonic blade, ran as deep into the Webway as he possibly could, taking the “First Murder” as far away from the Imperial Palace as possible.

Looking through the warship’s viewports, you could still see the Impossible City completely covered in bullet holes, blast marks, and craters.

The collapsed ruins were filled with oceans of bleached bones and rusting vehicles—the haunting leftovers of a brutal war fought ten millennia ago.

“Magnus really was an arrogant moron,” Guilliman said, staring down at the scars of war, his voice dripping with pure disgust.

“Honestly, letting that guy play the clown feels way too lenient. We should just strap his ass to the Dark Throne and let him choke on the bitter fruit of his own stupidity.”

Sanguinius slammed his fist into the bulkhead, venting his rage and fully endorsing the idea of dialing up Magnus’s punishment.

Great idea.

Vane silently gave Sanguinius a thumbs up. When it came to absolutely destroying someone mentally and physically, you really had to hand it to the two-faced Angel.

Back in the day, Sanguinius had straight-up lied to Curze, promising to take him to Terra so he could apologize to the Emperor. Once Curze took the bait, Sanguinius just chucked him out the airlock into deep space. Curze carried that grudge to his grave, forever hating the fact that he was robbed of one last meeting with the Big E to face His judgment and forgiveness.

The pilgrimage fleet sailed right through the Impossible City, heading straight for the entrance to the Imperial Dungeon on Terra. Just as everyone was getting hyped about finally reaching Terra, a new notification popped up in Vane’s vision.

[Your projection has successfully conquered the MonsterVerse! Unlocked: All-Form Godzilla Synthesis, All-Form Ghidorah Synthesis, All-Form Mothra Synthesis, All-Form Kong Synthesis…]

[The Infinite Pocket Dimension has met the requirements for an upgrade. The host may return to the Infinite Pocket Dimension to initiate the upgrade after completing the current universe’s conquest mission.]

After taking control of the Infinite Pocket Dimension, Vane had snagged the spacetime coordinates for multiple universes.

Playing it safe, he had picked four to send his projections into.

They were the Azur Lane Universe, the Dark Souls Universe, the MonsterVerse, and the absolute, unmitigated cesspool that you should supposedly never step foot in—the Warhammer Universe.

Who would’ve thought the Infinite Pocket Dimension could actually level up? Vane thought.

I wonder what it’s gonna look like after the upgrade?

Will it unlock a bunch of crazy new features?

Right now, the Infinite Pocket Dimension let Vane dive into four universes at the exact same time. After the upgrade, it would probably unlock a ton of new tools.

Man, I honestly can’t wait to see the upgraded version.

Wait, the MonsterVerse Mod… If I synthesize the monster models, does that mean I can just summon the Kaiju? Or even transform into one?!

Vane muttered to himself, scrolling through the System prompts while digesting the incoming memories from the MonsterVerse.