[In other words, these Heruds, who are our enemies, are most likely ......]

[Human? 】

【……】

Morgan was a rare moment of silence.

[Is it some old joke festival today, Aniah?] 】

"Not really, Mother."

Standing behind the Lord of Avalon, the voice of the eldest daughter of the original body reporting to work was as cold as a machine, and in a trance, her capable posture actually had a few traces of the shadow of the [Soul Drinker] that had long been forgotten by the empire and the world.

"According to the calendar of the Empire and Terra, there are no major holidays in this month: but if according to the intelligence of the various legions that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has collected over the years, at least three legions and their attached fleets will have different ceremonies during this time."

[Three? 】

The original came to interest.

[Let's talk about it.] 】

"According to His Excellency Roga's proposal, today should be the Imperial Prophet's Day with the participation of the entire Legion of the Bearers, and our agents in ambush in the City of Perfection have reported that this is the only day when the construction sites there will be suspended, and the Bearers will also hold their annual scripture debate on this day to elect the Chief Priest of the Legion who has not been implemented for a long time."

[Chief Priest of the Legion? Have they not been elected for so long? 】

Morgan raised an eyebrow, since Machado revealed to her on the Holy Terra that the Emperor intended her and Killiman to solve the mess in the Perfect City, Morgan had been quietly infiltrating the Seventeenth Legion, and although he could not touch its core secrets, he still had a thorough understanding of the daily affairs of the Whisperers.

Of course, she will also infiltrate other legions to a greater or lesser extent: except for Alpha, Dark Angel, Midnight Lord, and Thousand Sons, the former cannot enter, and the latter is completely unnecessary.

"What ...... this?"

Virgo lowered her head and tapped her temples, looking for information.

"According to the intelligence, the Legion of the Bearers once had a very good chief priest, his name was Erebus, but he was gone in a private operation more than sixty years ago, and since then, no Bearer has been able to meet the chief standard of His Excellency Roga in the field of priesthood."

[That's right. 】

Morgan nodded.

Chief Pastor Erebus?

Some unfamiliar names.

[So what about the remaining two?] 】

"As for the remaining two, based on the legion's memorandum from the Ministry of the Interior, we can be sure that the Thousand Sons and the Death Guard will have a collective event at this time of year: Lord Magnus will lead his hand-picked Thousand Sons mages in collective meditation to explore justice in the depths of the subspace, while Lord Mortarian will meditate and research with his closest Barbarus, and the few Terra who are recognized by it."

[Meditation? Scientific research? Motarian? 】

The original body laughed dumbly.

[I don't know yet, but this brother of mine actually has such a hobby: what will he do with his cubs? Do you want to suck the poison gas he brought out of Barbarus? 】

"It's just one of them."

Virgo coughed, and he seemed to be quite concerned about what he was going to say next, and it would take him a while to suppress the corners of his lips.

"Together, they would smoke poison gas, drink poisoned alcohol enough to kill them, compare who suffered more in battle and in life, and explain over and over again the justice of survival of the fittest: this is what the Death Guard higher-ups call a meditation activity."

[Quite detailed: The Ministry of Internal Affairs did a pretty good job.] 】

"Actually, the members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have a special explanation for this: their work of infiltration and rebellion within the Fourteenth Army is not foolproof, but the commander of a company in the Fourteenth Army, namely Taiphons, still ignores us when he finds out about the actions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as if it is some kind of subtle overture."

"Even the content of these meditations was inadvertently leaked by Typhons: he therefore requested an advanced version of the unreleased Psionic Sacred Text, which is the textbook you have prepared for those who are experienced in psykers."

【…… Give it to him, but leave him alone. 】

"Understood."

Virgo nodded, knowing her mother's attitude towards the Death Guards.

[Continue, Aniah: Talk about Motarian's ...... A scientific career? 】

"O scientific research, it is rumored that Lord Motarian will take out many [anti-subspace science devices] from his private collection and expose the lies of psionic energy to his children and grandchildren. But according to the data collected by the Ministry of the Interior, these so-called scientific devices are probably just a collection of spell scrolls and psionic artifacts: and Lord Motarian has also shown his own very good psionic talent in the use of these things. ”

#乐#

"In addition to this, it is rumored that His Excellency Motarian will emphasize to his sons the importance and sanctity of the number [seven], asking them to put together as many important units as possible in their daily work, and he declares that he can use some scientific means to see the trajectory of fate and even what will happen in the future on this sacred number [seven], which he calls ......"

[Numerology? 】

The corners of Morgan's mouth twitched, and he spat out something he had heard before.

"That's right."

Virgo nodded.

"It is said that this numerology was a divination ritual performed by the people on Barbarus, the home planet of Lord Motarian, when they suffered bad luck, and later the original body found that it had a high success rate, so it has been promoted in the Fourteenth Legion."

[In the name of scientific research results?] 】

"That's what he said."

【…… So, Aniah. 】

Morgan took a deep breath, her shoulders had been shaking uncontrollably since what Ania had just said, and even the innocent voice of the genoplasm had a little bit of excitement.

[Today, isn't it really some imperial joke festival?] 】

"No, sir."

Virgo shook her head solemnly.

"According to the calendar of Holy Terra, today is the first day of April, and the Empire does not have any important holidays during this month: there is nothing wrong with it except that the Imperial Government will broadcast the importance of the Empire's truth to the whole of Holy Terra on this day, warning them that there are no gods, demons, or idealism in the universe."

[Sounds like a festive atmosphere.] 】

Morgan snorted.

[Rather, after the end of this expedition, I decreed that the first day of April in the Far East should be a holiday to be told at will: Anyway, my great genetic father seems to be doing just that, what do you think of this idea?] 】

"Hmmm......"

Virgo hesitated.

"Personally, I don't think it's appropriate for you to set up such a festival in the immediate aftermath of the defeat of His Excellency Perturabo, if it reaches the ears of the Iron Warriors."

[Who told you that he lost?] 】

Morgan asked rhetorically.

"But the war report ......"

[That's not called failure, Aniah, it's just a setback, it's a strategic turnaround, it's making necessary adjustments, it's waiting for the arrival of follow-up supplies, but it's not called failure: don't talk about it in front of Peturabo. 】

Morgan smiled again, she didn't stop her steps while chatting, but continued to walk on the ruins of the battlefield in front of her, followed by Virgo with a datapad in her arms, and almost ten paces away in all directions, stood the Praetorian Guard Rana and the remaining ten [Knights of the Round Table], their [Avalon-type] Terminator armor transformed from the Forbidden Army's Aquila Terminator had a huge sword box specially installed on it, and there was a sharp blade enough to hurt the original body.

As such a team of thirteen marched through the smoke-filled ruins, any Dawnbreaker or Mechanic team that approached them would involuntarily stop and salute the Lord of Avalon, including the Avalon auxiliaries and the human slaves who had been rescued from the xenomorph minions by the Second Legion: they were all guided by the accompanying Avalon officials to board the transport ship in low Earth orbit, and when they disembarked, they would be the new subjects of the Far Eastern Frontier.

Morgan has been doing similar work since she split up with Perturabo a month and a half ago: Perturabo is at the center of the battlefield in pursuit of honor, while the Daybreaker, led by the Mother of Genes, wanders the human colonies and the world of alien slave owners, practicing his name as Liberator over and over again.

Such a job was already easy, and the main force of the Iron Warrior Legion had already attracted the vast majority of the Pocket Empire's forces to their battle lines, so after thirty or forty days of battle, the Second Legion had not even suffered more than three digits of battle losses: even in the ruins of this great battle, the atmosphere of relaxation and cheerfulness could still be felt.

The Daybreakers are healing the populace, clearing the ruins, collecting loot, haggling with the accompanying Mechonists, and pushing forward with their new orders from the Genotype: collect all the xenomorph corpses they can find and pile them in the same place, which the Spider Queen will be very useful for.

As a result, the alien corpses in front of Morgan were quickly piled up, including many powerful lords and warlords, and the Dawnbreakers moved away from here, leaving only the silent guards who had been heavily armed by Morgan to stand a few dozen paces away.

In such an environment, the original body could naturally go about her work while freely discussing those slightly [profane] topics with her eldest daughter.

[So you want to say that the truth of the matter is actually this: after dissecting the remains of the high-ranking individual of the Heruds handed over by the Pale Rider Legion, the Time Sages and Biological Sages boldly deduced that they were actually a variant of the human race?] 】

"From an unknown time and space, run to our plane to escape the war."

[Then they are wrong, and they will have to go forward for at least another ten thousand years.] 】

The Primordial scoffed, she obviously didn't believe much of this nonsense: from what she knew about Reza's people, it was most likely the Biological Sage and the Time Sage, two disciplines that were not very valued in Reza, and wanted to set up a large-scale academic research project to ask the Casting World for funding.

Anyway, under her feeding, Reza has become a big family in recent years, and she has become more and more arrogant, and she has invested more and more in all kinds of bizarre research projects.

And for Morgan, this is not a bad thing, the higher-ups of the Flame Blood Sect still keep their cool and do not invest in projects that are too outrageous, and these scientific research projects are indeed bringing intermittent benefits to the Far Eastern Frontier: such as the [Emperor's] tactical cloak that has been distributed to the Legion of the Guards and the Legion of the Praetorian Guard. It is a new type of product researched by Ruiza based on the imperial scientific research suit provided by Morgan.

Presumably, this group of crazy people is the only one who dares to use the knife against the gift of the Lord of Mankind.

But then again......

[I remember that this first-class meritorious candidate reported by the Pale Rider Legion has already received a lot of credit worth remembering: Is this Erwin's god-making activity? 】

The genetic prototype glanced at the mountain of alien corpses piled up to a height of more than ten meters, and her tone was a little strange: although Morgan never minded giving endless glory and adequate supplies to the two most loyal mortal forces, the Guards and the Praetorian Guard, she also did not want the so-called [personal heroism] to appear in the two mortal armies she relied on the most, and this kind of thinking was a cancer for any army.

After all, the Lord of Avalon has always held the view that any army needs to be driven by a sufficient salary, but this salary will change with the times and the location.

From money to faith, land, ideology, national hatred, fear and violence, honor and mission, and even the promise of connivance to plunder, all armies always need one or more of these terms as their driving force.

It's not a shameful thing, you can't let a group of people go to the battlefield for no reason, you always have to give them a reason to fight bloodily, it's just that it's noble, or despicable, or realistic, the difference between the iron army and the thief army is only that they have different reasons to fight for, but this characteristic of their need for reasons is the same.

The Lord of Avalon, on the other hand, is a master of reasoning, using generous treatment and boundless honor to ensure the basic morale of her mortal armies, and using a higher level of concepts to set goals for them: for example, the fictional concept of "Avalon's Motherland" that has gradually formed, or the cultural identity of "Far Easterners" built around the Far Eastern frontier and Avalon.

Defending the country is always the best reason for the army to fight bravely, and there is hardly one.

But at the same time, Morgan will also distribute her [salary] carefully, she doesn't want those low-level soldiers to act on their own because of their desire for honor, and even create established facts on their own, so as to force the higher-ups to wipe their butts: therefore, Morgan's god-making activities have always been very restrained, but her material rewards are very generous, so as to balance the mentality of these mortal soldiers under her command.

"Do you mean the company led by Major Klingenberg?"

Virgo flipped through the datapad.

"The company has indeed performed great merit over the past forty years, arguably the best of the entire Pale Rider Legion, but every one of their merits has been acknowledged by the Dawnbreaker observers you have sent to them, including this one, and even with the signature of Master Dantiok."

[That's good.] 】

The original nodded, not paying much attention.

[Klingenberg: I remember having dinner with his company?] 】

"Twice."

[Tell them to prepare for the third time: This Herud's remains are indeed important.] 】

"Understood."

Virgo nodded, and the Primordial lowered his eyes and began to think about how to make the most of the bones of this valuable Herud superior instance after conducting the necessary scientific dissection.

[By the way, Aniah.] 】

Halfway through his thoughts, the Lord of Avalon suddenly realized something.

[What about the casualties of the Pale Riders?] 】

"According to Erwin's report, everything was within acceptable limits: although the frenzied offensive of the Heruds continued all night, their casualty rate was less than twenty percent, of which the actual casualties accounted for only three to four percent of the entire legion, but the casualties of the two Iron Warrior battalions were greater."

[Dantiok's? 】

Morgan frowned.

"The situation of His Excellency Dantiok's fourteenth battalion is quite optimistic, and the biggest loss is only a few tactical squads, but the situation of the other seventy-seventh battalion is very bad, they have lost two company commanders in battle, and three-quarters of the squad formation has been damaged to varying degrees, especially the death rate of those Olympian recruits is staggeringly high."

"But in his personal letter to you, His Excellency Dantiok still praised the command of the commander of the 77th Battalion, His Excellency Kelvalen, and he believed that without the excellent command of His Excellency Kelvalen, the death rate of the battalion would have doubled again."

[hum......]

The original body snorted lightly, of course she knew what Danteok meant secretly.

[I also read the report, Kylvallen is indeed a good Iron Warrior, but he is still an Iron Warrior, and he cannot escape the original sin of this legion: this can be seen from his not excellent command ability. 】

"Do you mean that the Iron Warriors are weak in command, Mother?"

Virgo looked up, and she watched as her creator fumbled through her psionic rift, and finally pulled out the [Eros Spear], which seemed to have not been used for a long time.

Although this imperial gift has changed a lot compared to Virgo's original memory, and the shadow of a spear can be faintly seen, the strange thing is that the inside of this steel-like material is not iron-gray, but similar to obsidian, exuding a strange beauty.

The Lord of Avalon has always been silent about this weapon, or gift, and her cronies have not dared to ask, even Virgo: she only knows that whenever the Dawnbreaker Legion breaks through a world with alien civilizations, Morgan will collect the corpses and souls of the aliens in this world, and then ask for this Eros Spear to perform some kind of ritual similar to tempering, and this habit has been maintained for almost thirty years.

Just like it is now.

The original body picked up the spear of the god of love and inserted it into the land full of alien blood, vaguely, as if countless wailing souls were swallowed alive by this emperor's creation, and Morgan watched all this expressionlessly, she had already felt numb to this kind of killing in the sea of souls, and even had the leisure to answer the question of Virgo behind her.

[That's right, Aniah.] 】

The original question nodded.

[Haven't you ever wondered why, in those battles without Perturabo's involvement, the Iron Warriors' casualty rate is still terrifyingly high: In the meantime, why does my brother Perturabo exert such near-micro-manipulation over the entire Fourth Legion?] Although it has to do with his character, this scene is unique among all the legions. 】

"Because they don't have the ability to do it?"

Virgo's voice was a little confused.

[Not the whole reason, but at least one of the main reasons.] 】

The Primordial took a deep breath and listened to the wails of countless alien souls as if it were enjoyment.

[You know, from the beginning, the Fourth Legion was not a legion with a high level of tactics, as early as the eve of Perturabo's return to the Fourth Legion, this legion had buried nearly 30,000 troops and an entire expeditionary fleet at one time on the Forge World Incadinion: for the Astarte Legion, this kind of battle damage is unheard of. 】

[And the crushing victory over Incadignon also tells two things: first, there were serious problems with the tactics of the Iron Warriors long before Perturabo's return, and second, behind a series of disastrous victories, their chain of command and heritage are certainly not intact. 】

[This can be seen from the dismal Terra faction within the Iron Warrior Legion, we can hardly find any representative figures from Terra in the Fourth Legion, on the one hand, because they were sent away by Perturabo, and on the other hand, because the Terrans in the Fourth Legion really have no good guys. 】

So, while my brother's eleven smash order was stupid, he came to the conclusion that there was nothing wrong with it: the Iron Warriors were indeed not a commendable legion, and their record was indeed good, but that did not mean that they were of a good level. 】

[To add insult to injury, my brother was eager to salvage the reputation of the Fourth Legion with a series of victories before he learned this, which led to him squandering the Iron Warriors in a short period of time after his return, except for a few high-level commanders, the grassroots command reserves accumulated by the Fourth Legion all the way from Terra were squandered, and without the command of these grassroots officers and veterans, their performance on the battlefield was naturally a mess. 】

[But Peturabo will not give the Fourth Legion enough time to reorganize a new system of command at the grass-roots level, and he has his own solution, which is to use his genius mind and monster-like computing power to enter his chain of control to every end of the legion to make up for the erosion of the grass-roots officers: the disadvantage of this approach is that the officers and soldiers will be consumed like numbers on paper, and the vast majority of reserve officers will be wiped out in the number game again and again, On the contrary, it has accelerated the erosion rate of grassroots officers. 】

[Coupled with the high-pressure environment inside, as well as the strict law that if you fail once, you will never be able to turn over, the Iron Warrior Legion will naturally not be able to produce a new batch of excellent officer corps, and their tactical level will continue to decline, and in this way, Perturabo will have to double down on his micro-manipulation work, which in turn will lead to the continued decline of the tactical level of the legion, and he will continue to micro-maneuver, forming a dead circle. 】

[So, this is also an important reason why the Fourth Legion is ugly in battle: because without Perturabol, these Olympians are really not very good at fighting, you see that I dare to let the company of the Dawnbreaker and even the mortal auxiliary legion go all the way alone, because I have spent more than thirty years cultivating and screening a group of tried and tested officer teams, and Perturabo is missing this kind of treasure in my hands now. 】

(The chain of command of the Fourth Legion collapsed, as can be seen from a detail in the original book: How did a Trident under Perturabo command the war during the Great Horus Rebellion?) He hid in the bunker and watched his men die in the sea of men, this is Perturabo's Trident, theoretically one of the most outstanding commanders of the Iron Warriors.)

The original body licked the corners of her mouth, her face was full of pride, and the Virgo standing behind her was thoughtful, and instead took the data board and began to record diligently.

"So you mean: the Fourth Legion's crushing defeat at Kraken Abyss five days ago was due to their generally poor tactical level: but that battle was personally commanded by Pertulabo?"

[That's not all. 】

Morgan closed his eyes.

[From the information sent back by Dantiok and Erwin, it can be seen that the Heruds are a formidable opponent, and the number of Heruds encountered by Peturabo is dozens or even hundreds of times that of Dantiok and them, otherwise, he would not have lost nearly four-digit armored vehicles and three-digit dreadnought mechs in an hour, and the loss of Astarte warriors exceeded 20,000. 】

[If it were my Dawnbreaker Legion to bear this loss, I would have planned to crouch in the Far Eastern Frontier and not participate in anything of the Great Expedition for the next hundred years: but the most admirable thing about the Iron Warriors is that despite such a staggering loss, they have only stopped the attack, and Peturabo still holds all the occupied territories firmly in his hands, and he is still unwilling to ask me for help. 】

"But Terra already knows all this."

Virgo shrugged her shoulders, apparently disdainful of her [biological father's] stubborn attitude.

"Terra, or the Palm Sealer, already knows that the Kraken Abyss is not going well here, and didn't his personal letter be handed to you just three hours ago: he promised to mobilize a new Astarte Legion as reinforcements for this expedition to the Kraken Abyss, and promised that their fighting power would convince you."

"You only have to pay a small price."

But he didn't say what the price was. 】

Morgan only felt a pain in her teeth, and she began to wonder if it was the right decision to quietly leak the Iron Warrior's defeat to Terra: of course, the Spider Queen didn't do it with much fanfare, and she didn't want to tear up her face with Perturabo.

She had only made a ploy to send a distress letter to Terra from a senior Mortal Auxiliary officer who was part of the Fourth Legion and had [killed] in a previous battle: the officer himself was drinking tea on the Aurora, he was old, and the beaches and villas of Avalon were waiting for him.

And after this distress letter arrived at the Holy Terra, it was [coincidentally] picked out by some mortal officials from the mountains of documents of the Great Expedition, and it went all the way to the desk of the person who held the seal.

These mortal officials are naturally Morgan's friendship in Terra: although the Lord of Avalon has not been in the Empire's throne world for long, who calls her a very popular Caliban brother named Johnson?

And thanks to Johnson's blessing, as early as during the Randan War, Morgan had already had a close relationship with those [Johnson's friends] on Terra, and when Morgan returned to Terra, he took a period of time to meet and talk with these Johnson's friends, and after giving him friendship from Avalon, these mortal officials were happy to become [Johnson and Morgan's mutual friends].

Anyway, the Caliban's chances are that they won't pursue this trivial matter.

With the help of these friends, Machado received Morgan's message in the shortest possible time, and his reply was fast enough to Morgan's satisfaction: the only problem was the [small price], which made the Spider Queen feel very uneasy.

But......

Shouldn't there be any problems?

The original body licked her lips, and comforted herself in her heart: while she was discussing and thinking, the mountain of alien souls in front of her had been sucked by the spear of Eros stuck in the ground, and this guy was even more edible than Morgen himself.

Unlike her daughter, the stern-faced Spider Queen could actually see what the Eros Spear really looked like, and her gaze pierced through the steel on the outside to see the quaint and dangerous truth inside.

This is a spear, a very primitive looking spear, which is supposed to be a product of the Paleolithic or Neolithic period: it is made of obsidian, neither round nor smooth, but everywhere reveals the ancient atmosphere of a primitive civilization.

On Nucheria, Morgan once tentatively asked the emperor what the truth of the spear was, and the Lord of Mankind only replied to her in an almost mocking gesture: this ancient obsidian spear was the first weapon and the first tool that the emperor had ever made at the beginning of his life, and it was one of the most valuable collections he could have ever gathered.

……

I always feel that this thing can be used to deceive a canine's wealth.

Lord Avalon blinked, strange thoughts flooding her mind, she didn't believe the Emperor's words, nor did she believe that anything could last for tens of thousands of years: if the Emperor could do all this, he would definitely be a living god.

However, whether the emperor is a living god or not, and has little to do with Morgan, the Lord of Avalon has neither cherished nor coveted this Eros spear, she only wants to forge it as soon as possible, burn more alien worlds to refine it from metal, and then return it to her genetic father.

The Spider Empress shook her head, she took a second to realize how bad the impression the Emperor had left behind, and how kind and understanding Machado was in the middle of her speech, compared to her great and gracious Father of Genes.

It's just ......

"Mother!"

Virgo spoke, her voice interrupting Morgan's thoughts: when the original body turned around, she saw her eldest daughter tilting her head, as if she had received some new information.

"Message from the Goddess of Dawn."

[Say.] 】

"They received an order from Holy Terra: Terra announced that the reinforcements they had assigned to us had been confirmed, and that they would soon be ready to set out, and within a month at most, they would reach the Kraken Depths.

[Yes?] 】

Morgan nodded, and she took half a second to recount the situation in the northern part of the galaxy in her mind's eye, pondering which legion was most likely to be reinforcements sent by Machado.

[Is it the Holy Blood Angel?] Or is it the son of a thousand sons or emperors? 】

“……”

[What's wrong?] Aniah? 】

“…… Neither, Mother. ”

Virgo's voice trembled, and she looked shocked by the answer.

——————

"It's the fleet of the Imperial Fist."

"It's Rog Dorne, who came in person."

(End of chapter)