At the heart of the Blackstone Fortress is a massive black cube made of rock-like and metal-like material, so hard that human beings cannot destroy it in the slightest. Four large 'ridges' extend out from the core of the blackstone, looking like a cross the size of a planet, which is placed flat in space and rotates itself.

There are a total of 6 sleeping fortresses like this in the Gothic Sector.

After stopping Bishop Senedal's boat on the Valkyrie side, the senior officers of the 1st Expeditionary Fleet welcomed the corpse with the ebony claws into the chapel of the Burning Steel Soul and placed it under the statue of the Human Emperor with the highest standard of etiquette.

The corpse was dressed in a magnificent robe embellished with a large number of gold threads and precious stones, and the dried flesh and blood were tightly attached to the surface of the skeleton to reveal the shape of a skeleton, but the expression on the face of the deceased was unusually serene, and it was thought that the corpse must have died in the warm light of the Lord of Mankind before his death.

"If I pass away in the future, will I return to the arms of the God Emperor like him?" Alexei stood beneath the dried corpse of the Holy Remains, muttering in his heart.

However, the corpse of the holy saint held a pitch-black arm that exuded an evil aura in its arms, and the ominous claws burned with chaotic flames between the fingers, which the 6th Expeditionary Fleet had obtained in the depths of the demon world 'Karen' in the maelstrom, an evil magic weapon corrupted by the power of chaos - 'Ebony Claws', which possessed strange powers to manipulate people's hearts.

"Ebony Claws are not evil in themselves, it is the key to activating the Blackstone Fortress and nothing more. The power of demagogy is only because it has been nurtured by the influence of chaos for too long......" Brammimund, clad in golden armor, took off his helmet and looked at the priests kneeling behind him.

"Begin the purification ritual, immediately adjust course, and go to activate the Blackstone Fortress." Brammimund said.

Thousands of ships dappled the light of the stars, and the 1st Expeditionary Fleet coordinated with the Gothic Fleet to steer through space. The curvature of space-time, which had just calmed down, was dominated by the biological engine in Valkyrie's body, and the vision began to distort.

Circles of graceful gravitational ripples quietly faded away in this barren galaxy that no one cared about, and the hymns of praise to the emperor sung in unison by priests and nuns drifted far and far between the war-torn galaxy.

The melodious sound passed through the curtain between the void and the real, and floated to the distant Krenna sector on the turbulence of the aether that had been stirred up by the churning and sinking, and into the deep boulders.

In the center of the hall of the Boulder Fortress, the Lion King Ryan El Johnson, dressed in Baptist armor, is resting on the throne of the sword.

"Father, recent movements regarding the Chaos Traitors in the Eye of Fear......"

A warband priest hurried into the hall, and was about to speak, when he was silenced by another lieutenant waiting under the throne of the sword.

"Shhhh The Primordial Adjutant put a finger to his lips and said in a low voice, "Maybe it's because Father is too tired from the recent heavy work of integrating the inner ring and the various sub-groups, or maybe it's because the recent movements of Marauder Abaddon are really worrying......"

The priest closed his mouth, and the two of them looked at the sleeping lion on the throne, looking at his long gray hair and beard, and the wrinkles around the corners of his eyes, and the guilt in his heart.

"If it weren't for the fact that we were too incompetent, how would my father have worked so hard......"

In the silent halls of the fortress, only the faint breathing of the original body and the whispered sobs of the dark angel remained.

But Ryan didn't hear the sobs of his heirs, and a melodious chant drew his consciousness and soul across a distance that could not be measured in light years, to a place far away.

Ryan opened his eyes in the haze, and he saw a miasma forest, dense shrubs blocking his path, and towering trees obscuring the sky overhead.

"This is ......" Looking at the familiar surroundings, a strange feeling rose in Ryan's heart: "This is here, Caliban? ”

The thick primeval forests around him were still the same as Lane was when he was a child, but he knew in his heart that the Caliban Forest, which had been taken over by the Empire, had been cut down by the Mechists long before the Great Expedition before the Horus Rebellion.

Ryan returned to the First Legion, and Caliban, subjugated to the Human Emperor, transforming from a jungle planet where knightly culture flourished into a base for the Great Expedition.

"Did I dream of the old Caliban?"

Ryan felt a faint pain in his heart, and following his memories of the past, the young lion walked through the miasma, across the bushes, all the way to the end of the jungle.

He brushed aside the verdant thorns with both hands, and the scene before him suddenly became clear.

A deep lake was like a jewel shard embedded in the misty forest, reflecting the starry sky overhead, and Ryan realized that it was midnight.

He came to the lake and looked around, and the mist gradually dissipated.

On the shore of the lake, as white as snow, a rickety figure faintly emerged, sitting lonely, his back was so desolate, as if he had been sitting there thousands of years ago, and had not moved.

"Who are you!"

Lane was extremely wary of Chaos, and he clearly understood that there were many strange things about the scene in front of him, which was very similar to the description of the cult victims who were dragged into nightmares by the power of Chaos.

It's just that he didn't expect that the Chaos Evil God would actually use Caliban and his hometown that he can never return to to bewitch him......

Ryan stared at the rickety figure sitting on the shore of the lake, clenching his teeth and gurgling like a fried domestic cat.

"Ryan, my best boy..."

Suddenly, a familiar voice came from the unfamiliar figure, so familiar that it brought tears to Ryan's eyes.

"Father...... No, you're not him, you're not him! My father never said I was his favorite child, not him, you were never him—" Ryan was furious, snapping off a dry branch as a weapon and holding it in front of him, glaring angrily at the rickety figure who dared to pretend to be his father's emperor.

The figure froze for a moment, and stopped talking.

There was a deathly silence beside the starry lake, and Ryan clenched the branch in his hand, his fierce eyes roaming the man, like a feline examining its prey for hunting opportunities.

Suddenly, he found a pitch-black wooden stick leaning against the old man, sticking one end into the ground, and the other end reaching out to the surface of the lake, with a transparent silk thread tied at the end, and falling into the water.

It turned out that He was fishing here.

"A child's excellence is not always proportional to the pampering of his parents."

The rickety old man who was sitting by the lake fishing was silent for a long time before he could barely squeeze out such a sentence.

Ryan suddenly became angry.

He was about to open his mouth to reprimand the arrogant man for not provoking himself with his relationship with the emperor's father, when suddenly, the pitch-black fishing rod shook violently.

Whoa————

The trembling fishing line shattered a lake of stars, the light shattered, and the night sky disappeared from the lake, replaced by an old planet covered in rust, reflected on the surface of the lake.

"Terra—" Ryan recognized at a glance the ancient planet that had once been known as Earth.

But suddenly, the scenery in the lake changed, and heavily armed military ships sailed into the skies of Terra, and the eight-edged blackstone fortresses reigned on the ancient home planet of mankind.

Ryan was shocked to see the warriors of the Imperial Fist being unarmored and captured and imprisoned in the Black Cell, the huge fortress Monastery 'Mountain Formation' being firmly suppressed and locked up by multiple Blackstone fortresses, and countless ships sinking the solar system's defense fleet.

Forbidden soldiers ran around the palace, placing the old heads of human officials under the golden throne steps, and the sounds of fighting, roaring, and shouting ...... All kinds of pent-up emotions overwhelmed Terra. Everyone is at risk, just like ......

Just like 10,000 years ago.

Suddenly, the scene turned, and the flames of battle over Terra were extinguished.

A ship that Ryan feels familiar and nostalgic for slowly sails into the lake, the flagship of the Ultramarines, the ancient Glory Queen-class battleship: the Glory of Macurag.

A burly giant in blue and gold armor stepped down from the Glory of Macurag and into the resplendent halls of the Imperial Senate. He wore a crimson helmet with black thorns on his head, and held an imperial sword burning with blazing flames in his hand.

On the shore of the lake, the fishing line tied to the end of the fishing rod trembled slightly, and the rickety old man stared at the war and peace reflected in the lake, and said slowly:

"Kiliman, my child...... He is the epitome of the use of reason to suppress anger, and the son of war who will get blood rushing to his brain. ”

"In the near future, his brother will crown him with the crown of domination."

"He's going to be—the Lord of War."

The corners of Ryan's eyes twitched slightly: "Didn't you say that I was your best child?" ”

"A child's excellence is not always proportional to the pampering of his parents." The old man who fished said.

Ryan breathed a sigh of relief and threw the branch in his hand into the lake: "Father, it's really you." ”

——

Volume III, Lord of War.

Finish.

(End of chapter)