"Ahriman?"
This name was a bit unfamiliar to Soshyan. He seemed to have seen it in the files in the archives, but he couldn't remember it at once.
Talos wiped his mouth with the silk in the servitor's hand, clearing Soshyan's doubts.
"Azek Ahriman, former captain of the Thousand Sons, commander of Sekhmet's elite Terminator force, leader of the Crowfeather Cult
...Some people claim that he is the chosen one of the evil god Tzeentch, but he is most famous for the 'Scarlet Letter' spell, which directly destroyed the entire Thousand Sons Legion and turned 80% of the Thousand Sons into armor Puppet, it was also because of this that Magnus, the Thousand Sons Primarch, directly banished Ahriman and his followers. "
"Is this why Khayon hates Ahriman?"
"of course not"
Talos shook his head.
"I also heard that Kayon once had a serious conflict with Ahriman. Both of them took action, but no one knows the outcome."
"I see."
"Ahriman was not honest after he was exiled. He formed a war gang called the Wandering Sons, and built a large fleet through fraud, plunder and other means, and gained a lot of fame, but he Unlike other war gangs, his goal is only to focus on the empire's museums, libraries, scholastic academies, hermitages, and religious sites, and only seeks to obtain psychic items, cultural relics, data, and even ancient books."
"According to what you say, since Abaddon wants to win over this wizard, he shouldn't cause trouble for us in the short term."
Soshyan breathed a sigh of relief, but then frowned.
"Taros, if I remember correctly, you were involved in Abaddon's Twelfth Black Crusade, right?"
"Yes."
"Can you tell me something?"
The Twelfth Dark Crusade, also known as the Gothic War, was a battle that engulfed the entire Gothic Sector. It was launched by the Black Legion led by Chaos Warmaster Abaddon. Its scale was far larger than the previous eleven.
The war consisted of hundreds of planetary invasions and fleet operations, ending only when Imperial reinforcements arrived and forced Abaddon back into the void.
During the war, several planets and four-sixths of the Blackstone Fortress were seen destroyed, and hundreds of billions of Imperial citizens died.
In , an Imperial Navy reconnaissance frigate receives an indecipherable distress message from Site Ax, indicating that it is under attack by unknown attackers.
When reinforcements arrived four months later, the Imperial Guardsmen stationed on the planet had been wiped out, their bodies gruesomely cut into pieces.
The Inquisition sent the experienced Judge Horst to Akers to investigate the matter, but there was no evidence for him to understand what happened.
And just not long after the Ax attack, several reconnaissance teams made a terrifying discovery in the Athena sector - many imperial merchants' starships and battleships were found floating around uncontrollably in space.
When the boarding team arrived, it was discovered that all the crew members on these ships were dead. Horrible germs grew on the corpses covering the aisles, and many of them were still at their posts.
A rumor began to circulate among the ships of the Imperial Navy in the Segmentum that these attacks were launched by the Chaos warship Plague Claw - an ancient ship that dedicated its body and soul to Nurgle.
Inquisitor Horst became convinced that the forces of Chaos were preparing to launch a dark crusade against the Empire. Observation posts around the Gates of Cadian began to be placed on high alert, and Imperial Navy warships from across the Obscura were mobilized to defend the airspace around Cadia.
But three years after Ax's attack, a massive warp storm engulfed the entire Gothic Sector, cutting off the battleships of the Gothic Fleet from the rest of the Empire.
This event also marked the beginning of the Twelfth Black Crusade.
In the brutal war that followed, the Black Legion dispatched a large number of warships, including their flagship Vengeful Spirit and the powerful Planet Killer, while the Empire was forced to ally with the Eldar to fight against the terrible enemy.
Due to the empire's tenacious resistance, the war gradually turned from one-sided to a stalemate.
When time passed, High Admiral von Loewansberg began to fight back. He organized a huge fleet consisting of 17 battleships (including two battleships and two battlecruisers) and 20 auxiliary ships. In the Benximani galaxy, a decisive battle broke out with the main fleet of Chaos, and finally defeated the opponent.
This battle marked the beginning of the Gothic War. Abaddon, the Great Despoiler, had achieved his goal and ordered the fleet to begin withdrawing.
But the war was not over, and continued for several years. It was not until the last wandering Chaos capital ship was eliminated that the Twelfth Black Crusade ended with the "victory" of the Human Empire.
Recalling this war, Talos seemed a little sad, because it was also during this war that the war gang he once belonged to began to collapse.
"Actually, there is nothing to say. As mercenaries, we only participated in a small battle... But what Khayon said is true. We sold the Predator once, which also led to us being chased by the whole galaxy. Kill and become a lost dog."
Afterwards, he told everything he knew.
Including the true strength of the Black Legion, and the true intention of Abaddon's deployment in the Battle of Kethsemani - most of the people eliminated this time were actually guys who were regarded as troublesome by Abaddon.
After hearing this, Soshi Yang's brows deepened.
"But if what Khayon said is true, then this Thirteenth Black Crusade will be different from the past. How should we deal with it."
Talos sneered and patted Soshyan's chest with the back of his hand.
"Our legion commander, your legion can't even gather five companies now, do you need to worry about this kind of thing? There is an old saying in Gu Terra, if the sky falls, there will be tall people to hold it up. No matter how weak the empire is, it will not Abaddon's plan is not so easy to succeed because of random persimmons. I have seen too many examples of strategies that were seamless on paper but a mess in the final execution."
"That's right, it's not an issue we should be concerned about right now."
At this moment, the servitor in charge of the communicator in the courtyard suddenly made a monotonous sound.
"Captain Soshyan, urgent response."
Soshyan walked over immediately.
"Connected."
Soon, Ustad's voice sounded on the other end of the communicator.
"Chapter Commander, a warship from the Order of the Ebony Holy Grail has arrived at the port."
"Oh? It's them..."
Then something suddenly occurred to him.
"Isn't Sister Velez also on board?"
"Yes, but her condition -"
Twenty minutes later, Soshyan, who was in a hurry, appeared in the orbital airport that had been mostly repaired. The outline of the cruiser belonging to the Sisters was particularly conspicuous in the void.
A group of nuns were already waiting at the Airport Square. When they saw Soshyan approaching, one of them immediately went to greet him.
"Hello, Chapter Master Soshyan, I am Yanis Bozovich."
She looks very young, even childish, with short black and white hair and a delicate face, but there are two fresh scars on the right side of her face near her ears.
"Where is she?"
Hearing Soshyan's words, Sister Agnes turned sideways, and then the servitors lifted up a frozen life-saving capsule.
Soshyan stepped forward, bent down hard, wiped away the fog on the glass cover of the survival cabin with his hands, and then saw that familiar face.
Velez closed his eyes, as if he was asleep, but his once beautiful face was as green as a corpse, and the blood vessels under the skin were clearly visible, but they were ominous black.
Soshyan immediately frowned.
"what happened?"
Later, Sister Agnis recounted what happened not long ago.
