Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 977

Chapter 968, Relics

so-called “legacy” is the spoils of war that Martins Salas, the Primarch of the Phoenix and current commander of the Alliance’s Southern Front, obtained after his Primarch’s ascension under Gu Hang and his first personal engagement in battle.

In the Papalil system, a Scourge Fleet was destroyed, exposing their strategic objectives.

Zakaria, the Chaos Space Marine commander, leader of the Scourge Fleet, and a notorious traitor to humanity, the White Wolf King, was captured alive and brought to the heart of the Alliance. He is now held in a secret chamber on the Wrathful Owl.

Along with this captive, the object his Scourge Fleet had sought to capture was also brought here.

The object was originally contained in a bronze coffin in the crypt of a church in Papalil.

Now, the coffin has also been delivered.

It had been some time since the captive and the bronze coffin reached Gu Hang. However, Gu Hang was so overwhelmed with tasks that he hadn’t been able to personally conduct research.

The prisoners were being interrogated by Alliance intelligence, while the bronze coffin was being jointly studied by scholars from various Mechanicus sects and Psionic Orders within the Alliance.

While Gu Hang wasn’t personally involved, the Alliance had mobilized all its resources to deal with the situation. Their

goal was to understand the nature of these “objects” collected by the Chaos forces, which had mobilized so many Disaster Fleets and roamed the universe. What were their purposes? What were Chaos’s specific plans?

However, the scale, level, and depth of these objects exceeded expectations.

Without Gu Hang’s personal involvement, they could only conclude that they appeared to be some kind of “legacy.” Initially, they believed it was a treasure left behind by an ancient civilization, hence the internal codename for the research: “Legacy.” But as their research deepened, their understanding of the contents sealed within the bronze coffin deepened, gradually overturning their previous theories. They concluded that this wasn’t a product of civilization, but more likely… the remains of a certain being, a powerful individual.

Digging deeper, they found themselves with no clues. Unable to measure the energy levels within, they couldn’t manipulate it. Using psychic energy to move the bronze coffin around was a considerable effort. Furthermore, the coffin was merely a container, not the essence. And the essence within couldn’t be manipulated.

Gu Hang read the progress reports one by one on his desk, reading them with great interest.

After his affairs in Comoros were settled and the divine fragment was passed to his son, he freed up his hands and began to work on this item.

As his research deepened, Gu Hang’s interest grew!

No wonder the sages of the Mechanicus and the scholars and masters of the Order of Psionic Power couldn’t delve deeper into the matter.

However, their earlier conclusions were not wrong.

This object is indeed a ‘relic,’ a deity-like being from some ancient civilization.

Gu Hang believes so.

But its origins can be put aside for now. Its function is somewhat similar to that of the Thousand-Faced God’s divine core.

Perhaps not the same thing, but likely similar in efficacy—control and digest it, and you could become a deity!

But that’s easier said than done.

Even with Gu Jing’s abilities, controlling one of the Thousand-Faced God’s “faces” is nearly impossible. Only Gu Hang’s dedicated efforts, coupled with the Thousand-Faced God’s own willingness to assist him due to their partnership, allowed Gu Jing to succeed.

However, the fragment he saw was completely different from the Thousand-Faced God.

Gu Hang saw a single leaf as a clue to the coming years. This fragment was merely a tiny fragment of the complete form. Therefore, it could be inferred that the complete form of this object would be infinitely more powerful than the Thousand-Faced God—even more powerful than the Thousand-Faced God in his prime!

What does this mean?

In his heyday, the Thousand-Faced God sat in the Pantheon, transformed into countless deities, protecting the then-dominant Eldar Empire. Even if, due to certain characteristics, he didn’t reach the power of the Four Gods today, Slaanesh, one of the Four Gods, originated from one of his Thousand Faces and ultimately gave birth.

From this perspective, the Thousand-Faced God in his heyday fell short of the Four Gods by a mere hair’s breadth. Even

more powerful than him, then, when his divine core was complete, wouldn’t he be a primary deity in the Warp, on the same level as the Four Gods?

But… thinking of this, Gu Hang couldn’t help but have another, somewhat terrifying thought:

“Can the Four Gods die too?”

There are many “gods” in this universe. In the past, the original Wrathful Owl on the Wrathful Owl planet could be called a god.

But the true Four Evil Gods were truly terrifying and powerless beings.

Could beings of this level also perish?

And be shattered into countless fragments?

So, what is Chaos trying to do with these fragments?

Is it to resurrect that deity?

This question needs to be considered in conjunction with the information extracted from Zachariah, the former White Wolf Lord, now a prisoner, through torture.

Chaos’s power is not monolithic. Even though it appears to be unified by its Warmaster, Archadon, it is actually plagued by numerous internal conflicts and factions.

The tension between the Four Gods is perhaps no less intense than the hatred they share with the Emperor of Mankind. Chaos followers who worship one of the Four Gods naturally have a difficult time maintaining good relations with one another, relying entirely on Archadon’s powerful hand. Of course, there are also those, like Archadon, who don’t solely worship a single evil deity, but rather belong to Chaos as a whole. They don’t truly believe in Chaos, but rather draw power from the Warp, each pursuing their own ambitions.

Zachariah, the White Wolf Lord, is one of them.

He dreamed of replacing the Chaos Warmaster. Then, when the Warmaster assembled the Disaster Fleet and sent them to work all over the universe, he met the Warmaster’s collaborator, a lesser god in the Warp, a powerful being named ‘Bassol’.

He possessed great power and had considerable influence in the Warp.

If that were all, it would be fine. After all, in the Warp, besides the Four Gods, there were also many other lesser evil gods and demon princes.

However, Bassol had an ambition – he wanted to go further.

This idea may be shared by many lesser gods in the Warp. However, most of them had no way to realize it, and at most they just thought about it with fear.

But Bassol was different. He had already taken a crucial step.

(End of this chapter)