Warhammer: Striving to Be a Grinding Man

Chapter 113 The Council of Sages (Part 2) 941.M41

"The second item on the agenda."

The Titan-transformed Great Sage switched frequencies, his voice changing from a deep, trembling tone to a smooth, electronic one. "Regarding the Great Sage Enpu Shakra of the Punoris Forging World, his Forging Ark, and the Titan Legion. This lineage of the Forging World, which had lost contact in the warp for nearly ten thousand years, has finally returned to the Empire's embrace and back into the physical universe, thanks to the continued attention and coordination of the Council of Sages of the Lucis Forging World."

A moment of silence fell over the hall. One hundred and fifty optical lenses turned toward the platform, and binary pulses rapidly jumped between the seats.

The Titan-transformed Archsage continued, "According to the Martian side's approval, Archsage Enpu Shakra's identity and loyalty have been preliminarily confirmed. However, given that the Punoris lineage has existed in the warp for tens of thousands of years, conventional purification rituals cannot be completed in a short time. Therefore, the Martian side believes that Archsage Enpu and his Titan legions should prove their loyalty and purity through war. As long as they can prove themselves with blood and merit on the battlefield of Amegidodon, this proof will be irrefutable. Military merit is their best mark of purity."

A subtle commotion arose in the hall. Someone pulled up the archives of the Proxima Centauri world on a data panel; the text on the screen flickered in a cold light. Binary pulses jumped between the seats, but no one objected. In the world of the Mechanicus, political narratives and facts often didn't need to perfectly align, as long as the outcome was favorable to Lucius.

On the high platform, the armored sage on the left took a step forward, and the inverted triangular cluster of sensors was aimed at the center of the hall, slightly to the right.

"Governor of the Galos Autonomous Domain, Sage of Forging, Cohen Severus. The Great Sage Enpu has entrusted you with representing Galos at this council meeting. The Galos Autonomous Domain has been a subordinate territory of the Lucius Forging World for many years. Now, based on the Martian approval and the current situation, it is necessary to reconfirm the subordinate relationship between Galos and Lucius. Please speak."

All 150 optical lenses in the hall were simultaneously focused on Cohen. It wasn't scrutiny, it was execution. The procedure had reached this point; no one asked questions, no one objected, everyone awaited his answer. Servo skulls flew in from all directions, forming a semi-circular array above Cohen's head, all the red optical lenses aimed at him, recording every word he was about to utter.

Cohen didn't stand up immediately. He leaned back in his chair, his right hand resting on the armrest, feeling the cool touch of the adamantite surface.

He understood all too well the calculations behind it.

Gallos has been subordinate to Lucis since its inception. This fact has never changed and needs no reaffirmation. But the council chose this particular moment—in front of Martian representatives, the Inquisition, the State Church, and the Battle Sisters—to demand that he reaffirm it publicly.

Only in this way could Lucius rightfully tell everyone present, Mars, the Inquisition, and all forces that might covet Punorius's legacy: What belongs to Garros belongs to me, Lucius.

Since all the Titans, Ark, and backups of the consciousness of the Great Sage Enpu from Punoris have already belonged to Garros, and Garros is a subordinate territory of Lucis, then these things are naturally part of the world forged by Lucis. Anyone who tries to take them from Garros is challenging the sovereignty of Lucis.

This is not a request, not a negotiation, it is a declaration.

Cohen stood up.

He didn't use the hall's loudspeakers, nor did he use binary pulses. He retrieved a servo skull with an adamantine shell from the inside of his crimson sage's robes—a personal device he had modified himself. The skull's optical lenses glowed a dark red, and its built-in array of miniature speakers amplified and purified his voice, resonating in the hall as pure sound waves. It was steady, calm, lacking the metallic quality of a mechanical sage's voice filtered through a transmitter; it was pure, unadorned human voice.

"Your Excellency Sage Enpu Shakra has entrusted me, on behalf of the lineage of Punoris and the autonomous domain of Garros, to confirm the affiliation between Garros and the Lucius Forging World."

He paused for a moment.

"From the day of its inception, the Garros Dominion has been subordinate to the Lucius Forging World. This fact has never changed and needs no reaffirmation. But since the Council has requested a formal statement, I hereby reiterate: The Garros Dominion is a subordinate territory of the Lucius Forging World. Cohen Severus, Governor of the Garros Dominion, pledges his allegiance to the Lucius Sage Council. For the will of the Om Messiah."

A moment of silence fell over the hall. In the gallery, Strabo's fingers paused on the data panel, his grey eyes fixed on Cohen's retreating figure. Cardinal Agrippina nodded slightly, her expression serene, but her eyes never left Cohen. Sister Valeria sat upright, her gaze lingering on Cohen for a moment before shifting to the Imperial icon.

The Titan-like Great Sage raised his right arm, and the muzzles of the multi-laser array pointed at the dome, crackling with electric arcs.

"Gentlemen, is the affiliation between the Galos Dominion and the Lucis Forged World confirmed to be in effect?"

The 150 sages in the hall simultaneously raised their right mechanical prosthetic arms, bio-arms, tool interfaces, and data probes, all pointing towards the dome. Their 150 voices merged together, creating a deafening roar in the hall: "Active!"

In that instant, binary pulses leaped wildly throughout the hall, green indicator lights flashed on every Thinker terminal, and the apertures of all optical lenses were reduced to their minimum, focusing on the direction of the Titan-like Great Sage on the high platform.

The Titan-like Great Sage lowered its head, its sensor array sweeping across the entire area. As the roar subsided, it spoke again.

"Subordination confirmed. The Galos Autonomous Domain, as a subordinate territory of the Lucis Forging World, is subject to the Lucis Sage Council."

Its speaker paused briefly, then continued.

"The third item on the agenda."

The hall fell silent again. The binary pulse disappeared, and the optical lens was refocused on the platform.

"Regarding the Titan Legion to which the Great Sage Enpu belongs. This forging ark, which has been adrift in the warp for nearly ten thousand years, carries a complete Titan strike group consisting of Warlord-class, Marauder-class, and Warhound-class Titans, as well as nearly a hundred Knight mechs. According to the Martian approval and the resolution of the Council of Sages of Lucis, the Titan Legion will be sent to Garros by pilots and technical priests appointed by Lucis to familiarize themselves with its operation."

The hall was as if a silent bomb had been dropped. No one spoke, but the density of binary pulses instantly multiplied several times over. The focal length of optical lenses was wildly expanding and contracting, the screens of data boards were lighting up everywhere, and someone was directly outputting a series of exclamation pulses into the hall's encrypted channel through the Thinker interface inside their head.

The Titan-like Great Sage's sensor array swept across the area, the speaker paused for a moment, and then continued at a more solemn frequency.

"The Great Sage Enpu Shakra's consciousness backup has been drifting in the warp for tens of thousands of years, undergoing multiple data iterations and self-repairs. Each iteration consumes his slumber period. Since then, the Great Sage's slumber time has been extremely limited, making it impossible to maintain direct management of external affairs for an extended period."

The binary pulse density in the hall increased slightly. Someone pulled up Enpu's file, while someone else was making notes on a data panel.

"Therefore, the Great Sage Enpu has entrusted all his authority—including the Punoris Forging Ark, the Punoris Titan Legion, and all technological backups and assets under his personal name—to the Sage Cohen Severus. The Sage Cohen Severus is the Great Sage Enpu's sole representative in the physical universe and has full authority over the aforementioned assets."

The Titan-like Great Sage lowered his head, aligning the sensor array with Cohen's direction.

"The Governor of the Galos Dominion, the Sage of Casting, Cohen Severus, is the actual administrator of the lineage of Punoris. This has been confirmed by the Great Sage Enpu himself and recorded in the Council of Sages of Lucius."

A moment of silence fell over the hall. The optical lenses shifted from the platform to Cohen, then back again. No one questioned it. In the political logic of the Mechanicus, it was the most logical arrangement for an ancient sage with "incomplete consciousness" to delegate power to a "sane, young" agent. Binary pulses jumped between the seats, steady and without noise. Approval.

Stratford's data panel screen lit up. His finger swiped across the screen, recording a name.

Cohen sat in his seat, his right hand resting on the armrest. He heard the name "Pronoris Titan Legion," but his mind was on another phrase: the Garros Titan Legion. Those divine machines were docked in the port of Garros, maintained by Garros's technicians and supported by Garros's logistical system. Pronoris was just a name, an old nameplate buried at the bottom of the archives. But Garros was not.

The Titan-transformed Great Sage continued, "If these divine machines return alive from the battlefield of Amegidodon, they will remain permanently in Garros as the Titan Legion guarding this world. At that time, Lucis will share the use of this small Titan Legion with Garros."

A moment of silence fell over the hall. An elderly technical priest nodded slowly in his seat, his prosthetic limbs crossed over his chest.

No one raised any objections.

The Titan-transformed Great Sage turned to the center of the hall.

"Now, I request that the Garros fleet and its Titan legions assemble in Lucis and prepare to reinforce the front lines."

Cohen stood up. "I will return to Garros to participate in the command and assembly. The Garros fleet will serve as the Titan Legion's escort force as it proceeds to Amegiddon."

A commotion broke out in the hall. The sage from the Solar System stood up, his optical lens focused on Cohen, and two words came out from the speaker grille: "Well done." Another sage next to him immediately spoke up: "The Garros Fleet?"

"Is that the Gallos who transported tens of millions of immigrants from Amegadoton?" His tone held no doubt, only confirmation. Binary pulses leaped rapidly between the seats; some nodded, others crossed their mechanical arms across their chests—an informal gesture of approval among the Mechanicus sages.

The Titan-like Great Sage's sensor array swept across the entire area, and his left arm slowly rose, interrupting the commotion.

"The fourth item on the agenda."

The holographic projector in the center of the hall restarted, and the star map of Amegiddton was re-laid. This time, it didn't mark enemy positions, but rather the military power that the Lucis Forged World could project.

"Vote on the response and support from Lucis."

The Titan-transformed Great Sage's voice switched to council voting mode, its electronic tone echoing beneath the dome. "Should we deploy the Lucis's Astral Titan Legion?"

A moment of silence fell over the hall. Then, the voting lights came on. One hundred and fifty voting terminals simultaneously lit up with green standby lights on the armrests of each sage's seat. Binary pulses rapidly pulsed through the hall as the sages exchanged opinions via internal communication channels. Some shook their heads, some pulled up the Astral Legion's deployment plan on their data panels, and some simply shut down their voting terminals, refusing to vote.

The voting results appeared on a giant screen at the front of the hall.

Opposed. The Astral Legion remained unmoved.

There was no commotion, no whispers, no bursts of binary pulses in the hall. Only silence. That silence wasn't unexpected; it was knowing. The impassioned calls for "holy war" and "all-out attack" vanished the moment the voting lights came on, as if the power had been cut off. Politics is politics, slogans are slogans, and interests are interests. The Astral Legion is the lifeblood of Lucis, the last trump card for establishing the world's foothold within the Imperial system; it cannot be touched lightly. Every sage present understood this. Those who shouted the loudest were the ones whose fingers pressed the keys the most steadily when casting their votes.

The Titan-like Great Sage's sensor array swept across the entire area. No one stood up to explain, no one demanded a second opinion.

Strabo wrote a few words on the data panel. Not "The Astral Legion Remains Still"—he had already anticipated that outcome. He wrote "The Garros Titan Legion." His gray eyes shifted from the display screen to Cohen's retreating figure.

The Titan-transformed Archsage did not press further. "The Astral Legion remains unmoved. What about the fleet and the Apostolic Guard?"

Binary pulses bounced again in the hall. This time, the discussion lasted even longer. Someone typed long military assessment reports into the encrypted channel, someone pulled up the real-time status of the field fleet on the data panel, and someone used a prosthetic arm to gesture in the air towards a famous tactical diagram.

The giant display screen then showed the First Task Force of the Sith Field Fleet: a fleet with a battleship as its flagship, two large cruisers and six main cruisers as its firepower core, ten light cruisers for mobile support, twenty destroyers for reconnaissance and escort, plus three logistics support ships. It encompassed five major functions: battleship, assault, escort, reconnaissance, and replenishment, possessing the capability to independently execute high-intensity fleet operations.

The Defenders of the Church: The First Expeditionary Group, comprising forty infantry regiments, twenty armored regiments, ten artillery regiments, six air defense regiments, four engineer regiments, and supporting logistical units. With a total strength of nearly one million men, equipped with Lucis-standard TOW powered armor, various armored vehicles, and artillery, it possessed sustained combat capability.

Intelligent Control Mech Legion: Centered around the improved Casterlan, it comprises fifty intelligent control squadrons, divided into three sequences—

The 1st to 20th battalions are the assault force, equipped with heavy explosive cannons and powered gauntlets, responsible for frontal breakthroughs; the 21st to 40th battalions are the fire support force, equipped with multi-laser cannons and missile pods, responsible for long-range suppression; the 41st to 50th battalions are the rapid reaction force, equipped with lightweight chassis and close-combat armaments, responsible for flanking maneuvers and key position defense. All fifty battalions are attached to the Lucis Tech Priests and are under the unified command of the Garros Titan Legion.

The text on the display screen was magnified twice as much, making it particularly eye-catching in the cool white light.

The Titan-like Great Sage's sensor array swept across the entire area, while the amplified resonant array in his chest emitted a deep electronic sound.

"Resolution passed. The First Task Force of the Lucis Field Fleet is incorporated into the support sequence for the Armageddon Theater. The First Expeditionary Group of the Apostolic Guard will accompany the Titan Legion as its ground escort force. Fifty intelligent squadrons of the Lucis Intelligent Machine Legion are incorporated into the support sequence."

The Titan-like Great Sage's voice paused for a moment, and the sensor array slowly turned towards Cohen, then swept back across the entire arena.

"Punolis is a thing of the past. From this day forward, this force is officially incorporated into the Lucis combat order, and will fight alongside the Galos Fleet under the name of the Galos Titan Legion."

As soon as the words were spoken, a low murmur arose in the hall. Binary pulses flickered between the seats; some crossed their prosthetic limbs over their chests, while others repeatedly adjusted the aperture of their optical lenses. No one raised an objection. The name Punoris was finally set aside: the Garros Titan Legion—this was the name that both Lucis and Garros could accept.

The Titan-transformed Great Sage's voice continued to proclaim without pause.

"Lucis has assembled a powerful support legion. The Garros Titan Legion. A complete combined fleet."

A million-strong expeditionary force of Apostolic Guardians. Fifty Mind Control Battalions. These forces will march together to Armageddon. This is yet another great contribution from the great and loyal Lucis Forging World to the Imperium.

The hall fell silent for a moment. The frequency of the binary pulses slowed, and the focal length of the optical lens shifted on the display screen.

A sage from the Solar System rose from his seat, his mechanical voice carrying a harsh, metallic quality. "The problem now is how to break through the warp storm's blockade and enter the Armageddon war zone. The storm has already surrounded the Armageddon system, and the Imperial Navy's reinforcement fleet has been unable to enter. If our fleet goes in, what if we can't get out?"

He didn't finish his sentence, but his meaning was clear.

The hall fell silent for a moment. Binary pulses jumped between the seats, much slower than before.

Cohen stood up. He didn't raise his hand to ask permission, nor did he wait for the Great Sage to call his name. He stood up, took the servo skull with the adamantine shell from inside the sage's robes again, and placed it on the table. The skull's optical lenses lit up with a dark red light, and the miniature speaker array amplified his voice, echoing throughout the hall.

"I request that the Black Pearl lead the support fleet. My ship is experienced in navigating warp storms, its crew is well-trained, and its ship spirits are stable. The Black Pearl is confident that it can break through the warp storm and lead the fleet to Amegiddon."

He paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping across the hall.

"The Astrologers of Armageddon have sent an undistorted signal. Since the signal can get out, the fleet can go in. We cannot guarantee that every ship will arrive—but everyone present knows that the Empire has never had a 100% safe route. If some ships are forced to turn back, if only half eventually arrive—that is still a contribution Lucis has made to Armageddon. The Emperor is not asking how many ships we sent, but whether we dispatched a fleet at all."

He put away the servo skull and sat back down in his seat.

The binary pulses in the hall began to jump again. This time, it wasn't a question, but an acceptance. The sage from the Solar System sat down again, his mechanical prosthetic limbs crossed over his chest, and remained silent. Another sage rapidly recorded something on a data panel. The third sage turned his head, his red optical lens aimed at Cohen, lingering in focus for a moment before turning back.

In the gallery, Strabo's finger paused on the data panel. He looked up, his gray eyes fixed on Cohen's retreating figure for a long time. Then he looked down and wrote a short note on the panel: "This man deserves continued attention."

The Titan-like Great Sage's sensor array swept across the entire arena, and the frequency of the speaker switched from voting mode back to a calm electronic tone.

Meeting adjourned.

The Titan-transformed Great Sage's voice emitted its final electronic note. Three figures rose from the mechanical throne on the high platform, turning to walk towards the massive adamantine gate. The gate slid shut slowly behind them, the heavy clanging of metal echoing through the hall.

The sages in the hall began to rise and leave. The servo motors of the mechanical prosthetics began to hum again, binary pulses jumped between the seats, and the apertures of the optical lenses made a soft clicking sound as they expanded and contracted. The servo skulls scattered from the direction of the platform, filing out one after another along the dark channels of the dome, and the light spots of the optical lenses went out one by one in the darkness.

Cohen remained seated, not moving.

Vitellius leaned closer and lowered his voice. "It's done. The rest is up to you."

Cohen nodded. He glanced at the still-jumping binary pulses, then at the sages who were getting up and leaving. He understood that he now held an extra bargaining chip, a political bottom line for surviving in this cruel universe.

Old Mr. Nazari leaned over and handed him a data panel. "This is a summary of the resolutions. Take it back and show it to your people. Tomorrow's agenda is none of your business; you can leave."

Cohen took the data panel and stood up. He walked across the aisle between the seats toward the door. The binary pulses behind him were still beating; the sages were discussing the details of the mobilization, and no one paid him any attention anymore.

Outside the gate, Marcus and Kara were still standing in the waiting area. Four elite soldiers stood in formation behind them, motionless.

Cohen walked up to Marcus.

"It's done. Prepare for war," he said.

Marcus's right mechanical eye shrank slightly, then slowly widened. His lips twitched, but he didn't speak. Kara lowered her arms from her chest, her gaze lingering on Cohen's face for a moment before she nodded.

Cohen turned and walked towards the temple exit. The hem of his deep red robe cast a faint shadow in the cold white light.