I think I was a little surprised how peaceful Cadia seemed, when the Crusade Fleet reached the system.

On the other hand, the Necron Pylons protected the system against Chaos incursions, just like they did for the past 10000 years. And so did the forts and battlefleet of the Imperial Navy here.

'Cadia would be a great target, but two Dark Gods died here. If the strike at Scelus is a diversion for their real target, it may not be Cadia.' Lash told me while examining my holomap.

'There is nothing at Scelus worth taking. The planet was blasted to hell and declared perdita. Perhaps a small memento, nothing more. Obviously a diversion, but where are the traitors?' I mused with a lamenting voice. I felt my frustration grow, unused to being outplayed.

My wife walked in the room with Joan in her arms, mostly recovered from her pregnancy. "You're practically glowing with anger, husband. Did you hope to find Cadia aflame?" she asked with mild irony.

"I hoped to find something. Maybe dire messages from another place, calling for reinforcements. But the garrison at Scelus is long dead, and the traitors would not linger there to be squashed. Chaos is always on attack." I grumbled with a sour voice, and went to kiss the little girl.

Lady Valyene sat down and bopped Lash on the nose. "This big bad wolf has no clue either? Then the Sons of Malice must be in the Warp, either gathering forces or travelling to their target. Prayer is the answer now." she declared in a confident voice, and started praying on the spot.

I almost expected a beam of light and angels singing in reply, but nothing like that. Instead, the Inquisitor rose and floated next to Custode Valerian behind me. "Well?" she asked the huge man.

Valerian nodded and poked his forehead with a finger, then his eyes exploded with golden light. Yes, that was the answer I was waiting for.

"Boros_Prime ", the Custode spoke in trance, then closed his eyes to turn off the light.

The hologram of the Boros system opened on the holomap, showing 42 inhabited planets and moons, and a nexus of Warp Gates leading to dozens of destinations inside the Imperium, called Boros_Gate .

"Over 400 billion people live there, so it would make for a great blood sacrifice, enough to manifest a Dark God. And from Boros they could expand into dozens of more systems at speed." The Inquisitor spoke with a convinced voice.

I had to admit, Boros was just as juicy a target as Cadia, but without the Necron Pylons. Maybe better, in some ways, and certainly safer for the Chaos traitors.

'Seems a bit like cheating, divining an answer so easily.' the Nightwolf spoke for the first time, probably impressed by the Emperor's divine feat. I had seen much better, but it was still impressive.

'Zath, go grab 11 Pylons from Cadia. We have to prepare for the birth of a new god properly.' I asked the stronger C'tan, who just grinned with scythe-sized teeth at me. 'I'll grab 12. You will want a big club again.' he answered with more irony. I probably would too. It worked on Tzeentch, so Malice would be even easier.

By the next minute, the Crusade Fleet was already accelerating towards Boros, but not before I stole a thousand Earthshaker platforms and their munitions from a Cadian depot. Artillery was still the queen of battles, even 40000 years after Napoleon discovered its proper use. And by coincidence, I even had some siege specialists from Krieg joining my Crusade.

"Notify the Munitorum of Cadia that we requisitioned the missing guns for the Crusade, Lady Valyene. No need to get a thousand logistic officers executed for nothing." I remembered to say, before entering my tesseract to join the two Omega-minus Pariah Silent Sisters. Well, only one of them had taken the vow. I found Ordella before she was brainwashed.

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"Ladies, we need to plan for the worst. This Malice seems quite intelligent, unfortunately." I said while taking out a fresh bottle of expensive Amasec.

Dessima just nodded, while Ordella held a glass for her share. "Are we to plan this, still dressed?" she asked while taking a small sip, and eyed me coyly.

Well, she did have a point. Strategy meetings worked even naked. Perhaps much better. And the girls had little other distraction, being locked in the tesseract for now as to not shatter the morale of others. For example, the Eldar party on board the Plus Ultra fort, plus the Ultramarines and other successors. The Sisters' combined presence produced a Shadow in the Warp comparable to a small Tyranid Fleet, although without the nightmare visions induced by the Hive Mind.

Dessima began dropping her garments while walking along the blackstone wall, and gliding a hand over the weapon raster. C'tan blades, chronophagic blades, power swords and lastly the daemon lance locked in a blackstone coffin. I could hear the daemon scream in pain, as Dessima's touch hurt the daemon quite badly.

"They say the path of understanding is paved by suffering, Drach. I suspect it is not only the suffering of others, but your own too." I mused in a thoughtful voice, and stepped out of my power armor to join the naked girls.

"This is torture, Boss! Every day, they touch me with their soul-draining aura. I quit!" Drach yelled and shook its coffin in displeasure.

"Really? You don't want to eat this Malice guy?" I asked with no ulterior reason.

"Well...even a minor god would be tasty, I admit. You're the best, Boss!" the daemon answered in a happy tone.

The strategy meeting lasted the whole night, and we decided that Ordella would use the lance instead. She was the strongest Pariah in the galaxy, and thus least likely to be noticed by the Dark God, or anyone else for that matter. Dessima would use a chronophagic halberd if the situation demanded, or if more Great Daemons showed up.

And thus, I bound my last tesseract to Ordella and began instructing her in the proper use, which would have been useful long ago, except for lack of sufficient tesseracts to share. It didn't escape my notice that I was making my own version of a Valkyrie, or perhaps a Phoenix Lord of negative Warp.

Dessima's fingers flashed in rapid battle-speak towards her sister, telling Ordella to leave. Ordella grabbed her Aquila-shaped pendant and skipped into another tesseract, leaving us alone.

"What is it, love?' I asked the Silent Sister in her mind.

She tapped her neck. 'Enuncia. A Pariah can speak it without destroying her body. Ordella can learn it.' she answered in my mind.

"What? I thought only psykers use that." I exclaimed out loud. I knew little of the ancient language, mostly from old books.

She poked my forehead. 'Nulls are also psykers, Pef Lancefire. And I suspect anyone else can use it once. And get destroyed by the backlash.'

'Is that why you Silent Sisters take the Vow?' I asked curious.

'Part of it. We see things people are not supposed to see, or remember. Safer to never speak of it.' Dessima answered with a sad scowl.

I nodded and sighed. The Silent Sisters were supposed to be the Emperor's inner circle, just like the Custodes. Of course they would learn secrets. Big ones too.

So I rolled over with Dessima on top, and impaled her on my lance. At least I could give her a child, to make her happy for a while.