I let the troops from New Lordaeron go back to rexing, while I tried to figure out how to hahis bullshit. I was gettiremely tired of my ck of agency. Which reminded me that having a sit down would be a good idea. I called the Probes to build a table and chairs for the eight of us that were left. Which almost caused another i. Because, of course, it would.

  "Beware, My Lord! They reek of Xenos' rot!" The Guardsmen rushed to do what they saw as their duty. Proteg me. Mr. Wick twitched, he was about to reflexively shoot the grey cd men rushing to "save" me. He stepped closer to me to keep them back, but while he had drawn his on earlier he kept it poi the ground. Watchmaster 26's rifle snapped up to aim at him. Raynor's rifle came up for the first time in this enter and he moved closer to my side, aiming at the newers. Watchmaster 5 tered his movement by training his on on Raynor. Marshal 999 aimed his pistol at the Probes, while beginning to inearer to me.

  The Probes themselves beeped, "Hostiles? Engage?" My head, my poor ag head. You know what, fuck this.

  "STOP!" I bellowed loud enough everyoook a step back. There was a snap of golden light mixed with my mana as I lost my shit for a moment. The energy released was both like lightning and an aura. The very air around us crackled for a few seds. Okay, that was he energy caught everyone's undivided attention as well. Let's use that.

  "These are my allies, and help me in my tasks. Leave them be." I gred at the Guardsmen, who flinched back. A terrible fear of disappointing me, as they felt they had done before, I could feel it flowing into me from the golden link that had ected us earlier. It felt not unlike I had beaten a loyal dog. Horrible feeling, though I was left w how they could have possible failed me before eveing me. Oh wait, they probably felt like they had betrayed the uy. Hmm, I just couldn't see them doing that. Even the arrogant Preacher's unwavering righteousness stuttered in the fay irritation, even though his heart was full of vanity. Wait. How did I know that? How could I know any of this?

  Only the Magos was ued, though his attention was mostly fixated on the Probes. He pushed something, some kind of signal, at them and they responded in a simir fashion. Then I could feel his excitement. The giddiness of a child on Christmas m. Oh, I saw where this was going, let's nip that in the bud.

  "No Magos, you may not disassemble them for study. I'll show you the fes and robotic facilities ter. Once you are doh your duty you may tio your... you may experiment on schematics." I had my doubts that he still possessed a heart. A real self made tin man.

  I read his startlement from the air it seemed, "Apologies. This one was lost in the idea of eology." I got a jolt of disapproval from the priest. Why would he be upset at his panion's antics?

  It was getting annoyingly difficult to keep track of whose feelings were whose. Great, another problem for the ever growing pile, as if I didn't have enough to go around.

  The Probes assembled the table and chairs quickly and theuro their previous work. I gestured for everyoo sit. "Look, I am sure all of this is very different from where you where from. I uand that very well, as this is not my inal version of Earth either. To help us all get on the same page, why don't you fill me in on the general course of life in the Empire bae and your pces in it." Hours passed as they expihe grim realities of life in the Imperium of Maook a break and ate some high quality rations, I didn't think Buck A Slice would be a good prank here and now. Humor seems to have rgely died out iime, unless it was of a variety that was darker than pitch. The truest form of gallows humor. They were quite fused by the food, at first, but seemed to enjoy it as much as people like them could enjoy anything.

  Not only were these Kriegsmen from a different universe but also from a time far into the future, the 41st millennium if I uood it correctly. They filled me in on both a general history and their own lives and experieheir time was within a gaxy trapped in a hellish warscape where mankind was beset on all sides by enemies I could scarcely imagihe "Nes" and "Tyranids" were both particuly terrifying to me. I would pray too, if I could, that no such beings waited out in the dark of this universe's reaches. Ohe rest of my takss oh were done I'd o start preparing for these foes, or ones like them.

  After I had gotten enough of an idea of who they were, for one day, I id out what life was like for people in Night City and on this version of Earth in general. They didn't in the slightest react to the troubles of the people iy. It was as if they expected people living in cities to suffer. There was a lot of misuandings between us that were going to have to be corrected as time went on. However, I think I at the very least got them to accept that things were very different here and that their usual methods of iing all problem immediately might not be the in the best i of my cause. It only took a few more hours.

  "It is like the start of a Grand Crusade for the soul of Holy Terra itself!" The Preacher maybe didn't get it. Fervor bubbled up and flooded our e.

  "As your Hammer, we will grind all foes into dust. For your honor, Emperor!" Marshall 999 might be a lost cause as well. The Watchmasters seemed eager to sughter any who opposed me. If I uood them all properly these Kriegsmen, even amongst the people of the dour Imperium, they were seen as grim. What a joyful experience. Great, I guess I just wasted my breath, trying to expin things to them. It was all water off a duck's back.

  "So many new maes to study! This one o make a new servitor skull, perhaps this will help to allow create a better interface with this version of the Noosphere. The Mae Spirits here are quite strange, but this os ek." Okay. It was a horrid realization that the almost soulless seeming man-mae was the ohat seemed the easiest to get along with. Does that say more about me, or them. His "mechadendrites" twitched about, appearing to be more "alive" than the body to which they were attached.

  You know what, I'm going to see what the and Bunker, as they beled it, had to offer me. As I pce my hand upon it, my BTC shook.

  [ Adjusting... ]

  [ and Bunker has been added to the Great Tree work.

  Options:

  Choose Css

  Raise Level

  Summoor

  Summon Tech-Priest (Random)

  Summon Basic Krieg Infantry Squad ]

  What the hell is a Servitor? Were they like Probes. I queued one up as well as a squad of infantry. Wow, hours for the Servitor and a few days for the squad. I wasn't going to wait around for this though, we had already spent enough time fug around here. I just wao take Raynor and Mr. Wick to hunt some mangoons and then go bae for a while.

  Might as well see what Csses I was offered.

  [ Voice of the God Emperor of Mankind

  +2 to to all stats

  You are the embodiment of the God of another reality. Wield Faith t about a Glorious Future.

  Starting Abilities: Divine Wrath, Blessings of Mankind ]

  [ Daemon Prince of Hope

  +5 to Intelligence

  +5 to Cool

  -5 to Spirit

  Y Hope to the troubled masses, but is it real? What is Hope anyway? Hehehehehehehehehehehe!

  Starting Abilities: Daemon Form, Eldritch Bst ]

  [ Lord of the End

  +5 to Body

  +5 to Will

  -5 to Spirit

  You follow nature. It is the nature of all things to die. Bring them all to their proper rest.

  Starting Abilities: Rest, Peace ]

  What the... Nope, not going to think about it. Too much fuckery going on here. Too much bullshit I don't have a clue about.

  I took the only o made seo choose. Fuck my life. How many ways I get railroaded today?

  I wao raise the Voice of the God Emperor Css to match the others but found that it was a whopping 5000 XP per level. That seemed bloody overpriced. No, let's not worry about it. I o see what it could do for me. I went ahead and increased it once, leavih almost 12,000 XP. +1 to all stats per level past the first seemed like a good thing, but the that cost was hefty. The Css also added a new special stat that wouldn't go up when I leveled, Divinity: 1.This stat had a sub category, Faith: 51. My head just kind of went bnk when I started thinking about that and what it all could mean.

  Had I somehow highjacked my way into godhood, or at least the path to godhood? The css said I would embody a god but who would believe that? I've never been a particurly religious person, and my exposure to faith of any kind was minimal. Until now. Wait, Faith robably that golden energy. I o myself, that made sense. So Divinity was what, how well I could use it? How much I could store? Maybe both. Not enough information. I had gotten another new ability with the level up as well. Fht. From what I could se retty literal, I could get images of the future, though it would be extremely limited at first.

  I turned my attention to the other abilities. Divine Wrath retty simir to Smite. Had the same feel and everything it just didn't require a prayer, also it would damage anything I sidered an enemy, but spare anything I sidered to be an ally. Nio friendly fire. The Blessing of Mankind burned Faith energy to give ce and fury to my chosen targets, or despair and dread to my enemies. Hmm. So it would only be useful in battle? That required more study.

  While I would definitely have to use the abilities to really start uanding then, I was somewhat relut to start experimenting in front of the newers. I had a feeling showing any weakness in front of them would be a very bad idea. For some reason, I didn't get the same feeling of trust with them in my gut as I did with Raynor and Mr. Wick. Corre, the Kriegsmen were absolutely loyal, like big human shaped doggos. It was the Preacher and the Magos that had my guts all twisted up. Maybe for different reasons though, but I couldn't trust them, like I could the others.

  Given the Preacher's attitude, they were turning out to be a problem. Ohat I had no ready baked solution for. Worse I wasn't in the slightest sure how useful they would be. Otherwise, I might just elimihem.

  Huh? Where the fuck did that e from? I rolled that around in my thoughts.

  Oh!

  Oh.

  Oh, no.

  This was what I was warned about. My personality robably already being affected by the new identity. Shit. My pile of problems grows. My bag of solutions seemed empty, unless I started thinking like a ruthless tyrant hellbent on a, "My way or the Higholicy. If I went that route, I had as many solutions as I had bullets, and I could make a lot of bullets.

  I grew weary of all this ption. My thoughts seemed to be chasing themselves in circles. If I had to be an asshole to trol these fucked up people, so be it. I wao ge in the first pce. "Marshal 999, your orders are to secure this area while avoiding tact with the locals. Minimize time on the surfad do not go more than a hundred yards from the lift when you do. Harm hat are in my service, regardless of what they look like. Any others you find in the area, capture and hold until such time as I or one of my representatives pass judgement on them." I waved my hand towards the walls. "In the meantime, build all of your infrastructure underground. Go deeper if you must, but not closer to the surface. Get your produ lines setup for ons and whatever else you require. I will have food and material supplies shipped to you as fast as possible. Build me an army loyal to me and me alone. Do you uand?"

  His fist smashed like a et into his chest and he bowed, "Yes, My Emperor! I obey!" The Watchmasters mirrored him. The preacher look nonplussed, I could feel his irritation, even if I didn't fully uand it. I was beginning to suspect that he didn't actually see me as his Emperor. Perhaps, he saw me as just a mouthpiece. Argh, his heart and mind were byrinthine, loaded with twists and turns. Impossible to explore for long periods of time.

  "Preacher Grais, you will e with us. I want to see what ideas you have about the expansion of our bases. Also, so that I might learn more about your Imperium, after all, success is worth emuting." That shut off those sour feelings. A sense of pleased self importance. What a piece of work, this guy was. "Of course, It would be my honor, Emperor." No "glorious" this time? It seemed that the mask had begun to slip.

  Emute their Empire, of course not. It sounded horrific. what sane being would want to go anywhere hat clusterfuo, I'd rend that same road, but I needed him to think I was on the same path. I'd absorb the lessons and mistakes, probably couched as victories, and use those te somethier.

  "Magos Helifern, I have sidered also taking you with us. Learning more about the teology of Mars had great appeal to me." A fsh of jealousy fred up from the preacher. What a child like level of emotional trol. sidering he was supposedly approag 200 years of age, that was highly incredulous. Something was deeply wrong with this man. "However, if I uand your talents properly, it would be more effit to use you here. I'll show you the Fes we already have set up and how to use them, though the Robotics Facilities are w on important projects that ot be disturbed right now."

  "As the Omnissiah decrees." His "Vox Modutor's" distorted sound still bothered me, but I was getting used to it. "Lastly, one of my Probes will s all of your equipment, so that they may be reproduced in the Fes. We'll determier if your methods of manufacture or ours are more suited to our needs." None of them objected, though the Magos's mechadendrites writhed almost like they were afraid.

  With that I think I've covered my bases for now. There would probably still be a ton of fuck ups to fix ter but this was a good start. After we got the ss sorted, I took the Magos to the Fes and expined everything he o know. He seemed joyous, if such a being was capable of emotion.

  Somewhat ter, Raynor, Mr. Wid I were sitting by ourselves in the living area south of the lift, discussing our impressions of the newers.

  "Those folks are a few stalks sort of a bale. If I uand even half of what they said about their home, that pce is a nightmare." Raynor shook his head, frowning. He was worried.

  "Fast. Accurate. Always ready." Mr. Wick paused, "Too quick to shoot."

  Raynor and I whipped around to stared at him like he had grown another head. Silen the room grew heavier, as we couldn't believe he had just said that. Mr. empty a mag before anyone get a word in edgewise.

  Thearted ughing. It was a rich, but broken, sound as if he was utterly uo ughing.

  Was the World about to bust into a ball of fme? John motherfug Wick had just cracked a joke. Will miracles never cease? Raynor and I looked at each other and shrugged. What else could we do? After a moment more of stunned disbelief we joined him. The ughter itself built up between us until it became an untrolble release of tension. All that frustration of dealing with such strange people, released in a torrent of sound.

  Wasn't it wonderful to have friends.

  We finished ughing. Hell, I even had to wipe tears from the ers of my eyes. That was a great ugh. Something around us had improved, the air eve lighter somehow. The gloom cast by the Imperials dissipated.

  "You call me John." Whoa. I turo look at Mr. Wick, w if this was another joke. Nah, seemed legit.

  "Alright, John." That felt so bizarre, "Are we ready to go hunting for some metal freaks?" I gave them a wolfish grin, as we all stood up.

  "Good to go, Hoss." Raynor slung his rifle over his shoulder. He still had his facepte down, so I had no clue how psyched he might be.

  "Sure." John nodded. His expression had returo his normal bnk page.

  "Alright, I'll go get preachy. Just so we are all on the same page... he's not ing babsp;right?" I felt unfortable even saying that much, out loud, but that man roblem. Ideally, he'd get ftlined by some Gangoons.

  "Hoss, uh, are you feeling alright?" He was actually ed. Raynor being himself probably had no clue how to ask what was really on his mind.

  "Holy, no. I feel pretty off sihis little episode started. My Padin Css broke, and now I'm supposed to be some ination of another reality's God. All because these new bastards are too fug io listen to reason. I feel like garbage, and my new css is some path to Godhood. More problems, not many solutions. Not good ones anyway." Maybe I was snarling a little bit at the end there.

  "Yeah. Rough." John nodded. Unfppable as ever.

  Raynor hesitated, "It's just you're the st person I would expect to plot an endin' like that. Fight, sure. Kill, of course, but this is a bit cold for you." He waved his hand.

  I closed my eyes and unched my teeth. I him, "Cold is a good way to describe how I feel right now. I'm furious but it's not like before, were being angry was all emotional, this is a calcuted thing. As wrong as that sounds, it's worse to feel it. Like something has a pn and that pn is for me to be angry. I know it's not me, but it's still there burning coldly." I opened my eyes. "Something vast is trying to get me to py a role, I'm sure of it. The pany, this od, or something else, I don't know what it is." I sighed, trying to let my troubles out, in the hopes that expressing them would relief the pressure. But no, no real help there.

  "Sorry, Hoss but I had to ask. I'm worried. Amanda would kill me if anything happeo you. If Sally didn't get me first." He chuckled.

  "Ah, the truth es out at st. How's thing with her w out?" I smirked. It was o know Raynor had someoo care about.

  "Good, Hoss. She's a good woman." His voice sounded wistful. There was some pain ioo.

  "Don't worry." John said looking at me. "I've got this." I knew he was referring to the Preacher. Well, if John said it, I believed. After all he was as mu idea as a man.

  I made sure that the Probes were far dowunnels digging toward the other outposts. I was a little worried the Magos would chase after them when we left. I o keep my Robo-Buddies safe from the clutches of the Tech-Priest.

  I was finally getting input from the total Psifield. I could now sehings all the way back to the Valley. I called some Seo keep an eye on the newers and an Observer to monitor the activity here. I set a fixed order of Rations for them to be delivered by Probes ohe tunnels were done, and called some Wisps to make them a Moon Well. I still couldn't get it out of my head that something was going to go horribly wrong.

  I shook my noggin to clear the dark thoughts. Well, I had done what I could. It was time to hunt.

  We collected Grais before taking the lift up. I kept a part of my attention on the e between me and him to monitor his increasingly erratic emotional state. Something wasn't right with this guy. Everything he saw made him twitch rowl. Mutters of "Heresy" often passed his lips. Twenty times before we had even got off the lift.

  Well, it wouldn't matter for too much longer.

  We gathered the troops befetting into the truck. I figured we'd head north to Watson and start some Maelstrom hunting there. After we were done we could swing by Lizzie's and depress a little before heading bae. Though I was pting stopping to see the Mox before we got rolling just to see Grais's head explode. He'd probably decre them some sex cult and try to burn them all. As hirious as that image was, I think we'll wait on exploding Preacher brains. The Mox deserve better. Heh.

  Strahing was that Grais had calmed down a lot when looking at the boys in power armor. It reminded him of something, something holy. Then there was shame. Betrayal. My head so him. He startled, bag up. Worry, fear and resignation. "What did you do?" I didn't mean to say anything, I figured a frontation with him should wait. It had just slipped out. Everyone else turned, looking to figure out what was going on.

  "Emperor, I... I did nothing. To my shame, I did nothing while they burned." He began to speak haltingly, "I was hunting a cult on Paraxis IV. (AN: couldn't find a Paraxis, but did find a Praxis.) Your holy angels had been dispatched to deal with an iion of Xenos. The Xenos were actually daemons of Chaos. A istake amongst the uninformed."

  Grais had our undivided attention now.

  He took a deep breath shuttering. "I ended up w with the Astartes to find the source of the daemonspawn. The Cult was located and further than usual oh of corruption. Many were full sorcerers of the Fel Powers." His eyes were clouded, he wasn't really with us anymore. He was back there. "We slew many, but in the end they had summoned a Daemon Pri shouldn't have been possible, but there it was. So terrible that my mind began to tear. Were it not for my Faith and the holy prote of my Rosarius, I would have beeroyed then and there." I gred at him as I reized that term. Daemon Prince. He flinched. I began to see the nature of the issue. He was broken. He was tested and he found that he wasn't enough, and it shattered his self-image.

  We have all failed, but he couldn't move past his fuck ups. "The Astartes resisted the ruinous influend began to attack the Foul Creature but in the end their strength wasn't enough and they began to fall one by oo my shame, I didn't help, I could barely hold the Rosarius anymore. My prayers were faltering, I failed." He began wailed like a bereft child. He had been vulnerable. Who hasn't been there?

  "When they were all sin, the Daemon turo me and smiled. It said, "Aime false priest. After all you are already mine."" Grais wept. He'd lost his way. Hadn't we all?

  I both felt pity for him, and was furious at his weakness. Nope, I couldn't shake it, but I saw his issues from two different angles. My suspis grew, but I didn't know for sure. However, I had an idea on how to find out.

  I coiled my mana and cast Nature's Blessing on all of us. I shaped it again and sed us, then I gave us all a Regrowth food measure. He flinched from each spell as it washed over him, that was most definitely not the usual rea.

  I could feel it now, his darkness.

  Even the very act of him telling that story was foul. It oison of the soul. Sowing doubt. My sense of his wrongness was growing. He was tainted. I used Blessing of Mankind on all of us.

  His inhuman screams firmed my suspis.