AI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
This is the situation the Four Gods least want to see, so they will be more proactive than Nios in preventing the birth of psykers on Colchis.
This is just like the Death Guard who were corrupted in the mainstream history; although Nurgle turned the Death Guard into putrid, filthy bags, their gene-seed was incredibly pure, and they even had special sterile operating rooms for cultivating new recruits.
Pure gene-seed was for cultivating more putrid, filthy bags, and a seemingly normal Colchis was also for brewing a larger conspiracy.
What if one day, on Colchis, a land ruled by the Covenant faith for thousands of years, such an existence suddenly appeared—
His violet eyes shimmered with a divine halo like stars, as if they could penetrate the boundaries between the mundane and the sacred.
When the Covenant warrior's bullets tore through the air and whizzed towards him, he merely raised a slender finger, and the bullets became suspended in an invisible amber, vibrating and humming in pale blue Warp ripples.
He even forgave the warriors who shot at him; his benevolence was no different from the four prophets of legend.
What would these Covenant believers, with their devout yet harmless faith, take him for?
"A miracle! A prophet!"
"A heretic! A traitor!"
The Covenant warriors split. Esperia knelt on one knee, trembling, and half of the warriors followed her down. But in the eyes of the other half, a fervent rage burned, and they shouted "Heretic!" as they fired at Logar.
"Bang!"
Gun muzzles spat flames, emitting sharp, cracking sounds. Bullets shot through the air but suddenly halted before Logar, solidified in pale blue Warp ripples.
The Covenant warriors' eyes widened in astonishment, watching their own bullets reverse direction within the Warp ripples. The metal warheads shrieked as they tore through the air, returning precisely along their original trajectories.
The Covenant warriors' heads burst open one after another like ripe fruit, and their bodies fell consecutively like cut stalks of wheat.
Esperia trembled even more violently, transitioning from kneeling on one knee to prostrating herself.
"Oh, Great One, forgive me!"
She prostrated herself on the scorching sand, her voice trembling as she squeezed out this prayer.
If Logar had not preached 'atheism' just now, but instead proclaimed himself a messenger of God, Worp believed all the Covenant warriors would have knelt.
But if Logar had done that, it would have betrayed Worp's teachings.
The dead warriors were unrepentant because of his heretical words, while the kneeling warriors were caught in a vortex of self-doubt.
They firmly believed Logar was the Fifth Prophet, but why would a prophet deny the gods?
It must be because their faith was not devout enough; this was all a test for them!
Logar's gaze fell on the kneeling female commander; he had anticipated all of this.
The people of Colchis had knelt for too long; they had forgotten how to stand up.
He would teach them the correct way to understand the world. Although this could not be changed overnight, he would not deceive them.
Logar: "Stand up."
Esperia slowly straightened her body, but even her magnificent power armor could not stop her trembling.
"Oh God, we are sinful."
She lowered her head, not daring to look directly at the saint's face.
"I am not God."
Logar's voice clearly reached everyone's ears, "Nor should you believe in God. Faith is a shackles that binds mortals. I am here to free you from those shackles, not to put new ones on you!"
Erebus stood on the deck. He softly said, "A God, using miracles to tell people not to believe in God, Teacher, don't you find that very ironic?"
Worp turned to look at Erebus, then looked at Logar below. He was certain he saw Nios's shadow on Logar.
Now, not only their appearance, but even their actions were identical.
Worp sighed: "It's sad, isn't it? Humanity's situation is even sadder. Logar has done very well."
The Imperium's methods for promoting the imperial truth were crude, basically overthrowing local religious temples in one fell swoop and then forcing you to accept the imperial truth.
This would leave countless hidden dangers. The temples were torn down, but the followers of Chaos had not all died; they had merely hidden deeper.
And the miracles often displayed by the Emperor himself further fueled the corrupt trend of faith. Even without the Word Bearers, the birth of the Imperial Cult would not have been surprising.
But not doing so was also not an option; the Imperium lacked time more than anything.
The Great Crusade only lasted two hundred years because the Imperium only had two hundred years. After two hundred years, regardless of whether the Primarchs had a grand birthday celebration or not, a Warp storm would sweep across the galaxy.
This is like the eternal paradox faced by the development of human civilization: stability, efficiency, and precision form an impossible triangle that cannot be achieved simultaneously.
To pursue stability and efficiency, precision must be sacrificed. Therefore, the Emperor abandoned fine-tuning the Primarchs, accepting the deviations that might occur during their growth.
To pursue precision and stability, efficiency must be sacrificed. This would severely delay the Great Crusade, giving the Chaos Gods more opportunities.
To have both efficiency and precision makes stability difficult. Simultaneously fighting on both internal and external fronts would make the Imperium of Man system incredibly fragile.
Efficiency could not be sacrificed under any circumstances, so the Emperor chose to sacrifice precision between stability and precision; this was the least harmful of the three.
Anyway, as long as the Emperor was still there, those threats ignored due to insufficient precision were only minor ailments to the Imperium.
Once the Great Crusade ended and the Imperium of Man unified the galaxy, the Emperor could take the time to clear these stubborn diseases, which is why the Four Gods had to confine the Emperor to the toilet.
Logar climbed the stairs back to the deck. While he was below, he heard Erebus speaking ill of him behind his back, but Worp's defense made him very happy, so he decided not to bother Erebus for now.
"What's the difference between forcing them to stand up with a gun and forcing them to kneel with a gun?"
Logar asked Erebus.
Erebus shook his head: "No difference, both are forced."
"No, they stood up. That's the difference."
Logar's voice suddenly deepened, yet it carried greater penetrative power, "They must first stand up, then I can make them understand why humans should stand, instead of making them kneel to listen to me tell them they should stand up!"
Erebus listened to his resounding declaration, slightly dazed.
Logar had found his path, because he was a Primarch. The Emperor had already laid the foundation for them when he created them; they were born with knowledge, and only needed a little guidance to set them on the right path.
Erebus was still lost. He had lost his faith, and he also believed Worp, but he hadn't yet decided which path he should take.
Logar turned to Akhida and ordered, "Akhida, restart the engines. Follow the convoy; they will take us to Atlantis."
"Yes, my Lord."
Akhida lowered his head to conceal his fervent gaze, which contained the zealous fire of faith, but not entirely.
The landship's steam engine roared loudly. The Covenant's centipede Crawlers became the landship's escort, heading towards the walls of Atlantis.
The Crawlers signaled with flags, and warriors climbed out of the gun turrets, shouting to the guards on the watchtowers: "Open the gates!"
Although the guards were surprised by the arrival of the landship and the brief gunshots from the sand, they still carried out the order.
Because Esperia was the Armorer Deacon, all the guards in this city were under her command.
There was nothing to worry about; surely the Armorer Deacon wouldn't betray the Covenant, would she?
Atlantis's fortress was built of red stone and black gold; even the largest caliber shells would have difficulty breaching the city gates. Without Esperia's defection, Logar would have had to climb the city walls by hand, like his brother who tore open an elevator with his bare hands, kill all the guards, and then open the gates from the inside.
He didn't like that; it was too crude.
His brother didn't think of Worp at all. It was fine for them to tear open elevators and climb city walls, but they shouldn't make Worp suffer with them.
Unlike him, he would only feel for Worp.
"Esperia!"
An enraged Pastor Falun arrived at the gate, escorted by guards, and angrily confronted the female commander who had disembarked, "Do you know what you are doing? Pastor Falun has been expelled by the Covenant! We are servants of the Covenant, and where we are is sacred ground. How can you allow a false believer to desecrate sacred ground!"
This Pastor Falun did not yet know that Pastor Falun had been deprecated, and even his ashes had been scattered. He was judging the owner of this landship based on the landship itself.
In the Covenant, the Archbishop's status was supreme, followed by Pastors and Deacons.
Pastors spread doctrine, and Deacons wielded military power.
The Pastor's status was higher than the Deacon's, which is why he dared to angrily question Esperia.
"You lowly..."
Esperia removed her helmet, and the Pastor's voice caught in his throat.
The Pastor was astonished to find Esperia's porcelain-like cheeks flushed unnaturally with anger, and her meticulously trimmed eyebrows were furrowed into sharp arcs.
Even more alarming to him was that her eyes, which always used to be downcast in submission, were now staring directly at him, with an unextinguishable fire of rage flickering deep within her amber pupils.
"You are accused of heresy, of insulting the Prophet, an unforgivable sin!"
Her warriors raised their weapons, pointing at the Pastor and his guards, while she raised her pistol, pointing directly at the Pastor.
"I will purify your body, and the Gods will judge your soul."
Without giving the Pastor a chance to argue, the female commander and her warriors fired together. Gunshots crackled, and bullets pierced through the Pastor's luxurious robe, exploding into dozens of bowl-sized blood holes in his back.
His guards were unprepared. Before they could even draw their weapons, they were torn to shreds by the dense hail of fire.
Blood spread in grotesque patterns on the sand, quickly evaporating into dark red scabs in the high heat.
Esperia stepped on the Pastor's corpse, shot him once more in the head, and spat.
"It's because of people like you that the Prophet refuses to acknowledge our faith!"
Logar jumped off the platform. He looked at the valiant female commander in silence.
"My God."
Esperia's voice was as soft as a mosquito's hum, like a frightened, anxious small animal, "Did I do something wrong?"
Esperia's cautious question made Logar even more silent, because he recalled the scene of his first meeting with Worp, and his feelings at that time were identical to Esperia's now.
"I am not God."
Logar reiterated.
"Yes, my God... My Lord."
Esperia corrected herself under his intimidating gaze.
Logar was helpless with her behavior, but he couldn't kill her, so he could only dilute her fanaticism with commands.
"Gather all believers and slaves. Collect all Covenant scriptures in this city. I want to preach to them."
"My Lord."
Esperia said worriedly, "Those slaves are not worthy to hear your holy words; they will defile your sanctity!"
Logar's gaze pierced the female commander's heart like a sword, making her tremble with excitement.
"Esperia, I do not want to hear such words from you again. I believe all people are born equal, only with different duties. The Covenant divides us into ranks - Pastors, believers, slaves - this is merely a lie they fabricated to maintain their rule!"
"Yes, my Lord."
Esperia lowered her head. She worshipped the Gods and served the Gods, not the Covenant.
The reason the Prophet denied their faith must be because the Covenant had betrayed its original intention; they were unworthy of the Gods' favor!
Fortunately, she had seen the error of her ways; she still had a chance to be gazed upon by the Gods!
"My Lord, you can preach to them over the broadcast."
Esperia said.
Logar shook his head: "Find an open space. I want them to see me with their own eyes."
Esperia dared not defy Logar. All the slaves and believers of Atlantis gathered in the open space in the city center according to the broadcast's command.
In front of the crowd, warriors were carefully piling scriptures into small mountains.
The landship was parked there, and Logar stood on the deck, looking down upon the multitude.
He turned to look at Worp, who stood at the boundary between shadow and light, with an encouraging smile on his face.
Logar turned back contentedly to look at the multitude, and the multitude was also looking at him.
Even those a thousand meters away, who could barely make out Logar's figure, could still clearly see the divinity contained within his violet eyes!
"Prophet!"
Esperia and the other believers prostrated themselves together, their foreheads pressed against the scorching sand. Her delicate skin was red from the heat, but her eyes held only fervent faith.
The crowd knelt one after another like waves of wheat, the crisp clinking of the slaves' metal shackles forming a continuous sound. Their brown backs rose and fell under the scorching sun, like dunes swept by the wind in the desert.
Logar could see their fanaticism, and his eyes were filled with sadness because of it. This was why he wanted to free them.
"Slaves of Atlantis, hear my words."
"I am Logar. I am neither a Prophet, nor a messenger, nor a God!"