While the Inquisition was operating secretly, the Gray Knights also made their own "new discoveries."
The display screen was empty, but the monotonous voice of the servitor boomed from the audio system in the room. A sword brother stood aside, listening to the transmission and looking at his commander.
Joan Herald sat on a huge metal chair, listening to the report intently with a cold expression.
"...The Astral Knights and Dark Angels have just dealt heavy losses to the enemy, but there are still some remnants left behind."
The roar of artillery fire intermittently disturbed the servitor's words.
Then, the Gray Knight mentor snorted heavily and leaned forward.
"anything else."
"Sir, there are some things you need to see."
A signal interrupted communications, replaced by images of a destroyed cityscape.
"This is a live feed from a scout who discovered these at coordinates BH1-12."
The building in the picture is built of red bricks, covered with plaster and painted in bright colors.
Most of the ruins are just piles of rubble a few stories high, with only a staircase or chimney standing here and there, next to the twisted metal skeleton of a taller building, and the ground is full of pits.
As the focus of the picture moves, the photographer becomes slower and slower.
He advanced over the rubble of a collapsed house, and here and there a limb or face protruded from the shattered, charred bricks.
Soon, Joan Herald noticed something else beyond the ruins.
It was hard to make out at first, obscured by distance, smoke and dust obscuring the view - something pale, towering over the flattened city.
The Gray Knight mentor manipulated the console, and the picture was enlarged to the entire display screen, making the thing look taller.
"It must be half a kilometer high."
The Purifier narrowed his eyes and said:
"what?"
Joan Herald remained silent and watched this scene with squinted eyes.
A sudden acceleration, an auxiliary jump, brings the Scout closer to the target.
His companions jumped beside him, fifty meters at a time, three more times, and then the procession stopped.
There was no sound coming from the communications channel, but it was clear they were disturbed.
The team members exchanged glances with each other, and some even pointed at each other.
The screen was zoomed in, and the instructor took a quick breath from between his teeth.
This tower is made of skeletons. There are one thousand, ten thousand, one hundred thousand, and the number is too large to be described.
The skull was dotted with terrifying spiers, and as the magnification increased again, Joan Herald could even make out the letters formed by the tiny bones in the fingers and ears.
He couldn't read what they were saying, and he didn't need to.
"Protect this area for my arrival."
Joan Herald's voice sounded like a whisper to the Purifier.
Soon, the Gray Knights set out collectively and left the garrison camp without saying hello to anyone.
Up close, the tower is even more disgusting.
The stench of corpses and dried blood was carried to Joan Herald in the eerie breeze, and rubble crunched under his feet as he approached the grotesque building.
He raised his head and squinted in the bright sunlight.
The clear summer weather makes the Monument of Death even more eerie, and in the distance, other slender, opalescent digits stretch into a cloudless indigo sky, a landscape that should be shrouded in darkness and storm rather than bathed in warm sunlight.
"It gets worse."
The Purifier's voice is very plain.
"Worse?"
The Gray Knight mentor whispered, fingers curling into fists at his sides.
"There's nothing worse than Madelle escaping from her cage."
"Is this what Mardel did?"
Purifier Zekfried asked, unable to take his eyes off the tower.
The scout then led them to the nearest building, a tall arched doorway through which the Gray Knights could enter without hindrance.
Parts of the body were found inside, most of the skin stretched like a tapestry around the frame of the ossuary, still veined and tinted, carefully removed from the victim, and the rotting entrails hung like ornaments, drawn
Disturbing geometries and twisting letter shapes.
"No."
The mentor was answering Zikfrid's previous question. His eyes moved around the tower, taking in everything, forcing himself to examine the bloody works of the Word Bearers.
"This requires a lot of labor. Abaddon will not obey the orders of a demon. No matter how powerful it was before, Mardel is still just a lost dog."
Joan Herald's eyes became sharper, and his thoughts were brought back to the present.
"This... ritual, this is not just the horror itself, it serves a certain purpose. We have seen some things that cannot be understood normally. This is part of the new reality."
"Has Abaddon joined forces with Mardel?"
"This possibility does exist. In order to leave this cage, it will definitely make many promises."
The Gray Knight mentor nodded slowly and turned to give orders to the others.
"But guessing is not enough."
At this time, a Gray Knight presented the remote communication device to the mentor.
"Second Strike Team Report."
He said, handing the bulky device to the instructor.
Joan Herald turned on the instrument, and there was a slight delay in the image, so the lips of the soldier inside did not move in response to his voice.
"Grand Master, we found an altar twelve kilometers away to the west. There are obvious traces of demons on it, and there are many demons wandering around. We suspect that this is a 'nest'."
"clear."
Joan Herald thought for a while and then said:
"You are on standby first, we will arrive soon. Always pay attention to whether the target appears. If it appears, we will intercept it as soon as possible."
"yes."
At this time, Jikfrid on the side suddenly interjected:
"Should I say hello to the Astral Knight? I'm worried that there will be some misunderstandings if I leave quietly like this."
Joan Herald shook his head indifferently.
"The fewer people who know about this, the better."
The Purifier thought for a while and silently admitted that this was indeed the case. After all, using a planet as a prison for demons would attract a lot of malicious eyes once it was spread.
Mardel is a difficult opponent. They cannot completely eliminate or banish it. The best way is to continue to seal it.
The Grand Master of the Gray Knights has also made plans long ago. After the war is over, except for the Astartes, all the people and planet residents who participated in the war will not be left alive!