Morwen Val's trembling hands unwrapped the burial shroud, soaked in holy oil for ten thousand years, layer by layer.
Her movements were slow, carrying a desperate, almost blasphemous determination.
The final light-blocking layer was peeled away.
A dull, lusterless metal fragment lay quietly in her palm.
It looked ordinary.
It was just a piece of scrap metal.
Its edges were covered in scorch marks left by a Bolter, its surface pitted and scarred, having long since lost all energy readings and divine radiance.
This was the Grand Abbot of Saints' final trump card.
Legend had it that this was a shattered fragment from the golden armor worn by the Emperor during his final battle with Horus.
It was one of the most sacred relics of the Human Empire.
It was also a relic... that had been silent for ten thousand years.
No matter how future generations prayed or offered sacrifices, it had never shown even the slightest miracle.
Just like its master.
Silent.
Cold.
"Prove it to me!"
Morwen Val's voice was hoarse as she held the fragment high, like a drowning person clutching at a final straw, aiming it at Terrania on the throne.
In her eyes, the last of her sanity was being devoured by despair.
If even this relic did not react...
Then her faith of ten thousand years, everything she had just seen, would all be reduced to a colossal joke!
A hoax meticulously woven by a heretic, enough to make her soul completely collapse!
On the bridge, the air froze.
Fogremia's purple eyes narrowed slightly.
Angronia gripped her battle axe.
A hint of tension also flickered in Sanguinia's sky-blue eyes.
This was the final test.
And the biggest gamble.
The reaction of this fragment would determine whether the entire Adepta Sororitas was friend or foe.
However, Terrania's reaction exceeded everyone's expectations.
She did not display any divine power.
Nor did she speak any oracle.
She simply looked at the blackened fragment, her pure golden eyes revealing a pure curiosity, like a child seeing a novel toy.
As well as a hint of... inexplicable familiarity.
As if it were not a cold fragment of a weapon, but a building block she had lost long ago.
She jumped off the throne with her bare little feet.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Every crisp footstep felt like it was stepping on Morwen Val's nerves, which were stretched to their limit.
Terrania walked up to the Grand Abbot of Saints, who was kneeling on the ground.
She tilted her little face up, curiously examining this tearful "big sister."
Then, she extended her own fair, tender little hand, which carried no trace of mortal worldliness.
With the tip of her index finger, she gently tapped on the cold metal fragment.
Just as if touching a pretty pebble.
One second.
Two seconds.
Five seconds...
Nothing happened.
The fragment remained cold.
Still dead silent.
The light in Morwen Val's eyes extinguished at a visible speed.
The last shred of Hope sank into the abyss of despair.
It was fake...
As expected... it was all fake...
Just as she was about to completely collapse, preparing to sound the final alarm to perish together with the heretic—
Thump.
A faint "heartbeat," seemingly from the primordial era, sounded from inside the fragment without warning!
The sound was very soft.
Yet it clearly reached the depths of everyone present's souls!
Morwen Val looked up abruptly, staring at her palm in disbelief!
There, at the spot touched by Terrania's fingertip, on the metal fragment that had been dead silent for ten thousand years...
A pure golden dot, the size of a needle tip, lit up!
The next second.
The light point erupted!
Boom—!!!!
That was not light!
That was a miracle!
That was the pure divine power belonging to the Emperor of Man himself from eons ago, warm, vast, and majestic enough to make the universe tremble; like a supernova that had been building up for ten thousand years, it swept across the entire bridge with unstoppable force!
The golden light was not just illuminating.
It was reshaping!
It reshaped the cold metal bridge into the magnificent dome of the Golden Throne room on Terra!
It reshaped the cold tactical light screens into the epic murals of countless heroes standing tall during the most glorious era of the Human Empire!
It reshaped the cold void portholes into the brilliant galaxy filled with Hope and the future, when humanity first stepped into the sea of stars!
Everyone was shrouded in this light of divinity!
Fogremia saw the reflection of "perfection" filled with expectations in the Emperor's eyes when she was first created!
Angronia felt the gaze filled with "recognition" and "liberation" that the Emperor cast upon her when she was still a gladiator!
Sanguinia trembled all over, as if she had returned to her father's embrace, feeling that purest, warmest fatherly love!
And Morwen Val...
Bathed in the divine light, she was in tears.
She saw it!
She saw the grand ambition of the Emperor leading the twenty Primarchs to conquer the sea of stars!
She saw the banner of humanity planted in every corner of the galaxy!
She saw a glorious golden age without war, without lies, without pain, only knowledge and truth!
That was the root of her faith!
That was what the Human Empire was supposed to be!
All doubts, all confusion, all struggles, in this unquestionable divine radiance originating from ten thousand years ago, vanished into thin air!
Completely shattered!
"Hum—"
The metal fragment, after bursting with sunlight-like radiance, slowly and automatically floated up from Morwen Val's palm.
It no longer flew toward anyone else.
Instead, like a fledgling bird returning to its nest, it affectionately and gently circled Terrania's little hand, flying slowly.
It was cheering.
It was rejoicing.
It was welcoming its true master... after a ten-thousand-year absence!
The miracle was irrefutable!
The truth was revealed!
"Thump—"
Morwen Val could no longer hold herself up.
She relaxed her fingers, which were spasming from excitement, and facing Terrania, facing the fragment radiating endless divine light, she used all her strength to perform the most ancient, most devout, and long-lost kowtow of the Human Empire!
Her magnificent helmet struck the cold deck heavily, emitting a dull, loud sound.
The ten-thousand-year-old ice had completely melted.
The ten-thousand-year-old exhaustion had found a harbor.
The ten-thousand-year-old quest ended here.
She used the faith of a lifetime, from the deepest part of her soul, to let out a cry of ecstasy and filial longing that spanned ten thousand years!
The voice no longer addressed the cold "God-Emperor."
Instead, it was like a child who had finally found their father!
"My Majesty..."
"My... Father!"
At this moment, the Grand Abbot of Saints of the Human Empire died.
In her place, the first and most fanatical... Saint under the Genesis Sisterhood was born.
On the bridge, the golden light slowly dissipated.
Everything returned to normal.
Only the fragment, which had regained its luster, floated quietly in front of Terrania, emitting a soft, affectionate halo.
Leticia looked at this scene of complete submission, a satisfied smile on her face.
She walked forward slowly.
She walked up to Morwen Val, who was still prostrate on the ground, her body trembling violently from excitement.
Her voice was calm, yet carried an unquestionable authority belonging to a deity.
"Now, Grand Abbot."
A meaningful arc curled at the corners of Leticia's mouth.
"Shall we talk about the future of the Human Empire?"
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