The Endurance, Librarium.
Now.
<+>
Thanks to Hades’ foresight, the entire organic matter within the surrounding zone of the Librarium had been cleared in advance, and the area was locked down. Despite this, a nauseating stench now permeated the space.
Fernando had nearly passed out earlier, but thankfully, Hades had dragged him out of the foul-smelling chamber in time and punched him awake.
‘I know you threw up, but don’t take off your helmet, or you’ll die.’
Hades thought silently as he observed Fernando.
Using the scythe Obituary, Hades tapped Fernando lightly to confirm he was free of contamination. He then found a sealed room at the edge of the quarantined zone, leaving Fernando inside to recover alone.
Although both of their power armor suits had been splattered with some of the pus, the good news was that the substance didn’t appear corrosive. At least, their power armor wouldn’t suffer any immediate damage.
Next, Hades used his helmet’s communication channel to contact Barasine, the First Commander, who had been on standby. He briefly explained the current situation.
There was a long silence on the other end before Barasine’s voice emerged.
“I must admit, I didn’t anticipate this method of attack.”
‘We’ll need to set up a separate ventilation system for this area later.’
“And well done, Hades.”
It seemed Fernando had finally resolved his internal doubts.
However, Barasine was lost in thought.
An entity capable of possessing a Space Marine and extensively altering their body through psychic means—such a thing was new to him.
Was it a form of psychic life?
Or perhaps the Daemon Hades had mentioned?
There was much to do, so Barasine temporarily set aside his questions.
Although he was curious about the details of the battle and how it had unfolded, the immediate priority was to sanitize the area. According to Hades, the lingering stench might carry viruses.
Relying on Hades’ description, Barasine swiftly devised a course of action.
First, he ordered the Second Company to dispatch veteran troops equipped with enhanced respiratory systems to guard the entrances to the quarantined zone, relieving the current personnel on duty.
Next, he instructed the ship’s logistics department to identify two independent ventilation ducts connected only to the Librarium zone.
One duct would be used to vent air at maximum power, while the other would serve as an exhaust to expel the contaminated air directly into space.
Once initial ventilation was complete, Fernando recovered enough to join Barasine and Hades for a brief discussion.
In the end, they decided to abandon the zone entirely and relocate Librarium activities to the next level of the ship.
Large quantities of disinfectant spray and promethium fuel were transported into the quarantined area via sealed and sanitized pipelines.
Finally, Fernando made the decisive call: all books in the Librarium were to be burned, and the entire zone would undergo a final round of cleansing using promethium fuel and incendiary weapons.
Hades sighed silently. Though he was deeply reluctant to burn so many books, it was clear that anything tainted by Nurgle's foulness was no longer fit for use.
‘If only Fernando had confined the Plague Marine somewhere else…’
Fernando, sensing Hades' regret, chuckled over the communication channel, sounding uncharacteristically lighthearted.
"It’s fine. Most of these books wouldn’t have been read by anyone outside the Librarium anyway. The Death Guard’s Librarium was destined to disappear. The Legion Commander’s decision was the right one."
His words carried a practical tone, though he knew the deeper implications.
"Burning them now is merely a more thorough way to erase our presence."
Despite the reassurance, as the Chief Librarian, Fernando had committed the most important texts to memory. Given enough time, he could rewrite them. The ones he hadn’t memorized were either unimportant, overly esoteric, or even heretical.
Exhaustion mixed with regret as Hades instinctively took a deep breath—forgetting that ventilation was still in its early stages. The stench nearly overwhelmed him again, forcing him to choke back the bile rising in his throat.
Before destroying everything, however, there was one last thing to do.
Hades’ voice broke the silence, rough and hoarse.
"Call Mortarion here."
<+>
Barasine blinked, his usually composed demeanor shaken.
The Primarch stood with both hands braced on the comms terminal, his hooded gaze fixed on the screen in front of him. Behind him, Barasine kept his expression neutral, silently willing himself invisible.
‘This is between you two—I’m not involved.’
The screen replayed the footage from Hades’ and Fernando’s helmet recorders.
A chamber inscribed with sorcerous runes, the grotesquely bloated corpse of the Plague Marine, pulsating flesh, splitting seams, and the presence of some bizarrely intelligent entity.
Mortarion had always thought his Xenos foster father was repulsive enough. But this—this was a thousand times worse than anything Necare had shown him.
The sight of the bloated Space Marine left him speechless.
‘Emperor’s mercy… humans can end up like this?’
If Mortarion were ever to transform into something so grotesque, he would choose the ashes of destruction over lingering even a second in such a state.
The recording ended with the final explosion, the screen filled with viscous slime.
Silently, Mortarion shifted his gaze to the live feed showing Hades’ face through his helmet cam.
These simple helmet cameras had once seemed pointless to him.
Now he understood their value.
As Mortarion glared at the feed, Hades’ awkwardly familiar smile filled the screen, halving his anger—or no, doubling it.
‘No, this is Hades. Perhaps he deserves some trust…’
"Explain," Mortarion rasped, his voice carrying the weight of both exasperation and command.
Hades’ carefully maintained smile froze on his face.