novelraw Chapter 210: Judgment
Chapter 210: Judgment
While the crowd was still paralyzed by astonishment.
In the very next second, the Arbitrator drew his pistol from its holster and aimed it squarely at the Bishop—prior to this, Barov had never actually been held at gunpoint.
The Bishop felt a sudden warmth spreading through his trousers; he realized he had just soiled himself. He felt profound shame over the fact that facing a gun barrel could actually cause him such terror and panic.
"By the authority vested in me by the Departmento Justitiae and Chapter Master Soshyan of the Astral Knights Chapter, I hereby relieve Bishop Barov of his duties as Overseer."
"N-no..."
Amidst his screaming, the pistol let out a thunderous roar. Three bullets pierced straight through Barov's forehead and exploded out the back of his skull.
Barov's massive, obese body was thrown heavily backward onto the floor, crushing his chair beneath him.
Immediately following, three spent casings fell onto the marble floor, letting out a melodious clinking sound. Smoke was still softly curling from the pistol's muzzle even before it was returned to its holster.
The Arbitrator stepped forward alongside the edge of the table, his heavy boot-steps echoing back and forth throughout the grand hall.
Subsequently, he casually shoved the Bishop's corpse aside with his heel, righted a chair, and sat down at the table."My first command: all local Planetary Defence Force units are to withdraw into the Hive City."
The Arbitrator stated directly to all the pale-faced people staring at him in fear and shock:
"Sever all traffic entering and exiting the Hive City. Establish armed checkpoints along all major thoroughfares, and declare an indefinite curfew! Any individual found on the streets after the curfew begins will be shot on sight!"
Several Planetary Defence Force representatives exchanged glances before nodding in agreement one after another.
"Second, clear the mining sectors. Forcibly evacuate all miners from the mining sectors and establish distributed concentration camps. Without my explicit order, absolutely no one is permitted to leave!"
"But—"
The guild representatives immediately voiced a dissenting opinion.
"This will definitively affect the production quotas for the next quarter."
As he spoke, the guild representative cast a glance toward the Adeptus Mechanicus representative standing not far away, who kept emitting a faint ticking sound. That individual was almost entirely shrouded in red robes, with only the occasional red mechanical glint visible beneath his hood.
"Production quotas cannot be permitted to suffer interference."
Following this, an entirely emotionless, mechanized male voice spoke from beneath the hood. The representative from Gryphonne IV maintained a considerably hardline stance.
"The production quotas of the Adeptus Mechanicus will not be affected."
The Arbitrator looked toward the guild representative.
"The local guilds still possess surplus inventory; transfer all of it to fulfill the Adeptus Mechanicus's production quotas."
"S-sir! This... this is blatant robbery! You absolutely have no right to do this!"
Facing the flushed face and furious glare of the guild representative, the Arbitrator merely laughed mockingly and slammed his gun onto the table.
"Ask this, and it will tell you whether I have the right to do this or not."
"You—!"
The guild representative looked back at the Adeptus Mechanicus representative, seemingly hoping the other party would step forward to speak a word of justice.
However, that damned cyborg merely replied with an utterly emotionless sentence...
"As long as the production quotas remain unaffected, I, and the Forge World I represent, have no other opinions whatsoever."
"My Lord!"
The guild representative turned toward the Departmento Munitorum official, but as a seasoned bureaucrat, whatever other abilities the man might lack, he certainly knew how to read the wind—and was quite adept at it, too.
From the Arbitrator's action of executing Barov, he could already clearly see that the man had definitely obtained the full support of the Space Marines.
Since that was the case, there was no need to bring trouble upon himself.
"Ahem, well... given how incredibly difficult the current situation is, everyone should unite as one. Setting aside personal gains and losses, we must all make contributions and sacrifices to stabilize the situation."
This exquisite bureaucratic response instantly shut the guild representative up.
Seeing that the other party could finally find no saviors to call upon, the Arbitrator smiled and continued announcing his orders.
"Contact the remaining Hive Cities. Command their defense units to return to the city borders immediately, and inform them to be prepared to respond to potential xenos actions at any time."
His gaze swept across the entire table, his eyes exceedingly stern.
"We have a lot of work to accomplish, and the Astartes have not come here to play these petty political games with us. They came here to bring this world back under order in the name of the God-Emperor, to prevent a catastrophe. To achieve this, they will not hesitate to use any means necessary... If anyone drags their feet, the consequences may be extremely severe. I hope everyone is mentally prepared."
Barov's blood had already pooled into a puddle beneath him. Complete silence enveloped the grand hall.
No one dared to move. The pungent scent of gun smoke mixed heavily with the raw stench of blood.
"Saphonius is currently standing on the very brink of destruction."
The Arbitrator stood up.
"And you gentlemen present here are its sole lingering hope for salvation."
Just as the meeting was reaching its conclusion, the highly scrutinized Astral Knights Chapter had already completely vanished from the public's sight.
With the assistance of the Departmento Justitiae, the ten-man Space Marine squad entered Mining Sector 14 through a secret passage.
As the squad navigated the dark tunnels and refineries hidden beneath the city, Soshyan gained a profound new understanding of just how fragile humanity's existence truly was upon this planet.
All around him were massive cooling pipes designed to ensure the promethium flowing within them wouldn't instantly detonate in the scorching air.
Although the technology of Gryphonne IV was trustworthy, to Soshyan, the threat level posed by the xenos surrounding the city paled in comparison to the underground facilities themselves.
He could not guess exactly how much promethium flowed through those pipelines, but its sheer volume had to be staggering.
Soshyan had hoped the underground temperatures would be a bit lower, but the Servitors of the Adeptus Mechanicus utilized the ventilation fans and exhaust vents strictly at a bare minimum—perhaps maintaining a low oxygen environment within this massive complex was intentionally designed to keep the promethium more stable.
The underground corridors and tunnels were incredibly cramped and claustrophobic, providing just barely enough space for workers to operate the refineries and lay the pipelines. The towering Space Marines walking through them felt exceedingly suppressed.
Some walls had been reinforced with concrete and granite, while the rest remained entirely exposed as rough, bare rock.
In every single corner, Servitors meticulously executed their assigned tasks, without showing the slightest reaction even as the Space Marines strode past them.
The scent of motor oil and unguents radiating from their bodies was even stronger than the smell of sweat.
The low hum of machinery mixed together with the roaring rumble from the massive transport pipelines, echoing incessantly throughout the tunnels.
The refinery equipment and instrument panels served as the sole sources of illumination, radiating artificial blood-red light so incredibly faint it was barely visible.
They had already been walking for several hours, but there was still a considerable distance remaining to their target destination.
The ultimate goal of this expedition was precisely to confirm both the underground xenos threat and the actual situation regarding this so-called Raven Lord. Soshyan did not intend to alert the enemy, and thus he had firmly chosen to avoid utilizing the far more rapid vertical shaft networks—he had absolutely no desire to step blindly into a trap.
"Over here."
He led the squad cautiously, covertly, and rapidly through a section of tunnel entirely exposed to bare rock. The warriors followed directly behind him, constantly scanning the entire area in search of any traces left by the xenos.
All of them had to exercise extreme caution in anticipating a sudden attack from the enemy, while also being incredibly careful when discharging their firearms.
Because a single errant movement or an accidental misfire could completely rupture a transport pipeline and instantly detonate a massive stockpile of promethium, roasting them alive entirely within their own armor.