The Bizarre Adventures of the Oil Man, but Starting with Warhammer 32K

No means could stop the assassin Iverson from charging into the Skitarii. A forbidden enhancement potion granted her temporary speed surpassing that of an Astartes. With a flash of her power sword, an entire squadron of Skitarii was decapitated.

"Stop him!"

The priests shouted, but no one dared to step forward.

Everyone knew that Iverson's death would trigger an explosion of ultra-high-temperature acid that was powerful enough to melt through ordinary refined gold. Even if someone rushed up and killed her, those who tried to stop her would have no chance of survival.

You won’t learn much in a month on Mars, so why bother?

The priests' hesitation gave Iverson the assassin the best opportunity. In a matter of seconds, she had reached the vehicle carrying the Casting General, and with brute force, she opened the vehicle's door and came face to face with Kubik.

"In the name of Wangorich, Kubik, your death will serve as a warning to all High Lords!"

The Iverson Assassin roared and announced the end of the Forged General.

Kubik, who had been extremely wary of the assassination attempts by the Assassin's Court before all this began, simply watched Iverson's assassination calmly. Although he had the strength to resist, he had no desire to do so.

He was dead the moment he failed, and he didn't care whether it was the sages or the Assassin's Court who carried out the execution.

The Iverson Assassin raised his melta grenade, intending to end his life with her in a spectacular explosion, but a grenade was thrown at the assassin's feet before the melta exploded.

There was no explosion, no bright light, but Iverson's movements were strangely slow after the grenade exploded, and the thermite grenade with the pull ring pulled was stuck at the moment very close to detonation.

"Status grenade?"

Kubik certainly recognized this equipment, which could only be produced by a few Forge Worlds: "It is not produced by Forge Worlds."

"As long as it's useful, I can use it if I think of it."

Occam, emerging from the shadows, replied, looking at Kubik with interest: "How does it feel to have your life saved, Lord Forge General?"

Kubik didn't answer, but Ockham didn't care. He directed the Thousand Sons sorcerer beside him to take action, while Koda carefully used his psychic power to remove the melta grenade from the stasis field.

Seeing that the assassin's danger was resolved, the priests' tense nerves relaxed immediately.

"Astartes? Did the people from the Final Wall come to support us first?"

They gathered together, trying to figure out what was going on. But Koda, who had taken out the melta bomb, raised his hand and threw the grenade into the gathered crowd.

The priests and the Crusaders opened their eyes wide, but were unable to dodge.

"Boom!"

The exploding molten metal engulfed the already small convoy.

"Wait a minute, we are not enemies, we are here to negotiate!"

The priests tried to explain their identities, but Malik and Efron ruthlessly cut off their heads.

"That's right, so we must first clear the obstacles before the negotiations."

The Assassin's Court attack and the Astartes' backstab finally caused the convoy to collapse. Ockham and his men simply used bolter ammunition to annihilate their last resistance.

Seeing their actions, Kubik's expression finally began to come alive.

"You are the Astartes who rescued Leon in Lava City. You can't be from the Final Wall. Who are you?"

"Our identities are not important. What matters is how you demonstrate your attitude. If your answer satisfies my employer, you will still be the King of Mars."

Kubik felt his heart being gripped. This sentence struck a deep sore spot in his logic, causing the oil in his body, which had long been stagnant, to start pumping again.

"What do you mean?"

"Koda, use your psychic powers to knock this Iverson assassin unconscious. We'll need her later. Malik, you drive. We need to get back to Leon as soon as possible. As for you, Lord Casting General, you just wait. We'll have a lot to discuss."

The Expunged warband hijacked the carrier and drove the Forge-General towards the Astra Militarum station. When Martian reinforcements arrived, they found only the bodies of the convoy.

When they found that Kubik was the only one missing among the corpses on the ground, Kubik had already arrived at the base and met with Kurland, Hayes and Leon.

The situation seemed to have returned to the same state as when Leon and Kubik first arrived on Mars, except that this time it was no longer Kubik who was in a superior position.

Leon folded his arms across his chest, examining the Casting General who seemed to have grasped hope.

"It's been a long time, Lord Kubik. I hope the opening ceremony before our reunion wasn't too exciting for you."

Chapter 201: As long as we keep going, the road to Mars will continue to extend...

"Leon..."

Looking at the sage before him, Kubik couldn't tell whether the emotion in his logic was anticipation or bitterness.

From the moment he realized that the teleportation plan was planned by the Dark Mechanicus, Kubik knew that his ambitions had been shattered and that Mars was destined to never regain its pre-heresy glory under his leadership.

This was a problem he had created himself, but Leon's actions made him make more mistakes than ever before. In the end, not only the transmission plan, but even his position as the Casting General was no longer possible.

"I suppose you have a lot to talk to me about?"

Leon asked.

"There are indeed many, but the most important thing is, why did you send someone to bring me here?"

"We are negotiating after all, aren't we? We are negotiating with the Forge General, not a puppet controlled by the Forge Council."

If it had been a hint before, it was now explicit. Kubik was excited, yet afraid that he had harbored undue expectations.

"I no longer have the power to cast a general. This is a fact."

“Sometimes a name can accomplish a lot.”

Leon listed the powers of the Foundry Director, selected the item "When the Foundry World is in a state of crisis, the Foundry Director has the right to issue a request for help and a call to arms to all imperial forces", and threw it in front of Kubik.

Kubik immediately understood what Leon meant.

Since the failure, he had imagined many possibilities, but he didn't expect that the opportunity would lie with Li Ang.

Perhaps it was his remaining self-esteem that made him stubbornly retort: ​​"Mars will not accept this condition."

"But you'll accept it."

"What's the point of me accepting it? I can no longer influence Mars' decision."

"What if we add the Astartes and the Astra Militarum?"

Kurland was tempted, but felt it was ridiculous.

As a foundry general, he actually had to rely on external forces to seize the right to speak in the foundry meeting?

But it seems to work.

Kubik's breathing quickened at the thought. Only a lingering doubt in his logic left him with a final lingering concern.

"Issuing a request for assistance under the pretext of a state of crisis doesn't fit the current situation, nor is it a reason that would convince the Foundry Council..."

"So we'll deal with those priests who pretended to be escorting you but actually kidnapped you, right? We don't need common sense, nor do we need to convince the Foundry Council. All we need is a pretext, a way to achieve a fait accompli."

Li Ang showed the information he had prepared in advance, and in turn "interpreted" the situation on Mars for General Zhuxing.

"The effects of the plague code haven't been completely eliminated, and Mars won't be able to resume normal production for a long time. How can this not be considered a state of emergency for the Holy Land of Om Messiah? Furthermore, the corrupted teleporter is nowhere to be found; perhaps it's still hidden somewhere on Mars. To prevent further attacks, why can't you, in your name, request that the Astartes and the Astra Militarum remain on Mars to assist in the defense against a new round of Chaos attacks?"

Leon approached Kubik, and his words were more tempting to Kubik than those of the four vendors.

"Think, Lord Kubik, think more. The people who were originally responsible for monitoring you have been eliminated by us through the hands of the Assassin's Court. Now that you are the only one here, who can take away your right to interpret the scriptures?"

Thinking begins to collapse and logic begins to fall apart.

Leon's emphasis on the Casting General reminded Kubik of his former glory as the King of Mars. He would never give up this position if he had the chance.

His gaze passed over Leon and looked at Kurland and Hayes who said nothing and let Leon do what he wanted.

"You...or rather, the Ultimate Wall and the Empire, what do you want?"

Kurland said, "We need a force that is well-equipped, well-supplied, and ready to attack the Battle Moon at any time."

The destroyed knight families have become nutrients for the Iron Pilots. The remaining 600,000 Crusaders are still on track, but this amount of manpower can no longer satisfy the appetite of Leon and Kurland.

If they want to resolve the crisis on Terra as quickly as possible, they have to let Mars contribute more to this war.

Kubik was a little bit incredulous. She had thought these people would at least ask for something to use against Mars or him, but she didn't expect them to just want soldiers.

Can this little thing be exchanged for keeping his position as the Casting General?

His original worries vanished. "I still have two million Skitarii under my direct command. I only need to keep those who can maintain the situation. The rest will obey your command and launch an attack on the Battle Moon."

“When will these troops be ready?”

Hayes confirmed.

"As long as the situation on Mars stabilizes, they will be ready to follow you. If I cannot maintain this position, control of these Skitarii will be divided among the Forge Council."

"Of course you will always be the King of Mars."

At Leon's signal, Cooper walked in. The Iron Captain, who had previously wanted to seek help from Mars, had become Leon's loyal fan.

Three hundred Iron Hands and their Titans were already lined up outside the gate, ready to escort Kubik back to the Forge Council.

"General Casting, the car is ready."

Leon's arrangement made Kubik feel shocked and satisfied at the same time. He was even a little glad that he did not stand against Leon this time.

Yes, failure once or twice is not terrible.

It doesn't matter whether he achieves his goal this time or not. As long as he can keep moving forward, the path he takes to lead the Mechanicus towards glory will continue to extend...!

The brief but fruitful negotiation concluded. Kubik followed Cooper out, intending to return to the Foundry Council as quickly as possible. However, upon leaving, he discovered a group of priests and their crusaders blocking the entrance.

"We want to retrieve the Casting Generals! You brought them here by force!"

"What is this nonsense?"

Isaga, who was in charge of blocking visitors outside the door, asked in return, "Shouldn't the Casting General be here to negotiate?"

"That's right! But that's not right..."

The priests who wanted to retrieve the man were speechless for a moment, as they were worried that the Casting General, who had gone in alone, would escape their control. As they were arguing about their next move, they discovered that Kubik had already stood before them.

He shook off his previous slump and walked with renewed vigor.

The most important thing was that he was actually accompanied by Astartes and knight mechas. The priests looked at the Casting General in front of them in surprise, realizing that things had changed beyond their control.

"We have finished our discussion. Let's return to the Foundry Council."

He ordered without question.

A few priests wanted to ask questions, but the muzzles of the Astartes' guns and the shadows cast by the Tiantu-class Titans made them wisely shut up.

The Crusaders who had originally come to demand punishment were thus swept up and became part of the Casting General's entourage, returning to the Casting Council in a mighty force.

“Are we asking for too little?”

Looking at the Casting General who left in high spirits, Hayes asked Leon.

The High Lord took a long-term view: "This matter is essentially about a grudge against the Casting General. He won't appreciate your help. Once he's freed from the power struggle on Mars, he'll absolutely spare no effort to make things difficult for you."

Leon shrugged: "It doesn't matter. I won't be in Terra by then."

Leon knew very well that the reason why negotiations were so easy now was mainly because Kubik wanted to keep his position. Secondly, Mars had not yet recovered from Vashtor's attack, and the other sages on Mars did not want to resort to direct violence.

They did not have the ability to kill Mars in one blow, and this action was just a result of Vashtor's help.

Even if he takes this opportunity to get a blank check, given the oil man's reputation, he will tear up the check as soon as he comes to his senses.

This is why Leon wanted to keep General Zhuo. If someone else were to negotiate, Mars might not even be willing to give up the army.

Mars is willing to negotiate with them only if they are unwilling to lose more. If they damage the common interests of Mars, those disunited oilmen will stick together.

Not to mention that there are a bunch of weird weapons buried underground on Mars that even the oil man can't figure out. Just the fact that the Titan Legion has not suffered any losses is there. No matter what, Leon can't really turn against Mars.

"That's enough. We just need to wait for this negotiation to bear fruit."

There were brief cries of fighting from the Temple of the Myriad Gods, but they soon faded away. The Pilots' aggressive approach effectively silenced any Sages who dared to speak out in opposition.

Kubik quickly took control of the situation and issued a request for assistance to the Last Wall and the Astra Militarum before the Sages could react.

The Astra Militarum, who had been ready for action for a long time, immediately drove their siege tanks to the outskirts of several forge hives to support Kubik. Most of the Martian priests "welcomed the royal army" with a bewildered look on their faces.

After the fact was established, those fence-sitters who had abandoned Kubik quickly turned back to him.

Thanks to the fact that Kubik's fall from power was not long ago, the wise men had not had time to completely eliminate his influence, and his rule was quickly re-established along the same lines as before.

Unfortunately, the power provided by the Astra Militarum and the Astartes could not allow Kubik to compare with himself when he sat on the Data Throne and commanded the Cybernetic Corps.

The remaining powerful great sages on Mars returned to their own nests, and nearly two-thirds of Mars no longer obeyed the orders of the Forge General.

The situation on Mars seems to have returned to the early days of the Great Rebellion, with each hive showing signs of independence. In the foreseeable future, a civil war will inevitably break out on Mars due to power struggles.

But that was not Leon's concern.