In the World of Sword and Magic as Space Marine

Chapter 65: The Identity of the White Holy Mountain

From slaying Makato Amano the Hero of Legelland

[Order of Our Martyred Lady x1: Also known as Fiery Heart, this order uses military standard doctrine in which they wore classic black and white colors of the power armor. They live for the near-suicidal belief of martyrs on the battlefield. The order sends 50 Sisters of Battle with war gears of bolt guns, power swords, and minor power armor.]

[Orders Hospitaller: A order of healing which aids the poor and sick through the medical use of surgeons, physicians and nurses. They serve all departments of the Imperium armed services except for the Adeptus Astartes. All members of the Orders Hospitaller are veteran warriors and skilled fighters before learning the art of healing. The order sends 50 Sisters to heal unfortunates and followers of God Emperor.]

[Space Wolves x30: Known as Wolves of Fenris, the Space Wolves are the proud warriors and once led by Primarch Leman Russ. Renowned for their savage barbarian culture similar to Vikings, the Space Wolves are masters of melee combat, wolf-like physical senses, and epic deeds worthy of their gene father's name. Space Wolves are also great at throwing a party and brewing special ale, strong enough to make superhuman drunk which is not recommended for normal humans to drink from.]

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William's army decided to hold high-ranking officers and former party members of Legellan heroes as prisoners of war until further notice. The total number of POWs was 25 prisoners and the rest were sent away as free men and women. Of course, to discourage them from returning with numbers, William had the Krieg artillery company fire a few rounds to scare the living hell out of them for good measure.

"Looks like we have two destinations. The capital city of Legellan holds the main governing church and reserve army for city defense. The second choice is the White Mountain itself where the Mother resides as the sole protector of the newly founded religion. Where would we be heading to?" Rana said to William as she poured herself a cup of wine and for William.

Currently, it is late night and most of the personnel are asleep except for the night guards. After William and Lord Creed had their discussion regarding William's theory about 'Mother,' Rana came by to check William's condition.

Missing his left hand and still managing the overall command of the military force, William had guardsman medics patch things over. But because the weapon used to decapitate the hand was golden hot, the hand can't be reattached back.

Few gave recommendations to William regarding replacing the missing hand, Salamanders offered to give mastercraft metal hand while Admechs offered to replace the entire left arm with an artificial limb that comes with a storm bolter. Hearing this, William decided to hold on to that idea until a better option comes to light, one possibly moving towards him having an actual hand instead of a machine hand like a certain family of jedis.

"I'm considering capital before we left for the campaign but now I'm thinking of going for the White Mountain. Who knows? Maybe the entire capital city will fall in line if we defeat the Mother before besieging the city." William said to Rana as he accepted the wine cup from her with his only hand. Seeing this, Rana gives slight hesitation for she is looking at the man who gave up a piece of himself to save her.

Never in her life, Rana the fearsome lioness of war had someone who went beyond his or her duty to protect her before. Not to mention none of the marriage candidates could possibly match William's courage and determination to face an impossible enemy in a one vs one duel.

"Is something wrong?" William asked Rana the moment he sensed her discomfort and uneasiness. He heard the sudden rise of Rana's heartbeat and smelled nervousness from her which he quickly realized that she was staring at his missing hand.

"Nothing, it's all good." The Duchess lied with a fake smile but William knew better. In his normal life, he would have not sensed the minor signals but as a Space Marine with superhuman senses, he can tell a sudden change of emotion (Space Wolves can do much better and accurately).

"Rana, I can tell and see you are unease with my condition. Don't worry, I can manage until I can find the better option." He assured Rana and gestured to her to sit next to him.

"I don't know how you can move on like it's nothing. I saw men lose their hope and will to live the moment they managed to survive the treatment. Some say they still feel the missing body part even though it is gone completely." Rana said to William after she sat down close to him. Up close, she saw William's left stump covered in clean bandages but she clearly remembered the moment Makato cut William's hand clean off which she will have a nightmare for a few nights.

"Oh, I'm not completely fine. I'm just good at holding my own emotion and pain. Trust me, I start to feel everything the moment the fight is over. I guess I was on fight or flight response until medics began to patch my wounds." William calmly said while deep inside he is just glad that his human emotion is somewhat unnatural compared to his original.

"Oh," Rana said with a quiet tone and began to feel something towards William. She knows this feeling is something she never experienced but is aware of thanks to many tales told by others around her. That Willam could be the one who could be next to her forever until death.

From delivering victory to defending her own life, William did everything that a proud man would speak of in words to impress a lady. But it was William's action and ability to stay true to himself that Rana finally realized that she fell for him long before she knew.

"Don't worry about me. My men are capable and I'll finish what I started in no time. Even if it means I have to pull back from going headfirst on the battle from now on." William gave Rana a small smile and finished his cup of wine.

The tent went quiet and bit awkward when none of them spoke. Rana avoided William's eyes and William didn't know what to say to her. Both of the finest warriors from the two different factions didn't know what to do until Rana finally spoke with a loud voice.

"William! I was wondering if you would accompany me after this campaign is over. I would love to introduce you to my family." Rana finally said to William with a peach red face while holding an untouched wine cup in her hands. Meanwhile, William paused everything in his head to process the information he just heard from Rana. An invitation from a beautiful girl who is also an expert swordswoman. There is no question about it, William is about to enter the relationship status of "Meeting the Parents" with the girl he likes. Just as William is about to answer Rana's question, someone suddenly enters the tent without William's permission.

"Lord William, we are receiving an unusual signal from the terminator armor you gave to investigate. I believe the signal is originating from the White Mountain near the capital city." The Magos Callias announce his discovery to William to which he realizes that there is another person sitting close to him. Meanwhile, both William and Rana turn their heads around and act as if nothing happened but once again the room went silently awkward which includes Callias as well.

"Yes, thank you Magos Callias. I will take that under your advice and coordinate with others first thing tomorrow." William said to Callias and dismissed the Admech which Callias gladly did. After the cog boy left the tent, Rana quickly got up from her seat to leave. Seeing this, William calls Rana by her name which she stops to turn around.

"Rana, I would be honored to visit your family after this is over." William gave a sincere smile to the fair lady and bowed his head. Receiving the answer she wanted, Rana approached William and gave a quick kiss to his side cheek after using one of the chairs as a ladder to match the giant's height.

"I will hold you to that, Sir William the Giant."

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Following Callias's report and Lord Creed's secret advice, William decided to handle the Mother once and for all before overthrowing the Legellan government. According to Magos, the signal now identified as beacon ping is sending a particular signal towards where White Mountain is located.

Puzzled by the relationship between terminator armor and the goddess of a fantasy world, William moved the entire army towards White Mountain. At the same time, he made sure Commissar Cain investigated and gathered all information related to White Mountain from the POWs. Overall, Cain obtained no new intel from them aside from the same report related to how Mother healed sick and wounded while providing endless food to poor and hungry.

"My lord, I'm not so sure if this information can be reliable but if it is possible we can use the White Mountain to regenerate your left hand." Commissar Cain said to William to which few agreed with the Commissar but others strongly disagree with the use of foreign deity's power of healing.

"We don't fully understand the identity of this being nor do we know if it can spread corruption through healing. We shouldn't take chances at all. I say we bomb the entire temple and burn it to the ashes." The Black Templar voiced his opinion to which other representatives agreed. Even Lord Creed nodded his head as his own experience with unknown forces such as Chaos and Xenos gave him a hard lesson to live by as a leader.

"Let us first see what we are about to face in person, ladies, and gentlemen. We will be there soon at our current speed and I will personally make the decision to either burn the temple to the ground or bomb until we see the mantle of the earth." William reassures everyone including his new additional reinforcement of Sisters of Battle and Space Wolves representative Brother Vaskell the Wolf Seer.

"I have no issues with learning the identity of our enemy before bleeding them in the battle," Vaskell said his opinion while two representatives of the Sisters of Battle remain quiet but maintain their sight on the Rana. For some reason, sisters barely spoke even when a foreign goddess was mentioned which disturbed William and made him concerned if he made the right choice of summoning them.

"For now, make sure we are ready for anything and notify all guardsmen for a possible fight. I'm sure no one left the White Mountain undefended since it is the enemy's holy ground." William then dismisses the war meeting and proceeds to advance his army with absolute certainty that he will fight one of the chaos gods when he reaches the White Mountain.

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"Well, this is a surprise," Commissar Cain said to himself when the entire army reached the destination with no resistance nor enemy army present. The army halted their advance when William gave the signal.

In front of him, William saw an abandoned temple square that used to hold service and line towards where White Mountain is. Following the main road, William reached the place called White Holy Mountain where people were healed from sickness and fed thousands of mouths without spending a single gold coin.

The mountain has a smooth white surface like snow and doesn't have trees or grass-like normal mountains should have. Instead, the entire mountain is made out of one solid metal and there is no trace of any gaps except for the entrance where William is currently facing. The entrance is giant circular with a white metal door big enough to have three Baneblades line up and drive through. After witnessing the White Mountain as not an actual mountain but rather a gigantic metal object William looked around using his helmet to have a much closer look.

'How can it be?' William thought to himself scan the area in which his helmet screen redirected to something written above the giant door and reveal something hidden from naked eyes but able to see through the technology.

[Mother of Salvation. May the hope of humanity reach beyond the edge of the galaxy and continue our legacy. Launched Earth year 24,459.]

"By the Holy Terra. This mountain isn't a mountain at all, it's an ark ship from the Dark Age of Technology. It's from home."

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