"Primarch!"
When Calgar and Sicarius saw their Primarch again, they saw him slowly walking out of the Imperial Palace with a swollen face.
The two warriors were still covered in Alpha Legion blood—after all, the Alpha Legion's recent riot had indeed caused them considerable trouble.
A heavy stench of blood radiated from them, but compared to their own injuries, the two were currently far more concerned about their Primarch.
Calgar said in fury, "Lord Guilliman, who on earth beat your face until it swelled like this?!"
"Tell us, and we will lead all the Ultramarines to fight him to the death right now!"
"Even if it's the Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes, we'll tear a layer of skin off him! Even if it's Malcador himself, we'll take him down!"
Calgar was filled with indignation, and Sicarius's expression was hardly any better.
Sicarius spoke in a slightly milder tone, though his words were equally packed with rage toward the culprit.
"That's right, Lord Guilliman! Who was it? We must teach him a lesson—otherwise, isn't hitting your face the same as slapping the face of us Ultramarines?!"
"Now that the political situation on Terra has stabilized, all we need to do is consolidate power to accomplish everything!"
"Really? Sicarius, Calgar!"
Guilliman blinked his large, innocent eyes at his two sons. Seeing their Primarch like this, the hearts of the two space marines nearly melted.
Yet both of them forced themselves to remain calm, refusing to let those emotions show on their faces.
"Um, yes, absolutely! We will definitely go!"
"Even if we have to suffer immense casualties, we must vent this anger for you, Mother!"
At those words, both Caleb and the Emperor burst out laughing.
If only the ambitious Guilliman actually had the nerve to do so.
"Haha, it's fine. I just said a few things I shouldn't have and got slapped by my mom, that's all!"
"If you two want to go out, you can talk to my mom. It doesn't matter to me!"
"Your mom—" After Guilliman said this, both warriors froze.
The only one Guilliman could ever call 'mom' was the Mother of Ultramar, right?
But according to files and records, hadn't that legendary adoptive mother already passed away? How could she inexplicably show up again to slap their Primarch across the face?
"If you take a look at the Golden Throne, you'll understand what I'm talking about!"
"Of course, try not to get beaten out by the Custodes!"
"Right now, the Custodes are still running around everywhere hunting down the Grey Knights!"
The two stole a suspicious glance toward the Golden Throne.
There, they saw a gray-skinned loli sitting upright on the Golden Throne.
The gray-skinned loli sat motionless, her expression aloof and indifferent.
An incomparable aura of destruction continued to radiate around her; indeed, this form was vastly superior to the dried-up corpse of before.
However—
This scene before them would likely be classified among the Imperium's highest secrets. The once-great God-Emperor had actually turned into a loli—what a massive piece of news!
"Holy shit!"
Seeing this, neither dared to peek any further.
What in the world had the Primarch done to turn the towering, magnificent Emperor into a loli?!
Well, he did deserve that slap. After all, something like this was simply too outrageous.
"Uh... Primarch, we were just joking earlier!"
"If even your mom felt you went a bit too far, then it really must have been too far!"
"Ah, yes, yes, yes—Chapter Master Calgar speaks the truth!"
"By the way, what did you even say? Why did you anger His Majesty the Emperor into becoming a mama-san?"
Looking at the two oblivious, thick-headed fools, Guilliman nearly choked, almost angered to death by his own sons.
Why was every single scapegoat being pinned on him?!
The Grey Knights were the ones who pulled off this mess! What did it have to do with him?!
"You two!!!"
A huffy Guilliman had no choice but to recount everything he had just learned to the pair.
After learning the so-called truth, Calgar and Sicarius couldn't help but feel that the Inquisition's Grey Knights had truly grown far too bold!
The Emperor turning into a girl was news that, with the slightest leak, could potentially shake the very foundation of the Imperium.
If the Chaos traitors ever got wind of this, there was no telling what a monstrous joke it would create.
"Alright, this isn't our concern anyway. Let's head back first!"
"There are still so many things to handle—we're probably going to be buried in work for a while!"
Since the Hexarchy was on the brink of total collapse, new candidates needed to be chosen for the High Lords.
And after this battle, although these High Lords would no longer oppose any of Guilliman's policies, it also meant Guilliman would have to work even more overtime to take over their previous duties.
For Guilliman right now, it was a mixed bag of good and bad—though at the very least, the Indomitus Crusade and the Imperium's reforms could now proceed step by step.
Meanwhile, on the other side—a certain little lion who liked to hiss had already found his target.
Leading his forces, he launched a surprise attack on the Dark Eldar's location—relying on Iris's Machine Spirit Engine to successfully capture the damned Dark Eldar.
Who could have guessed that the First Legion currently possessed a full 108 Abominable Intelligences from the Iron War era?
And these were Abominable Intelligences possessing extreme human-supremacist programming—when it came to killing xenos, they were blindingly fast.
"Why is this fellow being hunted by so many xenos and daemons?"
"And recently, she's even been searching for something called the Croneswords!"
"Claiming it can slay Slaanesh... isn't that a joke?"
The Lion easily dispatched the daemons deployed by Shalaxi Helbane, even casually kicking back the daemonic vanguard forces.
Granted, he hadn't brought many troops this time; otherwise, he certainly would have wiped out the heretics' main lair altogether.
Originally, his handover journey here was meant to uncover secrets regarding the Black Library.
Instead, he ran into this affair along the way and decided to deal with these damned daemons and xenos as a side matter.
At that moment, Azrael walked up to Lion El'Jonson, carrying a large pile of Dark Eldar heads.
He had fulfilled his mission, accomplished his task, and completely slaughtered those Dark Eldar to the last.
With Iris's assistance, the Lion could now even manufacture certain Dark Age technology weapons.
These weapons, once strictly forbidden by the Emperor, could now be fielded among Lion's forces.
The Dreadnoughts within the legion had abandoned their outdated plasma weaponry in favor of far more effective and devastating disassembly-type weapons.
The flintlock pistol in the Lion's hand had also been converted into this type of weapon.
A single shot wiped out the target entirely—far superior to any plasma weapon.
[Campaign about to begin.]
[Mission: Raid the Black Library and acquire Old One-era technology.]
[This campaign will present two choices.]
[Choice 1: Acquire the Croneswords to earn the friendship and reinforcements of the Ynnari.]
[This will unlock a future opportunity to seal Slaanesh, contributing to the final battle.]
[Choice 2: Slaughter the Ynnari and interrogate Yvraine for the Black Library's location.]
[Immediately raid the Black Library to swiftly bring this campaign mission to an end.]
"Two choices?"
"Looks like this affair is anything but simple!"
"Still, if these Eldar actually collect all the artifacts, can they really kill Slaanesh? Feels like at best they'd just slay the Prince of Pleasure."
"Slaying Slaanesh outright is virtually impossible."
Caleb felt that the relationship between the current Prince of Pleasure and Slaanesh was much like that between the Emperor and the Dark King.
You could say the Prince of Pleasure represented Slaanesh, but you could not say Slaanesh belonged entirely to the Prince of Pleasure.
Just as you could say the Emperor was the Dark King, but you couldn't say the Dark King was the current Emperor.
Caleb felt the concept was reminiscent of Eastern mythologies like Honghuang, yet it was an accurate depiction of WarHammer godhood.
Undoubtedly, weakening the forces of Chaos was for the best. Even if it merely meant slaying the Prince of Pleasure, that was still a very lucrative return.
At the very least, it would prevent Chaos god players from causing chaos—kicking out the player sitting on Slaanesh's seat altogether.
[Caleb : Lion, when you meet the Ynnari later, hear what they have to say.]
[If it concerns the Croneswords, you can agree.]
[Though that sword cannot kill Slaanesh, they can indeed slay the Prince of Pleasure.]
The dense Lion didn't quite understand what his father was talking about.
However, as an obedient child, Lion would never go against his father's directives.
Lion was unlike Guilliman, who would occasionally say something asking for a beating or object to certain assignments. What Lion did was handle the dirty, exhausting work for his father, carrying out whatever task was assigned.
"Understood, Father. I will go!"
A while back, Lion had been busy investigating the case of the missing fan-service pictures.
However, having no solid leads, he could only let the Blood Ravens sit in prison for a while.
According to intelligence, the person who stole his belongings was a Blood Raven—yet during actual investigations, there seemed to be something fishy behind it.
Having no choice, the Lion left Azrael to handle the matter slowly.
Now, the Lion could only hope that the secret seal on the box would not be broken by anyone.
Curiously, however, Azrael—holding the Eldar heads—didn't see it that way.
He actually hoped the Blood Ravens would do the work for him. When the truth inside the box was revealed, he would naturally lead the Dark Angels to reclaim what was theirs.
At that point, Azrael could also use the opportunity to discover his Primarch's deepest secret.
He just didn't understand why the Primarch cared so intensely about that matter.
"Come out, Yvraine!"
"You claimed to possess the relevant technology and information. If I find out you've lied to me, your life ends here!"
Lion could already feel Yvraine's signal nearby.
Curiously, though he had arrived at the agreed location, the other party failed to appear.
This gave Lion a faint sense of conspiracy.
Unable to put his finger on it, he could only wait for them to reveal themselves.
"Primarch, could that damned heretic have deceived you?"
"Perhaps we can have our Librarians search the area. Using psychism, we might find a clue!"
"Psychism?" Lion shook his head.
"Can we outplay them in psychism?"
"From what I know, they were mastering psychism tens of millions of years ago. We are mere rookies compared to them; we can't beat them at their own game!"
"Since they've chosen to hide, we can only wait for them to reveal themselves."
"Otherwise, with our current methods, we probably can't even locate the Webway entrance!"
Speaking of Webway technology, the more Lion learned about it, the more astounded he became.
A technology capable of isolating the Warp's influence was simply too alluring—no wonder his father had spared no effort to obtain and construct it previously.
Who wouldn't want a technology that allowed doors to open anywhere across the galaxy, accessible only to oneself?
With this, humanity would no longer have to watch the Chaos Gods' reactions; Chaos traitors could be purged entirely without worrying about Chaos corruption.
It was precisely for this reason that Lion showed a rare touch of patience now.
He had to get his hands on this vital piece, even if it was incomplete!
Yet after a long wait, the other party still failed to appear—instead of Yvraine's Ynnari, a large swarm of bizarre daemons arrived.
Daemonic dancers clad in purple robes suddenly burst out from a Warp rift.
They attempted to use their agile bodies and weapons to overpower all melee units.
Unfortunately for them, their opponents were Abominable Intelligences.
These technological relics of the Cybernetic Revolt were not something such daemons could mess with.
BOOM!
As massive iron fists slammed heavily onto the ground, torrents from psychic disintegrators rapidly pulverized the daemons' physical forms.
So long as they were struck by these lasers, even the most tenacious daemon was forced back to the Warp.
Even Chaos Greater Daemons couldn't defeat these Abominable Intelligences—unless they dragged them directly into the Warp to fight.
"Strange... Where are they? We've waited so long, why haven't they arrived?"
Lion didn't think Yvraine possessed the capacity to betray him now, as this mission and directive were issued after she consumed the Momotaro Dango.
Even if unwilling, she had to follow his orders. Regardless of her plans, there should have at least been news by now.
"What an interesting little monkey, actually able to control Yvraine with such a strange object!"
"If I hadn't kept a few backup measures, your scheme might have actually succeeded!"
An Aeldari warrior clad in red armor suddenly appeared, holding one of the Croneswords and radiating extremely dangerous psychic energy fluctuations.
The Librarians informed Lion that the figure before them was highly dangerous.
Yet Lion didn't care; after all, he was drawing closer to his own Warp essence by the day.
The Lion King was awakening, and Lion—this terrifying jungle hunter—was gradually approaching his true Warp nature.
Primitive instincts regarding all aspects of hunting were being engraved into his mind piece by piece.
If he were to face Leman Russ, the Wolf King, again now, Lion felt confident he could pin him down and beat him.
"Where is the person I'm looking for? Surely your Ynnari didn't detain one of your own leaders!"
Lion calmly and composedly looked at the Warlock before him. Lion did not fear the Eldar before him; he was far more wary of the sword in his hand.
A hunter's instinct told Lion that the sword held by his opponent was far more dangerous than the warrior himself.
If the opponent went all-out in desperation, it could potentially wipe out his entire Dark Angels force.
If he wanted to see Yvraine, he would likely have to get past this Warlock first.
"You little skin-monkeys seem to know quite a lot. Yvraine warned us not to provoke you, stating that if cooperation were possible, we must accept it!"
"Though I cannot agree with her proposal, since you know so many secrets, you are indeed worthy of my blade!"
The opponent assumed a combat stance.
The current Ynnari possessed combat capabilities perhaps closest to the Eldar's Golden Age.
Believing in the God of Death, the Ynnari drew their forces from highly diverse origins—Exodites, Commorrites, and Craftworlders alike.
Because of this, the Ynnari had almost no obvious weaknesses, possessing solutions for virtually any crisis!
Facing these 108 Abominable Intelligences, the Aeldari commander before him showed not a trace of fear.
For death would eclipse all things, and the Sword of Silent Screams would silence every soul.
[Caleb : Daughter, need a hand?]
[If you lack confidence, I can give you a boost.]
[Lion: No need!]
[Father, please have faith in your blade. I am not that incompetent—if I were intimidated by a single artifact in his hands, how could I, the Lion King, hold my head high as your offspring!]
The proud, tsundere little Lion still retained his pride. Even though a hunter's instinct told him this battle was extremely dangerous, he felt no fear.
His eyes were sharp, as though constantly assessing the prey before him.
Even if the prey was remarkably powerful, it remained his prey nonetheless!
"Then come and try!"
"As the Lord Commander of the Imperium, I don't believe a mere sword in your hand can stop the edge of my blade!"