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What does it even an, to bring Father back to life, he must first die once?
Calgar was furious.
The current Lord of Macragge surged forward two steps, his Terminator boots slamming against the floor with a dull, bone-deep impact.
"As long as I, Marneus Calgar, stand here, no one lays a finger on the gene-father of our Ultramarines! Damned xenos! You are testing the patience of all Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar!"
"Guards!"
At the Chapter Master's roar, the dozens of Ultramarines Honour Guard flanking the hall raised their weapons in unison. The crisp crack of bolts being chambered rged into a single wave, and bolter barrels swung directly onto Cawl, Yvraine, and the Visarch.
Even Grand Inquisitor Greyfax and High Marshal Amalrich of the Black Templars turned their muzzles toward the Archmagos.
They had known only that the Archmagos's precious cargo was connected to the Lord of Ultramar. None of them had imagined it ant resurrecting the gene-primarch Roboute Guilliman himself.
Conflict was a hair's breadth from erupting.
At the rear of the crowd, Grey Knights Grand Master Voldus paid no attention to the standoff unfolding ahead of him. Instead, he tilted his head and leaned close to the wide canvas cloak beside him, voice pressed to the barest whisper.
"My lord. No matter what happens next, follow our instructions."
He spoke fast, barely moving his lips.
"We tell you what to do, and you do it. No conflict. Not here."
Beneath the cloak, Horus gave a slight nod.
Just then, the Living Saint Celestine stepped past the raised bolter barrels and moved to the front of Archmagos Cawl.
"Lord Chapter Master! Please — trust the Archmagos and the xenos emissary!" Her voice rang clear across the hall. "The God-Emperor's oracle has already revealed this to . This is the only path to resurrect the Lord of Ultramar."
"What beca of the last gene-primarch who underwent resurrection in this manner, does Calgar not read the historical records?!"
Calgar's voice swallowed hers whole.
He didn't hesitate. He shouted the na that was the most heretical utterance in all of Imperial history, and he didn't flinch doing it.
"How Horus Lupercal was corrupted! Every loyal warrior in the entire Imperium knows exactly how that ended!"
At the sound of that na, Horus, standing at the very back of the procession, felt his shoulders shudder.
"We all know! We Ultramarines will never follow in the footsteps of those idiot Sons of Horus!" Calgar's roar rolled beneath the do. "Are you so eager to turn our gene-father into the next Arch-Traitor?!"
A hand touched Kaelon's shoulder. He glanced back. Voldus. Nothing was said, but Kaelon understood.
"Tigurius! What are you doing standing there!"
Calgar's fury swung to a new target.
The Ultramarines followed the direction of their Chapter Master's gaze, and only then noticed that their Chief Librarian Tigurius had, at so point none of them could identify, walked directly to stand beside Archmagos Cawl and the xenos.
His posture made his intent unmistakable. He was shielding them.
"Chapter Master. Lower your weapons." Tigurius raised his head and t Calgar's eyes without flinching. "Trust the Archmagos and this xenos emissary. My prophecy does not lie."
"Librarian! Have you abandoned even the Chapter's honor?!" Captain Agemman demanded.
"There is more." Tigurius didn't look at Agemman. He kept his gaze on Calgar, his tone perfectly level. "Very shortly, a primarch will appear here and testify in person. His presence will be sufficient proof that all of this is a miracle sanctioned by the Emperor."
The entire hall went still.
A primarch?
In this sanctum, the only primarch was Roboute Guilliman, lying motionless inside the stasis field. Where in the galaxy were they supposed to find a second one to testify?
"Honored Lord Calgar!"
A mortal voice cut through the silence.
Everyone turned.
Kaelon was already moving, lasgun in hand, striding from the very back of the procession toward the front. He passed the Black Templars and stopped in the open ground between the two sides.
"If the Lupercal had never been corrupted, would you believe in the miracle the Archmagos and the Emissary of Ynnead have brought?"
He threw the question straight at Calgar.
The two statents had nothing to do with each other. Three seconds of silence. Then Calgar decided this Astra Militarum captain was mocking him to his face at the worst possible mont.
Whatever restraint the Chapter Master had left burned away entirely.
"Captain! What in the warp are you trying to say?! Speak plainly!" Calgar raised his power fist. "Or I will not let this go!"
"I an — IF!"
Kaelon threw his head back and roared with everything he had.
"If the Lupercal had never been corrupted, would you believe in the miracle the Archmagos and the Emissary of Ynnead have brought to resurrect Lord Roboute Guilliman!"
Silence.
Calgar stared at him. Then the fury crested past rage into sothing colder, and he let out a short, contemptuous laugh.
"Not corrupted? Captain!" His voice rose. "Unless you can produce an uncorrupted Horus for right now, I will send every last one of you to a military tribunal before this day is out!"
"Fine! Lord Calgar — those are your own words!"
Kaelon spun around and looked toward the 2 towering figures who had been standing at the very end of the procession the entire ti, drawing no one's attention whatsoever.
He gave a single firm nod.
Horus raised his arm. His massive hand closed around the heavy canvas cloak concealing him from head to foot. Beside him, Cullen did the sa.
RIIIP!
Fabric tore. Both cloaks were wrenched off in one brutal motion and dropped to the floor.
Ti stopped.
No one looked at the black power armor on Cullen.
Every eye in the hall locked onto the figure beside him, an absurdly massive shape in pearl white, so large it seed to compress the air around it.
No blasphemous markings. No mutated bone spurs. Just clean, imnsely oppressive Cataphractii Terminator armor catching the light with a faint, cold gleam.
And then there was the face.
That face. The one that existed only in the Ultramarines' records of the Heresy, depicted a thousand tis across a thousand texts.
Everyone who hadn't already known froze solid.
Greyfax's mouth fell open. Her master-crafted bolt crossbow slipped from her fingers and clanged off the top of her foot. She didn't move. Didn't even flinch.
High Marshal Amalrich and the Emperor's Champion Garin stood rooted where they stood, struck dumb.
Calgar. The entire Honour Guard. Captain Agemman. Every last one of them stopped breathing. The Ultramarines who had been a trigger-pull from opening fire let their fingers go slack.
Horus Lupercal.
The Arch-Traitor Warmaster. Alive. Standing right in front of them.
Calgar felt his mind convulsing.
He forced his dry lips apart, trying to push out a single syllable.
The bowstring was at its absolute limit. One more ounce of tension and it would snap.
BOOM!
The do of the Fortress of Hera exploded.
No warning. No countdown. Just a deafening shriek of tearing tal from above as an enormous force punched straight through the adamantium plating of the ceiling. Massive chunks of rubble and shredded tal rained down in a cascading torrent.
10 Dreadclaw drop pods punched through the breach, painted black and gold, bristling with eight-pointed star spikes, trailing scorching exhaust flas. They slamd into the center of the sanctum floor with impacts that shook the walls.
The hatches blew open with a hydraulic shriek.
20 Black Legion Terminator veterans poured out. Behind them, over a hundred Chaos-tainted Black Legion Space Marines flooded in like a tide.
Chain-axes scread to life. Heavy bolters cycled rounds.
The traitors' eyes blazed red. From their throats ca howls that split the air.
"For the Warmaster Abaddon!"
"Kill Guilliman! Kill that damned Lupercal!"
➤ Next: Guilliman: I Have Returned
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