From what Isha knew, the Emperor would never trust any non-human, or even most humans, only seeing them as tools. What he truly loved was the human species itself.
The Emperor did have descendants—quite a few, in fact—not Primarchs, but psykers called Awakened. They inherited his physical strength and psychic power, and though weaker than Primarchs, they rivaled Astartes.
Yet, even with their power, the Inquisition and High Lords did not treat them well. Powerful psykers were used as fuel for the Golden Throne.
The Emperor could even sacrifice his own blood descendants, caring nothing for bloodlines—only for humanity as a whole. Anything for the good of humanity, he would do; anything harmful, he would stop.
The child she had conceived was a huge threat to humanity. Possessing both bloodlines, but superior to both, the concerns of Yvraine were not unfounded. Only a ruler could grasp the gravity of this.
As the master of humanity, the Emperor's calculations were never so simple.
Still, this was a test for Rhodes. She wanted to see what choices he would make for their child.
If the Emperor truly moved against Rhodes, she would risk revealing her identity to take Rhodes into the Warp.
…
After a few days back on Fenris, confirming the Space Wolves had mastered the new Astartes technology and that the Imperium had received the Space Wolves' fealty, Rhodes prepared to leave.
Magnus was given a small ship to rendezvous with filas, to establish a permanent daemon portal, with Rhodes sending Emperor Avatars to hunt daemons. No one was more lethal to daemons than the Emperor's Avatars.
When Rhodes left, the Space Wolves placed Bjorn's Dreadnought into stasis and loaded it onto Rhodes's ship.
"Lord Rhodes, we entrust Bjorn to you! We look forward to the return of the first Great Wolf," Logan said.
Beastification couldn't be done here; Bjorn had to go to Holy Terra for Yapool to begin the process.
Rhodes had no intention of summoning Yapool remotely. The ti for the first Space Wolf to return to Terra and honor the Emperor had co.
"Rest assured, Logan. Soon, you'll see a lively Bjorn again—not just a Dreadnought," Rhodes promised.
"Take care, Lord Rhodes. In half a year, at least six of our Grand Companies will depart for Terra to join your crusade, to reclaim humanity's howorld and drive out the foul Xenos," Logan said.
The new Astartes augntation now had a 100% success rate, and the training of new recruits could keep up. Soon, the Space Wolves would expand into a full legion again—a force to be reckoned with.
"Farewell, brothers. Holy Terra awaits!" Rhodes waved to the Wolves and boarded his flagship.
Two human ships rose and followed. Rhodes could have used the Webway to reach Terra quickly, but for so reason, they chose the Warp, taking three months for the return journey.
Onboard, Rhodes alternated between training his cosmic beast martial arts and providing Isha with nutrients and genetic material. Every night, they used psychic resonance to draw pure energy from the Warp and infuse it into Lelith's unborn child.
…
anwhile, the Harlequins, Craftworld Eldar, and Exodites began their quest to gather Khaine's shards, with the Laughing God sending his own troupe to help. The plan to resurrect Khaine was insane but tempting; if it succeeded, it would benefit all Eldar. Rhodes hoped for the best, and was glad Isha escaped Nurgle's grasp.
When Slaanesh ca for the Pantheon, the Laughing God had only dared to flee—never to confront. The outco of that war had shocked even him.
"Everything's going smoothly!" the Laughing God mused, seated on his unknown throne in the Webway.
Recently, while the four Chaos Gods and the Emperor clashed on Terra, he had snuck to the Ork gods and stolen a special human soul—Vulkan's. Vulkan was a unique Primarch and an immortal, like the Emperor, Malcador, and the Primarchs' mother, Erda.
As long as his soul remained, Vulkan could resurrect in the material universe. Now, the Laughing God only needed to release his soul to bring him back—no complicated rituals needed.
But he wasn't ready to do that yet.
…
anwhile, Abaddon, Warmaster of the Imperium's dark side, was not having a good ti. Half his power had been stripped away; even the Black Legion split, with many defecting.
Blackheart Huron, for unknown reasons, betrayed Chaos, taking his core followers and abandoning the Maelstrom, leaving hundreds of thousands of Chaos Astartes behind. These warriors turned to the last person Abaddon wanted to see.
Half a year ago, after losing to the female Primarch, Abaddon was saved by the minor Chaos god Vashtorr, upgraded to a daemon Primarch, and gained the power to grow enormous.
He reestablished his position, leading Chaos followers and tens of thousands of marines to conquer countless Imperial worlds. For a ti, he was triumphant, poised to rival the Emperor for control of humanity.
Less than a year after his rise, an unexpected figure upset everything.
Horus, once slain by the Emperor, reappeared and swiftly swept the Chaos Astartes in the Maelstrom, defeating several champions and uniting hundreds of thousands under his rule.
Upon learning of Horus's return, many Black Legion veterans were ecstatic. If there was ever a legion least likely to rebel, it was the Luna Wolves.
A bloody purge followed, with loyal Luna Wolves slain en masse. The greatest reason for the Black Legion's betrayal was their loyalty to their father, Horus.
But in the end, Horus was slain by the Emperor. The Legion would have faded away, if not for Abaddon's leadership.
Yet now, after 10,000 years, their father was reborn, leading the Red Corsairs' marines.
"Damn it! He's not our father—he's a fake!" Abaddon declared.
He first suspected this Horus was a leftover clone by Fabius Bile, who had created many such clones—even ones who called him 'son.' Abaddon had hunted them down, but after extensive verification, all had to admit: Horus was truly back.
This realization infuriated Abaddon. Why, just as he was about to triumph, did his father return to take the glory?
Had he not followed Horus into rebellion? Now, as a daemon Primarch, he felt only hatred for his father.
"Warmaster, perhaps you should erase the veterans' mories to make them face reality," a daemon prince suggested.
The Black Legion had over 200,000 marines, but only a few thousand were true veterans. The rest had false mories implanted. If these lies were exposed, maybe loyalty could be reclaid for Abaddon.
"No, exposing the truth would only deepen their hatred. Many were captured Imperial marines, only so are true Chaos-born," Abaddon replied.
"If mories can be implanted to make them think they're veterans, why not implant mories to make them think they're your sons? Shouldn't be hard," another daemon prince said.
"That's doable. Better to modify their mories than have them join Horus," Abaddon agreed.
His plan had been to conquer the Imperium's dark side, then slowly erode the Imperium, encircle Terra, and execute his millennium-old strategy.
But now, he would have to deal with Horus first.
"Warmaster, we've heard troubling news about a new generation of Astartes," a Chaos champion said.
The Imperium had developed new Astartes far stronger than first-generation marines. While not equal to Chaos champions, they outclassed ordinary Chaos marines.
"I'm aware, Lucius," Abaddon replied, glancing at a tall figure in purple armor beside Lucius.
Besides the revived Horus, this so-called son of Slaanesh was also a major threat—stronger even than the female Primarch.
"We should try to acquire this new Astartes augntation."
"Let's deal with Horus first. So, Slaanesh's child, would you be interested in working with against him?" Abaddon asked.
"You want to help you kill Horus?" the Ace Slaaneshi assassin replied.
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