Kasgar had transmigrated.
(ancient Terra profanity), why did he have to transmigrate into the (ancient Terra profanity) Warhammer World?!
Of all places, he had landed on Chemos, the homeworld of Primarch Fulgrim!
And the Prince of Pleasure, Slaanesh, had set its sights on him the moment he arrived!
In the Warhammer World, the universe that drifted beyond the material realm was known as the Warp.
And within the Warp dwelled four Chaos Gods.
Slaanesh was one of them.
Once a mortal attracted their attention and their soul fell into their hands,
what awaited them after death was eternal, endless torment from a Chaos God.
And clearly, he had hit the jackpot.
"Hahaha!"
It did not matter that he could not live within the Sixth Ring in his previous life!
In this life, he could stay in the Sixth Ring forever!
Of course, compared to what he had seen and heard before him, those were merely minor matters.
The crucial thing was—
(ancient Terra profanity), when the (ancient Terra profanity) did Fulgrim become a woman?!
Fulgrim, also rendered as Fulgen, nicknamed Fumeifeng, Third Sister, and Third Princess, was the Primarch of the Third Legion, the Sons of the Emperor.
In the Warhammer World, she was a perfect Legion leader, the Primarch most merciful and loving toward mortals, a swordsmanship master specializing in neck strikes, and a demigod who enlightened humanity toward the future.
At the same time, she was also a Daemon Prince destined to fall, a follower of the Prince of Pleasure, a lunatic, and a purple-skinned loach.
But!
No matter what, she absolutely, absolutely, absolutely could not be a woman!
By the Throne!!!
Kasgar knew that Fulgrim was the only Primarch in the original work to have ever married.
But Kasgar would never have known that her marriage partner would be himself!
He was about to marry a Primarch!
Him!
And Fulgrim!
Married!
Kasgar broke out in a cold sweat.
He felt waves of chill seep from the back of his neck.
Croak!
I don't want to be Senior Sister, I don't want to be a Dullahan!!!
Even in the most blasphemous dreams of his previous life, this development was far too ahead of its time.
The blow to his worldview was no less than the Mud Truck that had come speeding toward him twenty years ago and sent him here.
It truly made no sense.
"Are you all right?"
Seeing Kasgar suddenly erupt with intense emotional fluctuations, Fulgrim stepped forward in concern.
Still, it was not necessarily all over yet!
Even if a Chaos God was watching and rejoicing at this very moment,
Kasgar still had one final way to break the deadlock.
That was right. He could do this.
Having made up his mind, he smiled at the female Primarch's puzzled expression and said:
"Fulgrim."
"You are the most beautiful girl from Chemos I have ever seen."
"There are stars in your eyes."
Kasgar's eyes were brimming with affection.
"However, as a descendant of the Sherlock Family, I may need to return and deal with some matters."
Smiling, Kasgar rapidly retreated as quickly as he could and waved goodbye.
Run!
According to his memories, Fulgrim had lived on this planet for a total of fifty years.
Then, she would join the God-Emperor of Mankind, who had come to collect her, and take part in the Great Crusade that swept across the entire galaxy.
The Great Crusade would last for several centuries.
Until, in the final Horus Heresy, Chemos, as the homeworld of a rebellious Legion, would be blasted clean by Lion El'Jonson.
He still had more than two hundred years.
Kasgar was confident that he could die before the Horus Heresy and Exterminatus.
Though he did not know whether the Primarch becoming a woman would alter the timeline, if he could reject her and vanish into Chemos to live out his life in peace,
then, as a mediocre and uninteresting person, Slaanesh, the Chaos God who wielded the most supreme and intense emotions, would surely lose interest in him.
Even if the Primarch would fall in the future, Chemos would still usher in a brand-new era before then.
Even if it was as brilliant and fleeting as a shooting star, even if noble Fulgrim and the Third Legion would afterward become puppets of a Chaos God,
what did any of that have to do with Kasgar, a dead man?
Thought begets heresy, my friend.
Having transmigrated into the Warhammer World, he ought to muddle through in a daze.
Any thought of changing or saving all this would only invite even greater suffering.
That was the eternal, unchanging rule of Warhammer.
"Stars?"
Hearing his compliment, Fulgrim bent down to look at him, her eyes filled with delight.
"You know that stars exist too?"
Just as Kasgar had described.
At that moment, he truly saw countless brilliant stars within Fulgrim's pale violet pupils.
Before Kasgar, who was about to pull away, could react, the female Primarch's fair, powerful hand firmly gripped his arm.
"Quick, come with me."
Kasgar regretted it.
He should not have tried to be clever.
He had forgotten that stars could not exist amid Chemos's sky-filling dust.
Other than Fulgrim and himself, two outsiders, no one remembered that stars still shone beyond this world.
Now, led by the Primarch's irresistible strength, he walked through the lower factories of Karax.
The layout here was exceedingly complex.
Machinery added during expansions had continuously piled up beyond the original design, making the already narrow space even more cramped.
Hot and humid. Crowds of workers labored here all day long, unable to rest for even a moment.
There was no helping it.
Chemos had originally been nothing more than a planet that produced ore.
After the Warp Storm that swept across the entire galaxy arrived, the people of Chemos, cut off from outside supplies, had to seek a sliver of survival from these steel behemoths.
Pipelines that produced steel became food-production lines, while facilities that refined metal became facilities for purifying water.
They were difficult to use and terribly inefficient.
But fortunately, they were still alive.
They could only remain alive.
History was forgotten, books were burned.
Endless labor.
Everything on this planet served survival.
After countless twists and turns, Fulgrim finally stopped before a low, battered door.
Through the door Fulgrim opened, Kasgar saw children whose world was instantly lit with color.
"Big Sister Fulgen!"
Cheering excitedly, more than a dozen scrawny children living in this dark, cramped dormitory quickly crowded around her.
They were all very young.
The reason was simple: if they grew even a little older, they would have to work sixteen hours a day as child laborers in the factories.
This was humanity's helpless choice for survival.
He had even heard that before Fulgrim arrived, the children's situation had been even worse.
But fortunately, they still had the right to enjoy what little remained of a "wonderful" childhood.
It was time for Fulgrim to tell the children stories.
The stories came from picture books left behind by Fulgrim's adoptive parents, books that recorded colors never before seen in the bleak lives of the people of Chemos.
The pages were brittle and thin, yet the ink remained vivid and lively.
Turning the book over, Kasgar leaned in to look at one page. It depicted a warrior in purple armor battling a Medusa.
The book also depicted ancient gods and their lavish meals.
Under her reading, the children understood for the first time that food had a concept beyond merely filling hunger: flavor.
"Yay!"
"I want delicious starch bars too!"
But apparently, they had understood it as starch bars with different flavors.
"Food isn't just starch bars."
Fulgrim smiled and corrected them.
"Then it's a promise, Big Sister Fulgen!"
"When we grow up, you'll hold a 'banquet' for us!"
"We'll get to drink endless pure water and eat starch bars that never run out!"
"A banquet! Hold a banquet!"
"And you'll let us watch plays! There'll be a huge, tall theater! Big Sister Fulgen will sit in the theater and tell us the nicest, most interesting stories!"
"Watch plays!"
"I want to watch plays too!"
Young children could never sit still.
At Fulgrim's promises of the future, they excitedly bounced all over the room.
"Mr. Sherlock."
At that moment, Fulgrim turned to look behind her. "Since you mentioned stars, you must know some legends from ancient times."
"Could you tell the children, and me, about them?"
Stories.
Kasgar sank into thought.
In his heart, he had long since had an answer.
It was a story about the myriad stars in the sky.
Beyond Chemos's sky-filling dust lay an endless expanse of azure sky.
And above that azure sky were countless stars, large and small.
Every one of them was as large as Chemos; every one was home to countless humans.
But the humans living upon those stars were not happy.
Some planets had living conditions as poor as Chemos.
Some planets were suitable for habitation, but their people slaughtered one another for profit.
Still other planets had been invaded by villains. Every human who dared resist was killed, while those remaining were subjected to their eternal enslavement.
Humanity was thus scattered among the stars.
They called out to one another in the darkness, but could no longer hear each other's replies.
Until a hero stepped forward.
With wisdom, he created mechanical birds that could fly. They carried seeds in their beaks, and the wastelands thereafter bloomed with flowers.
He wrote books of truth with starlight. They pointed out the road ahead, and lost people found beacons guiding them home.
With magic, he conjured powerful Angels to protect humanity, leaving the villains no choice but to flee in disgrace.
At the very end, after he had successfully lit every star—
he let the mechanical birds, protected by the Angels, carry countless healthy, happy, rational, and steadfast compatriots to meet one another.
Just as they had before their separation ten thousand years ago, they spoke and sang in the same language.
Laughing, people gathered together once more.
The fairy tale had ended.
The children gradually entered beautiful dreams.
And the only one unwilling to awaken had always been him.
"Mr. Sherlock, aside from my adoptive parents, you are the first person to mention stories beyond this planet."
Fulgrim smiled and gently wiped the tears from the corners of Kasgar's eyes.
Somewhere deep down, she had long known her mission.
To lead countless humans out of the dark age of ignorance and let humanity race once more toward light, culture, and wisdom.
That was the innate goal of Fulgrim, Primarch.
Like the heroes in Kasgar's stories.
But she had no desire to stir up further conflict on fragile Chemos.
A political marriage with the ruler of Karax Fortress was the fastest way she could think of to improve the world.
It was only that she seemed to have overestimated what ideals and the sky meant to the people of Chemos.
Compared to Fulgrim's perfect beauty and immense strength, the allure of those "stars" that existed only in legend was simply far too lacking.
No one cared whether countless beautiful lanterns flickered in the sky overhead.
The Sherlock family men she had met before were the same.
In order to survive, the people of Chemos had forgotten far, far too much.
But today, she seemed to have encountered a like-minded companion.
Someone who remembered that art and beauty, ideals and dreams, still existed.
She felt his passion.
"Mr. Kasgar Sherlock."
"Would you join me, like in the stories, and save this Chemos that has forgotten the stars above its head?"
She extended her hand, offering an olive branch to the young man before her.
And Kasgar always seemed able to give her an unexpected answer.
"No, Fulgrim. Not just Chemos."
Kasgar reached out and gripped her hand tightly, his bloodshot eyes fixed on her as he remained silent for a long, long time.
Like countless foolish yet unyielding pioneers before him, having made some sort of resolution, he spoke:
"I want to save you."
And just like that, little Kasgar's life was completely ruined.
Before you continue