"What!?"
Sexdu shuddered.
The Primarch had gotten into an argument with the Emperor?
"Impossible."
"The Emperor would never quarrel with His own child over something so trivial. Don't try to fool me."
Sexdu's expression turned grave.
The Emperor was not someone who dwelled on petty emotional matters, much less someone who would make such an emotional judgment over a Primarch's choices.
They were all His tools.
At least, that was what the Adeptus Custodes said.
"Even if I dared to lie to you, I wouldn't dare spread rumors about the Emperor, Sexdu!"
"It's absolutely true."
"If you don't believe me, ask the Adeptus Custodes when they get here," Yulia said with a giggle. "You spent so long in the honor guard with them. If you don't believe me, surely you don't distrust them too?"
After hearing her words, Sexdu fell silent for a moment.
".I stopped being a member of the honor guard long ago, Yulia."
Time seemed to freeze at that instant.
".Sorry, Sexdu. I-I didn't mean to."
Her voice immediately dropped several tones as she spoke softly.
"It's fine."
"It's all in the past anyway."
Sexdu replied with a smile.
He had indeed once been a member of the honor guard.
After the Proxima Centauri Uprising and the disappearance of the ship carrying the Gene-seed, the Third Legion's numbers had fallen so drastically that they could no longer operate independently, so they had been pulled back from the front lines.
Fortunately, they had all come from ancient noble families on Terra and were especially well-versed in court etiquette. The Emperor had therefore arranged for them to serve alongside the Adeptus Custodes as ceremonial escorts during His travels.
Master of Ceremonies Sexdu had been one of them.
As a Space Marine of the Third Legion, he pursued perfection in all things and performed his honor guard duties exceptionally well.
There, he received the careful guidance of his mentor, the commander of the Third Legion.
That man had been his elder brother's close friend.
After his elder brother died in battle, the Legion commander had imparted all of his knowledge of etiquette, combat, and tactics without holding anything back.
And Sexdu had proved exceptionally worthy of that instruction.
Under the other man's guidance, he improved by leaps and bounds, quickly growing from an ordinary scout into a company commander capable of standing on his own.
Even many Adeptus Custodes who had once looked down on Space Marines gradually became close friends with whom he could discuss anything.
Everything had been moving in a better direction.
Even though rebuilding the Third Legion remained fraught with difficulties, even though all his brothers and sisters had died.
There was still hope for the future.
Things would get better.
Sexdu firmly believed that.
But fate was just such a damned thing.
Whenever you were about to find hope, it would always deliver its most fatal blow.
Sexdu remembered that it had been a peaceful day.
A highly respected Imperial Army commander had excitedly come to find them and told him that the next batch of Gene-seed cultivated by the Lunar Laboratory would soon arrive.
The Third Legion would finally be rebuilt!
He still remembered how excited he had been.
He still remembered the Adeptus Custodes and his comrades offering them words of praise and blessing the glorious Third Legion's rebirth from the flames.
After a long wait, they had finally reaped the ripe fruit.
Overjoyed, he and the Legion commander boarded that large transport ship loaded with Gene-seed under the commander's guidance.
Then he saw poison fog and firelight.
"Hey, hey, hey, spacing out again!?"
Yulia's shout rang in Sexdu's ears.
"It's time. We should board the landing craft."
"Cheer up. We're about to meet the Primarch. This should be a happy occasion."
"I really wonder what kind of person she'll be."
More and more Space Marines of the Third Legion gradually gathered within the hall.
They too would soon head with him to Chemos's surface to meet their Primarch.
"Relax, Sexdu."
"No matter what awaits us, your actions have proven that you are the noblest Space Marine in my eyes, and the Emperor's most devout loyal servant."
An Adeptus Custodes strolled past him and gently patted his Ceramite shoulder guard.
It was the Shield-Captain who had escorted them here.
He whispered into Sexdu's ear.
".Thank you."
Sexdu replied, squeezing into the landing craft with the other Third Legion warriors.
Landing craft. Yes, landing craft.
Back then, they had boarded a landing craft just like this and boarded that transport vessel loaded with Gene-seed.
Yet what greeted them had not been flowers and applause.
It had been a rebellion that erupted from within.
For a time, guns thundered and shouts reached the heavens.
The Imperial Army commander who had led them there had long been a member of the Lunar Gene Cult!
He had long since betrayed the Imperium, and betrayed them as well!
The newly landed Space Marines were immediately separated and surrounded. Countless modified cultists wielding biological weapons, accompanied by all manner of vicious and terrifying genetically modified monsters, surged toward them like a tide.
The enemy had even released an exceptionally insidious viral poison fog to contaminate every one of those Space Marines!
Personnel scattered, weapons and equipment were insufficient, and command communications were cut off.
The situation was extremely unfavorable for them.
Then, at that critical moment, Sexdu's mentor, the commander of the Third Legion, stepped forward amid the danger.
"All soldiers of the Third Legion!"
"Come to me and defend the Gene-seed vault to the death!"
"We cannot let this scum defile our future!"
"We will rebuild the Third Legion once more amid the flames!"
The rest of Sexdu's memories of that battle consisted only of endless slaughter and defense.
During the battle, he and his commander-mentor fought with everything they had to reach the Gene-seed vault, repelling wave after wave of attacks with their backs to their hope.
"We must hold this place!"
"This is the hope of the Third Legion's reconstruction!"
Faced with the assaults of endless enemies, he exhausted himself again and again, nearly collapsing.
But for that faint and distant hope, for the Third Legion that was about to be reborn.
And for the Legion commander, who had given everything to slay the most dangerous genetically modified monster before perishing together with the enemies surrounding him.
Sexdu fought until the very last moment.
Only when he saw the traitors completely wiped out by the reinforcements that arrived did he finally collapse into a pool of blood in relief.
He had succeeded.
Although the Legion commander and many of his brothers had died gloriously in battle, their sacrifices had not been in vain.
They had protected the entire ship's Gene-seed and safeguarded the Third Legion's future.
After waking up, supported by the Apothecary, he looked at the Gene-seed filling the ship and smiled happily.
Hope!
There was hope!
As long as the Gene-seed remained, the Third Legion could be rebuilt once again!
The Legion commander's sacrifice had not been meaningless!
But fate always managed to play a monstrous joke.
"The time has come."
"Destroy all of this."
The blazing fire spewed by the flamers stretched the shadow of the collapsed Sexdu across the ground, long and longer still.
It was over.
It was all over.
The entire ship's Gene-seed had actually already been completely contaminated in the laboratories on Luna.
What he had defended was not the Legion's future, but rotten soil that had long since decayed.
What he had hoped for had never held any meaning.
His mentor, his Legion commander, the Third Legion's future rising star, a master of swordsmanship and tactics.
And so many kind and upright comrades. They had died for such an utterly ridiculous reason.
"Then Vespasian, the future of our Third Legion—"
"There is no future, Sexdu."
The newly appointed commander fell silent for a moment.
"There is no future."
Holding a flamer, he stood with his back to Sexdu.
"The Gene-seed vaults on Luna have been completely contaminated."
"The Third Legion has come to a complete end."
".Unless—"
"Unless what!?"
"Don't stop halfway, Vespasian! Unless what?"
"Unless we can find our Primarch right now."
Finding their lost Primarch was easier said than done.
The Primarch had been swept away by a Warp Storm from the moment of birth and scattered across the universe ever since.
Finding them was harder than looking for a needle in a haystack.
Clang!
Sitting in the middle of the landing craft and lost in thought, Sexdu heard the hatch open.
"We're here! The pictures were real. This place is so beautiful!"
"Get ready quickly. The Primarch is waiting for us!"
He heard Yulia's excited shout beside him.
Yet just as the Third Legion was about to perish, just as Sexdu was about to despair.
They had truly found her here on Chemos.
Heh, heh heh.
He did not know whether he should laugh or cry.
Perhaps reality was always an absurd comedy filled with bottomless black humor.
It never let anyone guess whether the next step would be better or worse.
But regardless, the road had to continue.
Sexdu, keep moving forward.
"The plan has changed?"
The group heading toward Karax's parade square stopped in their tracks.
"That's right!"
Before they could reach the square and take their positions, a tall and gorgeously dressed figure abruptly blocked the Third Legion Space Marines' path.
Fulgrim.
Their Primarch.
Though he did not know what she looked like, the feeling buried deep in his genes allowed Sexdu to reach that conclusion immediately.
How could Fulgrim, who loved showing off before others, possibly follow convention?
"This is your first time on Chemos, and you are our honored guests."
"How can we inspect our guests the moment they arrive?"
She excitedly spun in place and raised her right hand behind her.
The lavish Chemos-style dress she wore swept out a graceful arc.
At some point, a Sonic Array Speaker had appeared in her hand.
Dressed like this, she looked less like the Emperor's demigod child and more like an enthusiastic tour guide.
"Here, we have prepared a special trip for all the brave soldiers of the Third Legion—"
As she spoke, several beautiful landscape images flashed across the giant screen behind Fulgrim.
Though the elaborate floral decorations were indeed somewhat tacky, that did not change the fact that the scenery itself was beautiful.
"Ta-da-da-da!"
"—A one-day tour of Chemos!"
Before you continue