The Sapphire King (Part 1)

"Santo, Ducane, Urien."

"My soldiers have been defeated by you one by one."

"Well done, Aqua Duna."

Philus's tone was very calm, but considering the current situation...

"My lord, I—"

Aqua knelt down on the ground, sweating profusely.

"The Gardinalians will never miss an opportunity to defy me, and you are just as arrogant as them. Are you here to remind me why I shouldn't be weak?"

That's not what I meant!

Your actions have said it all!

"Do you really have to prove to me every single moment that my legions are weak and my warriors are incompetent?"

"Or do you insist on choosing this moment to humiliate me? To humiliate the Iron Hands Legion?"

Undeniable words.

Especially just a short while ago, when Aqua was still gloating and shouting everywhere.

She fell into a bitter silence.

This is really the end.

As for Kasgar, who was standing to the side...

He was silently watching this good show.

Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!

I love watching women fight!

"If that's the case, do you think our Iron Hands can't pose a challenge to you?"

"Then let me see your skills."

At the command of Iron Hands Philus, several particularly rough black iron pillars were erected in the training cage in front of the banquet hall.

Philus originally intended that Dueling Cage of that size to be used for Dreadnought duels.

After all, the Iron Hands are indeed Dreadnought.

"This is the creation I left to my brothers and sisters."

Philus simply said it.

"I hoped to have a fair fight with them here, but I was always refused."

Including Dorn, Fulgrim, and Vulkan.

Although she seemed a bit irritable before, her anger was ultimately well-controlled.

The result of getting angry was just getting angry.

Only when she is truly angry can we glimpse the cold, burning calm fury within her.

It's terrifying.

Only at this moment could Kasgar be thankful that he had fallen into Chemos, not Medusa.

When the Senior Sister gets angry, she's really terrifying.

I'm starting to miss Fulgrim. Why is that?

"Put armor on her."

Philus's tone remained icy, as if she had already declared Aqua's defeat and that she was merely toying with a weak enemy.

Aqua nervously stepped into the Dueling Cage.

The shadow that Philus cast upon her was even larger than the one that came from Santo, who was wearing the Terminator armor.

This was an opponent she simply could not defeat.

A bitter scream escaped Aqua's lips.

But her body remained rooted to the spot, choosing to fight.

She could feel her body trembling with excitement.

The instinct of a warrior is to challenge the strong.

Just as her father thought when he challenged the Emperor.

Snap.

Aqua was sent flying and crashed into a huge, standing iron pillar.

Even though Aqua tried her best, attempting to find opportunities in the battle using her own skills, and successfully struck Philus's vital points.

Unfortunately, protected by the liquid metal in her iron Iron Hands, Aqua's resistance was utterly futile.

She was quickly sent flying.

Seemingly having achieved her goal, Philus, having finished disciplining Aqua, stepped off the specially designed training cage with a blank expression.

She looked down at the Iron Hands that lay prostrate on the ground, too afraid to speak.

Why can't these guys ever do anything to satisfy her?

Not only is she extremely reliant on coordination and calculation in battle, but she is also no match for other legion warriors in duels.

Why are other legions able to have powerful warriors like Abaddon and Sigismund as their right-hand men, while their Iron Hands can only ever rely on her alone?

Was it because of her "kindness" that this happened?

[A weak and useless piece of trash]

Perhaps it would be more valuable to transform their frail bodies into machines.

They don't even need a brain; the precise calculations that machines can perform are far greater than their laughable brain capacity.

"You have disgraced me again, Iron Hands."

This time, no Iron Hands dared to refute him.

"Perhaps I have been too lenient with your failures, or perhaps you are simply not meant to be strong."

"In any case, I am completely disappointed in you and in Gardinal."

Philus paused for a moment as if making a decision.

She recalled what she had seen earlier on the Space Hulk.

Perhaps the future is the right one.

Kindness only makes you weak.

Only the ruthless steel can achieve eternity.

Even if the Iron Hands becomes a machine made of steel, it's better than living as a weak human, crawling on the ground.

She sighed.

"If this happens again in the future, be prepared for your mechanical modification surgery."

After saying that, Philus left the banquet hall without looking back.

"Um?"

Wait a minute, something's not right!

Kasgar stopped eating the snacks he was holding.

He noticed something amiss.

Kasgar didn't originally intend to interfere too much with Philus.

After all, as a staunch Loyalist, even with the illusions shown to him by the Eldar Veil Walker, he didn't believe that Philus was the one who would start the Horus Heresy.

She had no reason to do that.

Kasgar came to participate in the Gardinar Campaign primarily to rescue the Sons of the Emperor, the Sword Saint Aqua Duna.

Perhaps because of his arrival, the lives of more than a dozen Primarch Guards of the Iron Hands and Intep Amar of the Thousand Sons Librarian were saved, and everything was moving in a positive direction.

Next, all he needs to do in the battle against Gardinal is ensure that Aqua can successfully retreat while destroying the enemy's Orbital Weapon, and his study abroad experience in the Iron Hands will be perfectly completed.

There is no reason for any changes to occur.

But Philus's words suddenly plunged him into despair.

She was actually encouraging the Iron Hands Legion to undergo mechanization, removing their own flesh and blood in pursuit of that so-called "perfection"?

This shouldn't be the case.

Kasgar stood up anxiously, but didn't know where to go.

Mechanization has always been a research direction for the Iron Hands Legion, but Philus is probably the one who prevented the entire legion from going mad!

Even with a pair of indestructible Iron Hands, Philus Manus still doesn't believe they are her own hands.

If she waits until the Great Crusade ends, she will definitely find a way to turn it back to its original state.

She would probably tell her offspring not to pursue so-called mechanical "perfection" too much, lest they alienate themselves into mechanical puppets.

Logically, Iron Hands Primarch should have been vehemently opposed to the Legion's trend of replacing all limbs with steel and wanted to curb this unhealthy trend.

(Then the Iron Hands made the promise was completely baffled.)

She shouldn't be a promoter of this kind of thinking.

What exactly went wrong?

Kasgar was very anxious, but he had no clue what to do.

Or rather, an unexpected situation suddenly occurred, causing him to panic instantly.

"Kasgar."

"I wonder if you have time to talk to me."

"I assure you, the content of the following conversation will be extremely important for both of us."

Perhaps seeing that the banquet was over and the other party finally had some free time, Amar from the Thousand Sons Think Tank finally found an opportunity to ask Kasga, whose expression was not very good.

At this moment, he had changed from his usual scarlet and withered Wizard appearance; everything about him looked Astartes.

This is thanks to the Kasgar's Flame.

Amar was extremely grateful for this.

And shortly after the Gardinalians assassination, he attempted to contact the Primarch of the Thousand Sons Legion, Red Demon the Magnus, via Psychic Power communications.

He needed to tell the other party as soon as possible how the Flesh Curse could be suppressed!

He succeeded.

Without breaking into the Webway, they contacted his father.

Magnus was very excited about the message he was conveying.

The Legion's Flesh Curse has been his most troublesome problem since his return.

You mean this Space Marine from the Emperor's Children Legion can remove the Flesh Curse?

[Absolutely true! My lord, after being burned by his Psychic Flame, my body has now fully recovered!]

[Quickly! Get him to Prospero!!!!]

An extremely urgent shout came through the Psychic Power communication.

Perhaps due to excessive excitement, Amar felt that the other party was so excited that they were about to jump out of the Psychic Power communication.

It almost shattered Amar's soul.

I'll give him anything he wants, as long as it breaks our Flesh Curse!

I'll do anything! I'd even kneel down for you!

Magnus, one of only four Primarch to kneel before his offspring.

Angel / Fulgrim / Vulkan (kneeling before his offspring): I will lead you to glory!

Magnus (kneeling before his offspring): Waaaaah, Kayan, I beg you, please, if you curse me again, I'll kneel before you! bang bang bang—

Is this all you're asking for?

Following Amar, we arrived at his private room, which was almost overflowing with books he had collected from all over the galaxy, filling entire bookshelves.

"That's right. On behalf of Magnus Legion Primarch the Thousand Sons, I extend to you my sincerest invitation."

"The Primarch has suddenly encountered an extremely serious academic problem, and the flame in your hand happens to provide him with a feasible solution to the problem."

"If the desired effect is achieved, the Primarch promised to meet all your needs."

Of course, even if Thousand Sons were completely clueless, she wouldn't go around telling everyone that her genes had undergone Flesh Change.

They used an extremely roundabout way to subtly express their expectations.

Unfortunately, Kasgar had already read the script.

It's just that too much witchcraft caused his Flesh Change, really.

They even said they would satisfy all needs.

Are you kidding? If I asked you to turn Guilliman into a little girl, could you do that too?

However, this is indeed a good thing for Kasgar.

Magnus is currently still troubled by the Flesh Curse, indicating that he has not yet been deceived by the blue sprites of the Warp and is currently Ogryn with red eyes.

There is still a possibility of saving the entire Legion and Primarch.

If Thousand Sons is protected from betrayal and Xiao Ma stops making harassing phone calls, the Webway won't explode.

As long as the Webway doesn't explode, there is still hope for humanity's future!

"I accept your invitation."

Kasgar said the words that Amar had been waiting for.

"But I must say that there are more urgent matters that await our attention."

"Is it urgent?"

What could be more urgent than lifting the Flesh Curse of the Thousand Sons Legion?

Of course, Amar couldn't directly mention the Flesh Curse.

Even if Kasgar knew everything, he wouldn't dare to say anything.

"It's the Iron Hands."

"I'm asking you, Amar. When you met Philus, did anything strange happen to you?"

"Something strange?"

"It's something that goes beyond common sense and logic. Witchcraft, Psychic Power, Warp influence, anything goes."

"In short, has Philus encountered anything that doesn't quite align with the Imperial Truth?"

What Kasgar said was somewhat dangerous.

But for the Thousand Sons Librarian, they are essentially no different from treating Imperial Truth as toilet paper.

Philus is not the kind of person who likes excessive mechanical modifications.

No one would be more eager to turn everything into a machine than those self-hating Iron Hands.

She has changed, most likely due to some unknown influence!

"It seems we really have encountered something very strange."

After a moment of contemplation, Amar seemed to realize something.

"That was when I was still searching for reinforcements for the 413th Expeditionary Fleet."

After the Ultramarines Chapter Cicero suffered a defeat in the surface war, Amar, as a powerful Psyker in the fleet, decided to lead a small voidship into the Warp to seek support from other Expeditionary Fleet.

"In the process, we found Philus's Fifty-Second Expeditionary Fleet."

"That's normal, isn't it?"

"That's right, but the problem arose after I boarded Expeditionary Fleet No. 52."

"When I reported the situation at Gardinal to him and finally decided to pass the information on to the Sons of the Emperor's fleet, that is, to you."

"We encountered a Space Hulk during our Warp journey."

Space Hulk?!

Kasgar sensed something was wrong.

Philus, the Iron Hands, encounters Space Hulk.

Not every ship can successfully traverse the Warp.

Some wrecked ships remain forever in Warp, becoming drifting Space Hulk.

Due to the uncertainty of time in Warp, voyagers sometimes encounter ships from the past or future.

"Then what?"

Kasgar felt that he was getting closer and closer to the answer to the question.

"We wouldn't normally get involved in this kind of thing, but the Iron Hands Legion's emblem was on that Space Hulk."

"This is a ship from the Iron Hands."

Driven by curiosity, we boarded the wrecked ship with Philus and her guards.

She also wanted to see what the Iron Hands would look like in the future.

"I see."

Kasgar's tone was low.

It was probably around this time that she was possessed by a demon from the future.

In Kasgar's mind, a name he was reluctant to mention but was most likely to come to mind was emerging.

An eternal nightmare that is always haunted by the Iron Hands.

A demon that leads all Iron Hands to hate their own flesh and blood and yearn to endlessly embrace their mechanical bodies.

The Sapphire King