Ashen Herald

The Emperor's dinner ended with the dining hall reduced to ruins. The socially awkward big guy was no match for Mordred's vicious tongue, and the latter kept exposing his Dark History until he completely broke him, pinning the Rebellious son down and beating him soundly.

This left a deep impression on the Adeptus Custodes guarding outside. After all, the Second Highness had only come twice, yet each time he managed to wreck a dining hall. It was simply far too rebellious—nothing like the filial Horus.

But the truth was not quite so simple. The father and son, who had been at each other's throats moments ago, actually shook hands and made peace, then began lecturing Vulkan, who had been dragged into the mess for no reason.

This made the black uncle question his entire life. A blasphemous thought surfaced in his mind: could his family have some kind of hereditary mental illness? Otherwise, how could he explain his father and Second Brother acting like this?

Vulkan's troubles could wait. The Primarch's disappearance had provoked a fierce reaction from the Second Legion, but fortunately, Mordred was not senile and knew to call his sons to inform them.

With Captain The Khan leading the guards to their arrival, Mordred, now backed by his underlings, regained his confidence. He stopped arguing with the Emperor and began asking for benefits instead.

As for who had just pointed at the Emperor's nose and called him an old bastard, Mordred himself had forgotten. After all, whoever provided the milk was the mother, and the child who cried got fed.

"Father, look. I've been back in the Imperium for almost three years. I'm carrying scrap metal and wearing an ordinary Terminator. Give me some equipment. If I can't have any, then what about Vulkan?"

When asking for benefits, one could not afford to care about dignity. Mordred immediately hugged the Emperor's leg and claimed that even though he never left the house, he cared about the progress of the Great Crusade every day. The dinosaur eggs they ate had even been selected by him.

As the saying went, direct attacks countered tsunderes. Compared with the shameless Mordred, the Emperor still cared about his dignity. He desperately tried to shake off this embarrassing lump, but he simply could not.

"Let go of me."

"No. I heard that Fulgrim, who returned at the same time as me, received so many things his hands went numb. You have to at least give me some gold coins. Otherwise, I'll go and join..."

"Bang!"

A crisp sound echoed through the ship's cabin as a huge slap landed on Mordred's head, interrupting his suicidal remark.

Their eyes met. Under the Emperor's warning gaze, Mordred suddenly understood why Old Man Huang had called him special and hurriedly shut his mouth.

"Do not mention that nonsense. Vulkan is innocent. You do not want him to attract the attention of those few useless fools, do you?"

"Father, what are you talking about?" Vulkan asked from the table where he was already eating with the dog.

"Eat your food!"

"Sure."

"And as for you?" The Emperor's mouth twitched. He also realized that his current state was abnormal. It must have been beating this Rebellious son that had caused his emotions to become so intense.

"Malcador has already had a weapon suitable for you made. It is currently in the Phantasmal Dream's treasury. Come with me. Vulkan, there is something for you in there as well."

Following the Emperor, the group took several winding turns. After passing through numerous baffling defensive measures, they finally arrived before an unremarkable wooden door decorated with a gigantic wooden cross.

"Could this be the place where Ye Ge used to dry cured meat?"

The Emperor nodded without offering much explanation and casually pushed open the treasury door.

The first thing that caught their eyes was a pitch-black passageway. Stasis Fields buzzed all around it, while countless rare treasures had been placed within.

Mordred even saw a perfectly intact mechanical humanoid bearing the logo of Dar Company, the same mark he had discovered in his homeland.

"Stop looking. I seized this Automaton during the Unification Wars. It is Abominable Intelligence in the truest sense."

As an immortal who had also lived through the 30k Era, Mordred only had to twitch his butt for the Emperor to know what he wanted to do. Unfortunately, this path had already been proven impassable.

"Then what does the logo on this Abominable Intelligence mean? I saw it on the Serene World. That was when I learned my homeland was a zoo from the Dark Age of Technology."

Following Mordred's finger, the Emperor looked at the lettering. A rather distant memory surged into his mind:

"Dar Company was a Galactic Mega-corporation that covered military affairs, entertainment, and materials development, while maintaining close ties with the Federal Fleet.

"Their weapons were sturdy and durable. They even became standard-issue weapons of the Federation military for a time. Along with Hyperion, Tediore, Jakobs, and Torgue, they divided up the Federation's entire weapons manufacturing industry. As for what happened afterward..."

The Emperor did not continue. It was not hard to guess what had happened next. It had simply been the Iron Men Rebellion, after which the company vanished completely during one star-rending civil war after another, eventually becoming an echo hidden in the river of history.

The Emperor was uncharacteristically different now. Perhaps these ancient relics had reminded him of his distant memories as an immortal. Whenever either of them asked a question, he answered every one of them.

The group walked on and stopped repeatedly, like a real father and son traveling together. Soon, they arrived before a display rack.

At the very bottom was a suit of Power Armor. As a researcher who had begun to develop an addiction to knowledge, Mordred recognized its prototype at a glance. Without a doubt, it was once again the Ironclad Terminator Armor beloved by the Imperium's soldiers.

This suit of armor was simply much taller. It had been forged from Adamantium combined with several unknown metals. Its overall color was black, but the green fluorescence pulsing across its surface like blood vessels revealed its true nature.

Without a doubt, this was armor that utilized Necron Technology. But Mordred did not care about that. He fell in love with it at first sight simply because the armor was incredibly cool, with two horns on its head. It suited his tastes perfectly.

Now that he had armor, he naturally needed a weapon as well. Unfortunately, the old Emperor did not understand people's hearts and had no idea what Mordred was skilled at using.

In the end, he could not stand the Rebellious son's longing gaze any longer. The Emperor pointed at a weapon rack and told him to choose for himself.

To be honest, when Mordred saw so many fine treasures, his first thought was not to choose one, but to pack up and carry away the entire rack.

But when he imagined being pinned to the ground and beaten repeatedly by Old Man Huang after doing that, only to end up with nothing, Mordred could only go over and choose properly.

With an excited heart and trembling hands, Mordred's attention was caught by a huge greatsword. Compared with a knight's two-handed sword, it looked more like a Great Cleaver ground from a leg bone. It was crude and rugged, with a skull embedded in it.

Even better, while the other weapons came alone, this one was a buy-one-get-one deal. It even came with a pistol, making it a perfect fit for his righteous knightly identity.

Without the slightest hesitation, Mordred chose this war blade and even gave it a name—Ashen Herald.

As for the Plasma Pistol, he named it Ambition!