The Era of the Primarchs Has Ended

Upon receiving news of Lady Yuton's assassination attempt, Guilliman did not hesitate and immediately returned to Macragge. After disappearing for a week, he chose to return to Holy Terra.

No one knows where Guilliman went during that week, nor what he went through, but the Ultramarines had never been stationed in Holy Terra to avoid suspicion, followed him back.

Without any rest, Guilliman returned to Holy Terra and continued his political work. A sense of unease spread throughout Holy Terra, but the Ultramarines dealt with it all with the strictest control measures.

When Corvus Corax and Dorn returned to Holy Terra, Guilliman immediately convened the High Lords Council, intending to appoint Space Marine as councilors to participate in politics.

However, the proposal was met with opposition from the entire council. These mortal officials, promoted by Guilliman, argued that the laws of the Emperor must not be violated, and that Space Marine should absolutely not participate in politics, as this was an ancestral precept left by the Emperor.

At this moment, Guilliman finally understood why Horus looked down on mortals so much, how foolish, how depraved, and how utterly absurd they were.

An overwhelming rage began to burn within Guilliman, making him wish he could Vermin in front of him to death.

If it weren't for the desperate resistance of those Space Wolves, if it weren't for the Blood Ravens who infiltrated Macragge to steal, if it weren't for my Hill...

Guilliman no longer wanted to bother with those formalities. "I've been so lenient with you, yet you've taken advantage of my kindness and even tried to murder my mother."

What else could we do? Only kill!

668. M32,

The Great Purge: There are no official Imperial records of this period, but it can be gleaned from the movements of the three First Founding: Ultramarines, Imperial Fists, and Raven Guard.

In the five years following 668, a brutal civil war broke out in the Sol Sector, the core of the empire.

To deal with the mountains of corpses, the small number of Night Lords were even reassigned to Holy Terra to establish numerous paper-mâché workshops.

703. M32,

Eleven-to-one: After a five-year-long Great Purge, Guilliman did not completely dissolve the High Lords Council, but instead gradually delegated imperial power to mortal officials.

However, Guilliman also followed the traditional Emperor practice of having every official's political statistics compiled and eliminating the bottom 10% every ten years.

Perhaps due to the excessive repression he had experienced before, Guilliman went from one extreme to the other, directly initiating an offline Monarch.

The gist is that I set a KPI, and I don't care what methods or means you use. If you don't meet the target I set for you by the deadline, you will all die.

Guilliman even extended the benefits of the Eleven-to-one to local officials this time, treating them equally.

In a short time, the previously bloated government system was streamlined to an extreme degree, and every ordinary official enjoyed the pleasure of their work.

More abstractly, if a normal regime implemented such benevolent policies, it would probably perish within a few years. However, after implementing the death-based KPIs, the empire actually began to develop rapidly.

This phenomenon, once it emerged, made Guilliman's previous life as a beast of burden seem rather clownish.

803. M32,

A joint effort to force Guilliman's abdication: Under Guilliman's benevolent rule for over a century, not only imperial officials but also Planetary Governor could no longer tolerate it and began to protest.

The cries from the rebellious regions instantly caught the attention of the Lord Regent, who, without hesitation, announced his abdication to the entire Empire through the Divine Seal Network, appointing Dorn as Lord Regent.

And he, Robert Guilliman, served as the Imperial Warmaster!

However, the empire governs the world with loyalty and righteousness. Although I agree to your request, it does not mean that I understand your rebellion. So, wash your necks and wait for me. I will come and kill you right away.

But what Guilliman didn't know was that almost everyone who held the title of Imperial Warmaster ended up in a bad way.

The first Warmaster, Ol' Peson, ran away quickly; the second Warmaster, Mordred, died quickly; the third Warmaster Horus, became a blooper; the fourth Warmaster, Zhuang Sen, was bombarded; and the fifth Warmaster Ferrus, was left with only a skull.

Sure enough, with Guilliman's abdication, the curse that had been hanging over the Imperial Warmaster soon came true.

811. M32,

Nothing particularly noteworthy happened within the Empire that year. The Maelstrom continued to spew out its garbage, and Abaddon began his fourth Black Crusade. People died on one planet, Xenos appeared on another, and every now and then a few Psyker went out of control.

Despite the seemingly constant natural disasters, the empire was already enjoying good times, but these good times did not last long.

Perhaps because Victorious in a Hundred Battles all the time was a bit embarrassing, Abaddon learned his lesson this time. After four failed expeditions, he actually started taking out small loans, just like the Emperor.

Faced with this self-important little thing, the Four Gods certainly wouldn't refuse, and they all provided funding for the Black Legion.

Although they didn't know why their own Demon Realm looked like it had been chewed up by a dog, the Four Gods believed it must be the work of the Yellow Skins.

We're half-dead and recuperating now, so you Yellow Skins won't have an easy time either. We don't expect Abaddon to have any effect; as long as it annoys the Yellow Skins, then it's all worth it.

Therefore, Slaanesh, the strongest lesser god, decided to take advantage of the situation and sent out his top henchman, Ferrus. Khorne, the gambling addict, wouldn't let this opportunity pass by either, and directly sent out Angron, whom he disliked from every angle.

With the strong support of his two uncles, and the addition of himself as the Chaos Warmaster, Abaddon suddenly felt confident and immediately launched the Fifth Black Crusade.

The previous minor skirmishes were one thing, but now that you dare to leave the Eye of Terror and completely let loose, Guilliman didn't hesitate and personally led the expedition.

813. M32,

The fifth Chaos Expedition was a complete failure, and the Empire emerged victorious.

However, upon discovering that Angron was among the Black Legion, Guilliman did not retreat but instead charged forward impulsively.

But Guilliman wasn't stupid either. Although I didn't know how to use any special psionic Psychic Power, there were many of us Ultramarines. We used Orbital Bombardment to Carpet Bombing, instantly killing Angron half to death.

Seeing that Angron was half-crippled, Guilliman was immediately seized by his glue addiction and led the Primarch's Guard to board him, wanting to go forward and finish him off.

Then Guilliman was slit in the throat by the Iron Serpent Demon had been lurking in the shadows.

Thanks to the Primarch Stretcher Team's desperate rescue efforts, Guilliman survived but fell into a deep sleep and was placed in Fortress of Hera as an exhibit.

When the news reached Dorn and Corvus Corax, the two Primarchs were furious, but there was nothing they could do but continue to support the Empire before them.

However, the Four Gods, who have already recovered, will absolutely not allow the empire to get back on track.

872. M32,

Salvation Star Crisis: To relieve the pressure on Dorn, Corvus Corax begins putting out fires across the Empire, but as time goes on, the Empire begins its gradual decline.

The Imperial Cult, which once assisted the Lord Regent in tending the empire's people, gradually deteriorated and inevitably succumbed to hedonism after accumulating enormous wealth.

Meanwhile, the Adeptus Mechanicus gradually became stagnant, technological development stalled, and small cliques formed one after another.

Under these circumstances, Corvus Corax could only launch internal reforms for the empire based on his own understanding.

But just as the Raven King was making his move, a rebellion broke out on his home planet, the Salvation Star, with a large number of rebels rising up against the tyranny of the empire.

After nearly two millennia of growth and reproduction, those who once followed the Primarch's uprising have instead become the new oppressors.

To quell the rebellion, Corvus Corax had no choice but to lead the Raven Guard to suppress it, but when they arrived at their Salvation Star, a sudden Warp storm struck.

The Chaos Fleet, Long Prepared, descended from the sky and unleashed plague gas upon the unsuspecting Raven Guard.

The Raven Guard was almost entirely wiped out, and the Raven King was completely missing. However, according to survivors, the corrupted Primarch Mortarion and Angron were present during the surprise attack.

888. M32,

Keep a secret: As the 32nd millennium drew to a close, under the long-standing pressure of extreme exploitation and the psychological stress of his brothers disappearing one after another, Dorn descended into a disturbing rage.

To alleviate this pressure and to clean up the various problems that have emerged in the Empire, Dorn initiated the Ultimate Wall Protocol, summoning all Chapter within the Empire to launch a mini-expedition.

For the next two centuries, Dorn led the Imperial Fists Chapter and oversaw the military activities of the entire Imperial Chapter.

Just as the internal strife subsided, Dorn encountered a supernatural phenomenon in which the crimson flames intensified. Shortly after the flames dissipated, he died in a spaceboard battle at the hands of swarming World Eaters. His body vanished without a trace, leaving only a severed hand.

999. M32,

The Pope of the Ecclesiarch, Luojia, who resides deep within the Imperial Palace, awakens and, after learning about the situation from Xiang Jinjun, secretly disappears from everyone's sight.

In the same year, Marshal Valdor of the Marshal of the Adeptus Custodes disappeared, along with the Spear of the Sun God. The legend of the King in Yellow began to circulate throughout the Empire.

000. M33,

A full century has passed since the last demigod departed, and after the initial turmoil, the Empire has gradually adapted to an era without a Primarch.

Perhaps due to some kind of innate talent, after 2000 years of gradual domestication, the empire still uses the political framework established during Guilliman's time.

The Imperial Cult, now free of restrictions, also extensively glorified these vanished Primarch after their departure.

Soon, theocracy gradually oppressed royal power, and the Imperial Cult violated the prohibition set by Pope Luojia and began to gradually enter the political center of the empire, eventually gaining a seat in the High Lords Council.

However, heroes are as numerous as carp crossing a river, and the empire is not lacking in extraordinary individuals who want to change the status quo. But whether they are villains or heroes, they will all fall into despair when faced with the empire's immense size.

With the arrival of the 33rd millennium, the Primarch, who once walked alongside humanity, has become a figure of mythology.

Thus, the era of the Primarchs came to an end!