Alarius Terminator

"Your exact origins—what are they?"

The three exchanged glances, and in the end, it was the Black Robe Custodes Leonardo who spoke first.

Rowan thought for a moment, recalling his own background, and decided to find a way to phrase it that would be easy for the people of this universe to accept.

"Before I answer that, do you know how the Emperor created the twenty-one Primarchs?"

"...Wasn't it nine Primarchs? Where do twenty-one come from?"

The Living Saint Lucia looked puzzled.

"What... aren't there eighteen Primarchs in total?"

Inquisitor Sibyl sank into thought, a glint of excitement gradually showing in her eyes.

As an Inquisitor of the Order of the Hammer, she vaguely sensed that there was a massive secret hidden here.

"Isn't it twenty Primarchs? Who's the extra one?"

The Custodes Leonardo gave his answer.

Right, that's the Imperium for you—little secrets everywhere.

Big and small secrets tucked away in every corner, everyone nursing their own private agendas, each with their own calculations.

The end result? Everyone hoards a pile of secrets, and no one can see the full picture.

Like a bunch of Hakimi that should be huddling together for warmth, but instead activate their Spine Dragon Form and start clawing and hissing at each other.

Rowan felt a bit helpless.

He first looked at Lucia and explained succinctly: "The Primarchs the Emperor created aren't just the nine the Ecclesiarchy preaches about. The other nine traitor Astartes legions also had their own Primarchs, but they were erased from history by the Imperium's high command for betraying humanity."

Lucia: "Huh?"

Next, Rowan turned to Inquisitor Sibyl:

"Originally, there were actually twenty legions. But two more Primarchs, along with their legions, were struck from the records by the Emperor during the Great Crusade for unknown reasons."

Sibyl: "Huh?"

Then, he looked at Leonardo and spoke even more concisely: "The Twentieth Legion, the Alpha Legion, had two Primarchs: Alpharius and Omegon."

Leonardo's pupils contracted.

After hearing these secrets, the three exchanged glances again, their minds reeling from the thunderbolt of information.

Finally, they turned their questioning gazes back to Rowan. They didn't speak, but the meaning in their eyes was clear:

How do you know this?

Rowan shrugged and continued:

"Then let's go back to the original question. About the process of the Emperor creating the Primarchs—He once entered the depths of the Warp at some unknown point in time, a place even the Chaos Gods wouldn't set foot in. From there, He extracted twenty Warp essences using unknown means, then used His own supreme genetic techniques to forge them into Primarchs."

"This... is this really something we're allowed to hear?"

After a moment of silence, Lucia couldn't help but speak up. "Honestly, if it were before, and someone said this in front of me, I'd probably... no, I'd definitely have them burned at the stake."

"On a slow fire."

Sibyl picked up her thread and added with a jab.

"...After ten thousand years had passed, the Emperor decided to conduct another dangerous experiment. Though this time, I don't know how He did it either, but He succeeded."

"This time, He chose a different place, no longer through the Warp... Anyway, the result of the experiment was that He successfully brought me to this universe."

Rowan raised his hand and pointed at himself.

"You're a Primarch?"

The Custodes Leonardo was the first to question.

This kind of "I am the Son of the Emperor" claim carried far too much weight in the Imperium's religious atmosphere.

"But according to historical records, Primarchs possess astonishing power, yet I don't sense any great threat from you."

"Don't lump me together with Primarchs—they're two completely different things..."

Rowan smiled. "Forget it, I'll just demonstrate directly what a Reality Warper is. That might be more intuitive."

He thought for a moment, then nodded to the Custodes. "Sorry, no offense."

Leonardo grunted, feeling as if a gap had been opened in his mind, and a line of sight slowly swept through his memories and consciousness along that gap.

Biting back the urge to draw his sword, the Custodes stood still, even completely abandoning any resistance.

Fortunately, the line of sight only swept past quickly, not delving deep into his consciousness.

"Sorry, I just wanted to retrieve a [memory] from your mind. I have no interest in your other secrets."

Rowan said as he reached out his hand.

Before everyone's eyes, the extremely hard alloy Ceramite floor of the ship transformed from a solid into a malleable liquid, surging upward at Rowan's will, eventually forming a tall cylinder like a cocoon, slowly expanding and contracting.

Rowan thrust his palm forcefully into this cocoon-like mass, recalling the intelligence he had just obtained from Leonardo in his mind, and activated his Reality Warping Ability.

Clear structure, material transformation, and reconstruction.

After a long moment, Rowan let out a deep breath, withdrew his palm, and eased his tense mind. At this moment, operating at the level of a Level 2 Reality Warper to perform this grade of reality distortion, he clearly felt a certain drain.

The liquid-like Ceramite flowed downward, re-merging with the ground. What appeared before everyone's eyes was an extremely tall heavy power armor, its entire surface gleaming with a brilliant Obsidian Gold luster. The armor was covered in honorific patterns crafted by a master's hand, with a tall red plume rising from the helmet.

"What is this?" Lucia frowned slightly, turning to look at the other two. She found the Inquisitor and the Adeptus Custodes both frozen in shock. Leonardo, in particular—his usually handsome face was twisted by extreme astonishment, his eyes practically bulging out.

"An Alarius Terminator?!" Leonardo finally couldn't hold back, letting out a startled cry.

"You can try it on. It's not a model." Rowan made a "go ahead" gesture. At his words, the power armor automatically disassembled into individual components, floating in the air and surging toward Leonardo. The Custodian, half-doubting, began to don the armor. The moment the mechanical joints clicked shut, the Machine Spirit suddenly surged to life. The Terminator Armor clung tightly to his body, and a tidal wave of power flooded through him, confirming the reality of it all. It was a completely real Alarius Terminator Armor!

"What the hell!" Sibyl could no longer hold it together. "This is the Terminator Armor specially supplied to the Ten Thousand—the Adeptus Custodes' legion. It's made entirely of extremely rare Obsidian Gold, said to be worth a planet. Its hardness is enough to withstand the aftermath of orbital bombardment! And you just...?" Her gaze dropped to the ground beneath her feet, then she stomped hard. "You just hand-crafted it out of Ceramite? How is that even possible?"

"That's the ability of a Reality Warper." Rowan spread his hands. "To me, so-called matter is essentially part of reality's objectivity. As long as its Reality Strength—its Hume Level—permits my modification... then in my eyes, there's really no difference between any kind of matter."