Arrival

The red robes Lucas wore could not conceal the many mechanical modifications to his body.

Tubes ran along his ribs, while cables encircled his body and connected to a hissing power pack that resembled a pair of wings.

His face had long since been replaced by a snarling iron skull mask. Pipes connected to its jaw, and red light flickered in its eye sockets.

He took the helmet from Kelbor and reverently placed it on his head. With a click, several hooks sank into his skull.

"General, what do I need to do now?"

Lucas trembled all over, not from fear but from sheer excitement.

The feeling of being controlled like this was fantastic!

"Let me make this clear. If you lie, it'll explode. If you don't answer, it'll explode. If you take too long to answer, it'll explode."

"Understand?"

Kelbor had just found the remote control Francis had dropped. He spoke excitedly.

"Understood!" Lucas replied.

Ding ding ding~

"See? You didn't understand me at all just now." Kelbor quietly activated the music function.

"No, I really did understand!"

In response to Lucas's protest, Kelbor quietly switched on the heating function.

Lucas felt the helmet on his head growing hotter and hurried to explain. "I didn't understand! I didn't understand!"

Hiss~ Only then did the helmet cool down, releasing one of its hooks.

Kelbor: "What bad things have you done lately?"

"Nothing."

Ding ding ding~

"I did! I secretly dissected some Astartes and implanted their gene-seed organs in myself, but it didn't work."

Kelbor: "..."

Everyone: "Hiss~ You did that without inviting me? That's so unfair!"

The helmet's mechanical hooks kept trembling, giving Kelbor a strange feeling.

Something seemed off. It didn't behave the same way when he used it.

Then the helmet heated up again, and cooled down.

Heat! Cool down?

Heat! Cool down?

"General, what's going on? This isn't what you said would happen!" Lucas's eyes widened as the thing on his head heated up uncontrollably.

But Kelbor was still lost in thought, trying to work out what was wrong with the mechanism. He kept switching it on and off, then on and off again.

It wasn't until he heard Lucas's terrified shouting once more that he snapped out of it.

"General! General! This thing's going to explode! It's going to explode! Why can't I take it off?"

Lucas tugged at the helmet, but it was no use. It was as if the thing had grown right onto his head!

By the time Kelbor came to his senses, all he had to do was flick a finger. A faint metallic snap rang out~ Crack~

Ding ding ding~

A small metal rod fell to the floor. Kelbor looked confused at first, then stunned, and finally shouted in terror.

"Run! This thing has a bomb with the yield of a miniature nuclear warhead inside!"

"Lucas, there's no way to take it off by force. Unless you're willing to lose your head!"

At that, everyone else hurried out of the room.

Just as they turned to seal it off, they saw Lucas twist off his mechanical skull and set it on the floor.

His headless body immediately fled.

When he reached them, Kelbor was still shocked, but he quickly sealed the room and detached it from the ship.

It shot into the sky—BOOM!

A mushroom cloud hundreds of meters wide rose into the sky, apparently hitting something.

The wreckage of a small battleship fell from the cloud. Its insignia looked like a black eye.

It seemed to be the mark of the Sons of Horus.

The group exchanged looks. Or rather, everyone exchanged looks, since Lucas had no face and they couldn't tell what he was thinking.

They all stared at him in silence.

"Uh, my head is just for show. My actual brain is in my backpack." Lucas patted his power pack.

Everyone: "..."

After a moment of silence, Lucas said, "General, we blew up the Warmaster of the Imperium's ship. That should be fine, right?"

"..." Kelbor finally managed to say, "Let's see if there are any survivors first."

They quickly sent out a large number of servitors to the crash site to look for survivors.

Unfortunately, the helmet's blast had been just right: not a single person had survived.

The explosion had even triggered a second blast in the battleship's engines. All that was left aboard was scrap metal!

After receiving the report, Lucas said, seemingly out of nowhere, "General, this thing is great. It's incredibly powerful. We should consider mass-producing it."

Kelbor took a deep breath. "Set course for Mars. If anyone comes looking, say we're conducting a sealed study of Ork technology."

"What should we tell Horus?"

"Tell him it was an accident. If he doesn't like it, he can come find me on Mars."

The Herakfenel emerged from the Warp.

Just as Francis was enjoying some peace and quiet by himself, Magnus came to see him.

After entering, Magnus stood there awkwardly, saying nothing and just lingering in place.

Francis glanced at the time, then said, "Do you have any idea how creepy it is when a big guy stands there fidgeting?"

"It's not spring, is it? What kind of Xenos are you into?"

Magnus's expression fell. He replied with righteous indignation, "My heart belongs only to Father and the study of psychic knowledge!"

"Did you get yourself into trouble again? Damn, I guessed right!"

When Magnus didn't deny it, Francis immediately felt that something was very wrong.

"Actually, it's nothing much. I invited Angron to Terra, but he didn't accept." Magnus paused before continuing.

"What's the big deal? It's his loss if he doesn't come." Francis sighed inwardly. Unfortunately, he could only resort to Plan B.

Seeing that Francis wasn't concerned, Magnus immediately relaxed.

He trotted off at once.

Francis called the Soul Drinkers over and closed the door.

The medical room, usually spacious, now felt cramped. The faint smell of blood clung to them.

"Hmm? Have you been fighting?"

The Soul Drinkers looked a little embarrassed. "No~ It's just that a lot of people have been coming to us lately for treatment of flesh-change."

Tsk!

Francis hadn't expected his legion to turn into medics.

Francis sat cross-legged on the treatment bed, his expression unusually serious. "Listen, everyone. When we get back to Terra this time, there's a chance I'll be locked in a dungeon again."

The Soul Drinkers erupted in protest.

"Emperor, it won't happen!"

"Primarch, there's nothing wrong with him!"

"Why lock him up?"

"..."

Francis waved a hand and continued, "I said it's only a possibility. If it really happens, remember to come rescue me from the depths of the dungeon."

At once.

Every Soul Drinker's eyes widened like bells. Their lips trembled as they said, "Primarch, do you want to betray the Imperium?"

"We can't do that! Everything we have belongs to the Emperor!"

"We can't betray the Emperor!"

Francis: "..."

Just then, the battleship shook violently. Hiss~

They had returned to Terra.

Bang bang bang~

"Francis, we've arrived on Terra. The Emperor wishes to see us!" came the voice of Valoris, captain of the Custodian Shield Company, from outside.

The door opened, and the Adeptus Custodes and Sisters of Silence escorted Francis away.

The Soul Drinkers wanted to follow, but the Space Wolves stopped them and said, "The Emperor didn't summon us, so we can't go."

"Only the Primarch is going. There's no need to worry. Go back and get some rest."

Watching Francis disappear into the distance, they weren't sure whether they should listen.

Night fell. Under the starlight, the Imperial Palace seemed even more mysterious.

Its walls were covered in intricate reliefs. Each one recounted the glorious history and heroic legends of the Imperium of Man, as if whispering of past glory and sacrifice.

The palace consisted of several magnificent towers and vast halls, arranged around its grounds. The towers rose high into the sky, their golden spires glittering in the night like stars.

At that moment, Magnus trembled with excitement, eager to say something, but Leman Russ spoke first.

Leman Russ sighed and said, "You know, a few days ago Angron stopped to rest during a ceasefire on Malkoya, when he was suddenly enraged by two massive psychic attacks."

"Now he's chasing down and hacking apart every living thing in sight! I hear he's slaughtered half the creatures on Malkoya."

"He even split every bug in the soil into eight pieces if it made a sound and disturbed him."

"Who do you think did it? How could anyone be so vicious?"

"Traitors? Xenos? Who knows?"

At that, Francis slowly turned to look at Magnus: ???

Magnus was staring at the ceiling, whistling nonstop.

Suddenly.

"You'll have to go in by yourselves from here. The Emperor is waiting for you inside," several Adeptus Custodes informed them.

Before they knew it, they had arrived before the Golden Gate.

Two enormous statues stood on either side of the gate. They were the Emperor's most loyal guardians, imposing and sharp-eyed, as if they could see into people's hearts.

The gate slowly opened, its movement accompanied by a deep, prolonged mechanical rumble. Beyond it, the world was bathed in a gentle, warm light.

"Come in."