Arrival

Lucas's red robes couldn't hide his many mechanical augmentations.

Tubes in his ribs and cables wrapped around his body connected to a hissing power pack, like a pair of wings.

His face had long been replaced by a grinning skull mask, with tubes connected to its jaw and red lights flickering in its eye sockets.

He took the helmet from Kelbor's hand and put it on with divine reverence. With a click, several grappling hooks embedded themselves into his skull.

"General, what do we do now?"

Lucas trembled uncontrollably, not from fear, but from sheer excitement.

This feeling of being controlled was amazing!

"Let me explain first. Lying will cause an explosion, not answering will cause an explosion, and answering slowly will also cause an explosion."

"Did you hear me?"

Kelbor said excitedly, having just found the remote control Francis had lost.

"I heard you!" Lucas replied.

Ding ding ding~

"See, you didn't hear me clearly at all." Kelbor quietly activated the music function.

"No, I really heard you clearly!"

Faced with Lucas's rebuttal, Kelbor quietly activated the heating function again.

Lucas felt his head getting hotter and hotter, and quickly explained, "I didn't hear you! I didn't hear you!"

Hiss~ The helmet then cooled down, and one grappling hook released.

Kelbor: "What bad things have you been doing lately?"

"Nothing."

Ding ding ding~

"Yes! I secretly dissected some Astartes and put their gene organs into myself, but it failed."

Kelbor: "..."

Everyone: "Hiss hiss hiss~ You didn't even ask me to do it with you! That's too much!"

At this moment, the mechanical grappling hooks on the helmet trembled, giving Kelbor a strange feeling.

Kelbor felt something was wrong, it seemed different from when he used it.

Then the helmet heated up again, then cooled down.

Heat up! Cool down?

Heat up! Cool down?

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

Kelbor, meanwhile, was still lost in thought about what was wrong with the mechanism, repeatedly activating and deactivating it in his hands.

Until Kelbor heard Lucas's terrified roar again.

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

Lucas frantically pulled at the helmet, but it was useless. The helmet seemed to be fused to his head!

By the time Kelbor reacted, he gently flicked his finger. A faint sound of metal breaking rang out~ Crack~

Ding ding ding~

A small metal rod fell to the ground. Kelbor was first confused, then his expression gradually turned to shock, and finally to a terrified shout.

"Run! This thing is loaded with a bomb equivalent to a miniature nuclear warhead!"

"Lucas, there's no way to forcibly remove this thing. Unless you're willing to lose your head!"

Hearing this, everyone else quickly fled the room.

As they turned to seal the room, they saw Lucas twist off his mechanical skull and place it on the ground.

At the same time, his headless body quickly fled the scene.

Coming up to them, Kelbor, though shocked, quickly sealed the room and directly detached it from the ship's hull.

It was ejected directly into the sky-- RUMBLE!

A mushroom cloud hundreds of meters wide appeared in the sky, seemingly hitting something.

The wreckage of a small battleship fell out of the mushroom cloud. The insignia on it looked like a black eye.

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

The few people looked at each other, or rather. Lucas had no face, so no one knew his expression at the moment.

Moreover, everyone was staring at him, silent.

"Uh, actually, my head is just for decoration. My real brain is in the backpack." Lucas patted his power pack.

Everyone: "..."

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

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

Soon, they dispatched a large number of Unwary Ones to the crash site of the wreckage to search for survivors.

Unfortunately, the helmet's power was just right, leaving no one alive.

Even worse, the helmet's explosion caused a secondary explosion in the battleship's engine, leaving only scrap metal on the ship!

After receiving this information, Lucas said nonsensically, "General, this thing is really good. It has great power and can be considered for mass production."

Kelbor took a deep breath and said, "Set course for Mars. If anyone asks, tell them we're researching Ork Technology in isolation."

"And how do we answer Horus?"

"Tell him it was an accidental casualty. If he's unhappy, he can come to Mars to find me."

The Herakles emerged from the Warp.

Just as Francis was enjoying his personal time, Magnus came knocking.

Upon entering, Magnus stood there awkwardly, fidgeting. He didn't say anything, just stood there.

Francis checked the time and then said, "Do you know how disgusting it is for a big guy to stand there fidgeting?"

"It's not spring, is it? What's wrong, have you fallen for some kind of xenos?"

Hearing this, Magnus's face fell. He said righteously, "My heart holds only Father and knowledge of the Warp!"

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

Seeing that Magnus didn't deny it, Francis felt a sense of impending doom.

"Actually, it's not that big of a deal. I just invited Angron to Terra, and he didn't agree," Magnus paused and then said.

"What a trivial matter! If he doesn't come, it's his loss." Francis sighed inwardly, regretting that he could only resort to Plan B.

Seeing that Francis didn't take it seriously, Magnus immediately felt relieved.

He then scurried away happily.

Francis called the Soul Drinkers over and closed the door.

The once spacious medical bay now felt somewhat cramped, and a faint scent of blood emanated from them.

"Hmm? Did you fight someone?"

Hearing this, the Soul Drinkers said sheepishly, "No~ It's just that lately, many people have been asking us to treat their flesh mutations."

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 return to Terra, I might even be locked up in the dungeon."

Hearing this, the Soul Drinkers erupted in an uproar.

"The Emperor would never do that!"

"Primarch, he's not wrong!"

"Why should he be locked up?"

"..."

Francis waved his hand and continued, "I also said it's just a possibility. If it really happens, remember to come to the depths of the dungeon to save me."

Instantly.

All the Soul Drinkers' eyes widened like saucers, and their lips trembled slightly. "Primarch, you want to betray the Imperium!"

"This is unacceptable! Everything we have belongs to the Emperor!"

"We cannot betray the Emperor!"

Francis: "..."

Just then, the battleship shook violently, and with a hiss.

They had returned to Terra.

Bang bang bang~

"Francis, we've arrived at Terra. The Emperor wishes to summon us!" Valoris, the Captain of the Adeptus Custodes shield company, called from outside the door.

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

The Soul Drinkers wanted to follow, but they were stopped by warriors of the Space Wolves, who said, "If the Emperor hasn't summoned us, we cannot go."

"Only the Primarch has been summoned. You don't need to worry; go back and rest well."

Staring at Francis's receding back, they didn't know whether to obey.

Night fell, and the Terra Imperial Palace seemed even more mysterious under the starlight.

The city walls were covered in intricate bas-reliefs, each telling the glorious history and heroic legends of the Imperium, as if whispering of past glories and sacrifices.

Within the Imperial Palace, composed of several magnificent towers and vast palace complexes, they were arranged in a well-ordered fashion around the Imperial Palace. The towers soared into the clouds, their golden spires glittering in the night sky like stars in the heavens.

At this moment, Magnus trembled with excitement, wanting to say something, but Leman Russ beat him to it.

Leman Russ sighed and said, "Alas, do you know? A few days ago, Angron was resting during a ceasefire at Mal Koya when he was suddenly enraged by two powerful psychic attacks."

"Now, he's rampaging across the world, hacking at anything alive! I heard that half the creatures on Mal Koya have been slaughtered by him."

"Even the various insects in the ground, if they disturbed him, he split them vertically into eight pieces."

"You tell me, who would do such a thing? So vicious!"

"Rebels? Or xenos? Or what."

Upon hearing this, Francis slowly turned his head to look at Magnus: ???

He saw Magnus staring at the ceiling, whistling continuously.

Suddenly.

"You can only go in by yourselves from here. The Emperor awaits you inside," several Adeptus Custodes informed them.

Unknowingly, they had arrived before the Golden Door.

On either side of the door stood two colossal statues; they were the most loyal guardians under the Emperor, their forms majestic, their gazes piercing, as if they could see into one's very soul.

At this moment, the great door slowly opened with a deep and long mechanical roar. The world beyond the door was enveloped in a soft and warm light.

"Enter."