"Yes, Primarch. This is my final wish," Dzansk said.
"I will grant you mercy, Colonel Dzansk. Your soul will be with the Emperor."
Guilliman placed his hand on Dzansk's throat. With only the slightest pressure, he could crush the man's windpipe.
Dzansk smiled, utterly calm.
The fear brought by death seemed insignificant at this moment.
He would return beneath the Emperor's throne and reunite with those comrades who had sacrificed themselves.
The crunch of bone came suddenly and swiftly.
Dzansk's head fell to one side, and he stopped breathing.
Guilliman withdrew his hand and made the Aquila Sign.
Though he was not a Space Marine, Dzansk had been a true hero.
"Cremate his body, then give him a proper burial," Guilliman ordered the others before turning and walking out.
All plague-infected corpses had to be cremated to prevent secondary contamination.
"Is Uncle dead?" A little girl stood outside the ward, staring blankly at everything.
Her mother was dead, her father was gone, her grandmother was dead, her little brother was dead, and now even her uncle was dead.
The world had become so lonely. So terribly lonely.
As Guilliman walked out of the ward, he followed the voice and looked at the child.
She held a filthy toy in her hands, standing alone amid the crowd and staring blankly at him.
"Take in every child who has lost their parents at the Imperial Orphanage. Select the strong among them to become soldiers of the Imperium, and train them into warriors who will fight Chaos."
Guilliman issued a new order. He would give these children a chance for revenge.
It was also a helpless measure. If these orphans were left unattended, they would soon die without the ability to survive.
Raising them like ordinary children was equally unrealistic.
In this cruel universe, abandoning those of one's kind who lacked the strength to survive had long become a habit.
Guilliman could only keep them alive this way. The Imperium would raise them, and they would become soldiers in the future.
After dealing with Dzansk and the orphans,
Guilliman did not leave immediately. Instead, he remained at the hospital and listened to the people's opinions.
The fundamental reason for saving the Imperium was to save humanity.
Saving the Imperium merely for the sake of saving the Imperium was the most foolish kind of thinking.
The Imperium existed to allow humanity to survive in this dark universe and to protect humanity's interests to the greatest possible extent.
It was not meant to sacrifice humanity's interests in order to preserve the Imperium.
The present Imperium had completely reversed that principle, constantly sacrificing humanity's interests to support itself.
The Imperium had become a playground for the powerful and privileged. That had to change.
Guilliman stayed to listen to these ordinary people because he wanted to convey one idea.
The Imperium was humanity's Imperium, not merely the Imperium of the nobility.
"We want work that can put food in our stomachs."
"Let my child go to school."
"I hope to have some leisure time outside of work."
"Could the environment around the Hive City be improved?"
Guilliman selected several important matters and recorded them.
He would begin changing Sara Planet, helping it establish a sound system and a relatively equal society.
Rights and obligations would be tightly linked. Those useless waste-of-space nobles could no longer be allowed to exist.
He would also leave behind a small force of Space Marines on the planet.
They would not leave until the planet had gotten back on track and possessed a reasonably capable defense force.
He summoned the surviving scholars and selected those who wished to change Sara Planet, having them form an entirely new governing class.
He stripped all the former ruling families of their positions and demoted them to commoners.
Their conduct had deeply disappointed Guilliman.
The moment the war began, they had fled into their fortresses and ignored the outside world.
It was precisely because of their cowardice and selfishness that Sara Planet's defenders had collapsed so quickly.
Had Colonel Dzansk not stepped forward at the critical moment, turned the tide, and rallied the broken defenders, Sara Planet would have long since become a plague-ridden Death Star.
Killing them was not realistic either.
The Imperium's privileged class was far too vast. Guilliman would certainly feel satisfied killing these people.
But it would inevitably make the other nobles wary and drive them directly into the arms of Chaos.
After thousands of years of intermarriage, these mortal nobles had already woven the entire Imperium into an enormous web of power.
Once unrest was stirred, the Imperium, already bleeding heavily, would be sent straight toward death.
This was no longer the Great Crusade, and there were no longer more than a dozen Primarchs holding the Milky Way in check.
The Milky Way had become the Milky Way of mortal nobles.
Guilliman stood alone. A hardline stance would only backfire.
He could not personally visit every planet, nor did he have the energy to deal with endless waves of internal conflict.
Appropriate compromise was necessary.
Only after he had completely taken control of the Imperium, or after Cawl had forged an unprecedented army for him, could he become forceful.
Sara Planet was being rebuilt.
With Guilliman's help, Sara Planet would become a beautiful home in the hearts of the survivors.
He also ordered the priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to build new machines for Sara Planet to improve its harsh environment.
At the same time, all factories would be inspected to ensure that every discharge met standards and improved the local natural environment.
Such reforms would draw upon some of the Imperium's strength and divide its attention.
But Guilliman did not care.
Without even a hometown worth remembering, without even a childhood to cherish, how could ordinary people resist Chaos's temptation?
These people had to know what they were fighting for before their hands gripping their guns could remain steady and they could stand firm against Chaos.
Two weeks later, Guilliman's fleet withdrew from Sara Planet's low orbit.
The basic factories had been rebuilt, and food and water were now self-sufficient.
The new rulers led the people in completing the remaining reconstruction work, striving to recover as soon as possible and serve the Imperium.
Dzansk's statue stood in the center of the city, watching over the homeland for which he had once given his life.
The little girl he had saved was sent to the Imperial Orphanage.
These children would receive training from a young age and grow up carrying hatred and loathing for Chaos.
They would learn new tactics, new ideas, and the Imperium's latest knowledge.
One day in the future, these children would become the sharpest blade in Guilliman's hand.
The Sons of Vengeance would be unstoppable.
After Macragge's Honour entered the Warp,
Guilliman took a secure elevator, preparing to enter the depths of Macragge's Honour.
He needed to meet Tech-Priest Cawl—or more precisely, one of Cawl's avatars.
Even now, the person Guilliman relied on most was still Tech-Priest Cawl.
He could not fight while also conducting scientific research. He needed someone to assist him.
Tech-Priest Cawl was the best choice. This Radical Faction Tech-Priest did not care where knowledge came from, so long as it was useful.
Guilliman needed him to help transform the knowledge in the Database into real strength.
Otherwise, the Database Cheat would be useless.
The elevator hummed as it descended, and Guilliman exchanged a few words with the Assistant Spirit.
"When will the second certification mission arrive?"
[The host has not yet fully transformed and applied the currently unlocked technologies. Recklessly unlocking higher-level technologies will disrupt the progress of civilization and result in an incomplete civilizational system.]
"So many requirements?" Guilliman was somewhat dissatisfied.
Other people's Cheats gave them ten draws at the start, let them ascend to mythical greatness in six days, and conquer the primordial world in ten.
My Cheat makes me farm at the start, recruit troops to fight wars, and scheme against others.
We all transmigrated. Why am I being treated so differently?
[The Database's advanced technological knowledge is too powerful. The host must make thorough preparations to ensure it will not be leaked. If that high-level technological knowledge falls into enemy hands, the entire universe will be in danger. Please use the existing technological knowledge to establish a complete civilizational system. The second-stage certification mission will then be issued.]
"How about we discuss this? Give me a Warp Bomb first so I can blow up the Warp Daemons," Guilliman asked tentatively.
[The flesh resides in reality, while the soul resides in the void. Before humanity has the ability to flee the universe, it is not recommended that the host destroy the Warp. Doing so will cause humanity to degenerate and gradually lose its intelligence.]
"That won't work, and neither will this. What use are you?"
[I can cheer for the host, ヾ(°°)]
Guilliman:
A tremor ran through the elevator. It had reached its destination.
The hiss of airtight seals and the clatter of machinery sounded as the elevator slowly opened.
Guilliman ended his conversation with the Assistant Spirit and strode into the depths of Macragge's Honour.
"My lord, you have arrived."
A Psyker in a hooded robe stepped out of the darkness, holding a Force Staff and offering Guilliman an Imperial Aquila Sign.
Five updates are up, nearly fifteen thousand words. Plenty to enjoy, and mass updates are never delayed. The statistics will be counted up until midnight; whether there will be more updates is up to you brothers.
Data, flowers, bookmarks—I want them all.
Before you continue