The Emperor's Dark Past

Guilliman had calmed down, but the food dampened by his tears was no longer fit to eat. Euten, who had just given birth to a son, had also left the table to go rest.

As his guest, Hogg was invited by Guilliman to soak in the hot springs. After the family reunion earlier, the two had grown closer.

Sipping fruit wine, they continued talking. Guilliman suddenly asked Hogg why he had come.

"I came mainly because I wanted you to give me a hand! Guilliman—uh, I mean, my dear brother.

"You don't know this, but the Alicia Sector I oversee is sparsely populated, and the Blackwatch has too few Space Marines. It's nothing like your place! You've got the 500 Worlds as a logistical base to support your Legion."

What the hell was "Guilliman"? Don't think I didn't hear that! Guilliman, who was well-mannered, grumbled inwardly.

"So you want to recruit on Macragge?"

"Could I?" Hogg asked, gazing at Guilliman with wide, pleading eyes.

"No. Don't look at me like that. Recruiting near Macragge is out of the question, but I can give you a region near Alicia—the neighboring sub-sector. It's all Death Worlds, but the humans there are incredibly resilient. They could provide enough recruits for a Legion."

With his perfect memory, Guilliman recalled the reports on that sub-sector. Though it fell within Macragge's sphere of influence, it was too far away and had no particular value. Giving it to Hogg would cost him nothing and strengthen the friendship between their Legions.

Having gotten what he wanted, Hogg was delighted. As they chatted, the conversation drifted off course.

"Hogg, you said earlier that every Primarch has a special ability. How did you know that?"

"Good question! I'm actually different from you lot. I was born way back in the 3K era, but then I kicked the bucket, and our dad made me into a Primarch. So I know the Emperor pretty well. We're practically brothers!"

"Practically brothers?"

Guilliman was skeptical. Based on his observations over the past few days, he had figured out what sort of person Hogg was. He was a fool—not malicious, but always playing tricks on people.

Guilliman's expression practically had the word "doubt" written all over it, which annoyed Hogg.

"I'm not making this up! The Emperor may act all aloof, but he's really just a lab rat and a shut-in. And listen, don't tell anyone—this is one of the Emperor's little secrets."

Gossip was human nature, after all—and this was a secret about his own father. Excited at the prospect of hearing it, Guilliman couldn't help leaning closer to Hogg, eager to find out more.

After carefully checking that no one was nearby, Hogg began to reveal the Emperor's dark past. "In an ancient city-state on Old Terra, somewhere with a style a lot like Macragge, the Emperor once transformed into a woman and went around the city-state doing *****."

"What? *****?" Guilliman could hardly believe his ears. This completely upended his worldview.

"Don't doubt it. The Emperor really did **** on Old Terra... And there's something even more explosive."

"There's more?"

After checking again to make sure they were alone, Hogg continued his revelations. "You know Malcador the Sigillite, right? He looks like an old geezer who could be knocked dead with a single stick, but he's actually a Perpetual. His true form is a little boy. And the reason he's so devoted to the Emperor is that once, the Emperor..."

"BOOM!!!"

A violent surge of psychic energy erupted from the void. Hogg, who had been speaking, was blasted into the ground by a beam of golden light. The explosion cut off whatever he was about to say.

Staring at the crater, where lava was beginning to bubble up, Guilliman swallowed hard. For the first time, he felt nervous. I'm going to die! Even as a Primarch, I could still die, couldn't I? I was this close to saying goodbye to the world.

Now Guilliman was certain that Hogg's words had to be true. That golden light could only have come from his father's psychic power.

The enormous golden explosion startled Lady Euten, who had been preparing to rest. She hurried over with a large group of Smurfs and found Guilliman sitting dazed beside a pool of lava.

"Child! What happened? Where's Hogg? Why is there a pool of lava here?"

"Hogg?... Right, Hogg's in that hole."

Once he had recovered, Guilliman quickly called for help. The Ultramarines mobilized faster than they had at any point since the Legion's founding. They airlifted in a large number of machines, and drills broke through the soil and began digging downward.

"Hogg!!!! Are you still alive? Damn it! Don't you dare die! Your fleet's still in orbit. If you die, I'll never be able to explain this!"

Guilliman was completely at a loss. With no idea what else to do, he paced back and forth, watching the drills make slow progress. All he could do was have a scribe send a message to the Blackwatch, telling them to hurry over.

When the Blackwatch in orbit heard that their Gene-Father had been attacked and his life was uncertain, the fleet erupted into chaos.

On the bridge, Fourth Captain Ginny let out an angry roar. "Damn Guilliman for trying to kill our father! Let me down there! I'm going to carry out Exterminatus on Macragge!"

The others hurried to restrain the madwoman. If they really launched an Exterminatus, the Blackwatch and the Ultramarines would be at war until one side was wiped out.

At that moment, the levelheaded Lynn took command. "All ships, prepare for battle. Start warming up the Warp Engines and bring the Void Shields to full power. No firing without my orders. Ginny, get to your post! Someone, get her out of here."

"Ross, take the First Company to Macragge and assess the situation. Report back immediately. Bring the medical corps and make a heavy drop."

"Understood!" Ross received his orders and hurried out of the bridge. On the way, he gave the First Company's warriors a brief mission briefing.

Three minutes later, one Meteor after another plunged from orbit toward Macragge, accompanied by transports carrying Knight Mechs.

"Everyone else, return to your posts and stand by. Now we wait for the report from the ground."

The hot spring had already been completely destroyed. Many Smurfs had taken over Plankton's job and were digging frantically through the dirt, while more Ultramarines were being sent to the site.

Watching the Meteors make erratic course changes across the sky, Guilliman saw them slam into the nearby Administrative Hall with a boom, reducing the building to rubble. Black-armored warriors emerged, their guns trained on everyone.

The Space Marines on both sides faced off. Ross stepped out and approached Guilliman. Guilliman was still unarmored, wearing only a towel. Ross removed his helmet, his eyes red as he asked what had happened.

"Primarch, I'm Rossmanderson, captain of the Blackwatch's First Company. Where is our Gene-Father? What happened here?"

Even Guilliman couldn't bring himself to rebuke the Blackwatch for their concern for their Primarch, despite their anger and lack of decorum. He turned and pointed at the crater. "Hogg is down there. Don't panic. He should be fine. This was an accident. I would never harm my brother."

Before Guilliman could finish, something changed at the excavation site. The drill was forced out of the rock by something below. A tremendous tremor rose from underground, sending stones flying as a gigantic monster burst out of the earth. Its roar revealed its identity to everyone who had been facing off.

"I knew you were spying on me, Yellow Weasel! You %$# really went and did it!" The raging monster—Hogg—cursed furiously at the sky.

Ross was so embarrassed he wanted to crawl into a hole, but he couldn't. All he could do was say to Guilliman, "Primarch, this is all a misunderstanding."