Blessed by the Blood God, the Second Imperium's fleet returned to the physical world, its ships glowing red as they prepared to consolidate the spoils of war.
Since Macragge had no Forge World to rival Mars, there was no way to repair a Gloriana-class Battleship like the Flame. Hogg, the only one capable of repairing it himself, had taken one look at the damage and declared that it would need to be sent back to the factory for a major overhaul.
"C'mon, the C'tan are part of the physical world. I'm not some Chaos God who can conjure things out of the Warp with Waaagh! Power. The laws of physics still apply. It'd be faster to send it back home for repairs than have me hole up somewhere and build everything from scratch."
As the Dark Portal opened once more, the Flame disappeared through it. The Primarchs went their separate ways, returning to the tasks they'd been assigned.
Those who needed to build got to building; those who needed to farm got to farming. Even Curze and Angron established the Second Imperium's Inquisition, specifically to deal with local governors who followed orders without acknowledging the authority of the throne. And how did they deal with them? With the Imperium's most authentic solution: Decimation.
Having once served as Imperial Regent for a time, Angron had extensive experience with decimation. Add Curze, a master of legal proceedings and interrogation, and they made a truly formidable team.
Guilliman's administrative skills, Dorn's construction speed, Curze and Angron's oversight and tribunals, Omegon's intelligence network, and The Angel preaching and brainwashing back home—the Second Imperium had truly gathered all the great minds. Its vitality was as exuberant as spring itself, far surpassing the decaying Imperium of Man.
The Bliss Angel Legion, previously used as cannon fodder,