Alicia's council chamber.
The enormous round table could seat all the Primarchs. The sofa that should have belonged to Hogg was now occupied by the Emperor, while its rightful owner had been squeezed in beside the Useless Brothers, making a large, medium, and small trio.
Looking at his offspring, who had eaten themselves plump and round, the Emperor sighed helplessly. He even stuck out his tongue to lick a grain of rice from the corner of his mouth before speaking:
"You gluttons. Over the past hundred years, under my leadership, the Imperium has flourished. Though we occupy only half our former territory, our strength far surpasses what it was before. I think it's time to launch a new Great Crusade. The Imperium Nihilus is right there, and it weighs on my mind!"
Ignoring the Emperor's shameless attempt to take credit for everything, every Primarch nodded. They agreed the time had come. After thousands of years of separation, the Dark Side had become a place of utter darkness. They had to hit it hard.
"Those shameless bastards! I was already selling knockoffs, and they went and made knockoffs of my knockoffs! Gou'er Dan, they're even using the name of the White Scars to scam people everywhere. I won't stand for it. We have to kill them all and pile their heads into a mound reaching the heavens!"
The Khan's words earned unanimous approval. There was no need to invoke the Imperial Truth against such traitors. There was only one word: kill.
Kill Xenos, kill Chaos Daemons, kill Cultists. Kill the rebels who refused to submit to the Emperor's rule. Just kill, kill, kill.
But a Great Crusade couldn't be decided with a single sentence. After the last failure, the Emperor had learned one thing: they couldn't rush into anything. The Imperium