After a process of extraction that couldn't be spoken of, Hogg finally reunited with Sera after 170,000 years. Only this time, Hogg wasn't a dog.
"Um, actually, it wasn't my fault. Think back carefully and you'll realize you were the one who crawled into Guilliman's backside. As for which opening you went in through, I think you, as a researcher, should know better than I do."
If anything, that only reminded Sera of the nightmarish, bizarre ordeal she'd just been through. Her entire world turned dark, and she collapsed onto the table.
Looking at the lump of liquid metal writhing on the tabletop like a slime, Hogg made the rare effort to defend Guilliman:
"Actually, as Primarchs, we have incredibly powerful digestive systems. Before I connected that half of Guilliman to the machine, I had the Servitors wash it clean. It's like the Imperium's famous dish, Nine-Turns Large Intestine: it looks disgusting, but it's actually very clean.
"Besides, as a liquid-metal life-form, when you turned into that mountain of scrap, your body contained all sorts of debris. For all we know, you absorbed corpses that hadn't fully rotted yet. The smell of decaying flesh is far more disgusting than snow. By comparison, you could say..."
"Shut up. Don't say another word."
Sera's mind was in chaos. On one hand, she'd just crawled out of Guilliman's ass. On the other, Hogg's Psionic Energy still lingered inside her, gnawing at the Emperor's psychic seal like a persistent parasite. She wouldn't recover anytime soon.
Spotting a plate of fruit on the table, Sera resumed her human form, reached out, and bit into a brightly colored fruit. The plump, juicy, cherry-red flesh was a delight to someone who hadn't eaten in over ten thousand years. She even thought it tasted like meat.
When Hogg