After performing the arming ritual for Axis, the Emperor also assigned him an Imperial Dauntless-class Cruiser.
Axis, sixteen Adeptus Custodes, and a special, sanctioned Psyker set out for the planet where their target was located.
The commander of the Imperial Cruiser had received a secret mission from the Emperor. None of the crew aboard was allowed to have any contact with Axis and his group.
Even the quarters for Axis and the sixteen Custodians were completely sealed off. Every day, two hundred and twenty meals were simply delivered to them.
There were eighteen of them in total: Axis, sixteen Custodians, and one sanctioned Psyker. Yet they needed enough food for two hundred and twenty people.
This led some of the Imperial Cruiser's sailors to speculate that the Custodians were escorting a massive Xenos creature.
The cruiser's captain immediately reprimanded the sailors for their speculation, strictly forbidding anyone from discussing or asking about the matter.
If Axis needed to communicate with the Emperor, the accompanying sanctioned Psyker would relay the message. The cruiser's astropaths would not be involved at all.
This time, the Imperial Navy was only responsible for transporting them. Once they reached the designated location, Axis and the sixteen Custodians would leave aboard a Landing Craft. The entire mission was to be carried out in secrecy.
These mortals had no idea what the mission was about, from start to finish.
The Imperial Navy cruiser was 5.5 kilometers long and 0.7 kilometers wide, with more than 60,000 crew members.
Although an area had been sectioned off for Axis and the Custodians, there clearly wasn't enough room for combat training.
So Axis had no choice but to give several Custodians a regular dose of Qi each day to strengthen their bodies.
Life aboard was terribly dull. The one thing that made Axis feel a little better was that the sanctioned Psyker the Emperor had assigned to him was a very pretty blonde.
When she used her Psykic Power, her eyes shone with a pale golden light. Aside from cultivating his own Qi in his quarters, Axis sometimes chatted with the Psyker.
The Emperor had not yet taken his place upon the Golden Throne, so his immense psychic power had not yet burned the eyes of these Psykers.
"How do you contact the Emperor through the Warp?"
"Sanctioned Psykers bind themselves to the Emperor's Psykic Power through a certain kind of pact, then communicate via the Astronomican," the Psyker said.
But she didn't need that kind of pact to speak with the Emperor. Her connection to him ran deeper than anyone else's.
"I don't know your name yet. What are you called?" Axis asked.
For some reason, Axis always felt there was something strange in the way this Psyker looked at him when they spoke.
"My name is Kaisa. The Emperor gave it to me himself," Kaisa said meaningfully.
"Kaisa! That's a lovely name," Axis said.
"Thank you!" Kaisa replied.
"So, Kaisa, do you know the details of our mission? And what's your position in the Imperium?" Axis asked.
"I know the details of this mission. Once it's over, I'll use my Psykic Power to erase everyone's memories and ensure it remains secret.
"From then on, I'll accompany you, relay messages to the Emperor on your behalf, and take care of some cleanup.
"As for my position, I'm a Sensei," Kaisa said.
My great father, can I really carry out your orders? Why would you give me such a strange mission?
"A Sensei?" Axis was baffled.
Was that a title for Psykers? Did it mean someone whose Psychic Awakening had occurred, or something else?
Seeing Axis's confusion, Kaisa immediately realized he had no idea what a Sensei was.
That made sense. Only a handful of people in the Imperium knew what the word Sensei meant.
What were Sensei? They were the Emperor's true children, his offspring born of natural union with mortals.
Unlike the Primarchs, who were the Emperor's genetic children, they were his biological offspring.
Sensei were his true bloodline. They possessed tremendous Psykic Power, and their cells had inherited the Emperor's immortality.
As long as they were not killed, they could live almost indefinitely. They were a sort of Perpetual, lacking the Perpetuals' ability to return from death but retaining eternal youth.
It was a gift inherited from the Emperor's bloodline. The closer their blood was to the Emperor's, the greater the gift.
She had been born in the age of strife, when Terra was torn apart by warlords. At the time, the Emperor was still fighting the Techno-Barbarian warlords.
Her mother had been in love with her father, until the incident in which her twenty younger brothers, at least in name, were cast into the Warp.
At her mother's urging, she had taken part in that incident, using her powerful Psykic Power to help her.
Her mother and father had become sworn enemies, and her father no longer believed in blood ties or so-called family bonds!
The Emperor had even erased her existence from the record. She had been imprisoned in the dungeons beneath the Imperial Palace on Holy Terra.
Ten years ago, the Emperor had released her and given her an extremely special mission. If she completed it, she would regain her title as Imperial Princess.
If she failed, she would be condemned to eternal imprisonment in the dungeons beneath the Imperial Palace on Terra.
"Your Psykic Power is very strong? How does it compare to Malcador's?" Axis asked.
Erasing the memories of everyone aboard was no ordinary feat of Psykic Power!
"Malcador is a little stronger than I am, but ordinary Psykers are no match for me," Kaisa said.
The power inherited from the Emperor's true bloodline was beyond the imagination of mortals.
Among all the sanctioned Psykers in the Imperium, she ranked below only the Emperor and Malcador.
"Alright! That's enough chatting for today. I'll head back," Axis said, nodding as he prepared to leave.
"Wait, Lord Axis!" Kaisa suddenly called after him.
"What is it?"
"If I ever need something, would you help me with a small favor?" Kaisa asked.
"Of course. The Emperor placed you by my side, so I'll help if you need anything," Axis said.
He could even use Qi to strengthen the Psyker's body. Psykers were physically fragile, after all.
"Really? Then what if I wanted your Gene-seed?" Kaisa asked.
"I'm not a Primarch. I don't have anything like that," Axis said.
I'm not a Primarch, so how could I have Gene-seed? And you're a woman! You can't undergo the Astartes transformation anyway!
"Not that kind of Gene-seed. I mean the kind that can create new life," Kaisa said with a smile.
"???" Axis.
I was having a conversation with you, and you turned it into something dirty.
Before you continue