No Need to Kneel

Guilliman casually crushed the power core of the last Chaos warrior.

Foul energy fluid mixed with mutated blood splashed at his feet, swiftly absorbed by Macragge's improved, fertile soil.

He walked over to Kai's mother. As he knelt on one knee, the joints of his armor gave off a soft hum.

He raised his right hand, and a blue-gold radiance as warm as afternoon sunlight shimmered in his palm.

It was no earth-shattering spell, merely the most delicate tendril of the primarch's vast psychic power, used for examination and comfort.

He held his hand above the woman's forehead, and the glow flowed over her entire body like rippling water.

A moment later, Guilliman's brow relaxed. He turned to Kai, who was clenching his fists in nervousness, and gave him a reassuring smile. "Your mother is fine.

She fainted mainly from fright and a minor impact. She has some bruises, but no internal injuries.

I used psychic power to settle her disrupted vital signs and soothe the mental shock. She'll wake soon."

The tension drained from Kai's body at once, and tears nearly welled from his eyes.

He wanted to kneel, but just as his knees bent, a gentle force held him up.

"No need to kneel, child."

Guilliman's hand had already settled on Kai's messy head, gently ruffling his hair.

At the same time, a strand of psychic power thinner than a hair silently entered the boy's body.

Like the most precise scanner, it sought to discover what was so special about this body that could erupt with such astonishing courage and light.

Yet the instant the psychic power penetrated deeper, it was like ice and snow falling into a furnace!

Deep within Kai's meridians and bones lurked the immense residual power of two forces that had violently clashed!

One was majestic and righteous, like the rising sun, carrying absolute order and light that looked down upon the mortal world. Guilliman could not have been more familiar with that presence!

It was the blessing of the Emperor, the "father" seated upon the Golden Throne and the source of his bloodline!

The other was savage and blazing, filled with the most primal desire for slaughter and impulse for destruction. Like a boiling sea of blood, it bore the unmistakable mark of that bastard Khorne!

Under the stimulation of Guilliman's foreign psychic power, the lingering divine strength of these two forces became like embers ignited by a spark, colliding violently once more!

The blue-gold psychic power of investigation was instantly swept up, worn away, and assimilated, exhausted in a single breath.

Yet it was precisely that instant of contact that made Guilliman's pupils contract slightly as understanding dawned upon him.

Double blessing?!

Even a widely experienced primarch was utterly astonished at this moment... and somewhat amused.

The God-Emperor and the Blood God had both cast their gaze upon the same mortal child?

Wasn't this... a young "Titus"?

He withdrew his hand and looked at the innocent but clear-eyed boy before him. The joy of having found a treasure, along with the calculations of a "parent," nearly overflowed from his heart.

The Imperial legend Titus had yet to be found, and now the Emperor himself had neatly delivered a "youth version" right to his doorstep.

Thanks to the Master of Mankind for this dual chosen of the Emperor and Khorne!

"Grow well, child." Guilliman's smile deepened, filled with undisguised expectation. "Your future is destined to be extraordinary.

Many magnificent tales are waiting for you to write them."

Kai nodded hard. Though he did not fully understand, the primarch's recognition made his chest burn hot.

He had no idea that this "son of God driven by interest" had already stamped him in his heart: "Property of Robert's household, priority development."

Once they returned to Macragge and the Ultramar revival plan began.

A sapling as exceptionally gifted as him would certainly be thrown into the enhancement furnace of the Ultramarines at the first opportunity!

Run away?

No chance.

Just then—

Thump! Thump! Boom!

The earth suddenly shook, like the heartbeat of some colossal beast!

Smoke and dust billowed into the sky from the distant horizon.

A savage figure over three meters tall, wrapped from head to toe in crimson bloodlight, as though it had just crawled out of a blood-pool furnace.

It smashed through shattered walls and rubble in an incomparably violent charge toward Guilliman!

Behind it, dozens of Chaos warriors howled bloodthirstily like hyenas that had caught the scent of blood, gathering into a foul black torrent of steel.

"Roar—!!! Revived defective!

Bastard son of the false Emperor!

Your skull—will be mine!!

An offering to the great Blood God!!!"

The roar of Gore, blessed by Khorne, made the air hum.

The massive axe in his hand burned with tangible bloodflame, dragging behind it scorching waves of heat. He looked fierce enough to split mountains apart.

The smile on Guilliman's face slowly faded.

He slowly rose to his feet, clapped his hands clean, and lifted his gaze toward the rapidly enlarging scarlet figure, as well as the loudly clamoring traitors behind it.

Silence.

A silence mixed with absurdity, speechlessness, and a faint touch of self-reproach.

Guilliman blinked, even wondering whether he had heard wrong.

A... leader of a Chaos raiding party?

A traitor Astartes who had just been fed a little power by a dark god and grown somewhat larger?

Roaring at him—the primarch, lord of Ultramar, Regent of the Imperium?

And intending to offer up his head as a sacrifice?

Even if... he humbly thought that he had not yet fully unleashed all the power of Regent Thragg, he was still a primarch!

A demigod who had been decorated at Ullanor, who had stood shoulder to shoulder with his brothers against the great enemy of Chaos, and who had been cast into the cruelest battlefields of the stars in a mortal body—relatively speaking!

Since when had trash like this dared leap before him, bare its teeth, and think it could bite off a piece of him?

"Ah..."

A long sigh full of emotion slipped from Guilliman's lips.

He shook his head, a helpless, self-mocking smile appearing on his face.

"Looks like I truly slept for too long..."

He murmured, yet his voice was perfectly clear. "Long enough for certain minor figures lurking in forgotten corners to imagine they could challenge a dragon.

What a failure. Truly a failure.

I have been an unworthy primarch."

Kai looked at the blood-red giant drawing ever closer, radiating terrifying pressure, then at the sighing Guilliman beside him. He could not help tugging at Guilliman's cloak.

"My lord, that monster..."

Guilliman lowered his head and gave Kai a reassuring, almost teasing smile, ruffling his hair once more.

"Watch carefully, boy.

When dealing with noisy, ill-mannered guests..."

Before his words had faded, the air around Guilliman gave a soft hum, and he had already risen from the ground.

The next instant—

BOOM!!!

A ring of milky-white sonic boom clouds erupted from where he had stood!

A violent blast of air exploded outward in a circle, brutally flattening the golden wheat fields for dozens of meters around!