This Is My Gift to You!

"Yes, it had only just begun."

A gentle yet powerful voice sounded beside his ear.

The Chaos veteran looked up in terror and saw that Guilliman had somehow arrived before him.

The Primarch's towering form stood with Macragge's sun at his back, its light outlining his majestic silhouette in a brilliant rim of gold.

His newly grown black hair fluttered in the light. His azure eyes were clearer than the sky, deeper than the sea, gleaming as though they carried all humanity's hopes.

"This radiance... the Son of the Sun... the Son of Hope..."

That was the veteran's final thought.

The next instant, Guilliman's fist shot forth.

There was no dazzling psychic light, no flashy technique—only the purest, most absolute power.

This veteran, who had struggled through ten thousand years of chaos and darkness in the Warp, along with his heavily corrupted armor, was utterly reduced to dust by that single punch.

Perhaps his soul would return to the Warp.

But what awaited him would certainly not be the reward of the Dark Gods. More likely, it would be the Emperor's wrathful sacred flame, burning for countless ages, reducing him to nothing.

Guilliman moved faster than the eye could follow.

Like a blue bolt of lightning, he streaked across the battlefield. Wherever he passed, Chaos minions melted away like ice and snow.

Countless Ultramarines followed fanatically in his wake, bathing in the glory of their Primarch's return.

With a ferocity ten times greater and a zeal a hundred times stronger than before, they tore apart enemies who had once put them under pressure.

Battle cries, the thunder of bolters, and the hum of power weapons merged into a savage hymn of praise for their gene-father.

Then, an even heavier roar of engines came from overhead!

Everyone looked up to see an exceptionally massive Thunderhawk Gunship.

It loomed above the shattered dome like a cloud of death, the vicious Chaos symbols on its armor glowing with ominous red light.

According to the scan signals, it carried at least a hundred of the most fanatical Chaos assault troops!

And in the dust-filled sky, there were no fewer than three such giant gunships circling and closing in!

"Father!"

Calgar rushed to Guilliman's side, his power fist pointing skyward. His voice was urgent yet resolute. "Let us bring them down with ground-based anti-aircraft guns and Whirlwind missiles!"

Guilliman merely shook his head slowly and gave him a reassuring smile. "There is no need, my child.

Leave such things to me."

Before his words had even faded, before the disbelieving eyes of everyone—including Loyalist sons and despairing traitors alike!

Roboute Guilliman, lord of Ultramar, slowly lifted his feet from the ground and rose into the air without any support!

"The Primarch... is flying?!"

"How is that possible?!"

"Wasn't it said... that only Sanguinius, the perfect Primarch of the Blood Angels, possessed wings that allowed him to fly?"

"Is it psychic power?

Some powerful Chief Librarians can use psychic power to hover briefly..."

As everyone wavered in shock and confusion, the Chief Librarian staggered forward.

The psychic flames in his eyes flickered violently, and his voice trembled with excitement and some deeper realization:

"No... it is not psychic power!

This is absolutely not psychic power!

I cannot sense any fluctuations from the Warp!

Our Primarch... he is truly flying through his own power!"

Guilliman hovered in midair like a god ruling over the world. Looking down upon the countless sons gazing up at him, his clear and compelling voice spread across the battlefield:

"My children!

With me leading you, we shall charge once more!

We have been separated for ten thousand years. Now is the moment for father and sons to reunite!

For this first gift upon our reunion, let me—overturn these Chaos warships for you!"

As he spoke in the air, that signature, warm smile rested on his lips.

Every Ultramarine, every heart hardened like iron by ten thousand years of war, was involuntarily enveloped and softened by a warm current.

What was this feeling?

Was it emotion?

Was it glory?

Or was it the sense of safety that came from being sheltered by a powerful forefather?

The Primarch was actually going to fight for them himself, to destroy those three seemingly invincible Chaos warships!

Guilliman spoke no more. With a movement of his body, he became a streak of blue light and shot toward the nearest giant Thunderhawk Gunship!

Inside the gunship, a Chaos veteran responsible for observation spotted Guilliman rapidly approaching through a viewport.

He let out a warped shriek. "Impossible!

Primarchs cannot fly!

I have seen him!

I saw Roboute Guilliman ten thousand years ago!

He was powerful, but he absolutely could not do this!

No Primarch can!"

Yet reality ruthlessly shattered everything he believed.

Guilliman was already right before him!

Extreme terror turned into the madness of mutual destruction as the veteran roared and shoved the controls forward.

He intended to crash this Thunderhawk Gunship, carrying a hundred Chaos Space Marines, into the ground like a meteor!

Even if he was reduced to pieces, he would make Guilliman and more Ultramarines pay the price!

But at the instant the gunship began its dive, Guilliman's hand pressed steadily against the armor at the very front of the Thunderhawk Gunship!

The Smart Atoms from Vitruum's Regent Thragg surged through his body, acting upon reality in accordance with his will.

Though this power was not as absolute as the bio-field of the legendary Kryptonians, it was still enough to let him perform all manner of miracles that defied conventional physics!

An unbelievable scene unfolded—the Thunderhawk Gunship, diving with enormous kinetic energy, was forcibly and perfectly stopped in midair by Guilliman's single hand!

Its hull did not even suffer the slightest structural damage, as though it had been stationary all along!

An Ultramarine who had studied under the Adeptus Mechanicus and possessed extensive knowledge of physics witnessed this sight that violated every principle of mechanics.

His knees gave way, and he dropped to the ground, muttering to himself as though his faith had nearly collapsed.

Even the well-traveled Belisarius Cawl had his mechanical compound eyes flashing madly, data streams descending into chaos as he could only emit meaningless mechanical static:

"Impossible... this... mass... momentum... physics... does physics no longer exist?!"

Meanwhile, Guilliman in the air had already begun to act.

He clenched his other fist and smashed it violently into the side armor of the Thunderhawk Gunship!

"Boom!!"

The thick armor plate dented inward and tore apart on impact!

Guilliman gripped the edges of the rupture with both hands, accompanied by the shriek of twisting metal.

With sheer brute force, he tore the massive gunship in half as though opening a tin can!

The exposed Chaos Space Marines had no time to react before Guilliman seized one half of the gunship's wreckage.

Using it as a massive thrown weapon, he hurled it violently at the other two approaching Thunderhawk Gunships!