The atmosphere turned tense in an instant. Outside, artillery thundered without pause, while inside the sanctum, a single spark could have set everything ablaze.
Calgar looked at the figure seated on the throne. For ten thousand years, they had guarded this body and prayed for a miracle. Now the miracle had come, but at such a cruel price.
"If we don't do it," Calgar asked quietly, his voice hoarse, "what happens?"
"The defenses outside will collapse." Cawl laid out the data without mercy. "The Stasis Field here will be breached, and Nurgle will take your father and turn him into another daemonic plaything."
"Or," Yvraine added, "you take this gamble. Let him die once. If it succeeds, you will welcome back a demigod bent on vengeance. If it fails... at least he will have died like a warrior, rather than being corrupted in his sleep."
Silence. A deathly silence.
Only the explosions outside continued to remind them that time was slipping away.
At last, Calgar closed his eyes. Two trails of tears ran from the corners of the hardened warrior's eyes.
When he opened them again, nothing remained in them but resolve.
"Do it."
"Chapter Master?!"
"That is an order!" Calgar turned, putting his back to the throne and facing the doors. "Honor Guard! Form ranks! We will protect this ritual! If it fails... we burn to ashes with this place!"
All the Ultramarines gritted their teeth, tears in their eyes, but they still obeyed. Turning their backs to their Primarch, they aimed their weapons at the doors and formed the final line of defense with their own bodies.
"Good." Cawl turned, and dozens of mechanical arms severed the ancient lines attached to Guilliman with the precision of scalpels.
"Lady Yvraine, are you ready?"
"Always."
Cawl drew a deep breath