The Emperor Who Couldn't Sit Still

"Warhammer, oh Warhammer, what the hell was the point of science?"

Looking at the pen in front of him, Han Mingxuan felt a little dazed.

He had already made his plans.

Once Nostramo returned to the Imperium of Man, he would retire.

Then, after the Siege of Terra was over, he would move to Terra.

He would secure himself a place as an iron-cap prince of the Plain Yellow Banner of old Terra and live out his days as an ordinary wealthy old man.

After all, he only knew so much, and he had taught it all to Curze long ago.

But now, his cheat had arrived in its complete form.

That set Han Mingxuan's mind racing.

As the saying went, a sharp weapon in hand stirred the urge to kill.

Now that his cheat had fully arrived, it was impossible for him not to have some ideas.

After all, by Huaxia's way of counting age, he wasn't even thirty yet. He was at just the age to venture out.

While Han Mingxuan stared at the pen and pondered the future, the Emperor was staring into the Warp.

"Your Majesty."

"My old friend, you're here."

The stooped old man leaned on his staff as he came before the golden giant.

"Your injuries..."

"I'm not injured, my friend. I just can't sit still."

"Is it because of the changes in the Warp?"

The Emperor nodded.

There had indeed been changes in the Warp, and they were enormous.

"More than a year ago, I advised you not to take that risk. It was a terrible gamble."

The Emperor fell silent for a moment. "In this universe, in this world, we are gambling every moment of our lives, my friend."

"Fortunately, this time we won."

"Then what was the price, my Emperor?"

"I can't sit still."

Yes, that was the price he had paid.

Malcador said nothing and left in silence.

Only after Malcador had left did the Emperor's expression change slightly.

It was... an expression of someone enduring pain.

Yes, pain.

After snatching Han Mingxuan into this world, the Emperor had thought everything was fine.

Like the splash made by a stone thrown into water, it would disappear before long.

But soon afterward, the Emperor realized he had been wrong-outrageously wrong.

From the moment Han Mingxuan arrived in this world, a figure appeared in the Emperor's mind.

It was a woman.

She looked very angry, and the moment she spoke, she demanded to know why he had gone around snatching people.

She reminded him of Erda.

But the woman in his mind was far more formidable than Erda.

The Emperor still remembered what the woman had said to him.

"You should not have barged into my home and taken my child away. For a young man like him, a long journey in this world is too cruel."

"You've scattered conscription notices all over the world. I don't blame you for that, but you can't keep getting more and more out of line."

"I have troubles I cannot speak of, Your Excellency."

After he said that, the presence in his mind stopped reproaching him.

Instead, there was something in her gaze as she looked at him... pity.

Yes, pity.

A Warp entity that had forced its way in from another world was looking at him with pity.

"Oh, never mind. Those little brats had to go and make a mess of things."

"You have my deepest sympathy for what you've been through, child."

"Child?"

It was the first time anyone had ever called the Emperor that.

"Yes. In my eyes, all humans and every species living on Earth are my flesh and blood, my children."

"Even if some children are naturally hot-tempered and others are naturally cowardly, as long as they don't threaten the survival of the whole family, they are still my children."

"Are you... the Will of Earth?"

"You could put it that way, child, but that isn't important."

"Since you've already brought him here, let him stay in this world for a while. Think of it as a journey."

"But we need to agree on something first."

Looking at the silent Emperor, the Will of Earth spoke again.

"While he is in this world, you may not subject his body to the so-called Astartes transformation."

"Let him live as an ordinary person in this world. I'll take his soul with me and let him have a dream."

"Your Excellency, that will be difficult. The Warp is far from peaceful."

"If I say no one can alter his body, then no one can. That is a promise from his parent, you naughty boy."

Smack!

From then on, an impassable blue chasm appeared in the Warp, and any attempt to peer into Han Mingxuan's intentions was torn to pieces.

As for the Emperor himself, that was when he began to find himself unable to sit still.

He had been kicked in the backside.

From that day until now, the pain had never lessened.

It was as though someone came to kick him in the backside at the same time every day.

It was simply unbearable.

But she had only mentioned genes, not the body itself-rejuvenation surgery, for example.

Living for a few thousand years would be no problem.

The Emperor finally sighed, and his consciousness returned to the front lines of the Great Crusade.

"Horus, how goes the war?"

"Father, most of the Eastern Fringe has declared allegiance to the Imperium. The remaining worlds are being conquered. Our forces will continue to advance until they reach the Segmentum Obscurus."

The Segmentum Obscurus lay north of the Imperium's territory.

It was also the place Her Excellency had placed particular emphasis on protecting.

To guard against the Warp, and to keep him from finding Han Mingxuan directly,

Her Excellency had churned the Warp reflection of the entire Segmentum Obscurus into a murky mess.

Neither he nor the few deceivers who already dwelled in the Warp could locate its source.

"Continue the advance."

"Yes, Father."

Nostramo, First Hive City.

"This precognition really is useful."

Curze sat in the seat of honor in Archduke Vasavon's home, carefully studying a legal code in his hands.

Even while campaigning, he could not neglect his studies.

The Night Haunter could help him fight, but when it came to studying, the Night Haunter never helped.

As he put it, you had to learn what Father taught you yourself.

Archduke Vasavon, meanwhile, stared at Curze, who had suddenly appeared, as though he had seen a ghost.

"You... you're the Bat of Eternal Night!"

"Yes. As far as you're concerned, I'm just the Bat of Eternal Night who spreads terror."

"But in every Hive City I've conquered, the people there prefer to call me the Grand Inquisitor."

"Inquisitor? Heh. You think you can hide what you really are by putting on an act with some lousy book?"

"There's no point arguing about it. I came here today to tell you to stop your little schemes."

As Curze spoke, he tossed a document down in front of him.

It clearly contained a record of his contacts with the leaders of several other Hive Cities, as well as their plans.

"You... what did you do?!"

"Do you even need to ask? Of course I dealt with them."

"Then you're going to deal with me now, aren't you?"

"Clever, but clever people don't live long."

That night, Curze led his men in a bloodbath across First Hive City, while Shen led his people in searching through every scrap of its records.

Shen had done the same thing in the previous Hive Cities.

"From this day forward, Nostramo shall be reborn!"

Inside Curze's mind, the Night Haunter's excitement was plain to see.