Emperor's Bane

Chapter 188 The Third Gift

[No.11 Legion has been destroyed, and all their history, glory and sorrow will be completely erased in the next few decades. 】

[Their records are being erased, their world has withered, and the only remaining warriors and legacies they have are attracting all kinds of attention: some want to protect them under their command, some want to hold them in hand. 】

[But no matter what: their existence will be erased, which cannot be changed. 】

[But there are some things that cannot be erased. One of my proudest heirs has left a scar on my dream that will never heal: before that, I can expect any of my heirs to , looking forward to their awareness and loyalty, expecting them to be what I dreamed of, and to be as firm as ever where I can't take care of them. . 】

[But after that, how many people can I expect? 】

【Except for Horus, which of my sons deserves [-]% trust? 】

[Some things have changed. 】

[The purest possibility has been degenerated in madness and ambition, and we can only make worse choices. 】

------

In the huge underground kingdom of this unnamed world, in the darkness, the ruler of the empire solemnly watched the silver figure go away with a solemn face.

The Lord of Humanity didn't spend any more time with his offspring, he kept a reserved and harsh silence, leaving his daughter to bow her head in the dark and think.

No one knows how long Morgan has been thinking about, and no one knows whether she has figured it out: but when the Lord of the Second Legion raised his head again, and greeted the too dazzling golden light of her genetic father, he saluted slowly , when addressing him as [Father] and [Emperor], the conversation naturally came to an end.

Compared with other Primarchs, the reunion between the Emperor and Morgan is inevitably a little cold and unfamiliar: but this is not without precedent, whether it is the Archangel of Baal or the eagle master of the Space Khanate, they The encounter with the Lord of Humanity is also mixed in the cold constant temptation, questioning and compromise.

Not all Primarchs will regard the Lord of Humanity as their father: the Emperor certainly understands this, so in front of different offspring, his image is also different: the gentleness of the father of genes and the sternness of the Lord of the Empire , in his chest, exist equally.

A character like the emperor cannot be described with a simple word or a simple definition. He can be an iron king who doesn't understand people's hearts one second, but a heart-pounding king the next moment. In front of another close friend, he can be taken for granted as a playful figure full of humor.

After all, he has witnessed the ups and downs of almost the entire race, he has experienced countless glory and decline, and he can already transform into different images and majesty in different perspectives: such a character is simply impossible to describe.

No one can describe him, and no one can generalize him: not even the pawprinter.

When the Lord of the Second Legion walked out of the underground hall without looking back after saying goodbye in a low voice, the Lord of Humanity did not follow immediately, the Emperor just moved slowly and came to the Under the too tall and majestic podium, he raised his head, looking up at the symbol of power and prestige, looking up at the scarlet in the darkness.

After a long time, he sighed.

【My child once thought that the throne and cheers were my desires, but he was wrong. 】

【He thought I was greedy, arrogant and ambitious. He thought I would dream of ruling everything and holding every inch of my sight tightly in my own hands. 】

[But he was wrong. 】

【I am more greedy and arrogant than he imagined. What burns in my heart are ambitions and dreams that he can never imagine. 】

[My dream has long since transcended dominion and inheritance, and the place where my ambition is always focused is far beyond my sight, far at the end of time and space. 】

------

[He thought I would aspire to have everyone's heads bowed, their knees broken, and kneeling in front of my throne? 】

[On the contrary. 】

【I will raise their heads high, I will lift them up high, and I will lift up this race, this civilization, and everything in front of me. 】

[Trusted to evolution. 】

[Trusted to Extraordinary. 】

[Entrusted to eternity. 】

------

[From this point of view, I am even a selfish ghost, just like the daughter I just recognized, I am a hopeless selfish ghost, the greatest selfish ghost. 】

The corner of the mouth of the human lord curled up into a slight smile, and he slowly left this place with a relaxed attitude of being relieved of a heavy burden.

Behind him, the handprinter just frowned and followed quickly.

Malcador had too many questions: he thought he deserved an answer, at least a partial answer.

"Wait, Apocalypse."

In that deep passage that seemed to never end, the Handprinter finally came to the Emperor's side.

"You have to answer some questions in my mind, Apocalypse."

[Is this a question? 】

"If you want to understand it as some kind of advice, I have no objection."

From the bright light, there came a soft smile.

Just ask.

The emperor spoke to his best friend in a way that was not a spoken language.

The handprinter took a deep breath, and he first organized his thoughts: The emperor's behavior was really strange, causing too many questions to accumulate in his mind, and he didn't even know where to start.

Machado opened his mouth, but after a while, he asked a question that was a bit strange to him.

"When you showed your real body to her, what did she see that made her... afraid of being like that?"

【…】

At the first question, the Emperor fell silent.

The majestic monarch frowned slightly, stroked his chin, and thought for a moment before shaking his head slightly.

[Even if it is me, I have to ask through language to know what I look like in the eyes of others. 】

[However... If I were to make a guess, she might have seen something that she was unwilling to admit in her heart. Considering that my daughter is the one who has the deepest knowledge of the subspace, this is not impossible. 】

[She may have seen some of my bad past and future... Don't look at me like that, I was also lost and wandering, but that was a long time ago. 】

"..."

The silence of the pawprinter caused the Lord of Humanity to move his throat in embarrassment. He stroked his neck and added a sentence.

[I can assure you here, my friend, that in the 1 years before I met you, I was roughly what I looked like in front of you. 】

[As for my daughter, don't worry too much, she has seen worse. 】

"..."

The words of the Lord of Humanity did not smoothen Malcador's brows, and the palm printer led to another topic in a moment of silence.

"The one deepest in the Warp? You mean Morgan?"

[I only have this one daughter. In a sense, this is a blessing, and I don't want to face more. 】

"No... I mean, what about Magnus?"

The emperor smiled, it was a helpless smile for his heirs.

[If you let the two of them publish books and biographies together, as pure scholars, then Magnus is undoubtedly the best one. 】

[Magnus's deep exploration of the subspace is a very dangerous thing. In the future, if I have time, I will correct this point, but my son's deep exploration of the subspace just shows that, How ignorant and reckless he is in this field. 】

[But Morgan is different. She is constantly exploring and developing horizontally in the areas she has repeatedly tested. Perhaps as a pure researcher, she is not as good as Magnus. 】

[However, if you want to use psionic energy as the only means to carry out a desperate fight. 】

【Then I am not optimistic about Magnus. 】

The Lord of Humanity spoke these words lightly, as if he was stating some truth that should be taken for granted.

The handprinter blinked.

"But you still didn't tell me what she saw."

[That's not important, my friend. 】

[It's not important at all. 】

【All she can see is one side of me, the most insignificant angle of my lens-like body and spirit. No matter what she sees, I will not be surprised. 】

[What's more, she is my child, my creation, although our relationship will be a little bit tense, but this does not deny that I am the person in this galaxy who knows these gene primaries best. 】

[I know their abilities. 】

[I know their limits. 】

[I know what the first gift I bestowed on them is. 】

[You don't need to worry about this. 】

The handprinter was silent for a moment, and then softly hummed a note of contempt and ridicule from his nose.

He stretched out his scepter and stopped in front of the Lord of Humanity. When the emperor obediently stopped before the mantis turned into a chariot, his best friend had already come to him.

Malcador raised his head and looked directly at the ordinary face of the Lord of Humanity in his eyes. The stamper's gaze penetrated the hood, and he slowly refuted his monarch.

"Then don't forget, Tianqi."

"Standing in front of you is the person in this galaxy who has the second understanding of those Primarchs: he is an unlucky guy who has been tortured by your whims for hundreds of years, but thanks to fate, he also knows A lot."

"In this matter, your few words will not convince me."

The palm-printer is fearless. In this darkness that no one knows, the etiquette between him and the emperor has been weakened to the extreme. In his plain eyes, the lord of mankind has no more ways to refuse.

The sealer can never say that he knows every aspect of the emperor, but he can guarantee that he knows how open-minded and gentle is under the golden majestic armor that symbolizes the lord of mankind.

The emperor stopped there, and he seemed to have seriously spent a second thinking about the possibility of avoiding his best friend's question, and the answer brought by this kind of thinking was: in a bitter smile, the lord of mankind slightly raised his hand, Show compromise in front of the palm print.

[Okay, okay, I said that's it. 】

【You really scared me, my Macado. 】

------

【You still remember, Macado. 】

[Those chess games, those chess games you and I played. 】

The emperor walked in this dark corridor, he stretched out his hand, and brushed lightly on those cold walls: the light and heat gathered at his fingertips, and then, he rushed up and threw them on the wall.

As if ink is splashing, accompanied by the cheerful voice of the Lord of Humanity, countless heat and light bloom quietly in those darkest corners: the past, the future, ambitions, desires, everything seems to return to them The very beginning.

When Malcador quietly watched those radiant images fleeting in the shadows, he only felt that he and Tianqi were like explorers holding torches, advancing through the passages thousands of years ago , and those paintings left by primitive people, in this flickering firelight, tell a kind of passion and surge full of savagery.

[You still remember those chess games. 】

[You and I, we have played chess many times. When we started to make my children, we were playing chess. We played countless rounds, but there was never exactly the same twice, and there was never A result that satisfies you and me. 】

[There are always regrets, there are always regrets, and there are always lamentable sacrifices, which are quietly scattered at the fingertips of fate and rolled to the ground. 】

[But even so, we still found some rules. 】

[Some things are the same. 】

[Just like we can always trust that invincible fortress, in most chess games and games, he makes me feel at ease. 】

[Just like I always lose my blond beast, no matter how tightly I hold him, in some kind of malice, he will always disappear in the shadows. 】

【Like...】

The human lord chuckled, and he spoke in a casual tone under the serious face of the handprinter.

[It's like a chess piece that we can't use. It is broken, but it can still stand on the chessboard. 】

【I can't grasp it, I can't use it, I can't even speculate whether it can be held tightly in my hands, I can only do my best to use it. 】

[On a few occasions, I succeeded. 】

[Then, we saw the name of the chess piece: it was an unforgettable moment, wasn't it? 】

The emperor smiled, but the handprinter just looked at him with the most serious face.

"That was a mistake, Apocalypse."

"That name doesn't say anything, it was just a mistake."

The human lord smiled, patted Malcador on the shoulder, and didn't say much.

【You always say I'm running away. 】

[But when you face things you can't face, aren't you the same as me, my best friend? 】

Malcador was silent, and in his heart, he sighed softly.

He knew that he could only ask the next question.

------

"So."

"What is the last gift you want to give her?"

------

Time was running out, and when the handprinter asked the third question, they were only one step away from the entrance of the cave.

Malcador could even feel that the light reflected by the armor was mercilessly disturbing his eyes.

The lord of humanity still kept those pleasant smiles, he didn't answer right away, but said something else.

【Do you know, Macado. 】

[Before I rushed here, many of my heirs had conversations with me. 】

[Some of them came to see me because of my instructions, while others applied for the opportunity to talk with me. 】

[I interviewed them, all of them. 】

[The first person who came to see me was Don, my most reliable child, my most trusted cornerstone, my fists. 】

[He made a suggestion to me, or rather, a plea. 】

"About the No.11 Legion?"

【Yes. 】

[We all know that Dorn and Heydrich were friends for a while, until they completely broke up in a battle. 】

[My Imperial Fist sheltered a group of fighters from his brother: because they refused to fire on the civilians who were planned to be consumed, they were abandoned by Heydrich, and they were even about to usher in cleaning. 】

[In front of this scene, Dorn personally shattered his friendship with Heydrich, and chose to take these fighters away. 】

[And now, he has sent me a request, hoping that he can get permission to incorporate these fighters into his army: that is not a small amount. 】

[However, I agree. 】

[The other visitor is very interesting. 】

[My Guilliman, the lord of my five hundred worlds. 】

[He sent me a proposal: He hopes to take over the gene seed bank left by the No.11 Legion. He thinks it would be a great waste to destroy or seal up these seeds instead of using them for the Great Expedition . 】

[He assured me that these shaped warriors will not be used for any dirty actions, and they will, without exception, usher in the doomed glorious death in the Great Crusade, as the silent curtain call of the No.11 Legion. 】

[Of course, we all know what our Guilliman is thinking: he does want to find a good ending for these fighters, but he also has his own private thoughts. 】

[The battle lines left by the soldiers of the No. 11 Legion who are destined to sacrifice will of course need new supplements. In this way, the Five Hundred Worlds will have sufficient reasons to increase their military strength. 】

[Guilliman is Guilliman, no matter what it is, he must find a formal reason to make him feel at ease. 】

[I haven't responded yet, but I won't dismiss his request. 】

[Let them do it. 】

[Except for these two people, the remaining Primarchs were all summoned by me personally. 】

[First of all, Perturabo and Magnus, they will play a role in my next arrangements for my daughter. 】

[Magnus is nothing, but Perturabo is quite interesting. 】

【He is very concerned about when Morgan found out that he is a Primarch. 】

【His answer to this question is unusually persistent. 】

[And I told him that my daughter, his blood relative, realized the identity and power of his Primarch in the frenzy of Randan War. 】

[I told him so, and I also praised his record by the way: he looks very satisfied, there is nothing wrong with it. 】

[In addition to this, there is another problem: My vanguard fleet in the northeast of the galaxy has sent information, and they are sure that there is a Primarch in a world called Nastrum . 】

[But it is too remote and wild there, and there is still a storm from the Randan War: it may take us ten years to get there. 】

[But my premonition tells me that the Lord of my Eighth Legion, my Punisher and Judge, is there. However, he seems to have some problems. 】

[In any case, after the Lord of the Eighth Legion returns, I will let Morgan take on the responsibility of teaching him. 】

Macado frowned.

"Will it be too soon, Apocalypse?"

"Ten years later, I'm afraid even Morgan herself will still be a pedagogue?"

【She has already been taught that these ten years of war are enough for her to learn everything in this empire, and these ten years are enough for her to solve another problem. 】

"... solve what?"

[Resolve the gift. 】

[I gave her a gift. 】

The Lord of Humanity smiled, and his smile made the Handprinter uneasy.

"……what gift?"

The emperor didn't answer right away, he just raised his head, and in the ocean of souls, he guided Malcador to the Mandeville point of the galaxy.

A new fleet, a somewhat worn-out fleet, is slowly entering.

"That is……"

[Legion. 】

[Her legion. 】

[Except for those fleets that were lost somewhere we don’t know, every member of the Second Legion is here. 】

[My daughter, Morgan. 】

【Here, she will reunite with her offspring in the presence of you, me, and the five Primarchs. 】

【This is my third gift. 】

------

"..."

【…】

"..."

【…】

"Do you think... this is a bit crude?"

【…】

[... yes some. 】

(End of this chapter)