The Last Sentinel

Guilliman knew that King Arthur was being disrespectful to him.

King Arthur knew that Guilliman knew he was being slighted.

The relationship between the two could not be described as newlywed bliss and mutual respect; it was more like a decade-long marriage where they grew to loathe each other.

In the holographic projection, the lights in Guilliman's office cabin were cold, and a holographic star map floated faintly above the long table.

Regent Guilliman, Chapter Commander of the Ultramarines, sat in the main seat. His tall figure made the seat seem small, and the edges of his blue power armor gleamed with a matte metallic sheen. A bust of the Emperor hung on the wall behind him.

King Arthur leaned casually against the holographic star map command platform, his black royal robes with gilded trim draped loosely over his shoulders, the Knights of the Round Table emblem on his shoulders gleaming faintly with gold. The scabbard of the Sword in the Stone hung limply at his waist. His posture was relaxed, his gaze casually sweeping over Guilliman on the other end of the projection, a faint hint of mockery playing at the corners of his lips: "Lord Robert, what are your instructions?"

Guilliman Roberts' blue eyes gleamed, his voice deep and resonant, amplified by his power armor, carrying the unquestionable authority of a regent, yet unable to conceal a hint of tension: "I suppose you've already received intelligence, Arthur. A large number of otherworldly enemies have appeared near the northwest star system of the Empire. I must tell you, do not contact them, and even more so, do not start a war with them. Their target is not us. The Empire is already devastated, and the war is intense. We cannot provoke new and powerful enemies."

King Arthur's gaze sharpened slightly, his previous nonchalant demeanor vanishing as he looked directly at the Primarch in the holographic image: "I would like to ask, is this the Emperor's decree, or Lord Guilliman's own suggestion?"

Guilliman frowned slightly, a hint of impatience flashing through his mind. The empire was currently engulfed in war, and he didn't want to get bogged down in the issue of responsibility. His tone carried a touch of displeasure: "Is it that important?"

King Arthur spread his hands, the ancient royal silver bracelets on his wrists clinking softly. His tone was firm: "Of course, it is very important. If it is the Emperor's decree, then it means the Emperor has a deeper plan, and I will certainly obey the Emperor's decree. But if it is Lord Guilliman's suggestion, I'm sorry, I cannot carry it out."

Guilliman's pupils narrowed slightly, a chill creeping into his blue eyes: "King Arthur, according to the Warhammer calendar, you've been in the Warhammer universe for 300 years! In 300 years, you've witnessed countless wars. You should understand the current state of the Empire. The people of the Empire are already suffering terribly. The Empire cannot afford another war!"

"The people of the Empire?" King Arthur raised an eyebrow, a sharp sneer curling at the corner of his lips, his tone laced with undisguised sarcasm: "The people of the Empire that Lord Guilliman speaks of, are you referring to those scum of the High Lords, or those rulers of those insectoid planets? I imagine they're not those guys from the Middle Nest or the Lower Nest, after all, in your eyes they're just recycled raw materials for making corpse starch."

These words struck Guilliman's most sensitive nerve. His jaw tightened, and his fists beneath his armor slowly clenched. He suppressed his surging anger, not wanting to get bogged down in an endless ideological debate. His voice was as deep as steel: "I don't want to argue with you. I only need your obedience! I demand your obedience on behalf of the Imperial War Command!"

King Arthur shook his head slightly, his tone calm but without the slightest hint of yielding: "I'm sorry, I cannot obey!"

Guilliman roared, his voice rising abruptly: "You're disobeying orders!"

King Arthur smiled calmly: "Yes, so what? This isn't the first time the Ultramarines and my four major legions have clashed. Have you ever gained the upper hand?"

Guilliman forcibly suppressed his anger. He had no intention of starting a civil war with this foreign king, and said in a deep voice, "I don't want to clash with you. I'm just stating a fact: the carbon-based universe and the myriad worlds have completely turned against each other. Now, the Heavenly Court of the myriad worlds has issued a full-scale war mobilization order against the carbon-based universe. Do you know what this means?"

"Back then, a single Tyranid invasion caused devastating losses to the Warhammer universe, and the calamity of the Tyranids continues to this day."

"And the Terran are merely a branch of the source of the Cataclysm, one of the three great calamities!"

"The sources of the three major natural disasters were suppressed by the Heavenly Court!"

"Based on this reasoning, it's clear that our Warhammer universe is no match for the Heavenly Court."

"Our involvement in their conflict will bring destruction to the Warhammer universe!"

King Arthur rolled his eyes and said casually, "So, you're done?"

Guilliman's chest heaved as he suppressed his helplessness and replied in a low voice, "That's all."

"Very well, let me give my opinion." King Arthur walked slowly, his boots tapping against the metal floor of the command platform, his gaze sharp as a sword: "First of all, Guilliman, you've made a fatal mistake: womanly compassion!"

"You've had this problem for so long, I don't even want to correct it anymore."

"You think the Heavenly Court doesn't punish us out of mercy? Bullshit!"

"That's because the carbon-based universe is bearing the brunt!"

"We and the carbon-based universe are the same, both being carbon-based sequences. The difference is that we in the Warhammer universe are new carbon-based humans from the Dark Ages, while they are ancient humans! Our two human races are also intertwined!"

"This means that if they can't finalize a carbon-based universe, they can't completely wipe us out!"

"This determines our natural position; we can only stand on the side of the carbon-based universe."

Guilliman abruptly stood up, a hydraulic hiss emanating from his power armor joints. His towering figure almost filled the projection screen, his eyes filled with struggle. Reason told him the other man was telling the truth, but emotion couldn't accept gambling with the fate of the Empire. He interrupted loudly, "I know, I never said I was on the side of Heaven! Don't give me that nonsense!"

"No!" King Arthur grabbed the baton, pointed it forward, the tip almost touching the nose of the holographic projection of Guilliman, his eyes sharp and piercing: "What I'm about to say is the important part."

"Standing on the sidelines has always been a form of performance art, and art is ever-changing, with different expressions at different times."

"Before, the carbon-based universe and the myriad realms of the Heavenly Court hadn't broken ties, so our choice to remain neutral was tantamount to siding with the carbon-based universe!"

"But now things have escalated! They've completely broken off relations; remaining neutral at this point would mean siding with the Heavenly Court of all realms!"

"At this point, the only way to show your allegiance is to go a step further and aggressively join the war! That's what it means to choose sides!"

Guilliman slammed his fists on the long table, causing the alloy plate to dent slightly. His gaze was heavy with sorrow, burdened by the promise he had made to the Emperor. His voice was hoarse: "But this will drag the Warhammer universe into its countdown to destruction! I promised my father I would be responsible for the fate of humanity!"

King Arthur's tone was cold and uncompromising, leaving no room for compromise: "To give up the choice is to offend both sides. In the end, whether the Heavenly Court wins or the carbon-based universe wins, we will all be punished!"

"You know how the Heavenly Court operates."

"You probably haven't seen Ye Feng's methods, but I have."

"I know Ye Feng too well. He's the kind of guy who considers it a loss if he doesn't find any money while out for a walk!"

"This time, Ye Feng sent out all eight of his clones. I've never heard of such an investment before. You could say Ye Feng has gone all out!"

"If anyone dares to undermine Ye Feng this time, this petty bastard will definitely grind them to dust afterwards! And by doing this, you're essentially dragging the Warhammer universe into its final countdown to destruction!"

Guilliman's eyes were deep and somber, his brow drooping to conceal the emotions within them. Only the faint hum of the star map remained in the cabin. He fell into a long silence, his mind racing as he weighed the casualties across countless star systems and the survival of humanity.

After a long silence, Guilliman finally spoke, his voice tinged with a hint of wishful thinking: "If—and I mean if—the carbon-based universe and the Heavenly Court fought to a standstill, wouldn't we be able to reap the benefits?"

"Pfft—" King Arthur burst out laughing, his laughter filled with undisguised mockery, as if he had heard a fantasy: "The premise of reaping the benefits is that you have the strength to fight both of them without being at a disadvantage! In other words, regardless of whether you can take on the Carbon-based Universe or the Heavenly Court one-on-one! I want to ask, with the fighting power of our Warhammer Universe, who can we defeat?"

"To put it bluntly, the equipment used by my four major battle groups is all 500-year-old relics discarded by the Carbon-Based Cosmic Star Legion!"

"And you know how rapidly the technology in the carbon-based universe is developing!"

"Their overall combat capabilities are five hundred years ahead of ours! Their strongest warriors are as numerous as the stars!"

"Let's not even talk about overpowered characters like Ye Feng. Let's talk about the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Ye Feng's junior brother Qi Tian, ​​and the newly promoted top ten titled powerhouses!"

"These people combined outnumber the original Genesis!"

"Whose genetic makeup still allows us to maintain our fighting capacity?"

"Can we win?"

A barrage of questions rained down on Guilliman, forcing him to turn red in the face, his chest heaving violently, his gloved hands trembling slightly. His rational mind acknowledged the reality, but his responsibility as Regent of the Empire did not allow him to compromise.

As the current leader of the Warhammer universe, Guilliman repeated in a hoarse voice, his eyes still firmly holding firm to his principles: "What you say makes sense, but I still won't agree to what you're doing, unless you say..."

"Disobeying orders, is that it!" King Arthur stretched, the folds of his royal robes smoothing out with the movement. The last trace of feigned politeness on his face vanished completely, replaced by an indifferent and aloof expression. "To be fair, I've been in the Warhammer universe for three hundred years. All these years, you've been trying to integrate me into this universe, to make me a new Primarch, or even your successor."

"But deep down, I look down on this universe. The Warhammer universe is far inferior to the carbon-based universe I was born into; it's practically a low-level livestock pen!"

"My home universe has hundreds of millions of fellow countrymen with blond hair and blue eyes like me. They are my family, and you are not now, nor will you ever be."

"Now that we've laid everything bare, I won't hold back either. Starting today, I will lead the four battle groups to break away from the Empire!"

"From now on, the empire's honor has nothing to do with me!"

"Of course, don't count on the Silent King either. Get ready for a full-scale war against the Space Necromancers!"

"The Silent King has had enough of you!"

Guilliman's eyes instantly turned icy, the atmosphere around him suddenly became chilling, the weapon interfaces of his power armor faintly charged, and his voice was icy cold: "Betray the Empire? The last Primarch who betrayed the Empire was Horus."

"I am not Horus, and I will never be a warlord!" King Arthur straightened his back, exuding the majesty of an ancient ruler, and proclaimed loudly, "Call me by my carbon-based cosmic title: King of Britain, Arthur Pendragon, King of the Round Table, Chosen King, King of Justice, Arthur!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the holographic communication channel across the universe suddenly overloaded, the image abruptly distorted, and a raging virtual flame erupted on the screen, the blinding fire engulfing the figures of the two.

Communication was abruptly cut off, negotiations came to a complete end, and a new war had begun.