I am the magnetic field maniac

——Compared to me, he can do better.

The Lion King thought so. He did not think that he could unite his brothers like Horus, nor did he think that he could have the same comprehensive abilities as Horus, so let him be the Warmaster.

In terms of character, this is a virtue of humility. But in other words, it is also a lack of confidence.

Could I have done better, could I have avoided such a loss, am I a loser, am I a role model?

Leon had questioned himself in his heart more than once, but he was a person who was absolutely unwilling to reveal his weakness and confide in others.

Because of his Lion El'Jonson, he is the Lord of the First Legion. He and his legion must be a model for the Empire!

Excessive responsibility and insufficient self-confidence, this is the problem of the Lion King... and after the great rebellion, he felt even more guilty about it.

He accomplished nothing, and the Dark Angels and he played only a minimal role in the Heresy.

He failed to aid Terra in time, failed to kill any traitors, and even after he returned to the Stone, the Legion he was so proud of rebelled against him.

You are a worthless man, Lion. You have failed your Legion, your children, the Imperium, your brothers, and the Emperor...

You are just a cowardly sleeping lion.

Countless echoes lingered in Leon's ears, condemning him and eroding his not-so-strong self-confidence.

After Leon woke up, the pain reached its peak - he knew the disaster of the Empire, he knew the suffering of his descendants, he knew the sacrifice of the Emperor, and he knew... the death of Sanguinius.

Feelings of self-doubt and insecurity lingered like venomous snakes, and even with Jaghatai and Guilliman still around, the Lion could not be happy.

Having lost confidence and doubting oneself, even if one chooses to cover up with anger towards traitors, this nature cannot be changed!

Leon's heart is old.

The once mighty lion is now just a little kitten.

And now, he was defeated by Angron. This meant that all those questions and doubts had come true.

Leon has become a useless person who has accomplished nothing...

The king on the lake listened to Leon's words. He did not speak, but pointed his trembling hand to the other side of the forest.

There was a building there, or at least the roof of a building; that was all Leon could see from here.

It is a beautiful white stone dome supported by pillars.

He had been searching for his way through the forest in his sleep, and now there was a clear path ahead, one flanked by bushes…

and short grass paths surrounded by tree trunks.

“Should I go there…?”

Leon whispered, but the king remained silent.

Another drop of blood slid from his fingers into the lake below him, and the spreading blood once again gathered the scattered shadows.

The lion king did not hesitate at all. Even though his confidence was shattered, he still walked towards the dangerous road.

A candlelight shone on the lion, faint and white, but it dispelled all the darkness along the way.

Following his nature and his own heart, Leon walked through the faint candlelight that enveloped him and headed towards the white end.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but the path itself offered him no obstacles. It was an easy route, almost pleasant by the standards of these dense forests.

It wasn't long before Leon came into sight of his destination, and for the first time he was able to see it properly.

A marble dome rises atop a square stone building, but this doesn't look like a king's castle. It's a structure that fits in with its surroundings, for it's not too dissimilar in nature to the fortifications built on Caliban to protect its people from the threats of the world.

By comparison, it was almost alien. The precise fit of the stones, the cornices carved into repetitive, flowing shapes, the massive columns that stretched along either side of the black arches: this was the architecture of the Empire, not Caliban, and it did not belong here.

Leon approached cautiously.

He had no idea how a structure like this could have ended up here. But then again, he still wasn't entirely sure where "here" was.

His theory was that it was a kind of space adjacent to the Warp, a waystation that could somewhat bypass the distance and time of realspace.

But that was just speculation. Regardless, the building must have been built to house something, and Leon intended to find out what it was.

There was no door, but it was so dark inside that even Leon's eyes couldn't make out what was inside at first.

It was not until he got very close that he saw for a moment a faint light, a light that was blocked by someone.

Involuntarily, Leon's jaw almost dropped when the figure stepped out into the soft, mist-shrouded light.

Blonde hair, much like Leon's, but tangled and messy, partially braided, and not fading with age;

The ornate armor was much like the lion's own, but it symbolized the dead gray of winter rather than the darkness of night.

The ferocity that lurks within Leon is reflected here…but exposed in the flashing blue eyes and the elongated canines that show when his upper lip is raised in a snarl.

Relief, anger, joy, and terror all swelled in Leon's heart, and in the end, they converged into a simple name.

"Ruth?"

"Hello, traitor!" Leman Russ roared, grabbing Lion's throat with both hands and charging forward.

Lion didn't waste time on words. He had fought Leman Russ before, and he knew that this would only end when the Wolf King was incapacitated or chose to stop.

He dodged Ruth's lunges and threw punches. At one point, he knocked Ruth unconscious in Duran, but his brother was laughing.

Russ couldn't laugh now. He blocked the punch and slammed another one into Leon's chest, his face twisted in anger.

Leon fought him head-on, his intense concentration fighting against the endless rage. Fists intertwined, some were dodged sideways, some were ducked, and some hit the ceramic steel armor with a loud crash.

With his hands shaking tightly, he tried to find the opponent's weakness. The lion king broke free from the wolf king's huge grip on his forearm and turned quickly, using his own hips as a lever to slam the wolf king against a pillar.

"Traitor?" the Lion demanded, and when Russ stood back up he knew he had no chance of convincing his brother, but the accusation stung.

"You know that's not true!"

"Then why do you mind so much?" Rus said with an ugly laugh, but this was not Rus's voice. A powerful figure wrapped in a huge Terminator armor now appeared where the Wolf King had just stood. The figure who stood up at this time was taller and more powerful than Rus, and his power claws were long and sharp.

"You were already dead, not even a trace of you remains," Lion told Horus.

At the same time, he felt an even more suffocating feeling.

Compared to facing Rus, Leon was more reluctant to face Horus, the brother who was at odds with him.

"An ancient Terran saint said that there are three times of death. As long as people are still talking about his name, he will never truly die."

Horus gestured with his claws. His movements and voice were just as Leon remembered them, effortlessly displaying his own elegance and personality, which was a weapon in itself.

“So, as long as humanity exists, I will continue to exist… because I have become a mirror that all my brothers can now use to compare themselves.

You know me. You've been doing it every day since you first became aware of my behavior. You can't really be yourself anymore because you're only focused on not being me."

The Lion clenched his fists and growled - "You may not be Horus, but wearing his face does not diminish my desire to destroy you."

This time he acted first, not taking into account the fact that Horus was powerful enough to mortally wound the Emperor.

It was a very different Horus, a monstrosity bloated by the unholy gifts of the Chaos Gods.

This is the memory of Horus from the Lion. Although the beloved Lupercal was very powerful, the Lion remembered what Guilliman had warned him at Kurag -

Horus hated the lions, for he knew they were equals.

So, the Lion knocked Horus down, and when he removed his power claws, he became another face.

"I'm sorry you lack foresight on Tiamat."

"I can at least find a brother I once cared about..." Leon retorted.

He leaped up from the pillar behind him, launching himself into a blow... but Perturabo caught him in midair and slammed him to the ground, then smashed his closed fists into Lion's face.

The Lion rolled to the side and lashed out with his legs, sweeping Perturabo's feet from under him...but as his brother landed on his back, his armor white, it was the Khan who leapt right back to his feet.

"If you had acted faster, you would have responded to Horus' betrayal in time..." Chagatai Khan said, but the illusion changed in an instant.

"If you were smarter, you would have predicted the coming of the Horus Heresy..." The Red Devil Gnus chanted solemnly, punching Leon in the face, but was kicked to pieces by the lion at the same time...

"You are definitely fake. Magnus's beatings don't hurt that much!" Leon spat.

"Perhaps you have simply grown old..." Angron said dismissively, stamping on the lion's chest so hard that the breath was knocked out of him even inside his armor. "Weary, exhausted, both physically and mentally!"

Leon wanted to fight back, but he was too weak to do it. And in front of him, changes were still happening.

"The Emperor never trusted you! That's why I am by his side, and you are in the darkest corner of the galaxy far, far away!" Dorn roared and punched him twice

"You think he gave you the secret?" Alpharius laughed.

"I know secrets you'll never guess, Firstborn."

"Where is your revenge?" Fenus roared, and his other fist slammed into Leon's abdomen.

"Where is your cunning?" Corax roared and kicked Leon's head off.

"You were never perfect..." Fulgrim sneered and pierced his throat.

"But now you accept the worship of the gods..." Lorgar tutted, and the Lion lunged at him, but a blue snake-armored foot tripped him and he landed on his face.

"You have the audacity to preach to me my mistakes, but when given the chance to return to Terra, you will even decide to burn countless planets..." Roboute Guilliman said above him.

Fingers covered with blood-red gauntlets lifted Leon's chin. "If you don't do this, will I survive?"

Sanguinius asked sadly. The angel disappeared from sight, and an incredible force lifted Leon up.

"Will I die?" Vulcan screamed in his ear, and then Leon was thrown into the air, towards the door of the building.

Leon didn't know what would happen to him next. Perhaps, it would just be a tragic failure.

114. The Awakening of the Lion

When Lion had gone through the torture of all the primarchs and almost all his brothers, his tired heart had been hammered to the bottom.

There are only two possibilities facing Leon: either sublimation or eternal fall.

Before he flew out the door, there were two shadows beside him, one as soft as a thought. But it had vanished. Then there was another to his left, as light as a memory, which was also gone.

But it's not over yet, Leon still has to face someone, the guy he least wants to face -

The darkness in front of him split open, revealing a pale face with two deep eyes in it. Those eyes, which foresaw the future, were full of no mercy.

"At least I know who in my legion deserves to die..." whispered Konrad Curze, the Night Haunter.

"You all deserve to die!" Leon roared.

Curze smiled. "I know that."

He stepped back again and disappeared from sight.

The Lion was well aware of his brother's hunting strategy and turned toward the entrance, expecting to see the Night Haunter lunge at him. Instead, Curze's claws pierced his armor and pierced his ribs from behind.

"They called me a demon because I terrorized worlds, but you killed them!" The curse hissed in Leon's ears, cutting through the pain.

"My reputation causes planets to surrender when they hear of my approach... and yet you suddenly appear from the sky and burn the soil to ash!"

He moved his fingers, causing Leon's body to be tortured by new pain again.

"Brother, why are you a hero and I'm a villain, just because I left a few poor bastards alive to talk about me?"

"I'm not a hero..." Leon said through gritted teeth. "I did what the Lord of Mankind asked of me, and I believe He is the one who knows this best. I am a necessary part of His plan to unify and save humanity.

"So noble..." Curze whispered in the darkness.

"And you're a villain," Leon continued, flexing his fingers, "because you enjoy what you do, and even when you're ordered not to, you do it anyway!"

"Perhaps Father did too good..." Curze hissed, then lunged at Leon with his claws aimed at his eyes. Leon dodged the attack and rolled to the far wall...

"You have only the Emperor to blame, for you refuse to take responsibility for your actions."

You know nothing about what you are talking about…” Koz growled, coming too close for Leon’s discomfort.

"Maybe," Leon said.

"But you're already dead, and I don't want to argue with ghosts anymore."

The light he had seen from outside shone again from the wall behind him. He turned and saw that it radiated from the zither-shaped shield hanging there, richly decorated with an imperial eagle crowned with laurel leaves.

That was the Emperor's Shield that Jaghatai had brought him, and when Lion lifted it up, he could feel the warm, protective power.

"You want to borrow his power again?" Koz walked out from the shadows and laughed...

"It's as if your descendants are using your words to justify their atrocities."

Leon felt a pain in his heart, which was why he was unwilling to face Koze - facing Koze would mean facing the problem of his descendants who had been wandering and hunted for thousands of years because of his mistakes.

I can't face the mistakes I made in the past, nor make up for them by myself. Instead, I have to borrow the power of the emperor and my father.

Is the mighty lion really such a cowardly and incompetent thing?