When Merlin opened his eyes, the scene before him was almost unbelievable.
It was a young girl.
Blonde hair, green eyes, completely naked, and holding two broken fangs from some enormous beast like a primitive hunter.
She came crashing down from above and, moving even faster than the giant wolf lunging at Merlin, drove both fangs deep into its ribs.
“Awooo!”
The giant wolf howled in pain as it was knocked aside.
At the same moment, the remaining wolves began circling in from both sides, ready to attack at any moment.
“Grrr…”
Surrounded by the pack, the blonde savage girl bared her teeth and let out a warning growl.
One of the fangs in her hands was already buried in the wounded beast.
She was still confident she could hunt down these intruders, but the strange person behind her might not survive if the wolves attacked him.
This newcomer looked like one of her own kind and showed no hostility, so she instinctively chose to stand between him and the beasts.
Unlike the monsters that reeked of the Warp, there was nothing about this strange man that made her feel uneasy.
“Sword!
Take it!”
Seeing the blonde girl surrounded, Merlin hurriedly held out the greatsword in his hands.
He had originally intended to throw it to her, but considering how much he was struggling just to lift the thing, handing it over was the best he could manage.
Fortunately, the girl immediately understood what he meant.
She turned, took the sword from him, and froze for a moment.
“!”
She stared at the unfamiliar weapon in surprise.
And yet…
She somehow knew how to use it.
The familiarity was instinctive, as though the techniques required to wield such a weapon had been carved directly into her genes.
Then she moved.
Although she was half a head shorter than Merlin, the enormous greatsword seemed almost weightless in her hands.
Whoosh!
The blonde girl suddenly burst forward at a speed nearly impossible to follow with the naked eye and slashed at the giant wolf lurking to her left.
A moment later, the sword came to a halt and she stood perfectly still again, looking like a seasoned swordswoman.
Black blood sprayed through the air.
The giant beast had been cut cleanly in half before it could even react.
It gave a few weak whimpers before collapsing to the ground and going still.
Seeing this, the rest of the pack no longer dared to stay.
They howled, turned, and fled into the thorny undergrowth, scattering into the forest.
…
Once the wolves had disappeared, the blonde girl stood beneath the pale moonlight with the greatsword in her hands and turned to look curiously at Merlin, who was sitting weakly beside the lake.
One of her own kind.
She had hunted alone in this Warp-tainted primeval forest for years, and this was the first time she had ever encountered another being who looked like her.
She bent down slightly, her green eyes examining the unfamiliar man with equal parts caution and curiosity.
Merlin’s thoughts, meanwhile, were far more complicated.
For a brief moment, he had even started wondering what they should name their children.
Blonde hair.
Green eyes.
A savage raised in the wilderness.
Monstrous strength.
An instinctive mastery of the sword.
And then there were the words the Watcher in the Dark had spoken not long ago.
[She will come soon.]
All the evidence pointed toward the same name.
Lion El’Jonson.
She was the Primarch of the First Legion, the Dark Angels.
Lion El’Jonson!
But there was one very obvious problem.
Anyone familiar with Warhammer knew that the Primarchs were supposed to be men!
So what happened to the mighty Lion, Primarch of the First Legion and Warmaster of the Second Empire?
How did he become—
Merlin looked at her.
Even with dirt covering her face, it couldn’t hide how beautiful she was, but as for the rest of her—
Hiss…
Damn it.
Don’t look.
She wasn’t wearing anything.
Merlin awkwardly turned his eyes away, desperately forcing himself not to let his gaze wander toward the…
untamed jungles of Caliban.
Ha.
The mighty Lion had turned into a sweet little catgirl.
What the hell was going on?
Was this some alternate timeline?
A parallel universe?
Or was it simply something created by the strange simulation of the Ring of Sagittarius?
Come to think of it, the Ring of Sagittarius had told him to form a bond with the Primarch.
And if the Primarch here was a woman…
Didn’t that mean his mission target was actually…
Merlin: “…”
He decided it would be better not to think too deeply about that.
“…?”
While Merlin’s thoughts spiraled out of control, the blonde girl had already moved closer and was studying him with open curiosity.
This strange member of her own species was weak, slow, and strangely clean compared to everything else in the forest.
Although some wariness remained in her eyes, curiosity had already begun to outweigh it.
As for Merlin…
He didn’t dare move.
He genuinely didn’t dare move.
She might be a woman in this world, but she was still Lion El’Jonson.
The Lion’s reputation alone was enough to inspire fear from Caliban all the way to Imperium Secundus.
What if she got annoyed and punched his head off?
“Hmm…!”
Screw it!!!
Merlin suddenly made up his mind.
The fact that the mighty Lion had somehow become a sweet little catgirl was difficult enough to accept on its own.
But if a Primarch had suddenly become a woman, then this simulation clearly had nothing to do with reality!
That was right!
It was fake!
Hahaha!
All of it was fake!
“Hey!”
Merlin reached out toward her.
If none of this was real, then what was there to be afraid of?!
What was she going to do?
Leave the simulation, travel all the way to Granria, and beat him up in real life?
Come on, then!
Merlin immediately went for her head.
Since he genuinely had no idea where else he was supposed to look, he threw caution to the wind and pulled her into his arms, vigorously rubbing her head while smoothing out her messy golden hair.
If he didn’t take the opportunity to pet the Lion while she was still a wild little kitten, he definitely wouldn’t get another chance once she grew up!
“Huh?!”
The girl was startled by Merlin’s sudden behavior, but she quickly relaxed in his arms.
After all, this man was simply too weak.
From her perspective, the way he had grabbed her was full of openings.
No proper hunter would expose themselves so completely to another creature.
If Merlin showed even the slightest trace of hostility, she was confident she could snap his neck and tear him apart in an instant.
As for why she wasn’t doing that now…
Well…
It actually felt pretty good.
Her eyes narrowed slightly in enjoyment.
“Good kitty.
Good kitty.”
Seeing that she wasn’t resisting—and more importantly, that she hadn’t punched his head off—Merlin finally relaxed.
Such a good little kitten.
How did something this adorable grow up into that grim, terrifying Lion?
Sigh.
It had to be Luther’s fault!
If he didn’t teach this little kitten properly while he still had the chance, she might grow up into the kind of person who reached for Exterminatus every time she got angry!
Thinking this, Merlin couldn’t help rubbing her head a little harder.
“Meow…”
Apparently, however, Merlin was beginning to push his luck.
The blonde girl narrowed her eyes and let out a low growl of warning.
…
…
…
Invincible Reason.
Flagship of the Dark Angels.
“Supreme Grand Master, according to the Navigator’s report, we are about to emerge from the Warp and arrive in the target system—Granria.”
Standing before the glowing green tactical display, Azrael turned toward the members of the Inner Circle gathered around him.
“Good.
Make your preparations and remember the objective of our mission.”
“Yes.”
Officially, the Dark Angels had come to investigate whether the local Rogue Trader dynasty had been tainted by the Warp.
Of course, that was only the official reason.
Their true purpose was to hunt the Fallen.
Naturally, hunting the Fallen was merely one of the First Legion’s many little secrets.
There wasn’t actually any trace of the Fallen in Granria.
That was simply another excuse.
Their real objective lay even deeper.
That was how secrets worked among the Dark Angels—one secret hidden inside another.
And this particular secret was among the most closely guarded of them all, passed down only from one Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels to the next.
Azrael still remembered the secret order his predecessor had shown him.
It was an ancient holographic recording dating back to the era when the Emperor still walked among mankind: an order personally issued by Primarch Lion El’Jonson to Corswain, Seneschal of the First Legion.
[Him!
Find him for me, Corswain!]
[No matter how much time or effort it takes—find him!]
[Understood, my Lady.
I will have the Dark Angels—]
[No.
Stop, Corswain.
This is a secret.
The fewer people who know about it, the better.]
[And one more thing.
If you actually catch him, then no matter what that bastard says about…
anything that may have happened between the two of us in the past, don’t believe a word of it!
Don’t even listen!]
[It’s all fake!
Every last word is a lie!]
Their normally stern, imposing, and unshakable Primarch had actually seemed strangely flustered whenever she mentioned that man.
Almost…
Embarrassed?
Anxious?
Azrael could practically smell a secret.
[Understood!]
Corswain answered solemnly from within the recording.
[For a villain who dares insult and blaspheme our Primarch, no matter where or when he hides, the Inner Circle will see him utterly destroyed!]
[No!
That’s not what I meant!]
[You can’t…
Just—absolutely do not hurt him!]
[Capture him alive.
He must be taken alive!
Keep him securely imprisoned and wait for my return.]
[I will interrogate him personally.
I want him to answer for breaking his oath and disappearing without a word!]
The ancient projection faded away.
In its place, a young man’s face appeared on the data-slate in Azrael’s hand.
[Merlin]
A plain, utterly unremarkable name.
For ten thousand years, the Dark Angels had secretly searched for any trace of this man.
Only recently had they finally obtained a clue to his whereabouts from a mysterious sorcerer.
Azrael had no idea why his gene-mother had been so obsessed with a mortal man who had somehow appeared ten thousand years later.
Nor did he know just how many of the Primarch’s secrets that man possessed.
But—
“Regardless.”
Azrael accepted the Lion Helm from a Watcher in the Dark, removed its enormous winged ornamentation, and placed the helmet over his head.
“The honor of the First Legion…”
He pulled the hood of his robe over the helm, burying his features in deep shadow.
“Must be—”
Beyond the fading veil of the Warp, the ravine-scarred hive world of Granria appeared before them.
“Protected!”
It really helps the fic grow!