“Is… is that the Primarch?”
The Chief Librarian muttered absentmindedly, completely unable to comprehend what he was seeing.
This was entirely different from every prophecy about the Primarch’s return over the past ten thousand years!
Could this wild, domineering form, radiating absolute power, truly be their Sire, famed for his wisdom, rationality, and statesmanship?
“Chief Librarian?”
Calgar noticed his unusual behavior, and his heart jolted when he saw a single tear slip from the corner of the Librarian’s eye.
How could this veteran of eight centuries, who had witnessed countless sacrifices and depths of despair, shed tears at this moment?
“What did you see? Has the Primarch…”
Calgar whipped his head around to gaze at Roboute Guilliman, whose features were blurred within the stasis field, a foreboding dread rising in his heart.
And it was precisely in that moment of distraction and turmoil—
BOOM!!!
With a deafening explosion, a Thunderhawk gunship emblazoned with the Eight-Pointed Star of Chaos brutally shattered the dome of the Macragge sanctuary, sending a rain of rubble showering down!
The assault ramp blew open, and Chaos Space Marine elites clad in black armor echoing the legacy of the Lunar Wolves and the iconic dark blue plate of the Night Lords dropped to the floor like a hail of death!
“Enemy attack!!!”
Calgar’s roar instantly drowned out all other noise.
“How dare you! How dare you desecrate Macragge! How dare you step foot into the sanctuary where our Primarch slumbers!”
Fury instantly swallowed all hesitation and doubt.
Calgar’s power gauntlets whined to life as he charged into the enemy host like a blue whirlwind.
With a single blow, he crushed the helmet and head of a newly landed Chaos Marine into powder!
The sanctuary inside and out dissolved into utter chaos as more Chaos warships appeared in the skies above Macragge, fierce engagements erupting on every level.
Marshal Amalrich of the Black Templars roared as he drew the Black Sword passed down from Sigismund.
Psychic lightning crackled around the Grey Knights Grand Master, while Saint Celestine took to the air, brandishing her sword ablaze with holy fire.
The Imperium’s greatest champions were gathered here, locking in bloody combat with the surging tide of Chaos traitors.
Yet the sheer number of Chaos warriors far exceeded expectations, including Khorne-blessed zealots whose reckless charges put immense pressure on the defensive line.
Taking advantage of the mayhem, the Chief Librarian, Yvraine, and Belisarius Cawl exchanged a resolute look.
“Now! This is our only chance!” the Chief Librarian hissed.
There was no time left for debate!
Cawl’s mechadendrites hummed at maximum efficiency, extracting the components of the Armor of Fate from its vault and aligning them with Guilliman’s body.
Yvraine gripped the Cronesword tightly, the power of Ynnead swirling around its blade.
“No! Stop! Librarian! I command you as Chapter Master!”
Catching sight of this amidst the melee, Calgar’s eyes nearly burst from his sockets.
He let out a gut-wrenching roar, desperately trying to fight his way back to the Primarch’s side.
But a tide of enemies held him back.
The Chief Librarian cast a final glance toward his battling Chapter Master, his eyes conflicted yet unshakeable.
“Forgive me, Calgar… but for the Imperium, for the Primarch, we must take this sole chance!”
With that, he decisively deactivated the stasis field that had preserved Guilliman’s body uncorrupted for ten thousand years!
Yvraine did not hesitate for a second.
The moment that towering body was exposed to the air, the Cronesword—infused with the divine power of Ynnead—thrust swiftly and precisely toward Guilliman’s neck!
At almost the exact same instant, Belisarius Cawl operated his mechanical arms…
…fitting, connecting, and locking the azure plates of the Armor of Fate onto the Primarch’s body with dizzying speed!
Calgar bellowed in desperate agony.
He could only vent his boundless fury on the surrounding Chaos traitors, as if to grind every inch of their flesh to dust!
As the armor sealed in its final joint, the anomaly began.
At the exact moment Yvraine’s sword, laden with the God of Death’s power, was about to pierce deep into Guilliman’s neck to complete the death-and-rebirth ritual—
*CLANG—!*
A deafening, bell-like chime of striking metal erupted!
The Cronesword—an artifact meant to sunder the boundary between matter and spirit—
…acted as if it had struck not mortal flesh, but an indestructible fortress wall, violently repelled by an invisible and titanic force!
The blade vibrated violently, letting out a resonant, indignant hum.
Yvraine stared in shock at her numb hand, then at the repelled Cronesword, sheer disbelief written across her exquisite features.
*How…
how is this possible?* Storms raged in her mind.
This was a holy sword bearing the divine force of Ynnead; all things in existence, whether physical or spiritual, should be as fragile as paper before it.
Even a legendary Imperial Primarch—a demigod crafted by the Emperor of Mankind—should never have been able to withstand the true power of a god with mere flesh!
Yet the reality unfolded right before her eyes.
The blade had merely left a shallow red scratch on Roboute Guilliman’s neck.
And even more shocking was that the scratch healed at a visible pace, restoring itself in the blink of an eye without leaving even a faint trace!
At the same time, Guilliman’s entire aura underwent an earth-shattering transformation!
Within him, the “Smart Atoms” from Thragg, Regent of Viltrum, were fusing with the Primarch’s perfect genetic template at unprecedented speed.
It was a fusion of bloodlines far beyond mortal comprehension!
The Viltrumites, a powerful race that dominated cosmic warfare, possessed horrific individual strength.
Had they not been constrained by their own brutal societal mandates, they might have conquered the stars long ago.
The Smart Atoms flowing within them were the source of all their superhuman faculties.
These invisible particles infused energy and mass into the body as needed—
…granting power capable of tearing starships apart, a body of steel that could withstand heavy bombardment, and even enhancing telescopic vision.
As long as the brain and heart remained intact, Smart Atoms could rapidly heal the most grievous wounds, and even during interspecies breeding, they stabilized the genetic code so offspring inherited their power.
Whether in the absolute zero of vacuum or the fierce heat of a stellar perimeter, Smart Atoms gradually adapted the body, allowing them to traverse the cosmos unshielded.
They even surged with emotion—when a Viltrumite was consumed by anger, atomic activity spiked, pushing their combat prowess beyond normal limits.
And Guilliman, as one of the Emperor’s finest creations, possessed genetic stability and potential that was nothing short of flawless.
Now, these two supreme bloodlines—
…the strongest Regent of Viltrum forged in oceans of blood, and the Thirteenth Primarch created by the demigod Emperor of Mankind—
…were undergoing an unprecedented fusion!