Soon, Rhodes was received by the Emperor, with Elena, Guilliman, and Magnus also present.
"Rhodes, this time, I'll send 20 Custodians with you—they represent my authority.
If even this can't bring the Wolves in line, you know what to do. Don't hesitate," the Emperor said.
The meaning was clear: if they don't obey, Rhodes should wipe them out. After all, with the Primarch project, new Wolves can be created.
Recent news from Fenris had angered the Emperor. If it was a Primarch's order, disobedience was one thing, but this was the Emperor himself.
Some even accused Guilliman of forging orders!
"Father, please don't be angry. You know Leman Russ' sons—they're barbarians, but loyal to you and to Russ," Guilliman said.
If Fenris is purged, Russ might become another traitor when he returns.
"Don't worry, Emperor. I'll bring the Wolves back to the fold and remind them where their loyalty lies—it's always to the Emperor," Rhodes said.
"Rhodes, though I have issues with Russ and the Wolves, I hope you can persuade them," Magnus said.
"By the way, Rhodes, about the Custodian upgrade plan—any progress? My Custodians need another round of enhancement," the Emperor asked.
Rhodes' new Astartes matched Custodians in combat, and their experience would soon allow them to surpass Custodians.
"The best method is Ultra Beastification, but it's expensive—right now, only one Custodian can be upgraded per year.
Other options include biochemical muscle and bone drugs, which can boost Custodians' power by 20-30%, enough to suppress Primaris," Rhodes replied.
He'd like to Ultra Beastify all Custodians, making them his men. Their kills would generate system points. But this needed fully refined Yapool technology, plenty of extradimensional energy, and enough Avatar flesh.
Once there are enough Ultra Beast Custodians, they can provide flesh for others' upgrades.
"Have your scientists work on this! Custodians must far surpass Astartes!" the Emperor demanded.
Custodians represent the Emperor's authority—and, in the future, Rhodes' own. Total Ultra Beastification is the baseline.
"I understand. I'll have them research it," Rhodes said.
The Custodian upgrade is based on the Primarch procedure—a custom gene-forging technique.
His scientists already know the full procedure, though it still requires support tech.
After chatting a bit more, Custodian Commander Trajann brought 20 Custodians and a Shield-Captain to Rhodes.
These men would represent the Emperor on Fenris. The Shield-Captain was not the same one as before; that one remained to train the new Custodians.
When Trajann saw Rhodes, he bowed and said:
"Lord Rhodes! Sometimes I feel fate is playing a joke on me. You mentioned an army falling from the sky—now I know where they came from."
"Because of special circumstances, I had to hide my identity. But you were right—the reinforcements were my own army, created under the Emperor's orders by Cawl," Rhodes laughed.
He owed a lot to Trajann—without his introduction, he wouldn't have met Cawl or received his own legion.
"I look forward to working together. By the way, Lord Rhodes, I'll send 100 Custodians to your scientists for examination. I desire that gigantification power," Trajann said.
In giant form, no Custodian could match Ultraman—an entire squad would be wiped out.
But in human-sized form, even 10+ Custodians couldn't match Ultraman.
These days, they'd tested this virtually and in real combat—giant Ultraman could massacre Custodians at little cost; in human form, it would take over a thousand to bring one down.
This power is overwhelming. With the Ultra Beast upgrade, Custodians could challenge Primarchs.
Not the old Primarchs, but the current Magnus and Guilliman. In giant form, they're not outclassed.
"It won't be long—I should have a gigantification slot for the Custodians after this trip. Remember, we'll attack Necron Overlord Trazyn together," Rhodes said.
"Speaking of which, Rhodes, are you confident? The Necron Overlord is tough," the Emperor said.
In the galaxy, the Necrons have the most advanced tech, so don't provoke them without certainty.
"I've located his base. With 100,000 Marines and my monsters, I can flatten it. The only problem is capturing him," Rhodes said.
Beating Trazyn is easy; keeping him from escaping is hard—he might have a backup base.
"Just be fully prepared!" the Emperor said.
If Trazyn hadn't been exiled by the Necrons, the Emperor wouldn't risk a war. The Necrons are the greatest threat to humanity, second only to the Tyranids.
Rhodes agreed—the Emperor didn't know that Szarekh the Silent King's solution for the Necron civil war was to attack humanity anyway.
After saying goodbye to the Emperor, Elena, and others, Rhodes boarded his medium carrier.
By now, it carried 10,000 Space Marines, Titus, Tyberos, and a Black Templar Marshal.
It was escorted by two frigates, each carrying tens of thousands of Imperial Guard.
These Guards had been recently enhanced by Rhodes with monster serum, boosting their physical abilities close to those of original Space Marines.
However, they don't have the survivability of true Marines—their bodies and strength are on par, but not their resilience.
This serum comes from the Emperor's avatars and is used to enhance human soldiers.
Rogue Trader Kania had used this on his private army. Now Rhodes used it on large numbers of mortal troops.
With Astartes enhanced, so too must the regular troops. The monster serum brings them to Marine levels.
Production is high enough to supply all Imperial Guard.
Soon, the medium carrier and two battle barges tore through the Warp and entered the transit corridor.