A long time ago.
Of course, for his tens of thousands of years of age, these few hundred years could not be called "long" at all.
It was when Holy Terra, that is, the human homeworld, Earth, had just been unified once again after countless years of long civil war.
In front of the constantly being repaired Golden Throne, a group of warriors who had fought alongside him had gathered.
The Thunder Warriors.
Genetically enhanced combat masters modified by the Emperor with biotechnology from the Age of Strife. Even in very simple Thunder-pattern power armor, they could still unleash a combat power more terrifying than that of a Space Marine.
But this time, their weapons were aimed at him.
And standing at the forefront of these Thunder Warriors was his friend.
It was Ushotan.
The primarch of the Thunder Warriors, the one who had once held the flame high with him.
"...This is betrayal, Ushotan."
"...Why?"
"Why?"
Ushotan's voice was full of anger.
"Of course, it's to defeat you, you tyrant!"
"We have exhausted our last drop of blood for your cause, for the unification of Terra!"
"But what about you?! Not only did you not give us the reward we deserved, but you want us to continue to die for you until we die!"
Ushotan should have understood long ago.
He was, in fact, no different from the tyrants of Terra's past.
Planning a goal that could never be achieved, and letting his followers fight for it with all they had.
Even if the goal was truly achieved, the result would only be that the hounds are boiled after the hares are caught.
If there was a difference, it was that he was more cruel, more unreasonable.
He would not even be lenient with his most loyal subordinates, the Thunder Warriors.
"Ushotan, what I am afraid of is that you will once again become the techno-barbarians we have defeated."
The Thunder Warriors did indeed possess powerful combat strength, but it was also accompanied by many unstable side effects.
Madness, irritability, irascibility.
Arrogance.
Believing that with their strong physique and abilities, they deserved a higher status than those weak and pathetic mortals.
And even...
...no different from the crazed techno-barbarians they had defeated.
The techno-barbarians were replaced by the Thunder Warriors, but nothing had changed.
This was not the result he wanted.
"And for a better future for humanity, we must launch a Great Crusade."
"Pah, what bullshit Great Crusade!"
Ushotan spat on the steps leading to the Imperial Palace.
As if the wars on Terra were not enough, he wanted to continue fighting in the sky, until he had saved them all?!
Ushotan only felt it was ridiculous.
How many millions of lost human worlds were there in the galaxy?!
How could they possibly win every battle in this treacherous galaxy?
Did they have to sacrifice everything for this distant dream, generation after generation of Thunder Warriors?
"This is just another excuse for you to make us continue to die for you!"
"Tyrant! When have you ever thought of us!"
"You want all of us to throw ourselves into your so-called Great Crusade, and the result is just to be drained of our remaining blood?"
He was silent.
Under Ushotan's questioning, he was, just like the tyrants whose lies had been exposed, speechless.
"The Great Crusade is necessary."
This was his pale, meaningless defense.
"Then come on! Tyrant!"
"Let me show you our determination and strength!"
"Thunder Warriors, charge!"
"YES!"
The shouts from behind him were like a tsunami.
Ushotan held his blade high and, leading the several thousand Thunder Warriors behind him, launched a final charge against the one he had once sworn allegiance to, against the high and mighty Imperial Palace before these steps.
"My Lord, the rebel Ushotan has been beheaded."
The Captain-General of the Custodes, Valdor, approached and reported to him.
"Ushotan... it's a pity. He could not understand our cause."
"And what about you, Valdor? Do you understand the meaning of our crusade?"
"...My Lord, I will never betray."
He did not answer the question.
"...Sigh."
He sighed.
Just then, another Custodian rushed into the Imperial Palace.
"Report!"
"My Lord, the underground laboratory! The laboratory is on fire!"
"Not just Ushotan, Lady Astarte has also betrayed us!"
The great fire had swept through the data of the future main force of the crusade—the Space Marines—and the underground laboratory.
He stepped forward and quickly extinguished the flames.
Astarte...
This great biologist, who had once walked alongside him and had jointly developed the Space Marines, had chosen to stand with Ushotan.
Oll, Elda, Ushotan, and her.
After the completion of the Unification Wars of Terra, one familiar name after another had chosen to leave him.
"It's alright. We still have a backup stock of gene-seed on Luna."
He said, to comfort everyone, and also to comfort himself.
The Space Marine project had not been declared bankrupt.
But Astarte was already buried in the sea of fire and could never come back.
"Wait—"
His gaze fell on the only intact biological tank in the ashes.
For some reason, the raging fire had not had any effect on it.
There, a female Space Marine lay, completely intact.
The first female Space Marine in the world.
The latest technology developed by Lady Astarte, combining the gene-seed of the Third Legion.
"A female Space Marine... a blasphemous creation. My Lord, do you need us to help you destroy her?"
"No."
He raised his hand to signal the Custodians to stop.
She was not a blasphemous creation.
She was the last gift that Lady Astarte had left him.
And her name was—
"It was me."
"Melusine."
Melusine silently pointed to herself.
After everything on Byzas had come to an end, and Fulgrim and Kasjia had returned on the Firebird, the Mechanicum priests of the 28th Expeditionary Fleet had begun a new round of construction.
As for Kasjia, not long after everything was over, he had found the Apothecary Melusine.
As the benefactor who had just completely cured her of the Blight, Melusine was still very polite to him.
"Since you don't want your research to be restricted, I have another plan to exchange with you, Melusine."
"I have another secret I want to know, Apothecary."
"Tell me, where did you really come from?"
This was another secret of the Chief Apothecary Melusine.
Her secrets could be said to be the most in the Third Legion.
As for the method of finding out this secret, it was also very simple.
"The Terrans of the Third Legion are all of noble origin, but you are different."
"We cannot trace your origin."
"Melusine, when Fulgrim and I visited the major ancient noble families on Terra to restore the blood tithe, you were not among them."
According to the original story, Fabius came from an old Europan noble family on Terra.
But after visiting many families and never having heard the name Melusine, Kasjia began to have doubts about her origin.
And in the end, Melusine had no choice but to tell him her story.
"You guessed right. I am the first female Space Marine, Melusine."
It seemed that no matter in which world, the first female Space Marine had to be called this name.
Created by one of the creators of the Space Marines, Astarte, with her outstanding biological technology, a series of processes from cloning to modification were completed.
It could be said that Melusine was her daughter.
"If you have received a satisfactory answer, then please leave."
"I still have more research to conduct."
She gave Kasjia an order to leave.
After Kasjia left, she waited quietly in the laboratory.
After the Mechanicum priests and the Imperial mortal bureaucrats had completely taken over this place, what awaited Byzas would be a complete transformation.
This place would serve as the starting point for the 28th Expeditionary Fleet of the Emperor's Children, and would become a model for the construction of the planets they would conquer in the future.
This place would be built into a beautiful home like Chemos in the future.
Of course, these were all later events.
As the Chief Apothecary of the Emperor's Children, her research had always been more... blasphemous than others imagined.
This was also one of the reasons why Melusine had never let Kasjia into her laboratory before.
One of the many little secrets within the Third Legion.
Knock, knock.
A knock came from the door.
"Hello... demigod sister!"
It was a little girl.
"I was the little friend who participated in the parade. It was with the help of the big brothers and sisters that I was able to survive!"
"Thank you, big brothers and sisters!"
She looked happily at Melusine, who had opened the door, and handed her a drawing she had prepared for a long time.
It was her gratitude for them saving her in the assassination attempt.
In the picture, a purple-clad, silver-haired woman had hugged her and held her high above her shoulder.
The crowd around them was clapping and smiling.
The sun was strong overhead, and airships circled in the blank sky.
A peaceful scene.
But Melusine was not concerned with this.
Melusine took the comical drawing from her hand and was silent for a moment.
"Big sister, is there something you're unhappy about?"
"It's nothing."
Melusine bent down and gently stroked her little head.
She hesitated for a moment.
"Sigh."
Finally, Melusine sighed.
"Good child, go back."
"Tell those mechanical uncles in red robes that Sister Melusine told you to go home."
"Alright, thank you, sister!!!"
The little girl closed the door and skipped away from the Emperor's Children's residence.
The laboratory was once again left with only her.
This is not your style, Melusine.
Have you become sentimental?
"Of course not."
"..."
"Tsk, fine. Maybe a little."
She laughed at herself, picked up the drawing, which was full of childish, imaginative doodles, and the cheeky smile of Kasjia came to her mind.
Perhaps at some point, the entire Emperor's Children legion, up and down, had changed.
Melusine helplessly picked up the drawing.
In the future, it would be displayed on the flagship Pride of the Emperor, at the second point of the Path to Victory.
After the photograph of the last two hundred Emperor's Children on Chemos.
As the starting point of the Emperor's Children's Great Crusade, a war that required only six Emperor's Children (not counting the embarrassing Kasjia).
The outskirts of Byzas.
All kinds of steel machinery were still busy.
Their construction would bring new knowledge and management systems to the residents of Byzas.
Perhaps the Imperium of Man would fall into decay in ten thousand years, but for now, with iterants and a near-perfect political leader like Fulgrim, the city's management system was countless times better than before.
"Is everything taken care of?"
Fulgrim asked Kasjia beside her, sitting on the stone platform where the gunship had landed.
"It's only because you went and became a hands-off boss," Kasjia said irritably.
"Heh heh, just let me have a day off."
"Sigh, I really don't know what to do with you," Kasjia said, and then pointed helplessly at the collar around his neck. "Also, sis, you should take this thing off me, right?"
It was one thing to be a servant now, just as role-playing.
But in the future, he was still the First Lord Commander of the Emperor's Children. If this thing were to be seen by other Primarchs or even the Emperor, what would become of his dignity?
He didn't want to become the Second or the Eleventh!
"Oh right, the collar."
Fulgrim finally noticed it.
She hadn't been able to receive its signal all this time, and had thought it was lost.
She reached out to undo it for Kasjia.
!
But her hand suddenly stopped in mid-air.
Fulgrim, Fulgrim.
Did you miss something important?
She recalled the events of the past.
Wait a minute.
Kasjia!
"You bastard, what were you doing going to the Apothecary in the middle of the night!?"
"Uh... I went to treat her illness?"
Kasjia stammered.
"...Treat her illness?"
Fulgrim laughed in anger.
Are you telling me that you spent a whole night in the Apothecary Melusine's room, and did nothing but treat her illness?
To treat the most skilled Apothecary in the entire legion, and even in all the Space Marine Legions?
She felt a green hat on her head.
"If... if you don't believe me, this collar has a recording function!"
"Just listen to it and you'll know—"
[Tell me, what do you really want.]
[What do I want? Is there even a need to ask?]
With Fulgrim's manipulation, the collar transmitted Kasjia's licentious laughter.
[Don't, don't come any closer! S-stay away from me!]
And then Melusine's several gasps.
"No! The words after that! The words after that can prove that I was just treating her illness! We really didn't—"
BZZZZZT—
But for some reason, as if it was being interfered with, the collar's recording function was suddenly filled with static.
The before and after were gone, only this part was cut out!
Damn you, Tzeentch!!!
Although I don't know if it was him, it's always right to curse him!
Large beads of sweat formed on Kasjia's forehead.
"KA—S—JIA!"
Fulgrim was terrifyingly grim.
Her face was now as green as the hat on her head.
"Wait!"
"Look at the sky!" Kasjia shouted.
"The sky?! Heh, don't try to change the subject, Kasjia!"
"It's in the sky! Near our warship!"
"It looks like Orks are attacking!"
-------
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