How can a retired savior be considered retired if he drops to 40,000?

Chapter 179: Biography of the False Lex Primarch "Star of the Long Night" Fujimaru Ritsuka (Part )

[After the Fall]

As early as the eve of the rebellion, Fulgrim arrived at Nostramon with a purpose. Even before the beginning of her collaborative research with Rogal Dorn, she might have foreseen the rebellion.

No one knows exactly when she began to plan this matter, not even the children closest to her among the Night Lords. But after the fall of the Primarch and the flames of rebellion across the galaxy, they realized that many of the decisions and orders made by the Primarch on a whim had played their role in this chaotic and desperate era.

For example, the warp navigation technology that Fujimaru Ritsuka had tried to develop in cooperation with Rogal Dorn, which had been exposed to the eyes of the rebels - in fact, the corresponding navigation device "Paper Moon" had already been tested and successfully put into production in the forge world of Ulan Huda. As an auxiliary device that can increase the safety and accuracy of navigators when observing the warp, it is installed in the navigation rooms of most of the Night Lords' flagships.

Fujimaru Ritsuka and Rogal Dorn conducted further research together only because the device involved a considerable amount of psychic components in the process of realizing its functions, and the Primarch hoped to make it operate in a way that was completely in line with the Imperial Truth in the future. Even though they had not yet successfully completed this step at the beginning of the rebellion, the popularity of the first version of the "Paper Moon" navigation device among the Night Lords Legion still prevented the Legion from being completely lost in the waves of the warp set off by the rebels.

Before the first sinful gunshot blasted in the Istavan system, with the exception of a portion of the legionnaires directly under the Primarch's command, the vast majority of the Night Lords had already been scattered across the Empire under the pretext of being "invited by other Primarchs to inspect whether the worlds within their empires are stable." A small number were stationed on the Primarch's home planet, Nostramo, to complete the final work of suppressing the rebellion and oversee the establishment of a new government.

As a result, the ships of the Eighth Legion were scattered around the route between the Istavan system and Holy Terra. As for the rebels, Fujimaru Ritsuka had explained to them that this was a pre-arrangement to enable them to quickly control the Imperial worlds they needed to pass through and ensure the smooth passage of the route after the war broke out. In fact, after the Night Lords approached those worlds without arousing suspicion, they immediately and quickly strengthened the local defenses and arranged corresponding countermeasures: the "Rongomyniad" defense fortress.

During the Great Crusade, apart from the small footprint and construction scale required, this defensive fortress that could be airdropped directly to the surface of the earth by ships and quickly deployed did not seem to have anything to praise. Anyone with a little engineering knowledge could see that there were too many redundant parts in its internal structure, which made it far inferior to its peers in terms of defense, firepower, and even internal space. Many other Primarchs proposed improvements to this battlefield fortification after seeing it. Although Fujimaru Ritsuka accepted these suggestions, he only used them to redesign a more reasonable portable fortification and still ordered Ulan Huda to mass-produce this seemingly useless equipment.

This has long been a secret special countermeasure facility. It was not until the beginning of the Horus Heresy that the rebels obtained the evil arts from the warp from the despicable Chaos Gods. They realized for the first time that the main function of this "defense fortress" is to stabilize the curtain of reality and defend against invasions from the warp. Within the invisible energy defense circle that this fortress can form, any ritual evil magic, and even the psychic energy of ordinary think tanks will be greatly restricted in their use, as if this fortress is a kind of embodiment of the "Imperial Truth". But the strange thing is that perhaps it is a backdoor left by Fujimaru Ritsuka himself in the design. Under the cover of the "Rongomyniad" defense fortress, the Ortnaus warrior can still exert his warp power unhindered.

Whenever the Night Lords successfully projected the "Longomyniad" defensive fortress to the surface and led their loyal cousins ​​to attack with the help of such fortifications, the evil god's blessing of the rebels would immediately fade away, and any form of warp entities existing in reality would scream and retreat without exception, and evil rituals or spell effects would be blocked outside the fortress's unreasonable defense circle. In the case of both sides being Astartes, the more disciplined and faithful loyal soldiers can often achieve greater results, which makes the rebels feel quite difficult - not to mention that Ferrus Manus, who escaped from the death under the protection of the Night Lords in Istavan V, was carrying a blazing anger and led the Iron Hands Legion and some Night Lords to fight fiercely with the rebels on the front battlefield, almost preventing the Warmaster's team from advancing even one step towards Holy Terra.

To solve this problem, one of Horus's measures was to send Perturabo to lead his Iron Warriors to try to capture the only forge world that could produce this kind of fortress fortification containing heretical technology, Ulan Huda. When the Iron Lord led his troops to the target system, he found that the forge world had long been deserted. There were only meaningless forges that were sealed or destroyed because they could not be moved, and buildings and warehouses that were not only empty but also destroyed to the point of being almost unrecyclable. At this time, the members of the Mechanicum on the entire planet, or the technological heretics, had already moved to the Nostramo system along with all the production equipment and instruments in accordance with the requirements of the Midnight Treaty. According to the same treaty, as long as they can resume production as soon as possible, the Midnight Lords Legion will provide them with protection.

Perturabo led the Legion to the system where Nostramo was located in a rage. The defense of the outer system had become impregnable under the joint efforts of the Legion and the Forge World. But for the Primarch of the Iron Warriors, there was no defense that he could not break. The Fourth Legion spent a lot of money in the void, trying to gradually break through the defense while eroding the Eighth Legion's already small garrison on the Primarch's home planet.

But no one expected that when Fujimaru Ritsuka was about to leave Nostramo in the early stage of the rebellion, he had already assigned Captain Yago Sevitarion to personally supervise the new round of legion recruitment after the rebellion on the home planet was quelled. When Perturabo launched the attack, there were already about 100,000 new recruits ready to fight the rebels head-on - even more terrifying, this number is even increasing as the batches and progress of the transformation operations progress.

Finally, in the Ghoul sector at the edge of the Milky Way, in the Nostramo system, which should have been ignored, a brutal war of attrition broke out between the Iron Warriors and the Night Lords that lasted for five years. The Iron Warriors were undoubtedly superior in terms of the quality of their troops, weapons and equipment, strategies and tactics, and they also had the Primarch in charge; while the Night Lords still successfully relied on their familiarity with the battlefield to carry out a large number of long-term harassment operations against the enemy, as well as occasional unexpected and devastating blows to important facilities, and thus survived the bloody battle. It was not until five years after the start of the war that Lion El'Jonson, who came upon hearing the news, led the Dark Angels to support. Perturabo, who had "failed at the last moment" in front of the long-standing attack on Nostramo, knew that he could not compete with the latter with his current strength, so he left in disappointment.

After this battle, Nostramo had a lot of work to do. The Eighth Legion, which had been severely damaged in the war of attrition, was in a dilemma of incomplete organization even if it could immediately replenish its members with the help of its home planet. However, the captain of the First Company of the Night Lords, Yago Sevitarion, did not accept the First Primarch's suggestion that they "continue to defend the place and gradually replenish their members to restore the organization". Instead, he successfully persuaded the other party to lead the remaining remnants of the Night Lords here, together with the First Legion, to set off directly to Holy Terra to support the most important war that would determine the fate of mankind.

Miu (no more)

Some settings that can't be inserted:

Huang Laohan actually created this illusion not only to be used as fuel to revive Curze, but also to let Guda adapt to the psychic environment and technology tree of the Empire as soon as possible (in terms of time in the real universe), and try to replicate some lunar magic with the Empire's technology in this fully simulated illusion. The technical prototypes of the Chaldean Lighthouse were all made by her (borrowing Curze's original brain) in the illusion. Compared with the original lunar version, many of them are degraded versions. Later, Iron Hand will take over the research results and continue to optimize them.

By the way, the original actor in the illusion is indeed only Angel. He was stuffed in by Huang Laohan to relive the Great Crusade because his soul was shattered and he couldn't remember many things. After passing I-5 in the illusion, Iron Hand often used his own account to collect Guda's papers, but he was just there to collect papers, not to act. Guda also knew that he did this from the beginning, so he is not an actor (but there are indeed many canned actors).

As for the previous one, Guda whispered to his offspring in a non-psychic way, which was actually the application of the base contract. It is a private setting that every Primarch can do in theory if they are willing to work hard (in this article, Curze has almost done it), but this thing is like walking on your hands after doing a handstand. It is possible, but it is really weird to do it for no reason. Therefore, no one else has taken the initiative to think about it, and of course they have never tried it. Only Guda, the moon man, thought, "Isn't it natural for me to use the contract to talk to the contract object?", so he successfully developed this ability.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 180: Biography of the False Lex Primarch "Star of the Long Night" Fujimaru Ritsuka (V)

[Siege of Terra]

Although the defense of the Nostramo system successfully resisted and delayed the Iron Lords for five years, Perturabo's continuous offensive did not completely defeat the rebels' military operations. Due to the Iron Warriors' blockade of the entire system, during these five years, the Night Lords could no longer stably and smoothly provide other loyalist legions with two types of equipment that could play an important role in combating the influence of Chaos. Even the forge world of Ulan Huda, which had been relocated to the fifth planet in the Nostramo system, was more than half destroyed by the Iron Warriors' continuous offensive.

Even so, under the furious command of Ferrus Manus, the loyalist front itself seemed to be able to hold. In this series of fratricidal and treacherous wars, Gorgon abandoned his original principles, opened the Mimir Vault, and used the dark technology he collected from all over the galaxy during the Great Crusade. With the strength of the Iron Hands alone, he successfully clamped down on the main forces of the Emperor's Children, the World Eaters and the Death Guard.

In addition, Rogal Dorn, the Guardian of Terra, has recalled all his legions to strengthen the defenses within the Solar System; Jagatai Khan, who had returned from a fierce battle with the Orks at the edge of the galaxy, is hunting the Alpha Legion and other rebel factions in the void; the Thousand Sons have been devastated after the Burning of Prospero; although the Word Bearers are large in number and scale, their main force has been dragged to the Far East of the Empire by Roboute Guilliman and Sanguinius, together with some Raven Guard and Salamander remnants that broke out from the Istavan system; and at this time, Corvus Corax and Vulkan have managed to return to the Solar System under the guidance of the Midnight Lord "Paper Moon", and are preparing to replenish the legions.

Although the war seemed to be stalemate, it was far from the worst. Judging from the situation at the time, although everyone knew that the rebels were aiming at Holy Terra, no one thought that Horus and his rebels could really achieve their goals. Therefore, in the eyes of Lion El'Jonson at that time, the "most important war that will determine the fate of mankind" mentioned by Yago Sevitarion was undoubtedly nonsense.

No one knows what method the Captain of the Night Lords used to convince the arrogant and stubborn First Primarch. No relevant records have been preserved. Even the Dark Angels, who are closest to their Primarch, only know that after the Lion of Caliban had a long talk with the Prince of Crows for more than five hours, he immediately decided to lead the Night Lords to the Solar Segmentum and directly attack Holy Terra. Both the Lion King and the Captain of the Night Lords were very secretive about what happened in that conversation.

Another fact that may or may not be related to this is that even for a long time after the Heresy, Lion El'Jonson was still neurotically trying to confirm whether the 8th Legion's Primarch had left any body tissue when he died on Istavan V. Even in the statements of all surviving eyewitnesses, they all said that Fujimaru Ritsuka was exhausted and finally died under a destructive high-energy beam, leaving no bones.

Due to the violent waves caused by the rebellion in the warp, even with the support of relatively reliable navigation instruments, it took the First Legion two years to successfully reach the Solar Segmentum. Here, the Dark Angels were surprised to realize that Horus' army had quietly arrived at the edge of the solar system at some point, and the fortress satellites near Pluto had already begun fighting with the rebels and were already in a state of decline.

Horus Lupercal had obviously gained a lot of cursed power from the evil Chaos Four Gods. When Lion El'Jonson arrived at the battlefield, the former Warmaster and today's First Traitor had almost killed Rogal Dorn, the Terran Guard, on the battlefield. The First Legion, which joined the battlefield in time, successfully saved Rogal Dorn and the few remaining Imperial Fists soldiers from the ravages of the traitors, but failed to prevent the Sons of Horus from breaking through the defense line. It was not until then that the suspicious Lion finally believed that the battle that Yago Sevitarion had revealed to him was written in fate and would happen no matter what.

The First Legion began to block the attack of the Sons of Horus in the Sol System, while Rogal Dorn returned to Holy Terra to further strengthen the defense of the birthplace of mankind. The Night Lords, led by Captain Yago Sevitarion, who arrived in the Sol System with the Dark Angels, also accompanied the Primarch. But in the process, everyone soon realized that other rebel forces were continuously rushing to reinforce from the Warp by some unknown means.

They intended to use astropathic communication to pass this information to their loyal brothers fighting on the front line, but found that due to the problem of the warp environment, the long-distance transmission of information became unprecedentedly difficult. Even so, with the sacrifice of countless loyal astropaths and psykers, other loyal primarchs finally realized this major problem and began to return to Terra for assistance.

Finally, the fateful battle started on Holy Terra as expected. It was an epic and catastrophic battle. Regardless of loyalty or rebellion, almost all the Primarchs gathered on the planet where the human race originated at this final moment. The fierce conflict, the white-hot war, and the blood spilled by both sides of the war became the sacrifice that made Chaos laugh. The time and space around the solar system solidified under the will of the gods. Unless someone ascended to the throne here, the sun and the star tracks would never move on Terra, and this war would continue forever.

Everything should have been so, but no one knows what happened deep inside the Imperial Palace at that frozen point in time. All people know is that after the Archangel and the Emperor boarded the Vengeful Spirit with the Void Shield, a magnificent light shot out from the underground of the Hollow Mountain. The Astronomican burned brightly at an unmeasurable moment. Even with the naked eye, a shining star generated by this phenomenon can be clearly seen on the sky of Terra. It was this blazing light that protected Sanguinius' soul at the last moment and helped the Emperor who finally made up his mind to kill the leader of the traitors with great pain, completely shattering Horus's broken soul, opening the Warp channel to Terra, allowing the last reinforcements of the loyalists to successfully reach the surface of the planet.

No one can explain the exact principle behind this psychic phenomenon, but there are always similar legends circulating among the Night Lords: perhaps it was the last effort made by their deceased Primarch for the future of mankind. In order to do this, she has allowed her remaining soul to merge with the Astronomican, forever becoming a beacon to illuminate the way forward for mankind.

Miu (no more)

After all, it is a replica of the Great Heresy in the fantasy world. Apart from the fact that the Emperor himself would not make decisions that were different from those in the original reality, all the key node events would also occur normally, such as the pony blowing up the webway, the Emperor going to the toilet, the siege of Terra, the death of Sanguinius, and Guilliman who was always nine hours late...

By the way, it was not the Illusion Sevatar who successfully convinced the Illusion Lion, but Guda himself who attacked in the form of a Heroic Spirit.

Speaking of the death of Sanguinius, I watched a little bit of Death and Death 2, and the seal roared loudly. Putting aside the issues that everyone is shouting about, such as Horus, angels, and the appearance of the senior sister, I just think that this part of the plot is a solid proof that Big E has bad father syndrome: look at what kind of sons you raised with your own hands - an Afa who was raised from childhood is amazingly smart, a pony who has been taking online classes since childhood is amazingly smart, and Horus who was raised by his side as a monk is a rebellious son... (inner expression)

It’s not Big E, what’s wrong with you… (internal expression)

(End of this chapter)

written request for leave

Leave note: I will be celebrating my birthday tomorrow (even though it is actually Monday) and I decided to take a day off to play games. Peaceful. (You)

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 181 It’s OK if the Primarch returns, everything will be fine (1)

Sahar never felt that he was qualified to be known among his peers in the Legion for his eloquence, nor did he think that he had joined the ranks of the Astartes by virtue of his eloquence. But apart from some other issues, he might indeed have some commendable level in this regard, at least his colleagues thought so. In the Eighth Legion, at least in his company, many of his peers thought that he knew better than others how to say the right words at the right time. That was why, standing here now, as the leader of the entire team, it was not someone else, but him, Thor Sahar.

But at this moment, he was in a dilemma of "not knowing what to say". His mind was blank and his throat seemed to be welded shut. Not to mention squeezing out a sentence from the pitiful ink in his stomach, Sahar even had difficulty making a sound or breathing at the moment - this was extremely unusual.

Emergency. He thought so. If it was a mortal here, he would probably faint from the intense surprise and shock of emotions, but fortunately or unfortunately, he was not a mortal. The fortunate part of this matter was that in such a situation, he could still barely think, and the unfortunate part was also this.

He could not make a sound, and in the next two seconds he realized with despair that the same was true of his colleagues who formed a barely decent guard of honor behind him. No one spoke, no one moved, and everyone froze in place, as if the blood flowing in their veins was not blood, but rapidly coagulated permaconite. They let an awkward silence linger in the air for two seconds, which was no different from two centuries for the Astartes - what about the person they were supposed to be talking to? Sahar didn't know, but like any Astartes whose Primarch had not yet returned to the Legion, he had paid attention to the rumors. Were those rumors true? Not sure, but it didn't matter. Sahar now just wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into, hide alone, and hide for a hundred years, a thousand years, or even die there because of his unforgivable mistake.

"It's okay, I understand." A voice said this, and its tone was light, forgiving the crimes of Sahar and his colleagues behind him, and even with a smile.

This voice came from the person that Sahar should have greeted first, shown courtesy first, submitted first, and declared loyalty first. Therefore, although the other party expressed understanding first, he still felt ashamed - or rather, it was because of this that he felt even more guilty.

Thor, he said to himself. Look what you've done. You've screwed up everything.

"It's not incomprehensible, but it's still a problem." Another soft voice, but still revealing unquestionable seriousness and authority, pronounced above Sahar's head, "The problem of being impolite on important occasions can be serious or minor. They are lucky because you don't seem to think this is a serious problem. But I still suggest that you use some kind of punitive means to hit them."

"Come on, Fulgrim," the original voice said. To Sahar, it was obviously higher, more pleasant, and lighter. "If you had remembered three seconds earlier that you should shut up when we first met, then your words now would probably sound more convincing to me."

It was 897.M30, and the Great Crusade launched by the Emperor was in full swing. The once lost Primarch was still being gradually found, and Sahar was chosen for this purpose to lead the team to the Terra Palace - to welcome the found Primarch of the Eighth Legion. Although due to the needs of the expedition and the voyage, by the time they actually arrived at the birthplace of mankind, it had been more than half a year since the Legion received the star message that "the Primarch had been found", but this was a blessing in disguise. This ample time allowed them to start rehearsing for a mission they had never done before, making plans for various possible situations and doing pre-rehearsals.

Even though they were a group of scum selected from the prisoners in the prison, they were still determined to do their best during the first meeting between the legionnaires and the primarch - this might be the first time since the formation of the Eighth Legion that everyone was willing to work together for a certain thing, a certain task, and be united under a clear goal.

They arranged everything nervously but orderly and set off with great confidence. Then, at the first sight of the Primarch, Sahar and the guard of honor behind him immediately messed up everything.

This was not for any strange reason. They just witnessed the facts with their own eyes, and the facts before their eyes were obviously slightly different from what they imagined.

They had never imagined that their Primarch was so small.

He was sure he had used the right word. Small. That was the word that should be put here to best describe what he saw.

This is the first and most intuitive difference. In addition to this first difference, there are also the second and third differences that are easy to find, but the first one is always the most eye-catching. Sahar was very aware that he was indeed meeting his original master - his two hearts and three lungs that were throbbing like spasms, his twisted stomach and blank brain, his boiling blood plasma and almost burst blood vessels all told him so. That was his instinct written into his genes and soul by the great biological alchemy of the Emperor, but now, too many differences would make him question the conclusions drawn from this instinct:

First, his Primarch was too small. Before this, fifteen Primarchs had successfully returned to the Empire, and Sahar had fought with other Primarchs. Before this, he had never been in close contact with a Primarch, and he knew that there might be a big difference in height between Primarchs, but he could still point out with great confidence that no Primarch should be so small, and no Primarch should have to look up to his offspring.

But in fact, Sahar was looking down at his Primarch. He thought that he was only of average height among his brothers in the Legion, not the tallest, nor the shortest, but if he wanted to look his Primarch in the eye at this face-to-face distance, he still had to lower his head. Not to mention, compared with the Lord of the Third Legion standing on the side, his Primarch was obviously only half the height of the Purple Phoenix (or even less).

The second difference is that his original body is clearly a "she". There is no doubt about it, either in terms of body shape or clothing.

She looked very young, with smooth skin and a healthy complexion. Her face clearly showed the roundness and childishness that only minors have. The Terra-style slim dress clearly showed the lines of her neck and chest. Anyone with eyes could not mistake her secondary sexual characteristics. The high-pitched voice and tone she showed when she spoke made an excellent annotation for her age and gender. If it were up to Sahar, he felt that it was very suitable. This was a voice that was suitable for whispering, but also enough to mobilize emotions when speaking generously, but - such a voice appeared in a Primarch? Sahar began to be confused.

The third difference is appearance.

Sahar was once convinced that the gene seed from the Primarch would affect the Astartes with bloodline in some form. He once thought that this was a fact that could be proven by sufficient data. At least in many legions where the Primarchs had returned, Sahar had seen some cousins ​​with similar appearances to their Primarchs, the most notable of which was the change in hair color and eye color. Many of the chosen ones did not have hair or eye color similar to their Primarchs before they underwent the transformation surgery, but after becoming Astartes, this mysterious change based on the Emperor's great biological alchemy would be revealed. The vast majority of Astartes in the Eighth Legion had hair and eye color as black as night, and some people's skin would also become pale after undergoing the transformation surgery, so they had widely believed that their Primarch should be a male with black hair, black eyes and pale skin. Before today, this seemed to be a fairly reasonable inference, but unfortunately the facts gave everyone in the Eighth Legion a heavy hammer, ruthlessly smashing all their previous speculations.

Their Primarch was undoubtedly a petite woman even among mortals. Her satin-like shoulder-length hair shone in the light, revealing a flame color like the morning glow (later he learned that there was a special name for this hair color between red and straw in Gothic, but he still secretly called it "flame color" in his heart). Sahar had only had a glimpse of her on the decisive day when he left the underground prison, but that color was still deeply imprinted in his retina and memory. The Primarch's eyes were amber-gold, and Sahar couldn't tell what they looked like for a while. He felt a sense of shame for no reason at that time, because in his barren life spent in prison and war, he lacked a suitable metaphor for such a beautiful, moving and breathtaking pair of eyes.

He heard

"Please allow me to refuse." Sahar heard the Primarch say this. This was a short sentence directed at Fulgrim, and it obviously had nothing to do with Sahar, but even if the negative meaning was not directed at him, it still made him instinctively shudder.

"Today should be a happy day. I will not order anyone to be punished." His Primarch said this, walking towards him.

The five-meter distance between them was too far and too close. It was not enough for Sahar to feel the other person's temperature with his own senses, but it allowed the dripping auspicious instrument in the armor to capture too many useless details. During this period, the pair of amber-gold eyes passed through him with a neutral and exploratory meaning, passing through every soldier in the honor guard.

Sahar reflexively tightened his grip on the flagpole of the ceremonial flag in his hand, feeling that he was about to suffocate. The Primarch's clear and beautiful voice seemed to come from a very distant space, and it seemed to be right next to his ear:

"I guess you all know my name from the briefing, but I think it's only right for me to introduce myself to you in person." The girl Primarch withdrew her gaze and looked directly into the eyes of Sahar at the front of the team: "My name is Fujimaru Ritsuka, from Nostramo. Nice to meet you."

This sentence made Sahar feel extremely frightened.

He couldn't tell where this panic came from. His mind, which had become more powerful and efficient after being promoted to a Space Marine, had directly pushed him to this "panic" conclusion in a series of black box operations. He himself didn't realize it, but his brain had already fitted all the intelligence he had received during this period of time in his unconsciousness. He already knew in advance that the returning Primarch of the Eighth Legion was being led by the Primarch of the Third Legion, learning and familiarizing himself with all the knowledge required to lead a legion in the Empire; on such an important occasion, his Primarch was also accompanied by the always perfect and glorious Fulgrim; he didn't pay special attention, but there was indeed a team of Emperor's Children with more neat and luxurious appearance standing quietly opposite the Night Lords, and the aura they exuded made Sahar feel ashamed; and all of the above pointed to a very clear fact:

After his Primarch returned to the Imperium, the Space Marines he came into contact with most were not the Night Lords, but the Emperor's Children.

Not the son of a thief and robber, not the executioner and executioner in the dark, but the son of a noble with graceful manners and complete etiquette, an elegant warrior with numerous merits and glory.

—Then she said, glad to see us.

Would she really be happy, after realizing the rabble from which we were plucked?

Will we satisfy her? Will we disappoint her?

These piled-up speculations and doubts were like a mountain. In just a moment that Sahar didn't even realize, they weighed heavily on his mind, causing him to panic uncontrollably. What should he do? What could he do? What would he do? In his poor and pathetic life experience, he couldn't find a precedent that would allow him to properly deal with the scene before him, and no one had ever taught him any similar knowledge. His dull and weak rationality couldn't give him an answer.

Therefore, at this moment, he surrendered. Surrendered to the call of his genes, surrendered to the authority that the Primarch did not deliberately display. He followed his instinct, bent his knees, knelt on one knee, bowed his head, and only let the military flag remain erected at his side. Sahar was not sure whether his etiquette was standard or his posture was appropriate, but from the series of power armor collisions he heard afterwards, he knew clearly: his brothers did the same.

This should be right, Sahar thought. It shouldn't be them looking down on the Primarch, but the Primarch should look down on them. This is the way it should be.

He lowered his head obediently, not knowing what was happening in front of him. He seemed to hear a confused gasp, not sure if it came from their Primarch, but then, he was sure, he heard Fulgrim's chuckle:

"Well, it seems that I was overthinking it." The Primarch of the Third Legion said, "Everything is going well, and we are beginning to become a nuisance here. Now is the time for the supporting role to leave, so please allow me and my descendants to leave."

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 182 It’s OK if the Primarch returns, everything will be fine (2)

When the Night Lords' honor guard slowly disappeared as they turned the corner, Akuldona finally couldn't help but whispered, "Are we really leaving like this, my Lord?"

"Of course." Fulgrim kept his unwavering smile, unconsciously putting his hands behind his back and pinching his right wrist with his left hand. "Although it may not look the same, Fujimaru Ritsuka is also my sister. What could possibly happen to a Primarch when she meets her offspring? There is no doubt that she can take care of herself."

The Lord of the Third Legion convinced the court swordsman guarding him, and perhaps also convinced himself. He unconsciously tightened his wrist slightly, repeating to himself in his heart: She is also a Primarch. You should not question this, Fulgrim. She successfully kicked your wrist during practice, forcing you to let go of your sword. Mortals cannot do this. She can take care of herself.

This is true even if she only has one heart.

This was not the most significant difference between Fujimaru Ritsuka and the other Primarchs, but it was the one that worried Fulgrim the most. To be honest, it was not a difficult thing to discover, especially since the person concerned had no idea that this should be hidden. It might not be that easy for mortals, but as long as they were allowed to get close enough to Fujimaru Ritsuka, it would not be difficult to find that she had only one heartbeat. For the Astartes whose hearing was enhanced by the Ear of Leman, and the Primarch who was the genetic mother of the Astartes, it was even easier to find this. The soft fabrics that Fujimaru Ritsuka usually wore did not have a soundproofing effect, so for them to find this out, they did not even need to make physical contact with the person concerned.

Fulgrim had realised this within minutes of their meeting on Nostramo. He was sure that all of his brothers who had stood by his side had realised this, too, not to mention their father. But the Emperor said nothing, as if he had not realised this difference, which was so significant beyond the physical features that might affect physiological function, and acted as usual, unsurprised, as if the Master of Mankind had it all under control. No one, not even Rogal Dorn, questioned it.

He had only discussed it privately and with concern with Ferrus Manus, the brother he admired, loved, and trusted most. Neither of them wanted to believe that their nearly omniscient father might have made an oversight or a major mistake in his creation, so they finally concluded that it was a deliberate design, even if they did not know why.

From a purely physical perspective, it seems reasonable that Fujimaru Ritsuka only has one heart: after all, her chest is small by mortal standards, and there is obviously not enough room for two hearts to back up each other. The same is true for a third lung to enhance breathing, or a pre-existing stomach, or other enhanced organs that exist in Space Marines and should naturally exist in the Primarchs.

But who, except the Emperor, can guarantee this? Even the "standard" Primarchs like Fulgrim and Ferrus Manus (God, when did the Primarchs have a so-called "standard"? This may be a sign of something terrible), the best apothecaries of their legions could not say for sure how their physiological functions worked. The Emperor obviously had epoch-making attainments in bio-alchemy, and even the Primarchs themselves found it difficult to understand what form they actually existed in, whether their own organs were actually functioning physically, or just a facade - the supernatural powers they possessed were not very consistent with bio-energy conversion efficiency, even at the most euphemistic level.

This is a new idea. If the internal organs of the Primarchs are just for show, then it doesn't seem to be a big deal that there is only one heart beating in Fujimaru Ritsuka's body. But - what if it is not the case? Having only one heart not only means that when she faces a fatal situation where her heart may be damaged, she obviously lacks "another chance" compared to other Primarchs, but also means that she has only one center responsible for pumping blood in her blood circulation. Whether this will have an impact on her metabolism, reaction, strength and other physiological functions are all issues that need to be carefully observed.

Fulgrim could have chosen to trust the Emperor unconditionally on this issue like Lorgar did, and regarded any doubts about this as a disrespectful transgression of the Emperor's design; or like Rogal Dorn, he could have based his trust in Fujimaru Ritsuka's physical functions on the trust that the Emperor would not make mistakes in his most outstanding series of creations. Compared with these two people, Ferrus seemed more natural when looking at this issue: if Fujimaru Ritsuka was also a Primarch, then she could certainly take good care of herself like other Primarchs. Fulgrim agreed with this logic and thought that this was the most correct way to deal with this problem, but every time he saw Fujimaru Ritsuka's appearance that looked like an underage girl, he could not completely convince himself to obey this logic from the bottom of his heart.

Perhaps it was due to some kind of kinship between blood relatives, or perhaps he was more easily influenced by the way things looked, Fulgrim couldn't tell. But at least, after he took on the responsibility of guiding the newly returned Primarchs into the Empire, he could observe these parts that worried him up close.

He and Fujimaru Ritsuka therefore spent nearly a year together. During this period, all observations were made under Fulgrim's deliberate planning, and were cleverly conducted in the form of teaching or practice. To everyone, it seemed that they were just ordinary related courses. Only Fulgrim, who was acting as a temporary teacher, knew that the focus of his attention was slightly different from that when he was facing other brothers.

It was also based on this nearly one year that Fulgrim could finally come to the conclusion: Ritsuka Fujimaru was undoubtedly also a Primarch.

Her small size for a Primarch did not pose much of a hindrance to her. Not only had she unified her homeworld before being welcomed back to the Imperium, like Fulgrim himself and many of their brothers, but she also exuded the kind of wisdom that only a Primarch could possess in the year since her return.

Fulgrim had initially considered using his power to recruit scholars in related fields as teachers for Fujimaru Ritsuka, but the next day, the latter accidentally discovered the library on the Emperor's Pride, and what happened later made Fulgrim never have such an idea again: Fujimaru Ritsuka finished reading almost all the Imperial history monographs since the War of Unification in the library within two hours, and also read some "fantastic" archaeological papers she could easily reach, then found a way to shake off the Emperor's Children who were following her, and spent most of the rest of the day secretly in the kitchen, trying to find something from the cooking techniques of traditional Chemos cuisine.

Apparently, having grown up in the wild on Nostramo, Ritsuka Fujimaru had no habit of writing book reports, but when a dumbfounded Fulgrim asked her what she had done, it soon became clear that she had not only produced a fairly incisive profile of every recorded technological warlord of that period in history, but had also pointed out conflicts or illogicalities in the documentation provided by different authors.

The Primarch's ability to collect and integrate information and intelligence is far superior to the output efficiency of ordinary humans. This was not the first time that Fulgrim realized this, but perhaps because the sisters who reminded him of this fact again were almost indistinguishable from mortals on the surface, this time he was particularly impressed. This made him immediately give up the stupid idea of ​​finding a teacher for Fujimaru Ritsuka, and he also forgot his worries about the sound of only one heart beating in her too small body, and enthusiastically took the field himself. Perhaps only the Primarch could keep up with the Primarch's thinking speed, and this experience of mutual learning was precious and rare for both Fulgrim and Fujimaru Ritsuka.

It was also because of this precious and rare experience that Fulgrim could claim without hesitation that he was perhaps the person who knew Fujimaru Ritsuka the best in the world. He knew that Fujimaru Ritsuka was particularly good at history, mathematics, and logic, and was also very sensitive to works of art, but was slightly weak in practical subjects such as materials science and engineering; she was particularly sensitive to "people", whether it was those she would come into contact with in her daily life, or those she could read through text, see through video records, or experience through a work of art, and those "people" who did not exist in front of her but had been symbolized by various other carriers; she was not interested in most military books, but this was no big deal. Fulgrim suspected that this was because the knowledge that the Emperor had placed in her genes and that had been called out with her life experiences was enough. She performed quite well in battlefield war games, but unfortunately Fulgrim doubted whether she could also achieve such a record on the real battlefield - she was too easily emotionally invested in "people", which could be a fatal trait for a military general.

It was too early to think about these things before she officially met with her legion. After spending two Terra standard months to confirm that Fujimaru Ritsuka had received enough knowledge, Fulgrim was more worried about her own combat ability. Even during this period, he had subtly confirmed that Fujimaru Ritsuka's reaction speed and basic strength were (very unscientific) no problem by the standards of the Primarchs, but - here it comes back to the original problem: her relatively small size among the Primarchs did not cause too many obstacles for her, but unfortunately, this part is indeed one of those "not too many obstacles":

In a close-quarters fight, the one with the larger body and weight always has the advantage. It is natural that Fulgrim has the advantage over Ritsuka Fujimaru, who is smaller and lighter than the average adult mortal woman.

After arranging the one-on-one close combat practice schedule, Fulgrim's worries, which had been mostly put aside, started to grow again. The sound of Ritsuka Fujimaru's single heart began to echo in his ears. She was already so small, and with only one heart, would her metabolic capacity, explosive power, and endurance be different from other Primarchs after exercising?

Such concerns continued until the day of practice, when Fujimaru Ritsuka unexpectedly threw his blunt practice sword at Fulgrim's face, and when the latter had to dodge, he suddenly jumped up and hung it on his neck. It was hard to say whether it was because of the opponent's unruly street fighting style or because the single heartbeat in his chest was closer than ever before, Fulgrim couldn't help laughing at that time.