Inside the closed room, Bruce and Lion exchanged their thoughts and opinions, but when it came to how to intercept the Hand of Destiny, the two found themselves at odds.
Bruce believed they had to strike first—kill Erebus before he ever reached Horus.
Solve the problem at its root.
Lion, on the other hand, thought they should let the line play out a little longer. If she revealed herself as a primarch at the very moment Erebus was about to finish manipulating Horus, they would not only catch him red-handed, but also make the Sons of Horus fully understand the severity of the situation.
Both approaches had merit. The problem was how to convince the other.
Fortunately, this wasn't especially difficult for Bruce. He had plenty of experience with this sort of thing, and he could pinpoint the biggest flaw in Lion's plan—the most critical issue of all.
"Lion, your plan is perfect. It exposes Erebus's scheme and gets the Sons of Horus firmly on our side without question. But…" Bruce said helplessly, "we can't use Horus's life as the stake."
"There's no telling whether that old bastard will lash out when he's cornered. He could use some vile sorcery and forcibly corrupt Horus on the spot."
"You have to remember—he's already tied himself to Chaos."
Lion's reasoning was sound, and Bruce admitted as much. But risk still had to be accounted for.
Who knew what kind of hidden cards Erebus had as one jointly favored by all four Chaos Gods?
The last time Bruce killed Shavok, Tzeentch had dragged him into a mental realm and nearly kept him there for good. If Erebus died, what kind of consequences would follow? Better not to imagine it. Better not to touch the thought at all.
"..." With just a single sentence, Bruce rendered every countermeasure Lion had prepared useless.
She understood it too. If she insisted, then she really would be treating Horus's life as expendable.
For someone like Lion, who valued efficiency and results above all else, any sacrifice could be accepted if the mission demanded it—even her own.
But her wish was to save everyone. Her brothers, her father, and all of humanity.
If Horus died so that everyone else could be saved, would that truly be worth it?
Though… if Horus died, then with such a magnificent achievement to her name, wouldn't she move right up into the position of Warmaster?
Mm…
"The safest course is to kill Erebus ahead of time," Bruce insisted again when Lion stayed silent too long. "Who knows what he has hidden aboard that battle barge of his?"
"But Horus…" Lion began.
"You don't need to worry. I'll save him. As long as we kill Erebus, I guarantee no one will be harmed."
After thinking it over again and again, Lion finally yielded.
If this had been the old Lion, Bruce would have already had his head punched off for repeatedly rejecting her views.
Which only proved one thing—turning the noble King of Knights, Saber, into Lion really had been a good thing.
She was reasonable with her own people.
As for enemies…
That was another matter entirely.
"Then let's compile the report, speak to Father, and if there are no objections, move on to the next phase," Bruce said, handing the cup of hot cocoa he had poured over to Lion. "Once everything's ready, all we'll still need is your Invincible Reason and the Deathwing elite."
"Mm…" Lion accepted the cup in both hands, holding it as though she were holding Bruce's hand itself.
Turning the entire Deathwing into women was definitely a risky move, but both Bruce and Lion felt it was acceptable.
Because it would strengthen the bond between them and make the army's fighting power even greater.
And besides, becoming women wasn't actually a bad thing. It was arguably an improvement. The changes seen in Curze's Black Guard already proved that much.
Their size had shrunk, but all their physical stats were retained. They could still wear power armor without issue, and more importantly, they could deceive the enemy.
If there was one genuine drawback…
The way the second gene-seed was produced had changed—from extraction at the neck to oviposition.
Still, that wasn't really a major problem.
What could be said with certainty, however, was that female Astartes became far closer to their primarch, and that in turn subtly changed the culture of the Legion itself. The Night Lords were the perfect example of that.
"What is it? Something on your mind?" Bruce asked, sipping his cocoa when he noticed Lion staring blankly at the operation notes on the board.
Surely not. She couldn't have become this moody just because her preferred plan had been rejected once, right?
"No. There's just something I can't quite understand…" Lion said. After several long moments of thought, she finally decided to say it out loud.
Looking at Bruce, she said helplessly, "Why didn't you choose the Dark Angels in the first place?"
Every time she heard Bruce call Curze "Father," something inside her heart seemed to sting.
She had always felt that the bond forged through battle between herself and Bruce ought to have been closer than anything Curze shared with him.
So why was Bruce so loyal to Curze?
Was it really all because of gene-seed?
"Well, there wasn't much I could do about that. The Dark Angels… didn't need me. Or rather, their recruitment process simply isn't something ordinary people can even begin to understand."
Unless someone was an exceptionally gifted candidate, the Dark Angels mostly worked by selecting their own recruits. That was just how it was. Terra-born Dark Angels had always been a special matter, closely watched and tightly controlled.
Sometimes, even Primarch Lion herself didn't fully know what sort of standing and depth Terra-born recruits possessed within the Legion. Their recruitment system had its own hidden rules.
"I see…" Lion felt another pang of regret.
"..." Bruce's brow twitched. Suddenly, he became aware that the atmosphere in the room felt very strange.
Late at night. A man and a woman. Alone in a room together.
More importantly, the woman was sitting on his bed, had already taken off her shoes, and from where he stood he could clearly see the snowy-white skin of her collarbone below her neck.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Only after the serious discussion had ended did Bruce finally realize just how bizarre this really was.
"Bruce?" Sensing Bruce's increasingly strange gaze, Lion turned toward him.
When she realized he had been stealing glances at her, she froze for a heartbeat—then couldn't help but laugh. A faint blush rose to her face as she stood up and looked at him.
Bruce, meanwhile, felt even more terrified, because a horrifying thought had suddenly appeared in his head.
So the Lion could be this beautiful too?
Clunk.
Bruce bent slightly forward as an audible noise came from the crotch area of his power armor.
Damn it. Supreme Bone, are you trying to betray your master? I didn't tell you to activate, so why now?!
"Bruce."
"Ah?" Bruce looked up as Lion set her cup down and began walking toward him.
"Although I'm not entirely sure whether my current self still needs mana to maintain existence…"
"These past few days, I've been able to tell that something inside me feels… incomplete."
"So…"
Lion solemnly made her request.
"Could you lend me your mana? Just like we did before."
"You're my most important partner. I hope you'll help me."
No—
I do not want to hear this!
Bruce, whose spiritual perception was absurdly high, understood perfectly well that Lion was asking for mana replenishment. Under normal circumstances, this would have been an incredible CG collection event.
But this was Lion!
If he swapped the current appearance out for the original one, what would this scene become? A rugged blond brute inviting him to replenish mana.
Who could accept that?!
"Ahem! You… you don't need to be so nervous," Lion said. Seeing Bruce tense up, she naturally assumed he was simply shy.
So she stepped closer, cheeks pink, and said, "If you're really too embarrassed, I can take the lead."
"I'll be relying on your help a great deal from now on. You're my most important partner."
Seeing the blond, blue-eyed Saber lower her maidenly reserve and prepare to take the offensive herself, Bruce had to admit that for one brief moment, he was tempted.
This was Saber, after all.
What man could refuse? Seriously, who could refuse?
"If you're willing… then please…" Lion rose onto her toes and reached out with both hands, seemingly intending to cup Bruce's head and kiss him.
"Wait!"
Bruce took one step back with righteous conviction. Then, under Lion's bewildered gaze, he unfastened the lower half of his power armor and shoved a hand down into the lower chamber.
Crack.
A sharp sound rang out.
Veins bulged at Bruce's temples. Blood vessels stood out in his eyes as he endured a pain so intense it felt soul-deep. Even for an Astartes, this kind of agony was hard to bear.
"Bruce!" Lion rushed forward when she saw him collapsing onto the bed.
"You… you're a good girl. I… I can't… ngh—"
With great difficulty, Bruce forced out that last sentence before losing consciousness.
"Ah?!" Only then did Lion realize what had happened, and she hurried over to inspect his injuries.
What was wrong with him?
No matter how shy he was, he couldn't go and damage something that important! What if he couldn't replenish mana anymore after this?
Bang!
"That's right, Father, this is the room! I saw it with my own eyes!"
"Agent Bruce and Lady Lion were secretly practicing martial arts behind everyone's backs in this room!"
The tightly shut, supposedly solid door was suddenly kicked open.
"NEEEEW RECRUIT!"
Curze, clutching a blood-red spear, roared Bruce's title in furious rage.
"...?"
But the instant she saw Bruce lying unconscious on the bed, face twisted in pain, while Lion was half on top of him with both hands in extremely suspicious places, Curze froze on the spot.
This…
You… you're not harvesting my recruit's gene-seed, are you?!
"LION!!!"
In the next second, Curze finished processing what she was seeing and lunged, determined to fight Lion to the death right then and there.
Damn it!
The Thramas Crusade begins today—right now! Immediately!
To hell with fate. To hell with the future.
If you're digging up my corner of the wall like this, are you even still my big brother anymore?!
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter108)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 26
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