After the chaos subsided, Prospero began rebuilding itself from the rubble, and the battered Thousand Sons convened their first full assembly since the war.
After several days of counting the losses and restoring order, they finally chose an auspicious day for a reckoning.
The culprit responsible for this disaster would be judged at last—
Ahriman.
Bruce, fortunate enough to be invited to witness the proceedings, spent the entire event fighting for his life not to laugh.
It was simply too absurd.
Everywhere he looked, there were magical girls perched on the shoulders of normal Thousand Sons, standing on top of their heads, or occasionally going poof and transforming mid-conversation.
The sheer surrealism of it all almost broke him.
But however funny it looked, he knew this was pain and humiliation to the Thousand Sons.
If he laughed here, he would absolutely get beaten to death.
They were already miserable enough. Laughing now would be enjoying his own happiness at their expense.
And what really got Bruce was how bizarrely specific some of the transformed Thousand Sons were.
Marisa, Megumin, Elaina, Cagalli—those he could at least understand.
But when something like Magical Girl Luna showed up, Bruce genuinely could not process it.
I never even wrote those tags. How the hell did that happen?
He could only pray that the Thousand Sons would never run into a tentacle monster in the future. Otherwise, that weakness bonus would be maxed out instantly.
"Is it really that funny?" Kroz asked, one leg crossed over the other, chin propped on one hand as she shot Bruce a sidelong look.
"Not really…" Bruce straightened up at once and forced himself to focus on the trial.
After several days of recovery, the injuries he had suffered in battle were mostly healed. At least he no longer needed a wheelchair, which was worth celebrating.
At that moment, Magnus was standing on the dais, reading out Ahriman's crimes one by one, while Ahriman herself kept her head lowered, accepting every charge without resistance, looking very much as though she intended to shoulder every last bit of blame.
To Ahriman, if taking the blame could spare the Legion further punishment, and if it could somehow earn the forgiveness of both her Primarch and her brothers, then being the sinner was a burden she was willing to bear.
What she had not expected was that her meek, sincere confession only came across to Magnus as brazen provocation.
That blank, dead-eyed expression of hers—who was she showing it to?
This was supposed to be a denunciation of her crimes. What kind of attitude was that?
"Ahriman!" Magnus demanded furiously. "You used a forbidden spell without authorization and transformed the Emperor's Legion into this state! Do you admit your guilt?!"
"I admit it, Father… I am guilty… I accept any punishment…" Ahriman replied immediately.
Magnus clicked her tongue in annoyance.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. For a moment, she wanted nothing more than to skin this rebellious child alive on the spot.
But then she remembered the state of the Legion.
After Ahriman's stunt, fewer than ten thousand Thousand Sons remained.
Even if she killed her now, what would it change?
They could not recover what had already been lost.
And rather than giving her that easy release, letting Ahriman escape her sins through death, Magnus decided there was a far crueler way to punish her.
The Fifteenth Legion had been ruined because of this woman.
And Magnus herself had been reduced to this form because of her.
Most of all, Magnus still could not understand why so many people in the Legion thought turning into women was not a problem at all—why some of them even seemed secretly pleased about it.
What exactly is wrong with all of you?
"I, in the name of the master of the Fifteenth Legion, the King of Prospero, and the Primarch of the Thousand Sons, hereby pass the following judgment!"
"Azhek Ahriman, along with all those involved in the Rubric spell, are from this day forth exiled from Prospero. All academic ranks, military honors, identities, and official positions are stripped from you."
"Until you find a way to lift this curse, you are forbidden from ever returning to Prospero!"
"And furthermore—hear me, all members of the Fifteenth Legion! Without my direct permission, none of you are to speak to these people or provide them with any aid. Any who violate this order will be exiled from the Legion as well!"
The moment the sentence was announced, a collective wave of shock rippled through the Thousand Sons.
Even the conspirators on the platform looked stricken for a moment before lowering their heads and accepting it.
Everyone could tell that this time, Magnus was truly enraged.
There would be no room for negotiation.
The best possible outcome had seemed to be a harsh denunciation followed by confinement on Prospero for a few hundred years while they atoned.
No matter what, these were some of the Legion's brightest talents. Keeping them on the homeworld would at least allow them to pass on their knowledge to the next generation.
The next-most-likely outcome would have been execution—Magnus simply killing them all and making them pay for their crimes with their lives.
But no one had expected this.
Magnus had chosen the cruelest punishment of all.
Exile from the Legion.
Stripping them of all honor.
Refusing to acknowledge them as Thousand Sons ever again.
It was no different from banishing them to a slow death.
And on top of that, she had given them an impossible task—one that could never realistically be fulfilled.
"Do any of you have anything to say in response to this judgment?" Magnus asked after a pause. "This is your last chance to speak with me."
She could tell that many Thousand Sons thought the punishment excessive, but it was necessary.
If she did not make an example of them now, others would imitate them in the future.
The Fifteenth Legion needed reform.
And it needed a lesson carved into living flesh.
That was why Magnus had chosen exile rather than execution.
A living warning was always more effective than a dead one.
"I have no objections," Ahriman said at last, as if all the strength had gone out of her. "I accept the punishment…"
Part of her honestly felt that exile might be worse than death.
But another part of her still held on to a sliver of hope.
Maybe I really can find a cure for everyone.
If there was magic in this world capable of turning the Thousand Sons into women, then surely somewhere there had to be magic capable of turning women back into men.
Such a secret art had to exist.
The only question was where to find it.
"And the rest of you?" Magnus asked the other culprits.
"I accept the punishment, Father."
"So do I."
"Whatever you say."
"I admit my guilt."
"I'm sorry, Father…"
The remaining girls all voiced their apologies and accepted the sentence as well.
Most of them were miserable enough to wish for death, but compared to simply dying, there was at least one thing they could still do.
They could make it their life's mission to undo the curse that had fallen on the Legion.
That, at least, was a goal.
"Take them away!" Magnus declared when no one raised any objections.
She glanced sidelong at Kroz, who was sitting nearby and yawning, then brought the matter to a close.
For now, the disaster caused by the Rubric would end here.
As for how to lift its effects later, that was another matter.
Magnus swore that even if she had to remain on Prospero for the rest of her life, never venturing anywhere else again, she would research this curse until she understood it completely.
Undoing the "female curse"—that would be her goal for the rest of her life.
"Honored guests," Magnus said, turning toward Kroz and Bruce, "do you have any thoughts on the actions of these traitors?"
"I don't have any particular objections," Bruce answered honestly. "How you deal with them is your Legion's internal affair. And the consequences of what they did are confined to the Fifteenth Legion."
Unless the Emperor himself chose to pursue the matter, what Ahriman and the others had done was ultimately the Fifteenth Legion's own internal problem.
What did it have to do with the Eighth Legion?
It wasn't their people who had turned into magical girls.
If the Emperor really cared, then it would not be a matter of killing a few people. He might exterminate the whole Legion.
But honestly, that seemed unlikely.
After all, the Thousand Sons' flesh-change problem had technically been solved.
Sure, they had gone from turning into monsters to turning into women—but was that really such a catastrophe?
From now on, how would you identify a Thousand Son?
Easy. The cutest one, glowing with sparkly visual effects—that was probably them.
"If I were you, I would've just executed them," Kroz said bluntly. "Using exile as punishment is too boring."
"That was the conclusion I reached after much consideration—and after discussing it with the other captains," Magnus replied with a sigh.
"Fine. Then that's that. We're leaving, Bruce."
Kroz jumped down from her chair and turned to go.
Before leaving, though, she threw Magnus one last line—one that forced her to confront a far more immediate reality.
"In the next few days, you'd better prepare yourself mentally. This depends entirely on how Horus decides to judge you."
Magnus had spent several days judging her sons.
Now it was her turn to face judgment from the Warmaster's command.
After all, what had happened this time was no minor incident. Even the Titan Legions and the Mechanicum had been dragged into it.
There was no way the Fifteenth Legion would be allowed to just brush this aside.
"…Yes. I know," Magnus said, taking a deep breath and accepting it.
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 150)
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TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter190)
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I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter225)
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Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 195
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
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From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/5
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Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 225
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 210
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/30
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 115
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 130
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 105
I Can Copy Unique Skills 100
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 90
My Harem Is Indescribable 85
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 90
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 100
Still playing traditional Honk 69
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 75
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Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 60
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 71
Checking In in Demon Slayer 75
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 80
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 66
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 58
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 65
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 63
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 59
Why did they assign me to Uma 55
MYGO Beauties 56
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 45
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 49
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 36
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 35
The Uma Musume Who Became 15
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