Caleb researched this ability for a bit and realized that using it required extremely harsh conditions.
First, although it could grant the Chaos Gods a human form, it did not mean they could immediately be turned into chess pieces.
They might be like the Emperor's avatar, possessing the trait of a face for a thousand people, but at the very least, they would appear human-shaped.
Of course—from his perspective, their forms were already fixed, and possessing a certain ability to invade the real world made them quite powerful.
However, along with being powerful, they would instead suffer certain restrictions; the more they craved the material world, the stronger these restrictions would become.
Once they lost their heads in desperation and entered the field in person, the restriction would reach its peak. At that point, defeating them would allow one to gradually corrupt these Chaos Evil Gods toward goodness through certain means.
"Well, that counts as a solution. If this endless fighting kept going, I suppose even with the chessboard's time, I wouldn't last this long!"
Caleb grumbled a bit—as for the anime-girl designs for the Chaos Gods, he actually already had some ideas.
There was an artist on Twitter named Tempura Person who drew them exceptionally well. They managed to make the female designs attractive while preserving the original flavor of the Chaos Gods.
Even those bugs that only knew how to gnaw had huge busts; it was quite top-tier and extremely easy to get turned on by!
Of course, that was their Warp form and didn't represent their real-world form.
If ordinary people were to see that kind of thing, they would probably turn into indescribable monstrosities as well.
He still needed to add a cognitive filter to these strange things. Simply put, a single shell wasn't safe; adding another shell over it was the safest approach.
Caleb designed the physical shells for these Chaos Gods a bit.
He needed to ensure they retained certain distinct features while also making them acceptable to all of humanity.
Not a single model could be missing out of the five Chaos deities, and at the same time—borrowing these hulls required paying a "grievous" price.
"Hmm—" Looking at the current 3D models, Caleb couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.
"Not bad—this way, even if the Chaos Gods run out of chess pieces, they can take the field in person!"
"When they get flustered, they'll come down to fight in person. With those few guys, how could they possibly refuse such a good deal?"
"Hmm—five deity bodies, every single one needs to be prepared!"
The reason Caleb mentioned five instead of four was that the Dark King had to be included.
The Emperor was just being stubborn with his mouth; he couldn't be left out!
He was essentially a player standing on the board while claiming to be a piece.
The Chaos Gods were utterly helpless against such a shameless individual. How could they not want to descend upon the real universe through another method?
Caleb picked up his phone to call the modeling factory, then notified Linde to finish up the modeling scheme and send it over to them.
Since the models this time were quite exquisite, ordinary 3D printers definitely couldn't handle them properly.
Therefore, they could only contract the familiar modeling factories from before to be safe.
"Well, the Great Rift has begun too. Looks like the three Primarchs have their hands full!"
"Most likely after this battle, the three of them will have to part ways—after all, the Imperium is on fire everywhere right now, and they need to hurry to put out the blazes!"
Caleb glanced at the massive tear ripping through the galaxy. Right now, the entire galaxy had been torn in half by the Great Rift.
The Emperor's light could no longer reach the Imperium Nihilus—even if the Emperor restarted his psychic power, there was no way to cover the dark side of the Imperium.
"Looks like the situation is a bit bleak!"
The brilliant starry river on the chessboard had dimmed significantly—the large scar-like rift in the middle was vaguely visible, its scale reaching galactic proportions.
Of course, while this looked impressive, in reality, a single Galaxy Destruction Bomb from Doraemon could solve the problem.
However, if that kind of bomb were used, the entire Warhammer 40k world would no longer have any problems at all.
Everyone, including the Golden Throne, would ascend—the galaxy would no longer have any conflicts, and the galaxy itself would cease to exist.
"Lion-chan, I'm heading back now!"
"Don't worry, when the time comes, I'll come find you again!"
Doraemon sat on the Time Machine, bidding a final farewell to Lion.
It seemed like a parting, but in reality, it might not take long before Doraemon descended by Lion's side again.
"Yeah, alright!" Lion nodded and handed the dorayaki in his hand to Doraemon: "Doraemon, just watch out for yourself. Don't wander off into weird places and get caught by people as Abominable Intelligence."
Speaking of this, Lion even cast a glance at Guilliman—Guilliman had a look of complete innocence. How could he have known back then that this iron man was reinforcement sent by Father?
"Ah~" Seeing this strange scene, Sanguinius found it very novel.
When had Lion ever had such high emotional intelligence? He wouldn't have talked like this in the past.
The tsundere little lion actually had moments where he spoke gently.
Even for Sanguinius, it was rare to see Lion speak in such a tone.
"Sanguinius, don't look at me like that!"
"If it weren't for Doraemon, maybe Guilliman's infinite agricultural worlds wouldn't have gotten off the ground."
"A lot of the good stuff in my hands was brought by Doraemon!"
"He's not the kind of heartless iron man, so rest assured!"
"Mmhmm~"
Sanguinius smiled, his smile remaining gentle, carrying a motherly feel.
For some reason, Sanguinius suddenly felt that Lion was quite childish too. Clearly a person over ten thousand years old, yet possessing such a childish side.
One could only say—the current Lion was still a bit too pure and kind. The demands he made of Doraemon were not high, so Doraemon didn't pull out any overly powerful gadgets either.
Precisely because of this, Lion was able to use Doraemon's gadgets. Without that pure heart, Doraemon would never have handed these gadgets over to Lion.
"Lion, can you still see the light of Terra?" Sanguinius suddenly asked.
Lion shook his head at Sanguinius.
"You can't see it either? Sanguinius, I can't see it either!"
"Looks like we must make a trip back. Terra right now is probably in quite a mess!"
"Sigh!"
Sanguinius shook his head helplessly. Ripples had long been stirring in his Warp waters.
Countless human souls were wailing, crying out, and praying to him. Being able to hear these prayers made his heart ache.
"It's not just Terra; the entire galaxy is in chaos!"
"Even though our strategic objectives were met, the Chaos side surely achieved their strategic objectives as well!"
"Cadia was destroyed in the end, and the Chaos Gods still completed their mission!"
"Perhaps when the Warmaster appeared, all of this was already ordained—and in my prophecy, I have a hunch that we will encounter Horus again at some point!"
"He's not dead?"
Guilliman asked, her face being twisted completely out of shape by Yvraine, squeezed repeatedly like a marshmallow.
The Ultramarines behind them clenched their fists tightly at the sight. Yet due to the covenant and various other reasons, they couldn't actually beat these damn xenos to death.
"Dead, but not entirely dead!"
Sanguinius merely smiled without saying too much—because he wasn't sure if bringing that matter up would cause his two brothers to hiss at him.
Sanguinius simply pinpointed the timing for their debut in silence, preparing for the future band.
After all, Sanguinius intended to lead his good sisters to become the dazzling idol in the entire galaxy!
They would use passionate performances to redeem those demons wandering in Chaos, and then through performance after performance, hypnotize those demons into believing they were human.
Only in this way would the Imperium of Man truly step into hope, and only in this way could the Warp, currently akin to a cesspool, be cleaned out.
Of course, this required time, and it had to wait until the Emperor could speak.
Otherwise, if Sanguinius said this out loud, he would definitely be beaten to death by his siblings.
Because this matter was simply too sacrilegious and treasonous.
Guilliman led the remaining warriors to rescue the surviving soldiers on Cadia.
Magically, although the planet had been blown into chunks, there were still survivors who pulled through.
Unsure if it was the magical power of the Warp, on the largest fragment, even a fortress remained intact.
Which meant the Cadian fortress only needed some repairs, and it could still serve as the Imperium's fortress to continue guarding its territory.
"Truly surprising. Can a planet like this really be stuck back together?"
"Even though the whole planet was blown to pieces—these fragments are all quite large, so it should be possible, right?"
Although Yvraine was still messing with her face, Guilliman was still handling her affairs very seriously.
It couldn't be helped; for this Webway journey, Guilliman had already sacrificed her pride.
Lately, Yvraine could play with her face unconditionally, while she didn't even have the right to resist.
"Mmhmm?" Just as Guilliman was secretly grieving over the destruction of Cadia.
Suddenly, a mechanical voice came from behind.
"Cawl, you're alive? I didn't expect you to actually make it!"
Cawl let out a mechanical laugh: "Hahaha—what I promised you, I will naturally fulfill!"
"Although you might not necessarily need the Armour of Fate right now—you might want to try this creation crafted from Dark Age technology."
Almost in a momentary daze—a set of extremely well-fitting Gothic lolita armor appeared right before Guilliman's eyes!
The exquisite armor plating perfectly highlighted Guilliman's cuteness, and the materials that could only exist in the Dark Age of Technology pushed this equipment's stats straight to a peak.
It could be said that aside from Sanguinius's golden armor, which was practically a cheat, this set of Guilliman's was likely the best gear.
A Cawl production was guaranteed to be top-tier. If Doraemon hadn't appeared, Cawl's gear would indeed have been the best solution to existing problems.
Of course, now one had to mention a certain poor little cat. The power armor on that little cat right now was truly too inferior.
The power armor on the little cat was modified from an Adepta Sororitas battle suit—although better materials were used to increase protection, compared to Guilliman's and Sanguinius's, the stats were still slightly lacking.
However, that tiny bit of special protection was no big deal for the current little kitty.
After all, she could teleport; even if she took a fatal hit, she could teleport straight off the battlefield.
In contrast, even after acquiring the Armour of Fate, Guilliman's stats were still a bit unsightly.
Right now, Guilliman's stats could probably only handle Lorgar.
Provided that Lorgar's Warp dark magic didn't summon any uncanny units.
"Wow, Cawl, I didn't expect you to give me such a grand gift as soon as you arrived!"
"Does this armor have any special abilities? I can feel that it's different!"
"Although I can't put my finger on what ability it is, I can feel that it's definitely no ordinary Artificer Power Armor!"
Putting on the new armor, Guilliman indeed looked much more presentable—previously, Guilliman lacked suitable power armor and even had to go into battle wearing an everyday dress.
Attire like that looked pleasing to the eye, but in reality, it was very dangerous. For that exact reason, even the Ultramarines didn't want their Primarch going into battle, since going unarmored made it very easy to die.
Cawl nodded without denying it, bowing slightly as he observed the currently small and cute Guilliman.
"Yes, Lord Regent!"
"It can grant you a chance at rebirth. When necessary, the Sword of the Crones in Yvraine's hands can be utilized to grant you new life!"
"I originally intended to use this method to resurrect you and resolve your curse—I didn't expect you to find Yvraine first and use a more special method to solve your problem!"
Archmagos Cawl was clearly implying something, and these words made Guilliman feel quite embarrassed.
To be honest, when she first turned like this, Guilliman was terrified to death, thinking she had been cursed by that damn Fulgrim.
Only after reuniting with her sisters did they realize it was Mother Emperor's handiwork.
Even now, Guilliman couldn't understand why the Emperor would turn them into this.
However, thinking about how the Emperor had also turned into a cute little grey-skinned lolita, Guilliman's mental state suddenly felt much more balanced.
"Sigh, I don't know about this either. If you want to ask anything, go ask Lion. He seems to be the earliest one awakened by the Emperor, so he knows more!"
"It's just that I can't get much out of him either. I always feel like he does a lot of things behind my back, which is really annoying."
Standing in the distance, Lion appeared absentminded while chatting with Sanguinius, but his ears had long been perked up, listening to the conversation over here.
The moment he heard his thirteenth sister gossiping about him behind his back, Lion immediately teleported—smacking that small head directly with a palm!
"Hey!" Yvraine said with some dissatisfaction: "She's your sister after all, and the Lord Regent. Don't go smacking her silly, that won't be good!"
"Hmph!" Lion let out a proud, tsundere huff.
If memory served, the final order he gave Yvraine was to serve Guilliman.
Clearly, Yvraine was now completely immersed in her master's mission.
She even dared to talk back a little to him, the very master who issued the order. She was really getting more and more full of herself.
Seeing that these two old rivals were about to start bickering again, Sanguinius once more had to play the peacemaker and pull the two of them apart.
Fortunately, Sanguinius was now a full-fledged big sister, so carrying two girls by the collar was actually a very simple task.
"Alright, alright, stop arguing the two of you. It seems Cawl still has some things left to say. How about letting him finish first, and then you can argue?"
"How can that do!" The lioness glared at Guilliman with dissatisfaction, as if in the next second, she might reach out and slap the other's palm.
If it weren't for the fact that beating Guilliman silly would only increase her own workload, the current Lion probably really had the impulse to smack Guilliman dumb.
"I hate it most when people gossip behind my back. If you've got the guts, let's have a real, face-to-face fight instead of whispering behind my back!"
"Wuwu~"
"Sanguinius, give the Emperor's Sword back to me!"
"Looks like we can only have a fight today. Sister Lion seems extremely unhappy about this!"
"You two!"
Guilliman looked innocent, but Sanguinius knew very well that this girl had also lost her head.
Fighting among themselves and pulling out the Emperor's Sword—what kind of nonsense was that?
Was the stat line of the Emperor's Sword something to be played with casually?
After talking both sides down, Sanguinius turned his gaze back to Cawl.
Clearly, he had already learned something through divination, so his curious gaze was fixed entirely on Cawl.
"Respected Primarchs, my arrival this time is not just to deliver the Armour of Fate. The Emperor once gave me a mission: to continue improving the Astartes warriors!"
"Now I have achieved research and breakthroughs in this area, and I think with your insight, you can take a look at my latest creations!"
While speaking, Cawl waved his hand and actually pulled over a Prototype 0 Primaris Space Marine.
Due to the butterfly effect brought by Caleb this time around, the old medic hadn't snatched away this Prototype 0 Primaris warrior.
Because of this, the current Prototype 0 Primaris Space Marine served as the finest warrior template.
Guilliman looked up at this massive warrior, whose oversized body stood a head and a half taller than her own warriors.
An ordinary Astartes warrior stood roughly between 2.3 and 2.4 meters tall, yet the Primaris Space Marine before them reached a staggering 2.7 to 2.8 meters.
The opponent's weaponry also seemed more advanced than that of standard Astartes. At the same time, the latest-model armor covering their entire body seemed distinctly different.
"Is this the new type of warrior you've developed? Aside from their increased size, do they possess any special abilities?"
As a Primarch who "cherished her soldiers like her own children," Lion was naturally very concerned about the capabilities of the new warriors. At the same time, she needed to figure out how such an Astartes differed from previous ones.
If it was an improvement based on the original foundation, that was one thing; but if he was starting a brand-new stove under the guise of the Astartes, then Lion would have to properly judge this Archmagos named Cawl!
"Yes, this has them!"
Cawl produced several genetic blueprints and pointed out the additional organs as he explained to the three Primarchs.
"Building upon the original foundation, I have added three more modification surgeries!"
" Theoretically speaking, ordinary Astartes can also undergo my Primaris conversion to upgrade!"
"The 20th modification, the Sinew Coils: building upon the original Astartes foundation, this further strengthens the physical body, giving the original muscle tissue much tougher resilience while enabling the outbreak of even fiercer strength."
"The 21st modification, the Hypo-pituitary: this enhances hormone secretion and promotes skeletal growth, which can vastly increase the hardness of the original skeleton while allowing the Astartes' height to grow to around 2.8 to 2.9 meters!"
"Of course, this value has a certain margin of error; there's a probability it can directly grow up to three meters, which is entirely possible."
"This final modification is the Belisarean Furnace: the original neuro-membrane could allow warriors to enter a state of suspended animation, but it couldn't repair them!"
"If rescue didn't arrive in time, the end result was still death, which lacked significant meaning!"
"With my furnace modification, it can vastly enhance restorative capabilities, allowing warriors in suspended animation to regain vitality once more!"
"According to my years of data and investigation, even in a heavily wounded state, a warrior only needs a few hours to stand back up."
"Although some damaged organs might not operate at full power, continuing medium-intensity combat poses no problem whatsoever!"
After listening to Archmagos Belisarius Cawl's words, all three Primarchs couldn't help nodding, as if thinking of something.
Is it possible that units similar to this already existed within their chapters, except that these units were previously gifts from Father, and they simply hadn't known this stuff was called Primaris Space Marines?
"Sicarius, call those big-framed warriors over here. If I remember correctly, they were Father's reinforcements earlier; looks like we can figure out their origins now!"
"Azrael—call those Deathwing sergeants over. Earlier I couldn't figure out the origins of those guys, but now it seems I finally understand!"
"Ahaha!"
Seeing her good sisters acting this way, Sanguinius patted Dante's shoulder with a meaningful glance.
Dante was very tactful and immediately fished out those unique warriors.
The reason others still needed to express themselves with words while Dante only needed a glance was because Dante had washed Mother Sanguinius's feet a few times too many.
Sometimes, Mother Sanguinius wasn't very willing to speak, so she would signal him with a gentle look.
Then she'd lift her tiny little toe to signal him to go do something.
Over time, a secret language of physical communication developed between them.
Normal people wouldn't be able to spot it, but after long exposure, the two could understand each other's intentions.
And so—without even updating the version, all three legions pulled out their own Primaris Space Marines!
These Primaris Space Marines uniformly wore Mark X power armor and held newly improved bolt rifles.
Whether in height or physical volume, these warriors were identical to Primaris warriors.
Oh wait, these were the Primaris version of Astartes—even Cawl himself had no idea when this stuff had been popularized.
"Wait, is this right?"
Cawl was dumbfounded for a second; he couldn't find any record in his memory regarding the release of Primaris warrior technology.
In his memories, he had never distributed this technology outward, and the vast majority of Primaris Astartes should still be deep underground on Mars!
Seeing the Archmagos's shocked expression, the three Primarchs couldn't be more smug inside.
Of course, they were just playing a dark-humored little joke anyway—besides, this was also given by Father, and no one could fully explain the Emperor's abilities.
"Haha Cawl, don't mind it. As for this, well, it was actually given by the Emperor!"
"When we needed reinforcements back then, the Emperor directly dispatched these warriors to crash down!"
"They seemed to appear out of thin air; generally speaking, only the Emperor possesses such great might."
Guilliman explained it to her former old friend.
After all, she knew very well that Cawl worked for them, so she couldn't treat him too poorly.
Learning it was the Emperor's doing, Cawl gradually accepted it. After all, the Emperor's might was unfathomable, so it was normal that Cawl couldn't figure it out.
"Oh, praise the Omnissiah, so that's how it is!"
"Since you all already possess the technology of Primaris warriors, does that mean the 500,000 troops I have sealed beneath the surface of Mars won't need to be brought out?"
"500,000???"
The three Primarchs looked at each other, all wearing expressions of astonishment.
If those 500,000 could be equipped with enough warships, they could launch a major civil war.
One had to remember that the total forces of the Horus Heresy back then didn't even exceed the million mark of Astartes.
For Cawl to secretly stash away so many, and they were Primaris Space Marines at that—this was simply too outrageous!
"Ahaha!"
Acting Warmaster Lion laughed: "Since I am the Imperium's new Warmaster, the lion's share of the troops naturally belongs to me!"
"Just in time for the upcoming Great Crusade, and Guilliman, you're about to launch the Indomitus Crusade too!"
"As for this job, let me take the vanguard. Therefore, the bulk of these troops definitely belongs to me, right?"
"Right?"
Guilliman retorted directly, her questioning tone almost driving Lion over the edge again.
Lion had thought Guilliman intended to fight her for troops, but as soon as Guilliman opened her mouth, she demonstrated her own breadth of vision.
"Archmagos Cawl, you said that original Astartes can also be upgraded directly through this technology, right?"
"Then can my nearly one million Ultramarines also be upgraded through this method?"
"Does this technology currently have any flaws or hidden dangers?"
"Nearly one million???"
This time, not even Lion was just shocked; even Sanguinius found it a bit absurd.
If this Guilliman ever pulled off a Heresy, she could genuinely deal a fatal blow to the Imperium's vitality.
So many Sons of Guilliman, coupled with so many warships, if they all charged toward the Imperium, it would be terrifyingly catastrophic.
"Um, there are no major problems!"
"The version I developed provides comprehensive enhancement based on the original foundation!"
"They won't even cover up some of the original flaws and traits!"
"For instance—the Blood Angels' Red Thirst, and that other thing—"
Ahem ahem ahem—Sanguinius flew up and directly clamped her hand over the other's vocal vox-caster. The Red Thirst was ancient history; clearly, the Archmagos before them hadn't kept up with the current patch.
"Archmagos Cawl, you'd better not say any more of that. Just upgrade my existing warriors!"
"My current batch of Blood Angels warriors no longer have those genetic issues; their gene-flaws have already been resolved by me!"
Hearing this, Cawl was greatly surprised.
Cawl had once fantasized about whether he could resolve the Red Thirst of Sanguinius's progeny.
Yet the final answer was that it couldn't be solved, not even with Primaris warriors.
Clearly, the relevant genetic expression didn't manifest a craving for blood, but miraculously, the cloned warriors still manifested a craving for blood.
These warriors' thirst for blood was simply much stronger than that of ordinary Astartes—this seemed to have nothing to do with genetics; as long as the Blood Angels gene-seed was used, something would inevitably go wrong over there.
"I didn't expect Lord Sanguinius to also be an expert in genetic engineering? It seems I must ask you for guidance and discuss how to resolve these kinds of issues!"
"I once thought of solving some genetic defects, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't achieve it!"
"Buzz buzz buzz!"
[Cawl has sent you a binary communication request. Do you accept?]
Sanguinius's face suddenly darkened, her originally gentle features turning somewhat unsightly at the moment.
Seeing this, Dante hurriedly grabbed his mother's hand—Dante wasn't worried that his Mother Sanguinius would act rashly.
He was just afraid his Mother Sanguinius would use some black-bellied scheme to trick the Archmagos before them to death.
"Lord Sanguinius, why don't we forget it? How could he possibly guess that your blood could solve genetic issues!"
"Our future warriors won't have the previous drawbacks anymore—let's let this matter rest here and treat it as ancient history!"
"Blood?"
Cawl had a thought, and then pulled out a massive syringe from who-knows-where, intending to draw some blood from Sanguinius to study.
This scene almost caused the situation to spin out of control—Lion's grip on the sword in her hand almost slipped.
"Cawl, this is our genetic Primarch, you cannot mess around!"
"I allow you to collect tissue samples from some of our warriors, but if you want to touch our Sister Sanguinius, you'll have to get past me first!"
With that, Lion pulled out her flintlock pistol from behind, ready to take action.
This was now considered a decomposition-type weapon from the Dark Age of Technology; taking a blast from this would be too much for even a behemoth unit like Cawl.
As a behemoth unit, Cawl was actually larger than all Primarchs, including Astartes.
Many small Dreadnoughts probably weren't as massive as Cawl—if Cawl's complete chassis was assembled, it was estimated to be as huge as a Knight Armiger chassis.
"What a pity, can its essence not be explored?"
"It seems I still cannot penetrate the glory of the Omnissiah—perhaps this technology of mine is merely a clumsy improvement, or rather, an imitation."
"Perhaps I am still far from the true Machine God!"
Facing everyone's obstruction, Cawl wasn't foolish enough to force a blood draw.
Such matters couldn't be rushed; they had to be done slowly, step by step.
Waiting for the day when he could snatch a vial while Sanguinius wasn't paying attention would be okay.
The farce on both sides finally cooled down, and the Imperium side could be considered to have obtained Cawl's grand gift package.
Of course, the most important task right now was to rush back to Terra and see what was happening.
As for wanting to return quickly, there were only two channels—one was Lion's Rock, and the other was Guilliman's wife's Aeldari Webway.
Clearly, the little lioness who loved hiding secrets was completely unlikely to reveal stealth logistics entirely to her good sisters.
Sanguinius and Guilliman knew Lion possessed better positioning tools.
Yet they didn't think Lion could rely on the Rock monastery to return under the current circumstances of the dimming Emperor's light.
"Um, Yvraine dear, can your backdoor stuff a few more people in?"
"We sisters really need to go to Terra. If there are any conditions, perhaps we can negotiate!"
[Caleb: ————]
Listening to Guilliman's terrible lines, neither Caleb nor the remaining two sisters could bear to watch anymore.
Would phrasing things to stimulate Guilliman like this really avoid the attention of Slaanesh? If Slaanesh took a glance over, she'd probably laugh herself into a faint.
"Theoretically, it's not impossible." Yvraine nodded.
Yvraine didn't refuse; under the current circumstances, she didn't seem to have much right to refuse either.
"However, the distance is so vast that we will definitely bump into those Drukhari!"
"Those large Kabals—might mistake tender-skinned you for one of their tributes."
"You must know those evil Kabals adore little lolita girls like you, oh!"
"If we run into them in the Webway, it'll be quite troublesome!"
"Troublesome?" Lion raised her eyes, the light revealed in that gaze making Yvraine recall something.
"Ah this!" Yvraine thought of the Rock monastery. If that thing plowed into the Webway, truly no ship could defeat it.
The problem was that the Rock was simply too massive; the Aeldari Webway wasn't nearly that big.
"Lord Lion, stop joking!"
"That kind of thing simply cannot get in. Even if I risk my life to open the backdoor for you, you still won't jam it in!"
[Caleb: What on earth are you guys talking about? Why are the lines getting more and more terrible, hey!]
[Next campaign currently opening—]
[Planning campaign for you. Completing special campaigns will allow you to modify Chaos traits—as long as it fits the original intent, you can gradually modify and corrupt the Evil Chaos Gods toward goodness.]
[Main Campaign Content: Horus's Path of a Mommy's Boy.]
[Horus, having regained the Emperor's Ring of Vows, believes he can regain his mother's love.]
[This time, Horus will whip up a storm in the name of loyalty. Host, please prepare Horus's chess piece.]
[Campaign Quest: Have the traitors of Chaos rebuild a new Imperium in Imperium Nihilus.]
[Main Reward: Modify the 4 Evil Gods of Chaos, corrupting the Evil Gods' great power toward goodness.]
[The main storyline requires completing 4 chapters before the Evil Chaos Gods can be corrupted toward goodness.]
[Players can also complete side quests in other universes to raise their skill and capability levels.]
On the chessboard, the originally dark galactic map actually gained multiple campaign quest points.
This indicated that Caleb could now choose different campaign points to stir up trouble.
He could also play as other factions, including Chaos factions, to pull off an interesting twist.
It looked like the accounts of the Evil Chaos Gods couldn't be saved now—though gradually overriding their accounts might take a little time.
"Speaking of which, the Horus chess piece doesn't seem to have returned!"
"Did this guy really become a toy for the Evil Gods, or was he destroyed directly?"
Just as Caleb was about to grumble, he noticed that in the chat channel, the 4 Chaos players had already started a new round of antics.
The pressure Caleb had put on the Chaos Gods recently was so immense that they didn't choose to tear Horus into pieces.
Thus, having no usable chess pieces left, the Evil Chaos Gods pieced Horus's soul back together, reshaping him once more into their chess piece.
However, quite clearly, due to the Emperor's influence, the current Horus was strictly speaking chosen by all five gods.
Right now, Horus's soul was completely filled with Mother Emperor—even if the Evil Gods distorted things, they couldn't overturn the image of the Emperor.
[Gentle & Elegant Goddess of Life: What do we do now—this guy has become a hardcore mommy's boy. The Emperor's critical hit impact on us hasn't faded yet.]
[Cold & Fierce Goddess of War: What else can we do? We can only go find that Cursed One for a fight!]
[Goddess of Wisdom, you have plenty of tricky ideas, speak up quickly, what plan do you have?]
[Mature & Intellectual Goddess of Wisdom: Isn't this very simple? Perhaps we don't need to overturn this!]
[Hasn't the Emperor already left a brand in his heart? Let's use that as the foundation—to weave a story where the Dark King is stronger than the Emperor!]
[Glamorous & Sexy Lord of Pleasure: Holy crap, this plotline is great! Leave it to me, leave it to me!]
[I will absolutely weave a top-tier NTR plotline! As long as you let me apply the imprint, I guarantee that once Horus stands up, he'll want nothing more than to charge straight to Terra to rescue his mother!]
Looking at the chat records of the four gods in the chatbox, Caleb felt nothing but silence in his heart.
Holy shit, when it comes to pulling off wild antics, you really have to hand it to the Chaos Gods!
If this stuff gets imprinted into Horus's heart, then wouldn't Horus—turn right back into that extraordinarily formidable Chaos Warmaster?
For Mommy, we must launch a Great Crusade—if this potion is poured down his throat, it's hard to imagine what Horus will become.
No—if the Chaos Gods were allowed to collectively pour their power into Horus, not a single Primarch would be able to beat him.
Even if Sanguinius and the traitor Primarchs who had broken free from Chaos were included, it probably still wouldn't be enough.
To stop the 4 Chaos players from illegally teaming up, Caleb directly activated his new skill, Warp Shaper.
[Caleb: I want to reshape the rules. I want to give the Evil Chaos Gods the ability to take the table in person!]
As Caleb used his ability, subtle changes quickly occurred on the chessboard.
[Game rules modified, modification complete—the rule does not break balance, judged as modifiable.]
[The host must gift the Evil Chaos Gods 4 physical bodies for the modification to succeed. Please select chess pieces to serve as the bodies for the Evil Chaos Gods.]
"Alright, alright, alright!"
Caleb placed 4 chess pieces he had prepared long ago onto the board, and immediately triggered "Designation," insisting that they were the physical shells of the Evil Gods.
[Gifted four chess pieces to the four god players.]
[Khorne opened your gift.]
[Slaanesh used your gift.]
[Nurgle ate your gift.]
[Tzeentch————]
Looking at the information on the board, Caleb understood that the Chaos Gods had all accepted his gifts.
Right now, he was playing the role of the Immaterium on the board, so the moment the Chaos Gods received the gifts, they understood the Immaterium's intention.
[Khorne: Holy shit! It's a cosmic entity that can bear part of our power! This entity has 8 lives—as long as I don't use up all the lives, he will become the most terrifying existence in the material universe!]
[Nurgle: Mmm, truly interesting. I feel a rich essence of life on this body. So to speak, I can go to the material universe to plant flowers in person. That's just wonderful!]
[Slaanesh: Don't you guys think this model design is fantastic? Mmm—the fabric is just a bit too much, I want to strip off a bit more!]
The rest of the Evil Gods were eagerly anticipating it, while only the Lord of Change silently tucked his model away.
On the surface he remained silent, but in reality, he had already taken his physical body to start his own shenanigans.
Now that the four gods had their own physical bodies, they naturally preferred to go play on their own—as for the player Emperor, who hadn't managed a speedrun even when taking the field in person, he naturally felt a very bizarre sense of bewilderment in his heart.
"My Lord, what is wrong?"
Malcador had also become much more respectful recently, because a major event was being handled right now—repairing the Webway—so there could certainly be no carelessness.
However, Malcador could also sense the changes in the Immaterium through his immense psychic power.
Originally, a force and will in the Immaterium leaned toward humanity, but for some unknown reason, that force had suddenly vanished during this recent period.
"It's nothing!"
The Emperor said it was nothing, but in reality, the Emperor knew very well what had happened.
Originally, something forcibly logged into his account to do things in his name.
At the same time, it possessed power even stronger than his own, able to command the Imperium's reinforcements at will, and even twist the Chaos side into its own strength.
Yet just now, at the moment the Webway was about to be repaired, that thing vanished.
This feeling was as if the other party had logged into a different account—like they had found enough entertainment and went to play another account instead.
[The Emperor: O Savior, why aren't you continuing to log into my account!]
[It's truly too exhausting playing this game all by myself—keep controlling it, I don't want to babysit kids!]
The Emperor was extremely resistant to this sudden change.
Under current circumstances, even if the Webway was repaired, his rear end would still be glued to the Golden Throne.
Although he could continue controlling the Imperium by issuing orders after his children returned, this feeling was still a bit too uncomfortable for the Emperor, who loved taking the field in person to play with himself as a chess piece.
"My Lord—those speedrun tactics of yours from before are already unrealistic and impossible."
"Right now, the loyal Primarchs have long been established—perhaps you should spend some effort to properly cultivate your relationship with your children."
"Relationship?"
The Emperor froze slightly, and then remembered Horus's dazed expression.
Right now, the Emperor suddenly felt a bit scared—if this Horus stood up again, wouldn't he charge to Terra and act like a rebellious child who came after his mom?!
Previously, the Emperor merely felt that beating up those 4 Chaos Gods was cathartic, and then casually said a few words to encourage his kid so he wouldn't fall to corruption so quickly.
Who could have known his silly kid could actually out-act the Evil Chaos Gods?
Tricking them out of a wave of subsidies, only to be completely wiped clean by himself.
Fine, if it was just generously facing death or something, that wouldn't count for much.
The most critical thing was that right now, Horus's Warp essence was entirely in his own image!
If Horus was resurrected once more, then without a doubt, an "Oedipus tragedy" would inevitably unfold!
When that time came, the entire universe would burn fiercely because of this guy's mommy complex—and those traitor Primarchs, who were already rebellious children to begin with—might even offer some support upon hearing about such a grand affair.
"Wait, Malcador, you couldn't possibly already know what Horus has turned into, right? I'm warning you, don't even think about it! Even though I've compromised before, there's no way I'd ever compromise on this!"
Malcador merely smiled without speaking—because Malcador had already noticed that the Emperor was wavering.
If things reached an irredeemable state where making a sacrifice could genuinely gain the loyalty of the entire traitor faction, then the Emperor would unhesitatingly offer up himself—
Malcador knew very well that this was no joke—because during the period when the Emperor was being overridden by Caleb, his shape had almost completely shifted.
---
"We've already reached the Moon?"
Arriving at the Moon, the two Primarchs marveled at the Aeldari Webway.
This Webway was simply too useful; not only could it shut out the influence of the Warp, but it could also navigate precisely through the Warp ocean.
It was just like building an undersea tunnel in the ocean—the Aeldari could drive sports cars inside the tunnel, while the Imperium of Man could only use ships to endure the turbulence of the sea.
Of course, tunnels could also rupture—the Aeldari were no longer what they used to be, and many Webway sectors had already been flagged as dangerous.
Theoretically, if they weren't afraid of danger, Yvraine could lead them directly beneath the Imperial Palace on Terra.
However, if they did that, they would likely have to face endless demons and see the Custodes who were still fighting inside the Webway.
"Lord Lion—" Azrael spoke up: "This matter is nearly accomplished. Perhaps we can make a trip to the Black Library to obtain what we want!"
"If our Imperium possesses this technology, we can definitely become even stronger than during the Golden Age!"
Lion nodded. How could she not know all this?
However, the little lioness had so, so many things on her plate recently—she had to interrogate her adoptive father to force out the reason behind the betrayal, and she had to learn the secrets regarding the Webway from those weird Harlequins.
Of course, there was also the secret regarding the loss of that pinup photo.
It was just that Azrael had no clues on his end regarding this matter either.
"Sigh—"
"Guilliman, Sanguinius!"
"You two go see Father first!"
"I still have a mountain of chores to take care of—if I go see Father before the job is done, Father might even scold me!"
"Oh?"
Guilliman was completely unaware of Lion's secret mission—but since Lion put it that way, she couldn't very well say no.
"Then Lion, go busy yourself!"
"Terra right now has fallen into chaos; you indeed can't be of much help anyway!"
"Leaving things here to Sister Sanguinius and me will be enough—since you still have a secret mission given by Father, then go do it!"
"Guilliman!!!"
Lion was so enraged that she rushed over and pinched Guilliman's cheek—then tugged hard, pulling Guilliman's face directly into a goofy contortion.
"Release the Primarch!"
Sicarius lost his temper again, but the Dark Angels Grand Master was also standing behind, having already raised the Caliban Greatsword in his hand, ready at any moment to have a proper brawl with these brother legions.
"What do you mean, Guilliman? Saying I can't be of help—what kind of joke is that!"
"What's the damn point of a combat-incapable scrub like you?"
"When you charge to the front lines, I'm even worried you'll feed. Yet you're still mocking me behind my back!"
With her face stretched wide, Guilliman was not to be outdone. Even if she really couldn't beat her dear sister, her mouth still had to stay stubborn.
"What use is Lion knowing how to fight?!"
"In the Imperium, we talk management, we talk facts!"
"You managed to run your own home into ruin, whereas I can continuously mobilize a million-strong force from my home realm!"
"It doesn't matter if I can't beat you—if you've got the guts, let's compare whose kids are more numerous!"
Listening to Guilliman's words, Lion felt a surge of heat in her chest—although Lion had also been expanding her forces during this period, compared to Guilliman's, it was truly far, far too little, perhaps not even 1/10th of the other's.
Although Lion was confident that in individual unit quality she could surpass the Ultramarines, the problem was that against endless Ultramarines, having her own kids fight them off was something they genuinely couldn't win.
In the end, in top-tier combat power, Lion could indeed ruthlessly crush Guilliman, but standing behind Guilliman were endless blue sons and blue grandsons.
Once the Primaris Space Marine conversion plan went through, the gap between both sides would definitely grow even larger, and the combat power disparity caused by numbers would surely be even more absurd than it was now.
"My oh my!"
Peacemaker Sanguinius finally spoke up; if she didn't speak up, the two were going to start throwing hands!
"Lion dear, Guilliman dear, don't argue anymore!"
"The most important thing right now is to go to Terra. I can feel endless demons currently breaching the Emperor's rear gate!"
"Huh?"
Both Primarchs were startled—was that something that could be said out loud?
Besides, looking at Sanguinius's demeanor, it was very likely a joke. If the Emperor was truly being breached by demons, Sanguinius would lose her head even faster than them.
[The Emperor: Is it possible that Sanguinius is telling the truth? I'm currently using the Custodes as wall pegs, which is why I haven't been breached!]
[Lion: Dad, why didn't you say so earlier? If that's the case, your child will definitely go help you out!]
Slap!
Just as both sides were still locking horns, Lion's cheek took a slap first.
A tiny palm print appeared first on that tender face, as if it were punishment for Lion speaking recklessly—Lion had indeed been getting rather unruly recently.
"Haha!"
Guilliman, with her terrible signal, had no idea what had happened. Guilliman thought Mother Emperor must be standing on her side!
"Heheh, see, Lion, you got punished by Father!"
"Even though this is the Moon, everything we do is right under Mother Emperor's nose!"
"Guilliman, what the hell do you know!"
The tsundere little lioness naturally knew the real situation. She had just been misbehaving a bit earlier and took a slap for it, not because she was slapped for fighting.
The current Guilliman might not necessarily have the guts to misbehave; not even knowing what had just happened, she was an absolute outsider.
[Emperor Family Group (Without Guilliman)]
[The Emperor: You two stop standing there dazed, hurry over to plug the line! If you drag your feet any longer, before the Webway is even repaired, I'll be breached first!]
[If you keep dawdling, you two can take turns sitting on this Golden Throne for me, just in time for me to step down and stretch my limbs.]
Hearing the Emperor's group message, Sanguinius and Lion's faces instantly changed.
They could no longer care about the prideful and self-satisfied Guilliman—if they didn't head back now, the Emperor's rear gate hook defense campaign would be lost!