"Didn't Father assign you any missions? Are you just... traveling all over the cosmos right now?"
Perturabo expressed deep skepticism toward everything Angron described. The "Dad" from the Great Crusade era was never this laid-back.
Right now, even though the troops under Angron's command still had to battle all kinds of xenos and Orks, according to Angron's description, Father hadn't forced him to conquer specific worlds. It was all being done according to his own will, letting those worlds be liberated.
In Perturabo's eyes, this method of liberation was simply too slow. It would be far better to launch a direct military assault, forge the world into a fortress world, and then draw conscripts from it.
"Heheh—is that not allowed?"
"I still feel that my children need to have a rebellious spirit!"
Angron briefly scanned Dantioch a few times. After just these few simple glances, Angron already knew what the guy was thinking.
"Haha!" Angron laughed and replied to Dantioch.
"Weren't you going to curse your Primarch earlier? How come the words reached the tip of your tongue and you couldn't say them?"
"You seem quite relieved in your heart that your Primarch has turned into her current state?"
"You seem to prefer Primarch Roboute Guilliman. Didn't you work under him before?"
"A pathetic piece of small fry!" Perturabo, maintaining her usual sharp and bitter tongue, mocked her underachieving child.
Even though his combat record was glorious, it was all against his own kind.
Now, although his subconscious told him that the kid in front of him had become one of his own, Perturabo's feelings toward the boy were still stuck in a rather convoluted, tsundere state.
"Well—alright, Auntie. Working under Guilliman, I truly felt an unprecedented sense of ease!"
"I could properly refine my Macragge defensive line, and I could also take the time to reorganize military affairs, building more fortresses and industrial facilities!"
"To be honest, fighting under him really made me feel an unprecedented sense of relief. If my other brothers could live this kind of life, that would be wonderful!"
Angron's eyes narrowed slightly. With just a few simple glances, she had taken a liking to someone else's kid.
Since Perturabo didn't care for this loyalist brat, it would be better to just poach him over.
It just so happened that his current legion lacked constructive talent, and this guy was a perfect fit!
"Hey, Perturabo, let me borrow this kid of yours for a bit."
"Since you despise him so much anyway, borrowing him for a bit shouldn't be an issue, right?"
"Get lost!!!"
Perturabo crossed her arms, snapping back at Angron with burning rage.
This single retort instantly riled up the World Eaters standing behind.
A few veterans who had undergone psychological counseling even almost wanted to rush over and pick a fight with Perturabo.
Of course, these veterans couldn't beat Perturabo nowadays either. Don't look at how Perturabo had turned into a soft, cute, twin-tailed Lolita flying small girl!
As she floated in mid-air, those cannon barrels thicker than a human head could wipe out a whole swarm of Space Marines in a single blast.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk—saying with your mouth that this kid is a total disappointment, but in your heart, you actually acknowledge him quite a bit, don't you!"
"Can you stop being so convoluted?"
"If you keep acting like this, the kid is going to misunderstand you!"
"Che!" Perturabo remained sullen. He was surprised to find that he didn't even know how to take the first step right now.
Now that both of them were aboard the Conqueror, he could indeed find nothing to do and go be a governor or even a sector governor on some planets.
But the moment he thought about working for the Emperor again, the current Perturabo felt incredibly displeased.
Working for that old father of theirs—she'd rather just die.
"Hehe~"
Sensing Perturabo's inner thoughts, Angron brought up an excellent idea at this moment.
"Since you're unwilling to work for that cheap old dad, then it's perfect. Why don't we just go independent!"
"Let's kick that cheap old dad aside and strike out on our own!"
"Building a pocket empire similar to Ultramar's 500 Worlds should be quite simple, shouldn't it?"
Hearing these words, Perturabo was slightly stunned. He had originally thought Angron had gone back to being a dog for the Imperium.
Only now did he realize that Angron didn't want to be a dog at all; she clearly wanted to break away and go solo!
It was just that the team lacked constructive talent, so she found him to get his help.
"After all this time, you're fucking dragging me out to work for you!"
"Are you not even hiding the fact that you're recruiting people to do your chores now? Openly trying to exploit me like this, you really have some nerve!"
"Is that not okay?" Angron asked blankly.
That pure psychological state truly made Perturabo envious. Could a person's thoughts really move forward so unimpeded? Shouldn't one think a few more times and consider the feasibility of the plan?
To be honest, Perturabo was tempted.
She placed one hand on her hip, stroking her chin with the other, sinking into deep thought.
"You won't lie to me like Horus did, will you?"
"Don't let it be a case of talking sweet now, only to turn around and throw my 4th Legion to the front lines to throw their lives away again!"
"No way, my heart of absolute sincerity can be witnessed by heaven and earth!"
"We're basically in a constant state of Truth or Dare right now. As long as we swear an oath, absolutely nothing will go wrong!"
When Angron said these words, she looked completely silly and adorable.
Perturabo even had an illusion—was she talking to an underage child?
Could a dorky kid like this lie?
Wait, if she got reeled in by this idiot, wouldn't that make her dorkier than a dork?
Yet, for some reason, Perturabo felt that chatting with the current Angron was quite relaxing.
Angron's personality had changed drastically. Her combat skills were no different from the original Angron, but the shift in her personality was truly monumental.
"Haha!"
Before Perturabo could ask, Angron answered her own thoughts.
"Actually, this was my original personality. If not for those damn Butcher's Nails, there's no way I would have split into that mad dog state!"
"To be honest, even if there are misunderstandings along the way, I don't want to fight for the Emperor!"
"I've been a discarded piece ever since he retrieved me. The Emperor knew long ago that 9 children would rebel against him, which is why I was the very first one he abandoned!"
Perturabo initially thought Angron said these words just to gain her trust.
But as the conversation deepened, Perturabo realized this guy was speaking the truth.
In her convoluted mind, she felt that the previous visions could also be dreams or schemes woven by the Emperor.
But one thing was correct: as long as she didn't work for the Emperor, absolutely nothing would go wrong!
"Fine, your idea—I, Perturabo, am in!"
"But those Imperial Fists people, how do you plan to handle them?" Perturabo remembered the several hundred Imperial Fists captives.
In the past, they might have been killed directly, but now she had a completely new idea.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
"My—you really have a twisted sense of humor, actually wanting these Imperial Fists to call you mommy. Your mindset really is a bit convoluted!"
"Oooh!" Even the cruel and cold Iron Warriors let out a chorus of boos at this moment.
Especially those Warsmiths; upon hearing this, their interest was instantly piqued.
"Bastard!" The little girl Perturabo cursed angrily under her breath.
Immediately after, she used psychic communication, chirping and grumbling away.
[Perturabo: Bastard, keep some privacy, don't blab everything out loud!]
[That was just a fleeting thought of mine, it's not like I'm actually going to do it!]
[Angron: Why not do it? You clearly want to do it in your heart, yet you restrain yourself from doing it?]
[You're not working for that damn golden corpse anymore, do whatever the hell you want!]
[Perturabo: It's easy to say, but...]
"You're afraid of losing face, right?" At this moment, Angron could directly look into a person's heart.
She was the best psychologist, capable of twisting a convoluted person's twisted thoughts straight back.
Right now, Caleb found that these two seemed like a match made in heaven!
If Khorne hadn't made a move on Angron, and if there were no Butcher's Nails, Angron's existence might have actually been able to untangle all the convoluted Primarchs.
If the history of this era shifted a bit, an apocryphal timeline might actually emerge.
At this time, Dantioch spoke up, adding fuel to the fire: "Primarch, I think this works!"
"If Rogal Dorn finds out a bunch of his kids are calling you mommy, he will definitely die of anger!"
"I don't believe he's truly a block of stone. If you really do this, it will definitely piss him off!"
"Is that so?"
Perturabo was just about to nod, but when she realized it was Dantioch's suggestion, she instinctively wanted to oppose it.
But if she rejected this idea, wouldn't she be slapping her own face? Consequently, Perturabo's brain loops tangled up once again.
"Dantioch, go do it!"
"Your mommy actually really wants to do this. Just go ahead and do it, she won't object!"
"I see, thank you, Auntie Angron—I will properly persuade them to join our big family!"
"Heh!"
A young girl and a giant man; the two simply exchanged a brief smile.
Right after, Dantioch went down. He walked toward the cells where the captives were held, prepared to use his relations and abilities to persuade those veterans to join them.
"What a piece of small fry, he doesn't even know who his mom is anymore!"
"Haha! After all that, he still wants to win back a mother like you!"
"You and your sons just lack communication, exactly like how your relationship with the Emperor used to be!"
"Drop it!" Perturabo stubbornly denied.
"He clearly just made us work all over the place!"
"Every time, he handed me the hardest and most exhausting tasks, and in the end, I didn't get a shred of honor or benefit!"
"I originally thought the war would end after just a few years. The result? We've been fighting for hundreds of years!"
"Pfft—"
Angron didn't want to tease this Lolita sister of hers anymore. After all, during the Horus Heresy, this girl was the most miserable laborer.
While she herself was running wild and raging, her cheap Lolita sister was huffing and puffing away, working for Horus.
In the end, after Horus was put down by the Emperor, she got absolutely nothing.
Finally, she became a shut-in, spending all day playing management simulations inside this planet.
"Isn't it great the way things are now? You can do whatever you want now!"
"The current you doesn't need to care about the purges of the loyalists, nor do you need to care about what others think of you!"
"You only need to care about your own little plot of land, just like that ambitious Guilliman!"
"Che—"
Perturabo got annoyed just hearing about that, because that damn Dantioch had mentioned more than once how good things were over on the Ultramarines' side.
"Don't mention that guy to me, it pisses me off just thinking about it!"
Angron's eyes narrowed slightly, and she whispered into her Lolita sister's ear: "Oh, Perturabo, you duplicitous girl, you still care a lot about that kid, don't you!"
"After all, he did live the life you wanted before, didn't he? Honor, rewards, and the care and attention of others!"
"He got everything you craved, and now you can get those things too!"
"Let's hope so!"
Having experienced ten thousand years of accumulation, Perturabo didn't think these things would come easily.
If things went wrong, even if she guarded her own little plot of land, she might still be attacked by those piece of shit loyalists.
When that time came, another great war would inevitably break out; only then could she protect everything she wanted.
Caleb took a look; the interactions between these two traitor Primarch bodies seemed fairly harmonious.
The Emperor truly didn't know how to raise kids. One day, he'd have to find a way to write a Primarch Parenting Guide for the Emperor.
Although they were still unwilling to work for the Emperor, at the very least, they would listen to him.
Meanwhile—Guilliman had arrived at the Imperial Palace on Terra.
He had merely completed a brief handover with the Adeptus Custodes, and very soon, Malcador and Guilliman went together into the palace to meet the Emperor.
[The Emperor: Daughter... 13th... Lord of Ultramar... Savior... Hope... Failure... Disappointment... Thief... Liar... Betrayer... Guilliman... Imperium Secundus—Disgrace—Damned—Traitor~]
"Dad, is that really how you look at me?"
"Although your child has done many wrongs, I'm not as pathetic as you say, am I!"
Guilliman spoke tearfully to the Emperor on the throne.
The words coming out of that dried corpse simply broke his heart.
He had originally wanted to return to the Imperium to work hard and diligently ease the Emperor's burdens, but the moment he entered, he was met with a harsh tongue-lashing.
It practically tore her down to pieces.
"Sigh!" Malcador let out a sigh.
Right after, he read the complete words out loud for Guilliman to hear.
[Your dad said: My son, the 13th returning body, Lord of Ultramar, you are the savior of the Imperium, you are the hope of humanity, do not fail, do not despair of the future, beware of the thieves within the Imperium, deal with the betrayers, everything relies on you, Guilliman!]
[Do well with the matters of Imperium Secundus, don't lose face for your sisters, those damn traitors will definitely obstruct you, you must be careful with everything.]
"Eh???"
Guilliman was stunned. He completely failed to imagine that the version Malcador heard was actually like this.
Originally, he had thought the Emperor must have cursed him into oblivion.
Turns out Malcador's full version was entirely giving him advice and encouraging him to do things!
"Mr. Malcador, why is what I heard different!"
Malcador curled his lips: "Don't you have any awareness of your own signal strength? Your dad is standing right in front of you, and you can't even hear clearly."
"And you still think the Imperial decrees I mentioned in the past were empty words, and you still think—some of my words were meant to deceive you!"
The two quietly looked at the Emperor's massive frame, and at this exact moment, the Emperor's massive skeleton actually moved.
They saw his right hand slowly raise up, and then... gave a thumbs up. The stark white thumb clearly signaled agreement with Malcador's words.
[The Emperor: Right!]
To ensure the two wouldn't have any misunderstandings, the Emperor only spoke this single word at this time, emphasizing it repeatedly.
What Malcador heard over here was "right, right, right."
But Guilliman's signal was bad, so he only heard one word.
"So that's how it is!"
"I thought Dad didn't like me!"
"I thought Dad minded the matter of Imperium Secundus a lot!"
Malcador shook his head, but also nodded.
Because on the way back, he had indeed had a heart-to-heart talk with the Emperor inside the Warp.
Malcador said: "Your old man supports Imperium Secundus, and agrees to let Sanguinius be the Emperor!"
"Right now, if we want to wipe out the influence of the Ecclesiarchy, we must seek a substitute!"
"And Sanguinius is an excellent choice, you can indeed go ahead and do this!"
"This!"
Guilliman didn't really like feudal superstitions, but on the way back, he had heard Malcador mention that Sanguinius was a bit different now.
His sister might very well be qualified to be the purest Master of Mankind.
And the Emperor's current state could no longer receive that endless stream of faith power!
The current Emperor was like a massive powder keg, and the colossal power of faith was continuously filling the gunpowder inside that keg.
If the day came when the Emperor stood up, the entire galaxy would be done for.
Not only that—the fractured power of the End and the Death might very well cause the entire universe to slide into oblivion, never to be reborn.
"Alright, Guilliman, regarding the mission on Terra, you have to work hard!"
"I will secretly control some departments to cooperate with you, including the Knights-Errant of the Inquisition, as well as some organizations I set up in secret ten thousand years ago!"
"Really?"
"Old Grandpa Malcador, thank you for your immense support!"
"I will definitely launch the Indomitus Crusade as quickly as possible, sweeping away those heretics and xenos, sweeping away those damn obstacles!"
Listening to Guilliman's resonant words, Malcador nodded silently, speaking no further.
He still had to properly chat with the old Emperor right now. As for political affairs, ah—just hand it over to a guy like Guilliman to handle, wouldn't that save peace of mind?
[The Emperor: Old Mal, you've really become lazy through and through!]
[Seeing how useful my kid is, you're going to work her to death, right?]
[If you give so many tasks to my daughter Guilliman to do, I'm afraid she won't get any rest. As an elder, don't go slacking off here with me!]
[Malcador: Come on, Your Majesty, what kind of words are those!]
[How could I possibly exploit Guilliman? I'm merely letting him work 16 hours a day, and I'll take over for the remaining 8 hours, that's all.]
[The Emperor: Listen to yourself, are those words a human would say?]
[Not seeing you for ten thousand years, you've really become cheeky through and through!]
Malcador upturned the corners of his mouth slightly, shaking his head with a cold laugh: "Still better than you, haven't you always been like this?"
"You're almost turning into a god now. If I don't think of a way to stop it, you really won't be human anymore!"
"True, you couldn't spit out any human words before anyway, so this state can be considered poetic justice!"
The Emperor's skeleton trembled slightly, and even—the Custodes nearby noticed. The Emperor's skeleton faintly showed signs of wanting to stand up.
[The Emperor: I am not a god! I am not a god! I am not a god!]
Seeing the Emperor shouting again, Malcador could no longer crack jokes with the suffering Emperor.
He had to find a way to elevate Sanguinius as the new ruler now.
As for the Emperor, he'd find a chance to get him down later.
Right now, Malcador's return to the Imperium was actually a secret.
Aside from the Custodes, Guilliman, and Lion, basically few people knew the news of Malcador's return.
Meanwhile, over at the High Lords of Terra, undercurrents were currently surging.
Some radicals even wanted to get rid of Guilliman, this Lord Regent.
Regarding these radicals, both Guilliman and Malcador merely gave a faint smile.
Because they happened to hold an excellent item in their hands that could turn people into Genestealers!