Axis watched Lorgar scribbling furiously with a look of feverish devotion on his face. He nodded in satisfaction and departed from the cell.
Composing the sacred texts for the entire Imperial Creed was not a task that could be completed overnight. He decided he would come back to check on the Primarch's progress after the war with the Rangdan Xenos was concluded.
Axis had faith that Lorgar would deliver a result that would please him. As for surveillance, his own presence was no longer needed; the old man would personally oversee it. With the Emperor's omnipresent gaze fixed upon him, no chaotic power would ever find an opportunity to corrupt Lorgar's work.
For the time being, the establishment of the Imperial Creed, Lorgar's authoring of the holy scripture, and the matter of the great demobilization needed to be concealed from the other Primarchs.
Currently, all the Primarchs were busy celebrating their recent victory in the war and extending their congratulations to Sanguinius. The Great Angel had perfectly resolved his personal flaw, returning once more to his noble, archangelic form. A glorious, golden radiance now emanated from his entire being, a power of Holy Light that left his brothers in profound awe.
In a gesture of supreme generosity, Sanguinius had planted a seed of this Holy Light within each of his brother Primarchs, sharing this newfound strength without asking for anything in return. He gave them his solemn promise that the Holy Light was entirely different from the powers of the warp; it was a force of his own creation and thus perfectly safe.
Furthermore, he offered to have members from any Legion come to the Blood Angels to be trained in its use if they so wished.
The other Primarchs accepted this proposal with overwhelming enthusiasm. They happily declared their intent to send their own legionaries to the Blood Angels to learn the ways of the Holy Light.
They simply had no reason to refuse. This power was far too appealing, being incredibly versatile in offense, defense, and healing. It was a true panacea on the battlefield. Moreover, it carried none of the inherent dangers associated with wielding psychic abilities, so the other Primarchs were eager for their Astartes to master it.
In the days following its creation, the Primarchs, Sanguinius's first students, had diligently practiced and refined this new power.
They learned to wreath their bodies in the Holy Light to form a defensive aura, like an invisible suit of armor. They could imbue their weapons with it, enhancing both melee strikes and ranged projectiles.
They also discovered that the Holy Light was not limited to healing. It could be used to amplify the combat capabilities of their allies, granting them blessings that increased their speed, strength, and agility. Blessings of Power, Courage, Dexterity, and Wisdom were developed.
Thanks to the superhuman intellect of the Primarchs, the Way of the Paladin advanced by leaps and bounds in just a few short days.
Even Axis's own unconventional father, Leman Russ, had sought him out in a flurry of excitement, and together they explored the applications of the Holy Light.
Axis did not hold back, sharing with the Wolf King all of his own understanding of the power, his concepts of a Paladin, and several theoretical techniques he had imagined.
Time passed quickly, and soon the day arrived for the grand muster of the fleets. The campaign against the Rangda was to be led by Axis and Roboute Guilliman.
Providing support for the campaign were the Wolf King Leman Russ, the Lion El'Jonson, Magnus, and Sanguinius himself.
As for Rogal Dorn, his duty was to remain and guard Holy Terra.
Vulkan, Jaghatai Khan, Corvus Corax, and Ferrus Manus of the Iron Hands were tasked with hunting down the scattered Chaos warbands, pursuing the vile traitors all the way into the Eye of Terror.
There, they were to construct a mighty fortress to forever seal the rebels within that hellish realm.
A brief fleet-swearing ceremony, presided over by Guilliman, was held on Holy Terra. As one of the campaign's supreme commanders, Guilliman delivered a rousing speech that bolstered the morale of the Imperial legions.
When it was his turn, Axis simply went up, said a few words, and promptly returned to his position.
With the pre-battle mobilization complete, the Space Marines boarded their respective vessels. An Imperial armada of truly terrifying scale set its course for the western galactic fringe, toward the domains of the Rangda.
The final extinction of the Rangdan was now over a century later than it had been in the original timeline, but that mattered little. Their fate was sealed; they were destined for annihilation at the hands of the Imperium.
This time, Axis did not ask the Laughing God for access to the Webway, but instead proceeded with conventional warp travel. With the Emperor now seated upon the Golden Throne and Lord Malcador working to integrate the Pharos into the Astronomican, the raging storms of the empyrean had subsided.
The warp was navigable, though there was a certain unsettled green-tinged current stirring, no doubt a result of Nurgle having lost something precious. For the most part, warp travel was now relatively stable.
Furthermore, Sanguinius had ascended to a form of godhood. His immense psychic presence was more than sufficient to shield the human fleets navigating the treacherous currents of the warp.
Aboard the flagship Solus Prime, Magnus and Axis stood together, flanked by the Wolf King Leman Russ and the Lion El'Jonson.
After several days of rest, Magnus had brought his physical and mental state to its absolute peak. The time had come for him to consume the remaining Fruits of the Tree of Might.
The Wolf King and the Lion were also considered suitable candidates for such power, so Axis had invited them to his vessel to witness the event.
"Axis, are you certain this is wise?" Russ asked, his voice low.
"Relax, father," Axis replied reassuringly. "I promise you, there will be no issues. This is how Sanguinius gained his Holy Light, after all."
"Sanguinius is different from Magnus," Russ murmured, leaning closer to Axis. "Sanguinius was always an archangel, radiating a divine aura at all times. It seemed almost preordained that he would awaken such a miraculous power. But Magnus… his psychic might is already immense. What if he loses control?"
What Russ truly feared was that Magnus would shed his physical form and fully transform into a being of the warp, a new god of the empyrean.
It was not an impossible scenario, and the Lion, standing nearby, wore an expression of similar concern.
"The two of you can set your minds at ease," Axis said. "It is true that a Primarch's soul originates from the warp, but all your souls were forged by the Emperor from the fragments of humanity's pantheon. In essence, you are entirely new lifeforms. Accepting your warp-born nature will not pose a problem."
In truth, Axis himself was immensely curious to see what would become of his father and the Lion after they awakened their own warp essence.
He considered his father, Leman Russ. The Space Wolves already possessed the ability to transform into lupine beasts, a trait that came from the Canis Helix.
Part of that, however, also came from the essence of Russ himself; the Emperor had incorporated the traits of canine life into the Wolf King's very creation. Would he become a druid of some kind? Though, as far as Axis knew, his unconventional father could only become a wolf.
Then there was Lion El'Jonson. Though called the Lion King, his essence had little to do with lions and was in fact closer to that of an angel.
Axis greatly anticipated the changes that would occur once these two awakened the divine power of their souls.
His musings were cut short as Magnus began. After his years sitting vigil upon the Golden Throne, his psychic fortitude and physical constitution had been tempered to an incredible degree, allowing him to consume all eight of the remaining Fruits of the Tree of Might in a single sitting.
He took a deep breath, casting aside any lingering hesitation. A powerful psychic force lifted the fruits, and like a great whale drawing in the sea, he ingested all eight energy-laden orbs in succession.
A thunderous shockwave erupted.
The blast was far more violent than the one during Sanguinius's ascension. If Sanguinius's apotheosis was a divine tempest, then what Magnus had just unleashed was a psychic singularity that ripped through both the material and immaterial realms.
In that instant, the entire Solus Prime, a colossal vessel of celestial scale, seemed to become transparent. The ship's structure groaned and warped under the torrential flood of raw energy. Countless sophisticated instruments sparked and died.
The lights on the bridge flickered madly before extinguishing completely, leaving only the place where Magnus stood, which erupted in a pure, indescribable light bright enough to blind any mortal who gazed upon it.
This was not the warm, sacred golden light of Sanguinius. This was an ultimate psychic storm, where a billion colors mixed, separated, and merged in an instant. Crimson, deep violet, silver-blue, emerald green, and starlight white. All the energy contained within the fruits was being forcibly integrated, analyzed, and reconstructed by the sheer, star-spanning vastness of Magnus's soul.
"I am… the Monarch of All-Knowledge! The Master of Truth!" a grand, majestic voice proclaimed, a sound like a billion voices of wisdom layered into one, resonating in the soul of every being present.
The storm suddenly imploded.
All the raging energies, the flickering runes, and the distorted light rushed inward like a thousand rivers returning to the sea, flooding into the newly remade body of Magnus the Red.
When the light finally faded, a new Magnus hovered in the air. He was taller than before, his nearly four-meter-tall frame exuding a sense of inhuman, near-perfect harmony.
Silver-blue energy pathways, like a living circuit board, seemed to pulse beneath his skin. A third eye had opened upon his brow, a kaleidoscopic vortex that endlessly reflected countless stars, runes, and fragments of knowledge.
He had not grown wings. Instead, a shimmering, ever-evolving star chart manifested behind him, a pocket of reality where countless minuscule runes made of pure psychic energy flickered into and out of existence like newborn stars.
A halo-like corona of pure power materialized behind his head.
In his presence, the warp itself grew docile. The chaotic tides of the empyrean calmed around him, their roiling fury soothed into gentle, meandering streams. He was now the sole helmsman of truth in the endless, roiling ocean of the warp.
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ps?