"Thwack!"
On what is now planet REDACTED, formerly known as Caliban.
A furious young girl was going absolutely ballistic on her own children.
This time, the hot-tempered young girl's scolding came fwith kicks and curses both.
The violence of a mother lioness was on full display.
"You bunch of bastards, how do you manage to lose track of even a photo!"
"This is the Inner Circle! And you're telling me something got stolen?!"
"How could something this important get stolen?!"
"Just how are you people managing the Inner Circle?!"
The Dark Angels Grand Master Azrael silently endured the Primarch's temper.
Truth be told, he was nursing a bit of his own irritation at this moment — because according to what the Primarch had said, that little box contained a secret that they didn't know about, but the Fallen Angels did.
For the loyalists like him, this was absolutely intolerable. Whatever the secret was, as members of the Inner Circle, they had to find a way to know it too!
And so, even though Azrael knew who had stolen it, he hadn't stopped those fellows from making off with his precious one's treasure.
When he arranged pursuit forces, he mostly just... watched quietly.
Only after those reckless fools actually cracked the box open did he dispatch people to begin hunting down those damned traitors!
"Rest assured, my Primarch — I already know who had the gall to steal something this important."
"According to our intelligence, this was the work of the Blood Ravens."
"They likely don't know the secret. Originally they were there to steal our relics and equipment, and they simply happened to grab this by accident!"
"Is that so?" The Primarch fixed Azrael with a suspicious gaze.
After all, this fellow's way of doing things was actually somewhat similar to her adoptive father's.
Sometimes he also liked to act first and report later, or even keep certain secrets to himself.
The only difference was that this fellow knew far, far less than her adoptive father did.
"It's absolutely true, my Primarch — I have nothing to hide from you!"
"Everything I've said is fact. If you don't believe me, you may use the Veritas spell on me!"
Lion El'Jonson was herself an interrogation expert. She naturally knew that everything this child was saying was the truth.
The only thing this child had overlooked was that while his method could slip past any interrogation technique...
...it could not escape the deepest self within his own heart.
The young girl Lion snapped furiously: "Azrael, you just want to know my secret with Sanguinius that badly, do you?!"
"I'm not worried about Sanguinius — after all, he's already dead!"
"But you are still alive, and you understand what I mean by that, yes?"
"My Primarch!"
Azrael broke out in a cold sweat. He had never imagined this secret was so important to the Primarch.
It seemed as though, to keep it safe, the Primarch would actually dare to kill him.
Just what kind of secret was it, that the Primarch would guard it so fiercely?!
"Tell me the truth — what are you really thinking in the depths of your heart? If you don't come clean, I have plenty of methods to make you talk."
Lion delivered the final ultimatum, and the Librarians standing behind her were already poised, preparing to give their lives to cast the Truth-Speaking ritual.
This kind of sorcery could throw a person's heart wide open — like a library, its contents available for browsing at will.
If the spell was truly activated, there was no question — Léon could page through her child's inner world as freely as flipping through a book.
"Great Gene-Mother, please hear me out!"
"This is unfair! Why does Sanguinius know something I don't?!"
"If it were a secret only you knew, I could accept that!"
"But a secret he knew and I don't — I cannot resign myself to this!"
At this moment, Azrael had become like a pathetic simp, clutching desperately at his Primarch's slender feet!
His look of burning resentment poured forth like a surging flood.
Inside the private chamber, Lion was utterly stunned. Was this spineless creature really the same Azrael who had bombed his own homeworld?
She planted her foot firmly on his helmet and kicked him flying!
Azrael crashed heavily into the wall, barely clinging to life!
"You insolent child — do you really think I won't kill you?!"
"Do you have any idea how important that secret is?!"
"If you don't retrieve that secret today, I'll make you pay!"
"Yes, my Primarch!"
Azrael, beaten black and blue, scrambled away with a look of eager excitement. Several Apothecaries immediately rushed to treat him, terrified he might expire right there in front of the Primarch.
Unlike the warriors outside in their dark green armour, those surrounding the Primarch now were all Deathwing Angels clad in black plate and robes.
These fellows currently knew a bit too much — and so, to ensure the secret wouldn't get out, León had no choice but to keep them all close by her side.
"Haah..."
Watching the sorry display her child put on, the Lion King let out a sigh.
But somehow, and she couldn't quite explain why, her children had been getting more and more outrageous lately.
First, they'd started coming to her bar and drinking themselves silly, leaving her working overtime every single day with her hands never getting a rest.
Then certain Inner Circle members developed the habit of testing the captured Fallen Angels — trying to see if they knew their Primarch was a woman.
The moment any Fallen Angel answered "yes," the curious Chaplains would immediately hit them with a Soul-Search to extract every last detail.
This was completely at odds with the Redemption procedure. As a result, the current León had to stay constantly on her toes, because if she was even slightly slow, her children might learn secrets they weren't supposed to know.
This period had kept the Lion King absolutely run ragged. Even on the rare occasions she was gaming with Alice, she'd have to reach over and smack some unruly child into line.
"I just hope that once they learn that secret, they'll settle down a bit."
"If they keep putting me through this, I'm going to have a nervous breakdown."
The so-called "nervous breakdown" was, of course, just a joke from the Lion King.
She was a Primarch — the most perfect of genetics. How could she possibly suffer a nervous breakdown?
Still, thanks to everything her children had been putting her through, she was genuinely tired.
It was a fatigue of the soul, not of the mind.
[Caleb: Well well, your daughter is playing house with your children, hm?]
[The number of your children who now know you're a girl just keeps growing!]
[The news of you becoming a woman is becoming impossible to contain within the Dark Angels!]
"I know."
The familiar voice was back. The tsundere lion naturally wasn't about to admit she'd missed her father.
It truly wasn't that she missed her dad — it was just that she desperately wanted her father's ability to hold the whole situation in hand.
The ability to deploy Astartes at any time, any place — if she had that kind of power, handling all these wretched secrets wouldn't be nearly this troublesome.
[Caleb: You're actually quite indulgent with your children, I see!]
[You actually let one of them find out something this important, and still didn't kill him in a fit of rage!]
[If I recall, not long after you first returned, you killed a veteran subordinate who had served under you for ages!]
[Even if the man had overstepped, that approach really did leave many people with the impression of someone ruthless!]
The incident Caleb referred to was from the time of the Great Crusade.
Back then, a Company Captain had clashed with Lion over a disagreement and was cut down by the Lion's blade.
Although the Captain's idea had genuinely been incredibly stupid, nearly putting the Legion in serious danger —
— it was still the middle of a council meeting. That kind of matter was best handled privately.
[Lion: Let's not talk about that. I had no control over myself back then, that's just how it was!]
[Even now I still lose my temper. I just don't know why — every time I'm about to kill one of them, I can't bring myself to do it!]
"Haah..."
Whenever this subject came up, Lion couldn't help but sigh.
Nowadays when she needed to execute a traitor, she issued the order and let child kill child.
She had been back for so long now... and she hadn't personally dispatched a single traitor with her own hands.
Even facing the Fallen Angels themselves, her hands would inevitably start to tremble.
[Caleb : You've begun to understand what I felt back in those days. Do you know now why I allowed my children to rebel?]
[I knew from the very beginning that nine of my children would turn traitor.]
[And yet, I ultimately chose to let you all march alongside me on the Crusade.]
"Was that it...?"
"Is that what you call mercy?"
"So be it. But as your sword, I have no need for such mercy."
"Tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it."
"You only need to say the word, and I will go."
The tsundere Lion wore a look of aloof pride on her small face. Now that she had become a girl, she was every inch the classic tsundere.
She clearly cared deeply about her father, yet nothing of the sort would ever show on the surface. Even the excitement stirring in her heart would never directly surface in her thoughts.
Even at a moment like this, that same tone persisted.
[Caleb : I imagine you've picked up a lead on the Webway technology by now!]
[I'd guess it's some kind of repair technique — but it truly would be useful to you!]
[Perhaps once you've mastered this technology, you can return to Terra and lend Guilliman a hand!]
[Who knows — with this, maybe you could help Maccabeus successfully repair the Webway!]
Caleb had a fairly clear picture of what Lion was planning.
She intended to seek out Lord of Death — for she had already learned that the Death Guard's Primarch held something that interested her greatly.
Caleb had once asked Lion to search for Webway technology, and through Yvraine, the current Lion had already found a small thread to follow.
[Caleb : Hmm — do your best!]
[This technology truly is vital to the Empire's future. If you have the luck to obtain it, perhaps it really can change the fate of the Imperium!]
Seeing that the Lion King had fallen silent for some time, Caleb said no more.
But the moment Caleb stopped talking, Lion — who had been standing there performing her cool act — began venting her inner sulk.
[Lion: Ugh, that's it? Nothing more to say?!]
[Not even a word of praise? You're just... leaving like that.]
[And you want me to go help Guilliman of all people. That blockhead — how could I possibly?!]
[Can't fight his way out of a corner, has terrible signal reception, and even the one thing he could do — politics — he's still nowhere near Maccabeus's level. That man went back just to go on holiday. Why should I?!]
"Achoo!"
Guilliman, having just arrived in the Sol System, had the distinct feeling that someone was thinking about him.
He sneezed inexplicably, and before him lay a towering pile of utterly baffling administrative work — accounts and governance that needed sorting out.
"I feel like big sis is cursing me out somehow, but I have no proof. Damn it all!"
"And these wretched affairs — the Prime Minister won't even help with them!"
"Every time he handles a task halfway through, he goes off to chat with Father. All I can do is work overtime — there's nothing else I can do!"
Guilliman continued scribbling furiously at his desk, wearing a look of deeply aggrieved resentment.
His little feet dangled in the air — the original human-sized chair was entirely unsuitable for his current tiny body.
"My Primarch!"
Sicarius walked in, and thoughtfully arranged a desk perfectly suited to a small girl!
He had acquired it from a noble household nearby — a product of the Dark Age of Technology, apparently quite the high-end model in its day: a deluxe bouncer/baby chair.
The considerate Sicarius scooped up his Primarch and settled him into a more suitable working arrangement.
While it did allow Guilliman's toes to touch the ground, the gently bouncing sensation was... quite peculiar.
"Err~"
"Sicarius, you're the best, truly! So thoughtful!"
"This strange chair is actually pretty decent — it even lets me rock side to side. Much more convenient!"
"Sigh..."
"It's just — looking the way I do now, am I not lacking a certain... gravitas? Do you think the other children will still listen to me?"
Sicarius looked at his Primarch's current state and inwardly rolled his eyes.
[Sicarius: My Primarch, do you want to hear what you're actually saying? Right now, half our brothers would kill for the chance to serve you!]
[For a single head-pat, they would give their lives!]
[You're basically the company mascot right now. Anyone who dares say a bad word about you — they'll be beaten half to death and stuffed into a Dreadnought by end of day!]
Of course, Sicarius kept all of that strictly in his own head.
The current Guilliman had none of the Lion King's casual teleportation, none of Angron's brutal honesty game.
He lacked Sanguinius's faith-fuelled divine power, and even wanting to speak with Father had to go through Maccabeus as an embellishing intermediary.
Though in truth, the current Guilliman ought to count himself lucky — now that Maccabeus had begun verifying the information, Guilliman truly didn't have to work nearly as much overtime.
These days, Guilliman only worked sixteen hours a day, with eight hours of rest!
And for a Primarch, those eight hours of rest could absolutely be put to good use doing other things.
"Sicarius, brew me another cup of hot coffee."
"Oh — and when we return, there'll likely be no shortage of trouble."
"Also — once I've dealt with all this wretched business, I'm going to launch a new Crusade."
"At the very least, we must race ahead of the traitors' moves and buy time for those Imperial worlds still loyal to Mankind!"
Guilliman's words rang out clear and resolute, echoing with conviction.
He was still that same idealist, carrying forward the dream of the Great Crusade.
What he didn't know was that Maccabeus was watching him quietly from the shadows.
During this time, Maccabeus had been observing the Warp-nature of the Primarchs' souls, and Guilliman was unquestionably the finest subject.
Maccabeus, staff of the Imperial Eagle in hand, was deeply puzzled by the current situation.
He had asked the Emperor many questions about the Primarchs, but the Emperor's side was a wall of I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!
The Emperor could fob off most people with prophecies or other convenient excuses.
But as a supreme-tier psyker, Maccabeus knew perfectly well — the Emperor simply did not know what had happened!
[The Emperor: Malcador — don't ask me about my daughters anymore!]
[Perhaps this is just a future version of me that even I don't know about yet!]
"Ha." Malcador laughed humourlessly. The Dark Lord who kept dying and coming back — how could he possibly not know?
It was plain and simple: he was hiding something from him — the Emperor clearly knew, and simply chose not to say.
"Fine, fine, fine!"
"I will absolutely find the right moment to tell your other children the story of you playing the Roman she-wolf."
"Go on then, go embarrass yourself over there!"
"After that, whatever happens, I'm washing my hands of it!"
[The Emperor: Traitor! Malcador, you are betraying me! You are BETRAYING me! No wonder my foresight showed a great calamity would befall me after my death — it's you, you wretch!]
[You traitor, I HATE you! I HATE you!!]
"Haah..."
Gazing at the chaos in the chess-table communication channel, Caleb could only marvel —
The Warhammer universe had finally warped into something even he hadn't foreseen.
What was once a father-obsessed galaxy had become a mother-obsessed one.
Even many things on the Emperor's side were about to turn into something straight out of a melodrama.
He could only hope that after Maccabeus returned, the Emperor might still be able to preserve some shred of his dignity.
Though given Malcador's current mischief-making tendencies — and his drive to curtail the Emperor's sphere of faith — Malcador just might actually go through with it.