American comics: Enlightenment in Arkham, Ascension to Homelander.

"There was no Second Empire!"

Guilliman, enduring the pain of being thrown to the ground, yelled at Downton.

As Guilliman roared, Calgary and the others sensed their father's anger and roared along with him.

Hearing the Ultramariner's roar, Downton chuckled, shrugged, and continued.

"Alright, there is no Second Empire, but I wonder who was it that pulled the Macragge Five Hundred Worlds out of the Empire to create a rift between them."

Guilliman, your Ultramarines are truly amazing.

I have a simple math problem that I've wanted to ask you for a long time.

That is, the Ultramarines Legion had a total of 250,000 men. One war caused 120,000 Astartes to die, and another war caused another 120,000 Astartes to die.

The Ultramarines Legion, which had a full complement of 250,000 Astartes, lost 240,000 men in a short period of time. So how many Ultramarines are left?
That's right, the answer is there are still 250,000 left!

At this point, Downton couldn't help but laugh, after all, it was just too much fun to do math problems on Guilliman.

As Guilliman listened to Downton's words, he turned his head away listlessly and explained to Downton in a less than resolute manner.

"That's just operations, nothing more. The Ultramarines Legion has always adhered to the Empire's orders and has never expanded its numbers beyond the Legion's standard of 250,000."

"Hmm, yes, yes, you could say that."

But your operational skills are truly impressive, Guilliman.

As a Primarch bred based on the Berserker archetype, you, despite having both parents, refuse to embrace your warp nature. Instead, you reduce your magic resistance to extremely low levels, abandon the essence of war, and allocate all your skill points to operational and management skills.

You know, Guilliman, you should theoretically be the most powerful Primarch.

Even the most insane Primarch, Angron, shouldn't have had the Butcher's Nail embedded in his head; it should be you, Guilliman.

You were supposed to be the most powerful Primarch, but you ended up making yourself the weakest. You…

"How could I be the weakest Primarch? I am definitely not the weakest one. Even if I didn't have my warp nature, I would still be the most powerful Primarch. Fuggen relied entirely on a sneak attack back then!"

That's right, he just relied on a sneak attack!

Guilliman replied to Downton with annoyance, then got up from the ground.

Although he was not yet aware of the identities of Downton and his companions, the astute man had already determined that they harbored no ill will towards him.

Guilliman did not sense any warp energy from Downton and his two companions, and someone as foul-mouthed as Downton would not be a member of Chaos.

Most importantly, if Downton and the other two really harbored ill intentions towards him, given their strength, he could have been killed several times over!

Thinking this, Guilliman sat up and then asked Downton.

"This...unknown guest, could you spare my offspring and my friend whom I haven't seen for many years?"

If they have offended you, I will make amends for everything they have done.

"Hmm, whatever you want."

Downton nodded, casually untied Calgary and the others, and then jumped off Guilliman.

As soon as Calga regained his freedom, he charged toward Downton with two diamond studs on his forehead and two dual-wielding explosive guns in his hands.

Seeing Calgar's anger, Guilliman quickly reached out and stood in front of Calgar, saying...

“Stop, my children, they are my benefactors, not my enemies.”

"But...Father, they are so disrespectful!"

Calga stopped unwillingly. In his mind, countless voices of the Second Empire echoed back and forth, making Calga's veins bulge.

Hearing Calgary's words, Guilliman shook his head helplessly and said with a wry smile.

“Is it disrespectful? But I have indeed been disrespectful at times.”

Even if what they say makes you furious, you should continue to respect the facts, respect what actually happened, my child.

As soon as he finished speaking, Guilliman stood up and bowed to Downton, especially to the heavy burden of death.

He knew that death had healed him, freeing him from the chaotic curse that Fugen's sword, Appi.

After bowing, Guilliman straightened up, looked apologetically down at Downton and his two companions, and asked softly.

"I am Robert Guilliman, Lord of the Ultramarines, the thirteenth son of the Emperor."

"May I ask who these three extraordinary individuals are?"

After speaking, Guilliman looked humbly at Downton and the other two.

Meeting the gaze of the thirteenth prince, Tang Dun nodded and smiled.

"I am Downton, and also an accident. You can just call me Downton."

That's Telt over there, you can just call her Death.

That man is my brother, Dream, or Sandman, his name is Morpheus.

It's nice to meet you, buddy, because personally, I quite like the Empire and your universe, though my favorite Legion is the White Scars, haha~
By the way, as you can see, the three of us are gods, well, gods who are a bit stronger than Khorne and the others.
We're here to find someone. Her name is Delirium, and she should be the creator of your world.

However, I'm not sure yet where she's hiding in your world.

Maybe he's hiding inside some dead peddler's body, or maybe even the emperor is her. In any case, Slaanesh definitely has her shadow in him. After she was sealed away, she really did look like Slaanesh.

As soon as he finished speaking, Downton patted Guilliman's thigh.

Then, Downton looked up, frowned, and chuckled.
"Damn it, you guys are all so tall."

"Ahem, I'm not saying you're shorter than the other Primarchs, Guilliman, it's just... you guys are definitely a bit tall."

At this point, Downton's figure suddenly grew larger, and in the blink of an eye, he reached a height of about eight meters, completely overwhelming Guilliman, who was less than four meters tall!
Guilliman stared in surprise at Downton's suddenly towering figure.

God?
Guilliman didn't quite believe in the claims of gods, after all, even the holy emperor, their great father, repeatedly emphasized that he was not a god.

However, if we deny the divine status of Downton and his two companions, then their ability to easily dispel the Chaos Curse, pull themselves out of the torment of the Warp, and be completely unaffected by the Stasis Stance is questionable.

Now they can easily change their height, making them as tall as their fathers!
From this perspective, they do indeed resemble gods, but in terms of divinity, what the three of them demonstrated... seems insufficient to be definitive.

Downton looked down at Guilliman, sensing his suspicion, then waved his hand behind him and smiled.

"Morpheus, show our big cans what's going on. Let's end the war in the star system near Macragge first."

By the way, can you tell who's a friend and who's an enemy?
The enemy is a black legion, the kind whose warships are covered in blood and flesh.

"I know, no problem."

Morpheus nodded expressionlessly, then vanished from the sanctuary.

At the same time, Guilliman narrowed his eyes and tentatively spoke to Downton.

"Thank you for your willingness to help Macragge end this battle surrounding me. However, is it really possible for Morpheus to do this alone...? Huh? What's that?!"

Before Guilliman could finish speaking, he saw the sky above Macurag through the broken part of the church ceiling.

On the interstellar battlefield outside that planet, where all sorts of explosions were constantly erupting.

An infinitely large figure quickly enveloped the entire Macurag and even the entire nearby star system!

In that galaxy, Morpheus lowered his head, expressionlessly surveying the entire battlefield, then gently waved his hands.

In a short time, Morpheus wiped out all the chaotic forces within three star systems near Macurag, including even the still-hidden chaotic forces.

Looking at the infinitely large Morpheus in the sky, Guilliman swallowed hard, then looked at Downton in surprise.

Meeting Guilliman's gaze, Downton nodded and smiled.

“Guilliman, do you know how long you’ve remained in a stagnant position?”

"I don't know, but that time must have been quite long, perhaps even long enough for Macurag to become extremely weak."

"Yes, it is indeed not short; you have been in a coma for ten thousand years."

In the years you were gone, the empire almost collapsed, buddy.

A treacherous Primarch, a corrupt and decadent cult, a self-pitying Imperial Guard, and a wounded and battered false emperor.

"Um?!!"

Guilliman's eyes widened suddenly.

Seeing this, Downton chuckled.

"Oh, alright, a wounded emperor, haha."

"By the way, Guilliman, you're the Primarch I was talking about, the one with ulterior motives."

"Huh...?!"

Guilliman couldn't help but widen his eyes again, but looking at the figure in the sky that was countless times larger than the stars, Guilliman finally swallowed back the words he was about to say.

He turned around and spoke to Calgary, who was staring blankly at the sky with his mouth agape.

"My child, what has become of the empire while I was away?"

"Father!"

Calgar responded as if waking from a dream, then quickly averted his gaze from the figure in the sky, looked at Downton in horror, and whispered to Guilliman.

"In the ten thousand years since you left, things have not gone very well for the Empire. The Astartes Codex that you left behind... although the Empire's soldiers are still holding on."

However... a considerable number of the Astartes Chapters, which were formed from the division of the Legion, did not like the Astartes Codex you left behind, and a considerable number of struggles ensued around the Temple.

And apart from Astartes, the Empire…

"and many more!"

Upon hearing this, Guilliman quickly stopped Calga and then asked him, looking completely bewildered.

"What did you just say? You said... that you are still observing the Astartes Codex even now, and even ten thousand years from now?!"

The Emperor is above all, and that's been a full ten thousand years. Haven't you made any changes to that sacred text?

The original holy book was prepared in response to the betrayal of my fallen brothers, and thus the Astartes Legion was split up to prevent another unpredictable large-scale rebellion from breaking out in Astartes.

If the Great Rebellion ends and loyalists are thoroughly selected from among the Astartes legions, then the holy scriptures must be altered so that the loyal Astartes legions can rapidly develop and launch a counterattack against the Fallen and the Warp!
By the Emperor, after all these years, you have not been maintaining a mere thousand-strong Astartes Chapter and throwing such an important force as the Astartes into the war in a chapter-based mode with only a thousand-strong force!
As the Fallen grew stronger and the power of Chaos spread, the Loyalists continued to limit their own power and development!

"By the Emperor above, I can already imagine what a weak empire I will face!"

At this point, Guilliman rubbed his head helplessly.

Even based on just one sentence from Karga, he had already guessed the changes in the empire over the past ten thousand years!

This system was designed to prevent the Fallen from launching larger-scale rebellions and causing too much damage during the Great Rebellion.

Even though the loyalists and the corrupt have long been clearly distinguished and differentiated, the power of the loyalists continues to be restricted!

This alone means that the empire will have virtually no hope of a future for the next ten thousand years!
Across from him, watching his genetic father wallowing in self-pity, Calga sighed helplessly.

In fact, as Guilliman's son, Calga could largely guess his father's plans.

Even he himself, as time went on, harbored considerable dissatisfaction with the Astartes Codex.

In any case, the 30k Astartes Codex was designed to fundamentally limit the power of Astartes.

When Guilliman issued the Holy Scripture, it was to prevent the various legions, which were in such a state of chaos that it was impossible to distinguish who was loyal, from causing greater damage by dividing them up through the Holy Scripture.

As the era progressed from 30k to 40k, the sacred texts that were originally used to limit the scale of rebellions became a means of restricting the development of major legions.

However, not every legion strictly adheres to the Codex Astartes.

The Ultramarines and other Guilliman's descendants had no choice, since the Holy Scripture was issued by their father. In any case, they would strictly abide by their father's orders and strictly limit themselves.

As for the other legions...

For example, Roger Dorn, who almost started the Second Legionnaires' Civil War with Guilliman because of the Scripture of Astartes, particularly disliked the Scripture.

Meanwhile, the Wolf King of the Space Wolves firmly stood with Dorn and his Imperial Fist, refusing to obey the orders of the Astartes Codex.

In the end, Dorn chose to compromise with Guilliman for the sake of the Empire's peace.

However, he still denounced Guilliman as a coward who did not participate in the defense of Terra, and while compromising with Guilliman, he issued a secret agreement called the Final Wall to a series of Imperial Fist sub-chapters.

Dorn's agreement required that the Imperial Fist and the numerous sub-chapters built around it remain closely united under the command of a single commander.

In other words, even though Imperial Fist did indeed split into many sub-warbands, Imperial Fist still operates and acts with the mindset of a legion.

Meanwhile, the Dark Angels, like the Imperial Fists, remain united and single-mindedly pursue the Fallen Angels.

Then there are the Space Wolves, who never obeyed the Codex Astartes from the beginning, and the Space Wolves have always maintained twelve companies, which is completely different from the Ultramarines Chapters that strictly adhere to the Codex and have only ten companies per chapter.

In short, at this moment, Guilliman also thought of his several very rebellious brothers.

So, with a sigh, he asked Calga.

“In the years I’ve been gone, my brothers have actually continued to follow my holy scriptures?”
"Isn't there another Primarch who will step forward and make reasonable modifications to the Astartes Codex, the expedient measure I established to deal with the rebellion?"

"Uh……"

Calgarh paused upon hearing Guilliman's words, then said to Guilliman with even more helplessness.

“Father, you are now… the only Primarch in the Empire!”

Aside from you, who have awakened at this moment, there is no other Primarch in the Empire today! (End of Chapter)