Warhammer 40: Doom

Chapter 12 Angel of Death
"Madam, how are you?"

Macardo called softly, waking Erda. He still looked like an old gentleman, as if nothing had happened.

Erda's heart was being corrupted by darkness and gradually blinded by chaos. She wanted to tear off Macardo's hypocritical mask.

His heart was churning with hatred, surging and turbulent, but on the surface he remained indifferent, showing no emotion whatsoever.

Not a single muscle on her face twitched from her inner pain; through millennia of experience, she had almost instinctively concealed her emotions.

A plan quietly takes shape in one's mind, perhaps it is to carry out the plan in accordance with a prophecy.

Thinking of the Emperor's ruthlessness and Macardo's indifference, Erda secretly vowed to save the children and give them true freedom, for their future never belonged to the Emperor.

“I’m sorry, Macardo.” Erda smiled apologetically at Macardo, lifted her skirt and bowed slightly to express her apology: “I’m not feeling well.”

“Madam, you don’t need to apologize. You can leave at any time.” Makado quickly stepped forward and politely touched Erda’s arm to indicate that it was unnecessary.

"I'm so sorry," Erda insisted, lifting her skirt and apologizing very sincerely before slowly backing away from the laboratory.

Macardo was surprised by Erda's unusual behavior. Without saying a word, he stepped forward and stubbornly helped her up again, then had two guards escort Erda back to her residence.

Squinting at the departing figure, a psionic voice transmission echoed in the minds of the Imperial Guards: "You don't need to come back. Continue to monitor her."

The guards behind Erda gave a barely perceptible nod, returning to normal within microseconds, subtly tightening their grip on their powered halberds, their eyes beneath their helmets warily watching the woman before them.

Any unusual movement will result in immediate execution!

The Emperor didn't particularly care about Erda's departure, thinking it was normal for his old friend to be in poor condition after contributing her genetic material.

His mind was no longer in the laboratory; his will was fighting against the evil god in the subspace.

The Chaos God launched another attack, attempting to shatter the barrier and prevent the Emperor from paying too much attention to Ilda.

After Erda left, the Chaos God may have lost interest and stopped testing the psionic barrier.

The Emperor wanted to inquire about his old friend's condition, but saw that Erda had already boarded the elevator and left the laboratory.

"My lord." Waldo, the commander of the Imperial Guard, raised his right hand, holding a transparent box containing twenty-one cylindrical glass containers, each containing the blood-red genetic material.

The emperor rarely showed any obvious expression, but when he saw the genetic material in the container, he still frowned.

Anything beautiful is distorted when it comes to the subspace.

Even though it incorporates his own genes, the genetic material extracted from the Primarch is still distorted by the power of the subspace.

"Hmm," the Emperor murmured in surprise as his gaze swept to the back of the box, where a splash of bright red caught his eye. He asked Waldo, "Which Primarch is this?"

“Number 21,” Waldo replied in a deep voice.

The emperor was very careful. He used his spiritual energy to gently wrap the container containing the genetic material and brought it in front of him to examine it closely.

The genetic material was blood-red and translucent, emitting faint glows. The Emperor saw no subspace contamination, unlike its brothers, which showed even slight traces of subspace.

"Incredible, it does possess the essence of subspace, but it does not exhibit any subspace characteristics at all."

After careful observation, the Emperor spoke, once again shocked by the genetic material: "Perfectly integrated with the power of the subspace, perfectly compatible with biotechnology, and even perfectly absorbed the genetic material of me and Erda."

With a little force, the glass container shattered, and the red essence floated steadily in the emperor's hand.

“Truly perfect,” the Emperor smiled at Waldo, a different kind of light in his eyes. “Waldo, compared to your perfection in my eyes, this gene seed is perfect in another way.”

Waldo wondered what this other perfect being, different from the Imperial Guard, was.
When the Emperor created the Royal Guard, he said that the Royal Guard was the embodiment of the perfect human being in his mind, the ultimate form of the human species.

In other words, the Imperial Guards did indeed achieve the emperor's ideal goal; they were "perfect" in his mind, a result of his subjective judgment.

This genetic material, however, is a different kind of perfection: the perfection that the emperor desired!
"Is it safe? Is it stable?" Macardo pulled down his hood, his bright, dark eyes reflecting the object in the emperor's hand, and raised the crucial question of pragmatism.

Safety and stability are what emperors and nascent human empires need.

Otherwise, the Emperor wouldn't have needed to travel to the Warp and make a shameful deal with the Chaos Gods to replace the existing Thunder Warriors with new ones.

"I don't know, old friend." The Emperor shook his head with a complicated expression. The psionic energy lifted the genetic material and held it to his chest, turning to look at the child sleeping peacefully in the incubation chamber number twenty-one: "He might be a gift box, and even the Four Gods don't know what's inside."

“Oh, then you must make good use of its power.” Makado said with relief, a gentle smile spreading across his thin, serious face, like the morning sun illuminating the laboratory. His gaze swept over the twenty-one culture chambers: “After all, they don’t seem very easy to get along with.”

"I will."

The three left the laboratory and headed to another laboratory where many more processes were underway.

It's worth mentioning that the Emperor held the genetic material in his right hand the whole time, a level of importance that made Waldo a little jealous.

Genetic material derived from the original gene cannot be directly implanted into the recipient; it takes time for it to realize its value.

The emperor arrived at the incubation chamber, where the site was even larger. The entire mountainside had been hollowed out to create a massive genetic seed cultivation facility.

By using the genetic information contained in genetic material, "gene seeds" containing the power of the original gene can be cultivated.

Through the cultivation machine, the gene seed can be cultivated into a complete set of nineteen matching superhuman organs.

Through nineteen surgical procedures and the implantation of gene seeds, the time cost of transforming an ordinary person into a superhuman warrior is greatly reduced.

An ordinary mortal can survive nineteen rounds of genetic modification and overcome rejection reactions.

His body and soul will undergo an extraordinary transformation, becoming a sharp weapon in the emperor's hands.

Genetically modified warriors are capable of prolonged, high-intensity combat, easily crushing human skulls with their bare hands, and reducing their physical reaction speed to the millisecond level, tearing ordinary people to pieces before they can even react.

The incubation room was bustling with people, as a large number of genetic scientists gathered around the gene seed to begin cultivating entirely new artificial organs.

"What are the names of these new genetically modified soldiers?"

Macardo stood beside the Emperor, inwardly grateful for the passionate yet silent contributions of these ordinary scientists.

They stood behind the emperor and were an indispensable part of the Great Expedition.

"The Star Expeditionary Force?" Waldo suggested with great interest.

The new soldiers' stage is in the starry sky, where the Emperor will inevitably launch an unprecedented expedition to reclaim humanity scattered throughout the galaxy.

The emperor shook his head, causing his long black hair to sway back and forth behind his head, but his face remained serious and he did not say a word.

The success at this stage did not make him relax in the slightest; he became even more cautious, for the nascent human empire could not withstand any storms.

Old friend Makado is full of expectations for the future. He looks forward to everything about the new empire, including the new genetically modified warriors using warp technology.

The Emperor, however, was different. He was well aware of the dangers of the warp and knew more about its risks than Macardo did.

The Emperor maintains a scrutinizing attitude towards the new genetically modified warriors, mixed with a hint of anticipation.

"Angel of Death." A deep sigh came from the genetic engineering laboratory.

Makado and his companion were silent for a moment, then understood the meaning behind it.

The new genetically modified warriors, once they leave Terra, are destined to bring death and destruction to the stars, while simultaneously bringing salvation to humanity in the galaxy.

“That’s a good name.” Waldo, with his spear clasped in his hand and stroking his chin, pondered for a long time before his eyes lit up: “At least it’s cool!”

Macardo suppressed an awkward twitch at the corner of his mouth; the commander of the Imperial Guards had a pitifully small sense of humor.

The emperor's gaze shifted from the golden-armored warrior; the Imperial Guard, with its perfect physical functions, was... open to debate regarding its personality.

The laboratory was bustling with people, and the Emperor saw once again the selfless lady: Amar Astartes.

"Astartes?" The Emperor pondered to himself, perhaps this name would be good?
Commemorating those who silently contribute behind the scenes, the new genetically modified warriors, carrying the hopes of ordinary people, conquer the galaxy—it's a kind of romance in itself.

The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. The emperor decided that after the new soldiers accumulated a certain amount of merit, he would give them new names and let them step onto the galactic stage.

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(End of this chapter)