Warhammer: Lord of the Endless Monster Horde [178]

Belisarius Cawl has lived for more than ten thousand years. He is the oldest Magos in the Adeptus Mechanicus and currently the most powerful.

He inherited the soul-fusion technology of the Soul School, as well as the cloning techniques of the Replication School, and must change his body every 500 years to ensure his continued survival.

However, every time he changes bodies, Belisarius Cawl loses some memories.

To combat this, he copied his memories and stored them in various locations. But even so, over such a long span of time, Belisarius Cawl has forgotten many things, including where he stored his memory backups.

Long ago, to fulfill Roboute Guilliman's mission, Belisarius Cawl began secretly creating Primaris Space Marines.

Among these new Primaris recruits, many were originally born in the 31st millennium.

Some of them were recruits from other Space Marine Chapters or humans selected through big data analysis for suitability.

All were secretly transported by Belisarius Cawl, then underwent Primaris transformation, and were stored in Cawl's secret bases after the process was complete.

These secret bases were not necessarily forge worlds—some could be underground worlds on small moons of gas giants, or even inside giant ark ships.

In truth, as long as you have the technology and enough gene-seed, making Primaris Space Marines isn't that difficult.

Before falling into stasis, Roboute Guilliman entrusted Belisarius Cawl with something very important: the Sangprimus Portum, which held the gene material of all 20 Primarchs—including those of the erased Second and Eleventh Primarchs, as well as the nine traitor Primarchs.

These were primordial genetic materials extracted at the time the Emperor first created the Primarchs, even more precious than what could be extracted from the Primarchs themselves.

With them, the purest gene-seed could be cultivated. It was with this material that the Emperor created the twenty Astartes Legions.

Cawl used his authority and the Sangprimus Portum to produce a huge number of Primaris Space Marines.

Only some were stored on Mars; the rest were kept in secret bases, lying dormant in stasis fields, awaiting awakening to serve the Imperium.

Rather than let them sleep in cold stasis, it would be better to use them himself—to make them his gene-sons, his legion members.

When Roboute Guilliman awoke, Rhodes intended to work with him to abolish the Chapter system and restore the Legion system in one stroke.

The Codex Astartes would be completely revised; Legion-level Astartes would be restored, as only this could unleash humanity's full war potential.

His monstrous armies would seize territory, while the Primaris Astartes would wipe out other enemies and occupy new worlds.

Rhodes wanted his three scientists to try some special techniques to restore the old man's lost memories.

"Uh, you're right. I have to change bodies every 500 years, and I lose a lot of memories each time.

I really have forgotten some of the places where Primaris recruits are stored, and I don't even remember exactly how many there are," Belisarius Cawl sighed.

He began secretly deploying Primaris Marines thousands of years ago, and truly has forgotten where some of the earlier recruits are kept.

In recent centuries, to avoid forgetting some, he kept a portion on his personal Mechanicus Ark, and another portion at a private research base on Mars—altogether about 200,000.

"So, rather than let these loyal warriors sleep on unknown asteroids, we should wake them up," Rhodes said.

Rhodes reckoned the number of forgotten Primaris recruits was enormous—thousands of years' worth!

"That's quite feasible. I estimate their numbers aren't small; if we find them all, it could rival the Great Crusade's armies," Belisarius Cawl said.

At first, the Primaris project was top secret, so these recruits were very well hidden in his private labs.

To manage these Primaris, his labs didn't use machine spirits, but instead artificial AI from the Golden Age of Technology.

"Lord Rhodes, do you intend to find all the forgotten Primaris recruits, and then replace their gene-seed with your own?" Belisarius Cawl asked.

That's no small number! That's at least several legion-level forces of Space Marines!

Only Roboute Guilliman's Space Marines could surpass them in number—over 75% of the Imperium's Space Marines come from Guilliman's gene-seed.

"Are you saying that if we awaken all these Primaris recruits, we should form them into new Chapters and send them off separately?" Rhodes asked.

"That's the Codex Astartes' rule, and it's deeply ingrained now. Even if Lord Guilliman awakens, he can't change it," Cawl replied.

"To hell with the Codex Astartes. When Guilliman wakes up, he'll be disgusted by it.

Humanity's survival is at stake. If the Imperium keeps only a few hundred Chapters, we're finished!

To save the Imperium, Astartes must return to the Legion system. When Guilliman wakes up,

I'll work with him to push the Legion plan. The Chapter era is over. I need a huge army for this—so you know what to do." Rhodes laid out his plan.

Belisarius Cawl, unlike the High Lords, is truly loyal to the Emperor and the Imperium. If it helps the Imperium, he'll do it.

"You're right, Lord Rhodes.

According to my analysis, when Guilliman awakes,

he'll deeply regret the Codex he wrote. The Legion plan is a must.

Currently, only you and Lord Guilliman have returned as Primarchs. With the Space Marine Legions under your command, this is the best outcome.

Fine! If my memories can be restored, I'll replace all forgotten Primaris gene-seed with yours," Cawl nodded in agreement.

This Primarch isn't starting from nothing—he has Golden Age technology and top-tier scientists, fully capable of saving the Imperium.

"You won't regret this decision. Besides, your current body is garbage. I'll have my scientists upgrade it—so you don't have to change bodies every 500 years, and you can store backup memories," Rhodes said.

"I understand, Lord Rhodes. Let's start right away! I want to find my lost Primaris recruits as soon as possible."

Rhodes nodded, and called in Balt and Zett, along with the Mefilas who had traveled from the Ork Ranch World via the Warp.

Restoring memory and the soul required Mefilas' powers. After this, he'd need to hurry back to the Ork Ranch to prevent an attack from the Trazyn the Infinite. While away, Rhodes had sent the Dark Warrior Daram to guard the Ork Ranch World.

Belisarius Cawl was brought before a giant cultivation pod and lay inside. The scientists began repairs and modifications on his body.

Mefilas used his powers to repair Cawl's soul and restore his memories.

Time passed, and in just a few days, Cawl's body was completely renewed. His brain, once reduced to a small fragment, was restored to human form.

His head and chest were restored to a human state; his eyes remained augmented, but the rest retained previous mechanical enhancements.

When fully restored, Cawl stepped out of the pod, feeling utterly rejuvenated.

His previously blurred, forgotten memories—and even his fading original personality—were entirely restored.

"How do you feel?" Rhodes asked.

"This time is a custom job—your body's been rebuilt, with new metal from Ace Killer and regenerative alloys," Rhodes said.

"It's perfect! I never imagined I'd truly become myself again!

Thank you, Lord Rhodes. Praise the Emperor! Your appearance will save this decaying Imperium, and I'll give you my all!"

"You're welcome! Now, tell me—how many Primaris recruits do you have left?" Rhodes asked.

"The number is pretty terrifying. There are seven small bases and three large ones. Each small base has around 30,000 Primaris recruits.

As for the three major bases, one holds 100,000, another 50,000, and the third 100,000. In total, there are about 460,000 Primaris Space Marine recruits," said Belisarius Cawl.