Warhammer: Lord of the Endless Monster Horde [182]

"Hahaha! Lord Rhodes, you know how to joke! But I agree with your point.

Lord Rhodes, actually, in my understanding, all 20 Astartes Legions should have their own tasks to do.

Even those traitor Primarchs—their Legions should also be recreated, but Lord Guilliman doesn't allow me to do so," Belisarius Cawl sighed as he spoke.

Perhaps this new Primarch could understand him, could understand why he was so conflicted and troubled.

"I'm aware of this as well, and my opinion is that the gene-seed of the traitor Primarchs should not be used unless necessary," Rhodes said.

The Emperor didn't create 20 Primarchs and set up 20 Astartes Legions for no reason; these 20 Legions were meant to complement each other in battle.

But because of the four Chaos gods, 9 Legions turned traitors, and another two were erased by the Emperor himself.

Rhodes figured it must also be related to Chaos—otherwise, the Emperor wouldn't have been so ruthless as to erase them.

Since the Emperor made such a harsh decision, Rhodes believed there must have been a grave problem.

And as for the gene-seed of the traitor Legions, frankly, not making new Astartes from it is a policy of Guilliman's that Rhodes supports. Using the gene-seed of those traitorous Primarchs to create new gene-warriors isn't a good idea.

Even if these new Space Marines are loyal to the Imperium, gene-seed is a mysterious thing.

A single command from a traitor Primarch, and those gene-sons might defect.

And even if they don't, loyalist Astartes from the Imperium would discriminate against them in various ways, since their gene-seed comes from traitors.

"Alright then, Lord Rhodes." Belisarius Cawl nodded in agreement. It seemed the Emperor and all the Primarchs were of the same mind—once betrayed, you can't be used again.

Besides, the gene-seed of Lord Rhodes was more stable, and in terms of combat and survivability, it was far superior to Lord Guilliman's gene-seed.

Cawl had a feeling that soon, most Astartes would be using this new gene-seed.

The two then discussed some details, such as how to convince Guilliman, and why they had not created new Primaris Marines for other nascent Chapters.

Rhodes patted his chest to guarantee Cawl that when the time came, he would handle Guilliman personally.

"If we're going to create other Primaris Marines, then it must be done perfectly, without any flaws.

If they can't accept it, then tell them: You've been eliminated by this era," Rhodes declared.

"Understood, Lord Rhodes. As you say, eliminate the old Space Marines.

Once they're willing to accept Primaris Marines with perfect gene-seed, we'll start the upgrades with their veterans. If they refuse, then let them be left behind by the times," Cawl said.

"That's right. Don't worry about this matter; I can speak directly to the Emperor.

Anyone who objects is a heretic, and heretics just need to be purged," Rhodes said.

"Lord Rhodes! You may need more Primaris Marines. I'll have my subordinates find suitable recruits from elsewhere.

They'll all become your gene-sons and join your Legion," Cawl nodded.

As the saying goes, 'A soldier dies for one who understands him!' This Lord Rhodes understood him even better than Lord Guilliman.

Moreover, combining Primaris Marines and regular Space Marines, with the addition of surgical modification pods that have a 100% success rate, these perfect warriors should be promoted on a large scale, not held back by this or that concern.

"No problem! The more the merrier. The Emperor stands behind us."

With Rhodes' approval, Cawl's work efficiency soared, and he began making new weapons.

He even worked with Salome to use regenerative metal and Ace Killer forged metals to create tens of thousands of powerful new Terminator power armors.

Every Primaris Marine was also equipped with Pedanium ray rifles, bolters, melta weapons, and plasma weapons.

Outwardly, it was claimed that these Pedanium weapons were the latest archeotech developed by the great sage Belisarius Cawl.

...

A month quickly passed, and all 460,000 Primaris Marines under Rhodes' command had completed their transformation.

They officially became Rhodes' Astartes gene-sons.

A parade was held within their space fortress, with the great sage Cawl invited to attend.

The Emperor even cooperated by sending an avatar to witness the event, so that these Space Marines would understand they were forming a new Astartes Legion under the Emperor's will.

They would never again be broken up into Chapters—they would remain a single, unified Legion forever.

As for the Codex Astartes—what's that? Sorry!

We are Lord Rhodes' gene-sons, and we don't follow such outdated things.

"Rejoice!

From now on, you are my sons, and you will make all the enemies of humanity tremble in the future," Rhodes smiled from above, waving to his gene-sons below.

"For the Emperor! For Lord Rhodes!" The countless Primaris Marines below, all over three meters tall, raised their weapons and shouted.

Many of them were from the 31st millennium when there were no Chapters—only Legions.

Isn't joining a Legion led by a Primarch himself far better than being constrained in a Chapter?

"My good sons!

Are you ready?

In the future, your old man will lead you to tear humanity's enemies to shreds.

Leave none alive—kill them all!"

"Destroy the enemies of the Imperium!"

"Hail the great gene-father!"

"Purge all Xenos!"

After the review of the army, Rhodes stationed his 460,000 gene-sons inside the space fortress.

Not a single one was missing—a flawless, unified force.

He also equipped the Legion with 100 King Joe.

Each of them was on par with the Custodes in combat power; these 460,000 Primaris Marines were 460,000 monsters that could rival the Custodes.

In fact, after going into berserk mode, they could easily rip apart the newly modified Custodes.

They could even survive in space, giving them greatly enhanced battlefield flexibility.

"Lord Rhodes! My 200,000 new Primaris recruits have all been replaced with Lord Guilliman's gene-seed.

All preparations are complete."

"Very good. I'll provide you with augmentation organs and perform surgical modifications on them, but we'll do it as we go.

Once they're complete, don't awaken them—let them slumber in your Ark. We'll finish all the modifications while we're on the move, and when the time comes, we'll give Guilliman a big gift," Rhodes said.

See how good I am to you, Guilliman? These are all your kids, and all perfect gene-inheritors.

The mutation rate of their gene-seed is pathetically low, unlike those lowly old Space Marines.

After the grand review, Cawl also assigned about 500,000 servitors to Rhodes' space fortress, to maintain the Marines' equipment as well as other ship duties.

The Magos of the Mechanicus even installed void shields and some Geller fields on the ship.

...

"Captain-General Trajann, the Golden Throne has now been fully repaired. Our deal is complete; I'll return to Terra in a year," Rhodes smiled at Trajann before him.

The Golden Throne had been completely restored after three months. All the metal parts were replaced with regenerative metal.

The Golden Throne now operated almost perfectly, and the daily number of psyker sacrifices had dropped to the original 1,000.

"Thank you very much, Lord Loki. In a year, we'll have the mortals prepared, and as for your Astartes Legion, we'll wait and see if it appears," Trajann said.

After the repairs, he immediately had Belisarius Cawl come and inspect the Throne, receiving his confirmation.

Now, even if the Golden Throne is run for another ten thousand years, there should be no problems—this greatly eased the commander's mind.

As for the upcoming war against the Necron Overlord, all that remained was to wait for the arrival of the Astartes Legion as promised.

"Hahaha! See you then," Rhodes waved to the commander and bid the Emperor on the Golden Throne farewell, teleporting back to his space fortress.

Next time we meet, I won't be coming as an Eldar. I'll be a Primarch, the Emperor's chosen one.

"Take care, friend! I'll leave my son to you—find a suitable opportunity to clone him a body," the Emperor's voice sounded in Rhodes' ear.

Before Rhodes left, the Emperor had given him the soul of the good side of Horus. As long as a Warmaster's body is cloned, he can be resurrected—to cause trouble for Chaos.

Rhodes planned to wait until the ever-victorious Abaddon was at his height of power, then release his real father.

On Mars, Cawl's Ark Mechanicus was ready, and Rhodes' giant space fortress mothership had stealthily arrived at the webway entrance near Pluto.

After meeting up, the harlequins opened the webway, and the two ships entered the webway world, heading for their destination planet.