Warhammer: Lord of the Endless Monster Horde [211]

This Rhodes has guts—says and does whatever he wants!

The golden light faded, and Celestine's eyes regained clarity. She looked at Rhodes, puzzled.

"Miss Celestine, what brings you here?" Rhodes asked.

"Uh… Lord Rhodes! I… I came about something. The Inquisitor Greyfax you locked up—could you release her?" Celestine asked.

Celestine felt like she had some other reason for coming, but couldn't remember. Might as well plead for the Inquisitor.

"Keep her locked up a bit longer. We'll let her out when we reach Macragge," Rhodes said.

When I revealed I'm a Primarch, that woman was the loudest, calling me a heretic. Annoyed me!

"Lord Rhodes, her doubts were understandable. In the long history of the Imperium, many cultists have impersonated the Emperor's chosen or Living Saints. They use it to deceive people. So Inquisitors are strict—they even doubted me. She's been repenting in her cell. I think she's learned her lesson," Celestine said.

She had visited the cell—the Inquisitor had been repenting the whole time.

"You care about her," Rhodes said with a knowing smile.

In official stories, Celestine and Greyfax were rumored to have a thing.

"Lord Rhodes, I care about every child of the Emperor," Celestine replied.

"Alright! Since you asked, I'll give you a face. Release her yourself, but tell her about the female Primarchs so she doesn't make trouble," Rhodes said.

"I understand, Lord Rhodes," Celestine bowed and left.

After seeing her off, Rhodes contacted the Harlequin to open a Webway gate to Macragge. It would take about half a month to get there.

During this time, Rhodes would tour the ship during the day, interact with his gene-sons, and rescued Cadian soldiers. The Cadians' Primaris Space Marine upgrades had begun. Every few days, a batch of new recruits would successfully transform into new Astartes.

Rhodes' gene-sons soon exceeded 500,000, still rising.

At noon and afternoons, Rhodes would train in the dojo with Elena, practicing the Cosmic Phantom Beast Fist. Lelith, and his earliest Deathwatch Astartes, were also learning. These would become instructors for the legion.

Currently, the dojo's aura can only support 100 people training at a time. To expand, they'd need to find a suitable planet for the beasts to inhabit and transform.

One day, after training with Elena, Rhodes ran into Belisarius Cawl.

"Lord Rhodes! My surgical improvements are almost done. Just need a test subject to implant the gene-seed and complete the transformation!"

"Great! I've been waiting. I'll have the Sisters of Battle come now," Rhodes said.

He was eager to see Elena's gene-daughters, especially after she was enhanced by the cosmic beasts. Would the gene-seed be more effective?

Soon, dozens of Sisters arrived aboard Cawl's Ark Mechanicus. After a blessing from the Canoness, the first Sister lay on the operating table.

Cawl anesthetized her, incised her skin, implanted the source gene-seed, and then began adding enhanced organs.

First, some organs, letting her body develop, then 48 hours in nutrient solution.

After 48 hours, the Sister grew from a 1.7m cutie to a 2m tall Amazon.

On day four, more organs: second heart, anso membrane, biotic muscles, Cawl furnace, hymn pituitary, skeletal reinforcement.

By day five, the transformation was complete—she was now a demi-god warrior.

She reached 2.1m in height, still shorter than male Astartes, who could reach 3m. Over the next two days, she recovered in a med-pod.

On day seven, she emerged fully healed.

"Annabel, how do you feel?" the Canoness asked.

"I feel great—full of power!" the newly transformed Sister said.

These female Astartes weren't bulky muscle monsters, but about 2m tall, matching Primaris proportions. They were a bit stronger than Primaris, but not as big as the 3m super-Primaris.

You could use Custodes biochemistry to make them taller, but female Custodes are still small among the group—max 2.8m.

Still, it was a success. In tests, the new Sister could lift 2 tons barehanded, much faster than a Primaris. She even sparred with a Black Templar Primaris; after getting used to her new body, she could fight evenly.

In strength and speed, these female Primaris were a bit stronger than the males.

"Looks good, Lord Rhodes," Cawl said.

"Alright, use this procedure. Any Sisters who volunteer can undergo the transformation," Rhodes approved the production of female Primaris.

All Sisters would be upgraded to 2m tall, Primaris-matching Astartes.

"Lord Rhodes, their strength exceeding Primaris is a surprise. I thought matching Primaris would be perfect," Marshal of the Black Templars said.

Perhaps the old Primaris design is outdated. He'd sparred with the new super-Primaris and could only barely hold his own with experience, but soon got beaten. The difference in power, speed, and reflexes was too great.

"So, Marshal, do you want the new surgery?" Rhodes asked.