Holy Terra
Swain knew nothing of what had happened on Nuceria. The War Hounds had hastily assembled and left the Sol System, not even having time to send Swain a message.
Swain understood this perfectly. He didn't have time to pay attention to the War Hounds Legion's affairs. At this moment, he had boarded the First Legion's fleet, ready for a proper confrontation with the brothers of the First Legion.
For tough men, there was no need for complex tricks; fists did the talking. Coincidentally, these arrogant brothers weren't convinced by him either. Why should they be recalled from the Great Crusade's front lines to obey the orders of a stranger they had never met?
The First Legion's time was precious.
"Lord Swain, please provide the details of this mission. The First Legion will complete His Majesty's task in the shortest possible time, then return to the Great Crusade front lines to fight alongside His Majesty." Urian Bendregg almost directly stated that the mission should just be handed over to the First Legion, and having Swain command was a complete waste of time. His tone completely lacked respect for the Raven Guard Legion's High Lord Commander.
Raven Guard? Just little brothers. This was the consensus of all members of the First Legion.
The time it took to return to Terra from the Great Crusade front lines was enough for them to complete the mission and return to the Emperor's side. For the First Legion, efficiency was their life. They didn't believe there was any mission they couldn't solve.
"As the first Astartes Legion established by the Emperor, the First Legion's strength is naturally beyond doubt. However, in certain aspects, I believe the First Legion is still far inferior to me." Swain immediately began to stir up trouble.
Damn it, I've even beaten the Emperor. How dare you, the Emperor's tools, look down on me.
"I wonder what aspects Lord Swain is referring to. The First Legion is eager to hear the details." Urian Bendregg and the high-ranking officers of the First Legion behind him immediately looked displeased.
The talented First Legion was the most comprehensive; they didn't believe any legion could defeat them in any aspect. Even the tactics the Raven Guard excelled at, the First Legion could easily employ. Wasn't it just infiltration? They made it sound so difficult.
"We'll discuss that later. I've heard the First Legion is exceptionally strong, so as your Commander, I must see your power with my own eyes. Drills and flashy training are out of the question; my time is more precious than yours. To the training ground! I'll personally have a good spar with you!
Whether it's close combat, unarmed fighting, or marksmanship, I'll take you all on. You can even come at me together." Swain's arrogance was now plastered across his face.
You want to get in my face, huh? I'm your Commander. Try moving the fleet without my orders.
The Custodes watching from the side were not just for show. The Emperor sending a contingent of Custodes and accompanying frigates had already made his stance clear. If this First Legion fleet dared to move, it would be rebellion.
In the Imperium, no one could question the Emperor's authority.
"Very well, in that case, the First Legion will humbly seek guidance from His Excellency the Commander." Urian said, looking at the Custodes and Sisters of Silence behind Swain.
The Indomitable Truth had a large enough area for the First Legion's Space Marines to conduct daily training, expending their boundless energy.
Just as a wolf pack has only one alpha, a powerful fleet can naturally only have one Commander. But an alpha's position is always earned through combat. There could only be one outcome: Swain would completely subdue the First Legion through practical action, waking them from their delusion of 'Emperor first, I'm second'.
Emperor first, First Legion second was not just talk. With various ancient forbidden weapons under their control, these guys even dared to ambush Custodes, and did so flawlessly. They were truly audacious.
"Come, let me properly gauge the strength of the Heavenly Army, and see if you live up to the name 'First Legion'." Swain walked into the massive training ground empty-handed, looking at the high-ranking officers of the Heavenly Army.
"Then I shall test your skills, Your Excellency. You may choose your weapon first." A Wind Lord Commander, having received Urian's approval, walked towards Swain, who was arrogantly staring at the Heavenly Army.
"To deal with you, I don't even need a blade." Swain looked at the Wind Lord whose shoulder pad was painted with a circular mark, inside which was a spread-winged Imperial Aquila.
Don't Wind Lords revere valor and undertake the most dangerous rapid assault missions? Then let this opponent first experience what it means to be swift as the wind, if they can even see Swain's movements.
"The training ground is not a battlefield. Stop before serious injury, and show mercy." Custodian Tribune Aquilon, as the witness, announced this rule, signifying the beginning of the first clash between Swain and the First Legion.
Of course, this statement was directed at Swain. The First Legion didn't know his strength, but how could Aquilon not?
As the Tribune's voice fell, the Wind Lord burst forth with incredible speed. Enhanced by the latest Mark IV Power Armor, his massive body reached Swain in the blink of an eye, striking with full force from the start. On the battlefield, there would be no opportunities for restraint.
Swain simply stood still. In his eyes, the Wind Lord's speed was like slow motion in a movie. Then he lifted his foot.
Kick!
First blood!
The Wind Lord Commander flew backward even faster than he had arrived, crashing heavily into the weapon racks surrounding the training ground, sending various melee weapons clattering to the floor.
"If you feel you weren't ready, I can give you another chance!" Swain stood perfectly still in his original position, his feet not moving an inch.
"I accept my loss." The Wind Lord Commander stood up with the help of his comrades and said. The Heavenly Army wasn't so petty as to lack this much magnanimity.
"That's good." The Wind Lord's attitude softened Swain's expression.
At least the First Legion still respected strength.
"Let me speak in the way you are most familiar with!" Swain took a training longsword from beside him.
With the longsword in hand, the unstoppable sharpness unique to a Master Swordsman pressed directly upon the Heavenly Army.
"Speak with swords!"
All the sword masters of the First Legion immediately grew eager. To spar with such a powerful swordsman, whose aura alone was so intense, was a rare experience.
Although this swordsman didn't possess the rich scent of blood that they did, the sharpness of his sword was undeniable.
"Swish!" A Crowned Heavenly Army warrior charged first, his blade emitting a deadly cold gleam as it thrust directly at Swain.
Swain parried with his longsword held diagonally, his body leaning forward, and with a twist of the blade, he directly cleaved towards the Crowned Heavenly Army warrior.
The Crowned Heavenly Army warrior raised his sword to block.
"Clang..."
The sound of the longsword breaking and falling onto the ceramite deck was crisp and clear.
The Crowned Heavenly Army warrior's longsword was cut clean through by Swain at two-thirds of its length. If not for the protection of his power armor, he would have been disemboweled by now.
"I lost. You are a very powerful sword master." The Crowned Heavenly Army warrior frankly admitted his defeat.
"You can have several people come at once." Swain lightly twirled the longsword in his hand and looked at Urian.
"I acknowledge your strength. The First Legion has not fallen so low as to resort to ganging up on its allies." Urian drew a longsword of the same style as Swain's.
In the eyes of the high-ranking Heavenly Army officers, Urian launched his attack. His movements were as swift as lightning, even leaving an afterimage, his longsword thrusting at Swain from a tricky angle.
Within a fraction of a second, Urian delivered his first strike. Their weapons clashed, the purest cold weapons striking each other with a series of metallic ringing sounds.
If he wanted to, Swain could have easily cut Urian's longsword in half with sheer strength, but he didn't. He gave the other party the illusion that their skill levels were evenly matched.
Urian's attacks were all blocked by Swain. Then, the two began a contest of strength. The immense power transmitted through the blade greatly surprised Urian. He took half a step back, withdrew his longsword, and attacked again. This time, he pushed his footwork to its limit.
A storm of attacks engulfed Swain. It seemed as if more than just Urian was attacking Swain simultaneously.
However, despite such fierce attacks, Swain not only blocked all of them, but whenever Urian was about to unleash his most lethal strike, the opponent's longsword always blocked his path, which made the Grand Master extremely uncomfortable.
"He saw through my swordsmanship!" Urian thought in shock.
Swain was like a sacred place in a storm, calm and unperturbed.
What was Swain doing at this moment? He was carefully controlling his strength, so as not to let others think he was merely winning by brute force.
During the fifteen minutes of their combat, Swain fully demonstrated his power: speed, strength, technique, and swordsmanship. When Urian paused in his continuous assault, Swain began his counterattack.
After parrying Urian's powerful downward chop, Swain seized the opportunity to close in, his longsword thrusting out continuously, forcing Urian into passive defense.
Each swift strike, imbued with immense power, put tremendous pressure on Urian. Even with the aid of his power armor, he felt his tiger's mouth go numb.
Swain controlled the frequency of his attacks, maintaining absolute suppression over Urian. Finally, when Urian made a mistake, Swain's longsword rested steadily on Urian's neck.
"If anyone else wants to challenge me in other disciplines, feel free to suggest it. While we haven't departed yet, everything is negotiable." Swain casually tossed the longsword back onto the weapon rack.
Swain's meaning was obvious: they could challenge him, but if they missed this opportunity and someone else jumped out later, they shouldn't blame him for being ruthless.
"So be it. The First Legion accepts Commander Swain's leadership for this special mission." Urian realized that the other party had already shown him considerable respect; pressing the issue further would only lead to mutual embarrassment.
"Commander, please explain the objectives and details of this mission." After acknowledging Swain's strength, Urian proceeded to the next stage of the mission process.
The primary duty of the Astartes Legions is warfare. Once the identity of the Commander is confirmed, the entire fleet quickly operates according to their will, free from petty infighting and schemes.
Alternatively, the Astartes are pure, purely dedicated to slaughter. Whether it's human traitors, Xenos, Chaos, or anything else, they simply attack. At worst, they lose and give their lives; their cohort views death with great indifference.
"The confidentiality of this matter is extremely high. I can only tell you that you are looking for someone. Please forgive me for not being able to disclose anything else for now. However, I can assure everyone in the First Legion that the rewards for this mission will absolutely satisfy you." Swain solemnly promised the Heavenly Army personnel.
"Master Urian, you will continue to command the fleet. I will only be responsible for telling you how to get there and where to go; you can handle the rest based on your own experience." Swain avoided unnecessary meddling, leaving professional matters to professionals.
Although the training arranged by The Emperor for Swain included fleet command, the situation with the First Legion was different. This Legion possessed many unique weapons unavailable anywhere else, relics from the Dark Age of Technology.
To prevent these weapons from falling into external hands and causing unnecessary trouble, The Emperor entrusted them all to the First Legion for safekeeping. Thus, the Dark Angels could easily destroy another Astartes Legion of the same size.
However, this does not mean that individual heroism is useless. On the contrary, due to technological development, armies favor individual bravery even more. After all, humanity's tech tree developed monstrous things like the Void Shield.
Not just humanity, but other species also have a love-hate relationship with the Void Shield. Before their Void Shield is overloaded or destroyed, the army still has a chance for a final comeback. To counter this, Boarding Tactics were born.
Just like the pirates during the ancient Terra Age of Sail, who jumped onto enemy ships for close combat during ship interactions, starships in the galactic era also have Boarding Teams for executing boarding or anti-boarding missions... The courtesy shown by Swain was well-received by everyone in the First Legion. If he had said this earlier, the First Legion wouldn't have had to suffer this embarrassment.
"Say it earlier? Heh, wouldn't saying it earlier make it seem like I was afraid of you?" Swain returned disdainfully to the Custodes battleship, which was his temporary flagship. The Indomitable Truth, as one of the First Legion's three Gloriana-class ships, likely held many secrets, and Swain spared them the trouble of constantly guarding against him.
This was better for everyone.
The First Legion fleet came and went quickly. After exiting the Elysium Gate and completing resupply, the warships spent only a short time above Terra before setting sail again toward the Elysium Gate.
"Corax, Mortarion, keep up the good work on Terra! I'll be back soon!" After leaving a message for the two Primarchs, Swain embarked on the journey to Segmentum Obscurus.
A moderately sized fleet breached the Mandeville Point, returning from the Warp into the Material Universe. Several golden capital ships mixed among the black-painted, monstrous dreadnoughts sliced through the night sky and slowly came to rest in the Material Universe.
"Commander, the fleet has arrived in Segmentum Obscurus. According to the star chart, we are currently around the star system named Cadia. This area has not yet returned to the embrace of the Imperium." Urian reported the fleet's location to Swain.
Segmentum Obscurus is located due north of the Terra coordinate system. In the future, this will be the front line against the Chaos invasion. However, the Warp is currently very calm, and the Chaos Gods are lying in wait for their time to rise.
The journey from Holy Terra to Caliban is extremely long. Even with the strength of the First Legion, they need to exit the Warp midway for rest before continuing Warp travel.
"Once the fleet has finished resting, depart immediately." Swain, aboard his temporary flagship, gave his command to Urian via communication. He then looked out at the Cadia system through the ship's external observation window. He currently had no time to help the Imperium reclaim Cadia.
In the original history, Cadia was discovered in 999.M30. The time has now been advanced by more than a hundred years.
"Cadia stands!" In Swain's mind echoed the defiant roar of the purple-eyed Cadians from ten thousand years in the future, who fought Chaos from birth until death.
Currently, Cadia is just an ordinary planet. In a few hundred years, it will undergo drastic changes, and vast resources of the Imperium will be poured into establishing the most robust defenses here.
However, Swain was not in the mood to visit the later famous Fortress World of Cadia below. All his attention was currently drawn to the Eye of Terror, not far from Cadia.
A massive rift brutally tore open the intact Material Universe, like an ugly burn scar suddenly appearing on a beautiful maiden's pristine face, catching everyone off guard.
Surging Warp energy continuously poured out of the Eye of Terror. Time and space became incredibly chaotic here, as Warp rules and physical universe laws constantly clashed, forming one of the most spectacular sights in the entire galaxy.
"I don't like this place." A sudden realization dawned in Swain's heart.
"Just how terrifying is the power of the Chaos Gods? Their first cry after birth tore open such a horrific wound in the Material Universe." Swain stared intently at the Eye of Terror, feeling greater reverence for the most terrifying enemy the human race would face in the future, and simultaneously feeling a touch more worry for Mortarion's fate.
Although Mortarion had personally slain his Xenos foster father and wasn't so conflicted now, the galaxy was simply too vast. After Mortarion embarked on the Great Crusade, seeing him once every few decades was normal. Nurgle had too much room for manipulation here, and Swain could only hope that The Emperor's contingency plans would serve as a warning.
"The Yellow Skin's approach was correct; indeed, not a single Primarch should be given away." Swain looked at the Eye of Terror and suddenly had a moment of clarity.
He used to joke that The Emperor ended up in the ICU for ten thousand years because his deadbeat actions led four loan-shark bullies to beat him up.
But what are the Chaos Gods?
The Chaos Gods are sentient beings formed by the distortion of the most extreme negative emotions. Their existence is the ultimate malice against sentient life, and they wouldn't spare humanity, the rising galactic hegemon, just because The Emperor gave them the Primarchs they wanted.
Conversely, the Daemons, who were previously restricted by the rules of the Material Universe and found it difficult to freely enter reality, now had the Legions as a vehicle. This made it easier for the Chaos Gods to extend their tentacles into the Material Universe and cause havoc.
The Chaos Gods, who possess an infinite craving for extreme negative emotions, would only slowly devour The Emperor's foundation, then spit on the consumed Emperor, saying, "Pah, idiot."
"Cooperation with the Chaos Gods is absolutely impossible, not even negotiation. Every word they speak contains countless traps waiting for their prey to fall into their carefully woven snares." Swain suddenly gained some clarity.
He gained some understanding of the extreme, desperate measures The Emperor took, facing four enemies far surpassing his own strength alone.
Whether it was the extreme exploitation of the Imperium's worlds, or treating all the Primarchs as tools—even when Angron became a slave to the Butcher's Nails and nailed his entire Legion, or when Perturabo executed Decimation among the Iron Warriors—The Emperor remained unmoved.
In The Emperor's eyes, once the Webway was built, these were trivial matters, the smallest of concerns, things he could solve with a single word. But the immediate priority was for the Legions to keep up with the Great Crusade's progress, reclaim more worlds, and extract more resources to support the Great Crusade and the Webway construction.
"Urian, how much longer does the fleet need for rest?" Having figured this out, Swain turned and re-established communication with Master Urian of the First Legion.
"Commander, according to the Navigator's report, the fastest route from Cadia to Caliban is to traverse the Eye of Terror. Due to the unique environment of the Eye of Terror, we need to ensure the absolute stability of the Geller Field. This rest period is estimated to take one standard Terra Week." Urian provided a precise timeframe.
"Send a communication to the Imperium, instructing them to dispatch personnel to reclaim the Cadia system." After a moment of thought, Swain instructed Urian to send the message.
The Imperium needed to reclaim the world of Cadia early, not only because of Cadia's geographical location but also because Cadia housed the Necrons' Black Stone Pylon Array. It was these ancient Necron constructs that had continuously suppressed the expansion of the Eye of Terror.
Swain would suggest to The Emperor at that time to establish it as a Fortress World early, preferably garrisoned by the Iron Hands Legion. It wasn't that Swain lacked confidence in the Cadians; quite the opposite, he greatly admired them. But the opponents the Cadians would face were too overwhelming.
No matter how elite the Cadian Shock Troops were, they were no match for the Astartes. Even if they could trade five for one, what good would that do? Without sufficient Astartes support, Cadia's fall to the surging Chaos Traitors was only a matter of time. Furthermore, in the lore, Cadia's fall was a joint decision by the Five Chaos Gods.
But currently, Swain thought the outcome of the Tenth Legion garrisoning the world, assisted by the Cadians, was quite good. The Cadians' bravery could greatly assist the Iron Hands Legion.
Of course, all of this would have to wait until Ferrus helped Russ resolve the Ork Empire in the Wheel of Fire Segmentum.
A fearsome fleet of leviathan warships hung motionless in the void while Tech-Priests and Techmarines within the hulls carried out every rite of inspection and maintenance.
Caliban
For millennia the Knightly Orders of Caliban had been the only force keeping the common people alive on the harsh world. In the dense jungles of Caliban lived every kind of beast, and for reasons unknown those beasts evolved into monsters—terrifying leviathans that constantly threatened the populace.
The Knightly Orders were the deadliest blades defending the people. During the five millennia of isolation from the Imperium, the monsters and the knights had settled into a strange ecological balance.
But in recent years that balance had begun to collapse. A brotherhood calling itself the Order was uniting the planet's scattered Knightly Orders at an unprecedented pace, driving the leviathans from human lands and steadily expanding the territory in which the people of Caliban could live.
The Eternal Fortress-Monastery of the Order of Caliban.
One tall and one short figure stood in the grand strategium mapping the next military phase; under their leadership the Order had swollen with astonishing speed.
"Lion, under your guidance the knightly houses that joined us have been fully integrated. The territory ruled by the Order offers far more living space than before. If we proceed step by step, we can eventually dominate all of Caliban and wipe out these monsters." Luther addressed the Grand Master of the Order.
It was a curious twist of fate: only two years earlier, while the Order was clearing a region infested by leviathans, the finest of the younger knights—Luther—had led the purge and found a lone youth living wild in the jungle, bringing him back to the fortress.
The Order taught the boy the discipline of a knight and the cold calculation of a statesman, yet the child reared in the wild already possessed his own code. Outwardly rational, Lion still carried the heart of a Calibanite beast.
Within two years Lion rose from the lowliest Initiate to de facto leader, expanding the Order to a size it had never known.
"No. We must accelerate the unification of Caliban." From the head of the table Lion spoke with absolute certainty.
"Why?" Luther looked up at the towering giant.
A mane of thick, dark-blond hair and a full beard framed a leonine European face; his black pupils stared from the depths of the darkest forest, and the grim set of his features allowed no trace of humour.
He was a joyless man; anyone foolish enough to jest would feel the Lion's fist smash into his face without hesitation.
"Instinct tells me we must move faster." Lion gave the sort of answer that anywhere else would earn a beating.
"Very well—if you believe it, then so be it." Luther sighed in resignation.
He knew that once Lion decided, not even nine oxen could drag him back. That was part of Lion's magnetism: beneath the iron rule he would gently consult or jointly decide—though Luther understood it was merely a political gesture, he still savoured the feeling.
"Inform the Order: two days' rest, then we attack. The main strength of the Order will spearhead the assault and take this place." Lion's finger rested on a death-zone marked by a scarlet skull.
It was the greatest obstacle blocking the Order's lines of communication with other settlements: a kingdom of mutated dire-wolves, Lions, brown bears and other beasts… A low horn sounded across Eternal Fortress; ranks of dark-green knights began their march toward the objective, black-and-red banners cracking in Caliban's gale.
At the head strode silent knights in various patterns of power armour. Fully enclosed in war-plate passed down through the generations, the winged crests on their helmets identified them as the Ravenwing—the Order's elite.
Lion scorned to waste newly subdued houses as expendable troops; in every battle the Ravenwing under the Lion-kin led the charge, and under their king they were ever victorious.
That very practice dispelled the misgivings of other knightly houses. Tales of the Lion-King spread across Caliban; wandering knights braved the perilous forests from every corner to swear fealty to the young sovereign and help liberate the ancient world.
Lion rode helmetless at the fore upon a titanic war-horse; it looked less like a campaign than a young Lion surveying his own savanna.
At the Order's advance the forests of Caliban fell silent; even the fiercest raptors vanished from the sky.
"Barrage! Draw every last beast this way!" Lion's tactic was brutally simple: wait for the titans to show themselves, hammer them with cannon-fire, then charge in with the knights.
The mutated beasts had learned a thing or two over the millennia; they knew the thunderous human weapons could shred muscle and scale alike as if they were parchment.
Mercifully, those weapons needed human hands. Slaughter the men and the iron idols fell silent. The titans' claws could not scar the steel colossi, but they could rip through the plate of the so-called knights. A fair fight, at last.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM! Ancient ordnance roared, turning the peaceful forest sea into a rain of death. Fire—mankind's oldest enemy of the woods—leapt for joy, serpents of flame licking emerald leaves as trunks blazed.
Lion did not fear an uncontrollable blaze; among the titans were ways to quell humanity's primordial deterrent.
Moments later, freezing wind laced with ice crystals rushed in to smother the burning forest.
A leonine face twisted in a cruel grin as the Lion clamped on his Raven-wing helm and drew the Lion Sword.
Zahariel's trembling hands tightened round his sword-hilt, finding calm in the blistering heat. Watching the Grand Master and the Raven-wings hold the tide of titans, his pounding heart eased a fraction.
Raw recruits of the Order—Zahariel among them—were held in reserve; only after the vanguard broke the beasts would they advance to finish the wounded or handle lighter skirmishes.
"Hold steady! Breathe! Keep formation—march!" Luther led the neophytes forward; veterans on the left had cleared the last wave, time for rookies to scour the field and let the elites rest.
The reek was unbearable—beast-blood, knight-blood, and the titans' own musk—painting a hellscape. Zahariel hefted a two-metre spear that glimmered with lethal frost.
Two shield-bearing neophytes in heavy plate flanked him; even mercy-kills on Caliban were perilous, for a dying titan could still drag a knight to the grave.
"This crop's tougher than the last." Blood-drenched Lion tucked his helm under one arm as he joined Luther, watching the rookies scour the field.
Training of the Order's novices now rested with Luther; Zahariel's batch was his first report card.
Lion was well pleased.
"Advance!" When the last titan fell, the blood-sour Order of Caliban surged deeper. The true trial awaited within the titan kingdom—beasts ten, twenty metres tall.
A mournful horn sounded; knights fanned out in trios and quintets to scout the unknown peaks ahead.
Far off, a roar answered the horn—titans in the mountains.
A twenty-metre mutated mammoth smashed through every tree, its mass grinding fallen trunks to dust. Behind it charged a menagerie of Caliban's warped predators.
Colossal and countless, the titans bore down like an avalanche upon the tiny human line.
Even from afar, Lion caught the stench carried on their roar.
CLACK! The Lion sealed his helm and ignited the disruption field of the Lion Sword.
"KILL!"
With a leonine roar, Caliban's Lion sprang like an arrow straight for the towering mammoth.
"KILL!!!!" The knights of Caliban followed without fear, charging into the surging tide of titans.
Beast-horde and tiny green wave collided; millennia of war had burned the terror of size from the knights' hearts.
Three or five green knights confronted a giant beast. Their power armor effectively compensated for the size difference, and the roaring chainswords in their hands tore through the beast's tough hide. The beast let out a painful roar. Due to its enormous size, the human knights' weapons either had to rely on sheer numbers to wear down the beast or directly target its vital organs.
But not all knights had the protection of power armor. Out of the corner of his eye, Lion El'Jonson saw a knight in Luther's squad, unprotected by power armor, cleaved in two by the beast's whip-like tail. Under the war stomp, the knight instantly became a bloody pulp mixed with green.
Lion El'Jonson swung his power sword with greater frequency. The Lion Sword fiercely cut into the Achilles tendon of the mammoth's left front leg. With the Disintegration Field activated, the elephant's hide, tougher than armor, offered no resistance. The giant elephant let out a wail and, losing its balance, crashed heavily to the ground.
Lion El'Jonson took a stride, charging along the thick, sharp tusks. The Lion El'Jonson leaped high from the tusk, plunging his two-meter-long Lion Sword fiercely into the giant elephant's enormous pupil. The Disintegration Field instantly disintegrated the fragile flesh and blood tissue into particles.
Lion El'Jonson's strong, powerful arm grabbed the mammoth's eyelid. His agile body leaped onto the mammoth's head. In just 0.5 seconds, the Lion Sword stabbed dozens of times, prying open the hard skull. He then hurled a Melta Bomb with all his might into the mammoth's head, which was thrashing wildly, trying to shake him off.
The young Lion El'Jonson, without looking back, picked up his Lion Sword and charged towards the other giant beasts.
"Boom..."
A loud bang echoed. The mammoth's head was directly blown into a rotten watermelon. The scorching heat melted all the flesh and blood tissue inside its head. The headless beast was left with only half its body twitching, trying to stand up and crush the lowly bug.
"Splendid, truly splendid, it's like the Custodes bullying kindergarten children." Above Caliban, Swain watched Lion El'Jonson effortlessly kill the mammoth beast, the entire process as smooth as flowing water, and couldn't help but exclaim.
With Lion El'Jonson at the vanguard, the knightly order quickly cut through the legions of giant beasts. Ordinary giant beasts had no power to fight back against the Lion El'Jonson.
Yes, as soon as Swain's First Fleet arrived above Caliban, the Custodes' battleship's auspex detected a flare on the planet. The observation equipment on the warship quickly located the incident site and found Lion El'Jonson, standing out among a group of knights.
The Primarch's extraordinary height and unique temperament were simply too easy to recognize; it was impossible to ignore him.
"Uriah, this is our mission target. Now prepare the transport ships to pick up your Primarch," Swain said to the Grand Master of the First Legion.
"Yes, Commander sir." On the other end of the communication, Uriah's voice was very calm, without the excitement typical of a Primarch's return. It wasn't that there was no excitement, but it seemed this group of people felt that the Primarch wasn't that important to them.
Swain then realized that the First Legion had spent more time directly with the Emperor, and thus regarded the Primarch's return as somewhat dispensable. Even with other Primarchs being found one after another, they were not in the least bit anxious.
For them, finding a Primarch was not as joyous as fighting alongside the Emperor.
In the original background, the first meeting between Lion El'Jonson and the Astartes of the First Legion was also very awkward.
When the massive starship cluster appeared above Caliban and the First Legion's Space Marines landed on the plains, Lion El'Jonson asked these suddenly appearing strangers, "Who are you?" The Commander of the First Legion, Bideris, replied, "We are the warriors of the First Legion."
"The First Legion? Whose First Legion?" Luther couldn't help but press with a small voice.
Bideris turned, his gaze piercing through his helmet's visor, like destiny falling: "The First Legion of the Emperor of Mankind, Ruler of Terra."
What was this? This was blatant humiliation, a slap in the face to his genefather in front of Lion El'Jonson's Caliban forces and the other soldiers of the First Legion.
What could Swain say? That the Emperor had trained the First Legion too well, or that Lion El'Jonson's sons were overly filial?
Brave, truly brave!
So Swain could understand Lion El'Jonson using the 'flying head punch' as well.
What kind of person was a Primarch? The genefather of the Astartes killing machines, especially as the First Primarch, could Lion El'Jonson tolerate this? Although Swain didn't know what happened to this Bideris later, it was undoubtedly certain that Lion El'Jonson must have made things difficult for him.
"Uriah, I will go down and speak with your Primarch first. Show some discretion. Although I know the First Legion has always followed the Emperor, he is still an Imperial Primarch, the Emperor's son." Swain mentioned, it wasn't easy for him to come all the way to Segmentum Obscurus.
He wasn't here to let the First Legion and their Primarch feud with each other, but if the First Legion didn't do as he said, that would be their problem.
The current First Legion was arrogant, but when Lion El'Jonson dealt with them, their lives would be unpredictable. Of course, this had nothing to do with ordinary Space Marines; the high-ranking members of the Legion were definitely in for some trouble.
The Stormbird flew towards a plain not far from the Caliban knights. Not only the Custodes' Stormbirds, but the First Legion's Astartes also boarded drop pods, and Stormbirds began to converge on the designated location.
When the Caliban knights saw these massive warships appear in the sky, they had already formed defensive formations. Lion El'Jonson's tall figure stood at the forefront, thoughtfully observing these mysterious visitors from beyond the stars. A unique tremor from his genes told him that these strangers, whom he had never met, had some inexplicable connection to him. The Lion El'Jonson's formation silently watched the black-armored soldiers emerging from the giant steel beasts.
They were cold and majestic, filled with the aesthetic beauty of alien technology, yet completely out of place with the ancient simplicity of the forest world of Caliban. Those who descended from these behemoths were no mere mortals; they were walking war machines, giants surpassing human limits. Dressed in ancient, simple attire, their power armor was silent as mountains, and their movements carried a suffocating sense of oppression as they began to gather. A golden steel behemoth slowly descended from the sky, coming to a steady halt at the very front of the formation.
"They're here!" the Caliban knights thought to themselves.
The incredibly opulent golden hatch opened, and two squads of golden guards, completely different from the black-armored warriors, emerged. The two squads consisted of one tall and one short, one male and one female.
"Hmm? Isn't this the kind of treatment only the Emperor gets? Am I the Emperor now?" In this tense moment, Swain recalled his first meeting with the Emperor.
"Bah, I'm not the Emperor. Whoever wants to sit on the Golden Throne can go sit on it." Swain shook off the distracting thoughts in his mind and walked directly towards the formation where Lion El'Jonson stood.
"An arrogant beast!" This was Swain's first impression of Lion El'Jonson himself.
"Who are you!" Lion El'Jonson's loud voice addressed Swain. He wasn't blind; he naturally knew that the man in front of him was the leader of these people. Those silent, black-armored warriors, who had a strange genetic connection to him, were all waiting for this man to negotiate with him first.
"Greetings, Lion El'Jonson, I am Swain. Entrusted by your father, I have brought your gene-sons to bring you back to the Imperium," Swain stated directly.
"My father? Who is he? Why doesn't he come to pick me up himself, instead entrusting you, an outsider!" Lion El'Jonson could clearly feel that this man in front of him had no genetic connection to him. This person was neither his son nor his brother.
Lion El'Jonson was somewhat displeased!
"The Emperor is the monarch of a vast empire. He, like you, is currently leading his immense fleet across the galaxy, rescuing human brethren trapped in dire straits.
If it were you, would you choose to cross the endless star sea to find your strongest son, or would you lead your armies to rescue countless human brethren on the brink of death?" Swain threw the question back at Lion El'Jonson.
"It seems my never-before-seen father is a great leader." Lion El'Jonson no longer dwelled on this trivial matter. He wasn't a giant baby and didn't have that peculiar stubborn mentality unique to them.
"Your knights are excellent subordinates, Lion El'Jonson. You are far more outstanding than I imagined. Now, meet your gene-sons, and then let your sons work together to solve the giant beasts that have plagued the local people of Caliban for thousands of years. After that, we can sit down and talk slowly." Swain, hearing the roars of beasts from a distance, stepped aside and began to carefully examine the dead Caliban beasts in the distance.
"Your knights are excellent subordinates, Lion El'Jonson. You are far more outstanding than I imagined. Now, meet your gene-sons, and then let your sons work together to solve the giant beasts that have plagued the local people of Caliban for thousands of years. After that, we can sit down and talk slowly." Swain, hearing the roars of beasts from a distance, stepped aside and began to carefully examine the dead Caliban beasts in the distance.
"Chaos corruption truly is ubiquitous, but thankfully, it's only minor. The people of Caliban should have much higher resistance to Chaos than those on other planets." Swain observed these Caliban beasts, which had clearly mutated in terms of size, fur, and other aspects.
Some of the more severely mutated claws, empowered by the beasts' immense physical strength, could easily tear open the power armor of Caliban knights. This was truly a touch of death. Less agile Caliban knights could only be responsible for areas where the beasts posed a lower threat.
"Lion El'Jonson probably hasn't cooperated with those green little men yet. Lion El'Jonson doesn't know the secret of the Ouroboros Heart on Caliban, but the problem is, this thing is difficult to deal with!" Swain recalled the Ouroboros Heart, known as one of the three Warp artifacts.
He had no way to deal with this thing right now, but it would have to be dealt with eventually, otherwise Caliban would still be destined to shatter.
"Never mind, I'll ask the Emperor if he has a solution after returning to Terra." Swain dismissed his thoughts. Lion El'Jonson had already completed a brief meeting with the high-ranking members of the First Legion. Now, the First Legion had begun to adjust its formation and move towards the direction from which the beast roars were coming.
With Saturn-pattern Terminators and Ironclad-pattern Terminators at the vanguard, the First Legion displayed their combat style for the first time before Swain and Lion El'Jonson.