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(A/N: The Patreon challenge is 2/3rd the way done, once full this would become a dedicated series.)
(Chapter 89 will be released on Patreon later before I go to sleep today.)
"Connor!"
Ra Endymion called out as he arrived in the spacious chamber, looking toward the three of them.
Valeria, Kaythan, and Connor turned to him, a bit confused as to why he was here, since he was not only a Tribune but also a personal advisor and confidant of the Emperor himself.
Connor bowed respectfully. Ra was not only his superior, but also one of the people he held in the highest regard.
"Lord Tribune, am I needed?"
"The Lord Sigillite wishes for you to meet him after you're done with your daily affairs."
"Understood. Once I'm finished, I shall proceed to meet Lord Malcador posthaste."
Connor understood what Ra meant by "daily affairs" and made a note to fulfill them before going to meet with his master—and superior.
Ra nodded, then gave a brief acknowledgment to Valeria and Kaythan as well before turning and leaving the way he came.
"I wonder what Lord Malcador wants to speak to you about. Maybe it's even a task."
Kaythan spoke curiously as he stood beside Connor.
"It's not our place to question the Emperor's or the Sigillite's intentions."
Valeria interjected, fixing her Captain with a slightly reproachful look that Kaythan deflected with a laugh.
"Come now, can you blame me for being curious?"
"…As a matter of fact, I can. But I suppose that's normal for you. Still, I hope you remember this ancient metaphor from Old Terra."
"Curiosity killed the cat. And you wonder why others keep referring to you with such names, Captain Kitten."
"GAH!"
Connor shook his head, slightly amused at Valeria's critical hit against Kaythan.
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Currently, the Grey Wardens numbered just under a hundred—or more precisely, eighty-nine members.
This was due not only to the fact that only a few years had passed since Connor became the first Warden, but also because of the stringent and unusual requirements needed to successfully create a Second Legion Astartes.
With each new Warden created, Connor found himself not only assuming a leadership position among his "siblings," but also becoming a spiritual pillar and mentor.
The other Grey Wardens looked to him first—the Firstborn and the Eldest—for guidance and direction.
This was especially true given how obvious it was that, despite sharing the name of Astartes, they were markedly different from their "cousins."
Even now, it was a surreal experience for Connor. He had always believed that after becoming the first successful member of the Second Legion, he would serve primarily as a symbol of authority and leadership.
He expected to uphold his Legion's honor and reputation until the day they were reunited with their Primarch, who would then assume command and lead them to their fullest potential.
What he did not anticipate was becoming a mentor and guide.
He remembered when the first of his siblings came to him seeking help and guidance. At first, he had intended to use the same methods he had seen other Legion masters employ with the absence of their Primarchs.
Like brutal discipline and unwavering adherence to duty.
But he didn't.
Something within him—deep in the blood that now flowed through his transformed body—opposed it.
It was only a "feeling", and Connor knew he could have ignored it. Yet that same instinct told him that he would not approve of such methods.
Their own Primarch. Their gene-father.
So instead, Connor took a gamble and tried something different.
He asked them about their problems—no matter how small or significant.
He listened.
He offered advice, soothed their worries and insecurities, and encouraged them not to keep such feelings bottled up. Instead, he urged them to confide in him or their fellow siblings, who would listen just as he did.
As time passed, Connor found himself growing more comfortable with both his role and his duties as the Grey Wardens' Legion Master.
This had the added effect of him being seen—and respected—as the leader of the Second Legion, not just because of hierarchy and rank, but due to the genuine respect and admiration of the other Grey Wardens.
Connor himself noticed that he needed far less effort to control his inner anger. His mind felt clearer—calmer—especially when he was with his siblings or with friends like Kaythan and Valeria.
Friends.
He never thought he would use that word after being taken in by Lord Malcador—much less use it to refer to some of the legendary Custodes.
Bringing his thoughts back to the present, Connor was walking through another section of the Imperial Palace alongside Kaythan.
He had made it a habit to periodically check on each of the other Hosts—not just his own—to ensure the well-being of his siblings.
Kaythan had once teased him about how naturally he had adapted to the role of an elder brother. Connor had not deigned to respond—but during their next spar, Connor had been suspiciously more fierce when attacking Kaythan.
(A/N: Aww, he's a big softie of an elder brother.)
This, incidentally, was what Ra had meant by "daily affairs" before Connor would go to see Malcador.
First on the list was the Second Host, led by the second Grey Warden to be successfully created after Connor:
Warden-Commander Minerva.
And yes—she was, in fact, a woman.
This had come as another shock to everyone involved, as it was widely known that the gene-seed required to create Astartes was only compatible with the male human physiology.
But once again, the Second Primarch's gene-seed proved to be… unique.
It had been something of a gamble on the Emperor's part to allow her to undergo the process—but one that paid off.
Not only did it result in a new Grey Warden, but it also demonstrated that the Second Legion's gene-seed was compatible with both males and females.
The Emperor had also hoped this trait could be replicated in other gene-seeds. Unfortunately, that proved unsuccessful—but he was not particularly discouraged.
After all, this alone was already a significant breakthrough.
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Connor and Kaythan entered the chamber and saw more than a dozen Grey Wardens spread across their respective workspaces and workshops. Some worked on personal projects, while others collaborated in pairs.
As soon as Connor and Kaythan stepped inside, the Wardens paused briefly to look at them, offering respectful nods before returning to their tasks.
"Daedalus, where's Minerva?"
Connor asked the nearest Grey Warden, who looked up from his project.
"Sister's in the back! But be careful—she was working on something delicate—"
BOOOOOOOOM!
He didn't get to finish. An explosion sounded from the aforementioned room.
No one reacted.
Everyone simply carried on as if it were perfectly normal.
"Well… whatever she was working on is most likely no longer delicate."
"Ya think."
Daedalus offered helpfully, while Kaythan replied dryly.
Connor facepalmed.
I should have started with the Fifth Host instead.....
But what's done was done.
He and Kaythan made their way to the back room and opened the door. Smoke immediately poured out, though it didn't bother them in the slightest—courtesy of their superhuman physiology. They simply waited for it to dissipate.
"Sister, is this also one of your so-called tests?"
Connor's tone was tired—like that of an exhausted but still concerned elder.
As the smoke cleared, Minerva was revealed lying on the ground, her face and body covered in black soot.
The woman sprang to her feet with surprising agility. With a subtle use of her tactile telekinesis, she brushed away the soot and grime, restoring her appearance to pristine condition.
If one ignored the obvious damage to the room.
Before them stood a striking woman who was just as tall as Connor but with a more lean and hourglass body, with black hair cascading past her shoulders and sharp grey eyes, her expression lit by a daredevil smile.
"Big brother! Kitty-kat! How are you two?"
Connor gave her a weary smile.
Kaythan, meanwhile, was internally screaming at the nickname.
"I'm fine, Minerva. I just came to check up on you all—and to drop this off for inspection."
Connor placed his power sword on her worktable. Minerva picked it up immediately, examining it with keen interest.
"Well, as you can see, everything is fine here—not to mention everyone else is mostly in one piece!"
Mostly!?
"As for this, I'll give it a proper check as soon as I can. But are you sure you don't want me to add—"
"No."
"Oh! Oh! How about a—!"
"Sister, for the love of humanity, please keep it simple."
"Aww, you're no fun! I swear, one of these days I'm going to make you recognize the glory of multi-tasking—even if it's the last thing I do!"
Connor simply nodded, indulging her enthusiasm.
Not for a moment, however, did he doubt the usefulness of her inventions.
If anything, the opposite was true.
Minerva was the first member of the Second Host and, by now, the most attuned to science and engineering among them.
When she became the second Grey Warden and her talents were revealed, the Emperor had not hesitated to place her under the tutelage of some of the brightest minds under his command.
This included his own scientists—as well as high-ranking Tech-Priests from Mars.
She learned well from the scientists, and it was alongside them—and the Emperor himself—that she satisfied her relentless curiosity about the material universe.
Something that pleased the Emperor greatly.
Minerva treated knowledge and technology as they were meant to be treated.
Her endless curiosity and inquisitive nature were tempered by restraint—exactly the mindset the early scientists and techno-savants of the Dark Age of Technology had once embodied.
It was, in many ways, the ideal the Emperor envisioned for humanity: a wise and technologically advanced race driven by logic, reason, and understanding, as espoused in the Imperial Truth.
….....And perhaps it was also the reason behind her stance toward the Mechanicum.
To put it simply—in the span of a single year, she had driven four Archmagos of Mars, summoned to Terra by the Emperor himself also as her tutors, completely insane.
Two of them had come to completely believe she was an apostle of the Machine God and had eagerly surrendered a significant portion of their personal stockpiles to her—resources which Minerva accepted without the slightest hint of shame.
As for the other two…
No one was entirely sure what had transpired.
One of them suffered a complete existential collapse and had to be restrained before he could tear out his own bionics.
The other…
…was still in a cell, clutching an ancient Terran toaster like a lifeline, muttering about how it was his "precious."
Malcador had personally confronted Minerva about the incidents.
She responded with nothing more than an impish grin and a tap to her forehead.
Understanding the gesture, Malcador used his telepathy to peer into her mind—an easy task, as she offered no resistance.
No one, save perhaps the Emperor himself, knows what the Sigillite saw.
But when it was over, he gave Minerva the flattest, most deadpan look he could manage… and walked away simply pretending the incident never happened.
From that day onward, Minerva's education was entrusted exclusively to the Emperor's personal scientists.
The Tech-Priests were no longer involved.
What was clear, however, was that Minerva did not hold the priesthood of Mars in particularly high regard—especially the more dogmatic, purist factions.
But aside from that Minerva quickly showed herself as very capable in the fields of science and engineering.
In fact she and her host had all but taken over manufacturing and maintaining their siblings armaments.
One of her earliest inventions was the power armour that the 2nd legion wore.
Since due to their unique way of creation they did not have the Black Carapace and subsequent nodes that other Astartes had to link with their power armours.
Minerva took it upon herself to make an alternative for her siblings even if they did not have such a great need for it due to their already powerful physiques which were already several times stronger than other Astartes.
There was also the Tactile Telekinesis that most of them basically possessed.
Minerva's power armours were a different variant to the standard Astarte Mark II and III power armours with key differences to cater to their unique circumstances.
While it did not currently have a neural link it was more than enough for the Grey Wardens.
And no—the absence of such a link was not due to any lack of capability on Minerva's part.
Rather, it was because the methods available to implement one would be excessively invasive—brutal, even—much like the implantation of the Black Carapace.
Not only because the Black Carapace proved to be incompatible with the Grey Warden physiology but it was something Minerva outright refused to subject her brothers and sisters to.
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After that, Minerva had all but kicked Connor and Kaythan out so she and her Host could resume their work.
The two then made their way toward another section of the Imperial Palace, one that had effectively become a combination medbay and research center.
The area was filled with medicae and other medical personnel tending to the injured and diseased, all under the supervision of more than a dozen Grey Wardens of the Third Host.
After asking one of the medicae for directions, they were pointed toward a closed room deeper within the facility. Connor and Kaythan made their way there and entered.
Thankfully, this room—though still resembling a laboratory—was far less chaotic than a certain someone's workshop.
Hunched over a table filled with precision instruments was a handsome, muscular man with red hair and green eyes, frowning in concentration.
"Raph—!"
Kaythan called out, only to be silenced by a raised finger.
Raphael, Warden-Commander of the Third Host, carefully removed the sample vial he had been studying before finally turning to face them.
"Now you can talk."
"You seem busy as usual, brother. Care to talk about it?"
Connor knew that Raphael was perhaps one of his busiest siblings, and that one of the best things he could do for him was simply let him vent.
Raphael massaged his temples in irritation before throwing his hands up.
"Terra, damn it, Connor—the Throneworld has already gone to shit, and the Unification Wars didn't help!"
"The wars may be over, but we still have an abundance of wounded—and worse, the diseases."
"I develop one cure, and there are still dozens more to make, because the wars only caused Terra's existing diseases to mutate and multiply into entirely new strains!"
And yet you're still here—working on cures, treating patients, and teaching others, Connor and Kaythan both thought.
They knew that despite Raphael's sarcastic and irritable demeanor, he was, in truth, deeply compassionate.
His complaints stemmed not from cynicism, but from genuine concern for those under his care.
In fact, despite the short time since their creation, Raphael and his Third Host had already discovered cures for several diseases once thought incurable on Terra.
They had also refined and improved surgical techniques and treatment methods, simplifying procedures and passing that knowledge on to other medicae personnel.
Because of this, countless lives that would have otherwise been lost were instead saved.
The problem was that Raphael paid little attention to his own accomplishments—always focusing instead on the next problem that needed solving.
A trait they and many other Grey Wardens unknowingly shared with Alastor.
Indeed, certain traits were beginning to emerge as common among the Grey Wardens, regardless of Host.
They possessed a level of empathy and compassion that many of their cousins lacked.
They cared deeply for baseline humans, viewing their protection and upliftment as just as important as the destruction of mankind's enemies.
Perhaps that was one of the reasons why baseline humans did not feel the same transhuman dread toward the Grey Wardens as they did toward other Astartes—or even the Custodes.
Instead, the Grey Wardens had a different effect.
Their presence unknowingly put people at ease if not inspiring hope and courage.
Those few ordinary humans fortunate enough to encounter them often remarked that, despite being clearly superior to baseline humanity, the Grey Wardens still felt…....human.
Not distant. Not alien.
But familiar.
As though they were still one of them—simply elevated to serve a greater purpose.
After allowing Raphael to vent—an act that noticeably calmed him—Connor asked about the condition of the Third Host. Once reassured that everything was under control, he and Kaythan bade him farewell.
Then they moved on, heading to check on the remaining two Hosts.
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