"I am Kosswayne, fourth-year cadet. I've been assigned to supervise you. Think of us upperclassmen as your… elder brothers."
Kosswayne felt an uncomfortable heat creep up his neck.
He was a top student of the Astartes Military Academy — Caliban Branch, yet here he stood pretending to sound authoritative in front of recruits barely younger than himself.
The Thunder Warrior instructors who usually trained them did not explain.
They commanded.
They broke men down and rebuilt them.
Kosswayne tried to mimic their severity, but his voice still sounded painfully human.
"If there's anything you don't understand, you may ask. We will answer. Now—state your names. Start from the left."
…
By nightfall, Kosswayne collapsed onto his bunk, utterly drained.
"Brother," his roommate asked quietly, "where did the instructors go?"
Kosswayne stared at the dim ceiling.
He understood enough of the Imperium to know the truth:
The Thunder Warriors obeyed only two masters.
The Emperor.
The Vice-Emperor.
Which meant they had been summoned.
But for what enemy would the Thunder Warriors be mobilized as a whole?
They had not done so since the earliest wars of Terra.
Kosswayne closed his eyes.
Perhaps, somewhere beyond their sight, a war had begun that would decide the fate of the Imperium.
In Eusonis's memory, he had never seen his mother like this.
So calm.
So sorrowful.
The Imperial Wings and the Zouwu floated in silent opposition above Doms, locked in a standoff that resembled ancient Terran naval duels.
Neither side fired.
Neither side spoke.
The Second Legion's rebellion was now undeniable.
Fifty thousand uncorrupted warriors had escaped the encirclement and confirmed the truth.
The news was being suppressed.
A Legion turning against the Imperium could not be allowed to fracture the Great Crusade.
Yuki stood at the viewport.
Below, Doms shimmered blue and green beneath cloud and storm.
When she had first seen its oceans, she had felt joy.
Terra's seas had long ago vanished.
It was here she had first met Mordecai.
Now she had come to kill him.
Rangdan fleets had already advanced toward the system.
They were being held at bay by the Dark Angels and the Ultramarines.
They would not interfere here.
This battle belonged to the Rising Angels and the Roar of Dawn.
Yuki could feel the tension in her sons — a pressure building like a drawn bowstring.
But now was not the time to strike.
She waited.
For an opening.
For the moment she had anticipated.
It came.
A fleet translated into realspace behind the Imperial formation.
Smaller than the gathered armadas — only dozens of escorts circling twenty battle barges.
Yet Yuki smiled.
Each barge bore a different insignia.
Not Legion markings.
Older honors.
Symbols older than the Astartes themselves.
Relics of forgotten campaigns and oaths sworn before the Imperium's birth.
The Imperial Wings opened a simultaneous channel.
No reply.
They were waiting.
As always.
"For me?" Yuki asked softly.
Twenty voices answered as one:
"We will die for you, Your Highness."
Fire erupted across the void.
Macro-cannon barrages illuminated space like newborn stars.
Void shields flared and failed.
Escort ships vanished in blossoms of plasma and light.
Boarding torpedoes streaked forward like sharks scenting blood.
Reports flooded the command center — boarding actions, counter-boarding, hull breaches, decompression.
Yet amid the chaos, Yuki saw it clearly:
A corridor.
A path deliberately opened.
A road through destruction.
Leading to Doms.
"He is inviting me," she murmured.
"He opened the door."
"He is waiting."
"No, Mother," Eusonis said — the first time he had ever contradicted her.
"This is a trap. We can—"
"He is calling me."
She touched her temple.
"He told me he is waiting."
She gestured toward the star map.
"They've stopped firing."
Indeed, the enemy fleet had fallen still.
Imperial guns continued firing.
The Rangdan ships did not respond.
"Don't go," Eusonis pleaded.
"The Imperium will endure. Reinforcements are arriving. If we wait—"
"Yes. Time," she said softly.
"The First and Thirteenth Legions are holding the Rangdan fleets at bay. Can we guarantee our reinforcements arrive before theirs?"
Eusonis fell silent.
Yuki did not tell him the other truth:
She needed answers.
And she was willing to risk everything to obtain them.
"I will go with you," Eusonis said at last, bowing his head.
"I beg you."
Yuki smiled.
"Alright."
The Space Wolves had never cared what others thought of them.
Savages, they were called.
Barbarians obsessed with battle.
Yet beneath their ferocity lay an ancient warrior ethos — and beneath their Wolf King's brutality, a calculating mind.
Gunnar had never seen Russ like this.
The Wolf King stood gripping the Spear of Dionysus, not the Siren's Bite nor Winter's Axe.
Russ despised the spear.
Yet he held it now as if it were the only weapon that mattered.
"Russ… you wanted to see me?"
"Set course for Doms."
Gunnar stiffened.
"Doms? That is the Second Prince's world. Our orders are to assist the Dark Angels and Ultramarines against the Rangdan fleet."
"I am your Primarch. Do as I say."
Russ's voice was cold iron.
Unfamiliar.
"Are we to disobey the Vice-Emperor's orders?"
Russ let out a bitter laugh.
"Orders… Get out, Gunnar."
Gunnar lingered a moment, searching his Primarch's face, then left.
"You didn't need to come in person," Russ said after the hatch sealed.
"I was prepared."
A figure in dark robes stood in the corner where moments before there had been nothing.
A mortal form.
Impossible.
Only one being could appear unannounced within an Astartes warship.
The Emperor.
Russ gave a humorless smile.
"Isn't this my duty? I would do it without being told."
"There has never been a duty," the Emperor replied calmly.
"You have always chosen your own path."
Russ's eyes burned.
"You planned everything. We are pieces on your board."
"I have planned nothing for you. Your lives are your own."
Russ exhaled sharply.
"What do you want? To order me to kill my brothers?"
"No," the Emperor said.
"I came to stop you."
Russ narrowed his eyes.
"What?"
"I never intended you to kill them."
"I want you to give them a chance."
"A chance for what?"
"To repent."
The Spear of Dionysus could kill a Primarch.
But its true power lay deeper:
To return a being to its origin.
To strip corruption away.
To give one final chance.
Russ laughed bitterly.
"And if repentance fails? Who kills us then? The Lion?"
"No," said the Emperor.
"Yuki."
Russ stared.
"…Have you lost your mind?"
The Emperor's voice remained level.
"She came to me. She said your loyalty would never permit fratricide. So she chose to bear the burden."
Russ's grip tightened until the spear burned his palm.
"And she can do it?"
"She already is."
Yuki walked across scorched, rain-soaked earth.
Enemy ranks stood silently to either side of the road.
At its end stood the shattered palace.
Once golden.
Now a husk of ruin.
She turned.
"Thank you for coming."
Behind her stood the Rising Angels, Thunder Warriors, and mortal soldiers.
All volunteers.
All knowing it might be a trap.
"You may wait here," she said.
"Eusonis, come with me."
Usotan began to speak, but Yuki shook her head.
"Prepare yourself."
He bowed.
Silent.
They walked the road alone.
Yuki placed a hand on Eusonis's shoulder.
"Are you afraid?"
He shook his head firmly.
No matter what awaited them.
No matter what future lay beyond.
He would not fear.
At the palace entrance, only one figure stood waiting.
Mordecai.
No guards.
No army.
No defense.
Yuki said nothing.
He spoke first.
"Look, sister. I promised I would kill the Rangdan. And look at me now. Look what I've done."
He laughed softly.
"I knew someone would stop me. I thought it would be Russ."
"I understand," Yuki said.
"Russ will not come. I promised him he would never witness brothers killing brothers. So I came."
Her voice softened.
"We both understand the weight of a promise."
Mordecai tilted his head.
"Did you come to kill me?"
"I came to save you."
He smiled faintly.
"Save me?"
"Yes."
He bent, drawing a slender Miao blade from its sheath.
"Good," he said quietly.
"Then let us begin."
Yuki drew her twin swords.
Steel met the storm.
And the promise between them became fate.
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