Leticia's soul-piercing question was like a searing blade, plunging into Sanguinius's heart.
His towering frame swayed violently, and he closed his azure eyes in pain.
That pair of wings, which should have been flawless and white, hung limply behind him, every feather seemingly bearing the sorrow of ten thousand years.
"I don't want to..."
Sanguinius's voice was as hoarse as two pieces of rusted metal grinding together, filled with endless exhaustion and despair.
"But I am powerless."
"This is a curse we were born with, an original sin that I... bestowed upon them all."
He admitted it.
This most perfect angel of the galaxy, for the first time in front of another "god," admitted his own failure and helplessness.
"No."
Leticia's voice rang out, calm, yet carrying an unquestionable confidence, like one observing a flaw in their own painting.
"This is not an original sin, nor is it a curse."
"It is simply a piece of code that was written incorrectly."
Sanguinius suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils, streaming with blood tears, filled with extreme astonishment and confusion.
Code? What kind of word is that? Some sort of occult term from Ancient Terra?
Leticia did not offer much explanation.
She raised her hand, and a deep, azure radiance—seemingly containing all the knowledge of the universe—lit up at her fingertip.
Authority of [Knowledge], activate!
The next second, an incredibly complex, precise, yet clear dynamic 3D image was projected directly into Sanguinius's mind by Leticia in an unreasonable manner!
Boom!
Sanguinius felt his soul being dragged into a microscopic universe composed of countless stars and streams of light!
That was... his Gene-seed!
It was the root of his soul and bloodline, and that of every one of his progeny!
He had tried countless times to analyze this thing, but could only ever see a chaotic mist polluted by the curse.
But now, under the illumination of this azure light, everything became clearer than ever before!
He saw that within the gene sequence, which spiraled like a galaxy, there was a special chain. It should have been golden, representing the most precious "empathy" and "passion" of the Blood Angels.
But now, the core of this chain was polluted by a tiny "node" that looked like a black thorn.
Leticia's will transformed into a point of light, precisely tapping onto that node.
"Look here."
Her voice, like a narrator, rang out within Sanguinius's soul.
Immediately after, a wisp of negative emotional energy representing "despair," "sorrow," and "helplessness" was simulated by Leticia and gently touched the black node.
In an instant, a sudden change occurred!
That black node, like an activated virus, instantly released tidal waves of destructive, violent factors!
These factors frantically eroded the entire golden chain, twisting it from the gold representing "passion" into the blood-red representing "madness"!
"This is the Black Rage."
Leticia's voice was as calm as if she were giving a lab report.
Sanguinius was completely stunned.
He opened his mouth, but could not make a sound.
For the first time, he saw so intuitively, so clearly, the root of the pain that had tormented him and his children for ten thousand years!
It was not some vicious curse from the Subspace, nor was it some incomprehensible divine punishment.
It... it really was just as this mysterious goddess before him had said.
Just a... beautiful mistake. A fatal mistake!
"So... this is how it is..."
"Our ten thousand years of suffering, the madness of our countless progeny..."
"Just because of... a mistake?"
This realization made him feel more shocked and absurd than any attack from a daemon.
"Do you see?"
Leticia's voice rang out again, pulling him back from his daze.
"It is just a trigger, connected to the wrong target."
"When the emotion of 'despair' pulls this trigger, the bullet it fires does not strike the enemy, but rather your own sanity."
Leticia retracted that azure radiance, and the image in Sanguinius's mind vanished accordingly.
He gasped violently, as if he had just experienced a battle that had exhausted his heart and soul.
"I cannot remove it."
Leticia looked at him and said frankly.
"Because this 'trigger' is itself the source of your power. It is the 'empathy' that allows you to perceive the pain of others, and the 'passion' that ensures you never yield when facing powerful enemies. Once removed, you would become a group of emotionless, cold fighting machines."
The sliver of Hope that had just ignited in Sanguinius was instantly extinguished.
Unable to remove it... then what difference is there from a curse?
"However..."
Leticia changed her tone, and in those deep black pupils, a mesmerizing, confident light belonging to a deity flickered.
"Although I cannot remove the trigger..."
"But I can change its target for you."
Sanguinius's breath hitched.
He raised his head, staring fixedly at Leticia, fearing he might miss a single word.
The corners of Leticia's mouth curled into an arc of absolute confidence, enough to make the stars pale in comparison.
She offered the final solution, one capable of overturning the understanding of this universe.
"I can rewrite it."
"I can rewrite the condition that triggers it, from 'despair' and'sorrow' to 'protection' and 'love'."
"Let your anger no longer be the madness that destroys yourselves, but the sacred fire ignited when protecting those you love most!"
"Let the Black Rage, from this moment on, become your most powerful blessing, rather than your most vicious curse!"
Boom!
"Rewrite the Primarch's seed!"
This concept, like a thunderclap from the dawn of creation, struck hard into the deepest part of Sanguinius's soul!
His massive frame, due to extreme shock, took an uncontrollable step backward!
The mountain of corpses beneath his feet groaned under the unbearable weight.
Rewrite... the Gene-seed?
What kind of concept is this?
This is something that even his father, the great Emperor who created them all, could not accomplish!
The Emperor could create them, but could not fix the flaws within them.
Yet this mysterious woman before him, who claimed to be a god... she actually said she could!
This is not repair! This is a re-creation from the root, at a higher dimension!
At this moment, Sanguinius looked at Leticia, and for the first time, in those azure eyes, true awe for an unknown deity emerged!
The scales in his heart began to tilt violently and irreversibly toward accepting this incredible salvation from the unknown!
However, at the very moment he was about to speak and make the decision that would change the fate of the entire Blood Angels,
"ROAR!"
A roar filled with endless jealousy and monstrous rage, like billions of tons of explosives detonating in the stratosphere, violently tore through the blood-colored sky of Signus!
The viscous blood-clouds were ripped open to reveal a massive gap!
A terrifying figure, massive enough to blot out the starlight and wielding a giant brass axe, descended with a boom from the rift, carrying a killing intent sufficient to make the entire planet tremble!
The figure's gaze instantly locked onto Leticia.
The roar, maddened with jealousy, turned into tangible sound waves and smashed down!
"Blasphemer!"
"Do not touch the Blood God's destined champion!!!"
------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the fanfiction has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 or more chapters in advance over on my patreon: patreon.com/FTLGenBen
Also every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone, Thanks.