This is the bonus chapter for reaching 150 Powerstones.
--
The two Primarchs began walking side by side, heading deeper into Dawn City. Behind them, their Legion's high command followed in a single-file procession.
As Marius Gage walked past the mountain of gifts, his eyes lingered for a split second on a specific Astartes scale model. The figure was painted in the cobalt blue of the Ultramarines. The craftsmanship was exquisite, the detailing absolutely flawless.
The corner of Marius's mouth twitched.
Behind him, Azkaellon was also inspecting the gifts. He spotted a Blood Angels model... Crimson armor, golden wings—a perfect miniature recreation of Sanguinius in all his glory.
Azkaellon fell silent for two seconds before looking away.
Amidst the countless Blood Angels figures, Seranaphy caught sight of his own likeness.
The model wasn't particularly flashy compared to the others; its faceplate was heavily cracked, and the sculpted wounds were tinged with a sickly green. It was a perfect recreation of his brutal fight against the rotting heretic tide back then. A handwritten note was taped to the figure:
"Big brother Angel, thank you for protecting Aurelian. My father was so honored to fight by your side. I made this model based on his descriptions. I hope you like it.
My father passed away... from the complications of the injuries he took in that battle.
I've already applied for the Crimson Dawn PDF this year. My dad told me that the other Astartes lords called you a Champion!
So I'm going to study hard and become a Champion just like you! I will stand firm and fight against all heretics who threaten humanity."
— Left by Eli Thorne.
Seranaphy stumbled over his own feet. He slowly walked up to the pile of gifts, picked up the model, and gripped it tightly in his hands.
Further back, Nassir Amit's rugged, brutal face wore an incredibly complicated expression.
He looked at these gifts, at the crowds who had gathered purely of their own free will to welcome them, at this thriving, prosperous city...
And he suddenly realized that his famously violent, raging heart had completely quieted down.
Guilliman and Sanguinius's inspection officially began.
They started in Dawn City's busiest commercial district. They walked through the spotless streets, past brightly lit storefronts, surrounded by crowds of smiling citizens.
As they moved down the avenue, the people naturally parted to make way. But they didn't leave; they just stood on the sidewalks, watching the Primarchs with curious, friendly eyes.
People were chatting in hushed voices.
Some were smiling and nodding.
And then...
A little girl, looking no older than five or six, suddenly broke from the crowd and ran right up to Sanguinius. She tilted her head all the way back, staring up at the golden angel with the folded white wings, her eyes full of stars.
"Mr. Angel, you're so pretty!"
Sanguinius looked down at the tiny girl who barely reached his shin.
He slowly crouched down, reaching out with a massive golden power-armored gauntlet to gently pat her on the head.
"You are very beautiful too," he replied, his voice as warm and gentle as a breeze beneath the clear skies of Chemos.
The little girl flashed him a wide, toothy grin, showing off two missing front teeth.
"When I grow up, I'm going to be just as pretty as you, Mr. Angel!"
With that, she spun around, running back into the crowd and diving into her mother's arms.
Sanguinius stood up, watching the mother and daughter, the smile on his face deepening.
He turned his head to look at Guilliman.
Guilliman was already looking at him.
The two Primarchs locked eyes for a brief moment.
Then, simultaneously, they gave a slight nod.
No words were spoken. But everything was understood.
--
Crimson Drake Gate, just outside the docking bays.
The five hundred Chaos players were now spread out across their respective drop zones.
Every single one of them was geared up in a [High-Density Protective Spacesuit].
The silver-white suits gleamed under the starport's floodlights; the ultra-dense molecular outer layer increased their body weight by more than ten times.
[Kingslayer Luna Wolf Horus] stood right at the very edge of the station, taking a deep breath.
He sent one last message into the [Wings of Freedom] channel:
"Boys, are we ready?"
The channel instantly blew up with responses:
"Ready!!"
"I've been waiting for this!!"
"For the Imperial Coins!!"
"For Chaos!!"
[Kingslayer Luna Wolf Horus] smirked.
He took one last look at the blue-green planet through the viewport, and then...
"Three," he counted down in the chat.
"Two."
His body leaned forward.
"One."
He took a blind Leap of Faith into the void...
"Let's go!!"
Five hundred silver-white figures leaped from the edge of the Crimson Drake Gate in perfect unison.
It was a genuinely spectacular sight.
Five hundred silver-white tin cans tumbling and spinning through the vacuum of space, plummeting toward the blue-green planet below.
Faint blue exhaust flames flickered from the thrusters on the back of their suits, signaling that their gravity anchors had engaged.
The [Regional Channel (Wings of Freedom)] chat log started scrolling like crazy.
[Inherit Sevatar's Will to Slay the False Emperor]: "Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!! I'm fucking flying!!!"
[Did the Emperor Lift His Ass Today?]: "Shut up!! I'm gonna puke!! The spinning is making me so dizzy!!!"
[Four-Armed Emperor I Gotta Wreck You]: "Help!! I can't steer!! I'm gonna hit some debris!! Ah—"
His scream was abruptly cut off.
Three seconds later, a new message popped up.
[Four-Armed Emperor I Gotta Wreck You]: "Fuck me, I slammed into some space junk and died. That respawn just cost me eight hundred bucks, and now I'm at some random checkpoint back on the Crimson Drake Gate. You guys keep going, I'm buying another suit and catching up right now!"
The chat channel filled with a chorus of sarcastic "Lmao"s and "F"s.
[Kingslayer Luna Wolf Horus] pulled up his system interface mid-freefall, checking his trajectory.
At their current velocity, they'd hit Aurelian's atmosphere in about fifteen minutes.
When that happened, the ablative layers of their suits would ignite, turning them into a shower of meteors.
Five hundred shooting stars streaking across the sky at once.
Just thinking about the visuals gave him a rush.
Smirking, he fired off one last message to the channel:
"Get ready, boys! We're about to deliver Crimson Dawn one hell of a care package!"
Hundreds of silver-white figures accelerated, hurtling toward the surface of Aurelian.
--
Inside a secure command post.
[God-Tier Mechanic] looked at the five hundred red dots rapidly descending on the holographic display, his smile growing even wider.
"Tsk tsk, they actually jumped."
He picked up the coffee next to him and took a sip.
It was brewed from locally sourced Aurelian beans—rich, full-bodied, with a faint hint of fruit.
"Kids these days. You gotta respect the balls on them."
[The Last Mechanical Scourge], who had just hurried over from another sector, sat down next to him. He took one look at the screen and couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"This Chaos faction really goes all out."
"Free-falling from an orbital starport... you really can't make this stuff up."
[The Last Mechanical Scourge] looked at the plummeting Chaos players and joked, "Honestly, I kind of admire these guys."
On the other side of the room, [I Ain't Healing You] chimed in.
"Admire what?"
[The Last Mechanical Scourge]:
"Their imagination."
"Having the bright idea to jump off an orbital station to launch a terrorist attack... the average person simply doesn't have a brain wired like that."
"Hell, not even the average person. You wouldn't catch the Astartes or the Adeptus Custodes trying something this unhinged."
"Even those empty-headed Ork greenskins who only know how to WAAAGH!, or the Tyranids who only know how to eat, wouldn't pull a stunt like this."
[God-Tier Mechanic] chuckled. "That's exactly what makes them players! When you're functionally immortal, you've got the liquid courage to try absolutely anything."
He then picked up his comm-link, his tone completely nonchalant.
"The targets have jumped."
"Start closing the net."
"Initiate Operation Bug Catcher."
A steady voice replied from the other end of the line:
"Copy that."
[God-Tier Mechanic] put the comm-link down, leaned back in his chair, and took another slow sip of his coffee.
He watched the red dots plummeting across the screen and muttered to himself.
"Welcome to Aurelian."
His voice was faint, but it carried an undeniable undercurrent of... anticipation.
"I hope you guys..."
"...have fun down here."
"Oh, wait..."
"I hope you guys still want to log in after this."
--
Bonus chapter at only 350 Powerstones!
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