Chapter Nine: Fugrim

Wang Ming took the cube from the hands of Trazyn the Infinite. Through the translucent green barrier, he saw a figure clad in purple power armor. White hair, a flawless visage—this was Fulgrim, the Primarch of the Emperor’s Children, a cloned Primarch, a loyal Primarch.

“This is the stasis field imprisoning Fulgrim, and also a communicator by which you may contact me. Complete the transaction within a millennium,” Trazyn told Wang Ming.

“In the name of the Emperor’s holy gene-progeny of the Imperium of Man, I promise to fulfill your request,” Wang Ming assured Trazyn.

Trazyn regarded Wang Ming with interest for a moment, then vanished in a sudden flash of green light.

Examining the translucent green cube in his hands, Wang Ming quickly began to operate it. To his surprise, the so-called Figurine King had, in that brief moment, added a user interface suitable for humans—allowing Wang Ming to truly appreciate the terrifying technological prowess of the Necrons. (The operation method was translated by the Custodes.)

As a beam of green light emanated from the cube, a towering figure appeared before the four present.

Fulgrim had been the Primarch who betrayed the Imperium during the Great Crusade, corrupted by the daemon of excess within the Blade of the Laer, and transformed into a Daemon Prince. Yet this cloned Primarch retained his loyalty to the Emperor.

Wang Ming understood that strengthening the Imperium of Man required the Primarchs above all else. After the Emperor’s fall, the Imperium spent ten thousand years forsaking the Imperial Truth and its veneration of science, becoming exactly what the Emperor had most wished to avoid.

The Imperium had become a decaying giant, consumed by fanaticism and faith, stumbling through this hopeless universe. Wang Ming knew he must prepare for the coming “Eternal Night.”

Fulgrim gazed at the mortal before him, a Custodian, an unfamiliar Primarch, and a Magos Dominus of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Having lingered too long in Trazyn’s stasis field, he found himself at a loss for how to respond.

“Fulgrim, welcome back to the Imperium of Man.” It was Wang Ming who finally broke Fulgrim’s dazed silence.

“The Imperium of Man…” Fulgrim’s memories remained fixed on the moment he was sold by the infamous Apothecary Fabius to Trazyn for his collection. He was bewildered by his current situation.

“I have a question for you.” Wang Ming recognized Fulgrim’s confusion, but there was something of vital importance he needed to ascertain.

“Fulgrim, are you loyal?”

Although Wang Ming had read some reports about the cloned Primarchs created by the infamous Apothecary, he could not be entirely sure of their loyalty.

The records claimed that the clones maintained absolute loyalty to the Emperor.

“I am utterly loyal!” Fulgrim snapped from his confusion at Wang Ming’s question, his answer almost a roar.

The eyes are the window to the soul. Looking into Fulgrim’s eyes, Wang Ming saw unwavering resolve.

“Magos Dominus Cawl, I need you to notify the Mechanicus fleet to begin evacuation from Cadia,” Wang Ming said, turning to Belisarius Cawl, who had been watching him intently since he entered this space.

“You are not any Primarch I know,” came Cawl’s electronically modulated, mechanical voice.

“Just think of me as a Primarch undiscovered during the Great Crusade,” Wang Ming replied nonchalantly.

Clearly, Cawl was skeptical of Wang Ming’s explanation, but he still contacted the Mechanicus fleet to begin evacuation operations on Cadia.

Wuhu, I have survived once more.