Chapter Thirty-Four: The End of the Battle of Makulag

The battle for Macragge had essentially come to an end; the city was reclaimed, the traitors of Chaos purged, and beneath the first rays of dawn, Macragge's war was won.

Under the azure sky, within Hera Fortress, Guilliman stood on the high platform alongside Wang Ming and Fulgrim, three Primarchs gazing down upon the plaza below where the Ultramarines and the Travelers had gathered.

The war was over—at least, the war for Macragge had concluded. Yet, among the myriad stars above, conflict never ceases and never will.

“This moment reminds me of the Second Empire…” Wang Ming surveyed the scene before him, unable to keep the sigh from his heart.

Three Primarchs once again, the empire facing its most perilous hour. Everything about this scene recalled memories of the Second Empire ten millennia ago.

Guilliman felt it too, a strange sense of familiarity, just as it had been ten thousand years before—three Primarchs standing over Macragge.

Yet the secret of the Second Empire was buried deep within him, all records of that unremembered empire destroyed ten thousand years ago.

He could not help but feel sorrow; of those brothers who had stood here millennia past, only he remained.

“This is the unit, a company of Ultramarines from the Great Crusade era,” Wang Ming said, patting Guilliman’s shoulder and pointing toward a hundred-strong Astartes phalanx on the plaza.

Guilliman looked where Wang Ming indicated, seeing the Astartes distinct among the Ultramarines.

They wore the MK2 “Expedition” power armor of the Great Crusade era, their blue livery starkly contrasting the others.

“They were kept by the Endless Trazyn of the Space Necrons for ten thousand years, their memories still in the age of the Great Crusade.”

Guilliman regarded the familiar armor—these were his gene-sons from ten millennia past.

Compared to the gene-sons of this age, Guilliman felt those from the Great Crusade possessed something the current ones lacked.

His gene-sons of today had never witnessed the glory of the Great Crusade. Born into this era of darkness, they had never seen true hope or light.

“I will use them as a foundation, so my gene-sons may witness genuine light,” Guilliman said, his spirits reviving after a period of gloom as he gazed upon his sons of the Great Crusade.

He had spent this time learning as much as possible about the present era, and its darkness and decline pained him deeply. The grand vision his father had set for humanity was gone.

Darkness, savagery, and blind, ignorant religious worship pervaded this age.

The arrival of this company from the Great Crusade gave him hope for changing the era.

Guilliman would base the new spirit of the Imperium upon the ethos of the Great Crusade, restoring to the empire what had been lost—the ambition to reach for the stars.

With the war for Macragge ended, reconstruction began in an orderly manner. Travelers and Ultramarines worked side by side to rebuild every corner of Macragge.

“Boss, what’s our next step? Are we heading to Terra with the Thirteenth Lord?” In the Travelers’ temporary camp, Wang Xiaofa, Hu Jin (Commander of the Second Regiment), the company leaders of the Travelers Corps, and Wang Ming gathered to discuss their next move.

“We certainly will, but the main issue right now is dealing with the impending Nurgle plague,” Wang Ming replied to the group. The plague arriving in a few months would be extremely troublesome.