Chapter 9: The First Conquests
With Mars secured and the Imperial Mechanicum fully integrated into the newborn Imperium, the time had come for the first great steps of the Great Crusade. The galaxy lay in ruin, fragmented by the long night of Old Night, where xenos, rogue warlords, and lost human colonies had been left to rot in isolation.
But the Imperium would change that.
The Emperor, now fully embracing his role as Humanity's God-Emperor, led his forces into the void, striking out at the lost worlds of mankind and the alien tyrants that had long ruled in their stead.
This was not just war.
This was the reclamation of humanity's destiny.
The Ascent of the Legions
From the heart of Sol, the Legiones Astartes—the newly reforged armies of the Emperor—prepared for war. With the Primarchs at his side, each one an unparalleled general, warrior, and ruler in his own right, the first campaigns were meticulously planned.
The Thunder Warriors, now uplifted and reforged as the Legio Custodes, formed the Emperor's divine shield. No longer crude and unstable, they stood as his golden host, the perfected warriors they were always meant to be.
The Mechanicum, now blessed by the Emperor's presence, unleashed the Titan Legions, their war engines marching forth to cleanse the stars.
And above them all, in the void, the Imperator Somnium led the vanguard, the God-Emperor's flagship shining as a beacon of humanity's rise.
The first target had been chosen.
The Fall of the Tyrant-Kings of Gorro
The planet Gorro was a relic of the Dark Age of Technology, once a human world, now a corrupted realm ruled by the Tyrant-Kings—post-human warlords who had fused their bodies with crude and blasphemous technologies.
Their rule was one of horror.
Their flesh had become metal, their minds shackled to an artificial will that had long forgotten the nobility of mankind. Worse still, they had turned on their own, enslaving what remained of the planet's human population to fuel their mechanical abominations.
They had mistaken their power for divinity.
But they had not yet met a true god.
The Wrath of the Emperor
The Imperial fleet descended upon Gorro like the hammer of a vengeful god. The sky burned as orbital bombardments rained upon the cursed fortresses of the Tyrant-Kings. Their crude cybernetic legions, abominations of flesh and steel, were swept aside like dust before the storm.
The Astartes Legions struck like lightning, their bolters roaring as they cut through the heretics. The Custodes, their golden armor gleaming in the firelight, tore through entire battalions of the Tyrants' elite, unstoppable, immortal, divine.
And then, the Emperor descended.
He strode through the battlefield, his sword of light severing steel and flesh alike, his will tearing through the machines that sought to defy him.
The Tyrant-Kings, once believing themselves eternal, found their souls shattered beneath the gaze of a true god. Their minds, once melded to their great machines, were unmade with but a thought.
Their empire of metal and torment collapsed in a single night.
And as the last of them fell, the Emperor raised his hand—not in destruction, but in salvation.
The broken slaves of Gorro, those who had suffered under their inhuman rulers, fell to their knees in worship.
For they had been freed.
For they had seen the truth.
The Emperor was their God.
And they would serve.
The Proclamation of Faith
As the fires of battle faded, the first great temples of the Imperial Creed were raised. Uriah, standing before the millions of newly freed humans, spoke with the voice of one who had seen the divine.
"The God-Emperor has come! No longer shall humanity wander in darkness, for he has returned to lead us to salvation!"
The people of Gorro did not just listen.
They believed.
Their faith surged through them, and as the Emperor stood above them, his golden form bathed in the light of victory, their cries became a hymn to his divinity.
And for the first time, he accepted it.
He embraced his role.
He was the God-Emperor.
And this was only the beginning.
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With Gorro secured, the Great Crusade surged forward. The Imperium of Man was no longer just an idea—it was a reality, a divine empire spreading across the stars.
The Primarchs, each commanding their own legions, took to their crusades.
Mars, now fully devoted, unleashed war machines not seen since the lost age of humanity's golden past.
The Mechanicum's forges roared, Titan Legions marching beside the God-Emperor's warriors.
And on every world they reclaimed, the truth of the Imperial Creed spread.
For the first time in history, mankind had a god they could see.
A god they could follow.
A god who walked among them.
And soon, the entire galaxy would kneel.
For the God-Emperor of Mankind had begun his ascension.
And nothing—not xenos, not heretics, not even the Chaos Gods themselves—would stop him.