Swain plunged a thick syringe into his left arm, drew a full tube of blood, and handed it to the Emperor.
"No more blood draws after this, right?" Swain felt he had drawn more blood in this period than in two lifetimes combined... "Yes, but the frequency will be much lower. Let's go!" A flash of golden light, and the Emperor vanished from the land of Barbarus. Immediately after, the ready Custodian Guard fleet, like a golden arrow, shot towards the Mandeville Point, disappearing from Swain's sight.
"Having psychic powers is truly great," he sighed, then walked towards Corax and Mortarion.
These two brothers were almost finished with their work on Barbarus. After such a long period of interaction, the relationship between their two Legions had become very harmonious.
The Raven Guard's stealth infiltration and flexible, varied tactics complemented the Death Guard's steady heavy infantry tactics perfectly. Perhaps in the future, the two Legions would have more room for cooperation.
Unfortunately, the main task of the two Legions currently was to complete the integration of the Terran-born with the Primarch's homeworld natives, as well as the gene-enhancement and training of new recruits. There was little time for mutual drills, and Barbarus was also in a state of awaiting revival.
"The Emperor has embarked on the Great Crusade again. He needs to resume his duties as the Grand Marshal of the Great Crusade. You two must also work hard! Ferrus has already taken the Iron Hands Legion to support Russ. I wonder what enemies our Legion's first battle will face." Swain turned his head and began to 'PUA' the two Primarchs.
"Let's go, it's time to go to Terra!" Mortarion spoke. The people of Barbarus suffered from various xenos threats, and Mortarion was more aware of this, and his hatred for xenos was stronger.
"Let's go, our time is tight." Corax also agreed with Swain's suggestion. Matters on their homeworld would naturally be managed by others according to the directions left by the Primarchs.
Generally, after Primarchs reunite with their Legions, they are given a few months to resolve issues on their homeworlds, and then they bring their homeworld's people to Terra.
On Terra, they would receive various warships and weapon and equipment replenishment from the Adeptus Mechanicus of Mars. After two to three years of integration, the new recruits would become qualified Angels of Death, and the nascent Legion would face its first battle, thereby honing its strength.
This process was basically followed by all 20 Legions, with the only exception being Khan's White Scars. Khan took the longest to assemble his Legion, a full ten years to gather all his sons. This wasn't because the Star Hunter campaign was bogged down, nor was it because Khan's Legion was disobedient; it was purely because Khan's Legion had traveled too far and was too dispersed.
As the most mobile Legion, the Fifth Legion was also the best scout. They were dispersed across various combat clusters to cooperate in operations, so Khan could only train while receiving reports of various units returning from time to time... Two Stormbirds, painted black and dark green respectively, landed at the Death Guard headquarters. The group filed in, and the Stormbirds flew towards their respective Legion flagships.
After leaving a portion of the Death Guard to garrison the homeworld, the massive fleet formed by the two Legions, like two arrows, cut through the starry sky above Barbarus, instantly crashing through the Mandeville Point and entering Warp travel.
Under the command of the fleet's Navigators, they sailed towards Holy Terra, the homeworld of the Imperium of Man.
At the same time, the Custodian Guard's training for Swain began. These golden corn cans strictly executed the training plan set by the Emperor, with time precise to the second.
In the first few days, Swain was very unaccustomed to this rigorous training, which basically didn't stop for a whole day. This unaccustomedness wasn't physical discomfort, but mental. Having been used to a free and undisciplined life, suddenly becoming incredibly busy and bound by various rules required time for his brain to adjust.
As a Custodian Guard said, don't improvise; first follow, absorb, solidify, activate, and only after innovation do you reach the stage of doing as you please.
Time flew by. Swain's body, which was already undergoing transformation, rapidly absorbed the various specialized knowledge taught by the Custodian Guard and the Astartes, quickly growing into a qualified warrior. At the very least, he knew dozens of ways to kill a person quickly with the least amount of suffering.
Well, when teaching this knowledge, a Custodian Guard said, "This is to reduce the suffering of comrades, not to show mercy to your enemies..."
"Enemies only deserve our coldest treatment!" These were the Custodian Guard's exact words. Swain thought this was very good, very Warhammer.
Three months of Warp travel passed quickly. The Warp was as calm as a gentle ocean at this moment; ships across the galaxy could sail freely without worrying about suddenly encountering a Warp storm and being swept by an unknown Warp current into some remote corner.
But Swain knew that the current calm of the Warp was merely an illusion. A loud cry had torn a huge, ugly scar in the material universe, annihilating an ancient race that had suppressed the galaxy for 60 million years.
The first cry of the youngest goddess, born from the Eldar's nationwide depravity, blew away the Warp storm that had shrouded the entire galaxy, allowing human spacecraft to safely navigate the Warp again. The Great Crusade had begun!
This window of opportunity was very short, so short that the calm Warp would become turbulent again in only two hundred years. The Emperor needed two hundred years to unify the galaxy and reclaim lost territories, and even more, two hundred years to find a way to escape the Warp. This was an impossible task.
But now everything had changed. The Emperor reduced his investment in the bottomless pit of the Webway and instead began to accumulate stronger power for the Imperium. The Iron Hands Legion of the Wheel of Fire Sector, the Custodian Guard, and reinforcement troops from the Omen Conclave had arrived at this Ork Empire, which Russ had fought for five years to conquer. This time, the Emperor did not put all his eggs in one basket. If the Orks' teleportation technology was insufficient, he would not abandon the Webway, but the method would need to change.
As Swain said, if humans don't have it, they can borrow it from xenos!
He was still bothering with the Webway. If the Ork technology didn't work out, the Emperor would personally invade the depths of the Webway, drag out that clown, and if the Laughing God didn't hand over the Webway's exit locations and activation methods, he would dare to hand him over to Slaanesh. Everything would come out of Slaanesh's mouth.
The Emperor didn't believe Slaanesh would refuse his proposal; the secrets of the Webway were insignificant compared to the gains from devouring an Eldar deity.
As for aiding the enemy? So be it. What's the point of that Laughing God's half-baked abilities? As for whether he would resist? What a joke, a battle-weak piece of trash. It's debatable whether he could even get up after two punches from the Emperor.
Some might ask, wouldn't the Laughing God run away? The problem is, where could the Laughing God run to? He couldn't enter the material universe. Try stepping out of the Webway? The moment he appeared, Slaanesh would rush to where he emerged.
He, Slaanesh, was the most legitimate Eldar god!
"Hmm, put this plan into the alternatives. By then, Swain will have grown up and can go block the Laughing God together." The Emperor, back with the main fleet of the Great Crusade, put this matter into his memorandum.
"As the old saying goes, 'Neighbors store grain, I store guns; neighbors are my granary.' It's the same for FTL travel. Different thinking indeed." The Emperor sat on his throne, a 'Hollywood' smile on his face.
Dense golden light obscured the Emperor's smile. Now he was the Grand Marshal of the Expeditionary Force; he had to be serious!
"Valdor, tell Huangquan Eight to quickly deliver that relic battleship to Holy Terra." The Emperor, high on his throne, commanded with authority.
"Yes, My Lord." The Captain-General of the Custodian Guard responded, personally heading to the Astropathic Choir.
This scene also made all the high-ranking Commanders in the Emperor's fleet once again increase their emphasis on the Raven Guard and that Deputy Legion Master... "Ah, no more fighting, no more fighting, I'm never fighting again, I want to go home..." Swain lay on the golden floor, playing dead, continuously shouting. He was simply too tired; his body was bruised all over, with not an inch of skin untouched.
Under his abnormal bodily functions, these bruises quickly began to slowly dissipate. His powerful physique constantly transported blood within his body to clear the congested areas. Swain had lost count of how many times this process had occurred; he only knew that from an initial tingling and itching sensation, he was now completely numb. His brain automatically blocked these constantly repeating and useless signals.
To the side were two equally tall figures sitting on the ground, panting heavily: Corax and Mortarion. They were in much better condition than Swain, at least with fewer injuries on their bodies.
As the Emperor's final arrangement, Swain needed to engage in a three-day non-stop battle with the two Primarchs, with no restrictions on any form: unarmed combat, cold weapon duels, firearm shooting, firearm maintenance... The last part was unarmed combat, with Corax and Mortarion against Swain alone. The Emperor had left a note in the mission brief, "Beat him hard," leaving Corax and Mortarion no room to hold back. A Custodian Guard supervised on behalf of the Emperor.
Not only the Custodian Guard, but also the high-ranking Commanders of the Raven Guard and Death Guard aggressively watched their Primarchs severely beat Swain. However, this designated second-in-command of the Raven Guard quickly won over the high-ranking officers of both Legions. Although he was beaten badly, being able to fight two Primarchs for so long proved his strength.
"Mortarion, if you poison me again, I'll make you pay for it later!" Swain lay on the ground, cursing the scrawny Mortarion.
That son of a bitch Mortarion was using him as a guinea pig for his experiments!
"It won't kill you. It's rare to have such a good experimental subject, so it naturally shouldn't be wasted." Mortarion felt no psychological pressure from Swain's threat.
After such a long time together, he had already figured out the other's temperament; he was just someone who liked to talk big.