I felt the tug of a tesseract draw me to the planet, and allowed it without opposition, and thus landed in a marble-covered room of the Imperial Palace. The planet was Mars, not Nocturne, but it was the same thing for the Omnissiah, maybe even better.
Soon I was assaulted by an eager jump-hug from my daughter Janice. Even stronger than the hug I got for Vulkan, but I wasn't a mere mortal anymore.
"Daddy! You made a mess of the galaxy with your latest stunt. Was it really necessary to escalate to such a degree? You broke the galaxy in half..." my daughter asked in an irate voice.
I pushed her golden wings away and patted her back. "Glad to see you too, Janice. And I used the exact amount of force needed to kill a God in the center of their power. Any less, and I would be the dead one instead."
Seated on a wooden throne behind an old-style desk, the Emperor coughed lightly. "That's enough, Janice. Remember, I fought Nurgle myself and couldn't kill him completely. His Shards still plague the galaxy because I wasn't strong enough."
Janice glanced between me and the Emperor, then scowled and ran off, vanishing in a Warp teleport the second she left my Blankness range.
"She seems well. Strong too." I started with an approving voice, while summoning a small metal chair for myself.
"You did make a mess, Lancefire. Got lucky too, obtaining the 6 Forts needed to end that abomination. I was ready to send Sanguinius with his own Fort to help, when the Eldar appeared to help." the Emperor spoke with a sad voice, perhaps disappointed a little.
I nodded, waiting for the other foot to drop. "No victory without sacrifice, right?" I countered with the same tone.
"I can see why you chose Perturabo now. The fallen Primarchs will never regain their former status, but they can be used in a covert manner anyway. Like you did with Corax already." the Emperor mused in a thoughtful voice, already writing stuff on some scrolls on his desk.
"This isn't why. The Iron Warriors need to be brought to heel, and their gene-father has the best chance for this task. Better if we use Blank Astartes to rebuild them, of course." I offered with a knowing glance at the subdued god behind the desk, hidden under a brown cloak. Just a step away from wearing a black cloak for complete edginess. I could see why the prophecy invoked a Dark King.
"The Lion had the same idea, for his Fallen Marines. It doesn't matter anymore, not on this side of the galaxy anyway. We have the Primaris cloning vats here on Mars. They just need some cloneskein tweaking, thus Clonemaster Anzion and Vulkan need to stay and help." The Emperor demanded with a cold voice.
He could have waited for me to offer the same, though. Lack of tact was a bad trait for a God.
I just sighed, seeing no point to argue. Instead, I unloaded a small hill of Chaos books behind me, the tithe I had to pay to the Emperor. "Can't really report this tithe to the Administratum, right? Their scribes might not approve of Chaos books..." I said in a light voice.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The Emperor frowned and tapped a finger on his desk, covering the books with his Anathemic light, then folding them all inside his tesseract. "Send your Blank Librarians to Mars for training. This is why you stole these books anyway. I'll make sure they aren't corrupted. Is that better?" he asked in a tired voice, while a glowing scroll flew from his desk and landed in my hands.
I only glanced over it to make sure it contained my orders for the Mortalis Crusade, with requisition rights and all. Oh well, I'm sure such a document will be useful one day.
Maybe even today, if the Martian priesthood were willing to donate some equipment and munitions from their vaults. I stored the Crusade Edict in my Null Box, and ejected the Fulgurite Lance, taking care not to touch it again. Dying by accident was much different than dying on purpose, after all.
The weapon flew into the Emperor's hand, who examined it for a long minute. "So this is how they suppressed Vulkan. And then you turned it into a Godslaying Lance, and had Vulkan stab Tzeentch with it. Necron tech too."
I shrugged in acceptance. He wasn't called the Omnissiah for collecting plastic toys. At least I didn't see any shelves filled with toys anywhere near.
"I liked my old lance more. It shot fire too." I said with a casual voice. See, I haven't forgotten you stole my lance.
Raising an eyebrow, the Emperor retrieved the Drach'nyen from his tesseract, now in the shape of great sword with a golden guard.
"You really want to wield the End of Empires, Pef Lancefire? The daemon is very strong." he asked me with a dubious voice.
For a moment, I doubted my own sanity, then remembered that Grey Knight holding a black demon sword at all times, and his strong willpower. I wanted that too. "We don't become strong by hiding from danger, Emperor. And anyway, I killed stronger things. I want it for the lance fire."
With an amused snort, the Emperor threw the weapon at me, but unlike the Emperor Sword the daemon weapon impaled me with it's wicked blade. I drew it out, and it reformed into a black lance with red runes glowing on its sides. "Drach Lancefire. You better be worthy of this name." I spoke in a grave voice, while bestowing my family name on the weapon.
"You're still an idiot, Lancefire. Now go and kill some Necrons. I already collected your Librarians." the Emperor dismissed me with a careless voice, so I stood up, saluted with a fist banging on my breastplate, and went on to find the Fabricator General.
As I turned around, the Emperor's Sword flew out from the wound left by Drach, and healed it perfectly, including my armor, except a single drop of blood. It had to mean something about Blood Angels and our drop of blood sigil, but the Emperor wasn't the type to explain much. I still collected the blood for my next resurrection, should I die again.
Maybe that was it? An extra life? This wasn't that kind of game, was it?