My Crusade Fleet met with Roboute's Plus Ultra Blackstone Fort at Forge Voss, and a giant pile of Ultramarines and successors chapters, most of them already transitioned into Primaris Marines.

It was obvious I would need to upgrade the thing to Lancefire standards, but for now there was diplomacy to conduct. As in real diplomacy with non-human entities, such as the Emissary of Ynnead and her tall Fuegan escort, a Phoenix Lord with a fetish for lances and fire and the founder of the Fire Dragons Aspect Warriors. We could be good friends, perhaps.

I also had a bunch of C'tan wolves with me, not that the Eldar were fooled by the canine disguise.

"Those are not real wolves, Pef Lancefire." Yvraine noted with a hint of sarcasm.

"I assure you, my wolves are voracious eaters, every single one of them." I answered with a shrug, and went to shake hands with the big Primarch.

I think the normal protocol said something about saluting and maybe taking a knee, but my knees weren't feeling like it. "Did you hear, Roboute? My Warmaster rank was revoked." I said with fake outrage.

"Stop the theater, Lancefire. You weren't happy about that nomination anyway." the good Primarch answered with a deep voice.

"Exactly! My bleeding heart trembled with excitement for an entire week, and then it was all for nothing. Killed the stupid slime God, and got kicked out after. I feel so used." I continued in a commiserating voice, and thumbed the bleeding heart sigil on my armor.

"I think your Solitaire harlequin had a bad influence on Lord Lancefire. He used to be less flippant." Roboute excused me in front of his important guests.

"You know of Malice, Pef Lancefire?" Yvraine asked me directly.

"I was in-between lives when that Primarch got lost. And the Inquisition made sure all records were lost, too." I answered with faint humor.

"His name was Malibron, before his fall. Too bad you weren't born yet, during the Rangdan_Xenocides , Commander Lancefire. Maybe things would have gone, less bad, at least." Roboute sighed and patted my shoulder, while ignoring the C'tan wolves on principle.

Why would he tell me this? I thought for a minute, then figured it out. It was showtime.

"So, Phoenix Lord Fuegan, was it? Want to spar for a minute?" I asked the glaring Eldar. We could have been friends, in another world.

The Eldar not-Primarch leaned forward with a flaming lance in hand, so I drew Drach too. 'Try to look evil, Drach! Bigger flames!' I urged the daemon lance as I took a jousting stance too. My lance was longer and had auto-aim anyway. I wasn't worried at all.

"Even the Divine Ynnead cannot bring you back if that thing hits you, Lord Fuegan. Don't waste your immortal soul for pride." Yvraine told her escort in a wary voice.

The Phoenix Lord measured my awesome demon lance for second, then drew back. "Quite the menagerie today. Yngir wolves, upstart Mon Kheighs and even a foul daemon, all tamed by the Blacksoul." he spat back, as to cover his lack of courage.

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Hah, he blinked first!

Lash waited until I stored the lance and walked next to me, so I could rest my hand on his head. Then again, the Eldar managed to insult everyone just now.

"You're right, Lash. Maybe we don't need to waste time helping the ingrates. Hunting Necrons is much more rewarding." I answered out loud, as if the C'tan urged me to leave.

Yvraine's eyes flashed with some kind of emotion I didn't get. "Your Emperor assured me you will participate in this Black Crusade, Lord Lancefire. Even sent your mother, alive and well..." she began as my face changed to pure anger.

Don't shoot the messenger, this time. Divert!

I turned towards Roboute and looked up. "I didn't hear an objective, Primarch. The rest of the fallen Primarchs I collected alive for future review, and potential redemption. What is to happen with this Malice?"

The Primarch scowled and nodded slowly. "And I thank you for that, Lord Lancefire. I know killing is far easier than capture, especially with a dangerous Primarch. But for Malice, the Emperor has granted him Mercy. The eternal kind." That meant put him down, for good. Not that easy with Chaos Gods, but it could be done. Had done.

"And what about the Chaos Marines we will encounter?" I continued with a gentle voice.

The Primarch just shook his head. "Unless I mark someone for interrogation, they all are to be laid to rest. Any means necessary." he invoked with a glance at my wolves. Even soul death, or especially that. People didn't get reborn from a C'tan's stomach. Such a compassionate Emperor we had.

"The Lion will not be happy." I noted with a raised eyebrow. The Dark Angels even had a new Wing called the Risen, former Chaos Marines that rejoined Lion'El.

"I'll try to mark any such Fallen for extraction, but don't endanger the mission for that. Those who follow Malice have signed their souls for oblivion." Roboute answered with a sad tone.

'Upgrade the fort and head for Cadia.' the Blade advised me in my mind, sounding a bit hurried. Something was happening already.

'Zath, we are in a hurry, it seems. Help me with the Blackstone plates' I asked the stronger C'tan, since his true form was Transcendant, thus at least 100 times stronger than the other Shards here.

Time stood still for a second, then returned as Plus Ultra became a proper battlestation. He even installed new Gellar Ramparts on the Ultramarines' fort! Truly, the C'tan were such bullshit.

'I don't want you to faint again, not in front of the Eldar, Lancefire. Your Ascension has barely begun, and you aren't yet a True God. But the Eldar insult will be paid back, after we part ways.' Zath told me in a gruff tone.

"Your Blackstone Fortress is now prepared for combat, Primarch. We make for Cadia." I informed Roboute and traversed the tesseract to return to my flagship, and sent orders to begin acceleration.

As I sat in my Command Throne, time-bottled messages arrived from Terra and the Votann League, one sourced from psyker premonition and the other from time flux reading or whatever science trick the Votann used.

A new Dark God was coming out to play, already attacking the world of Scelus, in the Cadian Sector. Poor Cadians, it seemed their woes were not finished.