Warhammer 40: My Fiancée Fulgrim.

Chapter 20 Then, he closed his eyes (Part 2)
Emperor's Fantasy.

Third Legion Space Marine Sykestu was tidying up his personal cabin.

Somewhat strangely, even in his absolutely safe personal room, he was still fully dressed in the purple-gold power armor styled after the Third Legion.

They never took it off for a moment.

"grown ups!"

"You should go and rest first, I'll take care of these chores!"

Upon seeing this, the mortal servants who had returned from cleaning immediately stepped forward to dissuade them.

"Oh, right. Friend, this is for you."

Sykes didn't stop. Instead, as if remembering something, she took out a letter from her person and handed it to the mortal servant with a smile.

"Sir, I can't accept this! It's far too valuable!"

"Please accept this as a small token of my gratitude."

"Thank you, friend. You've been doing a great job ever since I've known you."

"My lord, I—!"

Sykes comforted the weeping mortal servants and urged them to leave, then continued with her work.

There was far more clutter than he had imagined.

A precious sword captured during the last war, medals won for bravery in battle, some canned food and letters sent from home.
Home.

Yes, it's been a long time since he's actually been home.

Sykes' thoughts drifted back to the past.

He was born into a noble and warlord family in ancient Europe.

His family wisely chose to side with the Emperor during the Terran Wars, and he and his siblings underwent modification surgery in the Emperor's reserve army at a very young age.

When talking about siblings, Sykes would rummage through and lift up an old photograph that was hidden under a pile of clutter.

There are three people in the photo.

Two were dressed in purple Space Marine power armor, while the other was dressed in golden Imperial Guard.

To his left is Sykes's older brother, who is also a Space Marine of the Third Legion.

He was an outstanding commander who led his troops to victory after victory and was appointed as the company commander of the 16th Company of the Third Army Corps.

As for his right-hand side, it is his most intelligent and also most promising younger sister.

Her outstanding potential caught the eye of the emperor, and she became one of the very few female members of the Imperial Guard.

He's in the very center of the photo, Sykes. An ordinary Space Marine.

Sykes stared at the old photograph, slightly lost in thought.

later?

Later they died, they all died.

Except for him, Sykes.

At the time, the Emperor was receiving the surrender ceremony on Proxima Centauri when a very serious rebellion suddenly broke out.

The rebels wounded the Emperor with a Vortex weapon from the Night Age, but he was able to escape danger thanks to the desperate protection of the Imperial Guard and the Third Legion Space Marines who were serving as his guards.

His two siblings, however, were not so lucky.

They remained on that planet forever.

And it transformed into the golden double-headed eagle emblem on his armor.

The Emperor said that this was an honor reserved only for the Imperial Guard and their Third Legion.

They wore the double-headed eagle, a symbol of the Empire, on their armor to commemorate their heroic deeds on Proxima Centauri.

The Third Legion will forever be the model for all Space Marines.

model.

What beautiful and noble words.

But more than any honor, he wanted his older brother and sister to come back.

Sykes sighed softly and tucked the old photograph into another letter in his hand.

After cleaning the room, Sykes packed all her remaining personal belongings into a small suitcase.

After closing the door, Sykes walked heavily across the smooth marble floor, the sound of his luggage rolling as he passed through the quiet ship's hall.

He found the person he was looking for.

"Secretary."

"My cabin has been evacuated. After I leave, please give the box and this letter to my family."

"What are you doing, Sykes?"

The other party was a little surprised.

"You're here to meet your Primarch, not to fight some apocalyptic war!"

“I know, clerk.”

“But after all,” Sykes said, pointing to his helmet, “you know my current situation.”

"Oh, that's true, that's true too."

He sighed and took the letter from the other person.

"Farewell, Sykes." Watching the departing figure, the clerk silently offered his blessing and put the letter into his pocket.

Sykes and this mortal scribe were very good friends.

Even though he knew that this guy wasn't a good person.

The Third Legion's recruits are mostly descendants of Terra Tech warlords like him, and many are even hostages from various warlord families.

Faced with such an army, it seems that the Emperor and Macardo never felt at ease with them.

This clerk was one of the people sent to monitor them.

He could sense the mortal's eagle-like gaze constantly scrutinizing everything about the Third Legion.

But they remain friends.

Where did we come from?

Oh, right, the Proxima Centauri Rebellion.

It is often said that the Third Legion is the unluckiest legion, and getting close to them brings bad luck.

Sykes wanted to refute this claim.

But it seems that the other party has a more reasonable and well-founded argument.

Following the chaos at Proxima Centauri, the Third Legion suffered heavy losses, losing six or seven tenths of its strength. But just at this critical juncture, when replenishment was urgently needed, another major crisis erupted—

The warship, laden with the genetic seeds of the Third Legion, suddenly vanished into the warp without a trace.

No one knows where the transport ship and the gene seed went.

Without the gene seed, they cannot perform gene modification surgery, and without gene modification surgery, their Third Legion will have no Space Marine recruits.

Having lost a large number of gene seeds and failing to find the original gene source, the Third Legion has been extremely slow to replenish its personnel, and its strength has dwindled to less than one-tenth of its former glory.

They can only pin their hopes on the extremely rare gene seed storage that exists only in lunar laboratories.

Hopefully, this last glimmer of hope will lead their Third Legion back to its peak.

"Hey!"

Sykes's thoughts of reminiscing were suddenly interrupted.

"Sydx! You're looking so dejected again!"

It was a purple-clad figure wearing full expeditionary power armor. Sykes recognized him from the decorations on the armor and his tone of voice.

Yulia, a Space Marine of the Third Legion, and a comrade of Sykes.

A fool.

It chatteres in my ear every day, it's so noisy.

But without her, it always feels like something is missing.

Yes, it's "her".

Yulia is a female Space Marine.

Although it may sound horrifying, female Space Marines do exist in a few Legions.

This is thanks to the sex of the progenitor gene.

It is said that only in a few legions whose Primarchs are female will there be a possibility of having female Space Marines.

Of course, the Third Army is of most concern to everyone.

After all, those who can be compatible with and modified by the Third Legion's gene seed are all absolutely handsome men and beautiful women.

And that ghoul legion that no one wants to mention.

Nobody cares if there are any women among those lunatics.

If there is one, she's a crazy woman.

When female Space Marines appeared, some people on Terra questioned their existence.

What if new humans emerge from among the Space Marines?
However, according to subsequent research, just as the Custodians cannot reproduce with each other, the Space Marines also have a natural reproductive barrier and cannot have children.

But the doubts were never dispelled.

Who knows if some crazy pharmacist might modify the Space Marines' organs so they could reproduce with each other?
One of the clerk's important duties was to monitor whether they would cross the "red line".

"Come, come, Sykes!"

"Look at these buildings! How beautiful they are!"

Julia excitedly leaned closer to Sykes, sharing one photo after another sent back by the previous group of photographers who had logged in.

"Have you heard? Chemos was a dead star just a few decades ago, and now it's been transformed into a beautiful, technologically advanced city! All of this is thanks to the Primarch's political and ruling abilities!"

"Our Primarch—is truly amazing!"

"And, you know what—?"

"The Primarch has a mortal husband!"

"She got married! She got married a long time ago!"

Oh?
This piqued Sykes' interest.

This was the first time they had encountered a married Primarch.

What did the emperor say?
Yulia suddenly drew out her words, leaned closer to him mysteriously, and whispered.

"She even got into an argument with the Emperor over it!"

(End of this chapter)