The Emperor's reply left Kasha utterly stunned.
She had only asked in passing, never expecting that Axis truly possessed a Space Marine legion of his own.
"Father, are you planning to grant Axis command of that legion now? Will he return to the Imperium as a full-fledged Primarch?" Kasha asked urgently.
In her view, if Axis could reappear as a newly recognized Primarch, it would undoubtedly ease his acceptance across the Imperium, especially at this critical time, when not all of the Primarchs had returned.
It was an excellent opportunity.
"No," the Emperor said in a deep voice. "That special Astartes legion is still in the process of being assembled.
"For now, Axis will only receive a Gloriana-class battleship."
Kasha, ever perceptive, immediately sensed something was off. "Father... is there a problem with Axis's gene-seed?"
The Emperor let out a rare sigh and revealed a troubled expression. "There are indeed... very unusual complications."
It turned out that, back during Axis's gene enhancement phase, the Emperor had already planned to extract his genetic material for the creation of a new gene-seed.
Once Axis's development was fully completed, the Emperor used the remaining cultivation pod to begin manufacturing gene-seeds derived from Axis.
His original vision had been to forge a brand-new legion of Astartes completely immune to the corruption of the Warp.
But reality delivered the Master of Mankind a wholly unexpected blow.
The test results showed that while Axis's gene-seed could dramatically enhance the combat abilities of its recipients, at least double that of ordinary Astartes, but it also caused a series of bizarre side effects.
After gene seed template was implanted, the host's body would develop a highly aggressive foreign gene that gradually assimilated the host's original DNA, mutating it in the direction of Axis's physiology.
More troubling still, without the support of ki, the physical functions of these modified warriors would deteriorate over time.
As Axis's genetic traits continued to proliferate, the recipients would eventually become weaker than regular Astartes.
Once their cells were fully replaced, they would completely lose motor functions and die shortly after.
But this wasn't even the most troublesome part.
The strangest mutation occurred during the full moon.
On such nights, these warriors would abruptly transform into five-meter-tall rampaging great apes, with all physical metrics enhanced by at least threefold.
However, in this state they completely lost rationality, driven only by mindless destruction of everything around them.
Worse still, each transformation drastically accelerated their demise.
Almost none of the gene-seed-modified Space Marines survived even one such transformation.
The Emperor's tests showed that subduing just one of these berserk apes required the combined strength of at least two Custodians.
A single Custodian would struggle to defeat such a monster on their own.
"Axis's genes crave ki," the Emperor said grimly.
"Without it, any warrior enhanced by his gene-seed is doomed to an early grave, either from rapid organ failure within a few months, or from self-destruction during a berserk transformation."
The Emperor had tried countless times to harness Axis's genes. Cloning, methods he once deemed forbidden, and conventional Astartes engineering, but all had failed.
The outcomes were always the same.
The results were either monsters worse than death or defective wretches more fragile than mortals.
Ki was the key to everything in Axis' genetics. Axis's genes were simply too dependent on it.
"Kasha," the Emperor said firmly, "you must not tell Axis about this conversation. And under no circumstances should he learn that his enhancements were based on Primarch-level procedures.
"Let him believe he merely underwent Custodian augmentation.
"And have him consider the Gloriana-class battleship his reward for distinguished service during the Great Crusade."
"Yes, Father. I understand," Kasha nodded.
"Good. If there's nothing else, I'll end the connection here." The Emperor gave a final nod and cut the psychic communication.
Kasha opened her eyes once more and saw Axis standing in front of her, visibly anxious.
"What happened?" Axis asked, "First you looked thrilled, and then you were clearly worried."
Kasha's expression had obviously shifted in a way that was hard to ignore.
It wasn't like her at all.
"Axis, I... I don't know how to explain it to you," Kasha said softly, biting her lips, which she rarely ever did.
The Emperor had instructed her not to reveal anything to Axis.
But now that she was his woman, her instincts told her to be completely honest with him.
Being with Axis had opened her eyes to many secrets and she even knew his species belonged to a race of sub-humans called Saiyans.
She understood what a Super Saiyan transformation was, something not even the Emperor or Leman Russ truly comprehended.
Axis had never kept secrets from her.
So if she kept something from him, even out of kindness, it would weigh on her conscience, maybe even drive a wedge between them in the future.
"If it's something you can't or don't want to tell me, I won't press you," Axis said gently. He could recognise the trouble that was going through Kasha right now.
And he was sure, that if it was something that truly concerned him, she would b open about it.
They'd been together for decades now, if not her who was he going to trust?
Kasha too, could see the gentleness and, Axis' trust in her.
She took a deep breath;
"First of all," she began, "the request for the Gloriana-class battleship met with no issue. Father has agreed to give you one as your flagship. It'll be delivered personally by the Lion, Lion El'Jonson."
"Well, that's some good news. I thought I'd have to wait a while for that."
Axis asked, "If I'm getting the Gloriana-class ship this fast, doesn't that mean I'm being given a Primarch's vessel?"
Kasha replied, "Axis, I asked Father the same question, and he told me something…astonishing.
"The truth is, the modifications you received weren't Custodian-level enhancements... they were Primarch-level. And that Gloriana-class battleship had been under construction long ago."
In the end, she chose to come clean with everything.
Axis had never hidden anything from her, and she owed him the same honesty.
"Hmph. To be honest, I'd already suspected something like this," Axis said, "You know where I received my gene modifications? Deep underground beneath the Imperial Palace on Terra, in a very secretive lab.
"There were 20 empty chambers there. I figured those were meant for Primarchs."
He wasn't stupid.
Back then, the place the Emperor had taken him to was clearly designed for the Primarch's development.
The Emperor had simply assumed Axis wouldn't figure it out in the short term.
But Axis had read the canon material, he knew.
He never imagined that what he had undergone was truly Primarch-level enhancement.
And to think his body had handled it perfectly…that must be why he could transform into the Legendary Super Saiyan.
Axis, originally just a normal Saiyan, had leapfrogged straight into Legendary Super Saiyan territory!
Kasha continued, "after completing your development, my father extracted your genetic material and created a gene-seed from it. He then tried to use it for Astartes augmentation."
"And then?" Axis asked.
He remembered the hidden cultivation pod next to him during his transformation, that must have been where his gene-seed was being incubated.
So did that mean... he had his own Astartes legion? A Saiyan Legion?
"Your gene-seed was very unusual. It can be successfully implanted into new recruits, but it causes all kinds of issues...
"The most severe of which," Kasha said, "is that during a full moon, they transform into five-meter-tall giant apes."
She proceeded to tell him everything the Emperor had shared.
"No Ki support means death. And then they turn into giant apes? Hah, of course they do," Axis laughed.
He knew all too well. When Saiyans transformed into Great Apes, they lost all sense of reason.
There were two ways to overcome this flaw.
The first was through training.
After repeated transformations, some Saiyans could eventually learn to control their Great Ape form, like Vegeta, who retained his rationality during battle and wielded the form effectively.
The second theory held that only Saiyans of royal bloodline could control their Great Ape form at will.
By that logic, only Vegeta and his son in the Dragon Ball universe could truly use it safely.
But that was fan theory, and Axis himself had never tried transforming into a Great Ape to try confirm it.
Whenever he visited planets with satellites, he made sure to wear specialized glasses that filtered out Blutz Waves, preventing his eyes from absorbing the radiation and sending it to his tail.
His power now was simply too overwhelming.
If he ever lost control and transformed into a Golden Great Ape, or worse, some kind of green-haired mutated Super Great Ape, the destruction he would unleash would be unimaginable.
That kind of transformation was far more dangerous than even going Legendary Super Saiyan.
Without absolute certainty, Axis had no intention of ever attempting it.
Come to think of it, his Great Ape form would likely be over 30 meters tall, with combat power increasing more than tenfold.
Whereas the Astartes who received his gene-seed only reached about five meters in height. That was clearly a weakened version.
"Axis, do you have any solutions for this?" Kasha asked.
"What solution could there be? My cells can't survive without ki. And even I can't control that ape transformation," Axis said.
"When it happens, I completely lose all rationality. I become a beast, practically. And if I truly lost my mind like that... you can imagine how terrifying it would be."
"Picture me using the Legendary Super Saiyan transformation and rampaging without reason. And multiply it by 10. Then you'll understand."
"Yeah... that really does sound horrifying," Kasha muttered after picturing the scene.
"The Emperor probably didn't want you to tell me any of this, did he? So why did you decide to tell me anyway?"
"Because I'm a woman, and women side with their men," Kasha said with a clueless expression, and asked with a teasing smile, "You won't betray me now, will you, Axis?"
"Of course not. Let golden corn worry about this mess himself!" Axis replied with a smirk.
"Golden corn?" Kasha's eyes went wide.
"Haha! Sounds good, doesn't it? I'mma call your dad that from now on!"
...
...
We're still a few powerstones short of bonus chapter!!
Guys! Donate some!