Sanguinius stared at Magnus in utter disbelief.
He replayed the words in his mind, certain he must have misheard. Become a god. That was what Magnus had just said, was it not?
For a few seconds, the Great Angel's mind simply shut down.
He was at a complete loss, unable to form a response or even a coherent thought. The words Magnus had spoken were so preposterous, so far beyond the pale of reason. Was this truly the same brother he knew?
"I know you are shocked, Sanguinius, but everything I have said is true," Magnus insisted, his face a mask of supreme confidence, "If you do not believe me, you can travel to Holy Terra and question the Father yourself."
Magnus recalled the promise the Emperor had made to him. They were to one day journey through the Immaterium together.
In his original understanding, such a feat would require them to abandon their physical forms, to relinquish their place in the material universe entirely. But now, a better option had presented itself.
They could both retain their mortal bodies, allowing them to not only explore the mysteries of the world and truth in the Warp but also to travel freely in realspace.
They could venture beyond the galaxy itself, for the universe was vast, and the Milky Way was but a single grain of sand in a cosmic desert.
"Magnus, have you gone mad?" Sanguinius finally roared, his voice thick with anger, "Listen to what you are saying! This is heresy!"
"I am not lying, Sanguinius!" Magnus retorted, pressing his point, "We are the sons of the Father, and like him, we are all divine beings originating from the Warp."
He had thrown down another earth-shattering revelation, and Sanguinius felt his already strained heart take another severe blow.
The Emperor was a god? He and all the Primarchs were from the Warp? The nonsense Magnus was spouting was becoming more outrageous by the second.
The Emperor was born on Holy Terra during the ancient past. He had a father and a mother; he was human. The Primarchs knew something of their Father's origins, for the Emperor himself had told them.
Sanguinius turned his gaze to Axis. "Axis, Magnus appears to be unwell. Help me subdue him, and we will take him back to Holy Terra. In his current state, he has likely been deluded by the Powers of the Warp."
He had already lost one brother to madness in this conversation; he prayed he would not lose another.
But Axis's response made his heart sink.
"I do wish to become a god," Axis said, shaking his head, "However, I am not a Primarch like you. Your path to godhood is not suited for me. And Sanguinius, Magnus is correct. All the Primarchs are lesser gods from the Immaterium, and the Emperor himself is a Warp entity."
The method of apotheosis Magnus envisioned was not for him. Axis was, at his core, a mortal.
The Primarchs, however, were fundamentally divine.
They simply lacked physical forms equal to their true nature. Once their bodies were sufficiently elevated, they could reclaim their inherent power, for it was something they had always possessed.
The Fruit of the Tree of Might not only strengthened the body but even had an effect on the soul, allowing them to become even mightier than their original selves.
Its moniker as the 'Fruit of Gods' was no empty boast; its effects were most potent on beings who were already divine.
"Axis! What foolishness is this?" Sanguinius was now incandescent with rage. His magnificent golden wings beat furiously as he drew his gleaming golden greatsword. "Are you both intent on betraying the Father?"
"Sanguinius, we have no ill intent," Axis said, his tone placating as he faced the Angel's aggressive posture, "We have no desire to betray the Emperor. There are simply truths you do not yet know. But I can assure you, what we have said is real."
How fragile this bond of brotherhood can be, Axis thought with some exasperation. All I did was speak the truth, and he can no longer bear it?
"Enough, both of you!" Sanguinius commanded, his voice trembling with a mixture of anger and pain, "Cease this talk at once. If you stop now, I will pretend this conversation never happened, but you must both repent."
"Do not deceive yourself, Sanguinius!" Magnus scoffed, "Can you not feel it? Every time you travel through the Warp, do you not sense a strange familiarity? Do you not hear a faint call?"
The words struck a nerve. Magnus was right.
On every Warp journey, Sanguinius had experienced an inexplicable sensation, a feeling as if something familiar was beckoning to him from the swirling chaos.
And ever since he had eaten the Fruit of the Tree of Might that Axis had given him, that feeling had grown undeniably stronger.
Could it be? he wondered in a moment of terrifying doubt. Am I truly… a god from the Immaterium?
For the first time, Sanguinius felt his faith waver.
No! It must be that strange fruit. Perhaps it is tainted!
He desperately clung to this clumsy excuse, but even he knew it could not hold.
The miraculous fruit had no trace of a Warp signature. It was a product of the material universe, a natural thing that could enhance a being's life energy and strengthen their physical form.
If it had been tainted by some Warp power, surely the Emperor would have known. Axis would never have offered such a thing to their Father.
The Emperor himself had consumed the fruit and had praised its remarkable effects.
"Sanguinius, you possess psychic powers as well, do you not?" Axis asked, a knowing smile on his face, "Your flight is not a product of those wings. Given your weight, they are little more than ornaments. Otherwise, you could never fly in the vacuum of space or on a planet's surface, let alone achieve supersonic speeds. Those wings could never bear the strain."
It was a fact that the Great Angel's wings could not possibly support his weight. Scientists had calculated that for a seventy-kilogram human to achieve flight, they would need wings with a span of at least ten meters, and even then, their flight would be agonizingly slow. Sanguinius's wings, when fully extended, spanned only five meters. And his own mass, standing at three-point-eight meters tall and clad in power armor, weighed several tons.
To lift such a weight, he would theoretically need a colossal wingspan of over thirty meters, and his flight would be as ponderous as a hot-air balloon.
Sanguinius sighed, the fight draining from him. "It is as you say. My ability to fly is not because of these wings; they are more akin to decoration. I fly by the will of my mind…with psychic power."
As much as he hated to admit it, he had to concede the point. His flight was an expression of psionic force. It was the very reason he had always been so tolerant of psykers and so supportive of Magnus's Librarius Project.
"The Primarchs all possess some ability to see the future, to witness visions of what is to come," Axis continued, pressing his advantage, "My foster-father, Leman Russ, has seen such things. Sanguinius, you have also had visions of the future, haven't you?"
Axis's words broke through another of Sanguinius's defenses.
The Great Angel's fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white.
Axis was right again. He did possess the gift of foresight. On Baal, long before the Emperor had arrived, he had already foreseen his Father's coming. He had even foreseen his own death.
He would die in a great battle, at the hands of his most beloved brother. He did not know which one, but he knew it would be a Primarch.
"Hah! Hahaha!" Magnus laughed, a triumphant, almost manic sound, "I knew it! I knew I was not alone! I am not the only Primarch with psychic abilities! You all have this power, but you hide it away. Russ is the same, and so are you, Sanguinius! Only Axis and I have fully embraced the gift of the mind."
Finally, he had his proof. Finally, he was vindicated.
"You show such sympathy for psykers," Magnus said, his gaze fixed on the Great Angel, "You even supported the Librarius Project. Why can you not accept your own identity? Is there shame in being a psyker?"
Sanguinius remained silent. He had no counter to Magnus's questions, for they were rooted in truth.
He did possess psychic powers; he had simply refused to acknowledge them fully.
A subtle smile touched Axis's lips.
The Great Angel's resolve had been shattered. When faced with inescapable facts, even a Primarch had to relent. Though they trusted the Emperor, they were not fools. And in truth, Sanguinius's psionic might was likely not far behind Magnus's own.
In the future, he would even call upon Mephiston, sealing the Black Rage within him, and use his divine Warp-power to extend the life of the near-death Chapter Master Dante. He would intervene from beyond the veil to protect his sons time and time again.
"I admit it," Sanguinius finally said, taking a deep breath as he revealed the secret he had buried in the deepest part of his soul. "My psychic power is indeed strong, and I have foreseen my own future. I will die at the hands of one of my closest brothers, in a duel."
"What?" Magnus exclaimed, his triumphant mood vanishing in an instant. "That is impossible! Who would ever kill their own brother?"
"I do not know," Sanguinius replied, his weary gaze falling upon Axis. "But it is what my visions have shown me, and they have never been wrong." Just as his powers had foreseen that Axis could solve the curse of his sons.
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Soo, I'll start uploading the pending bonus chapters from next week onwards
some things has been keeping me busy and hopefully, I'll be able to get back on track from next week onward.
Have a great day/night!