Chapter 4: What Do You Mean I'm Going to Fight the Terra Unification War?
In the open training grounds beyond the palace walls, two golden figures moved like converging lightning.
Blade and spear collided in a relentless storm of ringing impacts. Each strike echoed across the stone arena like thunder rolling through mountains.
"I yield."
The Custodian halted, the tip of a sword hovering less than a centimeter from his visor. He withdrew his guardian spear in acknowledgment.
"You flatter me, Custodian," Yuki replied, sheathing the blade and patting his shoulder.
"Your Highness's swordsmanship has already surpassed my instruction," the warrior said. "I have nothing further to teach."
"No, no — I still have far to go. But thank you nonetheless."
The Custodian regarded the golden-armored Yuki with the wary eyes of a man observing something unnatural. No matter how refined her manners or how radiant her appearance, the truth remained unchanged.
She was a monster.
In a single morning she had progressed from someone unfamiliar with a sword's grip to a warrior capable of defeating a Custodian in direct combat.
Around the arena, other Custodians watched in silence.
They remembered the day the Emperor revealed the Primarch Project. Many had opposed it. Yet the Emperor had persisted.
A quiet unease stirred among them.
Twenty such beings…
If they ever turned against Him, what power could possibly defend their master?
Yuki ignored their stares and waved.
"Father asked me to learn martial skill from you. Since one opponent isn't enough… how about a few more?"
At the edge of the arena stood Constantine Valdor, Captain-General of the Legio Custodes, the Apollonian Spear resting in his grasp. Without speaking, he gestured to two warriors beside him.
They stepped forward.
"How do you feel?"
A voice spoke quietly behind Valdor.
He did not turn. If the speaker wished to remain unseen, he would not betray the courtesy.
"Terrifying," Valdor answered softly, watching the golden figure in the arena effortlessly handling three opponents.
"My lord… do you truly intend for such beings to safeguard humanity?"
"Valdor," the unseen voice replied, "humanity will require them."
"So you do not deny they are monsters."
Silence.
Valdor drew a slow breath.
"You are the Emperor. You see further than any of us. I will support your judgment… without reservation."
There was no reply.
Valdor knew the Emperor had departed.
He stepped forward as Yuki disarmed her third opponent.
"That will suffice," he said. "Withdraw. I will engage Her Highness."
Yuki looked at him — and felt her Primarch physiology ignite.
Excitement surged through her bloodstream.
The thrill of confronting a truly powerful opponent trembled from her heart to the tips of her wings.
She knew who stood before her.
Constantine Valdor — the greatest warrior beneath the Primarchs.
Only by defeating him could she stand among those giants.
Only then could she hope to change the future.
She smiled and raised the longsword the Emperor had given her that morning, its auric edge gleaming in the sun. Her golden armor caught the light like a newborn star.
"Please."
Valdor answered by moving.
The battle erupted instantly.
Sword met spear.
Shockwaves rippled through the arena floor. The watching Custodians felt unease coil in their chests. Even they could barely follow the exchange.
Speed.
Precision.
Impact.
They knew the truth: against such power, they would be helpless.
A heavy strike forced Valdor back half a step. Yuki flexed her fingers and smiled.
In refined technique, she was still inferior.
But a Primarch's greatest weapon was never strength or speed.
It was adaptation.
Valdor's eyes narrowed.
In less than a minute, she had learned his rhythm and begun countering with precision.
Truly the Emperor's daughter.
If His will was for her to grow stronger, then Valdor would not hold back.
That Night
"Uncle Malcador… do I really possess psychic ability?"
Yuki slouched in an oversized chair, wings drooping as she addressed the elderly man calmly sipping tea before her.
"Of course," Malcador replied. "The fluctuations from your awakening revealed as much. And since the Emperor intends for you to command the Unification Wars, an additional discipline will only increase your survival."
That morning, Yuki had been sound asleep when the Emperor abruptly removed her from bed.
Still half-dreaming, she found herself holding a golden suit of armor and a longsword before she could even speak.
"We will discuss strategy later," he said. "Today you will train with the Custodians. Tonight, you will study psychic discipline with Malcador. In several days, I will announce your command of the Unification War."
She woke instantly.
The Unification War?!
At this stage, Terra's conquest was barely past its midpoint. From the Himalayan Palace outward, half of Eurasia's techno-barbarian domains had fallen — yet the most dangerous powers remained.
Terra was no ordinary battlefield.
Gene-wrought tyrants.
Abominable intelligences.
Warp-tainted warlocks.
Archeotech war engines.
Warlords who could have ruled star systems elsewhere were entrenched here like carrion kings.
Even the Thunder Warriors seemed almost human beside some of them.
In the original timeline, the Emperor personally oversaw Terra's conquest from beginning to end.
And now this four-meter-tall golden demigod expected her to lead it?
Who did he think she was?
Yuki immediately slid off the bed, dropped to the floor, and hugged the Emperor's leg.
"Daddy, your adorable daughter is actually useless. Please don't say such terrifying things to your daughter, okay?"
She looked up pitifully.
She might have imagined it…
…but she could swear she saw a vein pulse at his temple.
"No. There will be no discussion. Go."
He lifted her by the collar as though handling a misbehaving pet.
A spatial aperture opened.
They vanished.
"Tch. Heartless old man," Yuki muttered, sitting on the ground.
"I heard that," the Emperor's voice echoed directly in her mind.
"You misheard," she replied indignantly.
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