Cogboy snickered, his smile brimming with pride and smugness.
"Damn right."
He held up the Magical Girl Transformation Device, the pink halo illuminating his half-cybernetic face.
"In the new monthly refresh of the System store, a Kyber Crystal from the Star Wars universe popped up for thirty million Imperial Coins. I bought it."
He paused. "Using the maximum procurement authorization Paul granted me."
Paul nodded.
"So," Cogboy continued, "I noticed that the description for the Kyber Crystal stated it was a focusing crystal capable of amplifying energy—the core component for constructing a lightsaber. Its fundamental nature is a highly ordered energy lattice, capable of repairing and fusing with the vast majority of damaged items."
He pointed at the Magical Girl Transformation Device. "And this transformation device of ours was in a damaged state, its core energy crystal shattered."
"So you took the Kyber Crystal..." White Scars interjected.
"Exactly," Cogboy nodded. "I spent three days fusing the Kyber Crystal into the transformation device."
He gently stroked the surface of the device. "After a few days of fusion, it completely repaired itself."
Paul reached out with a golden hand, and Cogboy placed the Magical Girl Transformation Device into his palm.
The delicate, pink object looked exceptionally tiny resting in the massive palm of the three-point-five-meter Custodian, yet it radiated potent waves of energy.
Deep within Paul's pupils, the five-pointed star began to rotate.
The five major traits operated at maximum output, analyzing the fundamental nature of the item.
A moment later, he raised his left hand and traced a line in the air.
Pale golden psychic energy condensed in mid-air, forming text resembling a System interface.
[Item: Magical Girl Transformation Device]
[Origin: Magical Girl Universe]
[Status: Energy saturated. Fully functional.]
[Usage Requirements: Female. Master-class (or above) magical aptitude.]
[Ability Overview:]
Form Transformation: Transforms the user into Magical Girl form. Massively amplifies all base attributes and grants the ability of flight.
Energy Manipulation: Drastically enhances psychic output efficiency and precision of control.
Magical Arts: Built-in knowledge repository of seven fundamental magical disciplines (Light, Dark, Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning).
Ultimate Skill - Blossom of Hope: Expends all mana/psychic energy to unleash a single conceptual-tier purification/healing/destruction attack.
Special Trait: Soul-bound to the user. Evolves in tandem with the user's growth.
[Note:]
Current Energy Tier: Kyber Crystal (Master-class)
Compatibility Assessment: Similarity between magic systems and psychic systems evaluated at 78.3%.
Combat Efficacy Estimate: If utilized by a Master-class psyker, comprehensive combat efficacy is roughly equivalent to an Astartes Captain. If utilized by an Alpha-class psyker, comprehensive combat efficacy can reach sub-Primarch (pseudo-demigod) levels.
The text slowly dissipated into the air, and silence fell over the secret chamber once more.
Tax Bro opened his mouth, struggling for a long time before finally choking out a sentence.
"Fuck me... After all that tinkering and blowing over thirty million Imperial Coins... there's a usage restriction?"
He pointed at the word 'Female'.
"This is the Warhammer universe! Where the hell are we going to find a magical girl?!"
White Scars scratched his head. "Yeah. Out of the five thousand players in Crimson Dawn, ninety-eight percent of us are dudes. And out of the remaining two percent of female players..."
Before he could finish, Paul chuckled.
"No." Paul shook his head and looked at Blood Angels' Second Emperor. "We don't have magical girls. But psychic girls... we definitely have one of those."
Blood Angels' Second Emperor froze for a second, then his pupils contracted.
"You mean... Helovia?"
Paul nodded.
He looked at the group. "Although energy manifests in different forms across universes, its function remains largely the same. The essence of magic is twisting reality through willpower. The essence of psychic power is communicating with the Warp through the soul to influence reality."
Blood Angels' Second Emperor picked up the train of thought, his voice carrying sudden realization. "The operational logic and structural framework differ, but the core principle is the same: using internal power to alter the external world."
He paused.
"Helovia... eleven years old. S-class psychic aptitude. Fire specialization. Suspected orphan of House Alar. Unleashed Master-class psychic power to save Tax Bro. Her current psychic rating has stabilized at Master-class... and her latent potential is absolutely Alpha-class."
Paul picked up the Magical Girl Transformation Device from his palm and handed it to Blood Angels' Second Emperor.
"Take this to Helovia," Paul said sternly. "Tell her this is not a toy. It is a weapon. It is a responsibility. It is... the heavy burden she must bear having chosen to embrace power."
Blood Angels' Second Emperor gripped the transformation device tightly. The warm energy pulsing from it caused his own psychic power to resonate faintly.
"Paul..." he hesitated. "Helovia is still so young. She's only eleven. Sending her to the battlefield..."
Tax Bro also spoke up, his voice carrying a rare, heavy seriousness. "Paul, that kid saved my life. If she hadn't blown her psychic load to kill that Irradiated Hound, I would have lost my first life right then and there."
He looked at Paul. "Let her stay in the rear. We'll do the fighting."
White Scars, Deep Sea, Schrödinger Bro... everyone looked at Paul.
They all knew how powerful Helovia was.
But sending her to the battlefield? Making her face daemons, death, and the absolute cruelest aspects of this universe?
Paul remained silent for a moment before speaking slowly, "There is no need to worry. I will handle everything. I will protect her."
He raised a massive golden hand, pointing to the rotating five-pointed star deep within his pupils.
"My Trait abilities tell me that she must go. The Hope Trait is showing me a premonition. Helovia will play a major role in this battle. This is not just my premonition, but also... a revelation from the God of Hope."
He spoke the last half-sentence very softly, but everyone present understood perfectly.
The God of Hope.
The mysterious entity that had granted Paul his status as a Chosen, his five major traits, and his S-class psychic aptitude. The entity... that had brought them to this world.
Blood Angels' Second Emperor took a deep breath and nodded heavily. "Understood," he said, storing the Magical Girl Transformation Device into his inventory. "I will go find Helovia right now. Until she masters the power of the transformation device, I will not leave her side."
Paul nodded, then looked at the others. "The rest of you, go integrate the augmented player forces immediately. Reorganize them according to combat formations, inspect their wargear, and resupply their ammunition. In two hours, I expect to see a true army in the plaza in front of the Governor's Palace."
His golden eye lenses swept across every face.
"Remember, we do not march to war today for the Imperium, for the Primarchs, or even to save the world! We do this..."
Paul's voice abruptly spiked, the authority of a Custodian Commander intertwining with the divinity of a Chosen.
"...to prove to this dark universe that mortals, too, have the right to choose their own destiny. And Crimson Dawn shall be the sword... that cleaves the shackles for all mortals!"
The crowd responded in unison, slamming their fists against their chest plates—whether that armor was power armor, cybernetic plating, or standard flak vests.
"For the Dawn! For Crimson Dawn!"
The group quickly left the secret chamber, their footsteps fading down the corridor.
Paul stood alone before the holographic projection, gazing at the data representing four thousand six hundred superhuman warriors.
He raised his head, looking toward the sky of Aurelian IV, toward the warships in orbit, and toward the storm brewing deep within the Warp.
"Tzeentch..." Paul murmured to himself. "I wonder if this formidable force was part of your plan? Or perhaps, an expected anomaly outside of it..."
He tightened his grip on the Castellan Axe, the psychic light flowing across its blade illuminating the secret chamber.
--
Two hours later. The plaza in front of the Kent Hive Governor's Palace.
Four thousand six hundred fully augmented players stood in fifty perfectly aligned formations.
At the very front were three thousand two hundred Astartes warriors.
Dark Angels, Emperor's Children, Iron Warriors, Salamanders, Imperial Fists, White Scars, Luna Wolves, Ultramarines, Iron Hands... Distinct Legion liveries and differently colored power armor were now arrayed in neat ranks, bolters raised like a forest of steel, chainswords humming in a low growl.
Behind them stood two hundred Grey Knights.
Their silver-grey Aegis power armor gleamed with a mithril-like luster under the sunlight. The tips of their Nemesis force halberds flickered with dangerous blue light, and the unique, oppressive aura of powerful psykers radiated from beneath every faceplate.
To the left of the Grey Knights stood the three hundred Brothers of Silence.
Their matte black power armor seemed to devour the ambient light, rendering their section of the plaza distinctly gloomy. They stood in absolute silence, uttering not a single sound, yet their mere presence caused every psyker present—including the Grey Knights—to subconsciously lean away from them.
To the right of the Brothers of Silence were three hundred Tech-Priests.
Half were close-combat variants, their power claws, arc weapons, and seismic hammers gleaming coldly on cybernetic limbs. The other half were fire-support variants, their shoulder-mounted multi-meltas, plasma incinerators, and missile pods exuding an aura of pure devastation.
Behind the Tech-Priests loomed one hundred Contemptor Dreadnoughts.
Their four-point-five-meter-tall iron chassis were like walking fortresses, the muzzles of their twin-linked heavy bolters, assault cannons, and multi-meltas pointed toward the sky. Behind the viewing slits on their sarcophagi were the players who had chosen Dreadnought internment.
They would fight within these iron coffins until the day they were utterly destroyed. Though, they didn't feel particularly stifled; in fact, they thought it was pretty novel! After all, they could log out at any time to feel their own flesh-and-blood bodies again.
Flanking the Dreadnoughts were two hundred Terminator Guards.
Their heavy Cataphractii-pattern Terminator plate made them look like walking mountains. The muzzles of their storm bolters were as thick as fists, and their power fists were clenched tight.
And on the periphery of all the formations, faintly visible within the shadows, were three hundred Assassins.
The Vindicare Assassins blended almost perfectly into the darkness, while the Eversor Assassins stood brazenly in the sunlight, their neuro gauntlets reflecting a cold glare. These Eversor Assassins, augmented via the System store, suffered from none of the lethal biological flaws of the Officio Assassinorum's operatives, who had to be kept in cryogenic stasis between missions.
At the edges of the plaza idled five hundred armored vehicles of various classes. Leman Russ battle tanks, Chimera transports, Scorpion tank destroyers, Basilisk self-propelled artillery...
Further out, thirty Thunderhawk gunships and thirty transport craft sat on standby along a hastily cleared runway.
This entire army stood in absolute, disciplined silence across the plaza.
--
Top-floor terrace of the Governor's Palace.
Paul stood before the railing, his golden Custodian armor shining under the light of Aurelian IV's star.
Behind him, Cogboy, Schrödinger Bro, Tax Bro, White Scars, Deep Sea, and Blood Angels' Second Emperor—all the high-ranking players—stood clad in their newly augmented wargear.
In front of Blood Angels' Second Emperor stood a little girl.
Helovia Elnor. Eleven years old, brown hair, green eyes, wearing a child-sized uniform.
At this moment, she was curiously examining the army below. There was no fear on her small face, only an... inexplicable sense of excitement.
"Brother Paul..." she asked softly. "Are all those people... Crimson Dawn warriors?"
Paul looked down, the eyes behind his golden lenses softening slightly. "Yes, Helovia. And you, too, have a choice to make."
Blood Angels' Second Emperor looked at Helovia, retrieved the Magical Girl Transformation Device from his inventory, and placed it into her hands.
The pink device rippled with a dreamlike halo under the sunlight.
Helovia's eyes instantly lit up.
"Is this... for me?"
"It is a weapon," Paul corrected gently. "It is power, and it is a responsibility."
He knelt down, though his Custodian height still required Helovia to look up at him.
"Helovia, tell me. Why do you want to become stronger?"
The little girl did not hesitate.
She tilted her head up, her green eyes reflecting the tide of steel below, reflecting the radiance of Paul's golden armor.
"I want to protect everyone," her voice was young but resolute. "Protect you, protect Brother Blood Angel, protect Uncle Tax, and protect everyone who has been good to us. I also want to..."
She paused.
"...find my dad. Even though he might not be around anymore, I want to know who he was, and why he didn't want me. And then..." Helovia clenched her small fists tightly. "...I want to make sure there are no more kids like me in this world. No more abandoned kids, no more starving kids, and no more kids... without a home."
Paul smiled.
Though no one could see it behind his helm, everyone could feel the warmth radiating from him.
"A very good reason." He reached out, gently resting his massive hand on top of Helovia's head. "Then, accept this power. And then, come with us..."
Paul stood up, his golden hand pointing toward the Aru Industrial Zone.
"...to tell those daemons, to tell those lofty Primarchs, to tell this entire dark universe..."
His voice exploded like thunder, echoing across the plaza and ringing in the ears of all four thousand six hundred player warriors.
"...that the future of humanity should not be decided by gods! That the dignity of mortals should not be doled out as charity by the powerful! And that Crimson Dawn..."
Paul raised his Castellan Axe high, the psychic light on its blade shooting straight into the heavens!
"...shall tear through this endless night!"
Below, the four thousand eight hundred warriors roared in unison, the shockwave of their voices sweeping across the entirety of Kent Hive like a tsunami!
"Dawn! Dawn! Dawn!"
Helovia gripped the Magical Girl Transformation Device tightly.
The delicate pink item began to glow warmly within her palm.