V3 Chapter 26: I Am Going to Tell Ultramar That I Have Returned
The demonstration did not end there. Since Flesh Engine was already running, Duvette saw no reason to let the time go to waste. Guilliman did not stop him either; he also needed to see more samples.
Next onto the floor were Stroud, Finn, and several veteran officers of the 112th Special Operations Legion.
They wore no force-feedback power armour, only standard training protection, and each held a training melee weapon. On the other side stood a single Honour Guard veteran assigned to the assessment.
The testing phase did not last long.
In one-on-one exchanges, the result was clear. Even with Duvette's enhancement running, the mortal veterans could not overcome a single Honour Guard veteran.
Astartes strength, armour, reaction speed, and combat experience still held the advantage. Stroud and the others could hold out longer than expected and managed several counterstrikes that drew attention, but all of them were eventually brought under control.
When the test shifted to three-on-one, however, the picture changed.
Under the skill's effect, the three elite veterans had their reaction speed, endurance, coordination, and ability to absorb pressure pushed to an unusual degree. They could not match an Astartes on the basis of raw physical capability, but through numbers, teamwork, and decision-making they forced the Honour Guard veteran to keep changing his rhythm.
Guilliman watched closely.
The Honour Guard veteran could still hold. He still had the tools to respond. But he was under genuine pressure, and if the test had continued longer, or had been run in a real battlefield environment, he would have faced a real risk of losing.
That outcome was more significant than a simple win or loss.
It demonstrated that Duvette's power could bring elite mortals to a level that was no longer far from that of an Astartes. The gap still existed. The time limit still existed. But this was already enough to change the outcome of many engagements.
Particularly on a Chaos battlefield.
If these mortals could maintain formation and decision-making under Warp contamination, under artillery fire, and under close-range assault, then the combat value of a well-trained Astra Militarum formation would need to be recalculated entirely.
Guilliman made no assessment aloud.
He only told the Apothecaries to keep recording and the Tech-Marines to keep cross-checking the data. Cawl's mechaoptic lenses kept turning throughout, his interest in the results obviously running deep.
Then Duvette walked onto the floor himself.
That drew a number of eyes back to him.
Like the other mortal officers before him, Duvette had no Astartes gene-work and no power armour. He had his commissar's greatcoat on, his cap set aside, and a training sword in his hand. His opponent was a single Honour Guard veteran.
The Ultramarine did not underestimate him. Everyone in the Honour Guard present knew what had happened in the shrine.
The exchange lasted longer than most people anticipated.
Duvette was at a slight disadvantage in raw strength, but he was not put down quickly. Through technique, footwork, and a well-developed sense of danger, he turned away the opponent's genuinely decisive attacks again and again.
The skills forged through one close death after another, and what Yvraine had briefly taught him, made themselves felt here.
He did not try to absorb Astartes force with a mortal's body. Instead he kept adjusting distance, forcing his opponent to reroute his lines of attack.
In the brief exchanges that followed, he even managed to find the gaps in the Ultramarine's transitions several times, and landed his training sword on different points of the Honour Guard veteran's armour on each occasion.
In training conditions those touches could not cause real damage. In live combat, with a power sword in his hand, the accounting would have been different.
When both sides stopped, Duvette had not gone down.
The Honour Guard veteran had not pressed the conclusion either.
By the result on the floor, it was a draw.
Guilliman looked at Duvette in the centre of the hall, and something in his gaze had gone somewhat deeper than before.
He had confirmed it. This power did not only enhance Astartes. It could push mortals to a level approaching that of an Astartes. More significantly, Duvette himself could bear the power and had the technique to make use of it.
What Duvette had not done was put every card on the table.
He had not told Guilliman about the other capabilities. Silence, for instance: the ability to suppress Warp and psychic influence under specific conditions, which was considerably more critical than any straightforward physical enhancement.
But what had been shown was enough.
Guilliman had seen the Soul of the Legion's effect on Astartes. He had seen its effect on mortals.
After the training concluded, Guilliman did not go to Cawl immediately.
He dismissed everyone else and kept only Duvette.
In the observation room off the side of the training hall, Guilliman stood before the wide tactical table. The testing data was still displayed on the surface, several data curves rolling slowly.
"I have already decided to organise a fleet and return to Terra," Guilliman said.
Duvette stood in front of him and did not interrupt.
"But before that, I need to settle Ultramar," Guilliman continued. "I will make it known to everyone that I have returned."
Duvette gave a nod.
That was entirely consistent with where Guilliman stood right now.
The Great Rift had not yet opened. The Imperium was not in a crisis that would collapse it in the next moment. The Astronomican was still burning. The Emperor was still on the Throne. Guilliman wanting to stabilise Ultramar before going to Terra was a reasonable sequence of priorities. Though, with his ambitions being what they were...
Duvette cleared his thoughts and asked: "How do you intend to go about it?"
"A celebration in the Macragge Civic," Guilliman said.
As he said it, his brow tightened slightly. He clearly had no affection for the arrangement.
"I dislike ceremony for its own sake," Guilliman continued. "But given the current circumstances, it is the most effective means of announcement available."
Duvette thought: of course. There was no way around this step.
From a constitutional standpoint, this celebration had to happen. From a practical standpoint, it was the fastest way to stabilise Macragge and Ultramar. Everyone needed to see Guilliman in person. The nobility, the officers, the common people, and those with other ambitions: all of them needed to see him.
"I defer to your arrangements," Duvette said.
Guilliman looked steadily at the man in front of him.
"I still do not fully trust you, Duvette Erdmann."
"I understand."
"Your power is extremely dangerous," Guilliman said. "If it truly operates as you have described, then I must eliminate the possibility that you are an enemy of ours."
His voice was even, but the weight behind it could not be set aside.
"Otherwise, the consequences for the entire Imperium could be catastrophic. I cannot allow that kind of thing to happen again."
Duvette did not dispute it.
He knew how unusual his abilities appeared to anyone looking at them from the outside. Across the whole of the Imperium, the closest comparable case he could bring to mind was the Space Wolves' Primarch: Russ had once held something similar. The Wolf King, after returning to Fenris and completing the three legendary trials, had awakened a degree of his Warp nature. Later, when he boarded Horus's ship and fought hand to hand with the axe called Spear of Russ, he had used his wolf-howl to strengthen the sons around him.
This kind of influence, a commander's force reaching down into those who followed him, was not entirely without precedent in Imperial history.
But Duvette understood clearly that none of that would be enough to set Guilliman's mind fully at rest.
So he gave a nod.
"I accept the temporary constraint."
Something in Guilliman's expression eased.
"I will go to Terra and see the Emperor," he said. "Since you say my father sought you out, I will find my answer there."
He paused.
"If what you have told me proves true, you will receive the authority that goes with it."
Duvette looked at Guilliman, and a thought arrived that he had not considered before.
Wait. He was a blank to the Warp. An untouchable. Duvette turned this over quickly in his mind. That meant he would need to work out some way to give Guilliman a psychic enhancement of some kind beforehand, so that Guilliman could at least hear clearly whatever the Emperor chose to say to him.
Guilliman had stopped paying attention to whatever the Commissar was thinking.
He glanced at the testing data on the table, then said: "Go. Get some rest."
"You will also be present at the celebration."
Duvette gave a nod.
"Understood."
He rendered a salute to Guilliman, then turned and left the observation room.
Guilliman stood where he was and watched the figure disappear through the door.
The data on the table was still rolling.
Guilliman understood clearly: what he had just witnessed had the potential to change every Imperial war that came after this one.
And Duvette Erdmann, from this moment, could never again be only a mortal Commissar.
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