272: The Ark of Despair! A high-stakes gamble for the Genesis Chapter!

Macragge's orbital ring.

Three battered strike cruisers and seven equally dilapidated frigates, like lonely ghosts returning from hell, hung silently in the shadow of Hera Fortress.

They were the Genesis Chapter's entire remaining assets.

Their hulls were riddled with Bolter pockmarks, scorch marks from energy weapons, and... massive gashes left by Ork Choppas.

Each hideous scar silently narrated a tale of a desperate and catastrophic retreat.

Chapter Master Siban Tokaro stood on the bridge of his flagship, the 'Primordial Spear', clad in his own equally scarred terminator armor.

His gaze pierced the armored viewport, fixed upon that azure homeworld.

For the first time in ten thousand years, they returned here as 'fugitives'.

Shame, sorrow, and a sliver of... a faint hope he himself was reluctant to acknowledge.

'Chapter Master, a communication from Macragge.'

A communications officer's voice shattered the deathly silence of the bridge.

'They... they have instructed us to land directly at Landing Pad Six in the Colosse Ruins.'

Tokaro's brow furrowed slightly.

Colosse?

That Hive City destroyed during the First Tyranid War?

And not the Honor Docks of Hera Fortress?

A sense of foreboding rose within him.

But they had no choice.

Massive Thunderhawk Gunships, carrying Tokaro and his last remaining elite, pierced Macragge's azure atmosphere.

They were not greeted by an honor guard, nor a welcoming formation of Ultramarines.

There was only one mortal clad in black combat fatigues, and a giant as silent as a blue mountain range.

Marius Calgar.

Tokaro immediately recognized the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines.

He struck his chest with his fist, delivering a standard Astartes salute.

'Lord Marius.'

Calgar gave a slight nod, his red cybernetic eye scanning Tokaro and the gaunt-faced, yet wolf-eyed warriors behind him.

'Welcome home, Xiban.'

His voice carried a barely perceptible weight.

Only then did Tokaro's gaze fall upon the mortal.

Very young.

Unnaturally calm for one in a position of authority.

'This is Zhang Yuan, Supreme Commander of the Ultramar Expeditionary Force and Governor of Varak Hive City,' Calgar introduced.

A Governor? A mortal? The hope in Tokaro's heart instantly froze solid. He had envisioned countless possibilities, but never that they would be met by a scene dominated by a mortal.

What shook him to his core even more was the position of Marius Calgar. That Lord of Macragge, the pride of the Ultramarines, the giant majestic as a blue mountain range, stood silently behind this man, half a step back. Tokaro's eyes darted over that half-step distance as if trying to burn a hole through it. This was not the stance of allied equals standing shoulder-to-shoulder, nor that of a superior looking down. It was a posture... one he had only read about in ancient texts, the stance of a Legion warrior standing in attendance beside his Primarch. This thought struck his understanding like a blasphemous lightning bolt.

Zhang Yuan paid no heed to the scrutiny and wariness in Tokaro's eyes.

He merely spoke calmly.

'I know why you have come.'

'And I know your doubts.'

'Therefore, I will not make you promises with mere words.'

'Follow me.'

Zhang Yuan turned and walked towards a nearby training ground.

Exchanging a glance with Calgar and suppressing his confusion, Tokaro followed.

On the training ground, the roar of Bolters was deafening.

Hundreds of warriors clad in brand-new mark x power armour were engaged in fierce combat drills.

Tokaro's gaze was immediately drawn to their movements.

Faster, more agile, more oppressive.

Was this the product of the 'Calgar Rite'?

But then, his pupils contracted violently.

He saw a symbol.

A symbol that stole his breath.

[A heart wrapped in wings, shedding bloody tears].

The Lamenters!

A warrior bearing the livery of the Lamenters Chapter was executing precise, controlled bursts of fire with a demeanor of absolute, chilling focus.

There was no sorrow on his face.

No sense of doom.

Only an iron-like calm and concentration.

This was impossible!

A thunderclap seemed to sound in Tokaro's mind.

The Lamenters' genetic curse, that millennia-inherited 'flaw', and the Genesis Chapter's stable gene-seed were the two extreme legends among all Ultramarines successors!

One was eternal misfortune.

The other was everlasting bedrock.

But now, that legend had been shattered.

Right before his eyes.

'That is Captain Cyrus, of the Lamenters Chapter,' Zhang Yuan's voice, though not loud, pierced Tokaro's ears clearly.

'Chapter Master, what kind of power do you think could make a Weeper... no longer show sorrow on his face?' He did not explain directly, but posed a question, adding another heavy weight to Tokaro's already crumbling convictions.

'The 'flaw' within him has not vanished; that curse still wails,' Zhang Yuan's voice held a trace of amusement. 'We merely gave him stronger shackles and taught him how to become the... jailer of his own fate.'

Tokaro's body trembled uncontrollably.

He whirled towards Zhang Yuan, his battle-hardened eyes revealing, for the first time, shock and... craving.

This was no mere genetic modification!

This was... this was a correction of fate!

'This... is your 'rite'?' His voice was hoarse beyond measure.

Zhang Yuan shook his head, his voice clearly audible even over the din of the distant training ground.

'No.'

He pointed at the running warriors, at the rumbling factories in the distance, at the C-90 Freighter unloading cargo overhead.

'Captain Cyrus is merely the most polished gear on this engine.'

'The true rite is every hammer blow echoing across this land, every freighter landing and taking off from the starport, the brand-new future for the Ultramarines we are forging with our own hands.'

'All of this together is the 'Rebirth'.'

Tokaro fell silent.

The Genesis warriors behind him were equally plunged into a deathly hush.

They looked at that 'cured' Weeper.

As if seeing their own future.

After a long while.

Tokaro performed an act that even made Calgar take notice.

He knelt on one knee.

Not towards Calgar, but towards Zhang Yuan.

This mortal.

His Chief Apothecary stepped forward quickly, reverently holding a frigid metal reliquary sealed with layers of sacred oils and runes.

'Lord Governor.'

Tokaro's voice held the desperation of one making a final, all-or-nothing gamble.

'We abandoned our home, bore the disgrace of fugitives, and staked everything our Chapter has left on this voyage.'

Tokaro's voice was raspy, yet filled with the madness and resolve of one backed into a corner. 'Within this lies our last gene-seed, our last warriors, and the Genesis Chapter's... final loyalty!'

He raised his head, his burning eyes fixed intently on Zhang Yuan. 'Lord Governor, we offer all of this, in exchange for only one thing... the future you have shown us!'