69: Chapter 69 The Gathering of the Sons of Saint Gilles.

But after the Horus Heresy, Guilliman was slashed across the throat by a Daemon Blade held by a Primarch brother who had fallen to Chaos, forcing him into a Stasis Field and a deep slumber.

"Wait, wasn't it because he didn't wear a helmet?"

"Brother, think about it this way: how can you show off without taking off your helmet?"

"I suggest giving him a gorget."

When the Emperor's demigod scions were all lost, mortals truly took the stage, with humanity guiding its own destiny. But the Emperor did not expect that human greed would spread so quickly, leading the Imperium step by step toward decay and corruption.

In the Baal System, the scions of the Archangel Sanguinius gathered in unprecedented numbers. This included the Blood Knights, who had already been declared a renegade chapter by the Imperium, as well as the Drinkers of Blood Chapter, who ostensibly followed the codex astartes—they came from all corners of the Milky Way to protect the home of their Father of Genes, Sanguinius. Every day, Successor Chapters arrived to provide support, including some that the Imperium already considered traitors.

"Old Li, with so many people and so many Space Marines, do you think we can lead again?"

"Very likely. Otherwise, what would all those Space Marines be for?"

A large number of Successor Chapters came to the home of their Father of Genes, prepared to defend the Primarch's homeland with their lives. Of course, among the arriving Successor Chapters, some were led by the Chapter Master himself with the entire chapter; others could only send a few companies due to battle conditions in other regions. This was exactly when the Warmaster of Chaos, Abaddon, launched the 13th Black Crusade, and war was raging across the Milky Way.

"Tsk, another storyline. After this, there'll be new dungeons to play."

"After the Horus Heresy, the Black Crusade. Sigh, two more new storylines. Brother Gao is going to be busy."

This was the largest gathering of Sanguinius's scions since the Horus Heresy: a total of approximately 29,000 Space Marines, 21 Battle Barges, 94 Strike Cruisers, and hundreds of smaller vessels converged on the Baal System. Dante had summoned a Legion-scale force, yet the enemies he faced were as vast as the sea, endless and infinite.

"Looking at this setup, it seems like they're going for mutual destruction."

"If the enemy does not provoke me, I will not provoke them. If you provoke me, I will exterminate your entire clan."

In Dante's plan, relying on the ancient defensive facilities left over from the Fortress of Angels would allow them to serve their purpose once again. Before this, even Commander Dante, with a lifespan of over a thousand years, had never seen so many Space Marines gathered in one place.

Among these Successor Chapters, many were stepping onto Baal's soil for the first time. In the past, they had only had superficial contact with the Parent Chapter, but upon hearing that the home of their Father of Genes, Sanguinius, was in danger, they immediately lent a hand. The number of people responding to Dante's call far exceeded his expectations.

Dante looked at these blood brothers wearing different colored power armor. Commander Dante understood deeply that the lineages of Sanguinius gathered on Baal no longer possessed the perfect synergy they once had.

Over ten thousand years, they had all developed their own chapter cultures, with different perceptions of combat, honor, loyalty, death, and other aspects. Not to mention the Successor Chapters that had further branched out from the lineages of other Successor Chapters; thus, the culture of some chapters seemed particularly different in the eyes of others.