Aboard the All-Knowing Mystery, Chapter Master Gabriel Angelos of the Blood Ravens stood on the bridge, looking at the magnificent vessel displayed on the auspex. A sense of security immediately welled up in his heart.
The Red Tears, Primarch Sanguinius' flagship, a great Gloriana-class Battleship, reappeared in the galaxy approximately several decades ago, carrying Sanguinius and his Sons on an Expedition throughout the galaxy, just as in the Great Crusade era ten millennia ago.
Just over a decade ago, Sanguinius broadcast a message from the Red Tears to the entire galaxy, summoning all loyal Sons of Sanguinius to the Red Tears to meet their gene-father.
Approximately five or six years ago, this message crossed the torrent of the Warp and was intercepted by the All-Knowing Mystery, which was then under attack by the Iron Warriors.
For several decades, the Blood Ravens had been targeted by the traitor Iron Warriors.
Those shameless traitors sought to steal the Blood Ravens' ancestral relic, the warhammer forgebreaker.
That warhammer was forged by Fulgrim, once wielded by Ferrus, and after Ferrus' death, it came into Perturabo's hands and was modified by him, making its power extraordinary.
Therefore, the loyal Blood Ravens would never surrender this precious relic, which embodied the Chapter's history.
For decades, the Blood Ravens had relied on the Librarians' prophecies to evade and resist the Iron Warriors' hunt.
But this was not a long-term solution; the Blood Ravens were truly powerless to resist a Primarch's hatred alone.
When Sanguinius' message was received, even Perturabo himself was already closing in on the All-Knowing Mystery.
Upon receiving Sanguinius' summons to all his Sons, Gabriel Angelos felt tears welling up in his eyes, feeling as though he finally had someone to rely on.
Gabriel Angelos made a decisive move, releasing an ancestral relic of the Blood Ravens.
It was a Necron hyperspace cube, within which was sealed a shard of a C'tan who called itself 'Mag-Ladroth'.
Gabriel Angelos made some agreements with it. Gabriel Angelos used a hammer imbued with Skarbrand's rage to destroy the hyperspace cube, releasing the C'tan shard.
In return, 'Mag-Ladroth' would fight Perturabo and the Iron Warriors, and would teleport the Blood Ravens away.
This was, of course, a risky move, but fortunately, the C'tan kept its promise, teleporting the Blood Ravens away before facing the Iron Warriors and Primarch Perturabo alone.
This even caused Perturabo's whereabouts to disappear from the galaxy for several years, and the Blood Ravens seized this opportunity to rush to the Red Tears.
"After millennia, we Blood Ravens have finally found our gene-father," Gabriel Angelos said with a deep breath and a sigh.
"..Sir, are we truly?" Former Honor Guard Captain, now Chapter Chaplain Apollo Diomedes, couldn't help but ask.
"Truly what?" Gabriel Angelos glared at Apollo: "Haven't we always been the noble Sons of Sanguinius?"
"Look at our Chapter symbol, look at the pile of Blood Angels-related relics in our armory, look at our custom of cultivating our temperament with history and artifacts—we are clearly the Sons of Sanguinius!" Gabriel Angelos said firmly.
The Captains of various companies on the bridge fell silent for a moment, listening to Gabriel's words.
The Blood Ravens had indeed doubted whether they were Sons of Sanguinius in the past, but after a secret investigation, they learned some secrets about the Sons of Sanguinius and thus became convinced that they were not Sons of Sanguinius.
Of course, this matter was only known to the Blood Ravens' high command.
"..Isn't it reasonable for us to mistakenly believe we are Sons of Sanguinius?"
Gabriel Angelos felt a bit unnerved by the stares of the surrounding Captains and finally sighed, saying:
"Even if it's discovered that we're not, it was unintentional. Sanguinius is a benevolent Primarch; would he criticize us for this? Would he refuse us from joining his Expedition?"
Gabriel Angelos did not actually voice his true thoughts.
Such a small trick would most likely not fool the Archangel, but Gabriel also believed that the Archangel would not expose their little trick; the merciful Archangel would accept them. If the Archangel truly didn't want to accept the Blood Ravens,
the Blood Ravens' only option would be to fight to the death with the Iron Warriors and Perturabo. The Blood Ravens did not lack this courage.
Gabriel knew what was stored in his relic vault; even at the cost of the entire Chapter's destruction, it might not be impossible to leave Perturabo with a deeply etched scar.
As Gabriel pondered, the All-Knowing Mystery suddenly made a sharp turn, then shook violently, nearly causing Gabriel to fall.
"What happened?" Gabriel demanded loudly.
Almost in the next moment, Gabriel understood what had happened.
A vessel, slightly smaller than the All-Knowing Mystery, scraped past the All-Knowing Mystery at a very close distance.
"Sir, should we send a communication to scold them?"
The Blood Ravens' nature had always been to not suffer losses.
Gabriel looked at the ship, remained silent for a moment, then shook his head.
That ship was too dilapidated, as if it had been gnawed by countless giant insects, and even the ship's keel was faintly exposed in the void. The other party was clearly not intentional, but rather the ship had indeed suffered a significant malfunction, making it difficult to control.
But this was not the main reason Gabriel Angelos didn't scold them.
He saw the ship's identification code displayed on the auspex: it was the Daughter of Tears, a ship of Cryptek.
Cryptek, a successor Chapter of the Blood Angels. For this Chapter, Gabriel could only use two words to describe them:
The first word was respect. Those warriors were true Sons of Sanguinius, noble like their gene-father.
Not long ago, to protect Imperial worlds along the Kraken hive Fleet's path and to buy time for the people on those worlds to escape, they charged the Kraken hive Fleet again and again.
This was a hopeless battle. Even the Blood Angels' parent Chapter would need to summon all Sons of Sanguinius, gathering a full twenty-five thousand men, to contend with an entire hive Fleet. And Cryptek numbered less than a thousand.
The last time Gabriel heard news of them was fifty or sixty years ago; it was said that Cryptek then already numbered less than three companies.
Now it seemed they were probably even more tragic than reported, likely on the brink of annihilation.
"Let them go first. This is the respect they deserve."
Gabriel Angelos sighed. All Blood Ravens' ships gave way for Cryptek.
Not just the Blood Ravens, but other ships gathered around also saluted these warriors in the same manner.
But the Daughter of Tears flew not far ahead before suddenly stopping.
Gabriel Angelos watched in a daze as the Daughter of Tears' sub-light engines violently exploded, the burning fire almost engulfing half the ship.
The originally solemn scene suddenly became a little... abstract.
Bad luck was Gabriel Angelos' second impression of Cryptek.
These tragic Lamenters were on the verge of annihilation not only due to their heroic deeds but also their unfortunate luck.
"Prepare to board and rescue them," Gabriel Angelos said, rubbing his brow.
A slender longsword cut through the air. The elegant human warrior, cloaked in robes, moved continuously among the Necrons, harvesting those Necrons who pursued them.
His figure was so light that even the most excellent Necron warriors could not match him, leaving Trazyn puzzled as to how a flesh-and-blood body could unleash such power.
In the blink of an eye, the pursuers from the Silent King were all cut down by that slender longsword.
The swordsman gently shook off the metal filings from his sword and nodded respectfully to Trazyn and Anrakyr.
Anrakyr was an important figure among the Necrons. Before the Silent King's return, he roamed the stars, saving many Necron tomb worlds, and from these worlds, he drew a tenth of their armies to follow him.
Many worlds were indebted to Anrakyr, and Anrakyr had considerable influence both militarily and politically.
Although Anrakyr's military power was fragmented and controlled after the Silent King's return, his political influence was still not to be underestimated, which was why he, a former Overlord, could receive the surveillance of the Triarch Praetorians.
However, Trazyn helped Anrakyr shake off the Triarch Praetorians. They could hide it for a short time, but over time, it would be exposed, stimulating the Silent King's sensitive nerves.
This led the Silent King to directly dispatch Necron forces to try to invade Trazyn's museum. If not for Trazyn's museum staff being reliable and loyal enough, and Trazyn providing enough protective measures for the museum, the Solemnace museum itself would have become history.
Trazyn spent some time trapping and killing the Silent King's lackeys, then brought the swordsman out of the museum and left Solemnace.
Originally, according to their plan, they should have gone to Trazyn's 'connections' in the Imperium — but Trazyn had a setback.
Trazyn couldn't contact his 'connections' anymore; the Archmagos seemed to have disappeared from the stellar river.
Meanwhile, Trazyn, Anrakyr, and the swordsman were being pursued, not only by Necrons but also by things called daemons.
They had no choice but to endure the pursuit while heading to a new destination. The swordsman suggested they go directly to Terra, claiming he wanted to talk to his father.
Trazyn and Anrakyr had no better plan and could only agree.
"We should go, clone," Trazyn said to the swordsman.
The swordsman, with an extremely elegant posture, sheathed his sword and nodded slightly to Trazyn: "Indeed—"
Suddenly, the swordsman froze in place, his head dropping sharply, as if struck by a powerful dizziness.
"I see I see I take the hammer from the forge... and give it to him."
"I I see warriors in dark red Power Armor... bringing that warhammer to meet my brother."
"..Father, is this your enlightenment...?"
The swordsman suddenly mumbled to himself, as if conversing with a non-existent voice.
Trazyn and Anrakyr exchanged glances. Both Necrons found this mysterious state of humans inexplicable.
"Trazyn."
The swordsman suddenly looked up at Trazyn:
"We need to change our destination. I see my... I see the location of one of my brothers."
"We're going to see Sanguinius; he's not far from us."