Guilliman, of course, knew that Lion had already been resurrected.
Lion should have fully revived decades ago, before Saint Doraemon fell into slumber.
But Lion never came to see Guilliman; he didn't even join the Imperium's command structure, acting completely on his own.
However, Guilliman couldn't condemn Lion for this.
Because every appearance of Lion during these decades was reported to Guilliman by his scouts, so Guilliman knew exactly what Lion had been doing.
Lion and his mysterious warriors would often appear suddenly at the most intense, critical, and dangerous moments of battle, and upon their arrival, they would reverse the tide, helping Imperial forces overcome crises.
Without Lion's independent actions, the Indomitus Crusade would not have been as smooth as it was now. Guilliman had to admit that Lion had done very well.
Guilliman even felt a little fortunate that Lion hadn't come to see him, hadn't tried to control the Imperial military system.
Otherwise, the ideological conflict between Guilliman and Lion might have led to very bad consequences.
Ultimately, Guilliman himself was trying his best to avoid meeting Lion.
He really didn't want to argue with Lion.
But now, it seemed, it was unavoidable. Even for the future of the Imperium, Guilliman needed to have a conversation with Lion.
Who knew if Lion might one day have a change of heart and issue an Exterminatus order against an important planet?
Guilliman rubbed his brow, mentally preparing for his conversation with Lion, and after steeling himself, walked towards the anywhere door in his office on the Macragge's Honour, the Regent's office.
As he placed his hand on the anywhere door's handle, he couldn't help but recall the items Cawl had sent to the First Fleet recently, entrusting Guilliman to begin testing them.
If those items truly had the effect Cawl calculated, then the Imperium could truly be said to be on the mend.
This thought injected some hope into Guilliman's weary heart, giving him the strength to twist the handle and step through the anywhere door.
The scene before him rapidly changed as Guilliman entered the Webway, repeatedly opening and closing the anywhere door, finally arriving at the location of this small meeting, aboard Sanguinius' flagship, the Red Tears.
Pushing open the anywhere door, Guilliman felt bright light stream in.
Unlike his own office, the conference room Sanguinius had prepared was much brighter, more spacious, and more comfortable. The walls all around were made of marble from Baal, carved with Sanguinius' angelic motifs, Lion's Lion mark, the figure of Saint Doraemon, and a two-headed eagle with outstretched wings.
Guilliman stepped out of the door and cast his gaze into the conference room; the other four were already present.
Guilliman saw Sanguinius, whose gentle and beautiful face was looking at Guilliman with a faint smile, his eyes sparkling with intrigued light.
Whenever Guilliman saw Sanguinius, he always felt the fatigue in his body quickly dissipate, because just by seeing Sanguinius, Guilliman felt that he was not alone, that he had another brother helping him bear everything.
Guilliman saw Saint Doraemon, whose ordinary face hadn't changed from decades ago, always carrying a slightly playful smile at the corner of his mouth, and often a twinkle in his eyes. But for some reason, Guilliman vaguely detected a certain numbness in his eyes, as if he was completely unsurprised by everything happening before him.
For a moment, Guilliman even vaguely felt that Alexander had become a bit like the Emperor. But this feeling was fleeting, seeming to be merely Guilliman's illusion.
Seeing Alexander return safely, Guilliman couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief; at least he hadn't truly become like the Emperor.
Then, Guilliman saw Lion El'Jonson, whose Lion face, once capable of terrifying mortals to death, now appeared somewhat gentler, perhaps due to his face aging slightly and his beard covering most of his features.
Guilliman had already prepared himself mentally, and his mood was quite calm upon seeing Lion, not letting past memories influence his judgment. Instead, he politely nodded to Lion. It was just that Lion's gaze towards Guilliman held a hint of pity; he wondered what Lion was pitying?
Finally, Guilliman saw Fulgrim, whose face beneath his white hair was as handsome as ever. Perhaps he was arrogant and frivolous, but Guilliman had to admit, he was the most benevolent among his brothers towards mortals, someone who, at first glance—
Wait?
Who?
Fulgrim?
Fulgrim!!!
A burning roar surged up from his spine, straight to Guilliman's brain.
He silently urged himself to calm down, but looking at Fulgrim's handsome face, at the slight curve of his thin lips, at those violet eyes that always held a hint of mockery, Guilliman felt an ache in his neck and an uncontrollable surge of anger.
"Guilliman, my dear brother, it's a pleasure to see you. I wonder if you've become more interesting after ten thousand years?" Fulgrim said to Guilliman with a smile.
"Fulgrim!!!!!" Guilliman let out an almost bestial roar; at this moment, he was more like a wild wolf than Leman Russ.
He was incredibly fast, the Emperor's Sword almost instantly unsheathed, the fiercely burning Emperor's fire drawing a scorching arc across the room, the blade reaching Fulgrim's neck in the blink of an eye—
Thud!!!
A dull thud sounded as Lion El'Jonson calmly raised the kite shield in his hand, effortlessly blocking Guilliman's strike.
"Lion!!!" Guilliman's rage finally became utterly uncontrollable. He looked at Lion, questioning in a low voice, "Are you going to protect this traitor?"
"I wish you were as angry about the traitors on your own world back then," Lion El'Jonson said coldly.
Back then, Lion, in an attempt to kill Konrad Curze, had tried to orbital bombard Macragge, but was stopped by Guilliman. This was one of the main conflicts between the two of them.
"Traitors should be executed, but sacrificing innocent lives is another matter."
"How truly just!" Lion sneered a few times, "Then this fellow also counts as one of the innocent people you speak of."
"Innocent?" Guilliman slightly retracted his blade.
He vaguely realized that although the face before him was identical to the Fulgrim of old, there were few traces of Warp corruption on him. Moreover, he was different from them. He, he lacked certain things; he was not a true Primarch.
"I am a clone, cultivated by Fabius using my gene sequence from before my fall," Fulgrim said, his faint smile unchanged, staring at Guilliman.
"You should have said that from the beginning, instead of provoking him," Alexander complained with a sigh. In Alexander's more than twenty thousand dreams, Clone Fulgrim always teased and provoked Guilliman whenever they met.
Fulgrim blinked, feigning innocence: "I just wanted to know if my most boring brother had learned some sense of humor?"
He then turned back to Guilliman, pursing his lips as if a little helpless: "It seems he still hasn't learned."
"Just a clone?" Guilliman frowned, examining Fulgrim with some suspicion.
"Just a clone?"
Fulgrim seemed to be provoked by the dismissive tone in Guilliman's voice, suddenly raising his voice and saying:
"I am his iteration, a more perfect Fulgrim than that fallen one."
"His fall was due to his imperfection, but I am different; I will eventually achieve true, flawless perfection."
"Guilliman, my most boring brother, I will let you witness it with your own eyes."
Fulgrim boasted, talking at length about the path of perfection, the road of pride, becoming increasingly agitated.
Yet, he completely failed to notice that Lion beside him couldn't help but place his hand on his loyal sword, Sanguinius next to him helplessly covered his face, and the killing intent in Guilliman's eyes grew even more intense.
"Just kill him," Guilliman said in a tone that suggested this person was beyond saving.
Lion El'Jonson instinctively nodded, but quickly shook his head again: "No."
"He won't fall for now, and he still has his uses," Alexander said calmly to Guilliman, looking at him.
Guilliman's expression shifted a few times, finally relaxing. He sheathed the Emperor's Sword and sat down next to Sanguinius, with Sanguinius and Alexander separating him from Fulgrim and Lion.
"He has an issue with us," Fulgrim sighed deeply, saying to Lion in a somewhat sorrowful tone.
"I have an issue with you too," Lion retorted, glancing at Fulgrim and lowering his voice.
If it weren't for Saint Doraemon saying Fulgrim still had his uses, and if Saint Doraemon didn't now represent the Emperor's will, Lion would truly be very happy to kill Fulgrim to eliminate future troubles.
"Perfect people are always solitary," Fulgrim sighed, then looked at Alexander and Sanguinius beside him: "You two, surely you have similar thoughts, right?"
Sanguinius couldn't help but rub his brow.
Alexander, however, said flatly: "Since you love solitude and perfection so much, why don't you go replace the Emperor and sit on the Golden Throne?"
"Why not? My father's Imperium is on the brink of disaster, my brother's Expedition is unsustainable, the people of the Imperium are desperate. Do I not have a responsibility to inherit my father's great position, to sit on the Golden Throne, and bear the responsibility of saving my people?" Fulgrim said in a fluent, almost operatic series of words.
"When you have nothing else to do, you can come help me with state affairs," Guilliman said, glancing at Fulgrim.
"As you wish!" Fulgrim replied with a smiling bow.
"..Let's discuss something serious."
Sanguinius sighed, seemingly even he was annoyed by Fulgrim:
"The Necron Anrakyr the Traveller and Trazyn have been captured by us."
"Anrakyr claims he has grown a machine spirit, and strongly suspects it's related to Saint Doraemon."